Lots to talk about:
1. In-class writing conferences: to simplify the sign-up process, we're going to pass on the wiki idea that we discussed in class today and just use our google group. To sign up for a writing conference for next week, follow these steps:
1. Log into our google group.
2. Click on "Pages."
3. Click on "Conferences (10/16).
4. Click on "Edit this Page."
4. Read and add your name, where necessary.
5. Click on "Save and Publish."
6. IMPORTANT: You have now updated the page. On the next page, google groups asks if you want to "Let the group know about this page." The answer is NO. Please click the button that says "Skip This." And you are done.
This is the process that we will use for conference sign-ups each week.
2. For this Wednesday, we'll be looking at two student papers (first drafts): Ben's and Katie's (thanks you guys! please remember to get me your drafts by midnight on 2/10). We'll devote 1/2 our class time to a discussion of Ben and Katie's papers and the other half to the news.
3. Please read the following for Wednesday's class:
a. On Sunday, 2/8, there was an expose called
Peanut Case Shows Holes in Safety Net on the peanut industry and the recent outbreak in bad peanuts and peanut butter. Please read the article and view the photos.
b. Connected with the piece on peanut butter, there is an interesting piece which explores the question
Do We Need a Department of Food? The Editors of the Times asked a series of experts to weigh in on this question. Please read all of these short opinion pieces.
c. This piece,
My Children Made Me Do It, is a meditation on a concept (a model of the kind of essay you might right). The concept is "an inheritance."
d. This piece,
You Try to Live on 500K in This Town, should give us all pause at how "the other half lives."
e. And, finally, a piece which makes an argument, in this case, about gays in the military:
An About-Face on Gay Troops.
