Newsletter Week 4

Hi everyone

This week we talked about the almighty thesis statement, a concept that may have already played a central role in your writing lives, and if it hasn’t yet, it surely will in the future. I want to remind you that I would like you to bring your working thesis statement to our meeting next week. I advise that you use the Sheridan Baker worksheet to create your thesis. Remember a thesis should have two components: an argument and a rationale.

I also want to remind you that we won’t be meeting as a class at all next week. Instead, you will meet with me individually to discuss your paper. If you haven’t done so, please sign up for a time slot.

Additionally, I will grade blog #4 posts soon. Respondez!

What We’ve Done

As I say above, this week you embarked on your thesis journey. Keep the techniques and practices we talked about in mind.

Ways of Seeing, Episode 4: In this episode Berger discusses the ways advertising imagery seduces and convinces us into buying products by promising us fantasies of how our lives could be better. You might think about what Berger says here in terms of the advertisements you encounter around the city, on televisions, and online, in your daily lives.

Seeing Through Raceby Martin Berger (no relation to John, that I know of): Martin Berger lays out an alternative way of seeing photographs that document the Civil Rights era. He focuses on how they depict black suffering over black political activism in order to create sympathy for the movement. You might think about this in comparison to images of the protests that circulated in 2020.

What’s Coming Up

Next week you should focus on writing your paper.

You will also be meeting with me individually to discuss this paper.