I am showing this to Joni Starr

Yay!

Chris Lopez Final Project

Fighting the Gay Formula

Happy Summer :]

Humping The American Dream

No one really knows what others are striving for....
Working together for a common dream that no one understands will ultimately lead to common faliure.
The American Dream is completely objective.

Here's my final presentation:
http://prezi.com/g4cewu5w_oub/

by Alyssa Salisbury

think about it.

http://prezi.com/9tohjgyvvilj/censorship/

Christopher Reed's presentation

Oh stumbleupon...

Hey, I was just stumblingupon (for those that don't know, you click a button and it takes you to random websites it thinks you'd like) before leaving for our final meeting, and I stumbled upon this. I figured that a lot of people in this class are in education, so it might be cool to see, although it's pretty cool regardless.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU

Final Project

http://tinyurl.com/25pa6fh

Feminist Theory Text Set

http://www.wix.com/KnFox1/Feminist-Project

can't wait to see everyone's projects!

Superhero Identity Text Set

Here is my final project. It's a text set about Superheroes and identity, and the issues superheroes have coming to terms with their identities. I hope you enjoy.

Superhero Text Set


Brett Robb

Themed Text Set

Final Project

That link will take you to my final project. It was my first shot at creating a Prezi, so I hope it works out ok. Use the arrow keys to navigate it, and click to enlarge or rotate. Hope you guys enjoy it!

-Joel

Final Project

Here is my final project. See y'all tomorrow :)

Portrayal/Betrayal

Enjoy,
Brandon

Children's Literature Association Draft Program

If anyone is interested in heading down to the ChLA conference in Ann Arbor in June, here's a link to the draft of the program.

Gallery Walk on Wednesday!

Gallery Walk of Young Adult Literature Projects

12:45-1:45 on Wednesday, May 5

Regular classroom

The votes are in on how to share final projects. The option that most people chose was the gallery walk. (Small groups came in a strong second.) 

Other than bringing a copy of your project/presentation, you don't have anything to do to prepare. (Although if your project is on-line, try to bring a computer. I'll have mine and we can also use the classroom computer.) We'll do the actual organization on Wednesday, but since we'll want to have everyone have a chance to share and talk about his/her project, we'll divide the class into groups and take turns mingling and "presenting".

I'll bring some treats!

Submitting projects:

• If your project needs to be submitted as a hard copy (i.e. poster, scrapbook, binder, etc.), then you can just hand it in at the end of the Gallery Walk. (I'll also supply post-it notes and ask you when and how you would like the project returned.)
• If your project is a traditional paper, please submit it to the Angel dropbox before the Gallery Walk. I will send feedback via email.
• If your project is on-line, you can either do a post on our blog with a link or go to the Angel dropbox and supply the url for the project. (Either way, I'll email feedback privately.)

 Other questions?

More Promotion

The Mitten Mavens the Lansing Roller Derby League is having a fundraiser at Noodles and Company on May 5th from 4-9pm. By mentioning the Mitten Mavens 25% of the sale will go to the Mitten Mavens. Please support these women as they do what they love. I know this has nothing to do with YAL but their are many women who fighting for some of the themes we have discussed. These women are figures of women empowerment and breaking gender stereotypes. So please support them soon after our final :)

Amy Huntley visits today

Just a reminder that we'll be meeting in Erickson 252 for class today. Amy Huntley will be talking to us about The Everafter, so bring your books and questions!

Spartan Dischords concert this Friday

Sorry -- this doesn't have much to do with YAL.



On Friday, April 30th, MSU's premiere a cappella group, the Spartan Dischords, won't feed you, but we will put on a damn good show! "Eating Out with the Spartan Dischords" is coming to the Pasant Theatre at the Wharton Center. The concert is a celebration of young people everywhere eating out. So, get some friends, or maybe a date, and head over to Applebee's, and THEN come see the Spartan Dischords at Wharton! The show will, as always, feature some great new music, including songs by Jay-sean, Edwin McCain, Michael Buble, and Jason DeRulo. Along with that comes all the normal Dischordial hilarity!


We know exams start the next week, but seriously, we promise you will not be studying on Friday night! Have some fun with the Dischords, then get up and be productive on Saturday! (or not)


The show starts at 7:30 pm in the Pasant Theatre (inside Wharton) and tickets are on sale NOW. They're only $5 for students, and they include the concert AND the absolutely kickin' after-party. You can't beat that for a Friday night!


Here is the link to the ticket page, you can buy them here or at the Wharton ticket office. On the web page, make sure you change sections by clicking LEFT or RIGHT as the center section is soon to be sold out and it'll make it look like the whole show is sold out.

http://whartoncenter.com/boxoffice/performance.aspx?pid=970


We still have tickets available but this show is very likely to sell out, so please don't count on getting tickets at the door! Get them online or at the Wharton Center box office beforehand!


Get more info about the concert by joining the event on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109923892358647&ref=ss

Graphic Novels with Homosexual Characters

This is mostly for Brandon, but if others are wondering where are the superheroes of the GLBT community I have a suggestion. DC Comics makes a wonderful superhero series called "The Authority." Two of the main superheroes Apollo and Midnighter are openly gay characters who are married to one another. They also raise Jenny Sparks (on and off again), who is another member of the superhero team whose age fluctuates over the course of the series. Might be something worth checking out if you are examining queer theory for your final project.

Bright Ideas Conference - Teaching with Graphic Novels

Hello everyone. I recently worked on a project for the NCTE Bright Ideas Conference about teaching with graphic novels. My co-collaborators were Danielle Peck, a fellow student in the secondary English program who will be interning at Waverly high school next year, and Samara Napolitan who will be working towards a master's degree soon. Together we created a website to encourage the use of graphic novels in the classroom. On the site are pedagogical reasons for teaching graphic novels, some basic vocabulary you would need to teach and discuss this kind of text, as well as three graphic novels from the three different grade levels (elementary, middle, and high school) and how they could connect to the Michigan State Standards. Please feel free to take a look, and if you have any questions or comments send them my way! If you are interested in teaching graphic novels, but need some advice about where to find a particular novel or even just ideas for different novels you can always contact me as well.

www.wix.com/daniellepeck/comics

Final paper/project conferences

I'm going to post my conference schedule for next week to the "Lessons" folder on Angel. If you would like to reserve a time, email me and I'll add you to the schedule. If none of the open slots work for you, email me a couple of other times and we'll work something out.

I'll also have my regular office hours this Friday from 1:00-3:00.

Unless we make special arrangements, all conferences are in my office: Bessey 243.

In the Interest of Self Promotion

Please check out Amy's Wish presented by the Holt Dimondale Community Players. I was the assistant director on this play and I'm very proud on how it turned out. The show opens on April 22 with shows also on April 23, 24, 29, 30 and May 1 all at 7 p.m. at the Holt Junior High. I believe tickets are $10 but I'll edit the post tonight with the confirmed price.

I hope you can make it. I know we are all busy with end of the year semester stuff :)

If you liked Crank...

... you might check out this site that lists other YA novels that are written in verse!

Final project proposals and conferences

Final project proposals (Due on Tuesday, April 20)

Your assignment for Tuesday is to write a 1-page proposal that outlines your plans for your final project/paper. (Particularly if you are doing the project option, I suggest you reread the requirements in the syllabus.) I understand that this will represent where you are now in your thinking and that the project is bound to change as you do the work. I would still encourage you to use this as an oportunity to do a layer of writing/thinking that will contribute to your final piece! 

Here are some suggestions about what you might include:

• Which option will you do? For projects, what form will it take?
• What question will focus your paper/project?
• What theory will you use? (If any.) How does this choice connect to the question/theme described above?
• Which texts will you use or are you considering?
• What type of support or feedback do you want from me or your classmates at this point? What questions do you have?

