Presention Schedule

Hello All,

Below find the presentation schedule for next week. Each presentation is to run between 15-20 minutes, with 3-5 minutes of responses and questions from the audience included.

On the day of your presentation, be sure that you have your handouts printed and copied 10 times by the time class begins.

Also, remember that if you plan on using the media technology in the classroom for your presentation, you must do the following. First, notify me via email as to which technology you will require; i.e., hardware and/or software. Second, save all necessary information and documentation on a personal USB flashdrive. There is not enough time in the meeting period for presenters to retrieve materials from their email archives. Therefore, the only acceptable means of accessing your presentation materials is via a USB flashdrive.

M 7/15
1. Ryan Sahadeo
2. Laura Diaz
3. Andy Yu
4. Himanshu Sharma

T 7/16
1. Yeqin Zhang
2. Adrian Stuart
3. Dominique Germain

W 7/17
1. Ruth Angelica Bedoya
2. Yinaury Sanchez
3. Dimitri Honorat

The Research Paper Outline

This is to remind each of you of the upcoming items due within the next two weeks...

The Introduction and Outline to your Research Paper is due this Thursday. Please include the first roughly-drafted page and a detailed outline. See the examples below and use them as models for your individual outlines. Remember that I am asking that you produce at least a half-page, detailed outline. See the generic outline I have produced that follows. Note that items in parenthesis are optional. As another example, see the outline that appears on pages 13-14 in Hacker's Writer's Reference; it has been scanned and provided below for your convenience.

Fourth, you need to bring two extra copies of your outline and introduction to class, so that we can perform a peer-edit of your work.

I.               Introduction

a.     (Epigraph)

b.     General Introduction to Topic

c.      Argumentative Thesis Statement

d.     Identification of Sections, Main Points, etc.

II.             Background information, historical context, definition(s), etc.

a.     Supporting Evidence - Summary

b.     Supporting Evidence - Quotation

III.           Section 1 - Main Point 1

a.     Supporting Evidence - Summary

b.     Supporting Evidence - Quotation

IV.            Section 2 - Main Point 2

a.     Supporting Evidence - Summary

b.     Supporting Evidence - Quotation

V.              Section 3 - Main Point 3

a.     Supporting Evidence - Summary

b.     Supporting Evidence - Quotation

VI.            (Section 4 – Counterpoint)

a.     Supporting Evidence - Summary

b.     Supporting Evidence - Quotation

VII.          Section 5 - Conclusion

a.     Restatement of Thesis

b.     Restatement of Sections, Main Points

c.      (Personal Experience or Opinion)

d.     The What’s Next

Bomb It! and Style Wars

Hi All,

I hope that your second paper 's writing process went along nicely this weekend. I want to provide everyone with the YouTube link to the film we watched today, Bomb It!. You may certainly use this text in your upcoming paper's revision if you wish. Be sure you properly cite any references you make!

Best,
s.

Also, you may be interested in the following document from 1983 titled Style Wars. It's a classic. Enjoy! (This full-length video has Spanish subtitles.)

Presentation and Research Project Rubrics Posted

The rubric for the Presentations and Research Project are now posted on the Schedule, Readings, and Rubrics page. I will distribute a hardcopy of these documents in class tomorrow, yet should you need to retrieve another copy you can do so by clicking on the link on the aforementioned page.

Annotated Bibliography Rubic Posted

The rubric for the annotated bibliography writing assignment is now posted on the Schedule, Readings, and Rubrics page. I distributed a hardcopy of this document in class today, yet should you need to retrieve another copy you can do so by clicking on the link on the aforementioned page.

Below is a sample annotation in APA style:

Lothan, K. (2005) Seizing the time: Australian aborigines and the influence of the Black Panther party, 1969-1972. Journal of Black Studies, 35,179-200. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027217.

