This is Bernie's Typepad Profile.
Join Typepad and start following Bernie's activity
Bernie
Recent Activity
True Stories
As one of our final contributions to the blog and a transition to our discussion of the power of popular culture in America, you should make two blog entries over the next two weeks that use The Things They Carried and Tim O'Brien's concept of a true (war) story to evaluate whether recent stories you have read, watched or experienced were true or not. One of the blog entries should be about a work of culture that you think, inspired by O'Brien's definition, is a true story. The other blog entry should be about a work of culture that you... Continue reading
Posted Apr 14, 2014 at Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog
Comment
0
Choose Your Summer Read!
You have many great choices this year. Check out info on all the books: OPRFHS Summer Read 2014 By this Friday, March 21, all students should have submitted their choices: Select Books Continue reading
Posted Mar 17, 2014 at Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog
Comment
0
The Next Blogging Assignment: Writing a Feminist Critique
As we discussed in class, the next blogging assignment -- due Friday, March 14 -- asks you to write an original argument discussing how a work of American popular culture constructs gender. We call that a feminist critique. You can see the details of the assignment here. This post should be more substantial than a normal blog post. Make sure you have a strong thesis and defend with plenty of specific evidence from your work of culture. Do not forget to add comments to classmates' posts as well. Continue reading
Posted Mar 3, 2014 at Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog
Comment
0
Next Blogging Assignment
The next blogging assignment is due on 3/7 -- and you have a few options. First, you could blog about a part of Beloved we have not discussed or a part we have not discussed enough. Just make sure you refer to specific parts of the novel -- quoting or paraphrasing and citing evidence to make your point or to spark reflection. Second, you can continue to expand the conversation about mothering. Look back at Chodorow's argument. Consider the questions she ultimately asks: Why do women, and not men, "mother"? What are the consequences of that gendered system? What would... Continue reading
Posted Feb 24, 2014 at Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog
Comment
0
This Week's Assignment: Meaningful Humor
The blogging assignment for this week -- due 2/28 -- is to discuss a work of contemporary American satire: a film, TV show, song, etc, from the last few years that uses humor to make a larger point about society. Even though we just finished on unit on constructing race and are starting a unit on constructing gender, your example does not need to involve race or gender as its primary subject matter (although the stereotypes that surround race and gender are frequent satirical topics) Your post should include the following: 1. A summary of the work of culture --... Continue reading
Posted Feb 24, 2014 at Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog
Comment
0
Great initial point, John -- and great subsequent point, David.
I would only add to the discussion by saying that in all eras of hip hop history, rappers have been political and positive as much as "gangster." And this is not to take the responsibility off of those rappers that perpetuate the brute stereotype, but it's the white-dominated media -- feeding the white suburban boys who became ironically the driving audience of hip hop in the 1990s -- who chose to champion the gangstas while disregarding the other rappers.
Just sayin' it's pretty complicated.
Rap Embracing the Brute (Why I Don't Like Rap)
Racism, racial stereotypes, and racial misunderstanding are extremely prevalent in today's society though we have advanced greatly in the last 200 years. This prevalence of racial issues in my opinion stems from Music especially the form of and Rap which seems to embrace these stereotypes. These...
Why Suffer Through Another Blogging Assignment? Because You Might Just Learn Something ...
