Vocab Words 2.4

Vocabulary Words for Test 2.4
Due to the snow day, the test will now be on Thursday, November 19, 2015 
(instead of 11/18). 


ENG/ELD Only

1. Monotonous
2. Serenity
3. Benevolent
4. Multitude
5. Assure
6. Grueling
7. Solicitors
8. Pursuits
9. Conclude
10. Infer
11. Resume
12. Resolved
13. Brashly
14. Dwindles
15. Miser

Honors Only

1. Monotonous
2. Serenity
3. Benevolent
4. Multitude
5. Assure
6. Introspective
7. Enshrouded
8. Obfuscate
9. Arbitrary
10. Feeble
11. Prodigy
12. Presage
13. Irrevocably
14. Bleak
15. Notorious

Vocabulary Words for the Test on 11/11

Regular/ELD Classes

People generally feel pretty pleased with themselves when they’ve paid less for something.  You’ve seen that smug expression on people’s faces when they tell you they paid less that you did:  “Well, I only paid $19.99 for that same shirt.”  You’ve paid twice that, so you might resent them a little.  Nevertheless, you feign admiration.  “That’s a great price,” you admit.

“You got yourself some deal there.”

            You walk away muttering to yourself, “What’s wrong with people?  Are we obsessed with this unending quest for bargains?”

            There’s nothing wrong with keeping a little extra change in your pocket instead of the pockets of the merchants.  But sometimes you have to wonder if we don’t overdo it. 

            Here’s a situation you might be familiar with: it’s the “time-is-money” dilemma.  Let’s say some potential patron (those are two separate words) is looking for an alarm clock, a common, everyday item.  In his search for the best price for that clock, this customer visits three stores in three different shopping malls in three different neighborhoods.  Yes, in the end, he might end up saving a few dollars, but what about fuel costs and the parking fees and the expensive lunch he consumed in the second mall?  What about the three hours that are now lost?  Can a price be put on those?  Think of it this way: a truly industrious person might have lost three hours of salary.

            Then there’s the case of buying more than you need.  This actually falls within two categories.  Have you ever seen those sales where you have to buy a large quantity of, say, cans of tuna in order to get the sale price?  Well, the problem there is that you might not use all of those cans before their expiration date.  Or you might not wish to allocate an entire shelf to storing all those cans.  The second category involves purchasing an enormous portion in order to get the sale price.  You might have to buy a huge box of cereal, enough to feed your family for six months.  That’s not necessarily such a bad idea, but you know what happens.  Your family gets tired of eating the same cereal day after day, and this huge cereal box just sits forever on the shelf.  Eventually you get sick of looking at it, and you discard it.  Or the cereal grows stale, a distinct possibility. 

            Merchants offer sales in order to convince you to buy more than you really need.  Someone once said to Mr. Heinz, “I bet you’ve made a lot of money from the ketchup people have eaten.”  Mr. Heinz corrected his questioner: “Actually, I’ve made a lot of money from the ketchup people have left on their plates.” 

            If you’ve ever poured ketchup on your fries, you know there’s nothing subtle about Mr. Heinz’s point.  Next time you go shopping, try to remember the old saying you might have heard from your parents: “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” 

Honor's Class

1.      Feign

2.      Allocate

3.      Subtle

4.      Patron

5.      Smug

6.      Rancor

7.      Commemorative

8.      Blasphemy

9.      Billow

10.  Copious

11.  Emended

12.  Innumerable

13.  Vague

14.  Statuesque

15.  Aliases

Honors Only Required Reading: Non-Fiction

Required Reading Genre for Quarter 2:  Non-Fiction.

After reading a non-fiction book of your choice, you must complete the following task before Monday, December 7, 2015. 

 (These are separate paragraphs; they are not a cohesive essay):

Paragraph #1:  Write a concise paragraph (meaning it’s not 6 pages) that summarizes the entire book and draws a conclusion about the author’s purpose for writing this book.  Include specific details from the book.  Paraphrasing okay, Quotes is what honor’s is all about.  An A will only be achieved by using quotes.  (10 points)

Paragraph #2: Write a paragraph that states the central or main idea of the text. Analyze its development over the course of the text. For example, how does the author support the central or main idea, what specific details, facts or anecdotes does he/she use to support the central or main idea; how do events or actions lead up to and support the central or main idea.     (15 points)            

Paragraph #3:  Do a quick research on what topic the book was about.  Is it still occurring in society?  Is it a problem that is increasing or decreasing?  Are there other events in the news currently happening today?  Any other questions this book might make you ask?  This paragraph should consist of numbers/data.  (15 points)

Paragraph #4:  Answer this question:  Should the president of the United States of America read this?  Why or why not?  Your answer should be supported by your personal thoughts.  I hope those thoughts are good.  (10 points)

Finished Book Choices

01. What is the theme (fiction)/claim (non-fiction) of your book?  Support your theme/claim with at least two of the following: character traits, conflict, title, setting, or in case of non-fiction, direct quotes. 

