Review of three recent books about Walmart in the Austin-American Statesman If you're writing about Walmart for your final paper, you should consider consulting one of the books reviewed in this article by Russell Cobb in the Austin-American Statesman.
"Three new books frown on America's biggest retailer" (may require free registration)
  ¶ 7:38 AM 0 Comments

  Ms. Magazine Story on Sweatshops in a U.S. Territory Now available on newsstands. Here's a preview of the investigative report by Rebecca Clarren from the Ms. Magazine website:

That expensive blouse you're wearing? It may have been sewn by a Filipina garment worker laboring in a factory owned by a Hong Kong mogul on a western Pacific island. The Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States, offers the possibility of an American label -- Made in Saipan (USA), Made in Northern Mariana Islands (USA), or simply Made in USA -- to garment manufacturers, and throws in a unique exemption from U.S. minimum-wage and immigration laws.

Anti-sweatshop leaders and some members of Congress have long sought to increase wages and protect the islands' garment workers, most of whom are women, from what amounts to indentured servitude. But their efforts were repeatedly stalled in Congress. And who was among the biggest opponents of reform? None other than the notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose tentacles reached deep into House Republican leadership. And who was one of the loudest congressional cheerleaders against reform? Tom DeLay, who praised the islands as "a petri dish of capitalism."

In the midst of what could be the largest congressional scandal in history, Ms. sent an investigative team to the Northern Marianas to examine firsthand the consequences of these lobbying efforts and congressional inaction on real women's lives. Plus, we wanted to track down reports of forced abortions on the islands. Could it be that virulent opponents of abortion, such as DeLay, were contributing to conditions where desperate pregnant workers had no choice but to have an abortion? Here is our report.

You can read a longer excerpt here, which includes the following:

If they get pregnant while working in Saipan, workers face another nightmare. According to a 1998 investigation by the Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs, a number of Chinese garment workers reported that if they became pregnant, they were "forced to return to China to have an abortion, or forced to have an illegal abortion" in the Marianas. These days, many pregnant workers still feel they have little choice but to visit one of Saipan's underground abortion clinics -- or else lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, the garment industry on Saipan has begun to decline with the expiration of worldwide quotas on apparel exports to the United States. Garment makers are moving off Saipan to even lower-wage countries such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Desperate to earn money and pay back their recruitment fees, some unemployed garment workers have found themselves turning to another lucrative industry on Saipan: sex tourism. There are no reliable statistics, but an estimated 90 percent of the island's prostitutes are former garment workers.

Again, this is happening in a U.S. territory. Shocking stuff.  ¶ 8:42 AM 0 Comments

  Conference Schedule In case you forgot (ha! ha!), there will be no class today. Instead, I'll be meeting with you individually at the following times:

Thurs 4/27
12-12:20 Allison
12:30-1 April D.
1-1:30 Jessica
1:30-2 Kristi
3-3:30 Amy
3:30-4 Genieva

Friday 4/28
1-1:30 Mark

Monday 5/1
1-1:30 April N.
1:30-2 (open)
2-2:30 Eric

Tuesday 5/2
2-2:30 Kiah
2:30-3 Erin
3-3:30 Olga

By the way, if you turned in a revised draft of a previous paper for re-grading, you can come pick it up during these times. In some cases, I've been holding drafts for a couple weeks (Kristi).  ¶ 7:09 AM 0 Comments

  Another Reason Not To Shop Walmart This is bad...

Via CourtTV.com:

Mother sues Wal-Mart

After her daughter told her what happened, Hollins returned to the superstore the next day to speak to a manager and was offered a $25 gift certificate as a token of concern, according to the complaint filed in Richland County.

Get the sordid details here, if you must.  ¶ 6:22 PM 0 Comments

  Who's Behind the Repeal of the Death Tax? In light of our recent film screenings and our previous reading of Frank Luntz, I thought this article fromt he Cleveland Plain Dealer was interesting:

18 rich families pay for campaign to kill estate taxes

The groups that released the report called it a 'myth' that estate taxes force families to sell farms and businesses. They said the taxes raise revenue from those most able to pay, prompt the rich to give to charity and deter concentrations of wealth.

They said families including those that founded Wal-Mart, Gallo wineries, Nordstrom's department stores, Wegman's grocery stores, the Mars candy company, Cox media chain and Campbell Soup Co. joined the Timkens in bankrolling an effort the groups' report called 'one of the biggest con jobs in recent history.'

Read the rest here.  ¶ 10:51 AM 0 Comments

  Final Essay Guidelines Due Tues. May 9th--There will be a box outside my office door, PAR 406
Basic requirements: 5+ pages, at least two works cited, MLA guidelines
Description: Write an essay that explores an issue raised by Walmart: The Low Cost of a High Price
Additional requirements: Demonstrated application of one or more argument types identified in Good Reasons
That's it.  ¶ 11:30 AM 1 Comments

  Class Meets Today in MEZ 2.118 We're meeting today in MEZ 2.118 in order to screen the last part of The Corporation.  ¶ 7:50 AM 0 Comments

  About The Corporation If you missed today's screening, had to leave early, or would like to review the first half of the movie, you probably won't be able to check out a copy from the library...at least for a couple days. I found out yesterday that the FAC A/V library copy has been reserved by another faculty member through tomorrow. The copy I screened today was rented from I Love (heart) Video, an independent video rental store here in town. You might be able to check out the library copy starting Wed. evening or Thurs. morning. In the meantime, if you really, really want or need to see the film, you too can rent it from I Love Video at their Guadalupe or Airport Blvd. locations. The latter location has three copies of the film, including the one in my possession.
Vulcan Video, another local video rental place, probably has it too. You might even find it at BlockBuster, but that's a big "might."  ¶ 5:44 PM 0 Comments

  Class meets down the hall in Parlin 201 this week Like it says, we're meeting in PAR 210 this week (4/18 and 4/20). We'll be discussing your topic proposals (see previous post) on Tues and screening the 2004 documentary, The Corporation, over both days.

