Visions Across the Americas Short Essays for Composition

, by Warner, J. Sterling; Hilliard, Judith

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ISBN: 9780838406786 | 0838406785
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 6/24/2003

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Supplemental Materials

Rhetorically arranged, this multicultural reader offers brief reading selections and now includes assignments using InfoTrac.

1. COMMUNICATING IS LANGUAGE AT WORK

(52)

TIPS ON BECOMING AN ACTIVE READER

(8)

Toni Morrison, "Writers Together" (annotated)

(6)

Morrison discusses the dangers faced by authors on a daily basis from censorship to anti-intellectualism and suggests that they might be symptoms of a larger problem or "... perhaps the mood of a terrified, defensive, bullying nation no longer sure of what the point is?"

CONSTRUCTING RESPONSES TO READINGS: PARAGRAPHS AND ESSAYS

(20)

Generating Ideas and Establishing a Focus

(8)

Peter Elbow, "Freewriting"

(11)

Freewriting without stopping for revision or editing is one way to lessen writer blocks and develop a natural voice. According to Elbow, "The habit of compulsive, premature editing doesn't just make writing hard. It also makes writing dead."

Structuring Essays

(2)

Point of View: Position of Authority (new 5th edition)

(2)

Lead-Ins and Concluding Sentences

(2)

Revising and Editing

(6)

Joanne Jaime, "Marriage: The Changing Institution" (annotated)

(8)

In this annotated student essay, Joanne Jaime examines the institution of marriage and finds that the "current high divorce rate in the United States is directly related to our views about marriage, our motives for marriage, and our expectations of marriage."

SPECIAL WRITING ACTIVITIES: THE INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP RESPONSE

(23)

Journal, Reading/Writing Logs, and Thesis Notebooks

(1)

Response and Summary

(1)

Group Activities and Collaborative Writing

(22)

Pat Mora, "Why I Am a Writer"

(4)

Mora "takes pride in being a Hispanic writer." She states that "I want to give others what writers have given me, a chance to hear the voices of the people I will never meet."

Ray Bradbury, "The Joy of Writing"

(7)

Bradbury likens the writing process to a "weather report: Hot today, cool tomorrow," because the first draft of an essay or story should be written with "fire," with "zest" and "gusto," but on subsequent drafts, he or she must pour "critical water on the simmering coals" of content and structure.

Amy Tan, "My Mother's English"

(10)

Author of the best-selling The Joy Luck Club, Tan examines the different Englishes with which she grew up, especially the English used by her Chinese immigrant mother.

2. NARRATION

(51)

COMMON ELEMENTS IN NARRATION

(2)

TIPS ON WRITING NARRATIVE ESSAYS

(47)

Maxine Hong Kingston, "Ghosts"

(5)

Kingston relates one of China's legends, Sit Dom Kuei, using the atmosphere of a ghost story.

Black Elk, "The Offering of the Pipe" as told to John G. Neihardt (Flaming Rainbow)

(5)

A holy man of the Oglala Sioux, Black Elk discusses the origin and meaning of the sacred pipe.

Alice Walker, "Journey to Nine Miles"

(7)

A novelist, poet, and screenwriter takes her family on a pilgrimage to the grave site of Bob Marley, a legendary Reggae artist, and she returns with a renewed outlook on life.

Louise Erdrich, "American Horse"

(14)

In an atmospheric narrative, Native-American poet /author Louise Erdrich's characters recount visual and emotional observations of each other when three of them come to claim custody of Buddy, Albertine American Horse's son: "Buddy didn't want to look at the car and the people. He felt his mother's heart beating beneath his ear so fast it seemed to push the satin roses in and out."

Nguyen Ngoc Ngan, "Saigon, April 1975"

(8)

Ngan creates two moods: one of complete depression and panic as the Viet Cong advance on the city, creating the other mood of power and destruction.

