Preface for Instructors
Introduction for Students
These are the Rules
Norms, Scripts, Roles, Rules: Reading and Analyzing Popular Culture
How Culture Shapes Us: Rules of the Road
The World in Words
Guided Reading *Anne Trubek, Stop Teaching Handwriting [annotated essay]
A Student’s Repsonse to Trubek: Joardan Radziecki, "Don’t Erase Handwriting" [student essay]
Reading Visuals
Making Yourself Heard
1 How We Believe
Introduction
"Rule Maker/Rule Breaker"
Holiday Shopping vs. Buy Nothing Christmas
*Barbara Ehrenreich, "Introduction" from Bright-Sided
John West, Excerpt from the Last Goodnights: Assistant My Parents with Their Suicides
Then and Now: Feeling (In)Secure
*Ron Rosenbaum, In Defense of Obama's Patriotism: A Dissent on the Pledge
Catherine Newman, I Do. Not.: Why I Won't Marry
David Brooks, People Like Us
*Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, See Baby Discriminate
Debra J. Dickerson, The Great White Way
Scenes and Un-Scenes: Political Protest
Putting it into Practice: Scripting Belief
2 How We Watch
Introduction
Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: Mary Ellis Bunim vs. Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag
*Mathew Honan, I Am Here: One Man's Experiment with the Location-Aware Lifestyle
*Jessica Bennett, The Flip Side of Internet Fame
Harriet McBryde Johnson, Unspeakable Conversations
*Trenton Straube, Viewer Discretion
Anne-Marie Cusac, Watching Torture in Prime Time
Ariel Levy, Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
Michael Eric Dyson, Frames of Reference
Then and Now: Wearing Your Identity on Your Sleeve
Naomi Klein, Patriarchy Gets Funky: The Triumph of Identity Marketing
Scenes and Un-Scenes: Picturing Disaster
Putting It into Practice: Keep an Eye Out
3 How We Eat
Introduction
Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: Whole Foods vs. Michael Pollan
*Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief
*Sara Dickerman, Food Fright
Then and Now: How to Make Meatloaf
Francine Prose, The Wages of Sin
Jason Fagone, In Gorging, Truth
Caroline Knapp, Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem
*Makenna Goodman, Ever Wonder if You Could Kill What You Eat? We Did the Other Night
*Tara Lohan, The Ultimate in Eating Local: My Adventures in Urban Foraging
*Frederick Kaufman, They Eat What We Are
Scenes and Un-Scenes: Giving Thanks
Putting It into Practice: Consumer Profiling
4 How We Learn
Introduction
Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: U.S. Department of Education vs. Jonathon Kozol
Alfie Kohn, From Degrading to De-grading
Then and Now: Encyclopedic Knowledge
John Taylor Gatto, Against School
*Mike Rose, Blue-Collar Brilliance
bell hooks, Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class
Brigid Schulte, The Case of the Purloined Paper
Jonathan Kozol, Preparing Minds for Markets
*Nicholas Wade, Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force
*Colin Bisset, La Vie D'Ennui
Scenes and Un-Scenes: Looking at Learning
Putting It into Practice: Educational Scripts
5 How We Work
Introduction
Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: Wal-Mart vs. Jim Hightower
Louis Uchitelle, The Consequences-Undoing Sanity
Anthony DePalma, Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung
*Matthew Crawford, The Case for Working with Your Hands
Robert Sullivan, How to Choose a Career That Will Not Get You Rich No Matter What Anyone Tells You
Then and Now: Dressing for Success
*Matt Taibbi, The Great American Bubble Machine
*Lynette Clementson, Work vs. Family, Complicated by Race
Judith Warner, This Mess
*Frank Deford, Awful Injustice: It's Time to Start Paying College Athletes
Scenes and Un-Scenes: A Woman's Work
Putting It into Practice: Working Hard or Hardly Working?
6 How We Change
Introduction
Rule Makers/Rule Breakers: "Yes, We Can" vs. "You Lie!"
*William Deresiewicz, Faux Friendship
*Steven Kurutz, Not Buying It
*Joel Kotkin, There's No Place Like Home
*Peter Lovenheim, Won't You Be My Neighbor?
* Then and Now: The Hero Monster
*Julia Serano, Vice Versa
*Frances Moore Lappé, Let's Drop the Good Guys vs. Bad Guys Talk, We Need to Grow Up as a Species*Julie Bosman, In Times Square, One Last Homeless Holdout
*Jared Keller, Twitter Is Forever
*Scenes and Un-Scenes: "Hello, Neighbor."
*Putting it into Practice: The More Things Change...
Index of Authors and Titles