If you'd like watch it outside of class--say, in the case that you miss one of the class meetings--the call number is DVD 3016. You can find it in the Audio/Video library on the third floor of the FAC building. Check out is limited to in-library use only.  ¶ 6:22 PM 0 Comments

  Over the Easter Break For those of you who missed class Thursday, we spent the whole time discussing the Walmart movie and how we can use it as a model for your last essay. I'm asking everyone to bring in a one page topic proposal on Tues that includes the following information:
1. The issue you're exploring. It should be one raised by the film. Your essay will not be about Walmart, though you may use the film as a jumping off point to explore your topic.
2. The question that will structure your argument. In class I gave an example: What does a responsible corporation look like? And another: What can X organization do to address problem Y? Your question does not have to be about corporate policies or practices. You are free to write on any subject suggested by the film. The more local or specific, the better.
3. Your preliminary thoughts on the subject. Where do you think you're going?
4. The type of argument or approach you will employ. Unlike your previous essays, this one does not necessary need to be claim driven. You should reach some sort of definitive conclusion, but you won't have to be as systematic as you were with the last essay. This is not to say your argument will be unfocused; rather, I'd like you to explore various argumentive strategies and techniques. We discussed in class how Walmart: The High Cost of a Low employs definitional arguments (Walmart is not an "American" company; Walmart is a monopoly), arguments of evaluation (Walmart's business practices are harmful and irreponsible), narrative arguments (the stories of small town business owners), proposal arguments (people should organize and resist Walmart), and causal arguments (Walmart's business practices hurt small communities). I'd like to see your essay include some combination of these types of arguments. Another option would be to explore an issue from a variety of viewpoints, without arguing for the validity of one over the other, then offer a proposal or solution that attempts to sort the whole thing out. Regardless of what you choose to write about, the key is that you can demonstrate that you're aware of how your argument works in terms of its constituent parts. You may not be 100% sure of how you're going to make your argument at this point in the process, but I'd like to know how you think you might, at least preliminarily, formally construct your case.

Your final draft of this essay will be due May 9th. You will not be submitting a rough draft to me in the meanwhile. Instead, I'm going to meet with each of you for 30-40 minutes to discuss your draft. This will probably happen the week of the 24th. That same week, you will bringing in a draft for peer review. Next week, we'll be screening a second documentary.

Look for another post over the weekend with details about the requirements for your last essay. I'm thinking 5 pages, 2 sources, MLA, etc. Suggestions are welcome.

There's also a chance that I'll be able to reserve an different room for next week's screening. If I get this taken care of today, I'll let you know as soon as it happens via email and the blog.  ¶ 8:27 AM 0 Comments

  For Tomorrow Bring in 1-3 questions that could serve as a prompt for your or a classmate's final essay. These questions should in some way be related to an issue raised by the Walmart doc. If you already have a topic in mind, I'd still like you to develop a question.  ¶ 9:03 PM 0 Comments

  Reading Response - Walmart: The High Cost of a a Low Price - Post it here. Somebody asked for more info about the director...

Here's the website for the film.

Here's the film's media page, which includes outtakes, interviews with the director, reviews by television personalities like Bill O'Reilly and the guys from the Daily Show, and what appears to be some inspired-by fan films.

Director Robert Greenwald's Weblog is here.

Greenwald's filmography is available at the Internet Movie Database. Hard to believe, but he directed Xanadu (1980).

By the way, IMDB is great place to find out that name of that guy who starred in that one movie that you can quite remember the name of but know Steve Buscemi was in it.

READING RESPONSE PROMPT
I'd like us to use this film in two ways. First, I'd like us to consider it as a model for the varieties of arguments available to us as rhetors. Second, I want us to consider some of the issues it raises and how they fit within the theme of our class. As you answer the following prompts, keep in mind that our purpose is to generate questions that could be used by your classmates as a jumping off point for our final essay. Here's an example to illustrate what I have in mind: Walmart: The High Cost of a Low Price explores how a particular business affects small communities. Can you think of an example of how some business or industry has affected, for better or worse, and in ways that people may not be immediately aware, the community in which you live?
Two parts
1. Identify, in a sentence or two, how the film explicitly or implictly employs each of the following argument types:
Argument of Definition (X is or is not Y) - See chapter 5 for details
Causal Argument (X caused Y; X,Y,Z caused A; X has the effect of A, B, C)-See chapter 6 for more
Evaluation Argument (X is the best; X is a good/bad thing, etc.)-See chapter 7
Proposal Argument (We/you/this group should do X)-See chapter 10
Argument to Explore-An argument that explores an issue without necessarily reaching any conclusions
Narrative Argument (I didn't bring this one up in class, but have a look at chapter 8)
2. I mentioned in class that this film addresses the issue of corporate responsibility. I would suggest that this is the over-arching theme of the doc. What are some of the other themes raised by this film (e.g. sexism in hiring practices)? List at least three.  ¶ 7:46 AM 14 Comments

  Classroom Change For Tues and Thurs I've reserved Garrison 7 for today and next Tues. See you all at 3:30.
Map Link:
http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/gar.html  ¶ 7:44 AM 0 Comments