There are a few things you must first determine before writing your essay. First, what is the concept that you are interested in writing about? This can be a specific, small idea from one of our readings, or a broader idea that you find evidence for across multiple readings. Next, you must take that idea and ask how it reverberates in our modern time. While some of our essays are still relatively recent, some are quite old. It has been my argument in this class that these ideas are still relevant to our everyday lives, so your task will be finding the ways in which they are apparent. The nature of this assignment allows for a great deal of creativity. While your creativity is not a primary determiner in your grade, essays that go beyond simple ideas will be rewarded. Still, the primary determiner of your grade is the degree to which you can defend the arguments you will be making about the claim of fact that you establish in your essay. An essay that is conservative in its topic can absolutely receive a high grade. Here are a few random ideas I was thinking about as topics: From Do-It-Yourself: Constructing, Repairing and Maintaining Domestic Masculinit by STEVEN M. GELBER