What's Goin On? In English Class, I Mean

The photo is a tease. It's the album cover of Marvin Gaye's, What's Going On, a groundbreaking socially conscious departure from the Motown hit factory. Still sounds good today. I'm apologizing in advance for the "busy" blog entry. Read on, if you dare.

Short week. We'll finish The Shawl on Monday, and start a movie in class, too. I'll assign a few stories to read for homework due for next week. Descriptive writing will be due either Friday the 2nd or Monday the 5th. Student examples from previous year's are on my teacher page on the St. Mark's website (click the underlined works for a link.) Browse the ''assignments" on the right hand side of the page.

Here is what you need to do for the creative descriptive assignment, in case you didn't get the handout: Describe a place to create an overall atmosphere, a "single effect" as Edgar Allan Poe might have said. Remember, your primary purpose is to describe a place, NOT to tell me a story with a plot and conflict, etc. Make sure that you read the hints and that you fulfill the objectives below. Think of a place that you'd like to describe, perhaps one that has some special significance for you. If it is a real location, you might want to revisit that place to help you become more aware of specific details. As you observe, carefully select only those details that help you to express the general feeling that you wish to convey. Pick "extraordinary ordinary" details if you can.

Objectives

1. Create a general overall impression on your reader, a single effect (Poe).
2. Use carefully-selected concrete details that are consistent with the effect and your tone
3. Choose words that best display appropriate connotations
4. Use mimetic words (words that sound similar to the way they sound)
4. Appeal to at least three of the senses (sight, smell, touch, feeling, hearing)
5. Use some figures of speech (at least three) in your paper.

Other hints for writing

1. Try to avoid the "be" verb (and other linking verbs in your sentences) and the layering of adjectives that will result from it use ( ex. just OK- The rainy day made the hut seem dark and dingy. - Better- A fine layer of mist cast a pall of gloom over the crumbling cabin). Use strong "motion picture" verbs.
2. Create sentence structures and sentence lengths that add to your intended effect. Note: Long sentences with lots of descriptive phrases create more of a rhythmic, sweeping panoramic effect, while short, choppy sentences with vivid verbs and adjectives will create more of a close-up.
3. As Clark did in The Portable Phonograph, use alliteration and assonance as gentle sound devices for effect. Hard consonants make strong impressions; softer sounds make gentle impressions. Long vowels are loud; short vowels not as much so.3. Length-- 1 ½ to 2 pages should do.

Turkey Time Out

I know I have only been back to school for seven weeks, but I'm taard. That's Dust Storm Okie lingo for "tired." The Thanksgiving break should allow me to catch a second breath before the mad rush to Christmas. I hate mad rushes; I prefer sane strolls, and that's the pace I'll take after the break. After reading Clark's The Portable Phonograph and Ozick's imaginative but depressing story, The Shawl, I think you need some evidence that life is beautiful while you work on your descriptive creative assignment. That's all I'll say for now. I'll be back to give you more details on that descriptive piece. If I don't talk to you between now and Thursday, have a great Thanksgiving. You're all young enough to eat that extra piece of Grandma's pie, so go for it.

Here's my addendum to the Thanksgiving poem I read: " I am thankful for the papers that I have to grade, for the students who call out in class, for the letters of rec that I have to write . . . because that means I have a class to teach."

Thanks, Misters Mac and Gangemi

You think that great writers just think up their ideas and slap them onto a page? Not so, says Joe Gangemi, novelist, screenwriter, and former student of Mr. Bill McLaughlin. Mr. Gangemi delivered an excellent lecture on narrative structure yesterday. He illustrated his ideas with examples from films like Star Wars, The Lord of the Ring, and even Wedding Crashers.

While waiting for the traffic to clear from the parking lot, I picked Mr. Gangemi's brain. He's been writing since he can remember--always knew that he'd be one. Submitted his stories to magazines all throughout high school. He recommends the trade magazine, Writers Digest, (also available online at www.writersdigest.com ) for those looking to be published.

