Senior English Frankenstein Blog 2/8/11

Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life and uses this knowledge to create a sentient being. Imagine that you have discovered some previously thought-to-be-impossible technique or ability. What would you create? Describe your creation and tell why you came up with this idea. Respond to two other people’s creations. Early responders, please come back to respond to your classmates’ creations. No inappropriate responses, please.

Hamlet:
Not a whit, we defy augury. There is special providence in
the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to
come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come—the
readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is't
to leave betimes, let be. (Hamlet V.ii.191-194)

Hamlet has received Laertes' challenge by way of the King's toady, Osric. Horatio remarks that Laertes is known for his prowess with the sword and offers to make an excuse so that Hamlet can get out of the match. Both Hamlet and Horatio probably suspect that some foul play is afoot. But Hamlet refuses to put off the match. The above quote (on page 892 of our text) is his reply to Horatio.

What do you think Hamlet means? Note that the line about the sparrow is a reference to Matthew Chapter 10.

Taylor Rudow's article on "The Freedom to Fail"

Last week I was watching the Lahaina Girls basketball team compete against other schools in a preseason basketball tournament. The Lady Lunas dominated the tournament and won the championship game by a 53 point spread. I realized that they were such a dominating force, not because of what they had, but because of the key element that the other schools had lost.
The majority of the newest generation has lost their freedom to fail. This is evident in the sports arena in Maui. Because children expect to be given everything, they no longer feel the need to fight for it. This was first obvious when I entered middle school, and I was informed that we would not be competing because the leagues were just for fun. Because they did not want the children with less experience to feel bad about themselves, they took away scoring and competition. This loss of competition made the athletes no longer feel the need to improve themselves because they no longer had anything to fight for. Because they took away the athletes’ ability to succeed, they also took away their ability, or freedom, to fail.
In high school, they took away the athlete’s freedom to succeed yet again. It was decided that our school would not have tryouts so that every student that wanted to be on the team was able to. This turned the varsity sports into a jumble of accomplished athletes and uninterested beginners. To top off the new rule, my coach decided that he wanted to give equal playing time to all of the members of the team. This took away the hard working athlete’s right to succeed because even if one put in more time than everyone else, they were not rewarded with more playing time or harder competition.
The Lahainaluna Girls basketball team is such a powerful force because they still have the freedom that the other schools have lost. They give their girls competition from an early age, and teach them that they have to fight for what they want. By giving the girls the freedom to fail if they do not work, they have also given the girls the freedom to gain tremendous success. Anthony D’Angelo said, “In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.” The Lahaina girls have been taught this lesson, and it shows in their game. The rest of us have lost our freedom to fail, and therefore, cannot hope to achieve optimum success.

Senior Poem Challenge 10/13/10

Read the following poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Then write response of about 100 words. You can write your own poem, a short "interpretation" of the poem, any connections you might think about, or a reaction to one of your classmates responses.


A Vast Confusion

Sounds of trains in the surf
in subways of the sea
And an even greater undersound
of a vast confusion in the universe
a rumbling and a roaring
as of some enormous creature turning
under sea and earth
a billion sotto voices murmuring
a vast muttering
a swelling stuttering
in ocean's speakers
world's voice-box heard with ear to sand
a shocked echoing
a shocking shouting
of all life's voices lost in night
And the tape of it
someow running backwards now
through the Moog Synthesizer of time
Chaos unscrambled
back to the first
harmonies
And the first light

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

A&P Senior English response

Respond to one or more of the following:
-Updike's use of imagery and word choice in this story is particularly brilliant. Respond to some examples of this in the story.
-On the LAF handout, Mr. H says that literature has so much irony because life is ironic. Comment on some of the many ironies in the story. Why are they so "life-like"?
-Note the publication date (at the end of the story). Any thoughts on why this story is very much of its time?
Your response should be about 150-200 words. In your entry, respond to at least one other posting. Early responders, come back to respond to other postings.

Sophomore Independent Reading Blog #2

Write a paragraph telling people who haven't read the book what the book is about so far. Read other people's posts and ask at least one person a question about his or her book.

Sophomore English Independent Reading Choice

Tell us what book you are reading (title and author). Tell (briefly) what it's about and why you chose it. Look at other people's choices and respond to at least two other posts (e.g you've read this book and want to comment, you think it's an interesting choice, your curious for more info about the book...).

Senior English Frankenstein Challenge 2/10/10

Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life and uses this knowledge to create a sentient being. Imagine that you have discovered some previously thought-to-be-impossible technique or ability. What would you create? Describe your creation and tell why you came up with this idea. Respond to two other people’s creations. Early responders, please come back to respond to your classmates’ creations. No inappropriate responses, please.

Seniors A&P response

-Post a response to Mr. H’s blog. Your response should be about 150-200 words. Comment on Sammy’s lesson, Updike’s theme, imagery, setting, symbolism, or any other aspect of the story that yanks your chain. In your entry, respond to at least one other posting. Early responders, come back to respond to other postings.

