Today's Agenda

Housekeeping:

Hey! Don't forget your discussion facilitation dates, or to do all the required elements of this: write a short summary of the reading, include questions for clarification or discussion, and include possible resources. This process accounts for 10% of your course grade. It's an easy 10% to succeed on, or blow.

And on a related note: it occurred to me after we last met, that those of you scheduled for 9/27 might help us develop peer review questions--things you'd like to have readers consider about your drafts--and keep the same date rather than waiting for the next week for another reading to facilitate discussion of? (...especially since the next week is somewhat in flux because the library has not yet confirmed a date with us.) What do you think?

Exploring Portfolio 1: (10-15 minutes)

Take a few minutes to read over your assignment, and then we'll spend some time talking through your initial questions.

Discussion of "Cholitas Strike Back"

Small group discussion (10-15 minutes):

• In the reading "Cholitas Fight back" I would like to discuss why the women fought in such a violent sport, yet they were dressed in long shiny skirts, and wore a shawl that had jewelry imprinted in it. Most people, or women in this case would not wear a skirt, or anything elegant to get down and dirty to fight in. What was the purpose of being all dressed up in petticoats and dresses and whatnot?
• Why/how did this sport become so popular in Bolivia? "The only question I could think of that really left me wondering is why were these fights going on for entertainment because it was one way to make money in a poor economic country or what?" 
• What is Guillermopriesto's tone in the article? How do you think she views the women? the sport? (To borrow from our reading of the St. Martin's Guide, how do the choices she makes in deciding what to include and what to call things work together to create a general impression?)
• Why do you think Guillermoprieto chose the title? What do you think the women are "fighting back" against?
• What is the author's attitude toward Juan Mamani, who runs the wrestling shows? Why do you think the author included information about him in the article?
• What effect did wrestling have on the women, and their lives?
• Why do you think they were positioned as good/bad (or good/evil)? 
• Why do you think the author avoids talking about whether or not the women can get seriously hurt in the ring? 
• I would also like to discuss why the "Skelton" and the 'Last Dragon" are allowed to fight with the women. As I recall reading the Last Dragon grabbed a chair and was hitting all of them in the head including the women. Being that men are stronger than women they tend to stay from fighting them. I would also like to discuss why they hardly talk about the womens injuries from fighting. They never mentioned anyone having any broken bones, or bloody noses as much kicking, punching, slamming, and tossing they do.  
• Discuss what jobs in the United States poor women are forced to take in order to support their families.  

Rhetorical Reading/Class Activity (15 minutes):

Here is a useful resource: "Basic Questions for Rhetorical Analysis." Let's use this together to take another look at how this article is constructed.

Resources to Explore:

• "The Fighting Cholitas" (documentary, 2006, IMDB listing)
• The Wikipedia Entry, "The Fighting Cholitas", provides a short bibliography of news articles on these women. 
• "Cholitas: Bolivia's Female Wrestlers take on Stereotyping" (in Spanish, unsubtitled)
• "Lucha Libre & The Fighting Cholitas" (Blog entry from Bolivia for 91 Days) 
• "The Blue Demon"  (Wikipedia)
• "Lucha Libre"  (Wikipedia)

Discussion of The St Martin's Guide to Writing (10 minutes)

After skimming The Saint Martin's Guide to Writing, your facilitators offered some questions to think over:

• Chapter 13: "Cueing the Reader"
• After reading this chapter ask yourself "What are the 5 basic kinds of cues or signals to guide readers through the writing?"
• What is a proper way of making a transition in sentences?
• Chapter 14: Narrating
• Why do writers use past tense in their work?
• How can verb tense help writers narrate events that routinely occur?
• Chapter 15: Describing
• Why does it help to, typically always, ask these 4 questions; "What size is it?" , "How many are there?", "What is it made of?", "Where is it located?"

My questions for you is:

• What can you take from these readings to help you do the writing assignment you've been given? (Chapters 14 and 15 could be especially useful in starting this paper.) Let's list out strategies you can use. 

Writing Workshop: (25 minutes)

When you begin a writing assignment, it's tempted to start with the thesis statement--a statement that indicates to readers the focus of this piece of writing, and how you will develop that; however, on a project like this (or any project requiring research and analysis), you can't really do a good job of this until you've done the questioning and exploration required. At this point, you've got a research question--the focal question I gave you in your assignment. Your answers to that question will ultimately become the thesis statement.

Meantime, you CAN start this project. Your reader will need to see the text you are using (if possible), but even if you cut and paste in the image (or link to the video) they will expect YOU to introduce and describe the text(s) you will analyze, and will expect that the way you do this indicates something about the argument you are making (which your text calls "forecasting"). Spend some time describing and/or narrating your text(s), realizing that you will still, ultimately, have to add an introduction which indicates your thesis and a forecast.

(In our next class, I'll ask you to spend some time analyzing your text, but you can, and should, work on your project outside of class. A suggestion for starting analysis is to freewrite on the rhetorical situation, and strategies, related to your text.)

For next time:

If you haven't already done so, join in the conversation regarding Jean Kilbourne on the class blog. Read Ch. 19 ("Arguing") and 20 ("Analyzing Visuals") from The St. Martin's Guide to Writing. (In our next class, we'll spend some time analyzing visual together, and then have some time to work on your individual projects. Bring what you need to work.)

(Facilitators: focus on developing questions that will help your colleagues USE the information from the St. Martin's Guide to work on their rhetorical analysis essay.)