The Farewell Blog Post

So hey, you young Seniors:

I can say it now. You can't really push it back any longer. Wrap your mind around the idea.

First, I want to share a blog post by Chad Topaz -- a fine writer and mathematician -- about gender bias in the sciences. I think you'll find it thoughtful. This article was shared with me by a graduating senior, a former AP student, and someone I now consider a dear friend. And I hope you go into your senior year with your eye out to the BIG FUTURE, to all the good work that is both necessary and possible, and the role you can play in the unfolding of our destiny as a planet and as a species. Keep writing, keep reading, keep thinking, keep paying attention. Stay awake, and keep dreaming...(in the space between living and dreaming?) Don't get so caught up in the gauntlet you are about to run with college applications and rejection and fear and final SATs and AP classes and FAFSA and sports and music and tours and Prom and Arrgh! Senior year! The very best students in the country bear rejection during this process. Of course you know this intellectually. Logos, yo. But you have to get your Pathos ready. It hurts in the chest and belly even as the mind copes.

Today I am sorting through drifts of your work. I hope to have a gigantic paper passback tomorrow — some will be marked, and some won't — but the idea is that taken all together, the totality of your portfolio work and notebooks create a portrait of you as a writer and a thinker in your junior year. This is what I want you to see.

In a couple of days, I am going to put a barrier on this blog, requiring readers to sign in first. I make this move to discourage this year's incoming writers from using your posts on their blog. Intellectual short cuts are a sad fact of life, and I have to do what I can to try and prevent them.

So now, in the few remaining hours of our class time together, I invite you to post a farewell blog entry. It can be as short or as long as you like. I'd just love to hear from you. And of course, it is completely voluntary.

Wherever you are next September, you always have a home in room 508. Don't be a stranger. I wish you all the best.

Keep busting up clouds,
Alexandra Fletcher

End of the Year • Personal Statements

Advanced Placement English Composition

The Personal Statement on Skates

Goals & Objectives:

• to experience and experiment with the Writing Process
• to experience and experiment with a Writer’s Workshop
• to create TWO ROUGH DRAFT personal statements
• these are the low-pressure, plenty-of-time drafts
• these are the drafts where you can take risks because you won’t actually USE these, so you are free to swing for the fence
• (You might end up doing something ridiculous.  You might end up doing something brilliant.  I don’t care which, as long as you're not BORING, you take your pieces  through an authentic, thoughtful, rigorous writing process, and that you meet the deadlines and word counts.)
• to demonstrate skill and proficiency in writing through
• a properly narrowed, controlling idea
• supporting examples with singular, concrete detail
• an appropriate sense of audience and rhetorical purpose;
• minimal errors in grammar and punctuation;
• a clear prose style appropriate to the assignment

Specifics:

• Your personal statements together will be between 1250-1500 words TOTAL (2 essays with that many words total).  How you split them up is up to you:  750+500, 1000+300, 225+1026, etc.
• You absolutely, positively may NOT use “Personal Statement” as a title.  Ever.
• Your FINAL EXAM:  "Author's Chair" -- publicly share your favorite piece.  (Get over it.)
• MLA format:  get this right — it's not necessary, but It's good practice so I want to see the 2nd draft in good MLA form.

Deadlines:

• Personal Narrative 1, Draft 1 (PN1D1) due in class Thursday, May 30
• Personal Narrative 1, Draft 2 (PN1D2) due in class Friday, May 31
• Personal Narrative 2, Draft 1 (PN2D1) due in class Thursday, June 6
• Personal Narrative 2, Draft 2 (PN2D2) due in class Friday, June 7
• Workshop with Fletcher, June 10 & 11, requirements TBA
• Author's Chair, June 12 during regular class time; June 13 during Final's Block

TOPICS FOR THE PERSONAL STATEMENT

Choose one from two different categories

CHOICE A:  From the University of California

• Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
• Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

CHOICE B:  Some Prompts from the CommonApplication (www.commonapp.org)

• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

CHOICE C:  University of Chicago, 

2012-2013

• ESSAY OPTION 1.  “A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” — Oscar Wilde     Othello and Iago.  Dorothy and the Wicked Witch.  Autobots and Decepticons.  History and art are full of heroes and their enemies.  Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
• ESSAY OPTION 2.  Heisenberg claims that you cannot know both the position and momentum of an electron with total certainty.  Choose two other concepts that cannot be known simultaneously and discuss the implications.  (Do not consider yourself limited to the field of physics).
• ESSAY OPTION 3.  Susan Sontag, AB'51, wrote that "[s]ilence remains, inescapably, a form of speech."  Write about an issue or situation when you remained silent, and explain how silence may speak in ways that you did or did not intend.  
• ESSAY OPTION 4.  "...I [was] eager to escape backward again, to be off to invent a past for the present."  —The Rose Rabbi, by Daniel Stern
• Present:  pres-ent
• 1.  Something that is offered, presented, or given as a gift
• Let's stick with this definition.  Unusual presents, accidental presents, metaphorical presents, re-gifted presents, etc. — pick any present you have ever received and invent a past for it.
• ESSAY OPTION 5.  In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.
• ESSAY OPTION 6.  So where is Waldo, really?

