the Feminine Mystique

Here is a link to the 2nd chapter of The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan's groundbreaking discussion of the ideology of the feminine that captivated American women at mid-20th century. It came up in our discussion of the motivation for certain assumptions to be expressed by the writer of the article "10 Phrases...".

http://ls.poly.edu/~jbain/socphil/texts/05a.Friedan.pdf

discussing articles for assignment 2

It was enlightening to participate in the discussion of the four articles you will be chosing among for your 2nd assignment. I had intended to unpack the articles for assumptions, implications, etc. and the discussion exceeded my expectations. Everyone is becoming proficient at doing the sort of rhetorical and content analysis that we have been practicing. I'm convinced that this sort of thinking will eventually contribute to your ability to write better.

Presentations on Gray, Chpt. 5

I thought our class presentations on Gray, Chpt. 5 went very well. The summaries and especially the responses were well thought out. I was particularly pleased with the discussion generated by the presentations. I think we have touched on many crucial points in the material and beyond it. It is my hope that the presentations helped to "get the wheels turning" in your minds as you contemplate the chapter and your understanding and response to it. BTW I have posted all six presentation slides on the IVLE workbin, under "student submissions". You should be able to view them since they were posted by me.

my response to "Can't We Talk?"

I found the article engaging because of the way Tannen structured it on the familiar examples and then built a catagorization of gender differences explaining those examples. This made the article very accessible and even entertaining, in a way that first building the categories and discussing them in the abstract would not have been. Having said that, I do have some problems with accepting the dualities she proposes as universal (despite her disclaimer at the start of the article). But as an introduction to her ideas written for a general audience, I think it "works."

story by William T. Vollmann re:reading/writing