Why do I have to go to school?

One more for the road...I saw this and thought you all might appreciate it:

Modern Activism

In our discussion last class period we talked about the activism of the Berkley movement and how it wasn't nearly as pivotal as the BPP/civil rights or woman's suffrage movements.

Following the recent riots in Dinkytown this weekend I want to draw attention to the U of M students who went out to the riots on both nights. Neither riot had any particular purpose but the fad had students waking up to go protest! (their team winning and losing?)

This weekend revealed to me the fad of activism. Some students were injured, some cars were flipped, and there was absolutely no cause whatsoever, contained anarchy. A campus that continues to demand more security after recent thefts, murders, and muggings contradicted itself with these riots.

Queen Selfie

"The Function of Black Rage."

Mychal Denzel Smith writes a blog for The Nation. Below is an article Smith published today that I think fits in well with the two documentaries on the Black Power Movement we just viewed in class.

Smith, Mychal D. "The Function of Black Rage." The Nation Blogs. The Nation, 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. http://www.thenation.com/blog/179106/function-black-rage.

Fabulous

I know this class focuses on the American System, but today is an important day:
Same-Sex Couples in Britain Begin to Marry

Also, a most succinct disambiguation of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, et al. You'll be glad you watched it:
The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained

We need less cowbell.

"Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Spaces" -Brent Staples

Hello Everyone,
My husband remembered this "School House Rock - Manifest Destiny" from his childhood Saturday morning cartoons. AMAZING Propaganda! After all...it was all about Elbow Room.

Hello Everyone,
Considering our upcoming discussion on Howard Zinn's book, I thought this article very revealing. "Why," I asked myself, "Do not more people read Howard Zinn's works?" Especially his People's History of the United States? Well, turns out censorship is not dead...as recent as 2013. 

The Governor's Bad List

Hey Everyone,

This is a documentary that relates to the influence of media in our society. It is quite comprehensive and lengthy, but very well done. It is not at times very easy to watch, and quite disheartening.

Guante spoken word performance: "Where are You"

This is the spoken word performance Wylee mentioned today (Monday, 3/17) in class- the "piece about media misrepresentation in Minneapolis":

Third World Healthcare - Knoxville, Tennessee Edition [VIDEO]

Here's another Daily Show segment you may enjoy/that I think is relevant to the American Society text and our discussions of propaganda, the media and healthcare:

Wealth Inequality in America: Perception vs. Reality [VIDEO]

This is a short video about wealth inequality in the United States. The video looks at what surveyed Americans view as an ideal distribution of our nation's wealth vs. what they think is the actual distribution. Then, the video shows the actual distribution of wealth in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vttbhl_kDoo

Breaking the Spell

Hey All!

I wanted to share this incredible documentary. It's about a small group of anarchists from Eugene, OR who totally reshaped the course of the events at the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, WA. It gives an incredibly intimate view at the diversity and motivations (often conflicting) of the protesters, as well as the brutality of the Seattle police.

Some of the content is pretty rough, so heads-up if that's hard for you to watch (see above mentioned police brutality).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2MxtwAmeOY

Daily Show Segment on Fox News

Below are some videos of a recent Daily Show segement (in 3 parts/videos) that I thought related well to our discussion of the media and propaganda.

You can either just start the first video and let the other two load after it plays through (it should automatically load the next videos in the order they aired and play all three in order, if you start with the first video) but I have also posted links to all three parts below:

PART 1: "Bill O'Reilly, President Obama, and the Super Bowl Pre-Show"

PART 2: "Appetite for Distraction"

PART 3: "Appetite for Distraction - The Hawking-Oppenheimer Distraction Loop"

Prosperity & Obamacare

This article in Slate reminds me of our 'American Society' text. It has a current view on how Obamacare correlates with prosperity. If our book had been published this year, I feel like the chapter on healthcare would sound a lot like this:

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/02/cbo_on_obamacare_people_won_t_be_as_desperate_for_work_and_nobody_s_going.html

TED Talk Pulled from TED's Website

Venture capitalist Nick Hanauer describes job creation as "...a consequence of an eco-systemic feedback loop between customers and businesses."
Kinda reminds me of a drawing I once saw.     #

MSNBC interrupts Congresswoman for report on Justin Bieber

And in other news...

Overview of Social Movements

Here's a great (short) video tutorial about social movements:

http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/social-movements--2

There is also a short quiz you can take to check your understanding. This is not required/I have no way of checking your score. This would be solely for your own understanding. :)

More on Race as a Social Construct

Hi all.

If any of you are interested in further exploring the concept of race as a social construct (which we discussed last Wednesday in class) you may be interested in the following resources. There is a great deal written on this subject if you want to do further research; these are just a few of many resources out there:

• BOOK (which we have in the library):

  Graves, Joseph L. The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America. New York: Penguin, 2005.

• ARTICLES:

  Jablonski, Nina G. "What Is It About Skin Color?" The Root. www.theroot.com, 6 Feb. 2013.

  American Anthropological Association. "RACE - Only Skin Deep." RACE - Only Skin Deep. American Anthropological Association, 2011.

Welcome to the INFS 2520 Blog!

Welcome to our course blog! This is a blog that you can view at anytime by going to the Alternative Knowledge blog at <http://altknow.blogspot.com/>.

I will be adding information to this blog regularly, so please take time to check it at least weekly. You will also notice links to videos and web sites to the right. Some of these videos we will be viewing in class (see the syllabus for details). I have put links to the online versions here so that you can refer to them if you are writing a video reaction paper. Some of the videos are here for your own personal viewing if you are interested. If you want to view these after the class is over you should bookmark the links. You have received an invitation to join the blog. If you sign up you will be able to contribute postings to the blog which will appear here. This will allow you to share topics related to the course with me and your classmates. (Note: the topics that you share must be related to the course.)

I look forward to sharing this space with all of you for the rest of this semester!