hi- I am passing this on since our class is part of the ZTC program here at BMCC.

****

Are you a BMCC student who is taking or has taken a course that DID NOT require you to purchase a textbook, online homework platform, or other course materials (aka Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) course)?

If so, we invite you to share your thoughts about the experience and importance of your Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) cost course(s) by completing this survey by Sunday, March 8:

http://bit.ly/ztcsurvey

Students who participate in the survey will be entered in a raffle for six (6) $50 Amazon gift cards.

At the end of the survey, you will be asked if you are interested in being interviewed on camera. Your answer will not affect your entry in the survey raffle. Students who are interested in and are selected for an on-camera interview will receive $100 Amazon gift cards.

Your responses will help the BMCC Library promote Zero Textbook Cost courses with students and recruit more instructors to create courses that don’t require students to purchase textbooks.

If you have any questions about the survey or Zero Textbook Cost courses, email the ZTC/OER team at oer@bmcc.cuny.edu.

Thank you!

dear all,

Next week, we will start our section on Gender. Please read (using the reading questions as a guide):

• an excerpt from Janet Mock’s memoir, Redefining Realness
• the Combahee River Collective’s Black Feminist Statement 

We will spend some time going over the Midterm Assignment in class- so please take a look at it before next week. You can find it on the site under Assignments, or you can also find it here. 

dear all,

For next week:

• Essay #1 is due at the start time of your class. The instructions are available under “Assignments” or you can also find them here.
• We will discuss the chapter by Anzaldua, so please read/re-read before class.
• We will also discuss a chapter about the institution of marriage by Stephanie Coontz. The reading and questions are available on your class readings page.

And, two announcements:

• If you want to continue to watch the rest of Babies, please do! You can get watch it by going to the BMCC Library page and clicking on Video Databases.  Select the database “SWANK.”  Use the search bar to look up the film by title. Enjoy 🙂
• The slides I use in class are now up on the course website. You can find them on the top of the page with your Readings/Reading Questions.

Next week, we are going to talk about the topic of CULTURE. To do this, we will discuss two readings (and watch a film in class).

One reading is by Miner, an anthropologist writing in the 1950s about a group of people called the Nacirema.

The other reading is by a Chicana feminist writer named Gloria Anzaldua, who is writing about issues of language and identity in this chapter of her book, Borderlands/La Frontera: the New Mestiza.  

Please read the two pieces and respond to the reading questions to prepare yourself for the class discussion.