Site introducing students to college. Importantly included are several modules introducing students to the college library, to databases and to search engine tips. (Plagiarism, comparing search engines and more).

Williams, Jeffrey J. “Teach the University.” Duke University Press. 2007. University of Pennsylvania. April 2008

    <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pedagogy/v008/8.1williams.html>.

    Williams emphasizes the importance of different aspects of the university and encourages professors to teach it. These aspects include the idea and history of the university, cultural representation, and sociological knowledge. This is one his ways of teaching the humanities. This major step between adolescence and adulthood involves the most memorable and important moments, all of which occur in the university. At the same time it mimics reality “to form the statesmen, legislators and judges, on whom public prosperity and individual happiness are so much to depend.” Cultural representations are not always serious and meaningful, but still express the “expectation of the university.” Students in Animal House expect from the university the best four years of their lives, like most people do in reality. The university should offer a whole new dimension in which one can experiment endlessly.
    This is a much more useful way of teaching humanities than Professor Jennings’ ordinary methods in the film. Williams interprets the point of college life in many ways – a precursor to the real world where students can learn to follow the rules of a democracy, and a time for breaking the rules. Animal House of course deals with the latter, and rather rejects the expected dependency on judges and other authoritarian figures. The film itself makes fun of the idea of teaching the university, since Faber College is a joke; Faber was named after a pencil and defines itself with the slogan, “Knowledge Is Good.” Williams rejects college as “an ivory tower” but stresses it’s importance as a passage onto a different, less isolated part of life. Animal House does the opposite: college is the time for students to destroy any dignity they have, but ultimately gain a different kind of dignity. Animal House is university fiction at its silliest, but Williams has a point in that films like this should still be taught and studied.

Mitchell, Elvis. “Critic’s Notebook; Revisiting Faber College (Toga, Toga, Toga!)” The New York Times. 2003. April 2008 .

    As opposed to the more commonly accepted notion of Animal House’s shameless vulgarity, Mitchell reveals the romanticized perspective though some of director John Landis’ thoughts. Perspective changes the entire feel of a film. Though Delta house is supposed to be the worst fraternity on Faber College’s campus, it possesses the best qualities of one. Landis gave the family aspect to Delta, and gave “all of the negatives, basically Nazis” to Omega. The trouble with Animal House is that the protagonists are revolting, but with the separation and highlight of qualities, the film depicts them as portraying the positive image.
    Landis says that he visited fraternities to study them when making the film. He comments that “the fraternity wasn’t dead, but it was dying.” Many people took Animal House as a bad influence to fraternities. Since movies like this emerged, college life became more dangerous and more associated with alcohol. However, before this, Landis was unimpressed, as he calls it, with fraternities. Perhaps Animal House improved college life in the sense that it reinforced the sense of camaraderie and personal expression and exploration between students. Landis “set out to make a fairly classic college comedy.” In the simplest form, this is depicted in the famous picture of John Belushi holding a bottle of Jack Daniels sporting a sweater that says “College.” In a deeper way, Landis may have done so by simply inspiring students to have a good time while they can.

Robey, Tim. “THE MYSTERY OF THE FRAT-BOY MOVIE Critics hate them - but gross-out comedies top the charts. Like, why is that, dude, asks

    Tim Robey.” The Daily Telegraph. 2006. April 2008

 <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:5591/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3486769422&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3486769425&cisb=22_T3486769424&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8109&docNo=1>.

    Robey gives the London perspective on movies as “frat-boy bacchanals,” which is apparently unfamiliar with the concept of a fraternity. His definition of a frat boy is as follows: “Frat boys slip bodily fluids into each other's pints. They view the opposite sex as a first-come, first-served ambulant buffet of hair and breasts.” With this disturbing image, it is easy to see why so many frat films receive awful reviews, being dramatically described as “a plunge into depravity.” What Robey does not understand is why all types of frat films, Jackass Number Two along with American Pie, do well. He describes Jackass as “real frat boys doing real, very painful things to each other, live on camera.” The truth is that frat boys actually do similarly horrible things. The more favorable truth is that they exploit these conquests only to those within the fraternity, not to the entire world. Robey thinks the point of some of these films (or the point of actually seeing them) could be to desensitize audiences and act as an “excruciating endurance test.”
    The film that falls into the opposite of this category, that of great frat flicks, is Animal House. One reason could be that it actually has a plot, but Harold and Kumar also makes it on the list. Robey’s point is that these films should not automatically match the need to entertain with the need to repulse. It seems that these films get more angry response for vulgarity than for racism or misogyny. Tim Matheson’s character puts on an act to sexually take advantage of the friend of his date, who recently died in a kiln explosion. So what? However, when Stevie from Jackass puts a hook through his mouth, audiences react. This is not necessarily wrong, and doesn’t give insight into a culture’s morals. It just points out what an audience isn’t used to in society. Though Animal House is a classic, Jackass is daring: no plot, no shirt, no shoes, and especially no dignity.

Taylor, Bill. “Party’s over at U of T residence.” TheStar.com. 2007. Toronto Star. April 2008

    <http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/286958>.

