Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Hi students. So, the title of this post will resonate with all of you. Some people use this founding national idea as a means of justifying all human behaviors (as in, we can use the land as we will, despite environmental consequences, because humans in America have the"right" to pursue happiness). Given the capaciousness (look it up) of this idea, how do we balance this "right" with the rights of "other" people in our communities (think of women, or gay and lesbian Americans, as our readings have encouraged us to do) and with the "rights" (if they exist) of other nonhuman entities (animals, the air, the earth) with whom we share our lives?

Frederick Douglass

Near the beginning of Douglass's 1852 speech "What, To the Slave, Is the Fourth of July," he tells his audience that "I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young." What are some of his reasons for being "glad"? How does he use this idea of being "glad" throughout the remainder of the speech? As he says at the conclusion, he "leaves off where [he] began, with hope," a reminder of his earlier pronouncement of "gladness."

Scholarly sources

From our experiences in class, what do you think the major differences are between "scholarly sources" and non-scholarly sources, or sources collected from sources other than our library's research databases? What is the value of a scholarly source and what is the value of a non-scholarly source? What do you think of the requirement in most college classes that you limit your research to scholarly and academic sources?

Cooper's "The Slaughter of the Pigeons"

Cooper's "The Slaughter of the Pigeons" is excerpted out of a full-length novel, yet it manages to stand alone as an effective denouncement of avaricious human practices towards innocent non-human residents in a community (in this case, the pigeons). How is it that this few-page piece can stand by itself, when you don't even know these characters or their histories? What tactics does Cooper use in this brief episode to tell you a significant amount about these characters' traits and this community's general attitude about animals and about themselves and their rights?

Logical Fallacies! PIck a group's post and identify the fallacies in your response.

Notes on Logical Fallacies
Tyler Cecil, Bryce Carson, Whit la Torra, and Spencer Brown
August 31, 2011
1. That speech was good. A person who made good speeches was Hitler.
2. While Charlie Chaplin was considered a great comedian, we cannot ignore his Hitler mustache.
3. Obviously the pyramids were constructed recently! Hitler said it, so it must be true!
4. If this person makes one more veiled threat, I fear they will not last the week.
5. My opponent believes that Adolf Hitler is an important political figure.
6. Adolf Hitler was a painter before his rise to power. Therefore, I propose that we put all painters in internment camps for our protection.
7. Support me, or support Hitler.

Group: Jeff Mills, AJ Burns, Tracy Sjaardema, Melanie Palmer
1. If we don't write logical fallacies we will fail the class.
2. If we can land on the soon then we should be able to work together as a society.
3. If we all read through assigned definition hand out, we will all be able to write essays with perfection.
4. Want to know how our powers will take over the universe? Try the Dark Side Cookies.
5. Sanity is like a parachute. Just because you lost yours doesn't mean you can borrow mine.
6. Come to the Dark Side; the Light Side hates cookies.
7. So many people like crack it must be amazing.

William Rosenberger, Zack Wallace, Jerric Jaramill and James Hopper
1. "Everyone is switching to Droid phones now a day. Why are you still using that ancient Blackberry?"
2. "He did a really bad job during basketball, so please don't choose him for our baseball team."
3. "Dr. Newmark is obviously to pretty to be an experienced or competent professor"
4. "Because continuous gravitatioinal pull from the moon causes tides to go in and out, we cannot reasonably expect the stocks from Dessert Corporation to remain constant"
5. "Abraham Lincoln is not a good role model because in his earlier years he spent a lot of time in the company of a certain Adolf Hitler (citation needed)"
6. "If you don't vote for Dr. Julianne Newmark for U.S. Senate, then we might have to have a little 'talk' (if you know what I'm saying, *wink wink*)"
7. "If we in-force the death penalty, crime rates will drop."


Tim, Russel, David, and Ashlynne
1. This candidate is not fit to be president because he is married to antiamerican protester.
2. We should not trust this pothead!
3. I am Troy Polamalu, the superbowl athelete, and I use Head & Shoulders.
4. Have you seen the new Ipad, everyone has it, do you?
5. If you do not vote for Obama, you will be labeled a racist.
6. All we have done in this class is write about fallacies, this class is going to be such a breeze.
7. All I need to do is to pass this finial inorder to pass this class.

Tannen and "argument culture"

Beyond military metaphors, which Tannen argues drive our "argument culture," what kinds of metaphors might we more usefully employ? What do military metaphors cause? From your perspective, is this a problem?

Welcome to English 112, Section 06!

Hello students! I am excited to meet you next week on our first day of classes! This semester you will read various kinds of written arguments, some of which have had a significant effect on the American social climate and on American political policy over the last two hundred years. We will also find ways to consider arguments across genres -- from poetry to essay to short story to visual images to written reports. We will end the course with a reading from a famous Southwestern American literary text that we will analyze amply in class. Then, you will write a ten-page research paper that will include an original thesis statement of your own; within this paper, you will show your skill at weaving together types of argument from many different academic and public argument genres. On our way through the semester, we will read broadly and you will write various kinds of essays, from two-page responses to five-page formal thesis-driven papers. You will also have the opportunity to use this blog to comment further on our class readings. I will look forward to hearing what you have to say in class and to reading what you write here and in your formal papers. Let's have a great Fall semester!