Students are expected to produce 1-2 pages of thoughtful writing based on the weekly readings, a topic taken from a national news source, or a combination of the two. (Some qualifying sources are npr.com, nbcnews.com, aljazeera.com/news/americas, bbc.co.uk/news/world/us_and_canada, or cnn.com) The short essay should have a clearly identifiable point of view, be well organized, and coherently synthesize the most important points. You must reflect on how this reading may help to frame your understanding of subjects covered in class. Feel free to use personal pronouns in this assignment. What is particularly important, startling, or interesting?