On Tuesday you'll have a chance to get feedback from others in the class and then I'll collect them and respond by Thursday.

Scheduling an optional conference:

Since I teach two beginning composition courses, my office hours tend to fill up quickly near the end of the semester. I've set aside several large blocks of time in the last couple of weeks of school as extra office hours.

If you think you might want to meet about your final paper between April 26- and our final exam session, I would suggest reserving a time on the schedule that I'll bring to class next Tuesday and Thursday. Bring your schedule/calendar to class! Conferences can either be in person (my preference) or by phone. You can sign up for either 20 or 40 minutes. :-)

Most Challenged Books

Linked below is an article I found on Yahoo News discussing the most challenged books for 2009 released by the ALA. The IM series by Lauren Myracle topped the list and for the obligatory Twilight reference, Twilight took
5th.

`Twilight' series on list of challenged books

Crank Deconstruction

At first when I started reading Crank I was just flying through the book. I was reading at a very surface level in the sense I was just reading the words on the page. I did notice of course that the words were disjointed, that they sometimes formed shapes that seemed to correspond to what was being talked about on that particular page. But I didn't really do much deconstructing of the text and the language beyond that.

I unfortunately missed the Deconstructive Theory presentation, but I'm sure it was wonderful. So I had to do some digging through the chapter to get caught up, and I helped myself out, as it is a pretty hefty complicated theory, with some useful Wikipedia advice. I found the following on Wikipedia: "Deconstruction generally attempts to demonstrate that any text is not a discrete whole but contains several irreconcilable and contradictory meanings; that any text therefore has more than one interpretation; that the text itself links these interpretations inextricably; that the incompatibility of these interpretations is irreducible; and thus that an interpretative reading cannot go beyond a certain point" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction). That made it a bit easier for me. So after doing that I changed the way I read Crank about halfway through. I started reading for these different interpretations that were parts of a whole. This made the reading so much more interesting in ways. For example, on page 195, the chapter called "I slithered down the hall," could be broken down using deconstructive theory. I read the whole thing first as a complete text. I then read just the words on the left hand side of the page. There were gaps that my mind filled in, but really were missing words that made it seem incomplete. The emphasis on the left, the message I got was the story of a girl washing in a shower, her leg infected, and she is angry and sad. If I opened the book just to this page and read, it would be unclear as to whether the angry purple welt she describes is a bruise from being beaten by Adam, an old wound of sorts, or something else (like the tattoo that we know it to be). But the interesting part for me was when I read just the words on the right hand side of the page: "shed...skin...found...Kristina...beneath" (195). Taken in context with the title of the page, it was like a mini poem of a metaphor of a girl to a snake. In context with the story this made the fragmentation of her mind even more profound. She was Bree in Albuquerque, but she takes a shower in Reno, and literally washes that self away with the dust and dirt and everything else.

I continued to read the story in this way, picking apart the different meanings and constructions behind the language. I didn't go so far as to decipher individual words, and what their meaning could be, what we assume their meaning is, and then the other meanings that may linger behind that which add layers to the understanding of the story and the message, but I found this as a really interesting, if not overwhelming at times, way to read a text. I would be intimidated to teach this particular theory to secondary students myself without some further instruction and help getting a handle of the theory, and I would worry that they would find it time-consuming and tedious and horror of all horrors...boring. But I really liked the text, and liked experimenting with the theory.

Crank: How it scared me

I appreciate Crank, I've never taken so much time and thought about how frightening the state of addiction is. At first I thought the story would be hard to follow. The strangely designed prose, I thought, might throw me off and the idea that short, poetic pieces could relay an entire stort wrought with so much pain and tragedy was not something I could immediately grasp. But it became clear the story would be easy to follow and, the book, a quick but greatly impacting book.

The deconstructive theory group's presentation offers a strategy to put the sometimes oddly laid out sentence/stanza structure in perspective. When the words are randomly strewn across the page, or seemingly randomly strewn, I get the feel for a state of chaos. Or, when one word is set apart, the focus becomes greater for that word. If the four lines before it all culminate with one WORD, then obviously that is done to make some sort of point. In other cases comments by separate characters would be paralleled in the writing. Chase's comments and Bree/Kristina's would be placed juxtaposition to show their parallel similarity and inherent differences.

But the thing about this book that I will remember was how hard it hit me. Addiction, it seems worse than solitary confinement in the world's most hardened prisons. The way it can ruin a life without the person even taking a step back, then the clear vision of hind sight only serves as a kick in the ass to remind you of the turmoil you let your life descend into. I really felt a little frightened after reading the book. This was a girl with a cushy life. All that changed were her influences, a summer around the wrong people and a little self-consciousness went a long way in the wrong way.

Crank

I am glad that the Deconstructive Theory group presented before we read this book- I think that it helped me while reading the text and it also helped me to analyze what exactly I was reading.

Before I read the book, I was not sure about how I was going to like it. The cover seemed different and it was not something that I would have gravitated towards if picking my own book. However, I was very impressed at how well the book held my attention and how quickly I read the book.

I really liked how the author not only had crank represent a drug, but crank also seemed to be another character in the novel. For me, this helped to solidify the idea that this drug played a part in almost every area of her life.

Another part of the book that at first I was disappointed in, but later appreciated, was the ending. I was expecting Kristina to have her baby, come clean and represent more of a success story. While some of this was true (she had the baby and had, for now, come clean) it did not seem as if she would remain a drug-free person. Unfortunately, this is normally the case in real life. Many teenagers who use drugs end up in situations such as this and they often battle with this monster for the rest of their lives.

I think that this ending was very appropriate because I think that it teaches students the reality of things- you cannot just start using addicting drugs and quit when you want to. The fact that Chase went off to college and Kristina was home, raising a baby on her own hits home for many high schoolers- they don't want to be the ones sitting at home while their friends are away enjoying college.

I would definitely recommend this book for high school students. I think that it would be something easy for them to relate too and I think that it also teaches them that choices have consequences and they cannot always be fixed easily.

Deconstructing Crank

This is kind of in response to what Steve commented earlier about how the mother of the girl addicted to meth wrote Crank... which is something that I found really interesting. Right away this gave me a lot to think about in terms of deconstructing the text- the fact that we are getting the mother's perspective not only of how the drug is affecting the decisions that her daughter is making, but also of how she views her daughter both on and off the drugs. You can argue through the text how she is attempting to understand both her daughter's plight as a teenager by including small descriptions of how she perceives herself (i.e. "three zits a month", hormonal, etc), and also of her plight as a drug addict, and as a drug-addicted teenager. You could argue that each of these has a separate identity in the book but they are still not mutually exclusive of each other. All of these different things make this book a very interesting read and a good text to deconstruct in my opinion!

Katie Pizarek's response to Crank

"Crank" works well as a young adult novel. It casts the main role to a fifteen year old narrator, named Kristina. Kristina is subjected to many adversaries that some students, while hopefully not the majority, are subjected to. While Kristina turned from the straight A student to the drug addict, many other teens face problems that take them down as well (not necessarily drugs) so they would be able to somewhat relate or assimilate to Kristina and her life. They could read the novel more metaphorically. A possible problem that adults may have with their teenage children reading such a novel as "Crank" could be the rawness that Hopkins used in her writing. Although Hopkins highlights many "lows" that follow the use of drugs, she also adds in some highs that may make such an unhealthy "hobby" appealing. "Crank" does however provide the much needed emphasis on the already known fact of , "you are who you hang out with" for it was Kristina's new friend Adam who introduced the "monster" to her. This being said "Crank" is not only a novel for young adults to read, but also a great one for parents as a reminder to watch who you kids are associating with. "Crank" is also a novel for young adults to read because it deals with the "uncomfortable" discussion of rape. Teenagers need to know that it is so important to get help and go to the authorities if they are ever, god forbid, placed into that situation. Being raped is nothing for anyone to be ashamed of. All in all "Crank" was an extremely powerful book written ingeniously in verse. It highlights on the power that drugs hold over their users by use of their addictive nature. It showcases to teens everywhere (as well as to adults) how very fast drugs can take a person down and keep them there.

