I've been trying to post on this thing forever!!!
I'm thinking about researching Zora Neale Hurston.
I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to "prove."

Just to give you a heads up, research project is coming up. Be thinking (seriously) about an American author you would like to research. Do a little internet research to help you figure it out.

Literary Pieces

Hey,

I just got off the phone with Brew who helped me get the last 3. I'm not sure if you still need them but here they are anyways:

To My Dear and Loving Husband: Anne Bradstreet-Puritanism
Self-Reliance: Emerson-Transcendentalism
Poor Richard's Almanack: Franklin-Revolutionary

Ms. Jones, for the midterm I have been making a list of the pieces we have read
This is what i have so far:

Of Plymouth Plantation: Bradford- Puritanism
When Grizzlies Walked Upright: Native American Myth
Earth on Turtle's Back: Native American Myth
"Some verses upon the buring of our house": Anne Bradstreet-Puritanism
Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God: Edwards- Great Awakening
Franklin's Autobiography: Benjamin Franklin- Revolutionary
Speech to the Virginia Convention: Patrick Henry- Revolutionary
Cross of Snow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- Romanticism
The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls: Longfellow- Romanticism
Old Ironsides: Oliver Wendell Holmes- Romanticism
Rip Van Winkle: Washington Irving- Romanticism
The Devil and Tom Walker: Washington Irving- Romanticism
Nature: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transcendentalism
Civil Disobedience: Henry David Thoreau- Transcendentalism
Walden: Thoreau- Transcendentalism
Rappaccini's Daughter: Nathaniel Hawthorne- Dark Romanticism
The Raven: Edgar Allen Poe- Dark Romanticism
The Black Cat: Edgar Allen Poe- Dark Romanticism
Slave Narrative: Equiano- Revolutionary?

I know this is only nineteen but my peers and I are having trouble coming up with the other three. I would be very appreciative if you could guide me in the right direction (such as by giving me the author or the literary period) so that I could remember the other three. However, if you think that would be giving away too much information I understand and will try to remember them on my own.

Just an FYI for Brian, since he's the only one who uses the blog, but Midterms are steadily approaching. If you want to begin studying, you should compile a list of all of the pieces and authors and which literary period they belong in. You will have to match them up.

For example:

"Earth on Turtle's Back" Native American (no author because it's oral tradition)

"Old Ironsides" Romanticism Oliver Wendell Holmes

As far as I can tell there are 22 pieces, some sharing the same author and some you haven't covered yet like Rappaccini's Daughter and two Poe pieces. I would encourage your peers to work together to compile a complete list. Use the blog to share if you want. Study groups are a life saver in college. Learning to use them is a valuable skill. Whatever you post I will double check. Have fun tomorrow. It'll be more fun than I'm having (although I doubt I will be up at 7am).

Okay, so you answered my other question about the economy but now I have another one. In the "quotes" section of the project (not the "concrete/abstract quotes" section) can we use quotes from transcendentalists or do we have to find quotes from sources not associated with transcendentalism and then find a way to connect the quote to transcendentalism?

Ms. Jones,
For the transcendentalism project on the part where we have to discuss our thoughts on different topics, I talked about my opinions about "THE" economy rather than the character trait of being economical. Is that okay? I wasn't sure which of those two you wanted us to discuss.

Don't forget your response to the Rip video is due MOnday, along with your vocabulary, and your reading of the Devil and Tom.

Ms. Jones, do you perhaps have a general idea of when the transcedentalism project might be due? I'm just trying to guage how many weekends I will have to work on it so I can prioritize it along with my other projects.

http://www.mrgunnar.net/english.cfm?subpage=349357

Here is the link to Rip.

Stephen King On 'Twilight' Author: 'Stephenie Meyer Can't Write Worth A Darn

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Stephen King's opinion may drive a stake through the heart of "Twilight" author, Stephenie Meyer.
In an interview with USA Weekend, the bestselling author compared Meyer with J.K. Rowling , the author of the Harry Potter series.

According to Stephen, "Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."
Meeooww!

While Stephen may not be a fan of Stephenie's writing, he understands the appeal of the series.
"People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."
He further explains, "A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet."



So what do you think? I know some of you have read all or part of this series. Can Meyer "write worth a darn"?

As if it weren't already challenging enough to read....

I thought this was a cool "word art" collage about "Sinners."

Okay, so usually kids don't really know what to do on an academically based blog. So, you could:

Ask a question of me or your peers. It could be personal or academic.

Post something interesting in the news and ask for a response.

Post something funny (cartoon, youtube clip (as long as it's appropriate))

Post a picture that makes you think of something we read or talked about.



Really you can do whatever you want, as long as it's appropriate for something your teacher participates in. I would of course LOVE to see you link class-related stuff to life stuff, but sometimes you just aren't in the mood. Really though, if you are posting you are writing, so either way I have you in my English clutches. The blog is what you make it. Use it to ask homework questions, share ideas, brainstorm, get feedback about news events or things that happen around school. Find out what your peers think about things we read, world events, politics, movies, etc. I have blogs with many of my other classes and one that is actually kids that graduated last year but still post. They STILL find things to say to make each other (and me) laugh and think. I've spent lots of time checking out pictures of kids participating in their hobbies (fishtanking, skateboarding, etc.) and reading haikus about their weekends that make me crack up. English can be fun. I promise. For real.