Preface for Instructors
  Introduction: The Empowered Writer
    What is America Now?
    What Are Opinions?
    How Do We Form Opinions?
    Participating in Class Discussion: Six
    Basic Rules
    From Discussion to Writing
    The Practice of Writing
    What is "Correct English"?
    Writing as a Public Activity
    Expressing Opinions: Two Annotated
    Student Essays
       STUDENT DEBATE
          Darcy Richie, Calling for a New Dialogue on Rape
          Kevin Collins, Acknowledging Gray Area in Rape Dialogue
       STUDENT WRITERS AT WORK
          Q&As with Darcy Richie and Kevin Collins
    
  1. Body Image: Is It A Serious Issue?
    Deborah Tannen, My Mother, My Hair[Los Angeles Times, Jan. 2006]
    Annie Bradford (student), Here's Looking at You [U Magazine, The University of Texas, Fall 2005]
    Camille Paglia, The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery [Harper's Bazaar, May 2005]
    America Then: Charles Atlas Ad
    Art Carey, This Way Up: Men's Faces Go Under the Knife [Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 2006]
    
  2. Social Networking: How Is Facebook Changing Our Lives?
    Michael Bugeja (student), Facing the Facebook [The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 2006]
    Angela Adair (student), Facebook Addiction Spreads [The Reflector, Mississippi State University, Jan. 2005]
    America Then: A 19th Century Personals Ad
    
  3. Cultural Identities: Can We Live Dual Lives?
    Jhumpa Lahiri, My Two Lives [Newsweek, Mar. 2006]
    Grace Hsiang (student, University of California, Irvine), FOBs vs. Twinkies [Pacific News Service, April 2005]
    (advertisment) American Indian College Fund, "If I stay on the Rez..."
    Isra Bhatty (student, University of Chicago), Reppin' Islam [Diskord/Campus Progress, May 2005]
    
  4. Can Genetics Explain Who We Are?
    James Shreeve, The Greatest Journey [National Geographic Magazine, Mar. 2006]
    Henry Louis Gates Jr., My Yiddish Mama [The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 2006]
    America Then: Roots
    Megan Rundle (student), Unearthing Family Roots [The Digital Collegian, Penn State, Dec. 2005]
    
  5. Gender Differences -- How Real Are They?
    (cartoon) Jerry Scott/Jim Borgman, When Guys Hang Out [The Boston Globe, Jan. 2006]
    Marilyn vos Savant, Are Men Smarter than Women? [Parade Magazine, Jul. 2005]
    Steven Pinker, Sex Ed [The New Republic, Feb. 2005]
    Judith Kleinfield, What's Going On (Wrong) with Our Boys? [Open Spaces, Aug. 2006]
    Daphne LaBua (student), My Brain has a Sex? [The Tufts Daily, Tufts University, Oct. 2005]
    
  6. Do Words Matter?
    John Leo, Awash in Euphemisms [Townhall.com, Feb. 2006]
    Lucia Perillo, Definition of Terms [PMS, #5, 2005]
    William Safire, Changing Warming [The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 2005]
    Jaclyn Barbarow (student), Queering the Campus [The Emory Wheel, Emory University, Oct. 2005]
    Adam Jacot De Boinod, Global Wording [Smithsonian, Mar. 2006]
    
  7. Today's American Language: How Is It Changing?
    Charles McGrath, The Pleasures of the Text (The New York Times Magazine, Jan. 2006]
    (sidebar) A Text Message Version of the Ten Commandments
    Elissa Englund (student), Good Grammar [State News, Michigan State University, Sept. 2005]
    Rebecca Wheeler, My Goldfish Name is Scaley: There's Nothing to Correct [DoubleTake, Spring 2006]
    America Then: The Telegraph
    
  8. Video Games: How Are They Transforming the Culture?
    Will Wright, Dream Machines [Wired, April 2006]
    Rebecca Hagelin, Video Game Violence and Our Sons [Townhall.com, Mar. 2006]
    Brandon Nadeau, Video Games Make Society Less Violent [The Daily Campus, The University of Connecticut, Oct. 2005]
    America Then: Pong, The World's First Video Game
    
  9. Do We Need an Ethics of Buying?
    Bill McKibben, Pie in the Sky [Orion, Mar./Apr. 2006]
    Jan Goodwin, The Human Cost of Fakes [Harper's Bazaar, Jan. 2006]
    Sarah J. Gernhauser (student), The Morality of Designer Knock-Offs [The Daily Reveille, Louisiana State University, Mar. 2006]
    (advertisment) Adbusters, Buy Nothing Day, [Adbusters Magazine, Mar./Apr. 2006]
    (manifesto) United Students Against Sweatshops
    Peter Law (student), A Call for More Sweatshop Labor [Columbia Spectator, Columbia University, Mar. 2006]
    
  10. The News Media: Are Opinions Replacing Facts?
    (cartoon) William Haefeli, You Must Be This Tall [The New Yorker, Jan. 2006]
    David Westin, The Truth about TV News [Columbia Journalism Review, Mar./Apr. 2005]
    William Darby (student), The Extinction of the Informed Citizen [The DePaulia, DePaul University, Jun. 2005]
    Jason Browne (student), If You Don't Have an Opinion, Relax [The Reflector, Mississippi State University, Apr. 2005]
    
  11. Are Science and Religion Compatible?
    (cartoon) Gary Trudeau, Doonesbury, "Uh-Oh" [The Boston Sunday Globe, Dec. 2005]
    Jennifer Jackson (student), God, Science Not Mutually Exclusive [The Daily Cougar, University of Houston, Oct. 2005]
    Chase Mitchell (student), Age-Old Debate [The Auburn Plainsman, Auburn University, Oct. 2005]
    Gary Greenberg, Intelligent Designs [Brain, Child, Winter, 2006]
    Paul McHugh, Teaching Darwin [The Weekly Standard, Mar. 2005]
    America Then: The Scopes Trial
    
  12. Torture: Can It Ever Be Justified?
    Senator John McCain, Torture's Terrible Toll [Newsweek, Nov. 2005]
    Charles Krauthammer, The Truth about Torture [The Weekly Standard, Dec. 2005]
    Calvin Trillin, Another Lesson in White House Values [The Nation, Nov. 2005]
    Dan Mollison, Say No to Torture [The Daily Illini, University of Illinois, Dec. 2005]