AWOL - Dominant Perspective Basics of US Govm't

Basics of the US System of Government
According to the Dominant Perspective

1. Constitution: The US system of government is based on a written constitution which is “the highest law of the land”. In other words, the U.S. is “a nation of laws” where everyone has to follow the published rules. This contrasts with the “bad old days” of a King who could just change the rules to suit his own situation and desire for unlimited power.
2. Federalism: The US system divides power between the national, state, and local governments who all make policy choices. This contrasts with France or China – in which stronger centralized governments make policy which “lower” governments
3. Checks & Balances: The US constitution set up a system in which 3 Branches of government limit each others powers. This was intended to prevent the situation of “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
4. Separation of Powers – Each of the 3 branches has separate powers.
5. Legislative Branch –Article 1 of the Constitution - The Congress – Is bicameral – the Senate (100 people 2 from each state even Nebraska) and the House of Representatives (435 voting members – depends on state population according to Census). Powers include making laws, taxing, approving treaties, approving appointments to Supreme Court.
6. Executive Branch – Article 2 of the Constitution – The President – Now limited to 2 4 year terms (amendment). Powers include negotiating treaties, signing legislation, vetoing legislation, appointing applicants to the Supreme Court.
7. Judicial Branch – Article 3 of the Constitution – 9 members – Powers include (since Marbury vs Madison) the claim as the highest interpreter of the Constitution (decides what laws are legal and what laws are illegal).
8. Checks & Balances include:
a. The President can check the Congress by vetoing legislation (but the Congress can override the veto with a 2/3rds majority).
b. The President can influence the Supreme Court by appointing its new members.
c. The Supreme Court can check the Congress and the President by declaring actions and legislation unconstitutional and by interpreting the existing laws how it wants.
d. The Congress can check the President by refusing to approve appointments, by overriding vetoes, by negating treaties, by refusing to declare war, by refusing to raise more money, by refusing to spend money.
e. The Congress can check the Supreme Court by creating Constitutional Amendments.
9. Limited Government - The Constitution (esp the Bill of Rights) limits government and protects the rights of the people from government interference and oppression. Actually a major goal of the Constitution is to limit government to limit democracy - the Constitution was set up in such a way as to limit the power of ordinary people to use government to create a more equal society. For instance, if the House of Representatives (the part of government most controlled by the people) voted to divide rich peoples estates the Senate could negate that. Or if the Senate passed it, the President could veto it. Or if the President signed it the Supreme Court could declare it unconstitutional.
10. Electoral College – A way of making sure that a President has broad support across the country, not just in a single region. (Actually a screwed up attempt to ensure that the regular people didn’t get to pick the President).
11. Republic not a democracy.

Model Paper - How to Live A Good & Meaningful Life Pt 1

We are born and we all die. What should we do with the time in between?

I have ideas of what makes a good and meaningful life. The people I interviewed, friends and strangers, also have various perspectives of what makes a life meaningful and good. Where did we get these ideas? Are these ideas helpful or misleading? Most of our most deeply held beliefs about the good and meaningful life are received from the larger culture. The larger culture can be considered a combination of three major sources - corporate/commodified culture, folk culture, and big subcultures.

My ideas about a good & meaningful life 1
My ideas about a good and meaningful life 2
Other peoples ideas about a good and meaningful life 1
Other peoples ideas about a good and meaningful life 2
Defining corporate/commodified culture and raising the question of messages it sends (dominant, marginal, prohibited)
Corporate messages 1 - Music video 1
Corporate messages 2 - Music video 2
Corporate messages 3 - Film 1

Model Paper - Dominant Frameworks of the American Way of Life - Part 1A

The American Way of Life is fundamentally organized around several dominant frameworks, including mixed capitalism and a representative government. In order to understand the choices individuals make in our culture - how we are able to live - we have to be able to understand these dominant frameworks.