This article is about the Australian aborigines that were influenced by the Black Panther Party to start a party of their own to fight against inequality in Australia. The article shows that the Black Panther did not just influence the people in America but other people around the world. The Australian Black Panther Party wanted similar needs and wants as the Black Panther Party in America. They both wanted “land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace and immediate end to police brutality” (Lothan, p. 187). The Australian Black Panther Party wanted to use self-defense as their ideology but that was not very successful because carrying guns was illegal. So instead of using guns when they followed the police, they used pencils and a note book. Members were shown movies about the Black Panther Party because they wanted every member to know what was expected of them. The Australian Black Panther Party started survival programs just like the American Black Panther Party. Some of the survival programs they started were Legal services, feed the people, free breakfast for children and Medical Services. This source supports my thesis because it shows that other people around the world saw the good things that the Black Panther Party was doing for the community and they wanted to do the same for their community. This source will be used in concert with my other sources that discuss the global influence of the Black Panther Party during the 1960s and 70s. 

Discussion Notes on Lachmann

This upcoming week, we will continue to review Lachmann's text "Graffiti as Career and Ideology." Be sure to have read up to page 245 for our next class meeting. Pay attention to the following notes and questions as you read, for they will help inform your comprehension of the material. These bullet points do not need to be answered formally.  We will merely use them to guide our discussion of the text in class.

• How can graffiti be considered a cultural artifact? How does labeling graffiti as such help us understand its historical and/or contemporary cultural meaning and value? 
• Lachmann (1988) stated that his study was predominantly concerned with "understanding how the content of graffiti is formed and transformed by graffiti writers' social interactions with their audience" (p. 1). Why and how does audience factor so heavily into the overall acceptance, acknowledgement, and meaning of graffiti?
• The fact that "graffiti writers are involved simultaneously in an art world and a deviant subculture" could relate to the concept of the double-consciousness as coined by W.E.B. DuBois (Lachmann, 1988, p. 203). DuBois described this as a "sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness." How might this concept apply to graffiti writers?
• Closely read the passage on page 231 that begins with "By examining the content..." and that ends on page 232 with "...T-shirts, or coffee mugs" (Lachmann, 1988). Identify key terms and the passage's overall significance to the text's thesis, argument, and investigation of graffiti culture.
• Examine the concept of hegemony as defined by Hall on page 231, then offer your own definition of this latent, yet powerful social and cultural and ideological force. Provide one example of hegemonic forces that you can identify from your own experiences.     
• Why do gang's hire graffiti writers? What are the benefits and pitfalls writers experience as a result of their involvement with New York City gangs?
• The education of novice graffiti writers is extremely vital to their eventual development into maturity. How does the mentor-apprentice relationship help create and reinforce social hierarchies within this subculture? How might an analysis of the internal hierarchy of graffiti reveal a mimesis of or resistance to the various hierarchies (e.g., economic class, ethnic group, gender roles and norms) of dominant culture?
• Why do writers give up graffiti? When does this typically occur according to the text? What is the "dilemma of their [graffiti writers'] own making?" (Lachmann, 1988, p. 237f). Do you feel that this "drop-out" trend has changed since this article was published in 1988? Explain your position.
• In what ways is graffiti linked to criminal activity? What are the misnomers regarding linkages between crime and graffiti, especially as revealed by a NYC district attorney (cf. p. 236).
• How have police been successful in disrupting groups of graffiti writers? What is the greatest threat police pose to writers? 
• Explain how a "tag" solidifies and strengthens self-identity.
• Analyze the differences in geographic location between taggers vs. muralists. Consider, especially, the rise and fall of "writer's corners" and "crews" in NYC and the contributions of these "spaces" to the artistic world of graffiti. How did these corners protect the subculture? What happened when these corners were fragmented and eventually destroyed?  
• Graffiti muralists experienced two waves of art gallery attention, in late 1972 and in 1980. Analyze how by "packaging" graffiti into gallery spaces, this art form was co-opted "into the dominant art world" and therefore rendered a commercial and social commodity (Lachmann, 1988, p. 246).

Graffiti-Marked Subway Train Spotted in 2013!

