Monday, February 1

Today, we began class by collecting your three-paragraph responses to last week's philosophy questions (see last Wednesday's blog for details). Some of you didn't have them and will need to turn them in ASAP.

Next, we handed out a syllabus for our next book, To Kill A Mockingbird. The readings will be due each Monday, and they will constitute the bulk of your homework over the next two months; additionally, although we've broken the book up into manageable chunks, you'll need to stay on top of deadlines in order to manage the workload. For a copy of the syllabus, click on the link below:

To Kill A Mockingbird Syllabus

In order to read this book properly, and to consider its ramifications and effects completely, we need to address the author's incorporation of a racial epithet into some of her characters' dialogue. Consequently, we spent a great deal of time discussing that word -- its origins, its use over time, its use today, its impact, and so forth. Different students shared their experiences and feelings about the word, and the terms "appropriation" and "gratituous" were useful lenses through which to discuss those feelings. We agreed that, regardless of people's individual feelings about the word (or about the "right" context in which one could use it), it is a word not to be used, or considered, lightly.

Tomorrow, we will finish that discussion, and establish some parameters for dealing with it when it crops up in the text.

Your homework for tomorrow is to come to class with three potential recitation poems chosen. Your homework for next Monday is to read chapters 1-3 of To Kill A Mockingbird -- see the audio area for downloadable audio segments.