Friday, December 21, 2012

ROAR III: The Research Paper book

Here are great choices for research paper books. Get looking, get a head start!

If you want to read something not on this (or the other list I provided), then better e-mail for approval before you start reading!

The Catcher in the Rye
-a sarcastic kid gets kicked out of school (again) and tries to make his way around New York.

Sense and Sensibility
-what are two girls to do when their husbands-to-be just up and leave?

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents
-a story told backwards as a Dominican-American family changes with their new home

 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
-nerdy guy tries to find love, and an old curse (fuku) threatens an entire family

Breath, Eyes, Memory
-a hidden trauma forces a woman to return to Haiti and confront her past

China Men
-trace the arrival and adaptation of Chinese into life in America through memoir and myth

Uncle Tom's Children
-stories of life, love, and brutal violence, one generation removed from slavery's end

The Great Gatsby
-find out why "No Church in the Wild" is a perfect song for this story of America and her dreams



Video distraction #4

While I've been to lots of amazing shows this year (Dirty Projectors, Drake, Jay-Z, Passion Pit, Coldplay, My Brightest Diamond), the most joyous concert was last night. Sufjan Stevens has been making Christmas music for his friends over the past 10 years, and has begun releasing the songs for everyone else to enjoy. He  decided to create a crazy sing-a-long tour for the Christmas songs, and here's a little taste of the beautiful madness that was "Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long: Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant on Ice"


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

review for Antigone test

Solid work with our Socratic Discussion today, and here's what you should review for tomorrow's test.

1) check your study questions, and be sure to bring them tomorrow!
2) reread Greek Theater pages (958, 964-965)
3) skim article that will be used for the paraphrase portion
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0gyyqasbs3xvn0/antigone%27s%20flaw-%20paraphrase%20for%20test.pdf
4) NO vocab power plus on the test; moved to next Wednesday


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Extra Credit?

With the term ending in a scant 3 weeks, you might need an extra credit event! Here are a few choice options:

Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
                                  
Dec 7 Friday 7:00 PM 
Louise Glück  reads from  Poems 1962-2012
       
Monday December 10, 2012 7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store is pleased to welcome psychologist DONNA PINCUS and YA novelists SUSAN CARLTON and KATHRYN BURAK for a reading of their books and a panel discussion about adversity and teens.

Harvard Coop
1400 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge,  MA 02238

Tuesday, December 11 Time: 07:00 PM-08:00 PM
Karen Engelmann
"The Stockholm Octavo"
This is the story of Emil Larsson, a self-satisfied bureaucrat and devoted card shark living in Sweden’s capitol city in 1791. Gaming house owner Mrs. Sofia Sparrow draws Emil into laying his OCTAVO, a form of fortunetelling with playing cards that reveals eight people surrounding a significant event in his life. Emil can influence the outcome of this event in his favor If he can find his eight in time.

Brookline Booksmith
279 Harvard St. Brookline MA 02446

Thursday, December 6 at 7pm
Ricardo Cortés
A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola

Go the F*ck to Sleep illustrator Ricardo Cortés returns with the history behind coffee and cola, tempting the reader with secret plots, the true story behind coca-cola, and what coca-cola had to do with Prohibition (quite a bit,
 actually). It’s a gloriously illustrated tale of hypocrisy and intrigue.





Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Video Distraction #3

Here is the tracking shot to end all tracking shots- keeping pace with a sprinting cheetah. Be sure to watch the last minute for a behind-the-cat look at how these shots were filmed.