November 16, 2014 - 21:45
Rose picks meeting in the classroom (and will post...)
Selena is making the decision for Thursday
I. coursekeeping
7 p.m. tonight in TGH: Teach In on Race and Responsibility
how was it “meeting w/out a substitute”?
for Thursday, review instructions for your final Portfolio & Checklist,
and read essay by Paulo Freire -- come with some reactions/thoughts:
how does this address, or help us think about, environmental action?
...about really re-thinking our relation w/ the environment?
paper due on Friday:
Use Kolbert’s key ideas as a jumping off point to reflect on the implications of what she is saying.
Flag the ways in which these reflections connect with, interact with and/or challenge other material
we’ve read this semester.
II. reporting on NWSA:
a powerful conference about identity/ social justice/inequity/radical social action,
in a weird corporatized space, separate from the environment of the island--
so Sunday we took a trip to the tropical rain forest, El Yunque,
and crossed a divide that Van Jones is trying to cross,
from social justice to environmental concerns
III. working on your papers
we asked you to come to class ready to share your thinking,
so far, on your current writing project,
including especially which other text you connected to Kolbert
triple up in class:
the new pangea: Emily, Rose, Rina
writing style: Virushi, Selena, Nayanthi
activism: Weilla, Allie, Hidayyah
frogs: Sydney, Grace (& Marjorie?)
devote 10 minutes to each of your projects:,
first being expansive w/ the other person’s ideas
(what strikes/intrigues/puzzles/confuses you—
how do you see the connection w/ other texts?)
and then trying to help each other come to some sense of your claim:
open up, then focus...
IV. Kolbert told us that we have messed things up badly, & don’t see the way out…
and yet know it’s important to work on this--which brings us to edge of activism
--which brings us to Kolbert’s article about Van Jones, who thinks that
a single remedy can serve for both global warming and poverty.
we ended last Tuesday's class w/ question of where we go from here--
this New Yorker essay addresses that, and adds another layer, by addressing
questions of identity, inequity, and economics
What is Van Jones’ pitch? What is his argument?
Be him: convince me!
V. The believing and doubting game, by Peter Elbow
A) think of every reason you doubt this approach—
and when you’re ready: come write one of those of the board
B) what character from any text we’ve read (Eli Clare, Lloyd or Geek?)
could “answer the doubt” [bring that text/that character to “speak as” on Thursday?]
----
Reading Notes
We could see underneath all of it was the idea of disposability....The idea that you've got disposable people, a disposable planet."
"The green economy should not be just about reclaiming thrown-away stuff. It should be about reclaiming thrown-away communities."
Let us connect the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done."
"I think Van Jones is a big part of the future of environmentalism…He is bringing together a concern about the environment and a concern about social justice.”
“…something really bad has to happen before something really good can happen. It's when you …have to look at yourself and figure out,
What am I going to do now? And we're at that moment. Sometimes a breakdown can lead to a breakthrough."