ENG 112 OER Repository

"As America becomes more and more multicultural, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: Some communities were actually getting less diverse. So he got out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA — and moved in. In this funny, honest, human talk, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia." Ted Talk (13:01)

"For as long as many Americans have been alive, the Confederate flag stood watch at the South Carolina capitol, and Atticus Finch, moral guardian-father-redeemer, was arguably the most beloved hero in American literature."

This PBS series examines the origins and role of race in America. Several documents posted here take readers through a series of slides and background article.

"This view of King as an ardent proponent of American exceptionalism fails to capture a significant part of his thinking, a set of ideas embodied in one of his most famous works, Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” What we remember today as a stirring piece about freedom and justice was also a furious reading of American history and an equally indignant attitude toward King’s white contemporaries."

"Madam" , I warned, "I hate a wasted journey - I am African."

Slavery Did Not End With The Civil War. One Man's Odyssey Into a Nation's Secret Shame.

"One of Atticus Finch’s strongest critics has been the legal scholar Steven Lubet, and Lubet’s arguments are a good example of how badly the brand of Southern populism Finch represents has aged over the past fifty years."

"No one knows who took that picture, but it’s appeared hundreds of times in magazines and science textbooks, on blogs and laboratory walls. She’s usually identified as Helen Lane, but often she has no name at all. She’s simply called HeLa, the code name given to the world’s first immortal human cells—her cells, cut from her cervix just months before she died."

"For centuries, people have viewed swamps and wetlands as obstacles to avoid. But for photographer Mac Stone, who documents the stories of wildlife in Florida's Everglades, the swamp isn't a hindrance — it's a national treasure. Through his stunning photographs, Stone shines a new light on a neglected, ancient and important wilderness. His message: get out and experience it for yourself. 'Just do it — put your feet in the water,' he says. 'The swamp will change you, I promise.'" Ted Talk (19:15)

"Nature photographer Frans Lanting uses vibrant images to take us deep into the animal world. In this short, visual talk he calls for us to reconnect with other earthly creatures, and to shed the metaphorical skins that separate us from each other." Ted Talk (3:30)

"The Smokey the Bear Sutra" is a 1969 poem by Gary Snyder which presents environmental concerns in the form of a Buddhist sutra, and depicts Smokey as the reincarnation of Vairocana Buddha. Snyder composed the poem in one night for a February 1969 Sierra Club Wilderness Conference, at which he distributed the first copies. The poem "may be reproduced free forever," and has since been widely disseminated in print and electronic for

"Nature’s beauty can be fleeting — but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day." Ted Talk (9:47)

The essay addresses how nature programs lead to a unique anthropomorphizing of animals that breeds empathy in some and fuels indifference in others.

The article focuses on the claim of theme park operator Sea World Entertainment about the important role played by captive killer whales in the understanding and protection of wild orcas. It mentions the challenges faced by the company following the release of the 2013 documentary on its killer whales titled "Blackfish," the counteroffensive claim of the company based on their contribution to orca science and research, and the availability of technology that eases the need for captive research.

"The Ark of Taste is a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction. By identifying and championing foods we keep them in production and on our plates." This video from SlowFood USA focuses on international endangered plants used for food; the site includes a list of American endangered plants.

"Today in the United States and the developed world, women are better off than ever before. But the blunt truth is that men still run the world.

"Some scholars consider the men's rights movement or parts of the movement to be a backlash against feminism. Men's rights activists contest claims that men have greater power, privilege or advantage than women do and argue that the women's movement has "gone too far" and harmed men, especially in areas related to child custody, child support, and in division of marital assets during divorce."

"Artist iO Tillett Wright has photographed 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum and asked many of them: Can you assign a percentage to how gay or straight you are? Most people, it turns out, consider themselves to exist in the gray areas of sexuality, not 100% gay or straight. Which presents a real problem when it comes to discrimination: Where do you draw the line?" Ted Talk (18:18)

The article discusses the effect of the emerging trend of "brogrammers," a term used to denote tech-industry workers with a misogynistic attitude on women in coding and engineering professions. The author discusses a presentation made by Matt Van Horn, an executive at social media company Path, that offended several women. The decline of women involvement in the computing workforce and the alienating effect of a number of tech-company marketing campaigns on women are discussed.

"At its most basic, a reason why a lot of men don’t want to clean is obvious: it’s not fun. The rewards of the other two traditionally female household tasks—childcare and cooking—are palpable. Your kid’s smile, a delicious meal. But not so with cleaning."

This article examines the growing diversity in gender identification and its real world implications.

Gamergate refers to the controversy around a harassment campaign orchestrated primarily through the use of the Twitter hashtag #Gamergate, concerning issues of sexism and progressivism in video game culture.

