Hello 10s and 12s

This is a pretty horrible day for me to be away but the whatever it is that’s going around (flu? head cold?) has hit my lungs and all the gurgling noises have got me scared. I’m also delirious — which isn’t much of a shift from regular life — but you might notice me making less sense than usual. Hence, my absence. (And I’m hacking away and blowing my nose every ten seconds which you also wouldn’t find too delightful.)

It is REALLY important that you use this day well. This is the last day to hand in assignments for Term 2. I will come to the school to pick them up tomorrow. I am asking your TOC to make a folder with separate sign in sheets for each class. When you hand in an assignment, you MUST sign it in and make sure it is paper clipped to the others in the folder. If you don’t sign it in it will not be counted as handed in.

Also, make sure you have done all five of your blog posts. Go to my blog and look at the blog posts for your grade. Click on your name to ensure your link works and that your posts are there.

Also, also, go on my blog to CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS for your grade and make sure you’ve done everything.

Have a productive day. I’m sorry I’m not there.

Anti-Bullying Day

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing
inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

— Naomi Shihab Nye, Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

12: 1984

10: TKaM Chapter 22, 23

Chapter 22: Lucky Scout. Poor Jem. Scout is too young to get the picture, but unfortunately for Jim, he’s starting to. Before this chapter, he’s been knee deep in adulation for his incredible father and glibly assuming the whole world thinks like Atticus. If they were given the facts, they’d logically choose to do the right thing. Well, no. This is Jem’s coming of age chapter.

Even though the evidence clearly shows Tom Robinson is innocent and even though Atticus has waged a sterling war against prejudice, Tom is declared guilty. Twelve racist farmers have declared to all of Maycomb that two lying white people are better than one truthful black person any day.

When Atticus returns from the court house he’s met with Aunt Alexandra, the Queen of Not Reading Obvious Body Language. Atticus can barely walk he’s so exhausted and his kids look like they’ve lost their best friend twenty times over, but still Aunty decides a little nagging is in order. Luckily, Atticus still has the energy to ask her to save it for another day. They all go to bed.

Next morning they awake to a more hopeful Atticus. There’s still the appeal process.

In a scene reminiscent of the court house scene when all the black spectators in the court room rise in honour of Atticus, they have all left him offerings of food on his back steps. Again, they are honouring him for his kindness. It’s important to remember this story takes place in the Depression when most people had no money and little food. These people have given out of their poverty to honour Atticus. A clearly moved Atticus asks Calpurnia to thank them for him.

Atticus leaves and the kids go out with Dill to start their day. The town gossips are out on the street, giving a blow by blow description of the trial — something which would really hurt the kids if  it weren’t for good old Miss Maudie. She’s made three cakes for the kids, with a great big one for Jem, who she knows has the biggest hurt over the results of the trial.

The message is there. There are really bad people in the world but there are also really good people in the world.

Day of Doom

I think you get the point but I’ve never let that stop me. I MUST have all assignments by Thursday — no exceptions. Look at your grade’s CURRENT ASSIGNMENTS at the top and make sure you’ve handed everything in.

Now you read!

Books are going bye bye. You must read at home, too.

English 10: Read Chapters 21 and 22 before next class.

English 12: Read all of Chapter 2, right up to Chapter 3 by next class.

Thanks!!!

Twitter and 1984

12: 1984

If the Thought Police don’t get him, reading Emmanuel Goldstein ought to do it. This has to be the densest piece of writing you’ve ever encountered in your life. It’s Orwell’s book within the book, and if you read any of Orwell’s other writings, you’ll know this is really why he wrote 1984. He’s given you a story with characters and a plot but what he’s really doing is trying to get you to think about this world we live  in and the future of human beings.

Here is the homework. Some of you did it in class. Some of you started it in class. Some of you weren’t in class.

Go on the internet and find four articles referencing anything Emmanuel Goldstein talked about in Chapter Three of his book. Put your references on your blog. Also, write a brief synopsis of what’s in the article. This is for marks. You’re looking for events or circumstances in our society that match anything he says. For example, he talks about a war that never ends. In our world, is there a particular country that has war after war? He talks about a government that keeps its people at a subsistence level so that they don’t have the energy or wherewithal to even consider a rebellion. Is there a country like that now?

Orwell wasn’t a prophet. There are a lot of things he could have never anticipated (global warming, computers, etc.) but in terms of human behaviour, he’s spot on in some places. Those are usually the places where he looks at what governments have done in the past and assumes they’ll do a variation of the same in the future. That’s what you’re looking for.