02. Draw a picture that represents the theme or the Central/Main Idea.  A caption at the bottom of the picture must be a proficient Theme Statement or Central/Main Idea statement.

03. Record a song that is basically a summary of the book.  If you want to record an instrumental song, be sure to include reasoning as to why you chose the sounds you chose. 

04. Build a Legos (or something like that) Diorama of a scene that best represents what the character wants throughout the book. 

05. Complete the book.  That means either write the next chapter in the book or write the first chapter of the next book (if there isn’t one). 

06. Have a series of questions approved by the teacher for the author of your book.  Contact the author to conduct an interview.  Write up the interview.  To do this, you should contact the author first and see if they would be willing to do this.  I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but most authors, especially the “big ones,” won’t do this. 

07. Write a book review.  Criteria should be based on: do the characters seem real?  Is the writing good?  Is the plot believable?  Was the conflict resolved in a sufficient manner?  Is like another book you’ve read before?  And of course, personal opinion. 

08. Create a “mixtape” for the book.  With at least 10 songs, write a brief reasoning as to why you chose those songs.  This must be posted online (Soundcloud, my blog, your blog or on a physical CD, thumbdrive would work too). 

09. Present a two minute book talk (summary, genre, what you like about it, theme/main idea) about the book.  The grade will be based on how well you sell this book.  At least one “important” paragraph must be read.  This has to be done directly after warm-ups.  Please sign up in advance (meaning let me know a least a day in advance). 

10. For you writers out there: Pick a page that represents the authors writing style.  I will photocopy it and bring it back to you.  Then you will annotate the page showing how the author writes.  What kind of sentences?  Reality of dialogue?  Figurative Language?  Description?  Tone?  Mood? Etc.

11. Research the author of your book. In an organized, coherent multi-paragraph writing(I will not say a 5 paragraph essay, but…) show what the author has accomplished, what struggles he/she has went through and, if possible, give some insight into their writing process. 

12. Create a comic based on one of the chapters/parts. There will be a minimum of 10 panels.  Dialogue must be included (in either bubbles or narration at the top or bottom of the panel).    

**** I value creativity!  Do anything you want that proves you read and understood the book.  What are you interested in?  What creative way can you tie your idea/passions to the book you read?   

Reading Response 2.2

Prompt: 2.2 due Thursday November 12, 2015 Your character must’ve made some decision by now.  What was that decision?  What was the purpose of that decision?  In a well-crafted paragraph with at least one quote, explain what decision your main character made and explain the reasoning, the purpose as to why he/she made the decision.  Finally, what were the consequences or if you haven’t read that far, what will the consequences be. 

Your response formatting should look exactly like mine (except the period & Date).  It is quarter two.  If the heading is not correct, I will return it to you so you can revise it.  

******************************************************************************************

Corey Ryan

RR: 2.2

Period 0

November 3, 2015

Background

            At the moment, I am on page 49 of Janne Teller’s Nothing.  This book is about a boy, Pierre Anthon, who one day after coming back from summer break, decides that nothing matters.  When he declares this to the class he walks out of the class room and climbs a plum tree.  Pierre sits in the tree telling people basically that nothing matters, that all we do is pretend that something matters, that we only have, if we live to 80, 9 years of living and that he is going to get started on that now.

            The other students don’t know what to think about this.  They throw stones at him.  They want to believe that everything they are doing and where they will be going in life matters.  Now, with Jon-Johan as their kind-of-leader, they have decided to collect items that mean the most to them, that give life a meaning, and store those items in an old mill.  The pile is growing.

Prompt

            One important decision that the narrator, Agnes, makes is to befriend Gerda for no other purpose than to get revenge by finding out and exposing what Gerda cares most about so that she will have to add that item to the pile.  All of the students decided to bring whatever it is that means the most to them and store them in an old mill.  These items are going to be used to show Pierre Anthon that something matters.  Gerda has not brought her item yet.

