149F Logo
 Dr. Andrew Wood
Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378
Andrew.Wood@sjsu.edu


Revitalization of Public Life
Garden
"I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind . . .
Who knows how long this will last
Now we've come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this."

- Don Henley, The End of the Innocence


Overview

We conclude our semester with a discussion over whether community can sustain itself in the new century. The growing privatization and simulation of public locales, the proliferating media that enhance individual pursuits, and the decline in traditional socializing institutions portend, to some critics, the end of public life in America. These critics may be right. However, as we shall see, they may have overlooked the emergence of new technologies and social forces leading to an even more tightly knit community than has ever before existed.

Dr. Wood's Additional Resources
Can the polis live again? [Notes on Michael Knox Beran's essay]

Even More Resources
Watch the Amish build an entire barn in less than 10 hours [Sploid]

Image Credit

Steve Wheen [Barcroft Media]