I’ve started a list of general comparisons of life now and life in Oceania on my 1984 blog. If you go there, it should help you get started.

11: Lord of the Flies Movie

Thanks to Eli, we watched the black and white version of Lord of the Flies. At the end of the movie you did the following response: Paragraph, 10 – 15 sentences,3 reasons: What was the most effective characterization in the movie?(Who most matched your view of the character as seen in the book?)

It was due at the end of the block and will be included in your Term 2 marks.

12: 1984

Chapter Everything: What is wrong with this man? Okay, it’s not Chapter Everything. It’s Part 2, Chapter 8 … which might as well be Chapter I’m Trying to Get Caught and I am as Naive as a Baby Rabbit. Here’s Winston’s problem: His yearning for an intellectual bromance with O’Brien has made his brain not work — not that it’s been working that well in the last few chapters, anyway. He’s already thrown caution to the wind with Julia and there’s no caution left, so he just goes straight up to O’Brien’s luxury apartment and blurts out his need to follow the tenets of Immanuel Goldstein and do anything necessary to bring down the Party. Does he check O’Brien’s credentials? No. Does he even ask who miracle face Martin is? No. I take more time figuring out which cereal to buy.

He just says “I want to be a martyr. Use me ’til they kill me. Where do I sign up?” And Julia does the same. I’ve read this book. I’m still annoyed at him. You haven’t read it. Wait a few chapters. You’ll be annoyed, too.

What else happens? Winston and Julia taste wine, admire walls that aren’t dirty, are flabbergasted that O’Brien can turn of the telescreen whenever he wants and then O’Brien explains to Winston how he’ll be presented with Emmanuel Goldstein’s book.  And this reminds me of something else. There’s a line that says Winston is almost worshiping O’Brien. Just in case we don’t get the allusion, half a page later, we have O’Brien giving Julia and Winston white wafers to put on their tongues. So now we have an imitation Communion service with  the wafer and the wine. If we didn’t get the hint before, we have it now. O’Brien is Winston’s fake God.

The chapter ends with Julia leaving first and Winston casting a last longing look at O’Brien before he exits, to enter …

Part Three … which happens next class. Wouldn’t it be weird if our actual lives had chapters and you knew you were entering Part Two or Part Three?

11: Lord of the Flies

2-2: You’ve finished reading the book and so we’re recapping the main theme: the nature of evil in man.

First half of the class: I sent around big sheets of paper with different quotes on them and you worked in pairs, writing how each quote connected to the novel on the paper. Then every few minutes, you switched papers.

Second half of the class: We began watching Lord of the Flies, the colour version.

Twitter Fiction

The Guardian Newspaper (in England) recently sponsored a competition asking famous writers to come up with a story in 140 characters or fewer. I was going to put the winners on my twitter page but couldn’t because adding the authors’ names would put me over the 140 mark. I know. Irony. Here are the winners:

Mother love is strong enough to lift a car. I’d heard that. But when my girl was hit by a Mercedes, I heaved, screaming. Nothing moved. — Esther Freud

Afraid of lonely old age, I bought a lottery ticket. It came up.Now have many friends and a young, male companion. Children furious. Good. — Mavis Cheek

Nothing happened. Then it did. Adventures ensued. Helpers, adversaries came. He lost everything. Then, redemption. He was changed – forever.  — Tim Lott

Sandy. The Chrysler Building swung like a jewelled metronome; Third Avenue was extinguished. In the lightless heights, my hand was held. — Philip Hensher

Blood on her hand. The wood, wet. A Christian memory or glimpse of what is to come? Wipe it away and wait — Kate Mosse

I chopped down the ash tree and left you. Tears and sawdust, but both of you had to go and now I can see the view. — Deborah Moggach

He became aware, typing, of the number below, diminishing like a barometer of his own moral worth #post-modern #self-reflexive #hashtag — David Baddiel

Darkness. I woke, felt the familiar weight in the bed, the breathing, the hand on my skin. “Oh, Paul,” I said. “Who’s Paul?” said the voice. — Nicci French

“What do you want?” “I want you.” “But you cannot have me.” It’s always the same. Only this time, the plot will twist. Then twist harder. — Joanna Briscoe

He fastened the diamond necklace round her neck: “Happy anniversary, babe.” It seemed the wrong time to tell him she was leaving. — Katie Price

Life is always flashing before your eyes. Look down. Children playing, trees and traffic, your shadow running over the ground to meet you. — Mark Haddon

12: 1984

10: To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 15, 16

Chapter 15: Okay. Exposition’s over. Here comes the action! Have you got a good imagination? It’s the beginning of summer. Dill is back, so life is good. Well, it’s good if your name’s Scout and you stay out of Aunt Alexandra’s way. It’s not so good if your name is Tom Robinson. Or Helen Robinson. Or pretty much anyone who isn’t white in Maycomb.

