Forest for the Trees

Since you have a paper due soon, this will be a short post with a couple of simple questions/tasks, which you may find kind of entertaining.  However, both also contain the nuts of  concepts that will be come important to us as we move into the world of writing for a reader and college-level research.  One task also takes us back to an important concept from earlier in the semester: good analysis stems from attention to detail.

Below is a photograph, taken shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg.  The credited photographer is Alexander Gardner (though Gardner himself credited Timothy O'Sullivan), and was taken in July of 1863 shortly after the Battle of Gettysburg.  The commonly recognized title of the photograph is "Gettysburg, Pa. Dead Confederate soldier in Devil's Den."  My source for the image is the Library of Congress.

As I mentioned, the task here is quite simple.  Take a close look at the image.  What, if anything, do you notice that seems ... not quite right?

The second task asks for a little more work, since to do it you'll likely need to do some research (unless you happen to be well over a hundred years old).  What I also hope this task does is make you more cognizant of communicating to a reader.  (NOT the teacher; a reader.).  For the next two or three weeks this is going to become a major point of emphasis for us.  Since this does ask for more work, I'm going to assign an Achievement Point to this task.  That is, satisfactorily complete this task, and you'll earn one achievement point.

Below you'll find the lyrics to a song titled "(Ya Got) Trouble."  The song was written by Meredith Wilson for the Broadway musical The Music Man, which was first performed in 1957.  That alone would likely mean that for most or all of you, this song was first performed before you were born, so we're already out of our cozy little comfort zone.  However, the setting for the musical, and so for the song, is 1912.  So now we're careening wildly out of our comfort zone.  To make matters worse (and I'm very good at that), the song is filled with slang and references particular to early 20th century America.  And that's where you come in.

A key part of college writing, a key part of communication, is making sure a reader understands what you're talking about, and that you as the writer anticipate as best you can what the reader needs to know.  With that in mind, then, here's your task:

I want you to select any five references or terms in the lyrics that you think a contemporary reader would not understand, and explain them for that reader.  Choose terms or references that might be difficult to understand because they come from a different time and place, not because the reader isn't bright.  Assume that your reader is a reasonably intelligent peer.  To get the ball rolling, I've underlined a number of terms and references that would likely need explanation.  For your five terms and references, you can choose two of the ones I've underlined.  The other three need to be your own choice.  You can add your definitions/explanations to your responses to this blog post.

Since I want you to give your primary attention to the paper that's due shortly, let's say have your responses by Wednesday, March 12.



Watch Robert Preston perform "(Ya Got) Trouble" from the 1962 movie version of The Music Man.

Here are the lyrics:

Harold Hill:

Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.
Why sure I'm a billiard player,
Certainly mighty proud I say
I'm always mighty proud to say it.
I consider that the hours I spend
With a cue in my hand are golden.
Help you cultivate horse sense
And a cool head and a keen eye.
Never take and try to give
An iron-clad leave to yourself
From a three-rail billiard shot?
But just as I say,
It takes judgment, brains, and maturity to score
In a balkline game,
I say that any boob kin take
And shove a ball in a pocket.
And they call that sloth.
The first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-Day--
I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
Then beer from a bottle.
An' the next thing ya know,
Your son is playin' for money
In a pinch-back suit.
And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper
Hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'.
Not a wholesome trottin' race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey-boy
Sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say.
Friends, lemme tell you what I mean.
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table.
Pockets that mark the diff'rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital "B,"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
And all week long your River City
Youth'll be fritterin' away,
I say your young men'll be fritterin'!
Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!
Get the ball in the pocket,
Never mind gittin' Dandelions pulled
Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded.
Never mind pumpin' any water
'Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty
On a Saturday night and that's trouble,
Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble.
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers,
Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool
Hall window after school, look, folks!
Right here in River City.
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!
Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents.
I'm gonna be perfectly frank.
Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes
On while they're loafin' around that Hall?
They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs,
Tryin' out Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends!
And braggin' all about
How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen.
One fine night, they leave the pool hall,
Headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry!
Libertine men and Scarlet women!
And Rag-time, shameless music
That'll grab your son and your daughter
With the arms of a jungle animal instink!
Mass'steria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground!

Townspeople:

Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital "T"
That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!
Gotta figure out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...

Harold Hill:

Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it's too late!
Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house,
Does he re-buckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt.
Billy's Whiz Bang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like 'swell?"
And 'so's your old man?"
Well, if so my friends,
Ya got trouble,
Right here in River city!
With a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we've got trouble.
We're in terrible, terrible trouble.
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!
And that stands for Pool!

 
Piazza