13. In Fiction, a Long History of Fixation on the Social Gap
14. Angela Whitiker’s Climb
The Final Part of the book, Encounters with class, which includes the stories of
Christopher Buckley (My Nanny was a Dreadful Snob)
Diane McWhorter (Downwardly Mobile in Birmingham)
Richard Price (From the Bronx to Cornell) Remember he was the Author of Samaritan
David Levering Lewis (At the Top of the Bottom in the Segregated South)
Linda Chavez (We Were Poor, but I Didn’t Know It)
I want to push us along a little, so I'm hoping we can finish Class Mattersby Monday. There are a lot of figures and statistics in chapter 12. Don't worry about them. Just get the general idea. For your resource see if you can find the income/wealth of today's "Hyper Rich": The figures from the book are all over ten years old. Some of this chapter reminds me of Finian's Rainbow. We have always had the "Hyper-Rich" in this country a little over a century ago, they lived in "Cottages" in Newport during the summer. Click on both of the images to learn a bit more. Have you visited one of the Newport Mansions? If so, which one?
The original version of The Great Gatsby was filmed, in part in Newport, Rhode Island. One can tour the house in which it was filmed. Taking a peek at the video to the left is a good lead-in to the next chapter of Class Matters: In Fiction, a Long History of Fixation on the Social Gap, note in that chapter, as well as in The Great Gatsby the intersection between Racism and classism.
I've added another example to the left. As you read the chapter, notice examples of this fascination/fixation of social class. A number of examples are given of shows from television. See if you can find any on the web and if you can put a URL in your resource folder.
Angela Whitiker leaves us with an almost happy ending. As you read the chapter, look for the "turning points" in her life. Many people of middle class to upper class status might critique some of the things which happened in her early life? Wood that be fair? The chapter mentions a number of places in Chicago in which she lived or worked or studied. Try to find them on Google Maps or Google Street View and add some of them to your resource folder.
I don't think we'll spend much time on the "encounters with class" section. What will be interesting is to think about at least two things: The "kinds" of encounters which happened, and how the race/class of each person had an effect on the class encounters mentioned.
For Thursday, March 9, Read, in Economic Apartheid in America
Click here to add text.
Introduction pp. 1-12
1 THE DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES OF GROWING INEQUALITY
pp.13 - 37
I think you are going to enjoy this book. How can you not when it begins by mentioning Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss. Just in case you aren't familiar with Yertle, I've posted his story to the left.
The Introduction provides a general outline to the book. Do not ignore the sub-heads, they are very useful. For example, the last one is Gated Communities and Bigger Prisons. We have gated communities in Rhode Island--a number of them on Route 114 between Bristol and Warren. The Street View below shows the sign for one of them. There has been a lot if recent discussion about "Prisons for Profit", in other word, private prisons which charge government to house prisoners. What are your views on this and other topics in the introduction.
Another thing which makes me think you'll enjoy this book is the many cartoons and other illustrations in it. It is definitely a book with a point of view. You'll also find many things which you can investigate using the web as search engines--articles, pictures, and even videos. Find some and add them to your resource folder.
How many adjuncts have you had during your RWU years?