    Gate House is a residence hall at the University of Toronto known for its juvenile pranks and behavior. Scenes of Delta’s toga party in Animal House represents this reputation, inspired by Donald Sutherland’s recounts of Gate House parties when he attended the university. After recent pranks, such as the construction of a 2.5-metre snow penis and the placement of a cooked pig’s head in a ladies bathroom, Gate House residents were kicked out and the building will undergo a major transformation. This is viewed as the death of Gate House, and of Animal House. The president is not only shutting down a residence, but a camaraderie that one member describes as unique. This will occur on the basis that acts carried out by residents were “disparaging and demeaning of women,” judged by the school’s president. The constructor of the snow penis denies this as their intention. “Ask my sister,” he says, “She’s at UofT and she’s the one who told me, ‘You’ve got to get into Gate House.’”
    This is how authority works on a campus these days. Though Animal House gives an image of this camaraderie, it ends with an unrealistic triumph that many students probably wish for Gate House. (It is not too late to happen.) It is possible that as they inspired Animal House, the film will motivate them to go out with a bang. It is hard to tell what a student’s limit is, because it is unknown whether the origin of such disturbing behavior was actuality or fiction. Furthermore, it is easy to laugh at a detestable character such as Dean Wormer who not only despises typical college life but also fails in suppressing it. However, no one wants to laugh at the president of the University of Toronto. He is actually getting away with ruining a college experience.

Foster, Harold M. “Film in the Classroom: Coping with ‘Teenpics.’” The English Journal, Vol. 76, No. 3. 1987, National Council of Teachers of

    English. Pages 86-88. April 2008

 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/818556?seq=3&Search=yes&term=%22animal+house%22&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2522Animal%2BHouse%2522%3Bgw%3Djtx%3Bprq%3D%2528Animal%2BHouse%2529%2BAND%2Bla%253A%2528eng%2529%3BSearch%3DSearch%3Bhp%3D25%3Bwc%3Don&item=14&ttl=485&returnArticleService=showArticle>.

    The author thinks “teenpics” have ultimate control over a teenager’s mind. Many of them simplify teen stereotypes, such as in The Breakfast Club. The most important lesson Animal House left behind for the 1980s was “the grosser the better” (86). Foster has four goals for teachers to appropriately educate students about “teenpics.” He wants students to become “discriminating viewers,” to understand how films “influence and manipulate them,” to critique these films on an aesthetic level, and to altogether avoid the worst ones (86). However, even if films like Risky Business encourage immoral behavior, they have values and can stimulate the audience.
    Foster seems to dislike teenpics with the most likely situations. He claims that The Breakfast Club oversimplifies real characters, when in fact it reflects a realistic situation. He despises the thought of teen audiences identifying with the characters in this film. However, he could be going in the wrong direction because teen audiences probably identify with more than one, sometimes with all of the characters. This is rather a good value. Animal House similarly oversimplifies its characters: the horny misogynist, sidekick, prudish nerd, mature girlfriend, hippie professor, preppy egotist, and the disgusting freak. However, college does not divide so easily. Stereotypes create amusing caricatures, but are spawned from eclectic personalities. Foster seems to feel superior to the young generations and negligent of the narrative art form. These stories do come from reality, (Animal House specifically from one of the writer’s experiences at Dartmouth, which would be even more shocking if accurately depicted). Foster oversimplifies the purpose of films. Animal House happens to have a great valuable lesson: do as much as you can in college; Foster is only critical of films that offer no lesson of the sort or an incredibly negative one. Yet, even pursuing his four goals, some of these films, including Animal House, are still good all around.

Barr, Damian. "Crying on the Inside." The Times 1 May 2004. 6 Apr. 2008 .

     In this Times article, Damian Barr describes a phenomenon he refers to as the quarterlife crisis. The quarterlife crisis is similar to the midlife crisis in that people feel like they don't know what they are doing with their lives. The article describes twentysomethings living in London and realizing that the 20s are not what they're supposed to be. Most people in their 20s are stuck with a future-free job, debt from college, alleged friends, and a non-existent love partner. The excitement of graduation from college has faded and a life of work and no play lies ahead. Getting and keeping your life together has never been harder. Fighting for jobs and keeping strong relationships can be very stressful. Approximately one-third of all people in their 20s are depressed, and there aren't any psychiatrists who are experts on the quarterlife crisis, unlike those who have studied the midlife crisis. Additionally, there are people who say that the quarterlife crisis doesn't exist, just how people said that the midlife crisis and menopause didn't exist. Most 20 year olds are convinced that others are having better sex and taking better drugs than they are. The truth is that the 20s are bigger, scarier, and harder than people thought, and hardly anyone is talking about it.
     In The Graduate, Benjamin Braddock has graduated from college and comes home to sunny California without a job or any idea of what he wants to do in the future. From the beginning of the movie the viewer is aware that Benjamin is worried and distraught about this transition period in his life. In his first lines in the movie, he asks his father "to be alone for a while" although there are numerous guests downstairs waiting to congratulate him on his graduation and awards. Rather than be productive and look for a job, he chooses to drive around aimlessly and sit beside the pool all day. He doesn't have any friends at home and is worried about his future. He is definitely suffering from a quarterlife crisis.

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Baron begins her analysis by situating instant messaging as a form of computer-mediated communication and attempting to create a profile for IM communications among undergraduate students.  She first reviews the linguistic differences in spoken speech: social vs. informative speech and standard vs. non or sub-standard usage by men and women.  In terms of written language, she reviews concepts related to personal letter writing and studies about gender identification of online texts. She analyzed the IM data for turn taking, sequences, conversation length, and lexical issues to determine possible effects of gender.  She found no differences in turn taking, but found that women had greater overall conversation length and length of ending sequences.  From the lexical analysis, Baron found that men used more contracted forms of words (e.g. "I'm" instead of "I am") than women.  Most interesting to me, and not at all surprising given my real-world online experiences, was the finding that women used more emoticons than men in the IM conversations.