Writing Across Cultures

You know it. You love it. It's the right thing to buy and will make your life complete. Welcome consumerism. Consumerism can be defined as the theory that a progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial. We use the term also to refer to an attachment to materialistic values or possessions. Recently, it also refers to a movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by enacting laws that affect honest packaging, advertising, and safety and quality issues. Culturally, America is often blamed for rampant consumerism. Recently, the government encouraged Americans to "go out and buy" stuff to help the economy. But does this really help? And what is it doing to us as a hegemonic group of people and our culture? Please read the following articles and view the clips. For each article, jot down a brief summary of the article. Prepare to discuss the articles on Tuesday, Oct. 6. To hand in: write a question you want to ask about the points made by th...

After our discussion regarding advertising, please head down to the library lab to work on your portfolios. The portfolios will be due Friday, Oct. 8. Please refer to the rubric for more information.

Today, after our quiz on Jennifer Government , we will be holding our discussion on the novel during 1st period. After our discussion, we will chat about your advertisement findings from the homework posted below. With remaining time, if any, please work on your responses and portfolio.

It doesn't get more pop culture than this. A turn-based on-line game based on the novel Jennifer Government. Learn about and play it here.

Please hand in your homework regarding Jennifer Government (see post below). You may use this time in the lab to read (particularly if you haven't cracked the book or you are very far behind). You should be close to finishing this novel by this time. There will be a test and discussion on Jennifer Government next class (Sept. 28) I will be picking 4 discussion leaders today in class. Discussion leaders should come up with a few discussion questions regarding the writing, plot, setting, characters, theme, author, or style of the book. Leaders will lead or facilitate a discussion. Lab writing: please work on your portfolio. This will be due the week of Oct. 4 (probably the end of the week of 10/4). Please refer to the rubric for guidelines concerning your writing. HOMEWORK: Complete Jennifer Government . Please watch a few minutes of TV or pay attention to the ads in a magazine or newspaper. Watch the commercials and choose one to examine closely. What is the product being ...

Writing for Business Advertising, sales, and marketing all use creative writing and commercial art to sell products. For those of you business minded, here's a little run down of various advertising techniques that businesses use to sell their products: Emotion : appealing to the basic triumvirate of Rhetoric strategies: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, pathos is perhaps the strongest when dealing with buying/selling. If an advertiser can strike an emotional cord with his/her audience, purchasing is more likely. Benefit : showing that buying the product has a personal or cultural benefit or pragmatic use. Problem / Solution : the standard or classic set up for business. When a potential customer has a problem, it can be solved by the purchasing of the product in question. Dramatic conflict : Showing two or more forces in competition or conflict appeals to our sense of drama. It helps create subconscious (and conscious) excitement about the product. In business we might call this...

To start off, please take the first 5 minutes of class to read the article: "Snap! Crackle! Plot!" by Roy Rivenburg. After reading, please respond in writing. Then, let's take a look at some advertising techniques. As you watch the slide show, please take notes about advertising strategies. Creative Advertising Techniques . What do you think? Then check out the 2010 Oscar award winning animated short film: Logorama . I think it captures the events in Jennifer Government pretty well. After viewing, let's respond. Please make a list of things you'd like to buy if you were given a blank check and the sky was the limit. Now annotate the list with brief explanations for why you want each item. --How much of what we buy is who we are? --How does what we buy help us connect, compare, or create homogeneous groups (hegemonies). --America: why are we so greedy? --What's up with all this consumerism? Is capitalism to blame? Here's Max Barry's we...

Today, please complete the assignment from last class in regards to note taking on Pop Culture. During period 1, please use the lab time given you to work on your portfolio. We are also getting our first novel: Jennifer Government . Please begin reading this novel. Aim to complete the book by the end of next week. More information will be given in class.

