Are you a beatnik?

This year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of On The Road, one of the sacred texts of the so-called "Beat Generation," the original 120-foot long scroll of paper on which Jack Kerouac typed the novel is traveling around the country, going "on the road" itself.

To find out if you have the true "beat spirit" take this quiz, sponsored by the University of Texas.

Course sign-up for Juniors (Revised)

Members of the junior class:

It's time to begin thinking about your course sign-up for next year's English classes. You have two options: a year-long AP course, or two semester courses, one required (Introduction to World Literature) the other elective (Shakespeare, African-American Literature, The Art of Composition). Essentially, the difference between the two tracks is that the AP class has more assigned reading, moves at a slightly faster pace, and is graded on a slightly more demanding scale.

The ideal candidate for AP English is the student who enjoys reading, thinking about, and discussing literature, who has already proven the willingness to work hard throughout a year-long course, who enjoys sharing ideas and interpretations with others in a seminar-style discussion format, and who will choose a senior-year schedule with only one or two other AP courses. The ability to write clear, logical, well-supported essays of textual interpretation is crucial, since writing is the primary method of evaluation in the course.

If you wish to be considered for AP, please ask Ms. Driscoll for her recommendation. There are 32 spots available, and I will select the class based on the following criteria (in order of importance):

1. A strong recommendation from Ms. Driscoll about the consistency of your work ethic and level of motivation;
2. A strong recommendation from Ms. Driscoll about the level of your writing skills;
3. B+ or better grades in English III, English II, (and U.S. History since it involves several of the same skills--reading, writing, and motivation).

First preference will be given to those who satisfy all three requirements. Then, if there are spaces available, those who satisfy the first two requirements but have some grades of B will be considered. However, in those cases, Ms. Driscoll's recommendation about the first requirement, your level of motivation and the consistency of your work ethic, will be absolutely crucial. A weak recommendation in this area is by itself grounds for my turning down your request for this course.

I will be happy to answer any questions you have in the weeks between now and the sign-up date.

LCC

"Where We Live"

I just read a short story called "Where We Live" on an online magazine called Strange Horizons. The story is written by Daniel J. Pinney, a former student of mine now a grad student and part-time teacher at NAU. The story, which takes place 40 or 50 years in the future, in the perpetually war-torn regions along the Israeli-Lebanese border, concerns the lives of characters living in a post-nuclear-war zone, a world of constant sniper fire, nuclear fallout, and random, sudden death.

And yet.

And yet it is a love story, reaffirming in its understated but insistent voice that however sad or dangerous the times and places we live in, it's how we live, not where, that matters most. And for this reason, "Where We Live" is a tender and poignant story, of loss but also of life, of terror but also hope.

When Daniel was a student here, he did an independent study with me, producing a 100+page novel called King Arthur: The Untold Story of which I still possess a signed copy. It was great fun to work on the project with him, the product a whimsical but highly amusing tale in which the three main characters are King Arthur, a ghost, and an alien from another world. And Dan has kept in touch with me from time to time over the years, most recently by including me on a distribution list announcing the publication of his first paid piece of writing. It's one of the parts of my job I enjoy most, hearing from former students and being able to follow pieces of their life stories over the years. So thanks, Dan, for the e-mail and for the story, which I very much enjoyed. And may there be several of you, my current students, who will also choose to keep in touch with me, send me news of your lives, pictures of your children, even copies of your writings.

And for those interested in reading Daniel's story, here's the link.

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AP--Week 8 (February 25-29)

Read A Doll's House, pp. 1679-1734 in your anthology. Complete the reading by Tuesday, February 26, so that our discussions in class can be fully informed.

Write a blog entry of approximately 500 words after you have read the play. Questions 5 & 6 at the top of page 1735 (under questions for Act III) are, I think, good questions, as are questions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 in the list of "general questions."

Multiple choice quiz Friday, February 29.

AP--Hamlet (blogging for subtext)

Subtext assignment (due as blog entries Friday, February 22--please post Thursday evening, not before):

1. Using this link, download act 3, scene 4 from the beginning to Gertrude’s line “I have no life to breathe what thou hast said to me.” (Delete everything beginning with Hamlet’s line “I must to England, you know that?”)

2. Turn this scene into a word processing document. It will be several pages long.

3. Keep the entire text as it is, except change the name Queen Margaret to Queen Gertrude at the beginning of the scene (a mistake on the web site).

4. Identify as much subtext as you can. This is the most important part of the assignment. Subtext refers to all the meanings not directly contained in the text. Specifically, as we discussed in class, the subtext contains implied stage directions, the character’s thoughts, feelings, and motives as the lines are being spoken, as well as notes indicating tone of voice, movements, and gestures. Write your subtext at the end of short speeches or at the appropriate points in the middle of longer speeches. Do not simply paraphrase speeches. And please don't invent off-the-wall meanings which are not clearly implied or logically compatible with the original text.

5. When you finish, paste your document into the "compose" window of your blog. But before you click "publish post," go through the document carefully and put everything you added in BOLD or in a different color (you can't do this step before you post or the formatting will be lost when you paste your word document to your blog and you'll have to do it all over again, probably muttering to yourself inappropriate language in the process, and we wouldn't want that, now, would we?) Putting all your additions in boldface or color makes it easier for me to identify what you have added.

Please do NOT consult with each other in preparing this assignment or wait to post your scene until after you have read the work of others. What you post must be your work and only your work. As you should know, the school takes a particularly dim view of collaborating on assignments that are not collaborative in nature. It's called cheating. Don't let it happen to you.

Done in a spirit of exploration, with a strong mind and a clear heart, this assignment can be a lot of fun for all of us.

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Quote of the week

From Brian Frazer, in Los Angeles magazine, on the film version of “Love in the Time of Cholera”:

"[A] movie that would have been more entertaining if they’d just filmed some guy reading the book into the camera."

(I still haven't seen the movie myself, but aren't poison pen comments wonderful when they're as witty as this one?--LCC)

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AP--important announcement

To ALL AP English students:

This is a test, of the blogger-announcement system. I am changing the due date of the "Blog to Essay" Assignment, from Friday, February 8 to Monday February 11.

Feel free to complete the assignment and turn it in Friday if you already have a full weekend of other obligations or plans. But if you need the weekend to complete this assignment, you may have it.

Please tell your friends about this announcement. Or don't. From what I can tell in class lately ("when is this due?") not a lot of you have been paying all that close attention to my published announcements lately, so this one is really for the benefit of those of you who are. So let's let it be our little secret, OK?

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AP Assignments February 2008

Weeks 5 & 6--Hamlet--Read acts 1 & 2 during week 5 (February 4 - 8), read acts 3, 4, & 5 during the week of February 11.

Writing: For the week of February 4: Re-write one of your blogs from this semester in the form of a short paper (2-3 pages, roughly 600-900 words).

For the week of February 11: 500 word blog on a scene, speech, character, motif, theme, or problem from Hamlet.

For the week of February 18: 10 comments on last week's Hamlet blogs. A new rule for all English IV blogs, one which shouldn't be necessary but which, based on recent evidence, I now state clearly and succinctly: They're your blogs but also school assignments, so all language used must be appropriate in tone. A slightly more casual, personal tone and style are appropriate to the nature of the blog, but no profanities, vulgarities, or insults will be tolerated. All these will result in negative blog points for the writer, and repeat offenders will be referred to the Dean of Students and the Assistant Head of the Upper School for disciplinary action.

Quizzes: Friday, February 8, Multiple choice No school Friday, February 15, therefore no quiz.

Links:

Source

Seneca

Hamlet online