Drafting tips and strategies

Today we discussed Paul Theroux's "The Male Myth" as well as the three main parts of essays: introduction, body and concluding paragraphs. For more information about the latter, consult The Little Penguin Handbook. Also, you can look under Paragraphing on the class blog.
To prepare for Friday's class, you should review the Paper #1 outline you've created last Friday, review the comments your outline received, and consider as well as make changes or revisions to your outline. While you'll have most of the two class hours on Friday to complete the first draft of Paper #1, I strongly urge you to begin thinking and/or drafting on your own. If you begin drafting at home, do so on your blog so that you don't have to retype it in class on Friday.
Be sure to bring in The Little Penguin Handbook to class on Friday, and everyday from this day forward.We will continue the review of the MLA format we began today, and time permitting, discuss the first research paper.

Men’s Lib- great article in Newsweek Magazine

The cover story in the current issue of Newsweek magazine, is entitled “Why We Need To Reimagine Masculinity” and raises several interesting points which are very pertinent to our class discussions. While the writer notes that many scholars and researchers have been bemoaning the decline or disappearance of masculinity, the article notes that man simply must man-up, embrace “girly-jobs and dirty diapers” and become the New Macho. Apparently men have been losing out to women in the race for college degrees and beyond, as well as have a MUCH harder time dealing with the recession and job loss/shortage of jobs. The article mentions that unlike women, men are not as versatile when it comes to exploring different avenues of work and have not broken into ‘feminine’ professions such as nursing, as much as women have into ‘masculine’ professions, like construction. This is particularly interesting because there are a great number of male students in LAGCC who are enrolled or are planning to apply to the nursing program. What do you guys think? Is it more masculine to be unemployed or to have a steady income from a babysitting job?

            This last question aptly leads into the second issue the article extensively discusses, the issue of child rearing and how in many other countries-Sweden, Germany and Japan, to name a few- government and employers encourage and make it possible for ALL their employees to take maternity/paternity leave. Unfortunately, U.S. is lagging behind; a similar initiative passed in California was only embraced by 26% men, less than half of the 73% of women who took advantage of it. Are American men too macho and too traditionalistic to embrace change?

            The article then goes on to relate both issues to the outdated concept of ‘battle of the sexes’ and pointing out that if men consider making some changes and recognize that issues such as child care, affect not only women, but all children and the men themselves. Several readers responded to this article, and most of them, who happen to be male respondents, are very ticked off by these suggestions, claiming women are much more privileged. What do you think? Consider the male privileges, complied by Deutsch, which we discussed in class last week.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/20/why-we-need-to-reimagine-masculinity.html

Outline for Paper #1 To Be Completed and Posted on Your Blog by Tonight

Please review the assignment for Paper #1 which could be found under Assignments on our class blog. In class, you should have finished the outline for Paper #1. If you have not done so, please do by tonight and post it on your blog. I as well as another classmate will comment and provide some feedback.

Quick Write in response to Bordo's chapter

Quick Write: Choose one of the three quotes from Susan Bordo’s “beauty (re)discovers the make body,” interpret it and show how it applies to advertisement you are analyzing. Be sure to export this post to your own blog as well as the comment you made.

1.)    “men are not suppose to enjoy being surveyed period. It’s feminine to be on display. Men are thus taught…to be a moving target. Get out of range of those eyes, don’t let them catch you—even as the object of their fantasies (or, as Sartre would put it, don’t let them “possess,” “steal” your freedom)” (Bordo 173).

2.)    “Male grooming products too are often marketed by way of “action hero” euphemisms which obscure their relation to feminine versions of the same product (a male girdle marketed by BodySlimmers is called the Double Agent Boxer) and the fact that their function is to enhance a man’s appearance: hair spray as “hair control,” exfoliating liquid as “scruffing lotion,” astringents as “scrubs,” moisturizers and fragrances as “after”  or ‘pre’ accompaniments to that most manly of rituals, the shave”(Bordo 196).

3.)    “As embodied in attractive and sometimes highly manipulative images, “men act and women appear” functions as a visual instruction. Women are supposed to care very much about fashion, “vanity,” looking good, and may be seen as unfeminine, man-hating, or lesbian if they don’t. The reverse goes for men. The man who cares about his looks the way a woman does, self-esteem on the line, ready to be shattered at the slightest insult or weight gain, is unmanly, sexually suspect” (Bordo 200).

