EXCT GEO

Surname 5

1st EXCT

Your required reading for Week 1 was "The Plant: Corn's Conquest," by Michael Pollan, which was the first chapter of Pollan's book,  The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.  The next 6 chapters in the book trace corn's journey from the farm to our plates.  I will give you 1 point of extra-credit on your final course grade for each of those 6 chapters that you read and write a 1-2 page reaction to (i.e., if you read & wrote reactions to all 6 chapters, you could turn a final grade of 84 in the course into a 90).  The reactions should include a summary of the chapter, which not only lets me know that you read it, but would make the main ideas of the chapter comprehensible to someone who hadn't done the reading, a personal reaction, in which you explain why you liked/disliked the chapter, and what you learned/found most interesting about it, and a paragraph in which you make connections between the reading and other things that we've read, watched or talked about in class.  If you are doing more than one chapter you should upload each chapter as a separate file.  Copyright forbids me from providing more than one chapter to you online, so to complete this assignment you'll have to get a copy of the book.  It should be easy to find at your local library

2nd EXCT

Read the chapter "The Lexus & the Olive Tree Revisited: Myths & Facts About Globalization," by Ha-Joon Chang, which you'll find above, in this module.  After reading, write a 1-2 page reaction.  Your reaction should have 3 parts: 1) a summary of the chapter, in which you clearly state the main ideas, 2) a personal reaction - did you like/dislike the reading & why, what did you learn from it or find most interesting about it, & 3) a connection between the reading and something else that we've read, watched or discussed in class.  . 

3rd EXCT

Read the two short sections, "Thirsty for Denim," and "Atleisure Forever," by Tataina Schlossberg, which you'll find above, in this module.  You can skip the "Introduction" section and read only "Thirsty for Denim" and "Atleisure Forever" - just scroll down to find them.  After reading, write a 1-2 page reaction.  Your reaction should have 3 parts: 1) a summary of the chapter, in which you clearly state the main ideas, 2) a personal reaction - did you like/dislike the reading & why, what did you learn from it or find most interesting about it, & 3) a connection between the reading and something else that we've read, watched or discussed in class.

4th EXCT

Read the introduction to  Moving Millions: How Coyote Capitalism Fuels Global Immigration, as well as the chapter "Growing People for Export," by Jeffrey Kaye, which you'll find above, in this module.  After reading, write a 1-2 page reaction.  Your reaction should have 3 parts: 1) a summary of the chapter, in which you clearly state the main ideas, 2) a personal reaction - did you like/dislike the reading & why, what did you learn from it or find most interesting about it, & 3) a connection between the reading and something else that we've read, watched or discussed in class.

5th EXCT

Read "The Trouble With Wilderness; Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature," by William Cronon, which you'll find in the Week 8 module.  Then write a 1-2 page reaction, in which you provide a summary of Cronon's main ideas, offer a personal reaction, & connect the reading to other things that we've read, watched or discussed in class.

6th EXCT

Read the chapter "Step 1: Put Cars in Their Place," by Jeff Speck, which is from his book  Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.  You'll find the reading here, in the module for Week 12.  After reading, write a 1-2 page reaction to the chapter, in which you:  1) summarize the author's main ideas; do this in a way that makes clear that you carefully read the chapter, and which would allow someone who hadn't done the reading to understand the gist of the chapter, 2) provide a personal reaction - what did you find most interesting about the chapter, why did you like/dislike the chapter, and/or what did you learn from it, and 3) make a connection between the reading and other course content.