The framework of capitalism is extremely important for both the actual physical structures of our society, what we do all day, and for our ideology - what we think, what we desire, what we fear, what we believe. What is the dominant understanding of capitalism - the kind you'd get from someone who took an economics class in high school or as a freshperson at college? Introductory courses to capitalism describe it as an economic system based on private ownership of wealth, free enterprise in a market system devoted to profit, and the ...

The Dominant Frameworks of the American Way of Life Pt 1

Part 1A: Capitalism - the Dominant Perspective

I've already asked you to post a one page synopsis of the dominant understanding of capitalist economics. Free markets, supply and demand, the circular flow, profit motive, the invisible hand, upward mobility, the factors of production, etc are concepts that should be included in your work. Note, I'm not asking whether you agree or disagree with this view of capitalism - I'm asking you to show that you can articulate and understand it. If you still don't understand it, please use google and wikipedia.

In addition I would like you to read 2 (or all) of the following pro-capitalist essays and include citations, paraphrases, and reactions to the essays in a revised draft (separately posted) of your synopsis of the dominant perspective on capitalist economics. We are headed toward a long paper on how capitalism affects the AWOL - this is the component by advocates of capitalism, and should increase your synopsis to 1.5-3 pages.

College Sophomore Analysis - A college sophomore at Syracuse short essay supporting capitalism.

Capitalism Saves - An essay arguing capitalism is responsible for longer and better lives.

Milton Friedman - The most famous economist with a radical pro-capitalism, pro-free markets perspective. Recently died and this is a collection of excerpts from texts and interviews.

Wikipedia Article - This is the dominant perspective in "neutral" text.

My Lip Gloss:

1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life? Paraphrase the main idea.
The "good life" that the protagonist pursues in the "My Lip Gloss" video is to be cool. Being cool is associated with a number of specific items - using expensive products, getting a lot of sexual attention from the other sex, being resented by people of the same sex, the authorities praising you and wanting to imitate you. The video also shows a couple other themes - being famous (on the computers), using your powers to invigorate your chosen followers with amazing powers, running for class president, sparking a unified dance scene from the masses, commanding everyone's attention.

2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.
"I just want to be a part of the cool crowd." That's Lil Mama's sole spoken ambition to set up the video and it is shared by everyone we see in the video. The skinny boy wearing blue is being pushed around by the mean kids in the hall but Lil Mama blows her magic lip gloss breath at him and he flips the script and drops his glasses and starts dancing the dance. He is now cool. Towards the end of the song ("8th period") the dean calls her to the office and asks Lil Mama to write down "where you get yours [lip gloss] from." Even the dean wants to be cool - dramatized in the video by letting her hair go free.

3. How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics? Analyze.
The video extends the song in several ways. Each "becoming cool" moment is symbolized by a physical transformation - dropping the glasses, freeing the hair, dunking, being on the computers. But it is still all about being cool - being extraordinary - being the center of attention. Nothing particularly good or important is done (no ending of poverty or recognition of human solidarity or struggle against oppression) - other than a kind of carnival-like interruption of the normal school day. But hey - carnivalesque interruption of the school day (with those in power approving us but in their offices) is actually, as Lil Mama states later, "like wow".

4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared.
The dumb little ending "It wasn't the lip gloss it was you all along." Like Dumbo's feather and 10 other little revelation tropes (the ending scene in the film version of "the Natural") we are taught that the fetish we identify with isn't the real source of our power. This is the opposite of, for instance, the story of Samson.

In the context of "becoming cool" the message here is that the expensive product allows you to access the real power inside of you - the product is just a necessary "prop" but you are really the star. But that still leaves a big role for the expensive product - Lil Mama can "upgrade you" - but remember that L'Oreal isn't the real deal, its you that matters.

