Preface for Instructors Introduction: How We Read and Write About Culture (and How We Ought To) These Are the Rules
Norms, Scripts, Roles, Rules: Analyzing Popular Culture
How Culture Shapes Us: Rules of the Road
The World in Words
Guided Reading: Anne Trubek’s "Stop Teaching Handwriting" [annotated essay]
A Student’s Response to Trubek: Jordan Radziecki, "Don’t Erase Handwriting" [student essay]
Reading Multimodal Texts
Make Yourself Heard
1 How We Believe:
In what ways does what we know shape our daily actions?
Michael Sandel, Markets and Morals
*Andi Zeisler, The Corridors of Empower
Rewriting the Script: Buy Nothing Christmas
Michael Eric Dyson, Understanding Black Patriotism
Debra J. Dickerson, The Great White Way
Then and Now: Feeling (In)Secure
Amitava Kumar, The Restoration of Faith
*Naomi Klein, One Way or Another, Everything Changes
*Tom Jacobs, It’s Not Easy Being Green—and Manly
Scenes and Un-scenes: Political Protest
Acting Like a Citizen: Re-Scripting Belief
2 How We Watch and Listen:
Does what we see and hear depend on how we’re looking and listening?
Harriet Mcbryde Johnson, Unspeakable Conversations
*Lindy West, Bones
Rewriting the Script: Reality Television
Heather Havrilesky, Some "Girls" Are Better Than Others
*Steve Almond, Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?
*Amanda Hess, Why Old Men Find Young Women’s Voices So Annoying
*Tiffanie Wen, Inside the Podcast Brain:Why Do Audio Stories Captivate?
Then and Now: Wearing Your Identity on Your Sleeve
*Tom Vanderbilt, How Predictable Is Our Taste?
*Kevin Fallon, Why We Binge-Watch Television
Scenes and Un-scenes: Picturing Climate Change
Acting Like a Citizen: Keeping an Eye Out
3 How We Eat:
Which rules dictate the foods we put in our bodies?
*Kim Bosch, The Things We Eat Alone
*Sophie Egan, Having It Our Way
Rewriting the Script: Organic Food
Nicholas Kristof, Prudence or Cruelty?
*Nathaniel Johnson, Is There a Moral Case for Eating Meat?
Francine Prose, The Wages of Sin
*Harriet Brown, How My Life Changed In One Sentence
Then and Now: How to Make Meatloaf
*Lily Wong, Eating the Hyphen
Brendan Buhler, On Eating Roadkill
Scenes and Un-scenes: Giving Thanks
Acting Like a Citizen: Consumer Profiling
4 How We Learn:
What are our perceptions of knowledge and the ways we should acquire that knowledge?
Alfie Kohn, From Degrading to De-Grading
Kristina Rizga, Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong
Then and Now: Encyclopedic Knowledge
bell hooks, Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class
Jonathan Kozol, Preparing Minds for Markets
*Frank Bruni, Why College Rankings Are a Joke
*Ben Casselman, Shut Up About Harvard
Rewriting the Script: Job Skills in the Classroom
*Aaron Hanlon, The Trigger Warning Myth
* Ferentz Lafargue, Welcome to the "Real World"
Scenes and Un-scenes: Looking at Learning
Acting like a Citizen: Educational Scripts
5 How We Work:
What do our jobs say about us?
Matthew B. Crawford, The Case for Working With Your Hands
Mac McClelland, I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave
Rewriting the Script: Working at Wal-Mart
Barbara Ehrenreich, How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty
*Linda Tirado, You Get What You Pay For
*Emily Badger, What Happens When We All Become Our Own Bosses
Catherine Rampell, A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much
Then and Now: Dressing for Success
*Maddie Oatman, The Racist, Twisted History of Tipping
Mike Rose, Blue-Collar Brilliance
Scenes and Un-scenes: A Woman’s Work
Acting Like a Citizen: Working Hard or Hardly Working?
6 How We Connect:
What forces help—and hinder—our relationships with others?
*Navneet Alang, The Comfort of a Digital Confidante
*Mae Wiskin, Can’t Quit the Clicks: The Rise of Social Media Rehab
Rewriting the Script: Political Gridlock
*Bijan Stephen, Get Up, Stand Up: Social Media Helps Black Lives Matter Fight the Power
*Caroline O’Donovan, Nextdoor Rolls Out Product Fix It Hopes Will Stem Racial Profiling
Then and Now: Personal Shopping
*Sherry Turkle, The Public Square
Charles Duhigg, How Companies Learn Your Secrets
Scenes and Un-scenes: "Hello, Neighbor"
Peter Lovenheim, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
*Matthew Desmond, Home and Hope
Acting Like a Citizen: Bridging the Divide
7 How We Identify:
Do the roles we play reflect who we truly are?
*Sarah Mirk, Tuning In: How a Generation is Schooling Itself on Sexuality
*Thomas Page McBee, The Truck Stop
Rewriting the Script: Gender as Choice
*Rebecca Traister, All the Single Ladies
*Jodi Kantor, Historic Day for Gays, But Twinge for Loss of Outsider Culture
Then and Now: Saying "I Do"
David Brooks, People Like Us
*J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy
Scenes and Un-scenes: Class Dismissed?
*Garnette Cadogan, Black and Blue
*Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
Acting Like a Citizen: Checking I.D.
Index of Authors and Titles