Deconstructive Theory Presentation

Hello everyone! Our slides from our PowerPoint Presentation should be on Angel as soon as I figure out how to upload them.

I think our presentation on deconstructive theory went really well, especially considering the theory is one that is difficult to conceptualize. We wanted to make sure the class understood the idea behind ambiguous language and I really think we accomplished that. We also tried to make that part of the lecture entertaining by demonstrating how deconstructing a sentence could be fun. The headlines at the end of the lecture especially drove that point home.

If we could go back and do some things differently, I think we should have handed out a hard copy of our reading so the class could visually follow along and use it as a tool to try deconstructive theory. I didn't realize how helpful having the text physically in front of you was until we did the reading and discovered the class had issues remembering enough to deconstruct.

By the end of the period, though, I think the class had a basic idea of the theory and how to apply it. It was really fun working with the group and then teaching the class about our theory. I'm also glad I was in the deconstructive group because this theory is so interesting and you never know where your interpretations will take you. Please comment with your thoughts ...

Crank Structure

When I first began reading Crank I thought I would be incredibly annoyed by the way the text was shaped on the page. However, once I got into the book I couldn't stop reading it, literally. I found that the text construction gave the book a flow that my mind couldn't break out of, so I just kept reading until I was nearly finished in one sitting. The shapes of the text give each page a different flow and show the reader that certain sentences, words, or phrases should be given more emphasis than another. I chose a few pages as examples of how I interpreted the text.

On page 69 each line is only one word, making a straight vertical line down the page. When I first read this I read it word by word, sounding like I couldn't put a sentence, or even a phrase, together. I think that this depicts Bree's (or you could say Kristina's) feeling while she's on the drug. I just pictured her mind running a hundred miles an hour, her thoughts completely changed from her normal state, and this is what could come out of her mouth. Especially at the end of the page the last four words "you crash real hard" are all double spaced and bold. I found this page a successful way to show the effects of the drug on her mind and body.

Another passage I was interested in was pages 88 and 89. There are five words that are indented to the right, while the rest of the text is indented to the left. I really liked this passage because you could read the five words indented to the right, "coaster car climb drop monster" as its own entity. Through these words you can still get the meaning of the passage, that the drugs make Bree rise then fall and crash like a roller coaster, without reading the whole description. Another example of this that I liked was on pages 326 and 327.

The last passage I want to mention is from pages 405 to 407. This is a perfect example of using the movement of the text to describe the meaning on the page. Pages 405 to 406 demonstrate the rhythm her life used to have before she did drugs, with the words on the page having a pattern of five descending words in a line. Then, on page 407 when she discusses getting high all the words are scattered around the page, showing that she has lost rhythm of her old life before the drugs.

I really enjoyed the different textual patterns throughout the book because the text's meaning could change depending on how you decided to read the words, which changed from page to page.

What were some of your favorite pages?

Past theory events on campus

MOVIE: The tempest (1979)
April 15, 7pm
MSU Main Library: North Conference Room W449
Admission: Free
Sponsored by the English Department and Early Modern Studies
**Postcolonial themes, gender role deconstructions, and a gothic setting are combined in Derek Jarman's unconventional interpretation of Shakespeare's classic.

Pride Week
Pride week is the primary LBGTQ community celebration, planned, implemented and sponsored by the various MSU student LBGTQA organizations. Many of the events listed here are educational, but there's plenty of fun, too!

Sunday April 11: Picnic and Gaymes -- Join us in the Student Services garden from 2-5pm for food (including
vegetarian options) and fun gaymes! Sponors: Spectrum/PRIDE

Monday April 12: Speaker: Patrick McAlvey -- Alliance sponsors an opportunity to learn about ex-gay therapy in Holmes, C106 at 7pm, from a Lansing native who sought help from a counselor at the age of ninteen. Hear about Patrick’s quest after therapy to embrace his sexuality and overcome the horrors or therapy.

Tuesday April 13: Safeschools Seminar -- 4-5:30pm Erickson Hall Room 252. A seminar lead by local high school students and teachers discussingthe role of GSAs in their school environment, along with general GLBTQQIA issues in schools. Sponsored by SafeSchools.

Facepainting and Tie-Dye -- on the Brody lawn, from 5-8pm. Sponsored by LIGHT.

Wednesday April 14: Nervous but Excited -- 7:30pm in the Williams Great Hall (West Circle). Based out of Michigan, Nervous but excited is a self-proclaimed Pleasantly Agressive Folk Duo and MSU is proud to welcome them back for the second time in 3 years! Sponsored by PRIDE.

Thursday April 15: Transforming Theatre -- 3-4:30pm in Room 6 of Student Services. The Transforming Theater Ensemble is a new initiative that combines live performance and audience participation to foster dialogue around topics that involve diversity and inclusion in the workplace, classroom, and residence halls. Sponsored by TransAction, RING, and the LGBTRC.

Friday April 16: Day of Silence -- Recognizing those in the community that are silenced.

Poet: StaceyAnn Chin -- 6pm Fairchild Theatre. Sponsored by the LGBTRC, Women’s Council, RCAH, Office of Inclusion and Inter-cultural Identities

Drag Show -- 8-11:30pm. Enjoy performances by some of your favorite drag queens such as Moltyn Decadence, Eva Angelica, Delicious, and our ever popular host, Hershae Chocolatae. Sponsored by UAB, RING, and RHA.

Saturday April 17: Pride Week Prom -- 8-11pm, Union Gold Room A/B. This is your night of magic under the stars at prom! Elegant light refreshments, a beautiful photo station, prom favors for the first 100 people, and dancing the night away. Sponsored by PRISM.

Sunday April 18: Dodgeball Tournament -- Join all the LGBT Organizations for a round-roubin tournament to see which caucus team will take the title of the undisputed “Dodgeball Champion!” Light Refreshments will be provided for all participants! 1-3pm at IM Circle. Sponsored by RING.

Deconstructing Crank

Thanks to the Deconstructive Theory group for introducing the class to the theory today. I can't emphasize enough the impact this new way of thinking had on how people in all disciplines think about the (im)possibility of objectivity, the relationship between language and thought, and the potential benefits of playing with uncertainty. I was glad that the group made the point that this theory doesn't just "rip things apart", but is a tool to create new ideas, meanings, insights, etc. Here are two examples that have sprung to mind since class:

• Consider Locke's use of "for your own good" and the ways that one person imposing his/her will on another is in tension with the possibility of the recipient "owning" that good.
• Sometimes the "/" (vergule) is used to indicate the instability of categories. For example, talking about "dis/ability" suggests that: 1) disability and ability are always in relation to each other, 2) disability and ability might coexist, 3) we might consider disability "or" ability, etc. (Anderson & Merrill, 2001).

For those of you who want to try a hand at this type of analysis, let's do that here. Some techniques might include:

• Find a very short piece of text and read it multiple ways. You might try out the dictionary activity Peter described in class or generate your own meanings. To use a common deconstructive metaphor, how does the language/meaning "slip"?
• Make a statement about the surface ideology of the text--the meaning that, for the moment, seems "obvious" to you. Then find ambiguities in the text or counter-evidence. What contradictions can we find? What do you now consider to be the sub-text?
• 
  Play with different ways of reading the verse. What happens when you treat the shape of the words on the page in different ways?