This is not interesting. This is the main line of advertising which both flatters our specialness and attacks our insecurity - the main message of advertising is that "our product can help you access your innate wonderfulness". So "My Lip Gloss" is simply a commercial hip hop fantasy that replicates corporate make-up commercials. The lack of any critical "edge" is made even more clear by the fact that in "My Lip Gloss" the mother is sympathetic and wise and the Dean is full of praise and wants to imitate the protagonist. So even the authority figures are conspiring to support the extraordinariness of the teen. This extraordinariness, then, can't be a rebellion against the established authority figures, but it can be a party in the lunch room. Which probably won't pose much danger to capitalism.

One other quick interesting point was that the video showed the protagnist and all her teen friends faces on the (macintosh) computer screens. That's today - facebook, myspace, etc. But then they say, "No music" and the scene abruptly breaks to the "real" images of the teen and her circle and she's spitting rhymes to just hand claps. This distinction between the "virtual" and "real" in a video which is actually itself faked and virtual, is kind of weird. The distinction "fake" and "real" is of course what the "Lip Gloss" thing is about - and maybe the confusion between the two is what "cool" is about.

Finally there is something weird going on with the emphases in "I be rubbing it" but I'll leave that to others to analyze.

LDH2B Meaningless - Pop Culture Analysis Project - Pt 1

Messages on the Good & Meaningful Life from Popular Culture - Part 1

Please watch the following three videos. If you see something objectionable to your family's sense of what you should be seeing - please stop watching and talk to me about it.

After you watch all three videos please select one to analyze. You should address the following questions:
1. What is the song basically saying about how to live a good life? Paraphrase the main idea.
2. What lyrics particularly speak to that perspective? Use quotes as evidence.
3. How do the video images support, re-orient, or challenge the dominant theme of the lyrics? Analyze.
4. What else do you notice that's interesting? Look for internal contradictions, aspects of the message that resonate with other messages from the pop culture, points that connect to your own perspective, etc. Analyze squared.

Please type up your response, read it over, revise it, and post it by Monday, Oct. 20 at 8:50am. Please devote 50 minutes to 2 hours of concentrated attention to this effort.

My Lip Gloss - Lyrics Here
Good Life - Lyrics Here
All You Need Is Love - Lyrics Here

Other Peoples' Perspectives on Meaningful Life

What makes a life meaningful? What are the most meaningful aspects of our lives? Do we find our own lives meaningful? I posed these and other questions, all related to the big question, "How should we live?", to numerous people I know, people in the street, and during classes. To make sense of all the different answers I constructed categories for them. The distinction I found most thought-provoking was the one between individualist & collectivist responses. Collectivist responses centered on relationships, structures, and groups. Individualist answers focused more on a single person’s achievements, hopes, and processes.

The most popular collectivist answer was that the family is the most meaningful aspect of our lives. This was probably the majority answer in the people I spoke with. Is this as self-evident as it seems to most people? What is it about families that makes them such centers of meaning in our lives? When I asked a black middle-school student to elaborate on his immediate answer of “family” he said that, “They are there for you when you need them and take care of you” and “They love me.” I asked him if the important aspect was that they loved him, or that he loved them and he said, “Both.”

This sense that a life's meaning emanates from loving bidirectional relationships - from relationships characterized by trust and mutual support - was dominant. But support for what? Love based on what grounds? It seems that most of the people I spoke to are living in a role based game - a kind of Dickens world - where all the actions we take outside the family have their ultimate purpose in just kind of hanging out at home together. You are supposed to love the people you hang out at home with and support them through various struggles and expect the same from them. Love doesn't have to be earned and mutual support is assumed. Family is a kind of warm & cuddly nest and a refuge from the cold and pokey world outside.

But is this really the most meaningful aspects of our lives? When I asked a gringo middle-school student to describe why family mattered most to him he also spoke of love and support. But when I asked if, after high school, he would be leaving the family nest and moving away to go to college he unhesitatingly said, "Yes." I tried to sharpen the contradiction, "If your family is the most meaningful aspect of your life why would you ever leave it?" But he didn't seem to see one - in our culture these days we center our emotional lives around our birth family as children and then abandon the birth family for career and individual "success" and then create a new family as adults. We try (often unsuccessfully) to merge the childhood families and adult families rarely - at Thanksgiving Day dinners or Christmas gatherings.

