Here’s a Bad Idea: Texting Ruins Grammar Skills

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This semester, I designed my Engl 1101 research projects around the book Bad Ideas About Writing, edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe.  Students had to choose an essay from that book, find that essay’s sources, and then that source’s sources, and write an answer that answers this question: What’s a better idea (than the bad idea) about writing? As you can see in this blog, there are a variety of interesting answers. I hope that you enjoy them and learn something!

My honors sections also have to do a group project related to the research project, and my section this semester decided to have a text dialogue about Scott Warnock‘s essay “Texting Ruins Grammar Skills.”  They recorded their group chat and made it into a video that is both interesting and enlightening:

Enjoy!

 

What Are Cheese Curds?

Cheese curds are the parts of cheese left over after making, well, cheese.  They’re often produced in mass quantities in the cheese making process.  In dairy states such as Minnesota and Wisconsin, pople would eat these by-products raw or they would cook them in various ways.

In 1975, at the Minnesota State Fair, cheese curds became a main food (not just a byproduct).  They became a perennial star of the food scene:

Photo of cheese curd history at MN state fair

Cheese curd history. Credit: R Weaver

When people move away from MN, they often experience cravings for deep-fried cheese curds and they will try to make them on their own.  Here is a recipe

They should look like this:

Photo of fried cheese curds.

Fried cheese curds. Credit: R. Weaver