4 = Exemplary 3= Accomplished 2= Promising 1=Beginning 0=Failing Exemplary: Thoroughly and artistically developed characters, plot, structure, conflict, theme, and setting. Uses vivid description, effective diction and word choice, tone or voice, POV, imagery, and compelling dialogue throughout portfolio. Uses a variety of effective literary devices. Writing can be considered “art,” effectively communicating issues central to the human condition in a compelling way. Has few errors in spelling punctuation, syntax, and usage. Sentence structure and overall effect of the work is artistic. Work includes evidence of several revised drafts. Work included in portfolio reflects a wide range of styles and genres. There is more than eleven full typed pages of new work. Uses lab and class time to full extent. Participates consistently and insightfully in class discussions, an exemplar for other students. Accomplished: Well developed characters, plot, conflict, theme, and setting. Uses good de...

Today, please choose one of the articles you read from "Pop Matters" and tell us about the article. Why did you pick it? What drew you to it? What was it about? Why is it relative to our culture? What is Popular Culture ? Popular culture studies popular culture from a critical theory perspective. It is generally considered a combination of communication studies and cultural studies. Barriers between so-called high and low culture have broken down, which encompasses such diverse media as comic books, television, mass media, and the Internet. The theory of progressive evolution : Capitalist economies create opportunities for every individual to participate in a culture which is fully democratized through mass education, expansion of leisure time and cheap media and paperbacks. In this liberal view, popular culture (low culture) does not threaten high culture, but is an authentic expression of the needs of the people. Click here (a very pop culture idea in the first ...

Okay, well, not that many, but some. Today we're going to be exposed to a variety of articles (both video & text). Your job is to take it in, process it, respond to it in some creative way. We will move in "chunks"--after watching a video (see below) or reading an article, we'll spend some time in private, quiet writing. What you come up with or create--any or all of that can become the first draft of something. This something should be kept in your portfolio (or folder). Rubrics about the writing portfolio will arrive sometime next week. Along with our first class novel reading assignment. But today, let's read, write, respond. Oh, and Happy New Year! HOMEWORK : Pop Matters! Link to the Pop culture webzine "Pop Matters." (see the link to your right.) Read 1 FEATURE article, read 1 COLUMN article, and read 1 other article of your choice from music, to blogs, to books, to movies, to television, to any other article posted on the zine. For ...

To start today's class, please respond to the article: "Life in the Age of Authentic Artifice" by Meta Wagner, professor at Emerson University. After responding in writing for about 5-10 minutes, please take a look at the following notes: Cultural Determinism: culture is a learned, as opposed to a natural, behavior. What we learn determines who we are. We are conditioned to act and behave in a certain way determined by what we experience through our environment. Cultural Relativism: All cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. No one group is superior or inferior to another. Cultural Ethnocentrism: The belief that one's own culture is superior to that of other cultures. Cultural symbols: words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning recognized by those who share a particular culture. Cultural Heroes/Role Models: People who serve as a model for behavior for a group. Rituals: collective activities that solidify, define, or un...

Please read the following article: "Wittgenstein, Semiotics, Proposition 8" by Todd Holden. As you read, take notes, ask questions, play the video embedded in the article (for the first one (let California Ring) link here to view) , and, after reading the full article, respond in writing to anything that caught your attention or made you think or moved you or write about anything that the article reminded you of or how you related to one of the topics within the essay. From your writing, complete a short 2-3 page, double spaced creative essay of your own. Be prepared to share your essay in class. For more information or material (particularly about proposition 8), check these clips: Impact of Prop 8 (CNN) Proposition 8 Commercial CNN Review of 8 The Mormon Proposition And just for fun, Proposition 8, the Musical

Culture Scientists and Anthropologists define culture as learned behavior acquired by individuals as members of a social group. According to Edward Tyler in 1871: culture includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and other capabilities or habits acquired by a group. Culture is a learned behavior. Culture is also used to refer to a highly cultivated person versed in art, philosophy, etc. Culture includes insignificant behavior such as behavior traits, etiquette, food habits, as well as refined arts of a society. Culture can also be considered as the sum total of human knowledge and acquired behavior of humankind. Habits or behavior is generally transmitted from members to the young or outsiders until the outsider is also an insider, part of the group. Language : common way of communication. Language is a system of verbal and nonverbal symbols used to communicate ideas. The study of these symbols is what is known as semiotics . Taboos : strict mores or behavior ...