And because these are so fun and challenging, I'm including even more:

2011-2012

• ESSAY OPTION 1.  “What does Play-Doh™ have to do with Plato?” — The 2011 University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt List:  Every May, the University of Chicago hosts the world’s largest scavenger hunt. As part of this year’s hunt, students raced to find the shortest path between two seemingly unrelated things by traveling through Wikipedia articles.  But Wikipedia is so passé. Without the help of everyone’s favorite collaborative internet encyclopedia, show us your own unique path from Play-Doh™ to Plato. 
• ESSAY OPTION 2.  Observation, Hypothesis, Experiment, Analysis, Conclusion; since the 17th century, the scientific method has been the generally accepted way to investigate, explore, and acquire new knowledge. The actual process of intellectual discovery, however, is rarely so simple or objective. The human mind often leaps from observation to conclusion with ease, rushes headlong into hypothesis-less experiments, or dwells on the analysis, refusing to conclude.  Tell us about your non-scientific method. (Diagrams, graphs, and/or visual aids allowed within your essay.)
• ESSAY OPTION 3.  Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, “Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.” Give us your guess.
• ESSAY OPTION 4.  While working at the Raytheon Company, Percy Spencer noticed that standing in front of a magnetron (used to generate microwave radio signals) caused a chocolate bar in his pocket to melt. He then placed a bowl of corn in front of the device, and soon it was popping all over the room. A couple of years later, Raytheon was selling the first commercial microwave oven.  Write about a time you found something you weren’t looking for.
• ESSAY OPTION 5.  In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose a question of your own. If your prompt is original and thoughtful, then you should have little trouble writing a great essay. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.
• ESSAY OPTION 6.  Don’t write about reverse psychology

Pink Flamingos in Long Beach

Breakfast Invitation! (Yeah, that's right. I used the exclamation point.)

You are cordially invited to

a Breakfast Peptalk

Friday, May 10 @ 6:45 a.m.

Bagels, cream cheese and juice!*

Mozart, back pats, and a lucky pencil

Your link from Kevin Cabusora 2012

Your link of unspeakable evil

Your cool music video link

Your inspirational link

Your educational link

*two in one post.  Excessive?

But what would Sontag say?

I have a book in the classroom called The Material World, and in it are photographs of the worldly possessions of many different families from across the world.  It makes an interesting visual argument about STUFF.  This website is interesting because it does the same thing, but with FOOD.

Cross-posting: "Litany," by Billy Collins

I wrote this on May 22, 2011:

I went to see Billy Collins read  the other night.  He’s a favorite of mine, and I guess most people who pay attention to poetry have heard something by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins — he’s straight forward, sweet, funny and observant.

.

I had read this poem before, but I came to appreciate it more after hearing him talk about it and read it.  In the poem “Litany,” Collins is poking gentle fun of love poetry that (over)uses imagery from nature to describe the beloved.  Shakespeare did this too when he wrote Sonnet 130, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…”  So Billy Collins is continuing in this tradition, and he took the first two lines from a poem, and explained that he, “rewrote the poem, as a courtesy …something that poets must do for one another from time to time.”

.

Litany, by Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine…
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.
And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.
I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and–somehow–the wine.

Monday, May 6

Hi Kids:

Check the blog every night.  Set aside an hour.  Here's what I want you to do tonight, Monday, May 6:

1. Organize your notes and your notebook.  Get your handouts in order.  Read them.
2. Access the vocabulary file.
3. Go to "Room for Debate" at the New York Times; pick a topic that attracts you, and read all the articles on both side of the issue.
4. Everyday Use:  Review the headings, pictures and graphics in Chapter 1 about Rhetoric, the rhetorical situation (SOAPS), the rhetorical triangle, the appeals.  
5. Everyday Use:  Review "Overview of Major Points in Chapter 1" on pages 29-30.  Stop once you get to "Activities and Discussion Questions for Chapter 1."
6. Don't forget to pay attention to the news, to what you are reviewing in history, and what you are learning about science.  All of this knowledge informs and enriches you as a student of the world, awake to the power of language. 
7. Be alert!  Be thoughtful.  
8. Keep yourself calm; think about nutrients and not just calories; get extra sleep.

OK, for your moment of amazement, visit this link to a child reciting a poem:  "Litany," by Billy Collins

Bangladesh: Room for Debate

Read this, and I have to tell you, having just given you that 2001 Susan Sontag prompt...this photo made a huge difference in my visceral response to this story.