He attended Swarthmore, majored in psychology, waited tables, reviewed books for the News Journal, edited journals for DuPont and Conoco--did anything he could to pay the bills while he wrote, all the time. He published his first novel in 2004, Inamorata, which caught the eye of Johnny Depp, who has since purchased Mr. G's screenplay. He's written two other screenplays, Wind Chill (starts shooting in January), and Eliza Graves (starts shooting in April). He is now a rich man, but his fortune results from years of reading, writing, learning the craft, and hard work.

He told me he gave Johnny Depp a good looking-over to see why so many females found him attractive. Depp surprised him with his height (just 5'10), his build ("thin as a wisp"), and his demeanor (shy, polite, and on that day nervous from the anxiety of making a public appearance placing his hands in cement at Mann's Chinese Theater). Mel Gibson was the "complete opposite." Confident, personable, and on that day, still beaming after the birth of his ninth child.

Someone asked him about "writer's block." He plans his plots, his stories, well in advance of writing, sometimes drawing sketches of his characters and scenes. I loved this answer. Every year I stress the importance of preparation before the production. Still, I envision some of you, late on a Sunday night, staring blankly at a computer screen for hours, working to complete an assignment due first period Monday. That's "blockhead writing, " not writer's block.

Thanks, Mr. G, and thanks again, Mr. Mac, for sharing your knowledge and your former student.

Garden State

Poor New Jersey is headed to the shrink's couch again. The sad sack state has always suffered from serious cases of neurosis and schizophrenia in the image area. State officials invested over a $250,000 with global image consultant, Lippincott Mercer, to come up with a catchy state tourism slogan as successful [sic] as the previous one--"New Jersey and You--Perfect Together." But acting Gov. Richard Codey rejected the company's recommendation as too negative a day before it was unveiled: "New Jersey--We'll Win You Over." Codey thinks the slogan puts his state in a defensive position.

So now, the state is asking its citizens for their ideas. Not surprisingly, denizens of the Garden State have reverted to their self-deprecating ways, perhaps out of habit. Results are pouring in, even from celebrities. Supposedly, both Joe Piscipo [still a celebrity?] and Robert DeNiro submitted this one: "New Jersey, you got a problem with that?"Another entry brags, "Most of Our Elected Officials Have Not Been Indicted." The Philadelphia Inquirer suggested, " New Jersey--It Always Smells Like This."

Others accentuate the positive, like the musical "Born to Fun," a tribute to Bruce Springsteen, or "From Ol Blue Eyes (Sinatra) to the Boss (Bruce), New Jersey is Singing Your Song." Fans of the HBO mob series, The Sopranos, might like the sound of "Bada Bing, Choose New Jersey," but officials are unlikely to borrow wiseguy slang to promote Jersey's image.

I suppose it's unlikely that you young Delaware residents would spend time to help out your neighbors in Jersey. But anytime I can stretch the creative muscles and have some fun in the process, I'm game. If you're up to it, too, then click this link and send your suggestion right to the governor's office. As for me, after summering for many years in Wildwood, growing up with Springsteen and his romanticized odes to the Jersey cities, the Jersey turnpike, and the Jersey Shore, I'm picking up good vibrations. To make my choice even more Jersey appropriate, I'm borrowing from Zach Braff in his great movie Garden State for my slogan: "New Jersey--No, I Like It."

Veterans Day, November 11

Thank a military veteran on Friday for his or her service to our country. Pray for those still representing the USA in the War Against Terror. Follow this link to read a letter written by a young soldier to his dad during the Vietnam War. It's called "Don't Tell Mom."

Here is the History of Veterans Day taken from www.military.com:

Veterans Day was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor Armistice Day -- the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislature that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.'" As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Got Your Spirit (Stick)?, Let's Hear It !