Senior Vocab. Entries

Seniors, post your vocabulary entries here!

(here's a sample image for the first word "altruistic")

3/10/09 Frankenstein Project Responses

What do you think of the Frankenstein projects? Write about your favorite ones? Have the projects helped you see anything new or interesting in the novel?

Frankenstein Journal 2/4/09

Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life and uses this knowledge to create a sentient being. Imagine that you have discovered some previously thought-to-be-impossible technique or ability. What would you create? Describe your creation and tell why you came up with this idea. Respond to two other people’s creations. Early responders, please come back to respond to your classmates’ creations. No inappropriate responses, please.

Writers Club/ Senior English poem challenge for the week of 11/17

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

William Carlos Williams

Write an "apology poem" like the one above. Use any style. Make it short, vivid, surprising. All seniors and writers club members are invited to post.

Writers Club post for the week of 10/22

OK, gang. The new rules are: shorter pieces, poems and prose pieces of less than a page, should be posted here. Email me longer pieces and I'll continue putting them up on the website.

This week's challenge: spook pieces. Words to get you going: phantom, shadow, heart, macabre, schizophrenia, sepulcher, crypt, maggots, doll.

Senior poem challenge for Wed. 10/22/08

Delight in Disorder
by Robert Herrick (1591 – 1674)

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:–
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distractión,–
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher,–
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly,–
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat,–
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility,–
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.

This is the first older poem I've assigned you folks--from one of the "Cavalier Poets" of the early 17th century. Be sure you understand the meaning of the poem (what's he talking about?). See a word you don't understand? Look it up. Answer one or more of the following questions: Which metaphor(s) do you find most vivid? Why? Can you find the oxymoron? Do you find the poem sexist, seductive, or just plain silly? Any connection to our current dress code issues or general ideas about dress and style? As on the last challenge, respond to at least one person whose posted before you.

Writers Club Challenge

masks, keys, red Mustang, open heart surgery, shoes, damsel in distress, water, holding things together, hide and seek, Dante's Inferno, The Scarlet Letter, Araby, play, plays, playing, snake...

Here are some words and topics from our writing challenges over the past years, and I threw in some of the lit. you folks have been reading in your English classes just for fun. Write a short poem using all or some of these words. Write it and then post so that you don't see anyone else's before you write yours.

And here's a link to that Wordsworth poem I mentioned in my email to you:

"The World Is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth

Senior Poem Challenge 10/14/08

Read the poem below by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-present):

A Vast Confusion

Long long I lay in the sands
Sounds of trains in the surf
in subways of the sea
And an even greater undersound
of a vast confusion in the universe
a rumbling and a roaring
as of some enormous creature turning
under sea and earth
a billion sotto voices murmuring
a vast muttering
a swelling stuttering
in ocean's speakers
world's voice-box heard with ear to sand
a shocked echoing
a shocking shouting
of all life's voices lost in night
And the tape of it
somehow running backwards now
through the Moog Synthesizer of time
Chaos unscrambled
back to the first
harmonies
And the first light

Respond to this poem. If you need a question to answer, try these: What does the poem make you think of? Is this a poem about things falling apart or being put back together? Is it about the future or the past?
Your response should be about 100 words long and include a reference to at least one other person's response. Those who post early, come back later to respond to a post.

Respond to Al's writing here

What does every writer want? Readers. Use this thread to post comments about my writing. All feedback welcome (but be gentle).

World lit. Dante essays coming up!

Sophomores! What will you write your essays about? I'm asking you to write a personal response to the Inferno. What issue from the reading or class discussion has stuck with you, caused you to think, wonder, get riled up, personally involved? Respond here with a brief comment about what your essay will be about and why.

Open poem response

Here is a poem by Simon Ortiz called "A Story of How A Wall Stands":

At Aacqu, there is a wall almost 400 years old which supports hundreds of tons of dirt and bones - it's a graveyard built on a steep incline - and it looks like it's about to fall down the incline but it will not for a long time

My father, who works with stone,
says, "That's just the part you see,
The stones which seem to be
just packed in on the outside,"
and with his hands puts the stone and mud
in place. "Underneath what looks like loose stone,
there is stone woven together."
He ties one hand over the other,
fitting like the bones of his hands
and fingers. "That's what is
Holding it together."

"It is built that carefully,"
he says, "the mud mixed
to a certain texture," patiently
"with the fingers," worked
in the palm of his hand. "So that
placed between the stones, they hold
together for a long, long time."

He tells me those things,
the story of them worked
with his fingers, in the palm
of his hands, working the stone
and the mud until they become
the wall that stands a long, long time.

I love the way Ortiz intertwines the explanation of the ancient wall with the father's work. Is the father repairing the old wall? Or building a new one? There are many walls in the poem. Any comments?