Clarification on Essay I & Other Matters

CLARIFICATION ON ESSAY I: At the beginning of class yesterday, Annie brought up a valid point about Essay I, which I did not really consider when I wrote that description. The question is: what did I mean by suggesting you adopt the perspective of Malcolm X "in his prime" because, as we all know, he went through some significant changes during the last couple years of his life. What I would say is simply, try to consider Malcolm's life AS A WHOLE, and don't just gear your answer to one stage of his life. Actually, I believe his reaction to the attached essay would not necessarily be all that different whether you were focusing on Malcolm as the spokesperson for the NOI or convert to orthodox Islam. In evaluating your "letters to the editor," I am simply going to be looking for any evidence that what you say is consistent with views that Malcolm X expressed in the Autobiography. I guess when I decided to use the phrase, "in his prime," I was thinking broadly of his public career after he was paroled from prison in 1952. I hope this is helpful and sorry for the confusion this may have caused. FINALLY, REMEMBER THAT THIS ESSAY IS DUE NEXT TUESDAY, MARCH 16TH.
_______________________

OTHER MATTERS: As I noted in class yesterday, your journal entries do NOT have to focus only on passages in the Autobiography or other readings. In the syllabus, I just suggested that this may be the easiest way to do this. BUT I ALSO NOTED THAT YOU ARE WELCOME TO WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING WE DO IN CLASS, WHICH WOULD INCLUDE MR. HANIF'S PRESENTATION, OR THE VIDEO PROGRAM WE SAW YESTERDAY. YOU MIGHT EVEN WANT TO FOLLOW-UP ON SOME OF YOUR CLASSMATES' PRESENTATIONS. SO KEEP THIS IN MIND AS YOU START WORK ON YOUR NEXT SET.
Be sure to read over the Paper Topic description I handed out yesterday and give some thought to which of the two topics (or an alternative) you'd like to write on.
As I noted yesterday as well, I will wrap up the Autobiography next time and make a quick transition to Malcolm X's assassination, which as the video program noted, has some "loose ends," so to speak. Next week I will probably also give the first reading assignment from "Between Cross and Crescent." You are welcome to start reading that book, but if you do, take some notes so that when we begin to discuss it in class you will be able to recall some of what you read.

That's all for now.