For Wednesday's homework, you were to read all of the stories in the "Secrets" section of Somebody Told Me by Rick Bragg. For Thursday's homework, you are to read all of the stories in the "Colors" section and respond on the class blog.
You should respond to two of the following. At least one, if not both, of your selections should be a text option. You can answer one of the other kind as a substitute for the text option.
Text Option 1 - Select a story from "Secrets" (except for "Town Secret Is Uncovered in Birth Quest," which was part of the homework for Tuesday) and assess the choices that Bragg makes in terms of revealing and/or concealing his sympathies and biases. If there are sides to take in the piece, which side does he take? What specific text shows you that? Are there other times in the piece in which he seems to try to get the "other side" of the story? Does he ever undermine in some way the side he's on? If so, how?
Text Option 2 - Select a story from "Colors" and identify what you think are important elements of feature writing. Bragg likes talkers, and he's interested in narrative. If you think he's a good writer, what is he doing that makes him good at this form? What does it seem like the important pieces of a feature are? What defines this category of journalism? Refer to the text of this story for your examples. If you can, also supply those writer-ly moves Bragg uses that you think you would like to try for your own Profile.
Text Option 3 - Select a story from either section that you haven't already written about and identify the rhetorical devices Bragg uses to build the story. Refer to specific lines of text, and try to tie the rhetorical devices to a larger purpose.
Homework Conversation Option - What makes a homework assignment useful or not to you? What's the purpose of homework? Given your answers to those questions, what should the homework in the course be? Why would that kind of homework be effective at achieving the goals of homework? You don't need to apply the utility of homework to the entire year or class, but you should try to connect your assessment of homework to some larger idea. When thinking of specifics, you should refer to specific assignments that have worked well for you in the past and identify the teachers' classes in which these things happened.
Janet Cooke Option - Is there anything wrong with what Janet Cooke did? What rules did she violate, if any? She didn't smear the good name of an actual person, did she? Were you entertained by the piece? Why should we care (if we do) about this issue.