I'm going to ask you do some home viewing. A few uears back, the PBS series Frontline put on a documentary tntitled Merchants of Cool. It seems to fit in with our current study subjects, and it is about your generation--or perhaps the generation of your older brothers and sisters. I think there's much food for thought here. I'm asking you to look at it in advance, Then we'll look at, and discuss parts of it in class together. Record, as always, your thoughts in your journals.
Tbe buttons to the left contain the titles of the separate "chapters" of this Frontline Documentary. I haven't quite figured out how to link to the chapters individually yet. Perhaps that's not possible. But the orange link above will bring you to the website where the whole thing is. I'd like to have you think about the several parts individually.
Note that most of what you see is accessible to teenagers regardless of social class. All receive the same messages. Does this help to explain some of the "unwise choices" people make? Remember Tammy's son trying to help his younger brother look "cool".
For Thursday, December 2Small Group Breakout on Respect
Following this week, we have three more class sessions left. Where has the semester gone? My plan is to use those three sessions to discuss the six chapters in Lawrence-Lightfoot's book--two discussions per class, about 35 minutes apiece. I called the subjects of each chapter exemplars. What we're going to want to do is
see how well we can identify what the respect issues are in each case,
what kinds of social divides are crossed,
what benefits to the exemplar accrue--how is the exemplar's life enriched or imprioved,
what costs does the exemplay pay, if any. To whom are those costs paid?
In what ways can the lessons of the chapter be applied in other situations, in other words, what general lessons are there to be learned?
The groups will be responsible for leading the discussion. Everyone is responsible for reading the entire book--and I encourage you to read ahead between breaks for Turkey, parades, and football. The Groups--Exemplars are listed below.
Respect (Aretha Franklin)
Not quite what Lawrence-Lightfoot writes about
Bur I thought you's enjoy it.
Exemplars and Groups
Empowerment Jennifer Dohrn
Jennifer Dohrn, a nurse-midwife, witnesses many “high harvest days” in her work at the Childbearing Center that she founded and directs in the South Bronx.
Michael Ach
Mia DeLucco
Ashley Hobbs
Jaclyn Doolin
Healing Johnye Ballenger
Johnye Ballenger is in action, a woman on the move. Even when she is still, her face is in motion; grinning, frowning, scowling, exclaiming. Her talk is punctuated by laughter and shrieks as she pokes fun at herself and at the humor and absurdity in the world she inhabits. Her high energy is infectious, fueling the drama that she creates around her. It is through her acts, her gestures, and her energy that Dr. Johnye Ballenger, a pediatrician, communicates respect for her young patients and their families.
Caitlin Feeley
Lauren Flannery
Kathryn Swenson
Grace Reynolds
Dialogue Kay Cottle
Kay Cottle, a teacher of middle and high school students sees the mutual trust that is so crucial to teaching and learning. Her students begin to learn how to question, listen, and receive, when they feel safe enough to begin to take risks and to make themselves vulnerable to one another, when their ideas are offered as “dreams,” not to be possessed by anyone, but as a way to explore and connect
Paige Congdon
Sental Dickran
Alison Gerver
Molly Katchpole
Curiosity Dawoud Bey
If most of us think of photographers with a camera held up in front of their faces, using their equipment as a mask or barrier, hiding out while they expose others, then Dawoud Bey stands in defiant contrast
Marissa Jambor
Kristie King
Brit Bailey
Alison Becker
Walter Le
Self-Respect David Wilkins
David Wilkins, a professor of law at Harvard University, would appear to be someone for whom self-respect would not be an issue. A dashing, elegant man in his early forties whose charm is captivating and whose wit is winning; a distinguished legal scholar whose accomplishments have earned him an endowed chair at the Law
Kevin McDonough
Charlie O’Connell
Lisa Grossman
Samantha Gaito
Gabrielle Malek
Attention Bill Wallace
Bill Wallace, an Episcopal priest, pastoral psychotherapist, and an AIDS activist, has witnessed the dying and death of scores of his friends, patients, and parishioners. He has participated in the painful passages, the inevitable diminishment, the anguished good-byes, and the inexorable losses. He has also cherished “moments of meeting” in relationship with the dying person; the “vivid transparence,” the unadorned truthfulness, and the final peace.
