1C: FAIR PLAY GROUP PRESENTATIONS

FAIR PLAY group presentations
You'll see on the syllabus that there are Fair Play group presentations coming up. They will be about one of the scenarios from Fair Play. Groups will pick their scenario from the book, but it must be one that is different than all other scenarios presented or one that I have scheduled for the class.

Groups will be formed at random by the instructor. Groups can request to do a particular scenario, but their preference is not a guarantee of assignment. Each student in the group will also write an essay about the assigned scenario and the moral questions raised by it. Details about the essay will be made available at the February 19th class.

Once your group is formed contact other members of your group by email, text or in-person. 

Read all scenarios to be presented by the class. When not presenting give the presenters your attention and participate in the discussion.

The group presentations will last at a minimum of 30 minutes each.  Often they last longer.

All group members should assist--must assist--in the preparation and presentation of the analysis of the scenario.

Research for the Presentation and Essay: Here are some tasks each group must perform. Do research for the presentation:  When gathering information, whether written or video text, be sure to test the source for reliability and relevance.  I invite you to look at Secrecy News website and search for additional sources.  Make use of Olson's book, from his openings (i.e., Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Philosophical and Historical Arguments, U.S. Attitudes to Toward Spying) to the end of the book (Afterword, Notes About the author).

More Research for the Presentation and Essay: Searching EBSCOhost should suffice in finding sources. If you have not used EBSCOhost before you will find a link to it on the PCC library's page for databases. EBSCOhost is helpful because you can limit your search to types of publications, including scholarly journals, particular newspapers and magazines, and full-text articles. Also, work with members of your group to find sources, especially as you get ready to do your presentation. Your colleagues may be the best sources you have. Having trouble finding EBSCOhost? Try this link.

Other things to keep in mind for your presentation:

*Offer detailed real-life examples similar to the scenario that you are assigned.

*Present both sides of the argument.

*When making your presentation engage the class and, importantly, other members of your group re: the scenario's debate.  Notes are fine, but please do not read from a prepared essay.

*Look at the presentation as an opportunity to teach each other and the class about the issue involved. You can act (yes, theatrical performances are welcomed), offer examples from history (teach yourself and us something), and use visuals (a little video entertainment or work of art can often be helpful.) Powerpoint presentations are not necessary. Sometimes you are better off without them.

*Good video sources include various PBS news programs. Find links to these sources and other news outlets at English with McCabe under the category for "NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, FILM, TV & RADIO." You'll find it on the right side of the blog's front page. 

CONTACT ME BY EMAIL RE: group's preferences

One person from each group must send me and all group members one email by Tues., Feb. 17th, 10:00PM with the following information:

On the subject line:

English 1C day, section number, day & time we meet, FAIR PLAY

In the message field:

Provide four scenario and date preferences. Rank scenario preferences, one, two, etc. For each scenario provide its title, scenario number, and page number. Name your date preferences in order of preference; first, second, etc. The scheduled dates of the presentations appear on the syllabus. Note: these dates are always subject to change.

After the list of scenarios and dates, list the FULL NAMES (as they appear on the roll, plus nickname, if they have one) of the group members.

Remember, get this information to me by Tuesday, February 17th, 10 PM. The sooner you send this email to me the better chance you will have of getting your preferred scenario and date to present.

I will notify by email assigned scenarios and presentation date.

Documenting James Olson's Fair Play for your essay
In your essay you are likely to include a passage that Olson has quoted. You are, then, "quoting a quote," more commonly referred to as an indirect source. For your  in-text citation when Olson quotes someone else, whether it is a philosopher (like Aristotle) or a commentator (like Adm. Bobby Inman), do the following: within your signal phrase name the person that Olson is quoting; introduce the quote; present the quoted material; and then follow the quoted passage with this parenthetical citation: (qtd. in Olson 15). The "15" represents an example of the page number where the quoted passage appears. When presenting Olson's Fair Play on the Works Cited page, just give the standard bibliographic entry for a book. You will not be naming the philosopher (like Aristotle) or commentator (like Adm. Bobby Inman) in the bibliographic entry.

If you have questions or comments about the assignment, whether the written or class presentation portion, post them in this comment section in English.

Here are other sources to see: A brief interview with Olson about Fair Play from CSPAN 2.   The CIA posted a review of Fair Play on their website May 2007.

As we read Fair Play and information about its author James Olson, it is worth taking a look at a couple of links about him and Valerie Plame; all are related to Fair Play, the book by James Olson.  He mentions Plame in his book.

James Olson interview on YouTube (embedded above)

Dave McIntyre biography (the man who interviewed James Olson). 

Valerie Plame on 60 minutes (updated link, 1/14/13)


Valerie Plame's Fair Game first chapter and reviews at Amazon and  news about Plame at The New York Times

*Videos re: History of the CIA:
Tim Weiner, reporter for The New York Times and author of Legacy of Ashes: History of the CIA, talks about his book on C-SPAN in 2007. You can watch it here. You can also watch his talk on the CIA at the WGBH Forum. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a report in December 2014 about the CIA and the use of torture. Weiner was interviewed by U.S. News and World Report about the committee's findings. More links to Tim Weiner topics can be found at the National Book Award site; the National Book Award was given to Weiner for his book Legacy of Ashes. 

Former English 1C student Gerardo Sanchez posted a comment with an interesting link.  Operation Dark Heart by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (ret.) was censored, or redacted as we have seen practiced in Fair Play. As Gerardo reports,  "Recently the book Operation Dark Heart was censored by the government [which] purchased 10,000 first edition printings, destroyed them, and redacted the second edition."  Follow the links and see a side-by-side comparison of pages as they appeared in Operation Dark Heart's original form and the redacted version.  Thanks, Gerardo!


The Los Angeles Times reported on 10/10/10 that the censorship of Operation Dark Heart pushed it up the bestseller lists for Amazon.com and The New York Times.

John S. Friedman, editor of Secret Histories, produced the documentary Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, which won an Academy Award.  Here is a link to part I of Hotel Terminus (link is now broken) a nearly four hour documentary about the notorious Nazi torturer. The complete film is 233 minutes long.


The above articles and film reminded me of Stephen Aftergood, publisher of Secrecy News, his blog for the Federation of American Scientists.  His site, he says, "works to challenge excessive government secrecy and to promote civilian oversight." Often he publishes government documents that have been declassified or leaked to him and the press.  Some examples include the infamous  Bush Office of Legal Counsel Torture Memos, featuring the August 1, 2002 memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel of the CIA.


Here is an  interview that U.S. News and World Report conducted with Aftergood.