These are only a few suggestions. Have fun!

Optional: The Case of the Purloined Paper

You may remember that when we initially discussed the syllabus, I mentioned that I had included Schulte's "The Case of the Purloined Paper" in the coursepack, but hadn't assigned it to any particular week.

I included this article because I think that, for those of you who will be teaching literature, it is important to discuss and think critically about how the availability of on-line reviews, papers, etc. might be shaping students' willingness and even ability to develop their own responses to literature.

I'm curious to hear people's responses to the article: Have you seen this as a problem? Have you seen teachers who have found creative responses to encourage students to do their own writing and/or use outside resources appropriately?

Crank and Censorship

One of the reasons that we are reading Crank during the same week as our discussion of censorship is that last fall the book was challenged and Ellen Hopkins became very vocal about the issue of censorship.

Hopkins wrote a play-by-play on her livejournal, beginning with an entry on September 17 and extending through the next several months. After reading the book and Hopkins' entries, what do you find to be either persuasive or not persuasive about the school's choice to cancel her visit? What issues and values are at stake?

You might also browse the American Library Association page on censorship for more information on the history of censorship in schools, intellectual freedom, and concrete steps teachers, librarians, and other community members can take if a book is challenged. Are there any resources or ideas that might help us make sense of the challenges to Crank?

Crank discussion

Here are several interlated questions to get us started discussing Crank:

• In what ways is Crank YAL? How does it work as a "problem novel"?
• What did you find powerful, surprising, or troubling? What made it so?
• What was the ideological message of the text? To draw on our discussion of deconstructive criticism, any mixed messages? If so, what do we (re)make of them?

As always, try to refer and/or quote specific passages in the text as support or to generate discussion.

Censorship, selection, and YAL

MacLeod provides a historical overview of censorship and children's literature. What values, beliefs, and constructions of childhood (or young adulthood) are at stake? Where have the tensions existed in both socially liberal and conservative pressures to select or restrict access to books based on "socially morality"?

You might read our second articles as more of a contemporary case study of censorship and selection in schools. Curwood, et al.'s, article explores the need to include books with GLBTQ content in the curriculum, some of the reasons teachers hesitate to do so, and how to be proactive in selecting literature and preparing to justify one's professional choices.

If you would like to do some outside research, The American Library Association and the NCTE's pages on censorship have some great resources that might help you think about both the values at stake and the realities of how teachers, librarians, and other community members negotiate disagreements around books.

Where do you stand on these issues? Should young adults have access to all books? Is there a place at which you would draw a line in the name of protecting young readers? If so, how and who should decide what the criteria for selection is? Any quotes strike you as worthy of further discussion? Post them!

Week 13: On-line class (Tuesday) and Crank discussion/activity (Thursday)

I'm sorry for the late notice but, as I said in class, I will need to miss class this upcoming Tuesday. Instead, we'll do an on-line discussion.  So...no face-to-face class Tuesday, 4/13. 

On-line discussion:
Your on-line participation will take the place of the 1-page critical reflection listed on the syllabus.

• Read Crank by Ellen Hopkins and the articles in the coursepack on censorship/selection. 
• I will post several "discussion starter posts"  to focus discussion.
• Before Tuesday, choose a discussion strand that interests you and write an initial comment that responds to a facet of the prompt. If you want to discuss a topic that doesn't seem to be captured by any of these posts, feel free to write your own post to start a new strand of discussion.
• Return to the blog sometime between Tuesday and Thursday, skim the discussion strands, and respond to at least 2 other people's comments.

Remember that comments don't have to be lengthy, as long as they are responsive and substantive.

For Thursday:

Please bring your copy of Crank. We can spend a little time extending the discussion we will have started on the blog, but we'll spend the bulk of our session exploring how the text is shaped by the fact that it is written in verse. We'll use a modified form of Reader's Theater to explore the questions: What changes when we attend to the shape and sound of the poetry, rather than reading it silently to ourselves? What does this say about language? Meaning? (Deconstructive theory) Although I have already selected some of the poems from the book that we might use for this activity, if you have particular favorites, please mark them as options for your group to present. 

I know some of the content in the book may be more or less comfortable to members of the class and that everyone has different comfort levels "performing" in front of groups. I've structured the activity in a way that I hope everyone will be able to make participation choices with which they feel comfortable. Despite the fact that I've just used the word "comfort" three times, I also hope people come willing to take some risks!   

A little post-colonial satire

How to Write about Africa

The Danger of the Single Story

Here's a link to The Danger of the Single Story. I'll also post the transcript on our Angel site under "Additional Readings" in case you want to read it.

The Sparrow

One of my all-time favorite books are The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God, by Mary Doria Russel. They came to mind today because the author wanted to explore what it would be like to encounter a new culture: Is there the possibility of exploration and encounter without one civilization colonizing the other? Have we learned from the past?  Given current globalization, she set the story in the fairly near future and began with the idea that humanity "discovers" a new world and alien race.

I know that not everyone is into science fiction. For what it's worth, I once read this with an adult book club and even those who initially protested my choice of text for "my" month, ended up loving it.  

NYT article on where the "adults" are in YAL

The Parent Problem in Young Adult Lit

Hilarious critique of Pocahontas.

In light of today's presentation, I realized that this awesome post-colonial/Disney critique of Pocahontas would be completely relevant! Um...some dialogue is NSFW (Not Safe For Work). I highly recommend watching it, though.

Just in case the embedding doesn't work: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thedudette/nostalgia-chick/1880-pocahontas

Post-Colonial Theory Group Presentation

Hello everyone. The slides from our presentation should be up soon. Please feel free to shoot us any questions if something comes up that you didn't think of in class.

I was really happy with how our presentation ended up coming together. I learned a lot about Post-Colonial Literary Theory and I feel like we were able to share some of its main ideas and components with the rest of the class. One thing that I think we would go back and change was to mix-up the lecture part with the practicing with texts parts a bit more. It was heavy lecture in the beginning and then a lot of activity at the end. Our intention behind this was to make sure everyone knew and understood the theory before attempting to practice with it. But it could have been interesting to see how our opinions of the texts, and how we read them changed as the class discovered more about the theory itself (a bit like we did with the Invictus trailer).

That being said, I really think the components of the lecture stuck with everyone. In my small group at the end of our presentation we viewed the lyrics to "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley and it was fantastic to hear how all of the group was able to breakdown the lyrics using post-colonial theory. If I were assessing understanding from a teaching perspective I would have felt confident that the lesson worked simply by hearing the rich discussion that I was a part of. My group was using the terminology of this theory and really digging apart the language and message with this lens. It was also neat to hear how additional ideas that I hadn't thought of came up throughout the discussion, such as the World Bank documentary and how Jamaicans are forced to sell food they produce domestically so that they will import and buy food. What a great world connection!

I had a great time working with my group members and overall I was really happy with how the presentation turned out. Please continue to post things on the blog that pertain to the presentation today (Thanks to Brandon and Chris for your recent posts). I will definitely use the information that I learned throughout this project and apply it in my own classroom someday. Thanks for being such great listeners and participants!

Becky

Bach to Africa

I know the video quality is horrible but It will still get the point across and if you want a copy of the cd just let me know :)

The World Bank & Jamaica

During small group discussion, we mentioned this film. It's a pretty interesting perspective to witness and can relate to post-colonialism theory:

http://www.lifeanddebt.org/

Reader Response Theory Presentation

Hey Everyone :)
The slides have already been posted for our presentation, so please give them a look if you would like further confirmation about any parts of the theory we covered.