"When Colin Stokes’ 3-year-old son caught a glimpse of "Star Wars," he was instantly obsessed. But what messages did he absorb from the sci-fi classic? Stokes asks for more movies that send positive messages to boys: that cooperation is heroic, and respecting women is as manly as defeating the villain." Ted Talk (12:53)

Female executives and filmmakers are ready to run studios and direct blockbuster pictures. What will it take to dismantle the pervasive sexism that keeps them from doing it?

"There are a few things that we all need: fresh air, water, food, shelter, love ... and a safe place to pee. For trans people who don't fit neatly into the gender binary, public restrooms are a major source of anxiety and the place where they are most likely to be questioned or harassed. In this poetically rhythmic talk, Ivan Coyote grapples with complex and intensely personal issues of gender identity and highlights the need for gender-neutral bathrooms in all public places." Ted Talk (11:50)

This article discusses the lack of women in science fields and the implications that has had on scholarship.

"For me, sitting over in the corner, being seen but not heard, which was the rule for children in those days, it wasn't only what the women talked about -the content - but the way they put things - their style. The insight, irony, wit and humor they brought to their stories and discussions and their poet's inventiveness and daring with language - which of course I could only sense but not define back then."

Strong faith is a core part of Alaa Murabit's identity — but when she moved from Canada to Libya as a young woman, she was surprised how the tenets of Islam were used to severely limit women's rights, independence and ability to lead. She wondered: Was this really religious doctrine? With humor, passion and a refreshingly rebellious spirt, she shares how she found examples of female leaders across the history of her faith — and how she speaks up for women using verses from the Koran." Ted Talk (12:13)

"The growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Second Life has thrust many of us into a new world where we make “friends” with people we barely know, scrawl messages on each other’s walls and project our identities using totem-like visual symbols. We’re making up the rules as we go. But is this world as new as it seems?"

Why the revolution will not be tweeted.

"It's likely the first thing you reach for when you wake up, and the last thing you look at before bed: your phone. Perpetually glued to our fingertips, our phones always manage to bring a couple of their friends along, too. (You may know them as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.) It may seem harmless, but those hours spent double-tapping and texting can actually change your brain."

"We're afraid of and we're afraid for teenagers. And nothing brings out this dualism more than discussions of how and when teens should be allowed to participate in public life. This article addresses the inconsequential nature of this debate and suggests the most realistic approach to exposing children to social media."

This article examines the growing diversity in gender identification and its real world implications.

The article reports on activist Seth Matlins crusade against the ill effects of using Photoshop software. According to Matlins use of Photoshop is a public health issue as it can cause low self-esteem and unhappiness. Matlins states that a bill should be passed wherein the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) should prepare a report for the U.S. Congress regarding, reducing the use of Photoshop altered images of individuals' physical characteristics.

"By the end of this talk, there will be 864 more hours of video on YouTube and 2.5 million more photos on Facebook and Instagram. So how do we sort through the deluge? At the TEDSalon in London, Markham Nolan shares the investigative techniques he and his team use to verify information in real-time, to let you know if that Statue of Liberty image has been doctored or if that video leaked from Syria is legitimate." Ted Talk (13:29)

"Scott Dinsmore quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He shares what he learned in this deceptively simple talk about finding out what matters to you — and then getting started doing it." Ted Talk (17:47)

Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common, but now seems to be receding from society-the experience of making and fixing things with our hands. Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing.

"Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs," tells some compelling (and horrifying) real-life job stories. Listen for his insights and observations about the nature of hard work, and how it’s been unjustifiably degraded in society today. " Ted Talk (20:02)

Barbara Ehrenreich is featured in this musical excerpt from The American Ruling Class, a "dramatic-documentary-musical" starring HARPER'S MAGAZINE editor emeritus Lewis Lapham.

A new theory says that a wave of massive technological change gave life to organized labor -- and another wave took it all away

"Other very wealthy men in the new Gilded Age talk of themselves as having a flair for business not unlike Derek Jeter’s “unique talent” for baseball, as Leo J. Hindery Jr. put it. 'I think there are people, including myself at certain times in my career,' Mr. Hindery said, 'who because of their uniqueness warrant whatever the market will bear.'

"Now the guts/Of this mill have ceased and red changes to black,/Steam is cold water, silence is rust, and quiet/Spells hunger."

"20% minimum if the waitress doesn't inflict harm./If you're two people at a four-top, tip extra./If you sit a long time, pay rent."

