Follow-up on the New York Review of Books article on Teresa Shiavo

Here's that original article-link:
The New York Review of Books: The Case of Theresa Schiavo
Joan Didion, NYRB article, "The Case of Teresa Schiavo." (Vol. 52, no.10, 9 June 05)

And here is a link to the NYRB follow-up discussion: The New York Review of Books: The Terri Schiavo Case: An Exchange.

The Challenge to GW Bush from War Protesters at Crawford ("Cindy Sheehan" and the media) : Check it out.

Just wondering what y'all think on the multi-perspective jaunt in the media (including blogs) about what is easily encapsulated under a keyword search for "Cindy Sheehan" or "Casey Sheehan."

& I heard that some of you wanted to keep this class blog alive.
Maybe looking into current events like this one (cf the Sheehan issue)
might be a way to do so.

On another note:
I hope y'all enjoy your break (or your graduation!!) before
that reality of fall starts in a few weeks.

We really made a great class. I learned much from you,
as a class and individually. I very much appreciate that.

My best to each of you in future endeavors.

Dr. Murray

on the Didion reading. Angel Mata's response:

[note: Angel posted it in the comments box but I wanted to see it up here on the blog screen, so I've taken the liberty of reposting it here--chris murray]


The Didion article tells of the life of Terri Schiavo. The article begins by describing Terri's life before her coma. Terri was like any other woman, concerned with her weight but it seems it may have gone to far and led to her coma and vegetative state. For years her husband and parents fought a bitter custody battle for Terri. Her husband wanting to ler her die while her parents wanted to keep her alive. The case eventually found its way to the courts and the feeding tube was removed and she was finally able to rest.

This article was very informative and gave alot of insightful information about Terri's life before and after the coma. Personally, I have known of the Schiavo case for years, before it hit the headlies and the world got involved. Most of the stuff in the article was old news to me. Once the story hit the front pages, Terri and her life got lost. It suddenly became a religious matter, with protesters and people boycotting not really knowing what was going on. The media was to focused on viewer appeal to tell people the real story. Overall I think the courts made the right decision it was just an unfortunate way to die.

written by Angel Mata.
posted by Chris Murray.

Good Work!

I'm impressed reading these responses to the Didion reading. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Hey--*No Class Today* :

Apologies, but there's no class, Tuesday,
July 26, 2005.

I hope students will take this time to continue and write to expand their research toward the Position Paper,
and to expand the already substantial work each
has accomplished
toward this final project.

See you in class on Wednesday, 27 July 05.

--cm--
o~o/

Yes!

Keep this stream of responses coming, Y'all. This is creating a fascinating read in terms of relations conceived as argumentation and discourse--in the moment. I'm really intrigued waiting to hear more from you on what your take is, and what is going on with this Didion article. Thank you for stepping up and going to bat, as it were, on this issue and (what I think of, and as Kristin has mentioned below) on the fine research work Didion has done. Let's talk in class tomorrow about whether we want to email our blog url to Didion and NYRB (the publication of the article) as a way of letting the writer and the publication know how much we had to say and in all, appreciate the hard work of research toward argument that has been done to let us as audience know about this fraught cultural phenomenon, the Schiavo case and the "problematic" (I use quote marks here so to mark the moment in class today when I clarified and more accurately defined this overused term for our purposes) of its (inadequate) media coverage.

& Oh Hey--did I say yet how much you all rock?--well if I did not yet say so, then let me give a few indications now:

Y'all do Rock. You've formed a discourse community, and it has a lot of buzz.
That's a very good thing, in my estimation...

Keep on this thread... it's got a lot of potential as a dialectic--I'm really glad to see this dialectic pick up speed with your applications of argumentative energy.

My Best to Y'all,

Dr. Murray

Hahaha, Matt!

Well, I'm glad to hear this paper is hard.
I was beginning to think maybe it was too easy...

: )

Joan Didion, NYRB article, "The Case of Teresa Schiavo." (Vol. 52, no.10, 9 June 05)

This is one of the assigned readings for next week.

Let's get some responses going on it in the comments box here.

Students, Welcome!

Begin by writing and posting here one sentence that explains your exploratory paper to the class.