Final Assignment: Due in class May 5

For the final, each group will present its final blog in the class Thursday, May 5.  You will perform your national anthem and your national dance. There will be bonus points for dressing in the native costume of your country. There will be extra credit for videotaping your dance and anthem and posting them to your blog. We will have a potluck. Each group will bring a food that is indigenous to its nation, enough to share with the class (don't overdo it!). I will bring cups and paper plates and forks and knives. Our final will be in our regular classroom.

We will vote on best nation. This will count toward your final grade.

Your national anthem is to be recorded in a fixed medium and posted to your blog. You may choose to also perform your national dance in a video and show it in class in lieu of performing live; but if you do it must be posted to your blog by midnight on May 5.

Blog Post 11 Due April 28

Please develop at least three specific laws to address the anti-social behaviors that were evidenced in the White family. These laws should be consistent with the guarantees made in your constitution. Each group member is responsible for developing one law, so if there are four members in your group there must be four laws. Explain how you would enforce your law. Also each member must comment on another bolg's laws.

Blog Post 10 Due April 21

Please be creative, and come up with some policy recommendations as to how to handle the situation with the Whites. You should consider drug policy, prenatal care, incarceration, education, and who is going to pay for it all.

One more thing. Your daughter is "dating" one of the Whites and believes she can "change" him. Oh, and her period is late.

Blog Post 9 Due April 14 - The Natives are Restless

We are going to watch a documentary called The Wild and Woderful Whites of West Virginia.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the Whites represent the culture of your native population. And due to illegal immigration from neighboring islands and prolific inbreeding, they are growing at a rate double your settler population and will become the majority in 30 years.

So you have some time to make things work. Each of you please blog about how you would identify the problems and issues associated with a brutal, uneducated, drug-addled underclass who doesn't really care about your rules. Then suggest some solutions that your group can discuss turning into policy in the coming weeks.

One more thing. One of the Whites is "dating" your daughter, who thinks she can save him. Oh, and her period's late.

Blog Post 8 Due April 7. The Birth of a Nation

Congratulations on drafting a great constitution! As a result, Today you begin your life as a nation. Your group has been given a small Carribean island on which to live. There is a native population of about 50,000 (they are not fans of yours) and you and your fellow settlers of about 75,000. There's enough room for both groups to exist either together or in separate states. The abundant natural resources (Palm plantations, oil fields and beautiful beaches) are fairly equally distributed around the island.

You must find a way to organize yourselves and decide who gets citizenship. For your first ten years, your defense is being provided by the United States. In their Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), they have put no precondition that you abide by the precepts of the US Constitution.

First, you will write a constitutional amendment that determines who has citizenship in your country.

Second, you will name your nation. Third, you will come up with its motto. These should be consistent with your constitution and group values.

You will finish this by April 7. Your blog leader must see that it gets posted on your blog by Friday at noon. Your blogging assignments will remain the same, except that one of the blog entries can be this assignment. Each member can be responsible for posting a portion of this assignment. You will also be responsible for posting on each others' blogs.

Blog Assignment 6 -- Your Midterm on March 31 -- On Life, Love and Death

For your midterm assignment, your blog group will make a twenty-minute presentation on your blog to the rest of the class. Each member of the blog must present in order to receive credit. The work you have done so far on your blog creating your constitution will give you the basis of the presentation, but I would like you to answer the following:

1. Knowing what we do about the relationship between marriage, happiness and poverty, does your group want to encourage or discourage long-term, stable marriages? What kinds of laws and policies (at least three) would you enact to realize your goal? Address who can get married and who can't.

2. Having learned more about assisted suicide, what does your group think about it? What kind of laws or policies would you develop under your constitution to encourage or discourage such practice? Are these public policies or private ones?

3. On the issue of life, what does your group think of abortion? This is where you get to play judge. Listen to the US Supreme Court oral argument in Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstadt .  It's an hour long.  Assuming United States law, how would you decide the case? Each member of your group must vote, and you must present your decision to the class.  Would the result be different under your own constitution?

To give you time to complete your group work, I will give you the entire class period next week, March 17. We will not meet as a class and you can choose to meet together on campus or elsewhere, or by skype or FaceTime, etc.

Note: obviously, for this assignment, you should have your blog posts prepared in time for class on the 31st, but they will still not be counted until midnight that night

Blog Assignment 4

There will not be a blog assignment due this week,.  Blog entry 4 will be due Midnight, Thursday, March 10th. The group members will not have to post an image or url link for this week. But they must comment on another blog, and the extra credit is still available to the group with the most comments from other groups.

You will post your own constitution.

• The constitution MUST state what form of government they are establishing, and the limitations imposed on the government's powers (if any)/ The constitution must explain who is responsible for maintaining public order and who protects boundaries.  It must explain how laws are passed, officials elected, how courts are run, and how taxes are levied.

• A bill of rights
• The primary values of the nation/ coat of arms
• The team may then elect officials from within their ranks, and make note of what positions the groups have (president, treasurer, official dragonslayer, ect.)
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Please note that this will be done collectively by the group, each member posting a portion.