"Does it seem like Washington has no new ideas? Instead of looking to build the future, it sometimes feels like the US political establishment happily retreats into fear and willful ignorance. Journalist David Rothkopf lays out a few of the major issues that US leadership is failing to address — from cybercrime to world-shaking new tech to the reality of modern total war — and calls for a new vision that sets fear aside." Ted Talk (18:00)

A niche group of political scientists may have uncovered what's driving Donald Trump's ascent. What they found has implications that go well beyond 2016.

Far too many Americans are illiterate in power — what it is, how it operates and why some people have it. As a result, those few who do understand power wield disproportionate influence over everyone else. “We need to make civics sexy again,” says civics educator Eric Liu. “As sexy as it was during the American Revolution or the Civil Rights Movement.” Ted Talk (17:15)

"Babies have that level of entitlement. It's the reason that babies aren't just frustrated or disappointed when they're denied the cookie or the extra ice cream they want, they're actually outraged by it because they can't believe in their wee baby brains that they're actually being denied something they want. It's the difference between want and need and narcissists don't get it."

Democrats and Republicans may sit together for Obama's speech, but partisanship won't budge.

"As a guide to the complexities of Southern politics, and to the political transition of white Southerners from the Democratic to the Republican Party — a shift that has remade American political life over the last half-century — “Watchman” is actually a more revealing source than Ms. Lee’s celebrated novel."

A collection of television and Web commercials for presidential candidates from 1952 through 2012.

It seems like a trivial question. But the answer gets at the very nature of knowledge. Sort of. Chuck Klosterman takes a look at the look of network television.

"Amy Webb was having no luck with online dating. The dates she liked didn't write her back, and her own profile attracted crickets (and worse). So, as any fan of data would do: she started making a spreadsheet. Hear the story of how she went on to hack her online dating life — with frustrating, funny and life-changing results." Ted Talk (17:27)

The author reports on the popularity of women watching horror films. The author states that the audiences of many different horror films, including "The Grudge," "The Ring" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" were primarily female. Horror films that have been created specifically for the female horror audience are mentioned, such as "Orphan."

Well-known 2008 mash-up video of a speech by Barack Obama and the song "Yes, We Can" by will.i.am.

In the golden age of copyright, only a few years ago, the old adage "good fences make good neighbors" held true: Copyright laws and fair use doctrine created reliable boundaries of acceptable behavior. Copyright holders and copyright users had reached an accommodation. Fair use met the needs of each, allowing users of copyrighted material to reproduce materials in certain situations and also encouraging copyright owners to innovate by protecting against unlimited copying.

And then one day (well, over the course of a few years, actually), digital technology upset this balance by providing users with the ability to obtain data and create multiple copies at almost no cost of time, money, or effort. Industrial interests were threatened by the independence that consumers had gained through digital and Web technology. They longed for the days when they were highly valued and highly compensated. When worthy adversaries like Napster appeared, they filed suit. And when their interests were violated they lobbied vigorously for protection, proposing legislation such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). DMCA became federal law in 1998, while UCITA has followed a more circuitous path through the state legislatures. But do the DMCA and UCITA merely provide traditional protections to copyright holders of digitized and Web content? Or do they, in fact, extend the power of copyright holders beyond previous bounds and encroach on the rights of the consumer?

GIFs captured from video are one option for interpolating a brief portion of a film (or television show or other moving image) within the flow of a written text of criticism. While reading a text, when you come to a video, you have to stop reading to play, often waiting for the file to load and buffer, and accommodating sound. But a GIF plays continuously and silently within a web page. GIFs are among the most ideal formats for illustration in film criticism, allowing for a new kind of quotation of the moving image.

"Walking on Eggshells" is a 24-minute documentary about appropriation, creative influence, re-use and intellectual property in the remix age. It is a conversation among various musicians, visual artists, writers and lawyers, all sharing their views on why and how we use and create culture, and how intellectual property law, originally designed to provide people with incentives to create, sometimes hinders creative production far more than it enhances it.

Disney Parody explanation of Copyright Law and Fair Use.

"A newspaper is a symbol;/It is feckless life's chronicle,/A collection of loud tales/Concentrating eternal stupidities"

Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (published in paperback as Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity) is a 2004 book by law professor Lawrence Lessig that was released on the Internet under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-commercial license (by-nc 1.0) on March 25, 2004. This book documents how copyright power has expanded substantially since 1974. It also documents how this industry has successfully used the legal system to limit competition to the major media corporations through legal action. The result is a legal and economic environment that stifles "the Progress of Science and useful Arts", exactly the opposite of the purpose cited in the US Constitution. It may not be possible today to produce another Mickey Mouse, because many of its early cartoon themes might be considered "derivative works" of some existing copyrighted material (as indicated in the subtitle to the hardback edition and in numerous examples in this book).

