Assignment for Monday, September 30

As posted on the assignment schedule, read Chapter 7 of Blur. You do not have a writing assignment due with this reading. Bring Pocket Style Manual and America Now to class.

Also, in class we will read and write about the government shutdown. Unless major new developments occur, we'll read the following pieces:

Everything You Need to Know about the Government Shutdown

House Republicans Plot Next Move as Government Shutdown Nears

Shutdown Stalemate

U.S. Shutdown Nears as House Votes to Delay Health Law

Government Shutdown Closer as House Republicans Pass Bill Delaying Key Parts of Obamacare

Maffei, Hanna Vote Against House Republican Bill That Delays Obamacare for a Year

Homework and Readings from Class

Here are the articles we read in class on Tuesday. Use them to practice analyzing news stories with Kovach and Rosenstine's questions about evidence:

From NPR: University of Alabama Moves to Integrate Greek System
From The Crimson White: The Final Barrier: Fifty Years Later, Segregation Still Exists

From NPR: Diplomacy with Iran: Deja Vu All over Again?
From The New York Times: Enigmatic Leader of Iran Backs Overture, For Now"

In Blur, read and annotate chapter 7 for Monday, September 30, and chapter 8 for Wednesday, October 2.

Lobbyists Look for a New Name

What timing--just as we were talking about whether lobbyists like being called lobbyists, this editorial discusses the possibility that the American League of Lobbyists (yes, even lobbyists have lobbyists) might change its name to improve its image.

Blur Mini-Essay

Click here for the topics for the mini-essay on Blur. It is due in class on Friday, September 20.

Fail More

Here's a blog post from Harvard Business Review that echoes many of Burger and Starbird's points on failing in The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking. It comes from an executive at PBS who succeeded in having his employees fail more frequently.

Materials from Friday's Class

Here's the invisible gorilla video we watched in class today:

Click here for the review of Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow that we read in class.


And here is an interview with Kahenman summarizing some of the main points from Thinking, Fast and Slow: