Gendercide--Extra Credit

"Never again" said the Jews (and many others) about the Holocaust. However, there have been many such tragedies in the 20th and 21st centuries, some of them going on right now. Please take a look at the "case studies" on the Gendercide site. Choose one of the studies and comment here on that article/case study. In studying for the final exam, you might find particularly useful the Armenia case study, the Bangladesh case study,  the Nanking (Nanjing) case study, and the Rwanda case study.  In what way does the information on this site help justify the 20th century's nickname "The Age of Violence" or the 21st century's nickname "The Age of Stupidity"?

Harvest of Despair (extra credit)

Communism is one of the three "flavors" of totalitarianism we will be talking about this month. It is the most widespread and, in a certain sense, most successful flavor of totalitarianism--and probably the most important for you to understand.

Normally, I show in class a video called Harvest of Despair.  With fewer teaching days than normal, I've had to leave out a few things, and I'm skipping the video this semester.  It would be great if you could watch the video online.  Unfortunately, the sound quality of the YouTube version is pretty poor.  The best YouTube version is in six parts:

Harvest of Despair, Part I
Harvest of Despair, Part II
Harvest of Despair, Part III
Harvest of Despair, Part IV
Harvest of Despair, Part V
Harvest of Despair, Part VI


There is a better quality DVD version in the NSU library.  A group of you might want to check the DVD out and watch it together.  I'll give you extra credit for your response to the prompt here:

What did the Harvest of Despair video teach you about Soviet Communism that you didn't know before? What insights did you gain on the motivations and methods of those who supported the movement? Did anything here help you understand why this particular flavor of totalitarianism survived longer (and did more damage) than other totalitarian systems?

Yad Vashem

"One death is a tragedy: a million deaths is a statistic," said Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately, this tends to be the truth. Numbers are a useful tool for measuring things that are too big for us to understand in any other way, e.g., how far it is from earth to the sun. But using numbers often blunts the reality of human tragedies.

The Yad Vashem site tries to make the victims of the Holocaust something more than just statistics. Its database is an attempt to preserve a memory of as many individual victims as possible.

Browse through the database, and look through some of the individual pages of testimony. What do you find interesting/memorable in these pages?

Get Involved--Yet More Extra Credit Opportunities

There are quite a few campus events coming up I'd like to encourage you to attend. 

1.  Poet, musician, and inspirational speaker Talon Duchenaux will be appearing in the Wolves' Den on Wednesday, November 18, at 7:30 p.m.  I've watched Talon's "Ted Talks" presentation.  Useful ideas, and quite entertaining. 

2.  Author Suki Kim will be speaking at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Aberdeen Civic Theater.   While I won't be talking about North Korea specifically in class, the material you pick up from her talk will help you in preparing for exam questions 3, 4, and 5. 

3.  NSU professor Anne Holmquest will discuss the book she recently published, “Visual Talk: How to Speak Anywhere with Graphics and Rhythm” at the Noon Forum on Wednesday, November 18, in the Williams Library Rotunda.  Those of you who are going to be teachers, glorious professors, or enter any profession that require public presentations will find this a very useful session.

To get your extra credit points, just note here which presentation you want to and comment on what the presentation added to your college experience that you might not have gotten from your regular classes. 

The Eugenics Movement (extra credit)

Some of the 19th and 20th century followers of Darwin hit on a novel way to speed up the "natural selection" process.  Their ideas led to the development of what is called "eugenics." Please read through the Wikipedia summary of the eugenics movement. What do you see here that suggests that there is a dark side to the Darwinian idea of progress?

Extra Dostoyevsky Readings (extra credit)

If you enjoyed "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" (and even if you didn't), you might enjoy some of the other selections in the Signet Dostoyevsky book.  If you like romances, you might find "White Nights" particularly appealing. If you want to know what it's like to be in a Siberian prison camp, you might like the selections from the "House of the Dead." 

Read either or both selections, and add your comments here. What would you say to encourage students to read the selection for themselves?

Communist Manifesto--Extra Credit

In the "Communist Manifesto," Marx and Engels suggest some "wonderful improvements" for society. Cite a line from the Manifesto highlighting one of these improvements, i.e, something Marx and Engels want to see changed. Would the change they suggest be a good one? Why, or why not? Do you get a feeling of deja vu when you read through the Manifesto? Any issues raised similar to those in contemporary American politics?

You do not need to read the whole of the Manifesto. Part II (Proletarians and Communists, pp. 135-142 in the Dover anthology) will be sufficient.

Illustrious Professors (extra credit)

In part, getting the most out of a university education involves taking advantage of learning opportunities outside the regular classroom, e.g., attending the presentations of guest speakers and Northern Professors. Several great opportunities for this.

1.  Tonight (Wednesday, October 14) at 7:30 p.m. in the Centennial Rooms, Dr. Blanchard and Dr. Usitalo will debate the topic "Is Free Speech Over-rated?"