"In this thoughtful talk, David Puttnam asks a big question about the media: Does it have a moral imperative to create informed citizens, to support democracy? His solution for ensuring media responsibility is bold, and you might not agree. But it's certainly a question worth asking." Ted Talk (10:41)

"When Tracy Chevalier looks at paintings, she imagines the stories behind them: How did the painter meet his model? What would explain that look in her eye? Why is that man … blushing? She shares three stories inspired by portraits, including the one that led to her best-selling novel Girl With a Pearl Earring." Ted Talk (14:21)

This is the website for the New York Times bestseller Women in Clothes. Through original interviews, conversations, surveys, projects and drawings from over six hundred contributors – including Miranda July, Cindy Sherman, Elif Batuman, Mac McClelland, Lena Dunham, Molly Ringwald, Tavi Gevinson, Rachel Kushner, Roxane Gay and Sarah Nicole Prickett – Women in Clothes explores the wide range of motives that inform how women present themselves through clothes, and what style really means. You can read the surveys completed by hundreds of women or take the survey yourself!

"There are so many fashion weeks these days, from the Big Four (London, New York, Paris and Milan) to Tokyo, Rio, Miami and Abu Dhabi, among others, that I often think I could pass the year going from one to another, the way John Cheever’s Swimmer stroked his way across the pools of the suburbs. But even to a jaded observer, a fashion event took place last week that seemed — well, not like the other ones: the Islamic Fashion Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was not the only one who found it confusing."

"The prevalence of the manologue is deeply rooted in the fact that men take, and are allocated, more time to talk in almost every professional setting. Women self-censor, edit, apologize for speaking. Men expound."

"Inshallah is the Arabic version of 'fuggedaboudit.' It’s similar to how the British use the word “brilliant” to both praise and passive-aggressively deride everything and everyone."

"Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success." The second most popular Ted Talk in its history (21:02)

"As religious questions go, it is a relatively small one. But, inevitably, it must be asked: Is it O.K. to eat a chocolate statuette of your favorite holy figure?"

"When you look at Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed, what do you see: a woman of faith? a scholar, a mom, a sister? or an oppressed, brainwashed, potential terrorist? In this personal, powerful talk, Mogahed asks us, in this polarizing time, to fight negative perceptions of her faith in the media — and to choose empathy over prejudice." Ted Talk (16:17)

"A group of Indian-Americans has ignited a surprisingly fierce debate in the gentle world of yoga by mounting a campaign to acquaint Westerners with the faith that it says underlies every single yoga style followed in gyms, ashrams and spas: Hinduism."

"Americans must like Buddhism. Corporate America thinks so, judging from a host of recent advertisements. While associating their products with organized religion is something most companies avoid, GNC has marketed a dietary supplement as “Fully Empowered Zen,” Red Bull humorously promises the “ways of meditation” if you consume its caffeine-filled drinks, and MasterCard has shown a woman meditating in one of its “Priceless” commercials."

The article discusses the spread and effects throughout the U.S. of the Stand Your Ground law, which states that a person acting in self-defense does not need to retreat before using a weapon, including the law's proposal by Florida politicians Dennis Baxley and Durrell Peaden and its backing by National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbyists. Former NRA president Marion Hammer's support of the law and the law's role in the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin and other cases are discussed.

Bernie Kerik, Jack Abramoff and Dennis Kozlowski—three of the most high-profile men to be on the inside—smash the perception that prison life is anything like “Club Fed”

Ted Talk by Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, on the rise of mass incarceration.

A 1989 article in Life magazine comparing the war in Vietnam to the "war on drugs."

"In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, Ken Burns tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice."

"Always use the word ‘Africa’ or ‘Darkness’ or ‘Safari’ in your title. Subtitles may include the words ‘Zanzibar’, ‘Masai’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Zambezi’, ‘Congo’, ‘Nile’, ‘Big’, ‘Sky’, ‘Shadow’, ‘Drum’, ‘Sun’ or ‘Bygone’. Also useful are words such as ‘Guerrillas’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Primordial’ and ‘Tribal’."

Doc Zone, a documentary series produced by CBC Television, is now airing, Meltdown, a four part investigation into the great financial debacle of 2008. Along the way, the CBC’s Terence McKenna takes viewers “behind the headlines and into the backrooms at the highest levels of world governments and banking institutions, revealing the astonishing level of backstabbing and tension behind the scenes as the world came dangerously close to another Great Depression.”

"Sure, the web connects the globe, but most of us end up hearing mainly from people just like ourselves. Blogger and technologist Ethan Zuckerman wants to help share the stories of the whole wide world. He talks about clever strategies to open up your Twitter world and read the news in languages you don't even know." Ted Talk (19:45)