starting 5/10: We are working on the "Civil Rights" page attached below.
5/6: C Block: please read through the packets of letters from Ms. Magazine. Make a list (on white lined paper) about what you notice in the letters, what strikes you as important about the issues, the topics, the viewpoints, make connections to the film, etc. List as many as you can. Then, please write a response to what you read – what do you think of the letters? Do the issues resonate with you now? What do these tell you about women’s lives and their concerns in the 1960s? What does it tell you about the need for models? Write me at least one meaty, specific paragraph. If there is time, pair up and talk through this packet and what you read for homework. Turn everything in at the end of the period. Have a great weekend. Be safe.
5/5 (B Block):In class - Read both Bella Abzug’s “A New Kind of Southern Strategy” (attached as a .pdf below) and Gloria Steinem’s testimony in front of congress. As you read, THINK about what you saw in the clip from The Makers yesterday, about the struggles and the goals of the women’s movement as it moves into the 1970s. THINK, too, about what we’ve talked about in terms of the importance of models. On a piece of notebook paper (or white lined paper): make connections between what Abzug and Steinem are calling for and the movement as presented in the film. What are the main points of protest, where do both women use models, what unites them and what, if anything, divides them? Then (on the same paper): write down 5 quotes from the two pieces (at least 2 from each) that you particularly like/are interested in/ want to talk about, etc. Identify the writer and the page number.
5/4: C Block homework: For Friday, read both Bella Abzug’s “A New Kind of Southern Strategy” (attached as a .pdf below) and Gloria Steinem’s testimony in front of congress. As you read, THINK about what you saw in the clip from The Makers yesterday, about the struggles and the goals of the women’s movement as it moves into the 1970s. THINK, too, about what we’ve talked about in terms of the importance of models. On a piece of notebook paper (or white lined paper): make connections between what Abzug and Steinem are calling for and the movement as presented in the film. What are the main points of protest, where do both women use models, what unites them and what, if anything, divides them? Then (on the same paper): write down 5 quotes from the two pieces (at least 2 from each) that you particularly like/are interested in/ want to talk about, etc. Identify the writer and the page number.
5/4: Classwork: Watch a final portion of Makers: Women Who Make America start at 32:20 - The Miss America segment) and watch until the end. As you watch, please think about what we’ve talked about in terms of the importance of models.
Know about The Ladies Home Journal protest
Gloria Steinem is and why she matters
Barbara Walters and why she matters
Now and the women’s libbers – the divisions within the movement
Lavender Menace and why they matter
Ms. Magazine
B Block (long block in class): Please read through the packets of letters from Ms. Magazine. Make a list (on white lined paper) about what you notice in the letters, what strikes you as important about the issues, the topics, the viewpoints, make connections to the film, etc. List as many as you can. Then, please write a response to what you read – what do you think of the letters? Do the issues resonate with you now? What do these tell you about women’s lives and their concerns in the 1960s? What does it tell you about the need for models?
5/2-5/3: We worked in class on close reading - poem assessment presentations (C Block) and "Wants."
4/29: This weekend I need you to read and digest two pieces – one fiction and one nonfiction (both are attached as .pdfs below). . The first is "Wants" by Grace Paley. Think about this as a an extension of the work we’ve done with Betty Freidan, with The Makers video clips, with the poetry, etc Mark up the text as you read, then (when you are finished) reread your notes from Friedan's chapter. In the space left on the story, react to the story, ask questions, make connections to what we’ve been reading, talking, watching and studying, etc. Fill the space left at the end of the story. Do not bullet.Also, Read the newspaper article about the Kitty Genovese murder in New York (including the introduction about Martin Gansberg). This happened in 1964, a time of great upheaval. Be thinking, as you read, about what the article suggests about the state of American culture, about law and order, about society’s reaction to women (and violence against women), etc. On the front of the notecard, take notes about plot, about reaction, about what you think is important, surprising, etc. On the back of the notecard: react to Gansberg’s piece. Is this a story you have heard before? What do you make of it? What do you make of Gansberg storytelling (the tone, how he writes about the story, etc.), about who he holds responsible and why, about what this murder says about women, about America in the 1960s, about how people felt/saw themselves and their world, etc. Fill the back of the card.
4/28: B Block: group presentations (poetry) continued. Tonight please watch as much as you can stand of this five minute video. It's tough going (if you would rather, listen to the story or read the transcript. They are not as directly brutal). C Block: please watch more of The Makers (start at 11:00 and watch through 29:30). Again take notes: it will start with the furor caused by Friedan’s book, then you should recognize patterns of protests similar to what we studied in the 1950s: breaking down barriers by attacking laws, protesting, etc. Take notes about the important actions and people (keep the idea of role models in mind).