2.  On Wednesday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m., faculty will be reading some of their favorite stories at the annual "Sweets and Stories" presentation.  That's held downstairs in the Student Center.

3. There are quite a few Noon Forums still on the schedule--all held in the Rotunda of the Williams Library at noon on Wednesdays:

Oct. 14        What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Oct. 28        The Power of Collaborative Culture
Nov. 4          Lessons from Veteran Teachers
Nov. 18        Visual Talk 
Dec. 2          The Last Lecture I’d Ever Give
Dec. 9          Holiday Sing-along

To get credit, just note here the event you attended and add your comment: what did you learn from the presentation?  How did the presentation contribute to your university experience?

Condorcet's Progress of the Human Mind (extra credit)

I summarized for you Condorcet's Progress of the Human Mind in class.  You will get a somewhat better feel for Condorcet is you read the essay for yourself.  Please read through this abridged version.  What do you see here that adds to or modifies the impressions of Condorcet you got from lecture? 

Rousseau's Ribbon Story (Extra Credit)

As part of my introduction to Rousseau, I retell his "ribbon story."  I have to shorten things up quite a bit, and my cartoon version may be a bit misleading.  Please read the original version of the ribbon story and
compare it to the version of the story I told in class.  How does reading the original version of the story add to your impressions of Rousseau?  Do you find yourself more sympathetic to him or less sympathetic to him?  Does the version of the story I told you in class seem close enough to the original, or do you think that students definitely should read the original version and draw their own conclusions?

The French Encyclopedia (Extra Credit)

Reading the articles in Diderot's Encyclopedia is one of the best ways to understand the French Enlightenment. It shows the attitudes of the philosophes toward everything from Islam to Women to Intolerance to History. While the online translation of the Encyclopedia articles does not include the wonderful illustrations of the original, you will probably still find much of interest.

Browse to an article on a topic of interest to you. Comment on what you found particularly interesting in that article.

Get Involved--Faculty Recital

If you are at all a fan of serious music, I encourage you to attend the faculty recital on Monday, September 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Krikac recital hall. NSU has an amazing music faculty, and, for music lovers, getting a chance to hear them perform is an opportunity not to be missed.

To get your extra credit points, just click on the comment button below and share your impressions of the recital. What did you particularly enjoy? 
 

Get Involved--Senior Recitals.

Emily Davis will be holding her senior recital on Thursday, September 10, at 7:30 in Krikac Auditorium.  She'll be singing works by Robert Schumann and Eric Satie, both of whom I may talk about briefly later in the course.  If you are a fan of serious vocal music, you'll love this recital.  Emily has a wonderful voice.

 If you like, you can earn a couple of "get involved" points for commenting on this or any other senior recitals given this semester. For each recital you attend, just note here which piece you liked best or found particularly interesting or unusual.

Horrible Histories (extra credit)

"Horrible Histories" was a show that ran on British television from 2009-2013.  The series is based on a series of books directed at (it seems) middle school age kids.  A few clips that amuse me and are at least sort of relevant to what we are doing in class.  For extra credit, view two or three of these clips and add a comment.  Which clips did you watch?  What did you think of this approach to history?  Would you recommend them to another student?

[For some reason, YouTube isn't working for me today, and I haven't been able to preview the links.  I hope they work--and that they're what I want!]

• Gunpowder Plot 
• Henry VIII News Report
• Tudor Currency 
• Elizabeth I Portrait/Shakespeare Game Show
• English Civil War News Report
• Tudor's Song
• Divorced, Beheaded, Died
• Henry VII Song
• Execution of Anne Bolyn
• Mary Tudor song

Get Involved!

Please stop by the "Club Rush" tables set up on the campus green on Wednesday, September 2 (10-1). Which of the organizations/activities represented at the Fair interests you the most?

Bonus: which organization offered the best "freebies"?

No chance to visit the Fair? Well, you can do the next best thing: look at the on-line list of student clubs on the NSU web site (see the drop down menu when you scroll over the "Clubs" link in the left-hand sidebar on this page: http://www.northern.edu/sil/pages/default.aspx). No free food, but you can earn your extra credit (one whole point!) by commenting here on the organization that looks most interesting to you.

Welcome!

Congratulations! You have successfully navigated to Inherently Interesting Fall 2015, the most wonderful, most interesting, and most important blog at this particular URL. Your comments and questions on this blog will help make the class even more wonderful and interesting--and occasionally earn you a bit of extra credit!

 To add your comments, click on the "comments" link immediately below. You may leave your comments as an "anonymous" blogger so that you don't have to set up an account. On extra credit assignments, be sure to include your name at the end of the post so I know who to give credit to.

To get started, here's a test of the History 122 extra credit system. Click the "comments" link below and tell me what historical figure or event you think most interesting or important.