jueves, 31 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G. K. Chesterton (September 1)

1. "Two Poets in Saffron Park" (2008) by Eric Scanlon.



3. "Political Obligation" by Richard Dagger & David Lefkowitz




LAIR: "North & South" by Elizabeth Gaskell (September 1)

1. Summary of "North and South" by ThatStory


2. Trailer for "North & South" (2004)







LAIR: Partial 1 Quizes

I'm posting this so you can answer them if you want to study for the partial exam. :) Just click below:


martes, 29 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: Socialism, Marx & Fourier (August 30)

1. Excerpt from The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx:

"The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened up fresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian and Chinese markets, the colonisation of America, trade with the colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and in commodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development. The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was monopolised by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of the new markets. The manufacturing system took its place. The guild-masters were pushed on one side by the manufacturing middle class; division of labour between the different corporate guilds vanished in the face of division of labour in each single workshop.

Meantime the markets kept ever growing, the demand ever rising. Even manufacturer no longer sufficed. Thereupon, steam and machinery revolutionised industrial production. The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, Modern Industry; the place of the industrial middle class by industrial millionaires, the leaders of the whole industrial armies, the modern bourgeois. Modern industry has established the world market, for which the discovery of America paved the way. This market has given an immense development to commerce, to navigation, to communication by land. This development has, in its turn, reacted on the extension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce, navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion the bourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into the background every class handed down from the Middle Ages. We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange."

2. Excerpt from "The Capital" by Karl Marx:

"The circulation of commodities is the starting-point of capital. The production of commodities, their circulation, and that more developed form of their circulation called commerce, these form the historical ground-work from which it rises. The modern history of capital dates from the creation in the 16th century of a world-embracing commerce and a world-embracing market. If we abstract from the material substance of the circulation of commodities, that is, from the exchange of the various use-values, and consider only the economic forms produced by this process of circulation, we find its final result to be money: this final product of the circulation of commodities is the first form in which capital appears. As a matter of history, capital, as opposed to landed property, invariably takes the form at first of money; it appears as moneyed wealth, as the capital of the merchant and of the usurer.1 But we have no need to refer to the origin of capital in order to discover that the first form of appearance of capital is money. We can see it daily under our very eyes. All new capital, to commence with, comes on the stage, that is, on the market, whether of commodities, labour, or money, even in our days, in the shape of money that by a definite process has to be transformed into capital."

3. "Political Theory - Karl Marx"


4. Excerpt from "Letter to the High Judge" by Charles Fourier:

"Poverty is the principal cause of social disorders. Inequality, so much maligned by the philosophers, is not displeasing to men. On the contrary, the bourgeois delights in hierarchy; he loves to see the bigwigs decked out and parading in their best finery. The poor man views them with the same enthusiasm. Only if he lacks what is necessary does he begin to detest his superiors and the customs of society. This is the origin of social disorders, crimes and of the gallows, that sad bastion of the civilised order. It is easy to prove that all social crimes committed out of ambition proceed from the poverty of the people, from their efforts to escape poverty, from the anxiety which is instilled in society by the presence of poverty, from the fear of falling into it, and from disgust for the odious habits which it encourages.
For social science there is thus only one problem to resolve, that of the graduated metamorphosis which I have mentioned. By this I mean the art of raising each of the classes of civilisation to the condition of the class above it. Then indigence and discomfort will be eliminated, since the lower class will have become the middle class and will enjoy an honest comfort like our petty bourgeois who are far removed indeed from a spirit of sedition.[5] When the people enjoy constant comfort and a decent minimum, all the sources of discord will be dried up or reduced to very little. Administration will become child’s play, and in Harmony the government of the whole planet will be much less complicated than that of a civilised empire.To eliminate poverty it was necessary to conceive of an industrial system more productive than our own. Such will be universal harmony which will produce at least triple — yes, without exaggeration — at least triple the yield of the civilised system in a well-cultivated empire. Accordingly, while Harmony will greatly increase the wealth of the well-to-do, it will bring about an excessive increase in that of the people, to whom it will guarantee a salary or in old age a decent minimum below which they cannot fall. This beneficence will be all the more simple in that humanity will reproduce much less in Harmony than in civilisation."