Overall, we really enjoyed exploring this theory and giving the presentation. Reader-response seems like sort of an abstract theory, in regards to the fact that it is based on people and their responses rather than a set of beliefs or regulations. This makes it really easy for people to jump into it, because it's really about what they think and how the create responses, but it also makes the theory a bit difficult to explain and teach.

Giving the presentation and hearing everyone's responses definitely helped us learn some new things about the theory for ourselves. The responses people gave to the pictures were a great way to see the theory in motion. Before the presentation, we were only drawing on personal experience with our own past reading. However, getting to take part in the process of reader-response and watch people connect to and create text was really great. I found that I had personal biases and assumptions that others' responses caused me to reconsider and widen my gaze (ie. the picture of the legs and assuming that it was a girl; others' responses were not the same as mine, and I grew because of that).

I think the class as a whole did a great job of responding to all of our "text". All parts of the theory seemed to click well with people. I did notice that the beginning of the "Where the Wild Things Are" activity was a little rough, maybe because people were still unsure about what they were getting themselves into. If I could change it, I would have done a little more introduction in planning about the activity and the end goal of it.

Also, I think as a group we would have benefitted the class more by allowing more time for questions in between or at the end. We were excited to see students asking questions about some of the theories, but we would have liked to see more of that.

The powerpoint was a very helpful tool and as a group it kept us very directed. Our goal was to make sure we weren't clinging too tightly to it, and I think that went pretty well.

I also think as a group we could have been more helpful by creating a handout of the different types of reader-response theory, since there are five. I don't expect that everyone remembers what each theory was. Perhaps it would have been helpful to create a quick excel doc with the names of the theories and their main points.

Again, we had a great time overall and we really hope that reader-response theory is something you will find useful in your own reading as well as some of your classrooms. :)

Group- Anything else we'd like to add?
--Kristi & The Reader Response Group

Reader response slides...

... are posted on Angel.

Week 11: Reading "The Arrival" using Reader Response

Reader response theorists distinguish between one’s first read of the text in which the meaning unfolds as one moves through the text and subsequent reads in which the reader has a sense of the whole before moving through the text.


One strategy for reading The Arrival might be to:

• Use post-it notes to mark what you notice/understand as you do your initial reading.
• Reread the text and use a different color post-it to mark what you notice during your 2nd+ reading.
• Or, use different colors to mark visual themes.

In your paper, you might ask questions like: What story did I tell as I read? How does the text invite and shape that story? What assumptions/knowledge/reading strategies, etc. did I use to animate the text?

Reader response criticism varies a great deal in emphasis, so focus on something that intruigued you about the text and use whatever tools help you explore that idea in depth!

On Thursday we'll hear from the post-colonial theory group!

Thinking about the final project

FINAL PROJECTS!

Although I'm not asking you to hand in anything on your final project until 4/20, I'm happy to talk with people before then. My office hours are Tuesdays, 3:00-5:00; Fridays, 1:00-3:00; and by appointment.

Dates to remember:

• Hand in 1-page proposal for your project/paper for feedback. (Tuesday, 4/20)
• Workshop. Bring draft of project/paper for peer feedback. (Thursday, 4/29)
• Share projects/projects due. (Wednesday, 5/5)

In addition to the description in the syllabus, you might check out the week 5 and week 8 powerpoints on Angel.

Keeping up with GLBTQ YAL

If you are interested in keeping up with new YAL with GLBTQ characters and themes, there are several blogs that post reviews. Lee Wind is known for thoughtful reviews.

There's also a blog called "Worth the Trip" that is good, but it seems to be temporarily down. :-(

LGBT presentation next week on campus

The Gender Center has the following LGBT presentation coming up if anyone is interested:

25 Mar, 2010 Thursday

Sex/Crisis: LGBT Studies in an Era of Cutbacks
7pm to 8pm
Lake Ontario Room, MSU Union

"Sex/Crisis: LGBT Studies in an Era of Cutbacks," presented by Lisa Duggan, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University. Co-sponsored by the Center for Gender in Global Context, Department of English, LBGT Resource Center, and the Women's Resource Center.

---

26 Mar, 2010 Friday

Lisa Duggan Follow-up Discussion
10:30am to 12pm
213 Morrill Hall

Please join Professor Duggan for a seminar following her March 25 evening lecture (Sex/Crisis: LGBT Studies in an Era of Cutbacks) discussing the intersections of sexuality and neoliberalism in the university context. Students are particularly encouraged to bring questions about her lecture or any aspect of her work.

Week 10: Freak Show, Queer Theory, and Reader Response

Thanks to Katie, Emily, Emily, Guy, and Peter for their presentation on Queer Theory yesterday! I've posted the slides from their presentation on Angel. Although you are welcome to ask other types of questions in your critical response papers to Freak Show, one approach that might work well with this book would be to explore how the author plays with the idea of "heteronormativity".

I've also posted an article called "Anti-homophobic Pedagogy" in the Additional Readings and week 9 folders. This is optional reading. I posted it because, although it is written to an audience of educators, I think the author makes some interesting points about how sexual orientation is discussed and why one may or may not one might be public about sexual orientation in the workplace. (He does make the point that those who are heterosexual might have less expeirence thinking of this as a choice that carries certain priviledges.)

To recap, for Tuesday, please read Freak Show and write a one-page critical response. On Thursday we'll hear from the Reader Response Theory Group!

Enjoy the weekend!

Queer Theory Group

As a group, we think that we did very well presenting Queer Theory to the class. We met two times to work on the project together plus had a meeting with Valerie. Our group got along very well and we all thought we were easy to work with. We also thought that we divided up the work evenly and covered the important material in the chapter as well as include some things of our own. Although it was the day after St. Patrick's Day and the class seemed tired, they also seemed interested and we, for the most part, were able to keep their interest. Although there was a lot of things that we had to lecture about, we did incorporate some interactive things as well which kept the class alert. I think the read aloud that we chose was very effective, and I do feel bad that I did not know the ending. So, for the people that do want to know, Kyle and Jason do end up dating by the end of the book! Our videos seemed to catch the classes interest as well and were good tools to wrap up our presentation while covering everything we had talked about.

Human Care Bears article

In our discussion of "Meant to Be Huge" we started talking about how the normal body is constructed in stories.

This article takes on how "retarded" is used as a term and how the "retarded figure" works in popular culture:

"Human Care Bears: Rahm Emanuel's "retarded" outburst made good headlines, but the way some advocates portray the mentally disabled is far more offensive"

Week 9: Professional Resources / Queer Theory

In the spirit of spring break, there's no specific assignment to prepare for Tuesday, March, 16th. (Although you might want to do some reading for the final project.)

On Tuesday, we'll continue our discussion about how young adult bodies are constructed in the media and do the mid-semester feedback. Then we'll spend some time looking at professional resources that might help you in your final projects. Please bring the images of young adults we were supposed to discuss before break and your coursepack to class.

On Thursday, the Queer Theory group will do their presentation!

Have a safe and fun spring break!

A little light spring break reading

I was browsing Children's Literature in Education and came upon an article that reminded me of our discussions in the last two weeks:  Colonizing Bodies: Corporate Power and Biotechnology in Young Adult Science Fiction. In addition to being an interesting piece of scholarship, the reference list has some YA science fiction that sounds interesting!

Sweet Valley High

Evidently the Sweet Valley High saga continues!

Week 8: The Hunger Games & Constructions of the YA body

Thanks to Brandon, Stephanie, Ashley, Samantha, and Alli who introduced us to some key ideas in feminism and gave us examples of the types of questions on might ask to do a feminist read of a text.