4/26: B Block: Group presentations (poetry).
4/25: B Block and C Blocks: we talked through critique issues. In B Block, we worked in groups on poetry (see grading criteria below).
4/15: Read “ ‘I Felt the World Was Passing Me By’” by Hermia L. Snider (I gave you this yesterday). This is a primary source document published in Redbook magazine in December of 1960. As you are reading, mark up her essay, looking for connections to the video, the ideas we’ve been discussing, etc. When you are finished, pull out three quotes that you think get to the heart of Snider’s concerns about her life and how her concerns answer Redbook’s question: “Why Young Mothers Feel Trapped.” Write these quotes down on the notebook paper or blue book pages you used for the notes from the film clip.
Then, read the excerpt from Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique (make sure you read the italics at the beginning, so you have a sense of the book and its importance. Then read the excerpt from the first chapter “The Problem With No Name.” As you read, be thinking about The Makers and Snider’s piece. When you are done, write about what you took away from Friedan’s book and make 4 solid, clear connections between it and the other pieces.
C BLOCK: In addition to the above, please watch more of The Makers (start at 11:00 and watch through 29:30). Again take notes: it will start with the furor caused by Friedan’s book, then you should recognize patterns of protests similar to what we studied in the 1950s: breaking down barriers by attacking laws, protesting, etc. Take notes about the important actions and people (keep the idea of role models in mind). When the clip is finished, write like you did before about what you found interesting, what was surprising, how this added to your understanding of gender issues, of the early days of the women’s rights movement, etc
4/13: Today, we are going to start with a clip from the PBS documentary series called The Makers: Women Who Make America. This clip will add to yesterday’s examination of gender norms (Rockwell’s painting) and expectations (Want Ads) and will set the stage for the push women made for changes in the 1960s (start at the beginning and watch until the 11:00 mark). As you watch, take notes (on a piece of notebook paper you can hand in OR in your blue books: I will collect these for a grade) - write down interesting people and their achievements, the conflicts, the expectations and the needs expressed by the women they interviewed. I’ll expect at least 10 ideas. After we finish watching: take 5 minutes to reflect on what you saw and heard. What surprised you most and why? What story/idea did you find most compelling and why? How does the clip connect to what we looked at yesterday and why do those connections matter, etc.? How do they help you to understand issues in today’s society?
Then, read “ ‘I Felt the World Was Passing Me By’” by Hermia L. Snider. This is a primary source document published in Redbook magazine in December of 1960. As you are reading, mark up her essay, looking for connections to the video, the ideas we’ve been discussing, etc. When you are finished, pull out three quotes that you think get to the heart of Snider’s concerns about her life and how her concerns answer Redbook’s question: “Why Young Mothers Feel Trapped.” Write these quotes down on the notebook paper or blue book pages you’ve been working on.
4/12: Window Washer: Take a few minutes to just take in the Sept 17, 1960 cover. Then, in your blue book, describe what you see. Read over what you wrote and look again – which character has your sympathy and WHY (what in the way the cover is constructed draws you to that character)? Now, divide the page into two columns. Label the first column “window washer” and the second “secretary.” Do some word association about what you see in each column (strive for 5 words for each).Then, read through the "Want Ads" from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Pay attention to what you see - how these are set up, what sorts of jobs are on offer, with what sorts of skills, benefits, etc. Talk together in groups of 4 then share with us your best observations.
4/11: Response in class.
For Tuesday 4/5: B BLOCK ONLY: If you missed class today, please look over the bb entry about Rachel Carson and on a 3x5 index card tell me 4 points you took away from the video and the reading that highlight how/why Rachel Carson is an important figure of her day and ours.
Please watch the first 6:00 minutes of "Rachel Carson, Part 2" . This is a conversation between Bill Moyers and playwright and actress Kauilani Lee, who wrote a one woman show about Rachel Carson (she performs as Carson in this clip. Bill Moyers says that "Our lives are different because of her [Rachel Carson]. She wrote a book that changed the country. This book: Silent Spring. The writer: Rachel Carson." After you've watched, read the excerpt from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (attached below). As you read, please keep in mind that this book was published in 1962 (portions had been serialized in the New Yorker before its publication). Mark up ideas that you find interesting, (especially given what we know about the 1950s, the quote and the Bill Moyers piece). After you’ve finished reading, please react in your blue book. First, write about what struck you in the piece, what you found compelling and important, especially given what we know now about environmentalism. Then, THINK about how Carson shapes the story – her use of fable as a way in, the kinds of evidence she cites, the arguments she makes. How do these demonstrate a moving on from the 1950s into a new kind of world view? How is her voice different from that of a “scientist” and why does that matter (how does it help)?