CULTURAL ANALYSIS

CULTURAL ANALYSIS

Laurie Fendrich is an artist, an art critic, and a professor of fine arts at Hofstra University. Her articles about both art and art education have been published in the New York Times and ArtNews magazine, and her drawings and paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and Canada. This article originally appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2008.

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Reading the Genre

Question

1. How many specific types of platitude does Fendrich identify? How does her identification of types of platitude lend an organization to this short essay? (See “Creating a structure” and Chapter 34, “Vigorous, Clear, Economical Style”.)

Question

2. Write a paragraph about education using as many platitudes as you can think of. Reread this paragraph and find one platitude that seems to say something important. What exactly does this platitude mean, and how does it help you to write about education?

Question

3. Watch an athlete or entertainer being interviewed (online or on television), and identify the platitudes he or she uses. Why would athletes and entertainers use these platitudes? Underneath the platitudes, do you sense that the interviewee really wants to say something different? (See “Take words and images seriously”.)

Question

4. WRITING: Building on question 3, rewrite an interview with a famous athlete or entertainer, replacing platitudes with the statements you believe this star would really like to make. Then develop a list of interview questions for this person that might lead the interviewee to give answers that aren’t “conversation-stoppers.”

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