On future maps, though…
1984 and Other Dystopias
Warning: I am going to talk about the election.
Well, not the election exactly — I’m still digging pitchforks out of my back from the end of Q1; I don’t need torches added to the mix — but an idea related to the election. We’re going to look at maps.
In the runup to November 8, an article in the Times used a map to discuss the country (and attempt to predict the election):
What This 2012 Map Tells Us About America, and the Election (Published 2016)
The 2016 Race It’s not just a map. History, race, religion, culture, ethnicity, geography: The 2012 presidential election county-level results map has many stories to tell. Nate Cohn, The Upshot’s elections analyst, and Toni Monkovic, an Upshot editor, discussed some differences we can expect for 2016, and posted a lightly edited transcript of their written exchange.
In the aftermath of the 8th, there haven’t been quite as many nuanced discussions (Twitter, as always, is a nightmare), but we do have this site to show us a 2016 version of Purple America:
Why does this matter to us? Because we began the year with empathy, and empathy is what we need now1. Societal shifts and societal divides affect all of us. It matters, too, that Brewster identifies itself as exurban, an uncommon word that refers to a commuter town located past the suburbs:
Putnam County’s Brewster Central School District is committed to educational excellence and the success of every student. This exurban community of 18,000 values its natural beauty, while priding itself on advancing a progressive educational agenda.
That’s from our school’s website. It means that Brewster, to some extent, defines itself by its proximity to New York City.
In this course, I would like you to read a few books that might help us to think about these probably false dichotomies: urban and rural areas, cities and countrysides, science and nature. These books aren’t solely about those aspects of society, nor are they all focused on conflict of that kind; they are related, though, and worth reading, regardless. The list:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Each of those is available, for free, online. 1984, however, shouldn’t be, because it’s still under copyright. (The rest are public domain, which is how we ended up with excellent and allusive stories like this.) We have copies of 1984 the classroom, so I’ll ask you to use those, if you read that one.
The if in that last sentence is crucial: You are not required to read any of these novels. You are not being assigned any of them. What we will do is to encourage reading, to celebrate it as it happens, and to make it possible for you to explore and expand and share your experiences. But we won’t mandate literature. Nothing ruins reading — and writing — more quickly than forcing it through the traditional English machine2.
Instead, we want to chase down a reading experience like this one:
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Read that essay. The author has offered to talk to any junior who is interested in reading 1984, both to follow up this essay and to try to convince you that, yes, it’s worth reading. Let me know if you would like to speak to her.
So… What Is Today’s Assignment?
Read that senior’s college essay about 1984. Then poke around the list of novels you’ve been given. You don’t need to read any of them yet, but you should start thinking about them. You might go back and read John Holt’s essay or Paul Graham’s essays, too. (They’re in a footnote, if you need the links.)
On Monday, we’ll set up our next few weeks, which will be driven by your interests and energy. I have lessons to teach you, tangents to take you on, and probably too much hope that we’ll enjoy some of it; it will all come back to you, however, now that you’ve got the substructure in place.
Over the weekend, reacquaint yourself with your most recent essay, too, and think about how close to an ending you are. We’ll make that writing process part of our plan on Monday, too.
To be clear: You don’t have anything to submit today. Take notes, reflect, be metacognitive, etc, according to your own needs.
I originally thought to lead this post with an article written in October by David Wong, because it offers powerful insight into the belief that rural areas are at odds with urban areas. It’s far too profane, though, so let’s bury it in a footnote. ↩
See John Holt and Paul Graham for a reminder of what that means. ↩