For Tuesday, please read The Hunger Games and write a critical reflection paper in which you draw on feminist and/or Marxist theory. We're working on getting everyone access to the power points, but you can also consult the Tyson text for ideas about what types of questions you might ask.  My biggest piece of advice on the critical reflection papers is to focus on only one topic/question so that you can explore that aspect of the text in more depth. Close readings of quotes and specific support from the text is always valued!

For Thursday, please bring 3 representations of the young adult body. These can be from anywhere and can be any type of text, as long as you have a way to share it with the group. Also, read Quick's "Meant to Be Huge" in preparation for class. We'll use this article to talk about the intersection between disability studies and other critical theories, the construction of the YA body in literature, and what writing strategies we might take from the article to use in the final projects.

Feminist Theory Reflection

I thought that overall our presentation went very well. One thing in particular that I think we did well was to break up the lecture aspect of the presentation with activities that involved the class, such as the reading from Twilight in the middle (as opposed to at the end) of the presentation. It can be hard to sit and listen for extended amounts of time, so I think dividing up the talking with something more involved is a good method for keeping the class engaged.

There were still some long sections of just lecture, however, which I think got a little heavy once or twice. If anything, I think more activities are better, even if they're small ones.

The class seemed to get a pretty good understanding of the theory, from what I overheard in the group discussions. What I liked when I was listening to one group discuss, after the Super Bowl commercials, was that they went outside the immediate text to look at the environment of the Super Bowl itself through a feminist lens, and also drew on other examples from television and advertisement that they thought related to the content and ideas of the commercials.

One thing that I think could have been discussed a little more by us is a clearer definition of feminism. It's not something that's easy to define as it has many different approaches and ideas (which we touched on with French and multi-cultural feminism) but I think it would have been beneficial if we had taken a little time to address some of the different impressions of feminism students in the class already had. Occasionally when listening to people's comments, I felt like there was maybe some clarification needed on what feminism is as a social movement, in addition to a form of critical analysis.

Feminist Theory Powerpoint

Here is the link

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=ddphj4sn_5gsz59bfj&invite=389874136

If you have problems accessing it let me know.

Brandon

Women in Media

Today's lecture made me think of this awesome segment called Target Women put out on current.com by Sarah Haskins. Basically she confronts various ways that the media portrays women and is hilarious about doing it.

One of my favorites is this one:

http://current.com/items/89317322_sarah-haskins-in-target-women-cleaning.htm
I highly recommend watching it!

Teaching Overseas

Since several people seemed interested, I thought I would post some information on teaching as a K-12 teacher in international schools. [The Department of Defense (DOD) Schools are a completely different system.]

TIE on-line has a schedule that lists the recruiting fairs that are used by American International schools. My experience has been with the UNI fair.

The University of Northern Iowa job fair is held in February every year. You apply to participate well in advance, create a portfolio for adminstrators, and then do all of your face to face interviewing at the fair. UNI is known as a good fair for beginning international teachers. Having said that, most schools require 3-5 years of teaching expeirence in the States and/or a master's to be hired. If you have international experience, can speak the host country language, etc., this will also help. These schools care about the quality of education, but they also need people who are flexible!

I had a great time at AIS-Mali and AIS-Vienna. Particularly since you don't have to pay taxes if you are not a U.S. resident, your take home salary is typically higher than what you would make in the States.

Let me know if you have questions!

Safe Schools Seminar this Tuesday (2/23)

The Safe Schools group is part of our TE department at MSU. The focus of the group is on opening up conversations around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Although I haven't been as active in the group this year, I did do the ordering for the Safe Schools Library and can promise that this is a great resource!

GLBTQ Children's and Young Adult Literature

• Introducing the Safe Schools Library
• Book talks on GLBTQ Literature
• Pedagogical Strategies for Using Books!

The event will be held:

• 4:00-5:30 PM
• Tuesday, February 23
• Erickson Hall 252

Week 7: Series Books and Feminist Theory

Hi everyone,

On Tuesday we'll be discussing series books. Series books are generally defined as a sequence of four or more books that are written by the same author, include the same characters, and have either similar plots or an on-going plot through the series. (They do, in general, stand alone so that you don't necessarily have to read them in any order.) As the Cart reading mentioned, this trend in publishing for YAs really got going in the 1980s. Series books are generally valued by educators because they help readers gain reading fluency, rather than for their literary merit. Sometimes series books are examined as popular culture. As always, feel free to disagree!

Please write about the series book you have selected. Include a full citation so that we can talk about who published the book, the copyright date, etc. Possible paper topics:

• What is the relationship between the book you've selected and the rest of the series? Does the text suggest a "formula"? Is it possible to read one of the texts as a stand alone piece or does the series build on itself? This might be a time to look at the "paratext" (Gennette 1997) of the story: the front and back covers, dedication, the preview of the next book in the series, etc.
• What do you notice about the text when you read it through a critical theory? Is there any relationship between the "formula" or genre and the constructions of [class] in the text?
• Who seem to be the implied readers of the text? Who does the text invite the reader to be or value or want? How is the YA constructed in the text? What do you think of those invitations?
• Explore an intertextual connection. For example, connections between series books or between a series books and the spin off texts/merchandice.
• Feel free to write about another topic!

Although I've encouraged people to focus on small chunks of text in their papers, this might be a week where it might make sense to think about a text as a whole or even across texts. For example, if you are interested in thinking about whether the book you've selected falls into the category of "formula fiction" or whether it represents a recognizable genre, it might make sense to think about how the plot as a whole is or is not formulaic in the series. Of course, how you define the limits of the text that you analyze will always depend on what you are interested in analyzing! I can certainly imagine doing a close reading of a quote from a series book.

On Thursday we'll hear from the Feminist Theory Group!

Valerie

Rebel Teen

I find the concept of 'raging against the machine' or rebelling against corporate control extremely interesting. This concept is nothing new; I find multiple parallels with the hippie movement of the 60s and the corporate support behind that (ie. the music industry, textile, media). In my generation, the biggest rebel movement to hit was the emo-punk rock fad. Suddenly everyone, from "book nerds" to the "popular girls" were were teasing their hair and wearing skinny jeans and converse sneakers...marketed at 'rebelling' against mainstream...marketed so as to become mainstream.


"Merchants of Cool" used the example of Insane Clown Posse as an outlet for the 'rebelling'; this example is perfect. These teens were so eager to rebel, they failed to understand that they are feeding the machine as well. The following are some lyrics from Tool's song "Hooker with a Penis" which about consumerism and 'selling out.' Again, this idea of ignorant rebel comes into play.

I, met a boy, wearing Vans, 501s, and a
Dope beastie-tee, nipple rings,
New tattoos that claim that he
Was OGT,
back in '92,
from the first EP.

And in between
Sips of Coke
He told me that
He thought
We were sellin' out,
Layin' down,
Suckin' up
To the man.

All you know about me is what I've sold you,
Dumb f*ck.
I sold out long before you ever even heard my name.

I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip sh*t,
And then you bought one.

Ironic, no?

Cool killers.

Although "Merchants of Cool" was a little dated, I thought it was incredibly interesting. Maybe I daydreamed my way through my YA life, but I never realized just how complex the system of finding, marketing, and moving on from trends could be. I'd like to take a second to respond to the "Cool Hunting" section of the documentary. The film suggests that teens view around 3000 discreet advertisements every day (and this number is from 2001; imagine now with all the sidebar advertisements on sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube). These advertisements have a subtle way of influencing the purchses young adults make, the clothes they choose to wear, etc. However, just minutes later, the film recognizes that once a company has found and marketed a trend which was just "underground", the "cool" factor quickly fades and the trend is killed.

So, the brands are influential.
And also, the brands kill the trends and perpetuate further change.

I'm sort of confused.

