apple laptops for <$200

RHS senior Noah Hernandez has found an online source for inexpensive, refurbished Apple laptop computers.  If you're interested in learning more please either comment to this post, visit Noah's blog, or mention it in class.

thank you

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

It reminds me that I don't say thank you often enough, even though I say it more than I used to.

So, in the spirit of the season:

Thank You.

Each and every single one of you, in some small way, has been my teacher this semester.

Thank You.

You have taught me patience, compassion, empathy, humor, and occasionally fussiness.

Thank You.

You have taught me how differently we respond to the good and bad in our lives.

Thank You.

You have inspired me.

Thank You.

You have responded to media-enhanced madness with maturity beyond your years.

Thank You.

You have given me reason to wish this weekend was over, just so I can see you smile as you put college application season in your rearview mirror.

Most of all, you have succeeded in reminding me why I do this job in the first place.  You matter a great deal in this world and I'm proud to be on your team.  I look forward to the second half of our journey; in a blink it will be June, and I intend to suck the marrow* out of every minute we have together.  For now, enjoy this time with family and friends, and tell at least one of them:

Thank You.

__________________________
[*There is a part of my brain that is still immature enough to imagine taking that quote out of context so that it reads "I intend to suck." That is most definitely not the spirit in which I intend it. The idea is actually an allusion to Henry David Thoreau, who wrote: “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”]

hamlet essay

Select one of the key quotes we discussed from Hamlet, such as:

• To thine own self be true
• To be or not to be
• Though this be madness, yet there is method in't
• O! That this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew
• Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
• What is a man,
  If his chief good and market of his time
  Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
  Sure he that made us with such large discourse,
  Looking before and after, gave us not
  That capability and god-like reason
  To fust in us unused.
• A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

These are merely suggestions; you may choose anything from the play in any length that suits your purpose (e.g., instead of just the phrase "To be or not to be" you can include additional lines or the entire soliloquy).

Your purpose is this:

In an essay that demonstrates your wild brilliance and for Pete's sake avoids plot summary at all costs, please explain how this quote contributes to your understanding of the tone and theme of Hamlet.  Specifically: Which character speaks the line/s?  At what point in the play/plot?  How do the words affect the character's own understanding, the other characters' understandings (if applicable), and the audience's understanding?  Top shelf responses will include definitions of these literary elements, demonstrated understanding of the play's central message, tone, and characterization, and application of the concept of Performative Utterance.

Please feel free to comment to this post with questions or ideas, and post your essay to your course blog by Sunday night (11.30).


HUGE CULTURAL LITERACY/5PH1NX BONUS to anyone who can make a meaningful connection between Hamlet's line (in Act V Scene i) that, "The cat will mew and dog will have his day" and Sidney Deane's (played by Wesley Snipes) philosophy in the movie "White Men Can't Jump."

it's up... and it's good!

Kudos to Alec, Victoria, Lukas, Terry, and the thousands of people who are about to tell their stories about Righetti High School, which promise to be very different than the story portrayed in the mainstream media last week.  Their site is currently a blank slate, so contact them and tell your story.

5PH1NX 2015

Kudos to Omar & Jayce for launching this.  Seek them out for more info & authorship privileges.

november 21

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "The Lovebug Itch" by Eddy Arnold; "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent]

How long can you stand an itch before you scratch it?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Hamlet: end game

HW:
Finish reading Hamlet and watch/follow this space for instructions... Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!  See you in December. :)

november 20

Sometimes life is our literature.  Yesterday, this happened:

So, today we'll be creating space for any discussion that needs discussing, and we will be integrating our ideas about reality with our ideas about poetry.

For starters: an exercise in Remix and "the medium is the message."  Watching the news visual with each of today's tunes: "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen & "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones

JOURNAL TOPIC:
As author Salman Rushdie put it, "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep."  Write a poem about yesterday's events, or what you think it says about our culture and the people in it, or anything else that fulfills Rushdie's description of the poet's work.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discussion
3. Hamlet
4. Poetry option: "Immigrants in Our Own Land" by Jimmy Santiago Baca

HW:
1. Begin reading Act V of Hamlet
2. Option: Write a 1-2 paragraph response to "Immigrants in Our Own Land" in which you describe your relationship with RHS and school in general.  Are you a proud native, a curious tourist, an optimistic immigrant, or a pessimistic immigrant?  Why?  Use real examples/stories to illustrate your ideas.