Write an essay (or a speech or a letter, if appropriate) of approximately 500 words on one of the following topics. You must adhere to the MLA, you must incorporate quotations into your essay (or letter or speech), and you must provide end documentation.
In each of the last four texts that we’ve studied, an author aims to ‘bust’ a particular ‘myth,’ but each of the respective authors of these
texts uses a different myth-busting approach. Compare and contrast at least two of these texts in terms of the particular myth at hand
in each case, the myth-busting approach employed by each author, and the degree to which each author is an effective or a
successful myth-buster.
Using as a touchstone the excerpt that we read from Viv Albertine’s memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys,
Boys, Boys, write an essay in which you, as an investigative journalist of sorts, discuss the history of women in punk rock and/or music in
general. You must refer to and quote from the excerpt in question, but you must also refer to and quote from one or more other sources.
Susan Moller Orkin’s essay “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?” takes aim at one of the proverbial sacred cows of progressive thinking. Orkin offers a highly nuanced criticism of multiculturalism, though, as she concedes that multicultural policies are both beneficial and
necessary in some cases. Orkin’s main concern is that such policies often allow certain cultures to maintain deeply patriarchal practices
that are actually at odds with the aims of feminists and progressive thinking. How should policy makers respond to Orkin’s essay? Should
they redefine multiculturalism? If so, how, and if not, why not?
Using Leonard Pitts’s essay “Fox Faux News Forces Rare Apology” (originally published as an article in the Miami Herald) as a
touchstone, write either an essay, a speech, or a letter in which you discuss the broader issue of ‘fake news’ that is at the heart of Pitts’s
essay. You must refer to and quote from Pitts’s essay, but you must also refer to and quote from one or more other sources.
Using Anne Applebaum’s essay “The Torture Myth” as a touchstone, write either an essay, a speech, or a letter in which you discuss
some of the implications of using torture as a means of attempting to reduce perceived threats to safety and security. You must refer to
and quote from Applebaum’s essay, but you must also refer to and quote from one or more other sources.
The last four works of non-fiction prose that we’ve studied invite us not only to reflect on the world around us, but also to gain
self-knowledge and even wisdom. Discuss two or more of these works in terms of this invitation.
Important
The essay is consists of an opening, three paragraphs and a conclusion.
Begin each body paragraph with a clear topic sentence that introduces the point and links back to the argument.
Follow the standard structure of three body paragraphs.