DUE: Friday, September 5 and  Sunday, September 15

       Part 1. Due Friday, September 5.

§  Review the handout of advertisements, the readings from the first two weeks, and any observations or material you have gathered about the American idea of happiness.

§  Using the question cues from Bloom’s Taxonomy (wiki: Utopian Classroom àHigher Order Thinking Skills), write a question about the American Cockaigne that you would like to think and write about.

§  Write a draft for a paper answering your question and submit it through Homework TurnIn (interact.micds.org) by the end of the day Friday.

       Part 2. Due Sunday September 15.

§  Consider my responses to your draft.

§  Spend some time talking to others about your ideas and listen to theirs.

§  Rethink, re-see (“revise”), polish your ideas about America’s ideas about happiness and submit your paper through TurnIn by the end of the day.

· Read Aristotle’s ideas about happiness. You can find it on our wiki; the link to it is on “The Good Life” page (you can also read it in his Nichomachean Ethics, book 1, if you prefer).

· Read through the quotations about happiness (overleaf)—choose one you like or one you disagree with.

· Summarize Aristotle’s ideas about happiness. Is he right?

· Connect Aristotle, the quotation you chose, and your original ideas about the American Cockaigne. Notice you are moving from observation about the culture you live in to an idea about that culture, specifically, a philosophical idea about the nature of happiness.

· Do not neglect to write an introduction and a conclusion—your reader should know what your ideas about happiness are. And be graceful as well as careful in your writing.

       And furthermore…

§  This is the first assignment that attempts to provide “thought provoking” questions. Much of the pleasure of writing it comes from your identifying some part of this topic that attracts and interests you.

§  Though we have not talked about television’s presentation of happiness, this is a fertile source of material. Use examples where helpful.

§   Do not neglect to describe what “Cockaigne” refers to.

§  Read the rubric for class writing on the portal and the wiki.