Good People

All essays received! I got some questions about citation for the pdf file. Don't worry about it for now. I won't count this against you in anyway.

Thanks for a great year. Go have fun!

How to cite a pdf file in MLA?

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/

The Final Exam: Making Space

Choose ONE of the following topics for your final essay:

1- William Gass wrote a fascinating essay about Invisible Cites (posted here). According to him it is a re-interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, which directly relates to the descending order of Invisible Cities. Read the essay, then refute his thesis as best as possible.

2- Where do the Trafalmadorians from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five belong in Invisible Cities? Why?

3- Take any dystopia from the summer reading. Compare this city with any other series of cities (i.e, “Cities and Memory”) both literally and figuratively. What does this comparison reveal about the essence of this dystopia?

4- Apply Richard Dawkin’s concept of meme to Invisible Cities. (Keep in mind the progressive structure of the novel.)

5- Compare one scene from the film Waking Life with any two cities from Invisible Cities (here’s its rating and the explanation behind it). You must include two screen shots that you closely analyze in terms of composition. Do your best to explain why this comparison is valid and what it reveals about the experience of living.

6- Which cities best exemplify Dr. Pangloss’ “best of all possible worlds” theory? Explain.

Your paper should be between two and three pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font. See rubric on Standard Score. Your essays must be turned in via turnitin.com by noon tomorrow. Grades will be posted sometime next week.

For any further questions e-mail me at jtangen@cng.edu.

Now, go make some “space” (Calvino, 142).  

The Author of Farenheit 451 Has Died

Here's the NYT obit.

Novels and Chess? How Invisible Cities of you!

Try it.

For the Short Story Writers in the House

Some tips from Junot Diaz...

Staplers

Bring in a stapler next Monday and Tuesday. We´ll be using them in class.

Genes, Memes, etc.

This week you are to read and blog about Chapters 10 and 11. In addition to response you must incorporate vocabulary.

A Simple Gene

It's been a pretty crazy week, so just to be clear: turn in the final draft of your analytic film essays by Monday May 7th and complete Chapters 2 and 3 of The Selfish Gene along with a blog entry for each.

Passive Voice Exercises Part II

1. The particular topic chosen by the instructor for study in his section of English 2 must be approved by the Steering Committee. [Hint: Start with "The Steering Committee."]
2. Recommendations concerning the type of study needed to assure adequate definition of the larger problem and develop feasible options in programs designed to eliminate or greatly reduce both the direct and indirect effects within a reasonable time and at acceptable cost were presented in the report. [Begin with "The report."]
3. Avoidance of such blunders should not be considered a virtue for which the student is to be commended, any more than he would be praised for not wiping his hands on the tablecloth or polishing his shoes with guest towels. [Hint: Begin with "We should not."]
4. Collaborative analytical determinations were utilized to assess the probable consequences of mechanical failure. [Start with "Analysts."]
5. The difference between restrictives and nonrestrictives can also be better approached through a study of the different contours that mark the utterance of the two kinds of element than through confusing attempts to differentiate the two by meaning. ["One can."]
6. Individuals whose income is insufficient to lift them above poverty must be provided with assistance from public sources. [Start active, and try "Supplement."]
7. In the next thirty-five years it is expected that there will be more engineering work to be done than has been done in all of recorded history.[Make "The next thirty-five years" the subject.]
8. If expansion is not accomplished, then two less-efficient alternatives must be acted upon: either the book sales will have to be in separate quarters or else the whole enterprise will have to be moved to a new location. [Try "we."]
9. Trees on average sites are expected to be about twenty inches in diameter when they are eighty years old if they are managed properly since youth. [Start "Managed properly."]
10. Any amended declaration should be filed with the Internal Revenue Office with whom the original declaration was filed even if you move to another district.

Passive Voice Exercises

Level 1: Directions: Change the sentences below to the passive voice.

1. Children cannot open these bottles easily.
2. The government built a road right outside her front door.
3. Mr. Ross broke the antique vase as he walked through the store.
4. When she arrived, the changes amazed her.
5. The construction workers are making street repairs all month long.
6. The party will celebrate his retirement.
7. His professors were discussing his oral exam right in front of him.
8. My son ate all the homemade cookies.
9. Corrosion had damaged the hull of the ship.
10. Some children were visiting the old homestead while I was there.

