Bailes~Composition 1

Look at the pie graph to the right. This is a graph of the main religions in the world and how many people adhere to them. While Christians represent one-third of the world or 2.1 billion people, most of the world (4 billion people) is not Christian. What other religions are represented strongly in the world other than Christianity? And what does it mean to Americans that most of the world is not Christian? How should this knowledge of religious diversity shape our understanding of the world?

Finally, notice the 16% of the world that is nonreligious, half of whom are believers in a God. This 8% of the world may view themselves as spiritual but not religious. Why? Is this a trend?

This week we have been talking about immigrants. Who are they? Where do they come from? Why do they come here?

Politically, the Mexican-U.S. border has become a hot spot for immigration policy. Why not Canada? Is there some difference between the two countries that drives us to put more border patrol on the southern border?

The image above shows thousands of Mexican and Latin American people marching in the streets of Los Angeles to show support for accepting immigrants. Richard Rodriguez said this about the marches: The marches prove that immigrants are not alone. They have families -- and they're woven into our nation too deeply to tear out. Notice that he appeals to family values and then uses the metaphor of a quilt -- "woven into our nation." So what happens if we start pulling the threads out of our national quilt? Do you agree with this metaphor? Explain.

Students:

If you are in one of my Composition 1 classes (English 1010) this Fall 2006, you should have purchased or borrowed this textbook by Mark Connelly already. The title is The Sundance Writer: A Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook. You need the second edition! You can't miss this textbook at the bookstore--it's the color of the UT Volunteers, orange (see right).

Each blog will provide information and some inquiry into a text or an idea. For this first blog, remember that you have your first out-of-class essay and your first in-class essay due this week.

Essays Due

• Out-of-class essay is a narrative/description on loss (500 words, ds, typed)
• In-class essay is an interpretation of an image (350 words, ds, handwritten)

Inquiry

• You've heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. What does that mean? Are images somehow more informative with less effort? And if so, how?

Go at it class!

John Bailes