For the next blogging assignment -- due February 7 (early extra credit by February 2) -- answer one of the following questions, each of which "expands the conversation" that we are having through our reading of King Lear: 1. Does a person have a moral responsibility to relieve another's suffering? Respond to Peter Singer's argument in the "Expand the Conversation" packet (41-46) -- and consider David Brooks' own response to Singer (47-48). Make sure you discuss the reasoning behind as well as the implications of your answer. or 2. Is suffering a necessary part of life? Is it a good... Continue reading
Posted Jan 29, 2014 at Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog
Comment
0
This Week's Blog: Contemporary Romantic Comedy And/Or Contemporary Satire
For this week's assignment, you can either post an analysis of a contemporary romantic comedy or a contemporary satire -- or get extra credit for posting on both topics or posting on one topic and reflecting on Pride and Prejudice. You need to do more than simply post an example. For the romantic comedy, discuss how meaningful it is. Does its themes attempt to inspire a type of social change or do they make a conservative statement? And how does your example fit in with the generic romantic comedy -- is it a notable exception or a classic example of... Continue reading
Posted Jan 15, 2014 at Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog
Comment
0
Maddie, I think Adele is a great choice, but what you describe in your post is how she is "romantic" in a small "r" sense -- but you still need to make an argument that she is Romantic in the classic, ideological sense.
One and Only- Romanticism
Even though posting about Adele and her music being romantic is fairly predictable, I strongly feel that the songs she writes and the message she conveys within her music shows that she is a romantic. Although I haven't listened to all of her songs, those that I have heard have all relayed a mes...
You clearly are obsessed with Mr. Gabriel, John. Thankfully, he has a body of work that seems to have an appropriate song for every occasion!
The Story of Ovo (A Romance)
While trying to build my music collection of CD’s I ran across a bump in the road. When I was looking for to complete my collection of Peter Gabriel albums, one of my favorite musical artists, I realized that doing this wouldn’t be as easy as I thought, knowing that Gabriel is English many of hi...
This is potentially the coolest (in more ways than one) post in awhile -- but can you explain what characteristics of a rugged individualist Mingus exemplifies?
Mingus the Individualist
Charles Mingus is regarded as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. He was a bassist/composer from Los Angeles who started out as a cellist at a young age, but his opportunities with classical music were limited because orchestras would not hire African-Americans. It wa...
Our Music Poetry
This is our unmixed mix -- just in the order of submission on the blog. I'm trying to get a local DJ I know to mix the songs into a more coherent whole -- at least with smooth transitions. If you have never used Spotify, you can sign up for a free account and listen on your computer. It costs a monthly fee to get the app for your phone. If you are presenting your song as "music poetry," you be ready to provide the following: an introduction to the song: the "title" of the song, the artist, and the... Continue reading
Posted Dec 6, 2013 at Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog
Comment
0
Our Music Poetry Mix
Continue reading
Posted Nov 24, 2013 at Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog
Comment
0
I got some movie watching to do -- will get back to you.
Bloody Sheep
When I said in class that young Joe Christmas and his peer teenage boys are uneducated on the female body because they're from East Jesus, Nowhere, Mr. Heidkamp pointed out that they're actually uneducated because they are teenage boys. I'm always drawn to a story about a young man's misconcepti...
A Faulknerian blog post -- and in the middle of it all is a very astute point about the diction of "body."
"Autumn Leaves" ... or Does It
After finishing Light in August I was left with this lingering taste of space-out. Whatever that tastes like. I think I was sitting in the dentist's office, of all places, waiting to get my teeth cleaned when I finished the story. I remember telling my mom who was also there, "I just finished...
Such cool, interesting people in the world (and that include you, Nora!).
Dismantling Binaries
I babysit a five year old named Alex. Alex is probably one of the most wonderful little kids I have ever met and has parents to match. They are both community college professors with secret double lives, his mother as a badass roller derby chick and his father as a professional MMA fighter and p...
I think you have rhetorically seized back the power from the college application process. And it's over, right? Well, there you go.
#COLLEGERANT #PERSONAL #GUACAMOLE
Everyone who knows me right now, at this period in my life, will admit that this is not the most glowing or together that they have ever seen me. I switch conversation topics like halfway through a sentence, I mumble to myself (it's not that crazy just kind of weird okay), and ALMOST ALL I CAN T...
Haven't seen that one -- so can't help -- but sounds like a cool camera technique.