New Policy with Films

Due to copyright restrictions, all essays will have to be written with the aid of the DVDs here in class. You may borrow them to work on in H301 or the EVL but they are not to leave the CNG campus. This way you can save the screen shots necessary to work with.

Analytic Film Essay: First Draft

Please don't forget your first drafts of essays are due the next Writers Workshop. It should be double-spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman, 4-5 pages in length.

Analytic Film Essay

As we’ve discussed in class you’ll be writing analytic film essays. There are quite a few options, although your essay must only focus on two films. In other words, this is similar to a comparative essay. The idea however is that you are focusing on one character, element, device, technique, etc.

These are some possible topics:

• compare the use of vertical angles in Orson Welle’s Macbeth with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
• describe how the act of murder and blood depicted differ in Roman Polanksi’s Macbeth and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
• explain the use of the color red in MacBeth (2006) and Macbeth (2010)
• contrast the horizontal angles in Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Orson Welle's Macbeth
• choose any two versions of Macbeth and focus on the scenes or lines cut; explain how it is part of their overall interpretation of the play

Requirements (Just a Reminder)

PreAP ENGLISH & AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION &

AP ENGLISH LITERATURE & COMPOSITION

To be admitted to the PreAP English and AP English courses students must have the following:

1. Grade average in English of 3.2 or higher.

2. Recommendation from an English teacher.

3. Demonstrate above grade level reading and language skills according to standardized tests:

4. MAP score for Reading 229 and Language Usage 227

PreAP 9 MAP Reading 229 (or higher), Language Usage 227 (or higher) in grade 8; Reading 232 (or higher), Language Usage 230 (or higher) at beginning of grade 9.

PreAP 10 MAP Reading 234 (or higher), Language Usage 232 (or higher)

AP Courses MAP Reading 236 (or higher), Language Usage 234 (or higher)

10^th grade PSAT Critical Reading 49 and Writing Skills 48 (or higher) entering 11th

11^th grade PSAT Critical Reading 50 and Writing Skills 49 (or higher) entering 12^th

NOTE: If student doesn’t meet all three requirements, but is highly motivated, an interview

with the PreAP English teacher and/or English coordinator will take place.

Iambic Pentameter Cento Poems

Don't forget to bring in cento poems written in iambic pentameter. Looking forward to seeing them then.

MacBeth Performance

It looks like we´ll be performing MacBeth in the ampitheater with a stage and tarp - in case of rain. We´re going to be up against other kinds of noise so we´ll practice vocalizing and projecting in class new week.

EXTRA CREDIT(S)

Check out the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro.

Bring me the ticket stub of any of the following shows and I'll give you some extra credit via Standard Score. Be forewarned: I have not and could not have possibly previewed the shows for their content. That said, be ready to discuss the work when you hand in the stub.

Hamlet

MacBeth

Electra

El Rhionceronte

Esperando a Godot

1984

Peer Gynt

Julio Cesar

Odisea

La Tempestad

Casa de muñecas

Anne Hatheway was the Bard's Wife

Shout out to today's class that taught me a thing or two about the life of Shakespeare. Cool!

The Best of All Possible Blogs

This week I'd like you to finish Candide before leaving for La Guajira. Write two or three blog entries before then - in response to the text.

Best of All Possible Readings

This week read and write two reading blogs. In addition, I'd like you to comment on three other classmates' blogs throughout this week.

Feel free to include this exhibition in your entries.

Optimistically

This week I need you complete to three reading blogs of Voltaire´s Candide by next Monday.

What do you opine?

This week we'll be creating opinion videos. I'd like you to post yours by Friday, January 27th 12pm. We'll be evaluating them based on Cicero's five canons.

A Sort of End

So, as we wind down the semester we have only one major assessment: the Great Debate. It will mostly encompass rhetoric. We'll be talking about this in more depth in Writers Workshop. You'll be presenting in your perspective classes next Tuesday and Wednesday.