Title: eng101_s16_notes_am_democracity_suburbs_gelernter_pt2
Author: R. Dragan
Last saved by: Richard Dragan

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ENG 101 -- Class Notes  
Session 15
Tue. 11/8
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TO DOs 
 
**Go over current Grade Book (7 min.):

grades101.lagcconline.com 

MIDTERM FEEDBACK!

Follow the Rules for Introductions for short in-class essays -- we’ll review these again before the Final Exam.

Different kinds of ‘formal’ writing need different styles of introductions. For Essay #3 -- Exploring a New York World’s Fair -- we’ll use a ‘grown-up’ intro. with a quote and cite (more involved) -- for college research papers.

Revisions due in +10 days => Fri. 11/18 -- Upload your Revised essay to:

submit101.lagcconline.com

Of course, you’ll need to type it up in a Word docx / Google Doc! 

Try to get over to the Writing Center (B-200) F2F or virtually (www.laguardia.edu/writingcenter) -- working with a tutor can help

A few students just didn’t have enough time -- so you can more time to finish your Midterm (but you need to figure out how to be able to write 600+ words in 2 hours for the Final Exam -- because there are no revisions then!)

 
**The Story of Stuff -- Where does our 'stuff' come from?  Where does it go when we're finished with it?  How did consumerism take off in America after the 1940s?  (15 min.)
**Google Earth and World's Fair Historical Photos (10 min.)
**Democracity Souvenir Booklet (10 min)
**Introduction to Gelernter's chapter on the World's Fair 
(Democracity and its presentation of suburbia as a 'utopia') (10 min.) 
***
**2nd Hour --  Gelernter's chapter on the World's Fair -- Reading 25 min. + 30 min. on questions (finish Thur. as needed!)

 

 

1900-1939 
Technology

Today 
Technology 
--1995-Today

cars | AI self-driven cars, EVs
phones | iPhones

movies

on-demand video / 
YouTube / 3D 
IMAX

elevators | ???
refrigerators | ???
diesel trains | MagLev trains
planes | drones
X-rays | CAT scans, etc.
television | YouTube, etc.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------- 
Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff (short film) 
 
www.thestoryofstuff.org 
 --------------------------------------------------------------- 
What are two problems with the way our devices are manufactured and discarded? How does the 'materials cycle' and 'consumerism' affect workers in the world and our environment? Is her evidence convincing? 
 
***Answers

***More convenient we can’t go back 
**Convenience of suburban / modern life comes with hidden costs 
***We’re running out of resources -- we’ll need 4 - 5 Earths... 
*** 
 
The Story of Stuff → CONSUME!!!  
SUBURBIA → CONSUMER CULTURE 

Burning waste release powerful toxin -- dioxin 

If the whole world consumed at U.S. rates, we would need 3 to 5 earths (Story of Stuff). 
 
1/3 of our resources have been used in the last 30 years ( Story of Stuff). 

 
**Put toxins in with our stuff.... **Things are made to break.... 
**Cheap and disposable stuff!!! 
 
**There are planetary limits to our resources.... 
 
polemical -- argument!!! filmmaker is argumentative... 
Use sources -- journalist!!! 
 workers.... 

 	 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
David Gelernter’s 1939: The Lost World of the Fair (pp. 150+in the 
COURSE PACK)  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Into the Fair” by David Gelernter  

Inside the Perisphere: A Vision of Suburbia 
1)	What is inside the Perisphere?  How does Hattie Glassman describe the visit inside?  Who was the architect or designer of this exhibit?  What is Hattie’s subjective (emotional) reaction to this exhibit?  Is she optimistic about the future too?  
*Perisphere -- Pool plus the model of the future city....

Model of a suburb -- city + suburbs 
Democracity 
Hattie's reaction -- blown away....  
The closer you get, the more impressive 
Amazing vision of the future 

Designed Henry Dreyfuss -- inventor of ‘streamlined’ design of the 1930s+.
He created many things like phones, clocks, vacuums even trains. 
(Apple borrrowed ’streamlined’ designs for its products!)
 
2)	What are some features of city of the future as represented in the Democracity exhibit? Using evidence from this section (including the diary entry), Gelernter’s comments and his quoted sources, try to write down 2 relevant points or features of the new city.  Also, how was this vision different than cities in the 1930s? 
*Greenery around around the city

**City (work) vs. surrounding areas (suburbs)
Shallow pool -- like a model 
**Round city - ***City at the center 
"Centerton" 
Green spaces == suburbs at the edges 
MODEL OF A BETTER CITY WITH SUBURBS 
UTOPIA!!! ideal place 

 
Gelernter’s Main Argument  
 
                  U•to•pi•a              [yoo-toh-pee-uh] –noun	 
1.	an imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, etc.  
2.	(usually lowercase) an ideal place or state. 
3.	(usually lowercase) any visionary system of political or social perfection. 
  
1. 2. 3. Origin: < NL (1516) < Gk ou not + tóp(os) a place + -ia -y 
3                 [“no place”] 
  
“Utopia.” Dictionary.com. n.d. Web. 1 March 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/utopia>. 
  
3) How was the Democracity exhibit an ‘ideal place’ or utopia?	 
What was ‘perfect’ about it? Were there any problems that the planners did not see or solve? For example, Gelertner quotes a fair brochure that said, “Communities will spread outward in breadth, rather than grow upward in the congested fashion of the city today” (71). Is there anything potentially wrong with this picture? 
*Answers

In Democracity, you could own your own house with some green space -- 'modern.' 
Cities weren't for living in -- SUBURBS  
WORK --> CITY 

CARS AND HIGHWAYS 

LIVED --> SUBURB 

CLEANER -- FAMILY-FRIENDLY -- GETAWAY 
 
GREEN LAND! 

4) What did Democracity get right about the future of suburbia (give  one specific detail)? What did it get wrong?  
*Answers

We don't all live in the suburbs, but the suburbs really did grow after 1945. 
 
Many Americans owned cars after 1950 -- By 1960 -- many more millions of car owners 
 
A lot of buildings in the suburbs are not high-rises....  
 
Suburban houses are one or two stories (not like the city). 
 
Less community in suburbs?  Promotes communities> 
 
"Spontaneous interactions" between people in cities but not in suburbs.... 

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  NEXT TIME -- THU. 11/10 
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1) We will get the 1st Milestone for Essay #3 -- ‘Exploring the New York World's Fair’ on Thur. -- Page One with a Works Cited Page.
2) There will be a short reading (fiction 2 pages) that we will read in class together to start developing a vocabulary of how to talk about fiction for college classes.