Cultural Currency [1]
Choose a subject that has cultural currency: consumerism, American decline, Internet overload, trends in pop culture, celebrity fascination; take a position on it; and write an essay that explores that position. Read Christy Rampole's New York Times essay "How to Live Without Irony" [3] as an example. For more examples, read Best American Essays Series editor Robert Atwan's "The Top 10 Essays Since 1950" [4] in Publishers Weekly.