#1 Modern American Themes: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (post before Tuesday, December 2)

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” is a multi-layered story, which, in addition to possessing a fascinating plot, calls to mind many important ideas and issues. The author, Joyce Carol Oates, admitted that she had a partiality during this time in her career for writing "allegory," and after all, good allegory invites us to think about and apply the story to our own lives. Respond to one of the five (5) prompts in 250 words or more and post your response before Tuesday, December 2.

1. Fall from innocence into experience

Share with us an incident in which you lost a little of your childhood innocence and you learned the ropes of the real world.

2. The disappearance of religion and the acceptance of the easy values of the modern world 

Share with us parts of your “faith life.” Do you attend Church weekly? Read the Bible? Belong to a Church group? Etc. Discuss how this has benefited you and others.

3. Rock and roll is the Devil's tool: Arnold Friend is the Devil (Ellie Oscar as Elvis)

Talk about a musical artist or group that promotes aberrant or immoral behavior for followers of that group. Why do you think that teens and young adults attracted to that group?

4. The story is a feminist parable of the sad situation for women in the 60s—they lose their beauty, youthful innocence, and romantic dreams or become hopeless old maids like Connie’s sister.

Write about a (somewhat modern) famous woman who resisted and won against this stereotype.

5. Bob Dylan was a “new” realistic voice of reason and experience in 1965

Tell me about a current musical artist or group whose songs promote meaningful thought or messages, especially ones that promote new ideas.

SOPHS: Vocab Unit 4 Original Sentences

Post BEFORE CLASS ON Wednesday ten (10) sentences using ten different vocabulary words correctly, giving a context clue to the meaning of the word within your sentence. You will be graded on the quality of your sentences. 

Door Rows should work with words 1-10; Window Rows should work with words 11-20.

Your context clue should use restatement, contrast, or inference (see p.7  of your vocab book if you need help with these).

Of course, identify yourself according to your first name, last initial, and CORRECT section color. The small 15 student class is the yellow section; the afternoon bunch is the blue section. 

e.g. Usually slightly nervous and uncertain, most ninth graders entering St. Mark's are somewhat taciturn during their initial days in school.

Veterans Day: 11/11

Here is the History of Veterans Day taken from www.military.com. 
(Click on the link to discover even more about the holiday).

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.

Thank a veteran today, even if you're reading this someday after 11-11.

Creative Writing Journal #2: Due Monday-- Understanding Your "Poetry Out Loud"

To perform a proper oral interpretation of your poem you must fully understand it: the poet's choices of structure, genre (narrative or lyric, on a simple level; on a more specific--sonnet, ode, ballad, villanelle, etc. ), rhyme scheme, meter, sounds, images, poetic figures of speech, symbols,tones, etc.

Write a (250 word or more) paragraph on why you chose your poem, what it means (to you?), and more importantly, "how" it means. The "how" refers to the poet's choices that developed and complimented the meaning of the poem.