5. Excerpt from "Of Education" by Charles Fourier:

"If civilized education developed in every child its natural inclinations, we should see nearly all rich children enamored of various very plebeian occupations, such as that of the mason, the carpenter, the smith, the saddler. I have instanced Louis the XVI, who loved the trade of locksmith; an Infanta of Spain preferred that of shoemaker; a certain king of Denmark gratified himself by manufacturing syringes; the former king of Naples loved to sell the fish he had caught in the market-place himself; the prince of Parma, whom Condillac had trained in metaphysical subtitles, in the understanding of intuition, of cognition, had no taste but for the occupation of church-warden and lay-brother.
The great majority of wealthy children would follow these plebeian tastes, if civilized education did not oppose the development of them; and if the filthiness of the workshops and the coarseness of the workmen did not arouse a repugnance stronger than the attraction. What child of a prince is there who has no taste for one of the four occupations I have just mentioned, that of mason, carpenter, smith, saddler, and who would not advance in them if he beheld from an early age the work carried on in blight workshops, by refined people, who would always arrange a miniature workshop for children, with little implements and light labor?
No attempt will be made, as is the case in existing educational methods, to create precocious little savants, intellectual primary school beginners, initiated from their sixth year in scientific subtleties; the endeavor will by preference be to secure mechanical precocity; capability in bodily industry, which, far from retarding the growth of the mind, accelerates it."

6. "El socialismo utópico"



lunes, 28 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: Liberalism, Smith & Ricardo (August 29)

1. Excerpts from "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" (1759) by Adam Smith:

"When the original passions of the person principally concerned are in perfect concord with the sympathetic emotions of thespectator, they necessarily appear to this last just and proper, and suitable to their objects; and, on the contrary, when, upon bringing the case home to himself, he finds that they do not coincide with what he feels, they necessarily appear to him unjust and improper, and unsuitable to the causes which excite them. To approve of the passions of another, therefore, as suitable to their objects, is the same thing as to observe that we entirely sympathize with them; and not to approve of them as such, is the same thing as to observe that we do not entirely sympathize with them. "

"The produce of the soil maintains at all times nearly that number of inhabitants which it is capable of maintaining. The rich only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only their own conveniency, though the sole end which they propose from the labours of all the thousands whom they employ, be the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires, they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species. When Providence divided the earth among a few lordly masters, it neither forgot nor abandoned those who seemed to have been left out in the partition. These last too enjoy their share of all that it produces. In what constitutes the real happiness of human life, they are in no respect inferior to those who would seem so much above them. In ease of body and peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level, and the beggar, who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for."


2. Excerpt from "The Wealth of Nations" (1776) by Adam Smith:

"But the annual revenue of every society is always precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of its industry, or rather is precisely the same thing with that exchangeable value. As every individual, therefore, endeavours as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce may be of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by aninvisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it."


3. "Political Theory - Adam Smith"



4. Excerpt from "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" by David Ricardo (1817):

"The value of a commodity, or the quantity of any other commodity for which it will exchange, depends on the relative quantity of labour which is necessary for its production, and not on the greater or less compensation which is paid for that labour."


"Utility then is not the measure of exchangeable value, although it is absolutely essential to it. If a commodity were in no way useful,—in other words, if it could in no way contribute to our gratification,—it would be destitute of exchangeable value, however scarce it might be, or whatever quantity of labour might be necessary to procure it."
"If the quantity of labour realized in commodities, regulate their exchangeable value, every increase of the quantity of labour must augment the value of that commodity on which it is exercised, as every diminution must lower it."



5. "Introduction to Ricardo" by Lynne Kiesling

jueves, 24 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: "Silas Marner" by George Elliot (August 25)

1. "A Simple Twist of Fate" Trailer (1994)



3. "Themes of Silas Marner" Cliffnotes

4. "The Theme of Alienation in Silas Marner" by Fred Thomson

5. "On Superstition and Prejudice in the Beginning of Silas Marner" by John Mazaheri

LAIR: "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers (August 25)

1. "Why Mary Poppins is the Best Movie of All Time" by Nick Tierce


2. Theatrical trailer for "Mary Poppins" (1964) by Robert Stevenson


3. Trailer for "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013) by John Lee Hancock





LAIR: Change in Asesorías

It has come to my attention that some of you have a free hour at 10:30, while others have a free hour at 11:30. Because of this, a bunch of you have not been able to attend my asesorías. It was my mistake, I'm sorry about it.

As a solution, I am changing my asesorías to only Tuesdays, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. This way, if you have questions for asesorías, you may visit me in the Media Luna at whatever your free hour is.