My Model Paper - Other Peoples' Perspectives on the American Way of Life

Other Peoples' Perspective

The people of the United States take the American Way of Life pretty seriously, even if they have a hard time articulating exactly what it is. Many people I spoke to were unsure of how to define the American Way of Life, or spoke in vague generalities, or said they didn't know. The ones who did have a strong sense of the concept also often had a strong opinion on the topic. I think this contrast between those who had ideas to share and those who didn't is a sign of the split between people who think about the culture and people who just live in it (like, "Fish in the water who don't know they're wet."). Now thinking about something doesn't guarantee insight - but at least insight is made possible.

Several of the people on the street said, "No idea" and my friend Heather said, "No comment". A young Hispanic woman just said she thought it was good here but the prices were too high and there weren't enough jobs.

On the other hand some felt strongly about the topic. One gentleman (middle-classed gay gringo) said that freedom was the defining aspect of the American Way of Life and that freedom was rooted in the Bill of Rights - a guarantee against government oppression. An older gringo woman spoke of freedom and flags and how people who are critical of the country should move overseas.

TO BE CONTINUED

Assignment 3: Short Essay with Illustration AWOL

AWOL Assignment 3:
Short Essay with Illustrations

What do the people around you think of the “American Way of Life?

Please answer the question in 1000 words or less.

You could consider multiple aspects of the question – definitions of the AWOL, pros and cons, how much people seems to have thought about it, etc.

Do not just list “Tina said this and Diego said that.” Figure out a pattern or two so that you can weave quotes and paraphrases together.

Patterns:





For two patterns you can name your first pattern and then the other one could be the answers that didn’t fit the first - “While 2/3rds of the people I spoke to indicated ____, the other third had various other points of view.”

Once you’ve got your essay please add three illustrations to embed in the text. These illustrations could be your own photographs or drawings – scanned or uploaded. They could be illustrations or photos from the internet. They should add an additional flavor, an interesting juxtaposition, or a demonstration of your argument.

Please complete the rough draft by Thursday October 9, 9pm and post it asking your assigned partner for specific feedback. Then revise and post the finished copy by Sunday October 12 at noon.

Assignment 3: Short Essay with Illustration YLDH2BM

YLDH2BM Assignment 3:
Short Essay with Illustrations

What do the people around you say about living meaningfully?

Please answer the question in 1000 words or less.

You could consider multiple aspects of the question – whether meaningfulness is objective or subjective, what parts of their lives they find most meaningful, how they know what matters to them most, etc.

Do not just list “Tina said this and Diego said that.” Figure out a pattern or two so that you can weave quotes and paraphrases together.

Patterns:





For two patterns you can name your first pattern and then the other one could be the answers that didn’t fit the first - “While 2/3rds of the people I spoke to indicated ____, the other third had various other points of view.”

Once you’ve got your essay please add three illustrations to embed in the text. These illustrations could be your own photographs or drawings – scanned or uploaded. They could be illustrations or photos from the internet. They should add an additional flavor, an interesting juxtaposition, or a demonstration of your argument.

Please complete the rough draft by Thursday October 9, 9pm and post it asking your assigned partner for specific feedback. Then revise and post the finished copy by Sunday October 12 at noon.

Revised Grading Proposal

Revised Grading Plan

I have made the following changes to my proposal in light of student feedback. I will make 50% of the number grade (quarters and semesters) from participation – which includes some aspects of observable effort. There is a rubric below. I have also clarified, below, the general rubric for assignments and work policy.

So here’s the basic idea – your work will be judged ONLY on excellence/achievement.