Creative Writing Club

Hi Everyone -

I am pleased to let you know that one of our newest student clubs, the Creative Writing Club, will hold our first meeting of the year tomorrow, September 22nd, at 2:15. We will meet in M120. We welcome all students with an interest in poetry, playwriting, fiction writing, or any other kind of creative writing. The club looks forward to an exciting second year and would love to connect more of LaGuardia's immensely talented students. 

Laura Tanenbaum
Assistant Professor of English
M120F
ltanenbaum@laguardia.edu
(917) 710-7341

Stay-At-Home-Husbands- an ultimate status symbol for women or 'unmasculine men'?

Real-Life Stay-at-Home Husbands

Although, Maire Claire may not be the 'best' source of information, this is a great article about the growing numbers of stay-at-home-dads/husbands, how this phenomenon is related to the recession due to the fact that, as Hilary Stout notes, "three men lost their jobs for every one woman that did, and as a result, this year, for the first time ever, women make up the majority of the workforce." But the gender-role swap has it pros and cons. On the pros side, the stay-at-home-dads enjoy the bonding experience with their children and, as PJ, an ex-construction company manager states, sometimes he doesn't know if he is "man enough to be a woman." when child rearing gets to be too much. On the con side, marriage and family therapist, Karen Gail Lewis points out that gender-role swap takes a toll on the couple's intimacy as some wives view their stay-at-home-husbands "weak and inadequate" and some men wonder "what is my true worth as a person if I don't get paycheck?"
These are some great questions to consider: Is a man, man enough to be a woman?
Is a person's worth measured/determined by their paycheck? Why do some wives see their stay-at-home-husbands as "inadequate and weak"? Yet other women brag about such husbands or "elevated life-forms"? Jeez, this sounds a bit condescending and as if we really were from different planets.


Real-Life Stay-at-Home Husbands
http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/relationship-issues/articles/stay-at-home-husband-status-symbol

Your blog's URL

In response to this post, please provide the URL of your blog, so that I can add it to the list of blogs on our class blog. Also, add a link to our class blog to your blog or add the gadget-Blog List- to your blog.

First Blog Post or response to Deutsch's Male Privilege List

Today we discussed few items from Deutsch's Male Privilege list. The first one we mentioned was item #4.  which reads "If I fail in my job or career, I can feel sure this won’t be seen as a black mark against my entire sex’s capabilities". This is just one of the privileges men, or particularly "white, males, from upper economic class, able bodied, straight" as Deutsch's points out, enjoy but to not recognize. Similarly item 11, which reads " If I have children and provide primary care for them, I’ll be praised for extraordinary parenting if I’m even marginally competent," points to the fact that commonly men are not expected to pitch in when it comes to child rearing. But this of course is detrimental to father-children relationship. 


Our first blog post, which you should have completed today in class, required that you select one privilege from Deutsch's list and comment on it. You may discuss whether you agree or disagree that the privilege, in fact, privileges men. Also you may comment on a privilege which you find to be in fact a burden to men and masculinity.

Room Change for Fridays

Please take note that we will meet in C238 on Fridays, not in C237.

According to Esquite magazine survey, the facts are that men...

think Clint Eastwood is the coolest man, Obama is the best role model, men's favorite part of a woman is her face, and when asked what should the wife do, in the ideal marriage, 47% of 20 year old men and 55% of 50 year old men said "she should do whatever she wants." Check out the rest of the survey at

http://www.esquire.com/features/facts-about-men-1010?click=pp

Blackboard CUNY PORTAL

To access Blackboard, please click on the Blackboard link on the right hand side.
The page that opens will have two boxes, a red on for e-Portfolio and a blue on for Blackboard. Underneath the blue Blackboard box there is a link- more info. When you click on it, the following information appears. Please read and follow the steps. I have pasted the information just below.

Status: All Blackboard course shells for Sessions I and II are automatically created and all registered students are automatically enrolled during the registration process.

How to obtain a Blackboard Account: If you are already registered for a course at LaGuardia, you will obtain a Blackboard account automatically. To access your Blackboard course site, you need to logon to the CUNY Portal first, then click the LaGuardia Blackboard link.

If you do not have a CUNY Portal account, please register for one by clicking on the link below: 
CUNY Portal: Register Now!

Male Privilage Checklist link

The Male Privilege Checklist can be accessed via http://www.cpt.org/files/US%20-%20Male%20Privilege%20Checklist.pdf

Welcome Fellow Masculinities Bloggers

Hello Everyone,
Hope you had a pleasant and relaxing summer, and are looking forward to the upcoming semester. You may view the course syllabus by clicking on the Class Syllabus on the left hand side, which contains a Google docs link. See you all tomorrow.