Sorry about the confusion!

miércoles, 23 de agosto de 2017

martes, 22 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: American Revolution, Jefferson, Hamilton (August 23)

1. "Rehab" by Glee Cast


1. "The Constitution, the Articles, and Federalism: Crash Course US History 8" by John Green


4. Excerpt from the Constitution of the United States of America:

"WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

5. "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States" by Howard Chandler Christy (1787):


3. Excerpt from The Federalist Papers 84, by Alexander Hamilton:

"It has been several times truly remarked that bills of rights are, in their origin, stipulations between kings and their subjects, abridgements of prerogative in favor of privilege, reservations of rights not surrendered to the prince. Such was MAGNA CHARTA, obtained by the barons, sword in hand, from King John. Such were the subsequent confirmations of that charter by succeeding princes. Such was the Petition of Right assented to by Charles I., in the beginning of his reign. Such, also, was the Declaration of Right presented by the Lords and Commons to the Prince of Orange in 1688, and afterwards thrown into the form of an act of parliament called the Bill of Rights. It is evident, therefore, that, according to their primitive signification, they have no application to constitutions professedly founded upon the power of the people, and executed by their immediate representatives and servants. Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing; and as they retain every thing they have no need of particular reservations. "WE, THE PEOPLE of the United States, to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Here is a better recognition of popular rights, than volumes of those aphorisms which make the principal figure in several of our State bills of rights, and which would sound much better in a treatise of ethics than in a constitution of government."

2. "Thomas Jefferson and his Democracy: Crash Course US History 9" by John Green



3. "Non-Stop" from Hamilton




lunes, 21 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: American Revolution (August 22)

1. The Stamp Act of 1765

2. The Burning of the Stamp Act, 1766

3. "History Has its Eyes on You" from Hamilton


4. "American Revolution Crash Course Playlist" by John Green


5. Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, 1776:

"The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."
6. "Yorktown (The World Upside Down)" from Hamilton

domingo, 20 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: Partial Project 1, Human Trafficking

For this project, you will get in teams of two or three students.

In these teams, you must do the following things:

1. Come up with a research question regarding the topic of Human Trafficking. Follow your curiosity, but beware of value judgements (example: "Is human trafficking worse than torture?"), cultural relativism (example: "Should some cultures be allowed to traffic humans?"), and simple yes/no questions (example: "Is human trafficking illegal?"). Go deeper than that.

2. Find two sources per person that may help you answer your question. One of the sources must be primary, and the other must be secondary.

3. Do an OPCVL analysis for each source, evaluating how useful it may be to answer your question. You don't need to use the table format we used in class. The five sections in a list will be fine.

4. Write one document (500 words maximum) for the entire team where you describe the process to find your sources and how useful (or not useful) each one was to answer your question. Take into account that you may not arrive at a definitive answer for your question, so you must specify to what extent your sources were actually helpful for your specific question.

5. In one Word file (.docx) per team put together: your question (step 1), your answered OPCVLs (step 3), and the document you wrote as a team (step 4). Upload it to Blackboard before midnight on August 29, 2017. Projects that are late, uploaded to the wrong platform, or don't have names will have an automatic 1.


The project will be graded as follows:


Rubric:
Individual grade
First OPCVL is of a primary source, and has complete sentences and specific statements that clearly evaluate the source’s usefulness to answer the question.
30%
Second OPCVL is of a secondary source, and has complete sentences and specific statements that clearly evaluate the source’s usefulness to answer the question.
30%
Team grade
Written document states the question being answered.
10%
Written document describes how the evaluated sources were found.
10%
Written document gives a conclusion as to how useful each source was to answer the question
20%
TOTAL

100%

LAIR: Integration, Quiz (August 21)

There is a quiz today. You don't need to memorize things, but study for it if that's your thing.


jueves, 17 de agosto de 2017

Entrevista de radio: Caso Odebrecht, ¿podría acusarse de corrupción a un presidente mexicano?

Mañana saldré en el radio para hablar de corrupción y el caso Odebrecht en Aristegui Noticias por ahí de las 9:30 AM.

Si les interesa, pueden escucharme aquí: http://aristeguinoticias.com/category/aristegui-en-vivo/

Grupo 303: Posiblemente me tenga que salir de su clase los 15 minutos que dure la discusión, así que por favor denme chance. No se salgan del salón, y regresaré en breve.

Pedro, Emilio y Pamela: No creo que suceda porque la entrevista será breve y por teléfono, pero si por cualquier razón no alcanza el tiempo para que terminen de exponer, no se preocupen. Ya habrá tiempo de que acaben.


EDIT: Salgo por ahí del minuto 63, si les interesa.


