I read The Hamilton Cult. I particularly enjoyed this essay for two reasons — one, I am a proud (if occasionally wary) member of the Hamilton Cult, and, two, I adore history. I am currently finishing up my minor in history at the University of Georgia and found that this piece addressed many of the qualms that I have with the musical, despite my love of it. Robert Sullivan, the author, discusses Hamilton from the perspective of someone who understands history. He questions whether or not the Alexander Hamilton in Lin Manuel Miranda’s production is a full enough version of the actual man — and clearly decides that the answer is no. He speaks with historian William Hogeland who complains about the musical’s lack of attention to the Whiskey Rebellion and the too-intense focus on romantic entanglements. He does, however, also admit that the theatrical piece is meant to make consumers fall in love with the “$10 Founding Father without a father.” From here, he jumps into a larger discussion about other ways that Hamilton has been portrayed over the years, asking readers to question which version of his history we are seeing and why we are seeing it now.

Voices:

Robert Sullivan, the author of the piece. It’s always important to consider who is writing and why.

William Hogeland, a historian who has written extensively about Hamilton and is bothered by the lack of accuracy of the musical.

The Rockefeller Foundation, funds trips for high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to see Hamilton on Broadway.

An unnamed high school teacher who talks about his class and his thoughts on the play.

Lastly, I’d say that Hamilton’s voice was carried throughout, simply because of the emphasis on his history and writings. Hogeland uses these things as a way of giving Hamilton, the man, the chance to speak out across time against Hamilton the musical.

Article: “And Their Eyes Glazed Over” by Joelle Renstrom

Summary:
Professor Joelle Renstrom’s undergraduate students aren’t paying attention in class. Instead, their hands inch toward their cell phones around the 50-minute class’s 30-minute mark, and instead of engaging in chatting and playful banter immediately preceding and following class, their fingers are flying, engaged in text messages and swiping through Internet pages. As a result, she has a no-cell-phone policy within the class; violations—as in phones ringing during class—grant the class a free concert as the student must sing or dance as punishment (it’s in the syllabus). Other forms of technology are just as bad: students with laptops rarely use them to take notes or look at the class’s daily reading; instead, students are engaged in non-class online activities, such as shopping or checking social media. Even students who do take notes on their laptops miss out more than those who write notes by hand.

Distraction equals students missing out on vital information, and technology has made procrastinators out of non-procrastinators and worsened procrastination tendencies for those who already procrastinate. As Renstrom teaches classes on writing and research, she has noticed—and various researchers have shown that—what we read affects how we write. Online materials are geared toward simplistic syntax, and she has noticed the detrimental effects to her students’ grammar, word-processing, and critical-thinking skills. Even when the occasional rare student does make a breakthrough into technology’s harmful effects, that insight washes over the rest of his or her classmates who sit glassy-eyed, already zoned out and tuned back into their little worlds. While Renstrom is forced to embrace technology in the classroom for reasons she enumerates in her article, she is depressed by the detrimental effects it has on the current generation raised by the Internet.

Characters and Their Roles:

• Joelle Renstrom: protagonist
• Renstrom’s students (undergraduates at Boston University who are taking classes on writing and research): antagonists who can’t get away from their technology long enough to pay attention in class
• Studies by various researchers: used to back up her claims (unnamed but out of “So-and-so University” or “Such-and-such Institution”)
• Theorists: also used to back up her claims
  1. Juan Enriquez: purports that the next iteration of humans, Homo evolutis, is one that can control its own evolution
  2. Amber Case: cyborg anthropologist who argues that we are cyborgs already because although the technology isn’t attached to our bodies, we don’t need to be implanted to be connected and unable to function without it
• Chris: shy 19-year-old student whose phone rang in class, who busted out, as per the course syllabus policy (that students’ cell phones who ring during class either sing or dance), “Build Me Up Buttercup,” to which the whole class joined in without a cell phone in sight, finally engaging with one another

I chose to read “Like. Flirt. Ghost: A Journey into the Social Media Lives of Teens” by Mary H.K. Choi on Wired. In this piece, Choi spent time with 5 teens (two of whom were twins) in different parts of the  country to learn about how teens use social media. She admits that this is hardly a “representative sample,” but I felt that the piece still provides an illuminating window into how teens interact online and through apps. When I was a teenager Facebook was the big name of the game (the only big name, to be honest), and I have not adopted many of the newer applications that have come along (such as Snapchat and Yik Yak), which I am sure makes me incredibly un-hip. It is interesting to learn through voices who have adopted these programs what has changed about social media since I was a teenager, and what implicit and explicit rules govern its use.

Voices include:

Author Mary H.K. Choi, who provides background information and links together the voices of the five teenagers she interviewed.

Lara and Sofia, twin 16-year-old girls living in Silicon Valley who discuss Instagram use and what teenagers mean by “awkward.” (Subjects)

Eighteen-year-old Ahmad from New Haven, Connecticut, who explains flirting through social media. The smiley face emoji, I learned, may not be as good as it seems… (Subject) Note: Choi uses Ahmad’s thoughts on Snapchat to segue into an explanation of what Snapchat is and does, which is helpful to non-hip individuals such as myself.

Mira from San Francisco, who discusses how social media use (and the “likes” you receive therein) influence friendships. (Subject)

Fifteen-year-old Ubakum from Houston, who discusses being in the minority as an Android user and how she uses her phone to find new diversions through sites like Reddit. (Subject)

 

The article I chose is “Midnight in the Garden of East Texas”. The article is about a murder case: the town’s richest and snootiest widow was murdered by an acknowledged good guy. The odd thing is that even the guy murdered the widow, people in the town still think the guy is a very kind and nice guy.