The trial is set for the next couple of days and rumour has it that Tom Robinson is going to be moved to the Maycomb jail, that Gothic mess of flying buttresses and ridiculous fake Greek columns on the town square. It’s not a rumour to Atticus, however. He knows. Tom is already in the jail and Atticus has casually drifted over to sit outside the jail in his office chair, where he’ll spend the night reading his paper. Given the lynch mob that congregated on his front lawn the night before, Atticus is one brave and thorough lawyer. He isn’t just going to advocate for his client, he’s going to make sure his client actually gets into the court room alive. And when he does get there, he’s going to make sure the truth comes out — even though he knows the jury won’t care and Tom Robinson will likely be executed.

Of course, Dill and Scout and Jem have followed him and are watching them from afar. (Aunt Alexandra is probably sitting in the living room, going tsk, tsk, tsk and muttering how their Confederate ancestors wouldn’t be disgracing the family by lawyering for … well, you get the point. She’s not a supporter.) Just as the kids conclude Atticus has weird reading habits, four cars slowly drive into the square. It’s Lynch Mob, Part II and  they mean business. This is a tougher group than last night’s bunch. “Mr. Finch, get away from that door,” they demand, and it’s clear that one way or the other, they’re going in.

Always sure to do the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time, Scout runs out  to Atticus while Jem runs after his sister thinking, Why does she always do this? Atticus isn’t upset. He’s terrified. Who wants their innocent children to be innocent bystanders when you’re being creamed by a lynch mob? He pleads with Jem to take Dill and Scout home and Jem just stands there, resolutely refusing. No one is going to mess with his dad and he ain’t going nowhere.

Then one of the men speaks and says Atticus has 15 seconds to get his kids to leave — or else. What he hasn’t figured on is old Eagle Ear Scout. “Hey, Mr. Cunningham,” she begins, and then tells the whole lynch mob the story of his finances and legal dealings. She’s such a sweet little thing, the epitome of innocence, as she rambles on about his entailments and his son, Walter, Jr. (he of “I pour syrup on my meat and everything else” fame), and then asks him to say “Hey” to Walter because he was real good when she beat him to a pulp in the school yard. Scratch beneath the surface of your average lynch mob, Atticus says, and you’ll find at least partially decent people. This is the case with Mr. Cunningham. Without Atticus’ acceptance of hickory nuts instead of money, he’d have no chance of getting his entailment settled. Without Atticus’ kindness, his kid wouldn’t have had that really good lunch in the Fall. The Finches have been pretty good to the Cunninghams, and is this how he’s going to repay them? By pushing around a good man in front of his kids?

Nope. It isn’t. Suddenly ashamed of himself, Mr. Cunningham tells Scout says he’ll say “Hey” to Walter for her, and he disbands the mob. Atticus wipes his brow in obvious relief, and they all go home, but not before it’s revealed that Mr. Underwood, the owner of the local newspaper, has had his gun aimed at the mob the whole time. We also hear a faint voice coming from inside the jail. Someone else has been watching unseen. It’s Tom Robinson, asking if the mob has gone. This is the first we actually hear of Tom, and he’s a soft spoken, gentle soul.

NB: The picture at the left is what Atticus is trying to avoid. This photograph was taken in 1930 in Marion, Indianapolis. It shows two black men who were accused of raping a white girl. They were taken out of jail while awaiting trial by a lynch mob of 10,000 men. If you look at the people standing in the foreground, you’ll see they look happy. That’s because going to a lynching was seen as a form of entertainment, like going to a country fair. People thought the public taking the law into their own hands was a form of justice and completely legitimate. Keep this horrible picture in your mind as we’re reading about Tom Robinson’s trial. Also keep Atticus’ character in mind. This is the world he’s raising Scout and Jem in. It’s the mindset that Aunt Alexandra doesn’t think is wrong. It’s the mindset that allows kids and neighbours and even relatives to tell Scout and Jem that their dad is a “nigger lover.” Quite the neighbourhood, eh?

