A Country Designed by Charter

A bit of holiday reading and writing:

UPDATED 2.Jan.12

One of the tenets (some say conceits) of our democracy is that our freedoms are outlined in documents and charters, as opposed to heritage, privilege, or at the end of a gun.

This website demonstrates and explains the origins of these documents. The link sends you to a page called "From Loyal Subjects to Traitorous Rebels." Near the bottom is an image of 1776 Americans pulling down the statue of King George III. Click on it to learn a bit more. Next, click here and watch a short video from early in the Iraq War. Read this brief LA Times article about the latter image.

For Tuesday:

read this longer article from the NYer that outlines the power of mass media to emblazon an image on the minds of its audience. After reading this article comment below on the images' purposes and power.

For Wednesday:

click on the square buttons at the top(ish) of the "Charters of Freedom" page from left to right. The information is concise, factual and well written. When you get to the Declaration of Independence, read it and make a three paragraph comment below about a few things that surprise or interest you about either the Declaration itself or list of harms done by the King. Comment on and/or argue others' work as well.

Constitutional Reporting

Imagine you are three reporters working for a newspaper or news magazine covering the newly created Constitution. Your job is to present the document in a digestible form; you want to help a modern audience understand it, all of it, including the Bill of Rights.

The three of you are to cooperate and accomplish this task using both class time and technology for communication and presentation. Together you will choose a news bureau head and editor, create your format and parts of your rubric. This rubric must measure accuracy, sourcing, cooperation, clarity of language and thought. Beyond that you have a great deal of autonomy, especially in creative directions. (I'll help if you want.)

Depending on how much class time you want to use, this project is due either the 14th or 19th of December. You'll decide this together, too.

Use this document to communicate.

WikiLeaks, Privacy, and SCOTUS, Oh My!

In the interest of keeping the current events/Knowledge Fair plate spinning we'll watch the last 45 minutes of the Frontline WikiLeaks Tuesday. Leta, if you go to the mainland, you'll have to watch it at another time. In class, we'll look at some of the comments and investigate some of the writers' points, adding our comments here.

You have two nights to do the following work: by Wednesday's class read Chapter Five in our text, and answer any four "Critical Thinking" questions in any four of the five summary (review) sections.
By Thursday, find an interesting section of the Q & A between Brian Lamb and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and ask five or six questions about that section. Listen to the whole thing or use the transcript. Look for Dred Scott, Nissai, Hamilton, for instance.
On Thursday, we will look at how money corrupts the judicial system in lower regional courts. Between now and Thursday, click through and see if you can curry some curiosity about this strange manner of justice in America.

Court news

Tonight listen to this radio piece and watch this video about United States v. Jones, a case the Supremes just heard, and write five questions or comments on the Supreme Court Chat page. Riley, would you post a copy of the Fourth Amendment there, too, please?

See you later tonight at Open House.

John Adams

To get a flavor of the times Adams lived, we watched a couple segments of HBO's John Adams, based on David McCullough's book of the same name.

Next comes the Constitution, Bill of Rights and some usable civics, or as my old history teacher used to call it: Problems of Democracy.

Leta has her handy Constitution.

For Wednesday, everyone should do some news scanning and find three current issues or events that bump up against the Constitution. One place to look is today's online news. I got this story by Googling "constitution" and selecting for "News." Be careful. You want news, not opinion, from reputable sources.

For fun homework...

watch Sarah Vowell, author of "Wordy Shipmates," on the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart.

Be prepared to discuss the differences between a holiday like Thanksgiving and one like Evacuation Day.

Revolutionary War Hero Maine Place Names

Washington, town and county; Knox County; Hancock; Franklin; York.
Any more?