That One Commercial
AS HARD AS I TRIED, I COULD NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME REMEMBER WHICH CAR THIS COMMERCIAL WAS FOR, AND WAS THEREFORE UNABLE TO FIND IT. I'm sorry. The commercial I'm talking about is the one where it's from the little girls point of view. She starts as a baby, and the camera often shows the mother l...
The way we define "intelligence" over the years has always supported binary hierarchies. See Howard Gardner: http://howardgardner01.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/faq_march2013.pdf
What Would You Do if You Had a Million Dollars?
Hey, guys! Today, I’m gonna talk about how we’re all really stupid. What?! you say, aghast. I know, I know, it’s not a polite thing to say. And that’s why you’re stupid, and why I’m stupid, because we’d get offended if someone called us stupid. But being stupid is bad and sad. Who would want to ...
Sacco and Vanzetti ... what about Joe Christmas?
The "Truth" About Trayvon Rant
I would like to go on a rant about how the "Truth About Trayvon" is a terrible article. First off, the article calls Trayvon a "lost child" and this is just ridiculous. Trayvon was not a sweet little kid going out to buy some Skittles. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old who was currently suspended...
I used "tree" because it is a pretty value-neutral word in our society (although environmentalists and loggers might not think so!). Let's take the word "man" -- and see how, while certainly there is a "real" biological entity that we identify with "man" -- the word itself is very much what a linguist might call a "floating signifier" -- meaning it implies a bunch of characteristics, different ones for different people, that have little to do with biology. I only say this to indicate that language is not just communication; language is power -- the way we define something defines something, if you know what I mean.
If a Tree Grows In a Forest and No One Sees It, Is It Still a Tree?
In class Thursday, Mr. Heidkamp said that language is a construct. He used an analogy of a tree to demonstrate this. He claimed that there is no part of a tree that begs the word "tree," and that therefor the idea of a tree is a human construct. Yes, we make up words. Thats where words come from...
Well, that's a depressing one from Joni, isn't it?
Thanks for the honest reflections, Evan.
Who Made This Salty Soup?
I realize that Benjamin's ideas have slipped into my everyday thinking quite a bit, specifically as pertaining to the binary between individual meaning and greater human purpose, the way that passively dominating others is structurally inevitable for almost everyone in our society, the impossibi...
Many of Freud's premises have certainly been questioned -- and the universality of his psychosexual model has been fairly roundly rejected -- but most of Freud's insights, including the psychosexual model of development, are still seen as "valid" to a great degree -- and certainly as ground-breaking and very helpful to our understanding of the human mind.
I only note this to say that the way Faulkner portrays that encounter with the dietician -- which is clearly a Freudian moment, on many levels -- is also insightful. It seems to capture a truth about human development -- and the power of social forces -- in this case, around gender and race -- that shape the individual.
Faulkner and Freud
After dissecting the most definitive passage of Joe Christmas's youth in class, it becomes evident that Faulkner stresses the importance of growth during childhood. Joe, despite barely being older than a toddler, has is life shaped almost entirely during his encounter with the dieticien. From th...
Expand the Conversation Even Further!
Coming off our "expand the conversation" reading and conversation in class -- where we we were applying a Benjamian perspective to our contemporary world -- use this week's blog post (or if you've already blogged for this week, do it for next week) to reflect on the following question: How did our latest conversation about Benjamin's conceptions of binary hierarchies and mutual recognition change your view of the world around you (your view of race in America, your view of our present political or social crises, your view of popular culture, your view of literature, etc), your view of what... Continue reading
Posted Nov 4, 2013 at Word Choices - AP English Literature - Blog
Comment
2
Not a divergence at all -- seems to tie in very well with The Awakening and how gender affects our relationship to society. Thanks!
A Divergence--Lord of the Flies
Bear with me, I know that we aren't reading Lord of the Flies, nor will we, but this past Saturday I attended an awesome show at the Steppenwolf Theater of said novel. While I have never read the book, and it has nothing to do with what we've been talking about in class, the theme of the novel s...
More...
Subscribe to Bernie’s Recent Activity