Foundations for Writing

A St. Cloud State Site for English 191

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October 12, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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Protesting Crucet’s talk

According to the Washington Post (http://(https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/10/11/latina-novelist-spoke-about-white-privilege-students-burned-her-book-response/), here’s how students in Georgia responded to a book reading of Make Your Home among Strangers:


A Latina novelist spoke about white privilege. Students burned her book in response.

In response to Jennine Capó Crucet’s talk on campus Wednesday, where she focused her discussion on white privilege, students torched her novel “Make Your Home Among Strangers.”

And here’s Crucet’s official statement about the reading and what happened:

September 24, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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“Protests over black girls’ hair rekindle debate about racism in South Africa”

Here’s the lead of an article from the September 3 Washington Post about protests concerning school guidelines regarding natural hair:

PRETORIA, South Africa — In recent years, staff members at the prestigious Pretoria High School for Girls in South Africa’s administrative capital had taken to telling black students to “fix” their hair, according to some current and former pupils. Exactly what “fix” meant depended on who was issuing the order, the young women said: Some were told to use chemical straighteners, while others got a reminder about the school rule limiting cornrows, dreadlocks and braids to a centimeter or less in diameter.

To many of them, nothing needed fixing in the first place.

Last month, propelled by the long-simmering belief that such criticisms were discriminatory, a group of current students took action. Protests were staged on the leafy, gated campus over the hair fracas and other incidents reported at the school, including teachers allegedly discouraging students from speaking African languages. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/protests-over-black-girls-hair-rekindle-debate-about-racism-in-south-africa/2016/09/02/27f445da-6ef4-11e6-993f-73c693a89820_story.html)

We’re seeing some of these restrictions—and resulting protests—popping up in the US, especially in private schools.

September 21, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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Greta Thunberg on climate change in various venues

An initial image from outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018

And an initial video posted to Thunberg’s Twitter feed that month

Testifying to Congress on September 18, 2019

In a video released by https://nowthisnews.com/

Speaking in Battery Park, New York at the beginning of the Climate Strike on September 20, 2019

September 21, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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A bit more on the climate strike

Since the protests in the U.S. were just beginning when I posted yesterday, I’m posting the first two U.S. tweet that came across my Twitter feed yesterday—from New York and Chicago. My feed is filled with other images and numbers like this one.

September 20, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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“After panel canceled, CAIR director calls protesters a ‘small fringe group of haters'”

According to the St. Cloud Times,

The panel discussion on dismantling hate crimes wasn’t meant to be controversial.

It was planned as part of a series of forums hosted by the St. Cloud Human Rights Commission, which has previously hosted public forums on housing, bullying and the city’s community policing agreement.

But instead of being able to host a community discussion Wednesday evening, the event at St. Cloud Library was postponed over safety concerns — and now organizers are “working with community partners, local law enforcement, and the FBI to plan a future forum that is safe,” states a news release issued by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. (https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2019/09/19/after-panel-canceled-cair-director-calls-protesters-fringe-hate-group-jaylani-hussein-st-cloud/2373650001/)

The article has lots of helpful details that can give you a fuller picture of the cancellation of this local event.

September 20, 2019
by Judith Kilborn
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#ClimateStrike

Students are leading the way in today’s climate strikes.

Here are some views of the climate strikes beginning all over the world.

Climate protest in Dublin

Freiburg, Germany

Köln

and Berlin

Uganda

Pakistan

Sydney

Melbourne

I could go on……

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