LAIR: "Memoirs of a Nun" by Denis Diderot (August 18)

1. Trailer for "The Nun" (2013) by Guillaume Nicloux

 




LAIR: "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy (August 18)

1. Trailer for "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1934) by Harold Young


2. Trailer for "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (1982) by Clive Donner

 




 

miércoles, 16 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: Social & Political Revolutions, Napoleon Bonaparte (August 17)

1. "Napoleon at the Pont D'Ancole" by Antoine Jean-Gros (1801):


2. "The Coronation of Napoleon" by Jacques-Louis David (1807):


3. "Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated in Fontainbleau" by Paul Delaroche (1845):

J

4. "Napoleon Bonaparte (DJ Khaled Parody)" by Tom Richey



martes, 15 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: French Revolution, Robespierre, De Gouges, (August 16)

1. Excerpt from "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" (1789):

"The Representatives of the French people, organized in National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public miseries and the corruption of governments, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man, so that this declaration, being ever present to all the members of the social body, may unceasingly remind them of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, and those of the executive power, may at each moment be compared with the aim and of every political institution and thereby may be more respected; and in order that the demands of the citizens, grounded henceforth upon simple and incontestable principles, may always take the direction of maintaining the constitution and welfare of all."

"Article 1.- Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be based only on public utility."

"Article 6.-  Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part personally, or by their representatives, and its formation.  It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.  All citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally eligible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacities, and without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents."

2. . Excerpt from the "Declaration of Rights of Woman and Female Citizen" by Olympe de Gouges (1791):

"Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who poses the question; you will not deprive her of that right at least. Tell me, what gives you sovereign empire to opress my sex? Your strength? Your talents? Observe the Creator in his wisdom; survey in all her grandeur that nature with whom you seem to want to be in harmony, and give me, if you dare, an exampl of this tyrannical empire. Go back to animals, consult the elements, study plants, finally glance at all the modifications of organic matter, and surrender to the evidence when I offer you the menas; search, probe, and distinguish, if you can, the sexes in the administration of nature. Everywhere you will find them mingled; everywhere they cooperate in harmonious tpgetherness in this immortal masterpiece.
     Man alone has raised his exceptional circumstances to a principle. Bizarre, blind, bloated with science and degenerated--in a century of enlightenment and wisdom--into the crassest ignorance, he wants to command as a despot a sex which is in full possession of its intellectual faculties; he pretends to enjoy the Revolution and to claim his rights to equality in order to say nothing more about it."

"Article 1.- Woman is born free and lives equal to man in her rights. Social distinctions can be based only on the common utility."

"Article 6.-   The law must be the expression of the general will; all female and male citizens must contribute either personally or through their representatives to its formation; it must be the same for all: male and female citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, must be equally admitted to all honors, positions, and public employment according to their capacity and without other distinctions besides those of their virtues and talents."

3. Excerpt from "On the Princples of Political Morality" by Maximilien Robespierre (1794):

"If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
It has been said that terror is the spring of despotic government. Does yours then resemble despotism? Yes, as the steel that glistens in the hands of the heroes of liberty resembles the sword with which the satellites of tyranny are armed. Let the despot govern by terror his debased subjects; he is right as a despot: conquer by terror the enemies of liberty and you will be right as founders of the republic. The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny. Is force only intended to protect crime? Is not the lightning of heaven made to blast vice exalted?"
4. "Charles-André Merda shooting Maximilien Robespierre" by Jean-Joseph-Francois Tassaert (1794):


5. "Madame Guillotine" from The Scarlet Pimpernel

LAIR: Grades are updated on Blackboard

Hi everyone,

If you want to see your progress, go to the Grades tab on Blackboard and there you may download the Excel file with your grades.

On the first page you will see the weekly grades how they will appear in your Bitácora, and on the tab titled "Activities", you may see which specific activities are included in each weekly average.

If you have a 1 in an activity, it's probably because I didn't receive it, and unfortunately I am not allowed to receive late assignments. If you have any questions, let me know.


lunes, 14 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: French Revolution (August 15)

1. "The French Revolution: Crash Course World History 29" by John Green


3. "At the End of the Day" from Les Miserables


4. "Do you hear the people sing?" from Les Miserables



5. "#CorruptionGirl: La Revolución Francesa y la Transparencia"



domingo, 13 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: What is a Revolution? (August 14)

1. French Revolution

2. American Revolution

3. Industrial Revolution

4. Scientific Revolution

5. Style Revolution

For August 14, before midnight: Send me one e-mail per team with the entire team's active reading notes. In the e-mail's asunto, write "Revolutions Active Reading" and your group. If I can't find your name or your group in the e-mail, you will have a zero.

jueves, 10 de agosto de 2017

LAIR: The Seven Years War (August 11)

1. "The Seven Years War: Crash Course World History 26" by John Green

 

2. "The Seven Years War and the Great Awakening: Crash Course US History 5" by John Green
 
 

3. Participants in the Seven Years War: