English 145—Essay #3

Focus the Nation Reaction Paper

Some student responses:

1. Change by Action
2. More Pests and Less Produce
3. Climate Change is Affecting More than Just Cucumbers
4. PGandE Transformed Me
5. Face It: It's Time for Change
6. Focusing the Fight

The prompt:

Our regular class for Wednesday January 30 is cancelled to make room in your schedule for attendance at an educational program entitled “Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions.”  Some of the material being presented may be considered controversial, some is not.  Responding critically to any of it exercises skills that this course in “Reasoning, Argumentation, and Writing” is designed to develop.   

This writing assignment requires you to attend at least one of the events scheduled for Thursday January 31, or events leading up to it, such as the Poetry Slam on Monday January 28 at 8:00 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium or the Webcast of  “The 2% Solution” on Wednesday January 30 at 5:00 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium.

I hope you will find it worthwhile to attend many of these events.  Your task here is to write about one of them. It will be informative for our class to read and discuss a wide range of reactions. 

Some suggestions for approaching this task:

• Include a vivid description of the event, including an explanation of why you chose it. Relate the specific event to the larger Focus the Nation program, local and national.
• Provide a clear, concise summary of the informational material presented.
• Analyze the rhetorical strategies of presenters, including how credible you found them and why.
• Relate what it felt like to attend the event, emphasizing any changes of attitude or feeling that you experienced.
• Establish your own credibility as an observer and commentator with references to the Global Warming/Climate Change discourse you’ve been engaged with.
• Evaluate the event in terms of the objectives of the organizers or in terms of your own opinions about Global Warming/Climate Change.

Approximately 750 words