            Agnes makes that decision because Gerda forced her to give up her green wedge sandals.  Agnes loved those sandals more than anything.  Her mom saved up a lot of money to buy them (they didn’t have a lot of money) and even had to wait to the summer was almost over and they were one sale.  So Agnes found the one thing that Gerda cares about:  A hamster.  “No the thing that made Gerda’s room at her father’s place special was that in the corner stood a very large cage with a very small hamster inside” (page 43).  Agnes then tells the group of children Gerda’s “secret.”  Agnes and Ursula-Marie walked to Gerda’s house and got the hamster, Oscarlittle, and put the hamster in an old rusty cage on top of the growing pile of things that give meaning to life. 

The consequences of Agnes’ actions are that first, Gerda hates Agnes.  Gerda cries, begs, pleas.  Will she get revenge?  The second consequence is that there is a living thing on top of the pile.  Up until now there has been nothing but inanimate objects.  This little hamster on top of the pile in the rusty cage seems to be what they were looking for.  But the true consequences for Agnes have yet to be determined. 

My Thinking

            This is the kind of book I love and the kind of book I would hope to write one day: A sort of simple premise with a deep meaning.  What is the meaning of life?  Do these items that the kids are collecting actually prove meaning or are they simply “stuff.” 

            I am making a prediction because that’s what good readers do and that’s what would get you full credit for this section: I think that the students will not prove to Pierre Anthon that there is a reason to live and that something does matter.  But that sounds really depressing and I don’t know what kind of message that would send to the author’s audience so I’m changing my prediction.  The meaning of life will be whatever memories are inside of you.  Whatever good you have done for others even though you might not have realized it at the time.  The meaning of life is to not think about the meaning of life, but to just live it. 

            Pierre Anthon will climb down from the tree. 

***Oh man, I was so wrong on my prediction.  But that's okay.   

Book Talk for "Nothing" by Janne Teller

This is a quick example of what would be included in a proficient book talk. Don't be afraid to improvise a bit, but don't improvise too much. If I were you, I would write myself a little notecard and mark the page in my book I'm going to read so I don't forget what I plan on saying. Stagefright tho...

Intro: Hello, I’m Corey Ryan and I’m going to make you want to read Nothing by Janne Teller.

Hook: What if I told you that everything you’re doing, everything you are means nothing.  I’m telling you nothing at all matters!  What would you give me of yours to convince me that something does have meaning?  

Summary:  Anthon Pierre walked into his 7th grade class the first day after summer break and decided that “Nothing matters.”  His peers don’t believe him and they want to prove him wrong.  Students in Pierre’s 7th grade class start constructing a “heap of meaning.” Each student picks something that the next student will give up and then that student gives up what was asked of them and so on and so on.  This pile, at first, contains things that carry deep meaning such as pictures of deceased loved ones, the flag and items that took a great sacrifices to get.  But soon the students get serious.  They “mad,” maybe resentful at what they had to give up and think of something that MEANS a lot for the next student to give up.  

(Of course you’re going to say nothing.  No, you can’t read this as reality.  It’s metaphorical.  But it’s deep!)

Introduction:  This is the first item that appears in the heap of meaning that turns the heap of meaning into something else entirely.  Otto had just given up his boxing gloves which meant a lot to him.  It is Otto’s turn to pick what Elise has to add to the heap of meaning. There is the turning point in the book.  I’m going to read from page 64.   

Who should read it:  People who like to think.  People who would think about the meaning of life.  People who like to read about weird stuff.  People who like Survivor but are not dumb.  You all should read it because it’s written in a simple manner, but has tons of meaning inside.

Questions:  Does anyone have any questions?  

Vocab Words For Test On 11/4

Periods 1 & 5 ONLY! (scroll down for the other periods)

1.  Conscientious

2.  Paramount

3.  Assimilate

4.  Wanes

5.  Discern

6.  Dubious

7.  Stupor (5)

8.  Aggravated (5)

9.  Avail (5)

10.  Lenity (5)

11.  Superfluous (5)

12.  Ostentatious (1)

13.  Inconsequential (1)

14.  Resentment

15.  Elope (5)

Words for Periods 3, 6 & 7.