OK, seniors. No time for resting on your laurels. This is the last week of the fall sports season of your last year at St. Mark's. Get out to root for our athletic teams these last three days. Let's use some of that spirit that you showed during the Homecoming Pep Rally when you won the Spirit Stick. Here's the schedule: Volleyball Thursday night vs. Padua at home at 6 p.m. ; if we win, we play the winner of Charter and Ursuline on Saturday night at the BOB for the championship. Football vs. Sallies Friday night at 7 p.m. at Baynard Stadium. It's our last game for our dedicated seniors, and the matchup against our #1 rivals makes it even more special. Saturday afternoon you can catch our cross country teams (and some migratory hawks) at the state meet at Brandywine Creek State Park (I'll post the meet times tomorrow). Our guys have beaten the favored Sals once in an invitational this year, so we're hoping for a repeat effort. Field hockey plays Caesar Rodney Saturday at 2 at CR. If we win, then we're at the U of D on the turf at Ruello Field next week.

No excuses. Get out to these events and make some special senior memories.

Open House

Thanks to all of the students, seniors especially, who assisted at the St. Mark's Open House program on Sunday. I bet many of you attended Open House four or five years ago to get your first look at the big Catholic high school up on the hill. Now, you're leading tours and talking up your clubs and activities for another class of Spartans. You're authorities.

Feel free to let me know what your initial impressions were of St. Mark's, what you remember from your first visits to the campus, and how those impressions have changed. You can respond here or in your journal, or you might want to work your ideas into one of your creative assignments.

Ten Things I Hate About News

At one time, the television viewer could rely on network news shows (and their anchors, like the earnest Walter Cronkite) to provide objective reporting of real news stories, not image- creating flashy pieces that play to ratings demographics or political agendas or both. The "one time" is no more. Here are my Ten Things I Hate About News. Respond to add your reason(s) NOT to watch television news.


10. Celebrity hook-ups and break-ups (Brad and Jen, Brad and Angelina, Jen and Vince)
9. Reporting publicity stunts (50 Cent billboards, Tom Cruise histrionics)
8. Celebrity tantrums (Oprah, Terrell Owens, Russell Crowe)
7. Drug habits of the rich and semi-famous (Kate Moss, Robert Downey Jr.)
6. Performance enhancing substances of the dumb and athletic (Raphael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco)
5. The latest fad diet, fad medical procedures, fad ideology, fad etc. (Atkins, Botox injections, scientology, etc.)
4. Selective reporting of missing persons (Natalee Holloway vs. any of the 1000's of missing persons every day)
3. Weatherpersons broadcasting outdoors in severe weather (various weatheridiots)
2. Politicians playing The Blame Game (see CNBC, Fox, MSNBC, etc.)
1. Political pundits grinding huge axes (see CNBC, Fox, MSNBC, etc.)

Great Writing Tips

A Google search for "writing dialogue" last year led me to a web page (click link) written by some fellow named Mr. Braiman. It's a great page, and I used it in class last year to show how to write dialogue, set it off into paragraphs, punctuate it correctly, and work in explainer narration. Well, it turns out this Mr. Braiman teaches at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and has other great writing pages on his web site, http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/. I'm actually envious of this guy--he can't have any more than a dozen students in his class because all they do is write every class and apparently, he reads and grades everything. Check out his online class guide and you'll see what I mean. This might be the inspiration I need to work on something like this for my classes---but for next year, of course. As for now, the blog will have to do.

Enjoy Your Three Day Weekend

The first grade quarter is over. For you seniors, that means 25% of your last year at St. Mark's is history, too (I cudda been a maff teacher). Enjoy your three day weekend; it's supposed to be a nice one. Get outside and enjoy the weather, the colors, the autumn air, or the birds, of course. Wash your car, rake leaves, go for a walk, take a hayride, cut the grass, go cheer on the cross country team or football teams. If you're in a more artistic mood, take some photos or sketch or paint or write outside. I've left you one that I took Thursday morning while admiring the sun rising, framed by good ol' St. Mark's. The photo is a modern homage to the Hudson River School artists like Thomas Cole, who saw and painted the spirit of God in natural settings.

Oh, and get cracking on your dialogue assignment so that you're not cramming on Tuesday night.

Good Writing

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

Simple language. Imaginative details. Variety of sentence structure. Parallel grammatical structures. Pleasant repetitive sounds. Understated. And I can imagine what a hobbit hole might be from what it is most definitely not.