Oh, by the way. The picture above isn’t just a picture. It’s a postcard. People sent it in the mail to promote white supremacy.

11: Lord of the Flies

10: To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 12, 13, 14

All: February 13

Note: There is something called the “law of supply and demand.” In a country it means if people want something, manufacturers will make it and people will buy it. In a school it means there are only so many books and we have them for a limited period of time. The due date for all of your novels is the end of February. I will then have to give them to the teachers who asked for them for February. What this means for you is that you’ll have to do a little reading on your own at home. Hence, the quiz at the beginning of the next class.

10: To Kill a Mockingbird

• Read to the end of Chapter 13 in class.
• Read Chapter 14 at home. There will be a quiz at the beginning of class on Chapter 14. This will be for all Grade 10 classes.

11: Lord of the Flies

• Read to the end of Chapter 10 in class.
• Read Chapter 11 at home. There will be a quiz at the beginning of class on Chapter 11. This will be for all Grade 11 classes.

12: 1984

• Read to the end of Part 2 Chapter 2 in class.
• Read Chapter 3 at home. There will be a quiz at the beginning of class on Chapter 3. This will be for all Grade 12 classes.

12: 1984 Part 2 Chapters 1 & 2

Chapter 1: Things are picking up. We’re in Part 2. Surely this means some change is afoot. Surely it does, and her name isn’t Shirley. It is Julia. (Old joke. A movie called “Airplane.” You weren’t born yet.)

What do you do to meet a nice boy when you’re not allowed to date? Follow him around? Stare at him until his ankle gets itchy? Splatter yourself in front of him in a corridor, breaking your arm so everything looks authentic and you can slip a note in his hand? If you’re Julia, it’s the third option. If you’re Winston, you have just reached the upper echelons of paranoia. As you’ll recall, Winston has had a few dreams about Julia. He’d like to meet her. He’d also like to kill her with a paperweight. Now’s she’s fallen in front of him and she’s left a message.

Is it a summons from BB? Has she turned him in? Is this one of BB’s subtle ways of torturing you before the the Thought Police descend? He wants to read the note, but where? He cannot read it in a stall. He cannot read it in the hall. He cannot read it here or there. He cannot read it anywhere. This book is driving me insane. I almost have forgot my name.

Can you believe the patience of this man? He waits for at least a couple of millennia before he opens it up as he’s going over some documents and then throws it down the memory hole. This girl is one risk taker! “I love you,” the note reads. That has to be the most unlikely of message anyone will ever receive in Oceania. For the first time in years, Winston has an overwhelming desire to live.

What follows is either romantic or irritating. How can they communicate in this world where you’re spied on everywhere you go? Will they ever meet or was the note it? After several false attempts and almost meetings preempted by boring Party members, they finally manage to sit together one lunch and mutter a few sentences under their breath. They’ll meet at Victory Square (in our world, Trafalgar Square). And so they do.

In the crowd, they manage to sidle up to each other, avoid the telescreens, and for one unforgettable moment, actually touch hands. But when will they meet again? This can’t be it.

It’s not. Julia is one organized woman. She gives Winston a list of instructions so complex they’d stupify the people at Google Maps, but Winston instantly memorizes them and …

Chapter 2: Guess where they are. Amazing. They’re in Winston’s Golden Country. I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering if this is all going on in Winston’s mind, or who is infiltrating his mind, or if we’re all just having a mass hallucination. Think of all the times Winston thinks something and it comes to pass. This is getting weird.

Hmmm… How do I write this on my school blog? Tactfully. Delicately. Discreetly. Julia tells Winston her name and they get to know each other. Read Chapter 2 yourself if you don’t believe me. I shan’t go farther. Okay. For those of you who need clues, she’s taken off her Junior Anti_Sex League sash. Get it now?

It turns out, these little outings are a common occurrence with Julia; she’s been to the Golden Country lots of times, with lots of Party members. You’d think Winston would be jealous. Nope. Not at all. He’s happy. This tells him about the Party. They’re hypocrites, a state he finds strangely comforting. The more men Julia has been with, the more he loves her. This is even better than “Victory lies in the Proles.” There are Party members rebelling. And sex is the weapon.

Here are some pictures of Winston and Julia. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

10: Mobile, Alabama 1956

These images are taken from an article in Life Magazine from 1956. To see more photos and the whole magazine, go here:    Gordon Parks, Segregation Series Part Two Life Magazine would have been considered a “liberal” publication in its day, but it’s interesting that, other than in this photo spread, there’s not one person in any ad or story who isn’t white.

