I was thinking about what I’d write if I wrote about Death while I was in the bathroom today, and I decided that how you feel about death depends on how much experience you’ve had with it.  I’m lucky that I haven’t had a shocking death happen in my life…meaning a person my age or younger dying very young.  Actually I could argue that the “hardest” death I’ve had to go through was the death of a neighbor a couple years ago, but it wasn’t that surprising because he had a bad heart.

Right now, I don’t have a great fear of death, but who knows…maybe the fear grows as you get closer to it. Depends on the person, I suppose.  I believe medical technology actually keeps us alive too long; people probably shouldn’t live much past 80 if they can’t live an independent life any longer.  It might be easy to say now, but if I live until 75 or 80 or 85, I think I’ll be able to say I had a good run, put in a good effort, and will be ready to die peacefully.  It gets much more complicated and emotional when a person dies unfairly before a “good run” of 75, 80, 85 years.

Before we begin the novel Slaughterhouse Five, I’d like you to write a blog post on one of the themes of the novel.  This can be informal, but use good mechanics.  Pick one of the themes below and write at least 150 words on it.  I don’t want to give you hints on what to write…just let it roll.

WAR

ALIENATION (the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong or in which one should be involved)

MEN AND MASCULINITY (possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men)

MORALITY  (the standard of society used to decide what is right or wrong behavior)

DEATH

Time to write a new blog post; it must be at least 200 words.  You may want to write about how your Holiday Break went…or not.  Whatever you write about, remember that Dr. Tress always recommends including DETAILS and EMOTIONS because they make personal writing more interesting. For ideas, scroll down to “What should I blog about?”

Malcolm X made many bold statements about race relations in America, including:

“For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, ‘Do you hate me?’ The white man is in no moral position to accuse anyone else of hate! Why, when all of my ancestors are snake-bitten, and I’m snake-bitten, and I warn my children to avoid snakes, what does that snake sound like accusing me of hate-teaching? ”

“No sane black man really wants integration [mixing of blacks with whites]! No sane white man really wants integration!”

“We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary. We don’t feel that in 1964, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom, and supposedly the leader of the free world, we don’t think that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist congressmen and senators and a President from Texas in Washington, D. C., to make up their minds that our people are due now some degree of civil rights. No, we want it now or we don’t think anybody should have it.”

“You’re out here on the auction block.”

Based on your study of Malcolm X, do you think his bold statements and leadership style improved race relations, worsened race relations, or had no effect on race relations?  Explain in at least 150 words.

Today you’re going to write a blog post.  The rules are:

1) It must be at least 200 words long.

2)  It must be on a school-appropriate topic you haven’t covered in a blog post before.

WHAT SHOULD I BLOG ABOUT?

–Anything school-appropriate

–Topics that have been on your mind lately

–What’s “blowing up” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

–Your senior year

–Looking back on high school

–Looking forward to the future

–A great band / musical artist / movie / TV show, etc.

–A terrible band / musical artist / movie / TV show, etc.

–What bothers you / makes you anxious

–What you love / what you’re into

–Issues in the news

–The holidays?  Love them? Hate them?  Ambivalent about them?

–Driving in the snow

–I can’t stand writing personal statements…

Here’s a site with some ideas…

http://cathyday.com/2013/01/20-answers-to-the-question-but-what-should-i-blog-about-2/

Today you’re going to sign up for Edmodo.

Please make your username something I will recognize…ex.  John Doe’s password could be “JDoe.”

Tips for making passwords:

–Always makes sense to me to use your school password as your password for other sites

–Record your passwords in a safe place (ex.  cellphone notes, secret place in your locker or notebook etc.)

Go to

https://api.edmodo.com/register

and follow the directions!

I think much of the frustration in America with this election stems from the fact that Clinton and Trump are leaders with major flaws.  Clinton is somewhat corrupt and Trump doesn’t act very respectfully or with proper manners.  The election has made me sad for America…surely we’re better than this, right?  The nominees are flawed and the citizens are acting poorly.  For example, a Trump headquarters was firebombed and a black church in North Carolina (I think) was burned this week with “Vote Trump” spraypainted on the side.  Therefore, the country has been divided in two (or three or four or seventeen).  However, I’m not one of those people that believes that whoever wins, the country will be torn apart by violence or arguing.  Here’s one reason I’m voting for Hillary…she knows foreign affairs. She’s been Secretary of State before, so she knows how to deal with other countries and she knows the issues. Trump knows nothing about foreign affairs but lies and says he “knows as much as the generals.”  I mean come on people…how could a businessman know more about ISIS than the generals.  He’s a bag of hot air and it’s really scary this election is going to be as close as it will be.  Are there a lot of problems in America, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to vote to hand over the country to a liar who’s ignorant on the issues.  My main hope is that Republicans and Democrats come together after the election to get more done for the American people.  It’s hard to stay optimistic, but I’m going to try.

Open the attachment below, read the document, then start writing your first 2 blog posts!first-2-blogs-assignment

STEPS TO MAKING YOUR BLOG

1)  Go to edublogs.org, enter all your info.  Be sure not to lose your username / password…this is why they want your email…in case you forget your password.  I also recommend keeping a document of passwords or keeping passwords in your phone.   Another idea is to just use your school ID and password, but if you use your school ID, be aware that your school ID might be your blog’s web address.

2)  Go to Dashboard, Find “My class,” click “Join class”, search “tress”, click “send request to join.”  This is also very important because you need to be in my class and once I “accept” you, will be able to choose the “cooler” themes.  (Hopefully…Edublogs screws this up every year.)

3)  Make your blog!  Customize the background, colors, etc. so it looks the way you’d like it to.

Today you’re going to write a piece of flash fiction.  It must be between 200 words and 1000 words long.  My 3BD class did this a while back, so you can look at theirs if you like…some were good, some weren’t.

As you write your short story, think about what we’ve talked about in the course–characterization, point of view, imagery, setting, diction, etc.