1. Wanes

2. Comprehend

3. Caliber

4. Extent

5. Ominous

6. Perspective

7. Limited

8. Conscientious

9. Establishing

10. Paramount

11. Content

12. Assimilate

13. Discern

14. Cautious

15. Adopting

Reading Response 2.1 (Honors)

Prompt (based on 2.2.a/b):  Determine what subject your author has an opinion about in the book.  This opinion could be on anything from dating to race to heroism to social media.  The opinions, like character traits, most like come from the main character’s or narrator’s thoughts, actions or dialogue.   Once you have determined the opinion, find at least one quote and one example (though two quotes is always better) that shows how your author supports his opinion.  

Your response formatting should look exactly like mine (except the period & Date).  It is quarter two.  If the heading is not correct, I will return it to you so you can revise it.  

Corey Ryan

Author’s Opinion (2.2.a/b) RR

Period 0

October 25, 2015

Background

At the moment, I am on page 109 of Koji Suzuki’s Ring. This was the book that spawned the movie The Ring in 2002, but the book was published in Japan in 1991.  

Asakawa is a journalist who discovers that four teenagers died at the exact same time at the exact same day.  Each of their deaths was ruled as a heart attack because a more plausible explanation could not be found.  Each kid also had a look of fright on their face; each of them trying to either choke themselves, rip off their heads or hair.  Creepy.  

At the point I am in the book, Asakawa just watched the blank VHS tape that all four kids watched before they died.  It told him he would die in 7 days if he did not do the four things the videotape asked him to do.  The problem is the four things have been erased, recorded over with a commercial.  Asakawa asked a friend, Ryuji, to help him find out the four ways that one can survive.  

Prompt

Koji Suzuki states his opinions about fatherhood in Japan throughout Ring.  (I’m trying to find the quote I want to use.  I know where it is, but I can’t find it.  I hate that-part of the process.  Look around to where you think it might have been.  Think of where the characters were.  What was happening.  Who was he/she talking to.  Etc.)  

Asakawa and his wife Shizu have a one and a half year old daughter named Yoko.  Asakawa and his family go to visit Shuzi’s sister, the mother of the first victim, so Asakawa can “look for clues,” though he never tells his wife that.  Yoko starts crying and Asakawa says that he will lay the baby down for a nap. The 3rd person omniscient narrator states, “The words sounded strange coming from Asakawa, who hardly ever helped with the baby” (42).  Here Suzuki is inserting his opinions about fatherhood in Japan.  Basically, it’s easy to be a Japanese dad; you don’t have to do anything.  The wife will take care of everything.  I know Suzuki beleives this is wrong because of the author’s biography at the end of the book-he wrote this book “with a baby on his lap.”  

Another time that Suzuki shares his opinion about fatherhood in Japan is when he knows that he has only 5 days left to live.  He peeks his head in and sees his wife and daughter sleeping.  He gains some inner strength and knows that he has to do everything he can to survive.  He can’t imagine what his wife and daughter will do if he dies.  He decides to enlist two friends to help.  His opinion is that a Japanese father (all fathers) must do whatever they can to survive (metaphorically and literally) to ensure that his family is safe.  

Koji Suzuki expresses his opinion about Japanese fatherhood in many ways in Ring.   

My Thinking

I watched this The Ring when it came out 14 years ago.  My memory is not good enough to remember specific details, but I do remember I creeped me out.  I scare easily and do not watch horror films because then I won’t be able to sleep.  But I want to like them.  I really do. Needless to say, this book is doing a pretty good job creeping me out.  Suzuki writes in a very simplistic way that creates suspense enough to both keep me reading and to keep me from reading until there is sunlight.  I’m looking forward to seeing the creepy girl and finding out whether Asakawa will survive.  I don’t think he will, but I’m kind of hoping he does.  

Oh, there are also three more book after Ring.  I plan on reading one every October for the next three years because I’m weird like that.  

Reading Response #4

This response will be due Thursday,  October 1, 2015.  It'll be the last one of the quarter.  Make it a good one...and since the quarter is ending, some of you might need some extra credit so check out the extra credit option. 

Prompt #4: Research the author of the book you are reading.  Here are some possible questions to ask (The blank space will be where you would insert the author of your book):

·         Type in Google: _____________ interview.  Read one. 

·         Type is YouTube: ______________ interview.  Sit back.  Relax.  Watch.  Think.

·         How much many has _______________ made last year? 

·         Something interesting about ______________?

·         Who is ______________ influenced by?

·         What was ____________ like as a young writer?

·         Is ______________ in the news ever?

·         If I read ______________’s Wikipedia page, can I find something that I can further research?

