How important is friendship, and how have concepts of friendship changed across the centuries? How does a person's concept of friendship change across the span of his or her life? The illustration at the left is linked to an interesting article on this. Friendship may have different aspects in different social classes, as well, and to change one's class may require changing one's friends. Is it worth it?
Chapter 8 brings us back to the biology of poverty. Some of you who took U. S. History one will remember that Virginians like William Byrd of Westover complained of the laziness of those who lived on the fringes of society–in places like the edge of the Great Swamp. If you haven’t taken the course, this link will let you read from his History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina. We now know that malnutrition has its own set of burdens, some of them visible, some of them invisible, and that some of the charges that the poor are lazy or ignorant may neglect some of the effects of bad diet, including mental retardation. We’ll look at this today.
Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein has devoted much of his energy to abolishing hunger in the United States. The map at the left links to the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island. As for the picture above, Click for a view of some amazing photographs by a Dane, Jacob Holdt, who took them while hitchhiking across America.
A few years back it was not unusual for graduating seniors to decorate their caps and occasionally their gowns with signs like Thanks, Mom and Dad, and You’ve Always been There for Me. Chapter 7 brings home the importance of kinship as an asset when life takes a horrific turn. Note that kin as Shipler uses the term extends beyond relatives by blood or marriage into the larger network of friends, church members, and others who provide support in times of need.
When those networks fail we can find ourselves in dire times, indeed. Some of this chapter may bring some of you close to tears, but it may also give you a sense of how, occasionally, persons rise to bad occasions through noble actions.
The last time I offered this course, a number of members of the class wondered if there was a way for them to get involved.
Feeding America (formerly known as America’s Second Harvest) produces an annual report on the status of hunger in America. Click on the name and you'll find resources through which you can become involved. Feeding America is
the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Our mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.
Each year, the Feeding America network provides food to more than 37 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.
Our network of more than 200 food banks serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, securing and distributing more than 2.5 billion pounds of food and grocery products annually. Those member food banks support approximately 61,000 local charitable agencies and 70,000 programs, which provide food directly to individuals and families in need. The NPR logo above links to a story on the 2006 annual report. The Feeding America logo links to the 2010 version. What's changed in the last 4 years?
Provessor D'Amore will show a film about a “condition” which, if the presentation is correct, affects all Americans, but is particularly troublesome for the middle to upper classes. As was the case for People like Us, there is a teacher's guide for Affluenza.
Since the last time I taught this course, a new website has appeared on the horizon . Affluenza.org As far as I can tell, it serves as an umbrella for a number of organizations desiring to reign in consumption. Click in the various "puzzle pieces" in the logo to see who is involved.
Note that this is not the same organization as "The Affluenza Project", a link to which is hiding under the picture at the top left.
For Thursday, October 21
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep
up with the Joneses.
2. An epidemic of stress,
overwork, waste and
indebtedness caused by
dogged pursuit of the American
Dream.
3. An unsustainable addiction
to economic growth.
4. A television program that
could change your life.
No new readings for today. I’ll be in Houston Texas, attending the American Association of Colleges and Universities Conference, Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence. Many of you already know Professor Laura D’Amore, and she has graciously offered to take my class this period. (Ask here about the special offering, Male Sexualities, she's giving in the spring semester. You’ll have a chance to watch another excellent dvd from New American Media.
Read, in Shipler,