If the marketing of trends by large companies quickly makes them uncool, why and how do the advertisements work? Are the advertisements that influence young adults formulated around themes (ie. drinking, sex icons, high fashion) or specific brands (ie. Budweiser, Britney Spears, Marc Jacobs).

I think I'm leaning towards the latter. Although I do believe the brand is worth the money to many young adults, it seems that a trend as an overall concept is the more important transfer to make. This is prominently portrayed in a lot of YA magazines for girls. Pages are devoted to "look-alike" items, with pictures of celebrities in the latest fashion trends side-by-side with pictures of clothing which look similar but are available at affordable prices from stores like Target, Forever 21, etc.

I would be interested to get into the minds of current YA's and understand the way the subtle advertising affects their style, their money, and their relationships.

The Gravy Train

It doesn't take a documentary to see what's happening in regards to the media's influence over popular culture in the minds of millions...

it's sad to think of the obsession of material power.

the one thing that is forever real is the individuality of mind...

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."-Ralph Emerson; "Self Reliance"

Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" from their album "Wish You Were Here" reflecting the minds of the media and producers

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar

You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high,

You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try;they're gonna love you.

Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.

The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.

Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

We're just knocked out.

We heard about the sell out.

You gotta get an album out,

You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.

Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?

It's a hell of a start, it could be made into a monster

if we all pull together as a team.

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

the Gravy Train... it's all around us... it's up to you to stay true to yourself

Merchants of Cool

I was really surprised by this video. I had no idea that all of these TV stations were owned by just a few companies. I was not so surprised to hear that MTV and Comedy Central were owned by the same company because they seem to target the same audience and feature the same type of "characters" (the "mook") but other companies seem to own channels that span a wide variety of age groups. I had also never really thought about how marketing companies find out what is "cool". The cycle of things being "cool" seems so much more clear to me now. I had never really thought about how something is marketed basically until it is dead.

Merchants of Cool

The most curious question posed by Merchants of Cool was whether or not these companies are following what teens like, or whether teens are following what the companies are saying is cool at that specific moment. Interestingly enough, there was a movie called Josie and the Pussycats (that I am slightly ashamed to admit I own) that came out in 2001 that tackled a similar question while ironically using mass amounts of corporate sponsorship. In the movie, teens are subconsciously being brainwashed through underlaying tracks in “cool” music to keep them buying the latest cool thing on the market (i.e. - Red Bull, Big Mac’s, specific fashion trends). Unlike Feed and Merchants of Cool, Josie and the Pussycats wraps up nicely and the bad/"bad" guys are vanquished.

The whole idea that huge corporations hold sway over our likes and dislikes is nothing new to me. Nonetheless, the bombardment of “cool” that all three sources confront is quite disturbing and makes me wonder how much of what I’ve done and bought throughout my teenage and young adult years is indirectly because of mass media despite my unwillingness to conform to passing fads.

Lesson? ( - death and apocalypse) + (Merchants of Cool - ) =

Oh, I'm so funny...

The Mook Within

One piece of "The Merchants of Cool" that caught my attention was when the documentary outlined the concept of a "Mook". I've spent a good deal of time since seeing Jackass for the first time in eighth grade, side-splittingly laughing to Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and the rest of the show's cast and their incredulous antics. What I found striking was that MTV's Mook was admittedly not a portrayal of the American teenage male, but a caricature. "It's about understanding John(or any teenage male) as a customer," the narrator says. Ok, so now the Mook has a little more defined purpose. I think his purpose is to please all of us who once thought of doing something wildly moronic, like the clip in the documentary when a guy dons snorkeling gear and hops into a sewage tank. That kind of television is hilarious, and because it is off-limits to us normal folk we enjoy watching it. MTV cracked the code.

Ugh

I'll be honest. I can't hardly watch things like this anymore. It's so discouraging to think of how much we are controlled by the "market." We're taught what and how to think in so many ways. I can hear Tyler Durden from the movie Fight Club screaming in my head: "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off" (imdb.com - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes). But as much as there is a part of me that is like, that's it, I'll just fall off the grid and not be influenced by anything a la Tyler Durden, I know that is simply not realistic. I'm going to be a teacher. I'll be fingerprinted for my job. That's about as on the grid as you can get.

So with that course of action firmly off the table, from an educator perspective I think that this is exactly the sort of thing that we should expose our future students to. They should be conscious that the world they live in is a world that markets to them; what they should wear, eat, drive, and simply consume in general. Messages (tv, print ads, newspapers, internet, etc.) should all be looked at from a critical lens: who is paying for this, what do they want me to think, what is the author's intent, what are the unintended messages that we can expose, what is the purpose, the point? I think critical theory does an excellent job of posing these sorts of questions. I would definitely show this in a classroom someday, and I think it fits in very well with the Marxist critical theory and the book "Feed," which discusses similar ideas of who is in charge of how we think in society. I can see a book like "The Giver" working really well in such a unit as well, especially for a middle school audience.

yes, but so what?

The proliferation of market research and advertising, be it misleading or offensive, only startles me to some extent. I understand, or at least can acknowledge the fact that the world is a market place, and much can be gained from manipulating that marketplace. So the fact that teenagers are targeted only makes sense, and in fact, I think it's something that is in some ways defensible. I don't believe for a second that culture can't be improved by guiding hands. Perhaps not to the extent that MTV tells us to buy certain albums and see certain concerts, but influence should not be ignored. For a society to embrace something, it needs widespread attention. The reason why Britney Spears outsold The Insane clown posse is not really a secret. Yes, one was embraced by the media and put into our minds, while the other was discovered in a more underground fashion. But I really can't say that I feel bothered by being told by Mtv what is and isn't popular. In fact, I think it is an effective way for kids to make connections with their own generation, and if MTV makes a profit, it is a power rightly granted. I rarely regard it anyway, but I believe that money is the most common impetus for art. This is depressing. I realize this. But keep in mind, Michelangelo was COMMISSIONED to paint the Sistine Chapel. Edgar Allen Poe was pulling in checks for his works. If you ask me, art is created in large part for profit, be it great art, high or low or trash or nothing. MTV happens to do it better than the ICP did. And frankly it's an art form in itself.

The Influence of The Media

After watching "Merchants of Cool", I hadn't really thought of how much the media tried to cater to me as a teenager. Looking back, that was the "richest" time of my life considering I had no bills, and could spend all my paychecks on anything I felt like buying. I never really bought into the whole MTV TRL scene, but I definitely remember going through different fads and feeling the need to fit in. I thought it was interesting how the episode talked about Britney Spears and the Mid-drift being a form of empowerment for women even though they also talked about Mooks and how males don't have to care about what they look like, but females are shown in media to be obsessed by appearance. I guess I've never really thought of exposing my mid-drift as empowering considering all the derogatory comments and gossip there has always been toward female icons such as Britney Spears. I also found it interesting how ICP first talked about how the teens could feel they were a part of their music even though they later decided to get a record label and fit in. Overall, I thought the episode brought up some interesting insights into the minds of the media and advertising toward young adults. I had not thought much about the symbiotic relationship between the two.

American Born Chinese and William Hung

I thought the connection Yang made to William Hung in American Born Chinese was interesting. I have been asked to post this and hope that for those that did not see the connection will see it! The panel when Chin-Kee is singing She Bang on the Library table seems to come from an actual person named William Hung. He was a contestant for American Idol in 2004. He is Chinese and not a very good singer, but he seemed to capture the attention of the American public and became super popular. I have put up a link for you to see the youtube video of his audition so you can see how it connects to the graphic novel.

