Writing Across Cultures

The original Star Trek , created by Gene Roddenberry, debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation Starship Enterprise. These adventures were continued in an animated television series and six feature films. Four more television series were produced, based in the same universe but following other characters: Star Trek: The Next Generation , following the crew of a new Starship Enterprise set several decades after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager set contemporaneously with The Next Generation ; and Star Trek: Enterprise , set in the early days of human interstellar travel. Four additional feature films were produced, following the crew of The Next Generation , and most recently a 2009 movie reboot of the series featuring a young crew of the original Enterprise set in a parallel universe. Check here for the "official" Star Trek web...

Television originally was meant to be a radio with visual projection capabilities. However, TV has changed American culture in many ways. Here are some details about important milestones. Tune in: In the late 1800s, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a student in Germany, developed the first ever mechanical module of television. He succeeded in sending images through wires with the help of a rotating metal disk. This technology was called the ‘electric telescope’ that had 18 lines of resolution.   Around 1907, two separate inventors, A.A. Campbell-Swinton from England and Russian scientist Boris Rosing, used the cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system, to create a new television system. From the experiments of Nipkow and Rosing, two types of television systems were created: mechanical television & electronic television. Philo Farnsworth is credited as the inventor of the first electronic television. The first television station...

Q: What is this pop culture presentation? A: Effectively you want to introduce your topic to the class and explain: 1. What or who is it? 2. Why is this subject important? (i.e., how has it affected our culture or lives?) You should have a visual aide or audio aide of some sort. This visual or audio can be a film clip, a newsletter that you create, a brochure with relevant information, a Prezi that incorporates video, visuals, and information, a song clip, a tray of brownies (or any appropriate food), a poster, a painting, a Powerpoint presentation, a flyer, a 3D object, a pet snake, a game, a physical object, a picture, a zine you created yourself, a comic book, a swatch of fabric, or anything else you can think of that would help your audience understand what you're talking about. Q: How much time do I have to present? A: Please keep your presentations to about 10 minutes or less. As long as you've explained what it is and why it's important, we get the idea. Rea...

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 . 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? Jennifer Government : Please use some class time to read Jennifer Government and search pop culture magazines or the library for secondary sources. Here's Max Barry's website . It doesn't get more pop cultur...

Intro to Pop Art Video Pop Art: Appearing in Britain in the mid 1950s and in the United States a few years later, pop art challenged aesthetic tradition by equating fine art with an artist's use of mass-produced visual commodities. Pop art removes the subject material from its context to isolate the object, and/or combine it with other objects or genres. Pop art employs aspects of mass culture such as advertising , comic books and mundane cultural objects. Found objects and images recall the theory of Dada. Pop art emphasizes the banal or common elements of a culture, as opposed to high or refined art. It uses irony, incongruity, and associates itself with the mechanical means of reproduction or rendering which can make its meaning aloof or difficult for the viewer. Andy Warhol  Roy Lichtenstein Takashi Murakami Jasper Johns Keith Haring Eduardo Paolozzi are just some of many pop artists.

Please use the time in the library and/or lab to conduct research or write material in your journal or for your portfolio. If you need a break, or change of pace, take some time, sit and read Jennifer Government in the library. A note about the presentation: effectively there are two grades for your Pop Culture project. 1). a creative non-fiction essay/reflection (which will count for your portfolio), and 2). a presentation you will present to the class. What can you present? Anything pertaining to your topic. Effectively, you want to explain to us what the topic is, where is it found in our culture, what is the effect on our culture, and why is this topic part of our culture (what is its significance). So in other words: what is it? and why is it important? Good presentations will be informative, thoughtful, show effort and/or creativity, and be thought provoking. They should include some sort of visual aide. A newsletter, a magazine, an ad, a zine, a comic strip or book, a shor...

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 Twelve full typed pages of new work. Uses lab and class time to full extent; always on task when given an assignment. Participates consistently and insightfully in class discussions; an exemplar for other students. Accomplished: Well developed chara...

The Pop Culture Project: You may work alone or with one partner. Choose one of the areas of study in popular culture: Media Pop Art Pop or Media Icons (people) Fads Technology Sports Leisure Activities (gaming, pastimes, etc.) Music Fashion Food Lifestyle Narrow your topic by breaking the category down to manageable and identifiable topics. Make a list or mind map of sub topics and components in the category in your journal. EX. Media can be broken down into smaller areas such as television, film, radio; but then can be broken smaller still into things such as television: CSI Miami , various actors, various directors, the Simpsons . Then these topics can be broken down further, if needed. Search the internet. Find internet sources that examine the significance of your chosen topic. Record the internet addresses and keep careful track of your sources according to MLA format . Search the library. Find at least ONE text source in the library. This book may not be speci...

Please link to the website: Pop Matters (a popular culture on-line zine). For HOMEWORK: please peruse this site. Choose 3 articles in any of the following categories: television, movies/film, music, gaming, dvds, books, comics, multimedia, events or culture. In your journal write a short 1-2 paragraph summary of the article. Be prepared to share at least one of these articles to the whole class on Tuesday.

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 entertainment, 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 place) and read about Popular Culture on Wikipedia (another pop culture idea). Take notes to define, understand the component parts of the subject area, and its characteristics. ...

Please respond to these three questions in your notebook/journal: 1. What is American culture exactly? 2. Who gets to decide what is included or excluded from American culture? 3. How do we know we are culturally 'American'? "Recognize that the position you take in this debate about culture --whatever position you take--is a political one with implications about what we should value, what we should praise, what we should accept, what we should teach. When you reflect [or act to create art or writing] about this debate, when you contribute your own voice to this discussion, try to be aware of the implications that follow from your position. When you listen to the voices of others, try to listen with awareness, deciding for yourself what is at stake and how their positions relate to your own."

Much of this class requires you to find ideas through conversation, our readings, and through a variety of other means like writing exercises, research, and broad based topics. Almost anything is fair game to a writer. The object is to spark an idea and/or topic to write about. We're going to try that today as you begin your first writing assignment. Cultural Ideas Exercise: 1. In your notebook/journal, etc. make a list of cultural ideas. Cultural ideas are usually based on beliefs, fashion, food, environmental issues, entertainment or leisure activities, taboos, traditions, holidays, education, and several other broad-based categories. 2. Try to break up your general or broad-based category into smaller, more manageable ideas. Beliefs, for example, can be turned into: concept of life after death (what happens after we die), the concept of evil (why do bad things happen to good people?), the concept of freedom (are we free to choose our own destinies?), the concept...

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 beha...