And here are a series of articles about the labor practices that lead to the building collapse in Bangladesh.

A Spine Poem

What have you lost?
Out of the dust, a grateful heart so big
gods go begging.

Sister Age — she who is
beyond the flower
wrestling with prophets
composing a life

breath eyes memory hearts and minds
no more masks!
The words we live by.

"Juxtaposition"

Two accomplished athletes, posing for American Express in 1990.

Put some leaves on that little rascal

This is a great one.  BTW, this is what PBS used to look like back in the day.

Stephen Fry- What I Wish I Knew When I Was 18

I think all of us about this time of year feel the pressures of AP testing just around the corner, not to mention the ongoing assignment form each of our classes daily. Today, in the midst of a stressful afternoon at home i came across this video that completely turned my day around. This video is basically a deeper explanation of the happiness advantage and keeping the mind out of the gutter. It has also given me a deeper insight into some of the main themes we've talked about this year in class. Take the time to watch some of it and turn your own spirit as well. :)

Biertijd.com // Media » Azulejos Trick

Could one of you smart kids explain this to me, please?

Biertijd.com // Media » Azulejos Trick

Summer Leadership Program

For your information, Juniors:

USC School of Accounting:
FREE Summer Leadership Program
www.uscslp.com
Week of July 7, 2013
Application due 4/29/13

Happiness Advantage

Logical Fallacies

There are hundreds of fallacies.  Just Google the phrase "logical fallacy," and look at what you will find.  Just look!  Here!  And here!  And over here!  And this one RIGHT HERE.

Thomas Paine 2011 Q3

Your weekend essay :)

Rhetorical Precis!

I want you to read this.  I really want you to read this.    IN fact, I'm making it a homework assignment:  please read, write a precis, have it to me by Friday, March 8.  I will do it too, and we'll compare notes.

Vocab: Due Tuesday March 5

A quarter of a century is a phrase with an epochal ring and these last five and twenty years have altered the world more than most.

Empires have waxed and waned; motor cars have altered the whole face of travel and the whole scale of British distances; a penny has become a halfpenny and the char-a'-banc has crashed its way through the silent austerities of the Scottish Sabbath.

Far better to have left the old house to be, in the mind's eye, grandiose, mysterious, abounding in dark possibilities; in short, the half-menacing, half-entrancing monster it used to be.  Far better to have left gardens their flattering spaciousness of boyhood's vision, to the wood its pristine mystery of cavernous and black allure.

AP words (that you should find on your spreadsheet):  personification, parody, allusion and antithesis.

Newspaper Links for "Track a Columnist"

• Jump in!  http://www.blueagle.com/
• Arts and Letters Daily  http://www.aldaily.com/

• The Internet Public Library  http://www.ipl.org/div/news/
• American Journalism Review  http://www.ajr.org
• Pultizer gives prizes for Journalism  http://www.pulitzer.org
• The New York Times www.nytimes.com  

• The Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com  
• The Boston Globe  www.boston.com/globe
• The Nation  http://www.thenation.com/
• Chicago Sun-Times  http://www.suntimes.com/index/
• Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/
• Miami Herald http://www.miami.com/herald/  
• The San Francisco Chronicle  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
• The Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed
• The  Los Angeles Times, our hometown paper!  http://www.latimes.com
• Conservative columnists:  http://townhall.com/columnists/

Let me know if any of these links are broken, and I'll fix 'em.  :)

Satire: Colbert Report/The Daily Show

Handwritten One-Pager in your notebook on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report -- consisting of three full paragraphs, as follows:

Paragraph One: quick overview that offers the basic information contained in a rhetorical precis.  However, note that  it is NOT necessary to follow the precis form -- DO cite the show title, the date aired, the date you watched, the topics under discussion, the rhetorical situation (in other words, the “occasion”.)  Think through the main idea, the development, the intended audience and the purpose.  The basics.

Paragraph Two:  Specifics:  Memorable jokes and ironic elements.  Who was the guest, and what was the main topic of the show?  Was there a main topic?  How did the host deal with the guest?  (Consider: why would a serious person agree to appear as a guest on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report?)  How do satirical elements interplay with “straight” elements?  For example, both hosts are usually quite courteous to their guests even as they lampoon their ideas.  Watch for this, and if you notice it, see what you can make of it.

Paragraph Three:  Discuss the rhetorical appeals.  How does a satirist utilize logic?  Emotional appeals?  Ethos?  I am especially interested in your thinking on ethos.  Consider this:  viewership among people your age (and a little older) of “straight news” is down.  The young tend to view traditional media with a sense of cynicism, yet Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are very popular and highly respected, even though they identify themselves as comedians.   The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are studied in colleges and universities across the country.  Why?  What is happening?  Is this a case of “amusing ourselves to death,” or is something else happening?

DUE:  Monday, March 4