HW 20 - Thinking/Writing Groups

Please send me an email with the following:

1. Your name, email address, and blog address.

2. Fellow-student members of T/W Team, their blog addresses, and their emails.

3. More skilled person's name, relationship to you, and email address.

4. Less skilled person's name, relationship to you, and email address.

Please also clarify with the persons you recruit (mentor AND younger person) that you are asking them to;

1. Read your 2-3 blog posts per week.

2a. Post a comment to one of your recent blog posts approximately 1x per week.

2b. Their comments should (please) focus on the BEST line or idea in your blog post. They could please quote or paraphrase your best idea, say why they like it, and then offer their own response or suggestions as to how you could further develop this particularly good aspect of your post.

Please consider what we discussed in class about the right way to approach potential mentors, about the importance of reciprocity, and respect for the time of others.

Please email me this by Saturday morning 8:30am.

HW 19 - Family Perspectives on Illness & Dying

Our families affect how we approach illness & dying - but how much? Our understanding of illness & dying, as we discussed in class, include modalities, categories, treatments, diagnoses, and ways of understanding illness & dying.

Please discuss illness & dying with the adults who raised you. You're looking for areas of overlap and contrast between how they approach it and your understanding of dominant culture perspectives. Please ask them also about the health/illness/dying practices of the people who raised them.

A strong post will be well-organized - each paragraph focusing on a single main idea, contain lively original ideas and perspectives, avoid or nuance clichés, and demonstrate your ability to creatively and critically conceptualize dominant social practices around illness & dying in terms of your own experience.

Please post your 3-6 paragraph mini-essay by Wednesday 9pm.

HW 18 - Health & Illness & Feasting

Please write a 3-5 paragraph analysis of physicality over the break.

If you're involved in family feasting please make that your focus for most of the analysis.

How did your experience of this holiday fit into the "anti-body" vs "body-centered" practices of our culture? How did food-pleasure supplement, dominate, or focus the event? Were other pleasures also practiced (watching football afterwards?)? What "background" elements related to illness & dying (empty chairs, sick family members, the nutritiousness of the food, lack of movement, etc)?

Due Monday, Nov. 29 at 8:30am.

HW 17 - First Thoughts on the Illness & Dying Unit

Please write 3-5 paragraphs on your first thoughts about our exploration of illness & dying.

Some prompts you could use to get yourself started:

1. Your experience with the topics.

2. The way you've been taught to see illness & dying.

3. Social norms around illness & dying in our culture.

4. Your family's approach to these aspects of life.

5. Possibly unusual perspectives you have about being sick and/or dying.

Aim for exploration. List questions. Open your eyes up. You shouldn't be writing an argumentative paper (probably), instead try to get your own thoughts and insights and perceptions flowing. If you find yourself writing vague cliches (happens to all of us) finish the sentence and then write about why you think your thoughts circle around vague cliches on these topics.

Due Wednesday, 24 November, 8:30am.