Alma Luz Villanueva, "Leaps of Faith

(11)

As Villanueva stares at the comet Hyakutake, she says, "I imagine my (our) ancestors crossing the Bering Strait, the immense, most incredible leap of faith to push forward." Like these ancestors, Villanueva explains how writers make similar leaps of faith, allowing characters to struggle, discover, dream, create and recreate.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR NARRATIVE ESSAYS

102

(2)

3. DESCRIPTION

104

(48)

DETAILS: APPEALING TO THE FIVE SENSES

104

(1)

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: APPEALING TO THE IMAGINATION

105

(1)

DIALOGUE: REVEALING CHARACTERS THROUGH SPEECH

106

(1)

ACTIONS: DESCRIBING PEOPLE BY WHAT THEY DO

106

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING DESCRIPTION ESSAYS

106

(44)

Toshio Mori, "The Woman Who Makes Swell Doughnuts"

108

(5)

Mori remembers an elderly woman in his neighborhood that everyone called "Mama." Recalling his many visits with her, he creates a vivid portrait of this woman who could sit and talk for hours with friends.

Maya Angelou, "Champion of the World" from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

113

(6)

Angelou describes one night at her Uncle Willie's store when Joe Louis defended his boxing title against a white contender: "The apprehensive mood was shot through with shafts of gaiety, as a black sky is streaked with lightning."

Russell C. Leong, "Notes from a Son to His Father"

119

(6)

Leong struggles to understand his fathers ways of doing things by evoking his own memories of childhood. As he does so, Leong realizes that he must become "his own person."

Katherine Barrett, "Old Before Her Time"

125

(10)

Barrett writes about a woman who spent three years of her young adulthood in an experiment: "In 1979, Patty Moore-then aged twenty-six-transformed herself for the first of many times into an eighty-five-year-old woman."

N. Scott Momaday, from The Way to Rainy Mountain

135

(9)

Momaday returns to the land of his people, Kiowa Indians, for his grandmothers funeral. While he hikes near Rainy Mountain, he connects the land, the people, and the life and death of his grandmother.

Barbara Graham, "Confessions of a Quit Addict"

144

(10)

After dropping out of NYU only one month into her sophomore year, Graham testifies, "that was the first time I felt the rush of quitting, the instant high of cutting loose, the biochemical buzz of burning my bridges." However, "the charge had nothing to do with leaving college for something else, but with leaving, period-the pure act of making the break."

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS

150

(2)

4. ILLUSTRATION AND EXAMPLE

152

(34)

DEVELOPING YOUR THESIS

152

(1)

CREATING VIVID EXAMPLES

153

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING ILLUSTRATION AND EXAMPLE ESSAYS

154

(30)

Mark Katz, "Power Children"

155

(5)

Why does American society tend to "worship the false god of youth"? Tongue-in-cheek, Katz observes that "today s teenagers hold such a commanding position in our economy, its only a matter of time before antiquated child-labor laws are inverted to establish a maximum wage and minimum working hours." After all, it would hardly be fair to "keep these kids at home or in a classroom during their peak earning years."

Nikki Giovanni, "My Own Style"

160

(5)

Giovanni has her own style of doing things and doesn't care what people think. She says, "I've heard all the jokes about BUMPS-Black Upwardly Mobile Professionals-but I like a BUMP. Hell, I am one."

Philip K. Chiu, "The Myth of the Model Minority"

165

(5)

The myth of the superhuman Chinese American is finally being shown for what it is-a myth. Chiu is glad to see that the negative side of Chinese Americans has shown that members of the "model minority" are just as human as other American citizens.

Ann Scheid, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Is Humanity Its Own Worst Enemy?"

170

(6)

While working diligently to defrost, pollute, and rid the planet of hundreds of animal and plant species daily, the human race, greedy for profit, may be signing its own death warrant.

Stephanie Ericsson, "The Ways We Lie"

176

(12)

Ericsson uses illustration and example to demonstrate the fact that there are many ways to lie and that Americans tend to lie quite frequently.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR ILLUSTRATION AND EXAMPLE ESSAYS

184

(2)

5. DEFINITION

186

(31)

DEFINITION BY EXAMPLE

187

(1)

DEFINITION BY HISTORY

187

(1)

DEFINITION BY COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

188

(1)

DEFINITION BY NEGATION

188

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING DEFINITION ESSAYS

188

(27)

Isaac Asimov, "What is Intelligence, Anyway?"

190

(4)

A scholar and highly published author, Isaac Asimov reconsiders the relationship between I.Q. tests and real intelligence.

Jo Goodwin Parker, "What is Poverty?"

194

(6)

Using examples drawn from personal experience, Parker explains the meaning of poverty.

Guillermo Gómez-Peña, "Documented/Undocumented"

200

(4)

An author who finds himself caught between two cultures defines himself as a border-crosser.

