Warblogs Class Is Over: Here Are Some Great Student Projects

In my last class (last class this year or, maybe, in my life, I don't know), my students and I were reading American warblogs and milblogs. It was an exciting and challenging experience. Exciting because we had great discussions about controvercial topics. Challenging because I had a very diverse group of students: I had a bunch of Americans, a female student who was born in Pakistan, a German student who served in Afghanistan, a student from Poland, and German students who were explicitly liberal and anti-war. I also had several students who complained about my assignments in a disrespectful manner; I have never had such students in my class before. This semester was full of surprises: some of them were negative, but most of them were very-very positive. And as a matter of tradition, I like to write about the student projects, which, in my opinion, were special. (I am still in the process of reading and grading student projects, I will keep updating this blog-post.)

I would like to start with a research paper and presentation by Phil Mack. This is not a very original project in terms of performance/form. There are more interesting ways to interact with a text. Phil wrote a traditional research paper with an intriguing title "Forbidden Words". Phil writes, "For decades two of the greatest world powers reared their heads through military might and yet today only one will readily admit it. Germany and the United States have been two of the world's superpowers, controlling massive market shares in the industrial market and military market places, but today Germans are seemingly ashamed of it." These are the first two sentences from the introduction of Phil's argumentative paper. Phil introduces his research question right away. He asks, "How was it become that one of the most influential states to grace this planet is not able to even look itself in the mirror, and yet the other puts on display what they are and has allowed it to become their national identity?" Phil compares the differences between the anti-war sentiments in the United States and Germany, and comes to a conclusion that "were it not for the fact that Germany did not win WWII and was then partioned, they would be in a similar position with their anti war sentiments as the US today". Considering the class discussions, Phil Mack's paper is a valuable response. Unfortunately, I could not arrange a session with the American soldier in class. But Phil explained how "an average American" can be anti-war, yet supporting the U.S. military; "support the troops not the cause" dilemma. Within the context of this course, Phil Mack's research paper and presentation provided a critical perspective on the contemporary anti-war sentiments in the U.S. and Germany, which was very different from that of the majority students in class. It was noteworthy because Phil presented his controvercial point of view in a very considerate manner. It was a very valuable contribution, Phil. Thanks for that.