ENG 101
Rasmi Sporny
10/8/2002

Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space

Question:
Brent Staples states that he was 'six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair' he also writes that he was 'suffering from a bout of insomnia'. Do you think that his appearance, grooming-wise, could have been a contributory factor for the woman getting scared and running away from him?

Themes:
Stereotypes of black men, causing trouble
Confusion
Prejudiced people
Growing up among gang warfare
Ignorance

Idea for Research:
Brent Staple's essay was written in the 1980s. Has stereotypes of black men has changed nowadays, or has the stereotype been passed to another type of ethnicity? Do an anonymous survey, asking people whom they'd be more afraid of if they were walking down the street alone. You could make a table with general appearance, race, etc.
E.g.: Man/Woman/Stevie-Wonder lookalike/Osama-lookalike/Jackie Chan lookalike etc.

Idea for Presentation:
You could create several short journal entries or a story about (or through the eyes of) a black man living in a nice neighborhood, but his neighbor is an ex-convict.

ENG 101
Rasmi Sporny
10/8/2002

The Morals of The Prince

Question:
"Men in general judge more by sense of sight than by sense of touch,"
Can you give a modern-day example, referring to this quote from the text, in order to clarify its meaning?

Themes:
Princes and how they manage their royal duties
Moral behavior
Manipulation and deceit
A Prince's virtue
Kindness and generosity towards the 'common folk'

Idea for research:
Do an analysis on Princes and other royal men, dating back to the 1500s. Find out what their characters were like and what made them successful or not.
See how many of them followed Machivelli's ideas.
You can start your search with history/royalty.com

Idea for presentation:
Create a short skit or narrative about a prince who can't decide how he should govern his land, whether he should be kind or tyrannical, fearless or timid, generous or greedy. To make it more comical, the prince could keep changing personalities according to the demands of his subjects.

ENG 101
Rasmi Sporny
10/8/2002

The Courage of Turtles

Steve Irwin -The Crocodile Hunter
No one could be more famous for hugging reptiles than this Discovery Channel mad-hatter. His love for nature's 'creepy-crawlies? is amusing yet amazing.
crocodilehunter.com

Surabhi Sharma, Film Director
Surabhi Sharma is an Indian film director, who made the film 'The Turtle People'. The film is about a fishing village and its people who spend their time trying to save turtles from extinction. These people, in Kolavipalayam, Kerala-India, are poor and manage to scrape by each day with the living they make by selling fish. The sand on the beach where the village is situated is dredged for sand, for building purposes.
The villagers work together to save the turtles' eggs, helping future generations of turtles to survive

Roger Louie
This person has a web page of three of his pet turtles. He has detailed pictures of each of his three-toed box turtles, plus information on how to look after them. Through his own knowledge and experience, he shows the world a little piece of his love for animals.
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/9831

(If I could state non-human celebrities, I?d choose the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Kemit the Frog)