InstructionsPlease choose one of the following questions to answer for this unit by Wednesday at 11:59pm (CST). You should also respond to two of your classmates' postings by Sunday at 11:59pm (CST).Before answering this unit's questions, you should read “Serial Killing in America After 9/11,” p. 244 in Natural Born Celebrities.Keep in mind, as you view the film, a few of the questions posted below.RubricOnline discussions will be graded according to the following rubric.Full-bodied entries—of at least ten sentences of writing from you (in addition to quotations from the text)—are more likely to receive full credit. Lesser credit will be assigned to work that is missing, brief, or clearly disengaged or sloppily produced such that miscues interfere with readability.Your responses to other students’ work are also assessed. Students often resist commenting on each others’ work in substantial ways; instead choosing to post simply “good job” or “looks okay to me.” This kind of peer response doesn’t help your own—or your peers’—development as a writer and thinker.Acceptable peer responses will, among other things:Explicitly identify what was learned from someone else’s work.Ask a follow-up question.Offer an alternative interpretation.Offer concrete strategies for improvement.PointsCriteria18-20Discussion posts are completed on-time; they not only thoughtfully respond to and incorporate course readings when appropriate, but they evidence creative thinking and make a significant contribution to peers’ understanding of the course topics. Moreover, follow-up posts/peer responses clarify and extend the class conversation, demonstrating critical thinking. 16-17Discussion posts are essentially complete and incorporate, when appropriate, excerpts from the course readings. Initial post is made by due date, and follow-up posts/peer responses engage others in continued discussion.11-15Discussion posts are incomplete, inaccurate, and/or late. Peer response is present but perfunctory, offering little “back” to enhance peers’ understanding.1-10Posts and peer responses are not made to all topic threads.0No posts are made, or posts are entered after the unit’s discussion has ended.Questions (Reading and General Questions)Choose one questions to answer:In the final chapter from Natural Born Celebrities, Schmid argues that the serial killer genre and the terrorist genre of films coincided after 9/11. The co-mingling of the genres offered an opportunity for us to associate serial killers as a foreign threat to our nation. What ties do you see between this idea and the zombie trend in popular culture right now?Overall, what concepts about violence in the media have you gained during the time in this course? What ideas will resonate with you after the course ends? While most people simply consume these films and TV series as mindless entertainment, what do you now think they are actually watching and internalizing, if anything?If you were teaching this course, what media would you have included in the syllabus? (Remember, the idea: How are we valorizing the serial killer or reversing the positions of killers within pop culture.) Thoughts?

This is the longest TedTalk I will have you watch. But, I promise it is well worth it and will be the favorite one for many of you. As long as I have taught this course I have shown this video and it frightens me each semester. After viewing the video, respond thoughtfully to the discussion prompt.Link (Links to an external site.)Besides added sugar, discuss some of the risk factors for childhood obesity (you may have to do some research on the topic). What are some of the physical, social and emotional complications of childhood obesity? What are the best ways to prevent childhood obesity?