12: 1984 Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7: Winston’s back writing in his diary. If you’re going to get caught, you might as well give them some evidence. Have you noticed Winston is almost willing Big Brother to catch him? There’s a bit of a death wish here. That’s what happens when you live in a culture entirely without hope. The best Winston can do is distract himself with work; only then are basic human traits allowed to flourish — basic traits, that are good, that is. Big Brother has no problem with traits like the urge to betray or the urge to conform or the urge to mindlessly obey. Those traits are fine. It’s the traits like striving to be an individual, to be excellent, to think deeply — those are the unacceptable traits.

So, Winston writes. “If there is hope, it lies in the Proles.” Why on earth would he write this? Even Big Brother doesn’t bother with the Proles. They’re clueless, too stupid to revolt and too stupid to even be indoctrinated. They focus on the irrelevant: lotteries, gossip, the nano particles of their tiny little lives. Could they ever see the need to revolt? Could they ever question whether a different sort of life could be a better life? The question is an interesting one. By thinking there could be hope in the Proles, Winston is believing that human beings have some spark of intelligence that cannot be extinguished. At 85% of the population, they just need to become conscious of their own numbers and their own strength.

What about the capitalists? Winston thinks. Were they truly the top-hatted selfish toffs the history books told of or are the history books as full of lies as the newspaper stories he corrects? If whole government departments exist to manufacture lies, is there any way of knowing what isn’t a lie? Flashing back to 1973, Winston remembers a time when he held actual evidence in his hands, proof that people the Party said had never existed  actually had existed. He had held it in his hands. It was real. Was that enough? What if the mind was manipulated and no man believed the evidence? Did it still prove truth? Was there truth? Does truth exist only if a human mind perceives it? Does the world exist only if a human mind perceives it?

“Freedom is the freedom to think,” he writes.

Right after that, he thinks, I should give this diary to O’Brien. Where does that thought come from?

Chapter 8: Is this man trying to get himself killed? Now he’s wandering around the Prole district. That’s a good way to get imprisoned. Here are the rules: Stay home. Listen to Big Brother. Obey Big Brother. Only hang around with Party members in Party approved locations. Don’t wander around the Prole district. What doesn’t he get? It’s not like the rules aren’t mentioned 24 hours a day.

Not content with endangering himself by wandering, he then sidles into a pub, where he terrifies everyone in sight by simply existing. He’s wearing his Party uniform. Even the Proles are getting paranoid. The first person he spots is the person he most wants to talk to: an old man who will sell you his soul for a pint of beer. Not a litre, mind you: a pint. “What was it like in the old days?” Winston asks. “Are things much better now than they were then?” Not surprisingly, the man doesn’t answer. There are two reasons for this: he’s drunk and even in his drunken state, he’s smart enough to recognize a Party uniform when he sees it. As an interrogator, Winston leaves a lot to be desired.

Getting nowhere with the old man, he then leaves the pub and wanders into the second hand store where he bought the forbidden diary. The owner, Mr. Charrington, is there and in the mood for a long conversation. He sells Winston a glass paperweight that has a piece of coral in it. Winston is enchanted with it for two reasons. It has no purpose whatsoever, it’s beautiful, and it’s a link to the past. Wait. That’s three reasons. The stress of this chapter is getting to me. Why is Winston being so stupid? Even a drunken old Prole should know he needs to get out of Prole territory.

Great. Now Mr. Charrington is leading Winston up the stairs to show him the room he used to inhabit with the now dead Mrs. Charrington. It’s full of artifacts. Illegal artifacts that Big Brother hates. On the wall where a telescreen would ordinarily be, there is a print of St. Clement’s Church in London. That would be the church that was a church when churches existed when London was London. That would also be the church from the nursery rhyme ending “Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.” For a man who works with words all day, Winston is unusually clueless when it comes to signs.

Why not rent the room? he thinks to himself. Did a steamer land on your head? we think.

Winston leaves the second hand shop and who does he meet but Brown Haired Girl. What a coincidence. Is she following him? Spying on him? Flirting with him? Desperately looking to date a man with an itchy ankle and a forbidden diary? We won’t know for a couple of chapters.

He’s home now. Late and home. For some reason he’s having trouble writing in his diary. He seems restless. Could it possibly be his subconscious telling him he’s completely crazy and endangering himself? Maybe. Maybe if he still has an unconscious. Or has Big Brother co-opted that, like he’s co-opted everything else?