Suggestions for Writing

Community

Now that you have examined a number of texts that focus on community, explore this topic yourself by synthesizing your own ideas and the readings. You might want to do more research or use readings from other classes as you write.

  1. Cell phones, e-mail, social networking sites, blogs, and other electronic communication have made our world smaller and increased the pace at which we live life. Have these inventions also given us a new sense of community or opened up communities that would otherwise be closed to us? Have they lowered or expanded our standards of what community means?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Cell phones, e-mail, social networking sites, blogs, and other electronic communication have made our world smaller and increased the pace at which we live life. Have these inventions also given us a new sense of community or opened up communities that would otherwise be closed to us? Have they lowered or expanded our standards of what community means?
  2. Write about the discussion that might ensue among several of the writers you have studied in this chapter if they were to focus on the following question: What are the characteristics of a productive and successful community at the start of the twenty-first century?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Write about the discussion that might ensue among several of the writers you have studied in this chapter if they were to focus on the following question: What are the characteristics of a productive and successful community at the start of the twenty-first century?
  3. Creating a community of like-minded people is the principle behind the development of many charter schools. Select a charter school in your area, and examine it as an intentional community, defined as “a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values.”

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Creating a community of like-minded people is the principle behind the development of many charter schools. Select a charter school in your area, and examine it as an intentional community, defined as “a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values.”
  4. Was the Ku Klux Klan in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a community? Many would argue yes, that it fit most definitions of community. It was, however, one of many so-called communities that might be seen as counterproductive. Choose another controversial community (such as the punk community, a country club, or a secret society), examine its structure and purpose, and argue for or against its value to its members and to the larger community.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Was the Ku Klux Klan in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a community? Many would argue yes, that it fit most definitions of community. It was, however, one of many so-called communities that might be seen as counterproductive. Choose another controversial community (such as the punk community, a country club, or a secret society), examine its structure and purpose, and argue for or against its value to its members and to the larger community.
  5. Many colleges and universities are developing what they call living-learning communities, in which students choose to live together as a group centered around a theme, which could be anything from Chinese culture to women in science. Some critics believe such groupings are limiting because the students are not exposed to different viewpoints and interests. Others object because they believe segregation based on race, ethnicity, or religion does not contribute to the mission of higher education. What do you think of living-learning communities? Will you choose to live in one when you go to college? Why or why not?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Many colleges and universities are developing what they call living-learning communities, in which students choose to live together as a group centered around a theme, which could be anything from Chinese culture to women in science. Some critics believe such groupings are limiting because the students are not exposed to different viewpoints and interests. Others object because they believe segregation based on race, ethnicity, or religion does not contribute to the mission of higher education. What do you think of living-learning communities? Will you choose to live in one when you go to college? Why or why not?
  6. Examine a community that is organized around shared values but not geographic proximity. What holds that community together? What do members gain from it? Why does it continue?

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Examine a community that is organized around shared values but not geographic proximity. What holds that community together? What do members gain from it? Why does it continue?
  7. Following is a description of a coffeehouse called Java from the novel Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

    Java demands nothing from them [customers] except their money. It allows them to remain unknown. . . . And yet they have community, too, as much of it as they want: the comfortable company of a roomful of nameless-faceless folks just like themselves, happy to be alone, to gaze into middle distance, to notice no one.

    Discuss this concept of community, explain how it can function for some, and describe examples of it that you have seen.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Following is a description of a coffeehouse called Java from the novel Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Java demands nothing from them [customers] except their money. It allows them to remain unknown. . . . And yet they have community, too, as much of it as they want: the comfortable company of a roomful of nameless-faceless folks just like themselves, happy to be alone, to gaze into middle distance, to notice no one. Discuss this concept of community, explain how it can function for some, and describe examples of it that you have seen.
  8. Write an essay about making the transition from one community to another and how that change affects your sense of self. The transition might be from one country to another or simply from one neighborhood or group of friends to another. Include descriptions of the communities as well as your own emotional responses. You might also include photographs as part of the essay.

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: Write an essay about making the transition from one community to another and how that change affects your sense of self. The transition might be from one country to another or simply from one neighborhood or group of friends to another. Include descriptions of the communities as well as your own emotional responses. You might also include photographs as part of the essay.
  9. The author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote, “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” Write a speech that you would deliver to a group of your peers (identify which group) that uses Vonnegut’s idea as your main point and recommends ways to “create stable communities.”

    Question

    uZxg83qH9uNZ3NUqyV8wT7hdxc9/5MQeJeZaOsQNhvI0w6Xk3EOeDQ1B873FE1s7
    Chapter 6 - Suggestions for Writing: The author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote, “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” Write a speech that you would deliver to a group of your peers (identify which group) that uses Vonnegut’s idea as your main point and recommends ways to “create stable communities.”