Accident

I missed class on Thursday because I as in a car accident Wednesday night.  You will have a substitute instructor for class Tuesday - but I hope to be in class soon.

In class you will finish your presentations during the first part of class - and during second half - you will present your analysis to your classmates.  Your analysis should hit the points on the handout -with a focus on the discussion of the cultural meaning of your text.  For your presentation - you should come to the front of the class and use the computer to show classmates the links to the different versions of your story (on snopes or some other site).  You should read through at least three versions - so your classmates can help make sure you have identified the "right" common elements + symbollic meaning.

You should come to class with your presentations pretty well worked out (make sure you AT LEAST have chosen an urban legend that has 3 variants - and have some ideas about which elements are in common - and which are not).  Some good possibilities include:

Brown Betty

Mexican Pet

Secret Sauce

Satan's Choice

Vanishing Hitchhiker

Mall grab

Kidnapped Children

Many of these have done some of the analysis for you => it is your job to think more deeply about the common elements.  For example, in the kidnapped children stories - where are the children kidnapped from?  What is the (implied) identity of the children + the kidnappers?  How do these elements connect to contemporary fears for the identity groups implied by the stories.

To identify your story's audience - remember that Brunvand said => that the audience is usually a "match" either for the protagonists or the identity groups associated with the main characters in the stories.

For Thursday:
Read: Chapter 5: Causal Analsysi.  Bring your book to class.