These scores will be put in a place where you can see them (probably online) and are non-negotiable, except in case of grave injustice involving more than 2 points (i.e. I score a 7 but you are convinced it is a 10). In case of grave injustices we will ask Josh Marks to serve as the Appeals Judge and he will be allowed to either change your score to the one you’ve claimed or to keep it as I originally scored it – but not to compromise. Work is eligible for this appeal process only when posted on time. You are limited to 2 unsuccessful appeals per year - successful appeals are not limited.

Each assignment will be weighted based on the relative work involved in the assignments – projects that require more work will be “worth” more. These weighted scores will be calculated into a “work score” and this will be 50% of your grade but also revealed separately from the total score.

The other 50% will be “participation” strictly using the rubric below. This will not be an “automatic” score nor will it be one where the teacher will say, “What does she need for the 65?” This score will be part of the total score but also revealed separately. These "soft skills" are also an important part of your learning - as several of you argued Monday.

General Rubric for Assignments
10 – Among the best work done in the class. It fulfills all criteria from the assignment, is strong with thought-provoking ideas, has flavor and beauty, and has been revised and polished. This work is deep, colorful, and clean and would be welcomed by college professors.
9 – Good work, impressive. Reveals some strong ideas and areas of beauty or has been highly revised and polished –doesn’t quite manage to combine polish with strength.
8 – Solid job. Shows ideas and flashes of aesthetics but requires work to build those into a more powerful project.
7 – Decent work. The assignment has been completed without just “going through the motions”. Alternatively the work might have some strengths but have missed part of the assignment.
6 – Getting there. The work seems somewhat perfunctory – as though it were done last second or without intention. Doesn’t seem to have benefited from thinking time or from revision.
5 – Halfway – Most of the assigned work is minimally done with one or two decent parts.
4 – Partway – Most of the assigned work is minimally done.
3 – Something – Some of the assigned work is minimally done.
2 – Better than nothing – A bit of the assigned work is minimally done.
1 – Mas que nada – A tiny bit is posted.
0 – Nothing.


Work Policy
Work should be done over a period of weeks and days, not hours and minutes. By working steadily (or at least intermittently) you give yourself the chance to have ideas, to have second thoughts, to explore in different directions, to exchange notions with others (including the teacher), and to revise significantly and repeatedly.

Work done at the last second is just generally not as good - less ideas, less flavor, less revision.

Work needs to be posted on time as our class relies on the opportunity to learn from others’ work – and if yours isn’t posted when we’re looking, no one will learn from it. Work that is more than a day late may be discounted a point and work that is a week or more late may be discounted 2 points. The “late” discount will not drop a score below 6.

Participation Rubric
50 - (12.5 each)

• Sharp, succinct, and thoughtful contributions to class or group discussion at least 3x a week that contribute to the depth of our collective understandings
• Consistently present, on time, and focused (95%)
• Lead and focus and support others in group work and learning activities
• Prepared with all assigned work but with additional aspects and questions to explore actively

45 - (11.25 each)

• Strong and thoughtful contributions to class or group discussion at least 3x a week that contribute to our collective understandings
• Consistently present, on time, and focused (95%)
• A strong member in keeping groups and learning activities focused and worthwhile
• Well prepared for class – did the reading, finished the work, notebook out to consult yesterday’s notes before today’s course begins

40 - (10 each)

• Thoughtful contributions to class or group weekly
• Usually present, on time, and focused (85%)
• An active member in groups
• Ready to make the most of class – writing down ideas and paying attention so that you can learn more from the assignments

35 - (8.75 each)

• Occasional contributions to class or group
• Often present and on time and usually focused (75%)
• Doesn’t mess up the group
• Goes through the motions usually but sometimes gets interested

30 - (7.5 or less each)

• Rarely or never contributes to class or group
• Often absent or late or distracted
• Distracts the group
• Sometimes secretly texts, flirts, disappears during class, generally avoids having to learn anything from the class