Gard E. Norberg, "Jingo Bells, Jingo Bells"

204

(5)

September 11, 2001, is a date in American history many citizens say changed their lives forever. However, "it remains to be seen whether this terrorist act was a precursor to the Apocalypse" because far greater catastrophes occur throughout the world on a daily basis.

Richard Rodriguez, "Does America Still Exist?"

209

(10)

Does a dream for a single society still exist in America? Has it ever existed? Rodriguez looks at his past and the experiences of immigrants to define and argue what it means to be American.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR DEFINITION ESSAYS

215

(2)

6. PROCESS ANALYSIS

217

(31)

DIRECTIVE PROCESS PAPERS: HOW TO DO SOMETHING

217

(1)

INFORMATIVE PROCESS PAPERS: HOW SOMETHING IS/WAS DONE

218

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING PROCESS ANALYSIS ESSAYS

219

(29)

Garrison Keillor, "How to Write a Personal Letter"

220

(6)

Humorist, essayist, novelist Keillor says, "The first step in writing letters is to get over the guilt of not writing. You don't owe' anybody a letter. Letters are a gift."

Kathleen Hudson, "Interviews: Stories that Make a Difference"

226

(7)

Kathleen Hudson notes that "stories hold us together," and that "those choosing the interview as a way to generate writing, a way to conduct research, or a way to collect important information" should trust in their own vision, their own lives, "whether it's years of experience or hours worth of research."

Joyce M. Jarrett, "Freedom"

233

(5)

What is freedom? Sometimes it's the ability to do and to be what you want. Other times, the notion of freedom is merely an illusion. Jarrett's first "illusion of freedom came in 1966, many years following the Supreme Court's decision on school desegregation."

Malcolm X, "A Homemade Education" from The Autobiography of Malcolm X

238

(5)

How does a person become articulate in the English language? Malcolm X discusses the process he used to increase his literacy.

Luis M. Valdez, "Perspectives on 'Borders"

243

(9)

Dramatist, essayist Luis Valdez contemplates the influences of the European, Asian, and African

continents on the Americas and notes that "... we, our humanity, is a humanity that must pull from within and hold us together, but not without recognizing the four corners of the universe, certainly the four corners of human civilization."

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR PROCESS ANALYSIS ESSAYS

248

(2)

7. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

250

(39)

DEVELOPING ESSAYS USING COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

251

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING COMPARISON AND CONTRAST ESSAYS

252

(35)

Andrew Lam, "They Shut My Grandmother's Room Door"

254

(5)

During a visit to a rest home to visit his grandmother, Lam reflects on the differences between Vietnamese and American attitudes towards death and old age.

Suzanne Britt, "Neat People vs. Sloppy People"

259

(5)

Blending humor with seriousness, Britt explains her discovery of the real distinction between neat and sloppy people: "The distinction is, as always, moral. Neat people are lazier and meaner than sloppy people."

Cobie Kwasi Harris, "River of Memory: The Ebb and Flow of Black Consciousness Across the Americas"

264

(7)

Harris employs the expository strategy of comparison and contrast to develop his essay on one of the ranking stories in the Americas: the rise of Black consciousness from slavery to freedom and how this awareness relates to the slaves' African roots.

Ursula Le Gum, "American SF and The Other"

271

(6)

Male elitism runs rampant in science fiction, says Le Gum, but "isn't the subjugation of woman in SF merely a symptom of a whole which is authoritarian, power-worshipping and intensely parochial?" Her comparative study of "The Other" concludes with a call to all science fiction writers to stop "daydreaming about a return to the days of Queen Victoria," and to replace Baboon mentality with "a little human idealism, and some serious considerations of such deeply radical, futuristic concepts as Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity."

Michael Segell, "The Politics of Greeting"

277

(5)

After briefly comparing and contrasting body language exhibited by men and women, Segell concludes that it was "a lot easier to decode when we had furry coats and rivals fear or anger was signaled by the horripilating hedgegrow at the nape of his neck. But our modern clean-shaven circumspection may be more a reaction to the intimate physical language we were required to speak in our human past."

E.B. White, "Education"

282

(9)

The bus from the private, city school "was as punctual as death: seeing us waiting at the cold curb, it would sweep to a halt, open its mouth, suck the boy in, and spring away with an angry growl." In the country, "all one can say is the situation is different...."