I would like everyone to briefly visit this article, titled "Old School Graffiti-Marked Subway Train Spotted at W4th Street Station" from The Gothamist, that was published on Jan. 10, 2013. While the article claims that this was performed by Europeans and not NYC natives, this throw-up is nevertheless proof that there is still an active graffiti counterculture in our city and other cities worldwide. Arguably, such transgressive artwork like this hasn't been seen on a subway car in a very long time, and is reminiscent of the extremely prevalent subway graffiti of the 1970s and 80s.

What are some of your initial thoughts after encountering this article and photo?

NYC's Graffiti is Still Burning!

There are numerous similarities and differences between gang graffiti, graffiti art, street art, and the integration of graffiti into the global community. In class we have begun to identify a few. As Bartolomeo argues, "Graffiti has been used as a visual symbol of resistance, group identity, and individual identity in and out of art galleries and the corporate social world. Current graffiti artists incorporate images of popular culture into their work and are also challenged with creating artistic and aesthetically pleasing works in the public environment. Graffiti is no longer considered subculture but has a history quite independent of that in the dominant culture."

For this homework assignment, I would like everyone to locate an example of graffiti or street art in their local community or neighborhood. This example should be photographed, or even sketched, so that it can be distributed and shared with the class on Thursday. Then, a brief synopsis of the chosen example should be offered in the same fashion as a piece of art that hangs in a formal gallery. Using the Glossary of Graffiti, employ key terms to help describe your chosen example. The following list of questions should help to guide you.

How long has the work or graffiti or street art been there? On what kind of wall or building does it appear? What is the medium used: spray paint, sticker, marker, etch, scratch, etc.? What type of graffiti or street art is your chosen example? What are the significant elements and aspects of the chosen example? Who is the artist; i.e., what is their assumed name or identity? To your knowledge is the artist active in the city still? How much territory have they claimed? Where else does/might their work appear?  

Explain how and why you consider the chosen example to be vandalism or art, or both. What purpose might your example serve for the individual, for passersby, or for the community? What are some of the emotions you feel upon viewing this example of urban graffiti or street art?

Please type the description (about 250 words in length) of your graffiti or street art example and bring it to class tomorrow. Visual reproductions of your example can be emailed to me before class meets, or they can be printed and brought to class.

Flash Mob Videos

Below are a number of videos of flash mobs that have occurred here in New York and elsewhere around the United States and Europe.

The first is from Philadelphia, and shows how the model of the flash mob was negatively co-opted and used to perform a series of robberies. 

The second video is actually a commercial or advertisement for T-Mobile, titled "Welcome Back."  This flash mob took place in London at the Heathrow Terminal 5.

This third video occurred in New York City a few years ago and was performed by a group known for its varied performances of flash mob. They call themselves Improv Everywhere. In this particular mobbing, individuals enter a Best Buy dressed in their uniform Prank

In the fourth video, Improv Everywhere strikes again, yet this time they press the "Mute Button."

Perhaps one of my favorite flash mob events ever to occur in NYC was the "Frozen Grand Central" mob, again performed by the group Improv Everywhere. It really redefines (and therefore recreates) the "moving" space of Grand Central Station in an artistic and visceral manner. What are your reactions to this event?

Perhaps one of the more amusing and certainly awkward annual flash mob events that has been in existence since 2006 is the "No Pants Subway Ride." Here, footage from the most recent no-pants-ride this past January is shown.

Lastly, the annual "MP3 Experiment" stands as a beautiful and colorful testament to the various critiques of control and autonomy that flash mobbing exposes. Still, the purpose of simple and sheer entertainment could never be more apparent than in this footage from the eighth installment of the MP3 Experiment. If you're interested in participating in this year's experiment save the date for Sunday, 7/14/13. More information on the event can be found here.

Updated Thesis Proposal Rubric Posted

Good day all,

The rubric for the Thesis Proposal has been updated and is now posted on the Schedule, Readings, and Rubrics page. Note that I have included a scanned copy of the sample research calendar outline from Hacker's text here so that you can use it as a model when filling out your own research calendar.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding the upcoming assignment, or if you would like to discuss your working topic and thesis in further detail.

s.