Action Items (homework due by Monday's class)

This post is the homework due before Monday 2/24/25. For today's lesson see the next post below this one.

Action Item 1:  Kohl's Values Americans Live By

First, the Kohl reading is about American culture.  It was written to help emigrants arriving in America adjust to cultural values that they may not be familiar with.  For Americans, the reading provides interesting insight into the culture that surrounds us.  Like fish who have never questioned water, we are engrossed in our cultural values so ubiquitously that we don't realize it.  This reading will help us take a step back and view the ways that American culture shapes those within it.  As you read, think about examples from your own life that illustrate the values Kohl highlights. 

Action Item 2:  Buettner's Thrive

Second, the Thrive reading is from a book by Dan Buettner.  Buettner travelled the world as sort of an ethnographer writing about people all over the globe.  In Thrive, Buettner focuses on the places in the world that report the highest levels of happiness.  The book focuses on a few happiness anomalies (Blue Zones) around the world: Denmark, Singapore, Mexico and San Luis Obispo (USA). This excerpt is Buettner's concluding chapter in which he tries to make sense of what the places all have in common and what we can learn from them to make our lives happier. As you read, look for areas of happiness that you had not thought about.  Make a note of things that Buettner suggests that you can do right now in your own life as well as things you want to do as you get older.

Action Item 3: Analyze and contrast the two readings using this Google Form.