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\centerline{MONT 104N -- Modeling the Environment}
\centerline{Paper Assignment 1 -- Montaigne and the First Year Summer Reading}
\centerline{due: September 14, 2012}
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\noindent
As you all know, the book {\it How To Live, or A Life of Montaigne} by
Sarah Bakewell was chosen this year as the summer reading for 
the incoming class of 2016 at Holy Cross.  Professor Francisco Gago-Jover,
your class dean, explained this choice to the faculty in an email
message sent out over the summer as follows:
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{\narrower
Montaigne (1533-1592), one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, 
is also the creator of the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his 
effortless ability to merge in his writings serious intellectual speculation with 
casual anecdotes and autobiography. His massive volume Essais (literally, ``Attempts'') 
contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. 
Admired by some later thinkers, reviled by others, Montaigne is remarkably modern 
even to readers today. His attempt to examine the world through the lens of the only 
things he can depend on implicitly--his own judgment and personal experience--makes him 
more accessible to modern readers than any other author of the Renaissance.

The book {\it How to Live: or a Life of Montaigne} is a hybrid biography which compares 
and contrasts biographical details  with excerpts from the Essays, thus describing 
Montaigne's philosophy using stories from his life. The book also explores 
different approaches to life derived from Montaigne's Essays, such as 
``Be ordinary and imperfect,'' ``See the world,'' ``Guard your humanity,'' 
``Wake from the sleep of habit,'' ``Let life be its own answer,'' 
and perhaps most characteristically for Montaigne, ``Question everything.'' 
If there is a central message, it is about individuals trying to find their 
way through life. \par}
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\noindent
I'm not sure what information you received, but I imagine Professor Gago-Jover
said some similar things in his communications with you over the summer. 
For your first larger-scale writing assignment for this course, you will
write an ``opinion piece'' in which you address the following main question
and follow-ups:
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\noindent
{\it Main Question:}  Did you think this was a successful choice as a summer reading 
assignment?  Were you stimulated to learn (more) about Montaigne and read 
the Bakewell book by the information you received?  
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\noindent
Based on your answer to the Main Question, chose one of the following:
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\item{1.}  If so, did you find what Bakewell had to say about Montaigne
interesting and valuable?   Which, if any, of the proposed answers
to the question ``how to live?'' did you find to be especially 
personally compelling or meaningful?  Have you made any choices
during your time at Holy Cross so far based on those proposed answers? 
Also, did reading ``On Cannibals'' add to your understanding
of Montaigne (that is over and above what you read in Bakewell)?      
\item{2.}  If not, what was the main issue for you that kept you 
from seeking out and reading the Bakewell book?  Have you already 
decided you know how to live, for instance?  Or did the book just
seem too remote and outside of your own experience to draw your
interest?  Did reading ``On Cannibals'' make you reconsider
your earlier decision, or did it convince you you made the 
right choice?  Most importantly, can you suggest a book or
other text that might have been a better choice as a summer reading for the
incoming first year class?  Or is the whole idea of a summer
reading for the first year class not worth pursuing at all?
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\noindent
Please be honest in your answers to these questions.  Use
correct standard English and a reasonably formal style.  Don't just 
say what you think I might want to hear, because {\it I don't have
any preconceived ideas about this} and the point of this
assignment is for you to figure out what {\it you really think}
and then to express that in a coherent and convincing way.

I will be using this assignment to determine how much we 
need to work on technical writing issues (grammar, spelling, sentence
structure, paragraphing), as well as seeing how effectively you 
get your points across in writing.  So the grading will have two
components, one for ``form'' (the technical issues), and one 
for ``content'' (based on the independent thought your essay 
shows and how well you conveyed that to your reader).  
If you find the templates from ``They Say, I Say'' useful
as a way to think about structuring the essay, 
by all means incorporate them.   
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\noindent
{\it Important Note:}  It is perfectly OK with me if you 
want to share a rough draft of your essay with other
students in the class, or with me, to get comments and 
suggestions.  ``Testing out'' your ideas that way 
is often an important part of getting them down on 
paper in an effective form.   
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\noindent

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\noindent
Prepare your essay using Microsoft Word and submit as a {\tt .doc} 
file attachment to this email address:
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\centerline{\tt jlittle@holycross.edu} 
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\noindent
Your assignment should arrive no later than 5:00pm on 
Friday, September 14.   Aim for somewhere between 3 and 5 
double-spaced pages.  

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For this assignment, your are not expected or required to
refer to any sources other than (possibly)
Bakewell's book and the essay we read.  If you do want to use
direct quotations from the Bakewell book or ``Of Cannibals,''
identify the source with a notation of the form: (Bakewell, p. 133).
Consult with Professor Little if you want to make use of other
sources.
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