William Hung Audition

Young Adults and Advertising

It is pretty interesting to me how well "Feed" plays into the idea that teenagers and even society as a whole will completely play into and allow themselves to be manipulated by the media. Often, I am not the type of person who puts much thought into the so-called influence of the media, because I typically like to believe that I am not easily influenced. However, after reading "Feed" I realized just how much impact advertising and the media has on my buying trends. The parallels between the feed in the book and advertising in real life is so similar in that we are confronted with advertisements, commericials, web pages, books, movies, and TV shows every single day that attempt to sway our thoughts, opinions, and consumer trends. We are programmed in the same way that a feed programs the brain. Between the government and the media (which may be one in the same) we are caught in a never ending parade of attempted sway.

Merchants of Cool

I was very interested but not surprised at the extent to which companies are willing to go to find out what is "cool." How can they make (as much) money in the society that we have created today or sell anything if they don't follow the people who spend the most money, and figure out what they are spending it on? Which a lot of times can be anybody's guess and changes so frequently.
Having said that, I think that this whole idea makes kids feel really lost. (young) Adults don't have so much marketing being directed toward them, but if we think back to when we were teenagers, we wanted to be special, we wanted to be the ones telling the media what WE wanted, and I think after watching that a lot of the kids interviewed felt like the media was telling them. But in a lot of ways this can't be helped, I mean "cool" is so fleeting that it is almost pointless to market something that teenagers already have. That is why bands such as ICP are becoming increasingly uncool.

Ramblings about Merchants of Cool

I, too, watched Merchants of Cool with a cynical eye. Sure, I remember when Dawson's Creek and TRL were cool, but I haven't heard about any of them in years. This documentary was made ten years ago, about content that was relevant 20 years ago. If "cool" changed daily in the book Feed, then imagine how much has changed since 2001. I have heard, although not really recently, that MTV isn't cool anymore because they are more about reality TV shows than the music. I never watched MTV, so I ask others who have - is MTV still cool? Or are they so corporate that they're audience no longer appreciates them?

Also, another thought I had, I was a teen growing up in the nineties, so this documentary was about me. Sure, I listened to Brittany Spears, but I didn't watch MTV, nor did I go to Cancun for Spring Break, nor did I turn into a model at 13. Does this mean I am abnormal? Or, in their search for cool, do they only look at, and therefore attract, the "extreme" teenagers. Like when the correspondents were taking photos of people with tattoos - that was not me as a teenager. In fact, that wasn't anybody I knew. Maybe growing in rural Michigan meant that I wasn't cool? I think, as much as my opinion counts, that cool is not universal. Cool to me is completely different than cool is you, which is completely different than what is cool to my younger brother. How do the corporate people decide which cool to go with. They grabbed the "average" teenager for focus groups, but who are these "average" kids? They weren't me. Is there such thing as an average teenager? I don't think so. So what these researchers are doing, is finding a certain kid and then advertising to a certain kid. They catch other kids along the way, who think they are acting cool because MTV is showing them this, but really they are just seeing one personality type. I feel like I am talking in circles here. If I don't make sense, feel free to comment and let me know.

Thanks for listening!

TRL? LOL!

I never really bought into MTV or TRL as a teenager, but looking back, I can remember how big of a deal Limp Bizkit was. These days, at least among people I know, they are considered one of the biggest jokes of the past decade. Fred Durst was an absolute turd and yet was arguably the biggest rock star around the turn of the millennium. The problem was that he was almost entirely a manufactured product of MTV. His music was produced, packaged, and promoted as cool; he ruled the air waves. The great irony is that he became a victim of the cycle himself, becoming so cool that he was eventually uncool. As for his record-breaking album? When is the last time you heard "Nookie" or "Break Stuff"?

Now I'm sure Fred Durst and the rest of Limp Bizkit laughed all the way to the bank, but their status in pop culture 10 years later is non-existent. If their music and videos were good enough to own MTV for 3 years, why don't they have staying power? Shouldn't the same kids that voted over and over for their songs still have a soft spot in their hearts for "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog-Flavored Water"? Now granted, taste changes constantly (after all that was kinda the point), but I think the saddest part to me was the fact that kids don't even really care about what the cool thing is as long as they can fit in with it.

In closing, consider these lyrics from the immortal Limp Bizkit.

"You think you're special You do
I can see it in your eyes
I can see it when you laugh at me
Look down on me
You walk around on me

Just one more fight
About your leadership
And I will straight up
Leave your shit
Cause I've had enough of this
And now I'm pissed"

LOL.

Coolagraphy

Marketing and Advertising have never been this responsible for culture. It's interesting to see the mechanics and systems that MTV and other corporations have developed to get inside the minds of teens. When I was watching the film, I thought about how I was and perhaps still am a target for the teen market's interests. Although I don't follow too many mainstream pop culture trends, I am still a customer. This puts me as well as everyone else into pools that categorize us by everything from age to hair color. 3,000 advertisements a day flood our heads that plant seeds for recognition and response.

Just last year, I was one of the final top 12 male candidates to be on MTV's The Real World: Cancun. It was really interesting to analyze the questions and interviews I had. They asked what my favorite alcohol was, how prone to fighting I was, how much I listened to certain bands, etc. The purpose was to find another cast member that would stoke ratings and attract more viewers. Obviously, I did not make the cut (which I'm really glad about) but it did give me a different perspective about how screened, scripted, and critiqued media is before it ever reaches anyone.

Media giants like MTV are successful because of this in-depth research, however I personally see "cool" as something that can't be studied- it's too fluid. Studying the demographic is definitely the best way to angle your advertisements but lately, I'd have to say that MTV is heading towards a big problem. You can't thrive on reality TV and cash in ultra-tanned Jersey Beach kids for too long. That. is. NOT. cool.

Merchants of Cool Response

I had a lot of reactions to Merchants of Cool and I wanted to say something about them, so this is going to be a little long.
The first segment of the show reminded me of Scott Westerfeld's novel So Yesterday (I realize this is the second time I've written about him). The story starts with a teen "coolhunter" and the job he does. However, it's a teen novel, so it develops the teen into something a little different.
One of the segments describe Sprite as "selling a lifestyle"; which sounds like something from the essay "Advertising on the Edge of the Apocalypse". The essay talks about how companies get you to buy their products because having those products will supposedly give you the life you want. It's a scary thought, because in reality, products aren't substitutes for life.
Some of the quotes I heard were a little ridiculous. For example, "Smuggling messages to kids" sounds creepy. I realize that is what the companies do, but I don't like the idea at all. "Natural habitat"? What are we? A new species? It's frightening to think that this is just going to get worse, because teens are so volatile. And finally, "Teens are like Africa." They compared it to colonization, but I thought that sounded odd.
So overall, I found the movie to be very interesting, but a few parts were a little too odd. I saw that they liked to show how the media generalized teens. For example, the show said teens talk about sex. Well, that's true, but they talk about other things too. I was wondering if show like "Dawson's Creek" talked about things other than sex. They also say that mooks and midriff don't really exist, but with the feedback loop, they do. Teens act like they have been told they should act, without knowing it. The subliminal messaging is intense. It's a crazy world out there and so many people buy into it.

What I Never Noticed Before...

While reading "Feed", I was not really able to relate to the idea of constant advertisement. However, when I watched The Merchants of Cool, I realized that I was wrong. There are so many things in today's society that focus on ads and who to gear those ads towards. The clip that I found most interesting was "The MTV Machine". I remember watching TRL when I was in middle and high school, but never even noticed that EVERYTHING is an ad. I really enjoyed watching when an MTV exec went to "a typical teenager's" house and conducted research. I guess I never really thought that TV stations such as MTV had to do research and found it interesting that company's think of children and teenagers as customers. Now, I understand why MTV was so successful. However, it is scary how much advertisements and TV shows effect our society today- shows such as "Jackass" and "Real World" are entertaining to watch, but they dont necessarily send the best message to teenagers.