Current Event Example of Presenter’s Article, URL, Summary and Support URLs

Title, Author, Source, Date & URL 
Fitzhugh, Jennie. "Miguel's Mission." San Francisco Chronicle, September 22, 2000. 
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/22/PN107027.DTL

Half page summary of article (why you chose the article, the central and underlying issues, regional relevance) 
The story  "Miguel's Mission" traces the journey of a Shipbo-Conibo indian's journey to the San Francisco Bay Area. The article focuses on the cultural contrasts Miguel experiences as he adapts from a traditional isolated cultural environment to the cutting edge lifestyle practiced on the west coast of the United States. As Miguel prepares to return to his isolated rainforest homeland, he must decide what cultural baggage from California to bring with him and what to leave behind.  
I chose this article because I am interested in the interplay between traditional and modern cultures and the question of whether traditional cultures can borrow ideas from the modern world and manage to maintain their traditional values and cultural integrity.  
The central issue of this article is how Miguel has changed as a result of his journey and what cultural baggage he will choose to bring with him and what he will discard when he returns to Peru. 
Underlying issues include the tensions and struggles between developed and developing societies and cultures, the problem of preserving tribal and traditional wisdom in a rapidly developing world, the problems of environmental degradation, the clashing of cultures, the price of change, the looming extinction of indigenous societies and the potential of education to preserve or destroy. 
This story focuses on two primary regions: the Amazon rainforest and theWest coast of California. The underlying issues described above pertain to all areas of the world where indigenous or traditional cultures fight to preserve cultural norms against the inexorable tide of the developed world. 
5 Critical Thinking Discussion Questions 
1. How would you define culture?  What are the main differences between traditional and modern culture? 
2. How would you define your family's culture-- are you traditional, modern, American?  What is American culture? 
3. Why should we care about preserving traditional cultures? What does traditional culture have to offer those who live in the modern world? 
4. If you were Miguel, which ideas or American cultural values would you bring back to your home village?  Which aspects of American culture would you leave behind? Why? 
5. If you could give Miguel one American cultural artifact, tool or idea to bring back with him to Peru, what would it be? How would you want him to use it? 

3 Supporting URLs (background info, maps, photos that support the main article)

Miguel is from the area around Pucallpa located on the Ucayali River near the farWestern border of Peru & Brazil (see map). 
http://www.realtime.net/~raintree/peru/mapperu.gif
This site provides general information and several photos of the Shipbo-Conibo Indians of Peru.  
http://www.biopark.org/shipibos.html
This site contains a couple of paragraphs of general background information on the Shipbo-Conibo Indians. 
http://www.amazontribes.org/Shipibo-Conibo.html