Understanding of a comic or editorial cartoon often requires that you understand a historical allusion - that is, an indirect reference to a historical event, period or person. For several weeks collect cartoons that use historical allusion in making their points. Get background about allusions that are unclear to you. Then, choose three of the cartoons and do an informal reader quiz. Ask people of different ages and backgrounds to look at them and explain them.
Newspapers often publish stories about trends, or an emerging pattern or direction of behavior.
Recent ones have included growing distrust of police and others in authority, relaxed standards of dress to the point of slobbiness, and the popularity of a game called pogs. Find a trend story and read it carefully. Do some research.