ISRP March 17th, Transformation

Theme: Transformation

First, I returned work. Checked in with people who have missing assignments. I should probably grade late ones, but haven’t.

Second, share any good ads. Collect homework; if you don’t have it go to Liz.

To wrap up with morals, mention that some of them, from the homework, seem amoral. To make it clear that morals are about right and wrong, ask questions like:

Do animals have rights?
Do all humans have rights?
Is euthanasia acceptable?
Is lying ever acceptable?
If someone else can obviously make more out of their life than I, is it moral to sacrifice myself for them if needed?

Then we introduced the idea of transformation with these stories:

Samsa and Seuss from This American Life: (14 min)

Goo and You - Radiolab - What happens to butterflies? (17 min)

Homework:

Write a short, short story involving transformation. Ideally, it would have a theme, or moral. Actually, ideally it would be really good and fun to read... but for full credit it must feature some obvious transformation, and there should be some sort of philosophical message.

Awesome Idea: Record a short, Radiolab-like podcast version of your story.

Another Awesome Idea: Have the philosophical message be something we learned this year, like “Real truth comes from contemplating a higher reality,” or “knowledge of the real comes from observing the world,” or something Epicurean or atheist, or Stoic or pantheist.

Also an Awesome Idea: Have the philosophical message be the opposite of something we learned about this year.

Yet Another Awesome Idea: Do something else awesome.

For example, the message in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” the story referenced in “Samsa and Seuss,” the philosophical message is to about conveying the sense of disorientation and confusion which comes from living in an apparently meaningless or absurd world.

The Goo and You episode of Radiolab, which, though non-fiction still totally counts as a story has a philosophical message: even after a seemingly total transformation, remnants of the old self still linger.

If you need inspiration, here is a list of ten good ones, which can be googled. They’re all find-able online.

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