WEEK TEN BLOG ENTRY

I am shocked that we are in week ten. I waited to post this since we have that Tuesday night paper deadline--I look forward to reading those!
 NO BLOG ENTRY THIS WEEK!
This week, just go do the "WEEK TEN READING" and then respond to the WEEK TEN WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ. Basically, it will ask if you are in control of your own decisions.

WEEK TEN READING (WATCHING, ACTUALLY)

Watch this video about decision-making:
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions#t-29052

If it does not open with a click, just copy and paste the url into a browser.

WEEK TEN WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

So, what is it, are you in control of your own decisions?

Tortilla Curtain Assignment

The novel Tortilla Curtain contains a variety of fascinating themes. I hope that you enjoyed reading the book. Now, you have the opportunity to write a formal and fabulous essay on the book. You may use other sources, but your main source should be the book itself.

This should be roughly 3 pages, typed, double spaced. We will turn the essay into turnitin.com

The due date is March 28. Be sure to ask questions as you write.

Here are the possible topics. YOU WILL WRITE ON ONE OF THESE. If you have another topic in mind, by all means let me know and we can discuss it.

1.     What do walls signify in the Tortilla Curtain? Do they separate? Keep people in? Keep animals out? Help maintain identity? Give false security? What do walls signify? (and yes, you can user the present on this one)

2.     Animals are crucial to understanding the Tortilla Curtain. How does the author utilize animals in this book? Choose a few examples and discuss what they signify.

3.     Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of outsiders. Is the Tortilla Curtain about xenophobia? Why or why not? What is the problem of a nation being overly xenophobic? What is the solution to xenophobia, in this book and in the broader world today?

4.     The historian James Truslow Adams wrote, "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." Considering the Tortilla Curtain, is the American Dream still alive?

WEEK NINE BLOG ENTRY

Share one quote from the Tortilla Curtain that interested you. Why did you choose that one?

WEEK NINE READING

Explore this site related to the book we read:
https://tcboyletortillacurtain.wordpress.com/

Just read around a bit. It has some nice details.

WEEK NINE WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

START YOUR ESSAY THIS WEEK...HERE IS THE QUESTION...

The novel Tortilla Curtain contains a variety of fascinating themes. I hope that you enjoyed reading the book. Now, you have the opportunity to write a formal and fabulous essay on the book. You may use other sources, but your main source should be the book itself.

This should be roughly 3 pages, typed, double spaced. We will turn the essay into turnitin.com

The due date is March 28. Be sure to ask questions as you write.

Here are the possible topics. If you have another topic in mind, by all means let me know and we can discuss it.

1.     What do walls signify in the Tortilla Curtain? Do they separate? Keep people in? Keep animals out? Help maintain identity? Give false security? What do walls signify? (and yes, you can user the present on this one)

2.     Animals are crucial to understanding the Tortilla Curtain. How does the author utilize animals in this book? Choose a few examples and discuss what they signify.

3.     Xenophobia is the fear and hatred of outsiders. Is the Tortilla Curtain about xenophobia? Why or why not? What is the problem of a nation being overly xenophobic? What is the solution to xenophobia, in this book and in the broader world today?

4.     The historian James Truslow Adams wrote, "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." Considering the Tortilla Curtain, is the American Dream still alive?

WEEK EIGHT BLOG ENTRY

Great meeting those of you who were there on Saturday. I look forward to seeing the rest of you on April 22.

This week, I want you to imagine that you could switch places with anyone in the world of fact or fiction--for one year you will live as that person. Fact or fiction! Past, present, or future. You could choose to be anyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Professor Snape, Einstein to Frida Kahlo, the Prophet Abraham to Winnie the Pooh.
The only catch is that you have justify your choice. Why did you choose to become that person(or animal, I suppose)?

WEEK EIGHT READING

Finish Tortilla Curtain by Saturday.

WEEK EIGHT WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

Don't write anything here this week--just keep reading Tortilla Curtain.
YOU MUST HAVE THE BOOK FINISHED BY SATURDAY OF THIS WEEK.

MEETING ON SATURDAY, MARCH 11

This is a reminder that you have a choice to meet this Saturday or April 22.

This Saturday, we begin promptly at 9am and will be done by 11am.

We will meet in the Classroom Building, Room 101.

Here is a campus map: http://www.csub.edu/CampusMap/

If you have a laptop and like to write on that, please bring it.

There are usually only about 20 functioning computers, so those are first come first serve. Everyone else will get to handwrite the essay.

I look forward to seeing you all in person!

Have a great week!

WEEK SEVEN BLOG ENTRY

This week, we have three quotes. You can respond to whichever one strikes your fancy. All three have to do with the notion of civility and character. Ponder whichever one stands out to you—then write.

1. Benjamin Franklin said, "Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, enemy to none." (“civil” here means courteous or polite)

2. Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

3. C.S. Lewis said, "We hear a great deal about the rudeness of the rising generation. I am an oldster myself and might be expected to take the oldsters' side, but in fact I have been far more impressed by the bad manners of parents to children than by those of children to parents."

WEEK SEVEN READING

Continue Reading Tortilla Curtain.

WEEK SEVEN WRITING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

Don't write anything here this week--just keep reading Tortilla Curtain.