The video above, "A Vision of Students Today," is eleven years old. Back in 2012, I watched it with my community college students and asked them if they recognized themselves in these Kansas State University students. More recently, a New Yorker article asked "What It Takes to Put Your Phone Away" and urged readers to check their Screen Time app. When students in my class checked their devices, some of them were surprised to see that they spent six, seven, or more than eight hours a day on their phones (what does that mean, anyway--to be "on" your phone?).
"Does listening to music count?" one student asked. I don't know. Does it? I think probably yes. Even reading "isn't what it used to be," according to Katy Waldman at Slate. I used to ask students when is the last time they read a book. "Like with pages?" one might ask. Maybe. Does it matter? Is reading somehow "better" for us if we read paper? Like eating broccoli instead of Skittles? In the comments section below, let me know your thoughts about the ways in which our virtual world impacts our physical one. Try not to rely on standard tropes, such is technology=bad, but instead consider your experience of being in the world, technology ever in hand.
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In December of 2016, an article appeared in The New York Times about the protests at Standing Rock reservation that asks the question about who has right to tell a people's stories. Recently, the Queensborough Community College Kupferberg Holocaust Center hosted a lecture series, "Survivance on Turtle Island:Engaging with Native American Cultural Survival, Resistance, and Allyship," as part of their KHC/NEH 2018-19 Colloquium. Their March event featured an event "Standing With Standing Rock: Allyship And The Environment,' about the protests at the Standing Rock Indian reservation over the building of a pipeline near their land. We might ask ourselves the question about to what extent our stories from our own cultures and religions impact how we see real events happening in the world today. In the comments section below, write about how a story or legend that you are familiar influences how you think about a specific issue that has cultural, political, or religious significance.
References: Interactive map: https://native-land.ca/ |
About this blogA blog is an online conversation. This one is for students of writing and is an extension of our face-to-face classroom. Here is where we can continue a discussion started in class, ask questions, and test new ideas. Archives
March 2020
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