·         How many books has _____________ published?  What are the other books about?

·         Where is ________________ from?  Where do they live now? 

·         What does ____________ care about?  Why? 

·         What college did ______________ attend? 

·         Does _____________ hang out with any other “writer friends?”

·         Does _______________ have a social media page I can stalk follow?

·         Where does __________________ get his/her ideas from? 

·         Yeah, of course.  Find out something you’re wondering about.  Make it personal. Care about what you research. 

Once you have found something you’d like to write about that is hopefully interesting and not boring you to death and will not bore me to death, then write the answer to the question (or whatever) in paragraph form with the website cited after any quotes.  Yes, you must use at least one quote. 

The “Prompt” section should be three paragraphs long (use two questions from above if you want) plus the answer to this question: Would it be cool to hang out with the author?  Why or why not?  If so, what would you do. 

***An easy way to earn full credit (or extra credit): contact an author via social media and have them retweet (or whatever) something you say to them. If you can get the author to come to this class and teach some creative writing lessons than you will earn an A for the year if you do your work too.  

Corey Ryan

Reading Response #4: Conflict

Period 8

September 23, 2015

Background

I am currently on page 224 of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom.  The book is about a married couple named Walter and Patty Berglund.  Most of the book so far has been dedicated to Patty’s life before she met Walter.  Patty was a college basketball “star” until she broke her ankle falling on some ice during a walk home one evening.  Patty is also a survivor of rape.  Patty is now the mother of two kids, one who moved out into her neighbor’s house (a neighbor she hates) and a daughter (who she really doesn’t connect with) attending college. Patty has also recently (in the book) began an affair with Walter’s best friend, Richard.  Richard Katz is an old punk rocker who never sold any records until recently.  He is old, but he went a new direction with his band Walnut Surprise and ended up selling millions of records.  Richard is not comfortable about this new found fame and has yet to record a follow up album.  Meanwhile, Walter, unaware of the affair, continues to be a great husband, a great worker, a great father and a great friend. 

  

The Standards/The Prompt

According to http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/25/jonathan-franzen-interview, Jonathan Franzen sold “nearly 3m copies and established Franzen as one of the leading literary voices of his generation, but, thanks to his perceived snub to Winfrey, it also established his reputation as, variously, an "ego-blinded snob" (Boston Globe), a "pompous prick" (Newsweek) and a "spoiled, whiny little brat" (Chicago Tribune).”  I have heard about this before while I was working as a bookseller at Barnes & Noble (on 16^th Street Mall) during college.  Everyone (those who read about books and authors) was talking about how he rejected Oprah’s stamp of approval.  Having Oprah endorse your book would guarantee a best seller and I’m sure, but don’t quote me, a very nice income.  But any press is good press right?  He also eventually apologized to Oprah and even went on her show for an interview. 

One funny thing I learned about Jonathan Franzen lately from a Huffington Post article titled “Jonathan Franzen Demonstrates His Spirit Animal Is Lucille Bluth” is that Franzen “once considered adopting an Iraqi war orphan to help him understand young people better, but was persuaded against it by his editor.”  That is so funny!  Why?  Because it makes total sense as being a good idea and a horrible idea.  Franzen writes with a style that makes you completely, 100% know his characters, like he truly studied someone and wrote about them.  I’ve never read anyone who went so deep into the actions and psyche of a character as Franzen does.  Of course, adopting a child for the sake of art is a little ridiculous and completely wrong, like being a psychologist and having kids just to experiment with throughout their lives.  I just think he should take a job as a high school English teacher at Central High School and he will have plenty to write about, right? 

I would definitely hang out with Jonathan Franzen.  I’d like to talk about his process of reading and just exactly how he goes about “learning” about his characters.  Plus, I read that it took him 9 years to write his latest book, Purity, so I’m wondering what that nine years was like.  I’d go nuts working on a book for nine years.  I would probably have him take me shopping to the book store and buy me his favorite books and then we’d sit there and drink a million espressos until our hearts exploded and we each had to go home and lay down.   Then I’d say, “Thank you” and “Goodbye.” 

My Thinking

Jonathan Franzen seems a bit eccentric, but wouldn’t you have to be to spend 9 years working on a single piece of “art?”  Just think of how much an athlete makes for playing for nine years!  I wonder if his family is annoyed with him because he is always spending time alone writing or if they just accept that he needs to be alone because he’s making a million dollars by being alone.  You get what I’m saying.  I also wonder if he could come into this school and teach some students about writing or would he flip out, throw a book at you and walk away. 