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR COMPARISON AND CONTRAST ESSAYS

287

(2)

8. DIVISION AND CLASSIFICATION

289

(41)

TIPS ON WRITING DIVISION AND CLASSIFICATION ESSAYS

291

(37)

Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Ways of Meeting Oppression"

292

(6)

Civil rights leader, King, a Baptist minister and winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 1964, discusses three ways of overcoming oppression: acquiescence, violence, and the one he advocates-non-violent resistance.

Constance Garcia-Barrio, "Creatures That Haunt the Americas"

298

(5)

Demons, monsters, witches and ghosts haunt this essay in which Garcia-Barrio discusses the origins of some African-American folk-tales.

Robertson Davies, "A Few Kind Words for Superstition"

303

(6)

In an age where science and reason determine our actions, Canadian playwright, novelist and scholar Davies sees "superstition in its four manifestations, alive and flourishing among people who are indisputably rational and learned."

Gary Tewalestewa, "American Indian: Homeless in Their Own Homeland"

309

(5)

A member of the Alliance of Native Americans points out that: "There are a lot of American Indians who are homeless; as a matter of fact, 1 out of 18 homeless on skid row is Indian...."

Bill Swanson, "How Films Feed the Mind or When I'm Hungry, I Don't Want to Eat Candy"

314

(18)

Dividing and classifying movies, Swanson explains that, "reflection upon powerful and complex films (or other great works of art) encourages the mental focus and tenacity that is related to personal growth. Eye candy-films full of spectacular special effects and saccharine happy endings-cannot generate much growth in viewers. The best films make for a cinematic diet that enhances the psychological sinews and synapses that are life sustaining."

ADDITIONAL TOPIC AND ISSUES OF DIVISION AND CLASSIFICATION ESSAYS

328

(2)

9. CAUSE AND EFFECT

330

(30)

STRUCTURING CAUSE-AND-EFFECT ESSAYS

330

(1)

CAUSE-AND-EFFECT FALLACIES

331

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING CAUSE-AND-EFFECT ESSAYS

332

(26)

Megan McGuire, "Growing Up with Two Moms"

333

(5)

In high school, growing up with gay parents was difficult for McGuire until she realized that her "home life then was really the same as straight families," and that "the hardest thing to deal with is other peoples ignorance, not the family part."

Karen Ray, "The Naked Face"

338

(6)

Author Ray proclaims she is a nudist "from the neck up" and that her "nakedness is partly pragmatic and partly philosophical."

Phillip Persky, "Guilt"

344

(6)

Persky questions readers, "Do you know the difference between shame and guilt?" Then he explains how a generation ago "the distinction was clearer. Shame was private and guilt was public." With the passage of time, however, he realizes more and more that "difference is a strength rather than a liability, and that shame is the result of discomfort and not a viable social construct for guilt."

Carlos Bulosan, "Labor and Capital: The Coming Catastrophe"

350

(4)

A voice of early Filipino-American consciousness in the United States, Bulosan takes a cold look at capitalist practices and their effect on laborers.

Rose Anna Higashi, "Eating with Immigrants"

354

(7)

Rose Anna Higashi and her husband share a hobby: eating in immigrant restaurants. Yet she finds much more to be gained than just a good meal because a person who eats in an immigrant restaurant can receive a refresher course in the positive effects that traditional cultures can have on life in America.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR CAUSE-AND-EFFECT ESSAYS

358

(2)

10. COMBINED STRATEGIES

360

(47)

TIPS ON WRITING EXPOSITORY ESSAYS

361

(44)

Frank LaPeña, "Sharing Tradition"

363

(5)

In order to pass on culture and values from generation to generation, La Peña argues that we must not forget our "oral tradition." We must listen to our elders' stories.

Cynthia Lopez, "Curanderismo: A Healing Art"

368

(5)

Lopez reports how "Elena Avila, R.N., M.S.N., is a practitioner of curanderismo, the art of Mexican folk healing," for Avila recognizes that western medical practices tend to limit people.

Reginald Lockett, "How I Started Writing Poetry"

373

(8)

When he was fourteen, author/poet Lockett was "going for bad," but "then something strange happened." He began to write poetry and didn't run "up and down the street with the fellas anymore."

Woody Allen, "Slang Origins"

381

(6)

An author, film director, humorist takes a "tongue-in-cheek" look at the origins of some slang words.