Voices are as follows:

District attorney Danny Buck Davidson: He represents a outsider. He was surprised about Bernie’s good reputation, and he tried to tell everyone that Bernie is an accomplished actor who pretended to be a nice person.

A waitress: she thought Bernie is a sweet man.

Someone else: also thought Bernie is a nice guy.

One man: he thought it is hard to believe that old Bernie kill a person.

A woman: she didn’t even care about Mrs. Nugent, the victim, and thought Mrs. Nugent was mean.

Carthage’s congenial Methodist minister, the Revened E.B. Beasley: he thought Bernie still need prayers.

City councilman Olin Joffrion: Joffrion didn’t gave his voice, but just state what he saw.

One woman: she thought Bernie is the first on the list of people she knew were going to heaven.

Other woman came up tho the district attorney: she prayed for Bernie.

KGAS owner Jerry Hanszen: provide background information about the town.

Don Lipsey, former owner of Hawthorn, who had hired Bernie: he said Bernie showed no romantic interest in women at his age.

Bernie’s sister: she thought the loneliness Bernie went through in his childhood made it his calling to serve people.

Paula Carter, a fellow church member and a counselor at the high school: she thought Bernie brought a lot of compassion to the town.

Lloyd Tiller, one of Mrs. Nugent stockbrokers: provide his thoughts towards Mrs. Nugent.

A close relative of Mrs. Nugent: said Mrs. Nugents seemed to lapse into a low-level clinical depression.

A teacher at the high school,

A close relative of Mrs. Nugent thought Bernie enjoyed Mrs. Nugent’s money.

Bernie’s sister said Bernie was a buyaholic and found himself living a dream after he becoming friends with Mrs. Nugent. Also, she recalled that Bernie said Mrs. Nugent was controlling.

Ruth Cockrell, Mrs. Nugent’s first cousin said she doubt Bernie but didn’t know who to talk about because Bernie was so beloved.

The essay I read was called The Hamilton Cult, and it discussed the popular historical musical that is taking over social media. The essay questions the idea that the musical celebrates that our current society is “post-racial,” and that the narrative of an immigrant who arrives to America with nothing and works their way up is one that works with millennials. The essay explained that most people, politicians included, love the show and can’t stop raving about it. William Hogeland, a historian who has written about Hamilton, believes that the musical urges the audience to love a man they know nothing about. Hogeland explained that actual history is downplayed in the musical, especially the lack of attention to the Whiskey Rebellion. The essay then goes into detail about how Alexander Hamilton and his views have been applied in politics throughout history. Hamilton’s viewpoint was at the ultimate peak during Bill Clinton’s presidency. After an extensive look into history and different times The American Revolution had been written about throughout history, the essay goes back to Hogeland and how what he knows about Hamilton is not accurately portrayed in the musical.

The main voice in the article is of William Hogeland. Hogeland is a historian who agrees with the public about how theatrically brilliant Hamilton is, but said there are some historical imbalances of what actually happened during The American Revolution.

The other voices in the article comes from an unnamed a teacher and an executive from the Rockefeller Foundation, which sends high school students from low-income families to see the play. A teacher who went with his class is quoted in the essay as well, stating that he believes the play was a great experience for his students. He also deemed the play “a spectacle,” which Hogeland can agree with in some respects.

 

 

For this analysis, I chose “The Novelist Disguised as a Housewife,” excerpt from Ruth Franklin’s biography of Shirley Jackson.

Voices, in order of their inclusion in the article, are as follows:

• Shirley Jackson herself (subject), in reply to the question of her occupation, which she stated as “writer,” and at other points in the piece such as in a letter to her parents, letter to a friend, and her thoughts in general about squeezing in writing time while presenting herself as just a mother and housewife with a penchant for writing.
• The hospital clerk (local community) who determined that a more acceptable response than “writer” would be housewife.
• The characters she created in cartoons (fictitious extension of subject’s imagination), such as an onlooker to a woman dragging her husband by the hair. “I understand she’s trying to have both a marriage and career,” the cartoon character says.
• The wife of a writer (closely involved with subject) who was said to have been incredulous that a writer would “allow” his wife to have a child.
• Midge Decter, friend (closely involved) and later editor, who commented that “it was the men who needed looking after … They had many demands.” She also noted that having kids was “not part of the bohemian life.”
• Jackson’s husband (Hyman) as depicted in her cartoons, being detached from demands and needs of family and instead expecting to be served.
• Hyman in his own words (closely involved with subject) about having kids, “Bring ‘em to me when they can read and write,” and with regard to his own needs, “I did three paragraphs at once and it tired me out.”
• Two year old son describing Daddy as “man who sits in chair reading.”
• Spock (national figure), words taken from his child-care manual
• Her children who described aspects of their upbringing; their third child, Sarah, who said, “She was afraid she would lose us,” as explanation for Jackson keeping them in her watchful eye; her son, Laurence, who recalled her quirky, playful ways.
• Friend of daughter, Sarah, who recalled that Jackson could be a tough disciplinarian
• Another writer, Alice Munro (likely a friend of Jackson’s) who spoke of having the same constraints on writing time that Jackson experienced.
• Kit Foster, a friend (closely involved) who recalled Jackson leaving a game of Monopoly to write a short story.
• Betty Friedan, feminist writer (national figure), who saw Jackson as selling herself (and by extension, other women) short, by making it seem as though she was dashing off her literary pieces between her household chores.
• General admiring tone of fan mail received (generalized others as fans).

There are many voices present in this short piece, giving us a rich picture of the life and persona of Shirley Jackson as well as the context of the times.  Interesting reading … and eye-opening to see the number of voices that are included and how they are all woven together!