This Week's Work: April 4th – April 11th

Sunday (April 6th):

EDUC: Post by 5pm: Consider our field trips to Camden, Harriton, the Shonibare exhibit, and the Wissahickon, as well as our current readings in Ecoliterate.  What are some ways we might think about outdoor spaces as sites of learning/education?

ENGL: By 5 p.m, post as a comment below your reflections on one of the central questions raised by our reading of Coetzee's novella, The Lives of Animals: what does it tell us about the possibility that vegetarians and meat-eaters (or anyone w/ decidedly opposed views) can actually enter into productive dialogue?  Might some divisions be so deep that common academic training, common culture, or even familial ties can not bridge the gap? (Think of this as a warming-up for your next paper, due next weekend: “how much latitude can we allow”? At what point are we "allowed" to "call the question," and refuse further conversation?)

Monday (April 7th):

ECON: See post.

EDUC: Read Goleman, Bennett & Barlow, Ecoliterate, Parts II and III

ENGL: Read J.M. Coetzee, "Reflections." The Lives of Animals. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. 73-120.

Wednesday (April 9th):

ECON: See post.

EDUC: Read Goleman, Bennett & Barlow, Ecoliterate; DeWaters & Powers (password-protected file)

ENGL: review SueEllen Campbell's two essays,  "Magpie" and "The Land and Language of Desire.
Tim Burke, Last Collection Speech, Swarthmore, 2002. Easily Distracted: A Jackdaw Perspective on Culture, Politics, Academia, and Other Shiny Objects. 
Teju Cole, The White-Savior Industrial Complex. The Atlantic. March 21, 2012.
Break into your small writing groups to brainstorm your upcoming web-papers:
"how much latitude can we allow?"

Friday (April 11th): 

Field Trip to Laurel Hill Cemetary.
In preparation, please read History of Laurel Hill.
Rebecca Greenfield. Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries. The Atlantic. March 16, 2011.
Thomas Laqueur. Spaces of the Dead. Ideas from the National Humanities Center. 8, 2 (2001).
Susan Chumsky. The Rise of Back-to-the-Basics Funerals: Baby Boomers Are Drawn to Green and Eco-Friendly Funerals. The New York Times. March 12, 2014.