Martha L. Henning, "Of Prigs and Pigs: Revolution in the Name of Manners"

387

(8)

Manners, as Henning observes, "have more to do with basic cultural foundations-with how we envision what human existence together on this planet is all about." Unfortunately, "several institutionalized components of our country's educational system currently discourage a culture of manners."

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, "Arrival at Manzanar"

395

(16)

Blending cause-and-effect strategies with narrative structure, Houston relates her arrival at Manzanar, a Japanese relocation camp in the United States, during World War II.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR EXPOSITORY ESSAYS

405

(2)

11. ARGUMENTATION: THE LOGICAL APPEAL

407

(47)

INDUCTIVE LOGIC

407

(1)

DEDUCTION

407

(2)

TYPES OF ARGUMENTATION

409

(1)

CLEARLY STATED THESIS

410

(1)

AVOIDING FALLACIES

410

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

411

(41)

Barbara Ehrenreich, "In Defense of Splitting Up"

413

(5)

"No one seems much concerned about children when the subject is welfare or Medicaid cuts, but mention divorce, and tears flow from their tender psyches." Sadly, Ehrenreich notes that "if divorce itself hasn't reduced American youths to emotional cripples, then efforts to restrict it undoubtedly will."

Paula Gunn Allen, "Who is Your Mother? Red Roots of White Feminism"

418

(5)

Allen argues that-if adopted-traditional Indian views on the importance of one's cultural origins could have a positive impact on American society.

Imamu Amini Baraka, "Soul Food"

423

(5)

Baraka asserts that, contrary to what many people believe, Black Americans do have a language and a cuisine unique to their own culture.

Grace Sumabat Mateo, "The Anima of Anime"

428

(7)

Mateo argues the "beguiling as the presence of anime" in North American culture represents a revolution in animation with a wide appeal to adults and children alike: "Perhaps we are ready for a new level of entertainment and creativity; perhaps we no longer need the guarantee of a happy ending."

Douglas Laycock, "Peyote, Wine and the First Amendment"

435

(10)

Laycock attacks government intervention, censorship, and frequent ban of rituals and ceremonies of minor religions.

Mark Charles Fissel, "Online Learning and Student Success"

445

(11)

In a provocative essay, Mark Charles Fissel argues that there is a definite relationship between online learning and student success in the information age.

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

452

(2)

12. PERSUASION: THE EMOTIONAL APPEAL

454

(40)

ORGANIZING PERSUASIVE COMPOSITIONS

456

(1)

TIPS ON WRITING PERSUASIVE ESSAYS

456

(36)

Gore Vidai, "Drugs"

458

(5)

Vidal sees the solution to drug addiction as simple in theory but unworkable in a society where "people are as devoted to sin and its punishment as they are to making money...."

Phyllis McGinley, "Women Are Better Drivers"

463

(5)

Although McGinley concedes that men are her favorite gender-capable of doing many things better than women-she persuades us that, in addition to having babies, there is one area where women clearly excel: driving an automobile.

Michael Dorris, "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome"

468

(5)

Since the Publication of Dorris's six-year study of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in The Broken Cord several new scientific discoveries have been made about FAS. Now "fetal alcohol syndrome is preventable-it need not ever happen again."

Tammerlin Drummond, "Never Too Old"

473

(4)

"Promiscuity is common in senior centers, where the ratio of women to men averages 7 to 1. Since fear of pregnancy is no longer a concern, many seniors don't use condoms. And Viagra has added more fuel to an already volatile mix." However, what most people are unaware of is that Senior Citizens are "one of the fastest-growing HIV infected populations in the U.S."

Bruce Henderson, "Recent Developments"

477

(9)

Henderson explains that housing tracts like Ladera boast the "latest technical innovation: hookup to the Internet." Ladera is thus advertised as a forward-looking 'online community' where neighbors will be able to communicate with one another at the click of a mouse. In fact, according to their brochure, as the homes are built in the usual phased construction, the available units do not just become available, they come online."

A North Chinese/Vietnamese Elder, "I Want to Live Without Trouble" As told to James M. Freeman

486

(6)

During an interview by award-winning author and noted anthropologist Freeman, a North Chinese I Vietnamese Elder takes a critical look at America, his new homeland: "The bad thing about America is there is too much freedom."

ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND ISSUES FOR PERSUASIVE ESSAYS

492

(2)

Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms

494

(9)

Index: Authors and Titles

503

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Visions Across the Americas Short Essays for Composition

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials