Today's Homework

Here's another copy of Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" if you missed it...or if you can't read your copy(9/10).

The price seemed reasonable, location
Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived
Off premises. Nothing remained
But self- confession “Madam, I warned,
“I hate a wasted journey- I am African.”
Silence. Silenced transmission of
Pressurised good – breeding. Voice, when it came
Lipstick-coated, long gold-rolled
Cigarette- holder pipped. Caught I was foully
“HOW DARK?...... I had not misheard……
“ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?” Button B, Button A, stench
Of rancid breath of public hide-and –speak
Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered
Omnibus squelching tar. It was real. Shamed
By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.
Considerate she was, varying the emphasis-
“ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came
“You mean –like plain or milk chocolate?”
Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light
Impersonality, Rapidly, wave length adjusted,
I chose “West African sepia”- and as afterthought,
“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy..


Reading logs are on the permanent documents on the side of this blog...so no one has an excuse to not have their homework.

Have fun, and post a question if you have it: )

The first...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
For Fox Sake!
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Jon Stewart tells it like it is...very clever title.

A Bit O'Help

For those people that were absent today or lost the vocabulary, I'm posting as much as I can below. The one article was from an old AC Press, but the important one is linked below.

1. Write sentences for new vocab. Due tomorrow.
Vocabulary List/Directions

2. Read and annotate the following article:
Teachers

3. Write a one-page reaction/response to the editorial above in your journal.

4. Bring a clean, revised, TYPED copy of your essay for Thursday. Tomorrow, we'll be playing catch-up.

Enjoy your evenings, kiddies...

OOPS

So...I won't be in tomorrow. I have a sore throat I can't shake, and there are a few other factors involved in my absence, but...I just want to apologize.

I HATE not being in school, and while I'm sure you'll be very happy to have a substitute, please know that I always try to make your work when I'm gone meaningful. The articles you will be reading are definitely ones I would have assigned for homework this week, so please take my directions seriously...and don't think I'm a slacker! I swear, I'm not the absent-from-school type. This just isn't my year so far: (

See, I like smileyfaces. Sort of. And I will post Jon Stewart soon; I'm still a little afraid your parents and guardians will kill me.

Tomorrow:

Read and annotate 2 articles I left.
Respond (1 page) to teacher article.
Check out new vocabulary; sentences due on Tuesday.

We will be proofreading on Thursday, so please have typed, clean essays for then.

Thanks, good night, and good luck.

Oh...and follow this link if you're bored. Fun Fun Fun

Inspired by today's journal...

Langley told us today that her addiction was SNL...which made me remember Philip, the hyper-hypo. This may be my favorite.skit.ever. I hope you like it...even if it is old.


via videosift.com

A question

I want to post two videos of The Daily Show, but I'm a little worried that someone is going to be offended. It is on Comedy Central, which is basic cable, but occasionally there are some bleeped words--is that going to offend anyone?

They are relevant to our previous discussion; Jon Stewart takes on media bias.

A Gentle Reminder...

Remember, no one may start a new topic in our blog--at least not until we're better acquainted.

I moved a few posts that were not in the right place. Only post your thoughts in the comment space under my original posting.

And sorry, Shelby, I deleted your post, but if you'd like to get some work from me, please email me at erock@geh.nj.k12us.com.

As of right now, there's not much you can do. You need the original copy of your Honors Application essay.

For everyone else, please remember to bring in your revised, flawless essays tomorrow. You're going to need them for a group revision.

Let's get it started...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you should know that our country is in financial ruins of sorts. Yeah, I know that's dramatic, but on some days, if you watch enough cable news, it feels that way.

News is exactly the topic I want to discuss. The financial hardships of our time are now affecting our country's newspapers; major papers are closing daily, and even my beloved New York times is losing money. It seems no one cares enough about the news to actually read it, or at least read it in paper form.

My question to you is simple: how much do you care about the news? (I'm hoping I don't get any apathy here; as honors students, you SHOULD be reading the news, every day.) Where do you get your news? Why do you think we're all going to be around to witness the death of print news?

Welcome!

So you figured this thing out, huh? There's not much to see now, but in the future, this will be THE place to download homework assignments, get advice or assignments from your peers, and discuss some of our more problematic readings. Remember, this also can count towards your class participation, so this is a great place for the wallflowers to shine: )