This chalk is crumbly: it has been quite a while since the Homeroom board lit up.  Off to a strong start with the AP Prep course (which I am officially renaming “Intro to Rhetoric”), and having some heavy dealings with Middle Earth, Frodo, Gandalf and company, course work is continuing apace, barreling toward a strong showing of student work. By the way, please acquaint yourselves with student work as it is published.  You will see your classmates Larry, Ben, Christine, Sophia, Oscar, and Hannah have had their work published this year.

 

It is your job to locate writing competitions online and to aim for submitting. Three students submitted for the Letters about Literature contest: good job, Robert, Hannah and Christine!

 

I have great hopes for this year. Some of them have to do with continued excellence, the second summer intensive author study, to prep school admissions for some of my 8th grade students. Other hopes include a gradual expansion of the student body, the taking on of another teacher who complements my style and adds to the endeavor … the list goes on. For now, though, stay tuned to Homeroom for thrilling and unexpected writing prompts!

Short slideshow and commentary of Welty as photographer

 

Please view the above in full screen on your computer.

Eudora on “The Worn Path”

 

For those students writing essays about Eudora Welty, please view this interview.  This interviewer is Beth Henley.  Take notes as you watch, rewinding to get the exact quote, if you want to use it in your essay. Prepare notes for beginning of class.

 

I disagree with Evelyn Waugh’s thoughts on news. His idea that “news is what a chap who doesn’t care much about anything wants to read” is a contradiction in itself. If one does not care much about anything, why would he bother reading the news? In addition, his thought, “…it’s only news until he’s read it [and] after that it’s dead”, is incorrect because even after “he” has read it, the news still lives on for others. According to William Safire, “news expands to fill the time and space allocated to its coverage”, and this contradicts Waugh’s belief because Safire is stating that news will always be present in any space it is able to reach, and even after one has read it, it still continues to live on. The news will spread and expand to others through any network possible, whether it be through the Internet, television, radio, newspaper, or even word of mouth. For example, the disastrous earthquake that struck Haiti had been announced on several news channels. Many people watched this announcement on television and read about it in newspapers and online. Although they had knowledge about it, the news did not die. This news continued to “expand to fill the … space”. Even after the week of its acknowledgement, those who knew about this catastrophe continued to spread the message as news. Therefore, Waugh’s idea about news dying after one has read it is not a viable statement.