For Today: Monday, Sept 28

Please bring your Seattle Public Library journal entry with you to class. We will be reading these aloud today.

Paper #2 - Draft

Due: Monday, September 28 (Bring 3 copies)

Analyze bell hooks’ essay “keeping close to home: class and education” and connect her ideas with your personal experience. In her essay, hooks offers her perspective on a variety of themes, including
· class and its role in education and family relationships
· the process of assimilation or resistance to a dominant culture
· the significance of the language we use to communicate with various groups
· the choices involved in staying connected to our past or becoming removed from it as we enter new learning communities

1. With these themes in mind (as well as others we’ve discussed in class), choose a brief quotation from hooks’ essay that is meaningful to you. Write it down. This will serve as a springboard for your paper.

2. Jot down notes in response to the following questions:
· What do you think hooks means in this quotation? Explain your reasoning.
· Why did you choose this quotation?
· How does the quotation connect to your own experiences with education, family, class, etc.? (Note specific examples.)
· What insight into your own experience do hooks’ words offer?

3. Write a short paper (2-3 pages) explaining your interpretation of the quotation you’ve chosen and using hooks’ idea to explore your own past experiences. (Please give equal attention to unpacking the meaning of hooks’ words and relating them to your own experiences.) Provide specific, concrete details to make your ideas vivid for a reader.
Your audience for this paper is your instructor and your peers who are still getting to know you. We may have varying opinions of what hooks’ essay means, so be sure to provide examples and reasoning that explain your particular interpretation.

4. Read your paper and evaluate:
· Have you expressed yourself clearly?
· Have you explained your reasoning?
· Have you provided specific examples?

5. Revise as needed.

6. Proofread your revised draft. Correct errors of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

7. Save a copy of the paper on your computer, and print 3 copies to bring to class. (Your paper should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins. At the top of the page, please include your name, the date, “The Lure of the Local,” and “Paper #2 - Draft.”) Due Monday, September 28.