Assignment Author
Jamie JessonSoftware / Hardware
Students need access to a computer so that they can create a Myspace account.
Context of Assignment
This assignment is itself an essay, written to evaluate Heath and Potter's book Nation of Rebels.
Pedagogical Goals of the Assignment
Evaluate Heath and Potter’s argument in Nation of Rebels from the perspective of a prominent counterculture figure that will be assigned to you. This will require both a strong, comprehensive understanding of Heath and Potter’s argument and enough knowledge about your counterculture persona to construct a credible evaluation. You will construct this evaluation in two stages. The first stage (first submission) will be a MySpace page for your counterculture persona, on which you will construct arguments evaluating Nation of Rebels. For the second stage (second submission) you will turn your MySpace-based argument into an essay.
Assignment Description
First stage:
Create a MySpace page as your assigned persona. Begin by filling out a profile (include a picture if you can). Some information should be factual, such as age and hometown. But most will probably be speculations, based on what you know about your persona (see this profile of Bob Dylan, for example: ). After creating your profile, you will update your page regularly with blog entries responding to the book and with other features. See schedule below.
By the end of the schedule, you will have an argument evaluating Nation of Rebels. Revise this page/argument by Monday, March 26, for one half of your first submission. For the other half, you will write one to two pages explaining how your page is an accurate representation of your chosen persona and of that person’s opinions. [Note: You will not be able to go back and add blog entries later, although you can revise any that you posted on-time; keep up with these entries when they are due, and be sure to do a blog entry even if you cannot attend class.]
Second stage:
Turn your MySpace evaluation argument into an essay (5-7 pages). You will still be arguing from the perspective of your counterculture persona. You will simply organize the arguments to be found on your MySpace page (and in comments you have made on your classmates’ pages) into the form of an academic essay. You may introduce new arguments or further develop any arguments from your MySpace page. The first stage of this project does not lock you into any particular argument for the second stage; instead, the MySpace page should help you generate ideas, most of which should be helpful later in writing the essay. Turn in this essay on Monday, April 9 for your second submission.
Evaluation:
I will evaluate your second submission (the essay) just as I do your other essays, although in this case I will also be considering how credibly you present yourself as your counterculture persona. In evaluating the first submission I will look at your blog entries, comments on classmates’ pages, and short (1-2 page) essay, which will form the bulk of your writing. However, I will also look at other elements of the page, such as your profile, the friends you choose, the music you’re listening to, and the books you’re reading. All of this will indicate how well you’ve created your persona, which will help me evaluate how well you’ve adopted that particular rhetorical position.
Counterculture
Personae:
I will assign one of the following personae for you to adopt during this assignment. You should research this person (through library research, on-line searches, and, if applicable, by re-reading relevant items from the course reader). Your assignment is then to determine and express this persona’s rhetorical position both as a MySpace user (expressed in your profile and other aspects of your MySpace page) and as a reader of the book Nation of Rebels.
David Horowitz
Peter Coyote
Jello Biafra
Patti Smith
John Sinclair
Charles Reich
Sol Stern
Emmett Grogan
Ken Kesey
Allen Ginsberg
Kurt Cobain
A Guerilla Girl
A member of the Billboard Liberation Front
Mark Dery
Jimi Hendrix
Billie Joe Armstrong
Jerry Rubin
Abbie Hoffman