Anything To Add (not required)

Jonathan Franzen (famously) doesn’t have a Twitter or use any social media.  If he did, I’d follow him.  I feel stupid writing to people. I don’t know why that is.  Sorry. 

Reading Response 3: Due Tuesday 9/15

Prompt #3: Explain two conflicts that your main character has.  One has to be internal and one has to be external.  Be sure to label the conflicts and support your claim with evidence (Best being quotes; okay being a great paraphrase).  Finally, state which conflict you feel is the most important and why? Anything I underlined is for the purpose of you using it. 

Corey Ryan

Reading Response #3: Conflict

Period 8

September 8, 2015

Background

I am currently on page 148 of Daniel Jose Older’s Shadowshaper.  Sierra Santiago, a Puerto Rican, afro wearing artist is having some pretty weird stuff happen to her.  She begins seeing murals cry.  She begins to notice that even the faces on the murals are contorted.  She sees the murals fade.  Sierra also gets some cryptic messages from her grandfather Lazaro.  All in all…she is a shadowshaper.  There are past members of her family that are shadowshapers also, but they don’t talk about it.  Shadowshapers can draw a picture and bring it to life.  This power helps her fight Professor Wick, who is trying to kill all the shadowshapers.  Of course there is romance too.  Sierra met a boy, Robbie, that is also a great painter and a shadowshaper like Sierra.  No, they haven’t “fallen in love” yet, but I feel it’s coming, that is, if one of them doesn’t get killed.    

The Standards/The Prompt

Sierra’s internal conflict, her person vs. self conflict, is her accepting who she is.  Sierra seems uncomfortable with herself.  “But it was hard work making suggestions and not blatant declarations with her ever-changing Puerto Rican body.  Some days her butt was too big; on others she couldn’t even find it” (page 79).  Here Sierra is doubting her body before she goes on a “date” with Robbie.  Before the quote takes place, Sierra’s Tia Rosa says some racist remarks about her and who she dates.  This also causes her to doubt herself.  Her person vs. self conflict also affects how she feels about her powers.  She isn’t sure about them.  But I’m not far enough in the book to see how her doubt truly affects her in the aspect of shadowshaping.  She’s not sure that the limited “moves” she knows about shadowshaping are enough to defeat Wick and the throng haint. 

Sierra’s external conflict is person vs. supernatural.  This was an easy one because it’s so prominent.  The supernatural element exists on almost every page—even the title.  For example, “The shadow lunged forward and grabbed he wrist, and every cell in Sierra’s body caught fire at the same time.  It’s cool, horrible presence crawled under her skin along her left arm” (page 104). Obviously this is supernatural.  This quote is when the throng haint (a zombie-like figure (corpuscule) that is one body stuffed with many souls and each of these souls speaks) first come and attack Sierra.  She survives, but after this moment, she knows for sure that she is being attacked and she must fight back. 

Sierra’s inner conflict is more important than her supernatural conflict.  Sierra must be okay with who she is in order to defeat Wick and the throng haint and the corpuscules.  If she even doubts herself for a second, the evil ones will destroy her and her family and her friends.  The murals will certainly cry forever…or until the paint disappears. 

My Thinking

This book was written, according to the author, as a sort of “minority” Harry Potter.  I don’t like this book.  But his purpose, it makes me think.  Everyone wants to belong, right?  And everyone needs a hero, someone who looks like them.  So if you love Harry Potter, would you, if you weren’t a white male, love a brown skinned (Puerto Rican) female as your hero? 

Or does it matter?  If the character is great, such as a Harry Potter, does race/gender matter?  This is what I think about. 

I would really like to know what you think. 

And, wait, one more thing.  Every character says, “Imma.”  That’s annoying me.  Does “everyone” really speak like that?  

Anything To Add (not required)

I follow this author on Twitter.  He writes a lot about race.  This book is written for young adults.   The genre would be fantasy. 

I am a white male.  I am 40.  I hate fantasy. 

I am definitely not the audience this author wrote for, so…

I need you, class, to read this after me and tell me what you think about it.  Better yet, follow Daniel Jose Older on Twitter and tweet him your thoughts. 

Vocab Words from the First Three Tests

Three Sets of Vocab Words For ALL STUDENTS:

From the test on 9/2

Abandoned

Vengeance

Descends

Accustomed

Gloat

Veteran

Lament

Instill

Humble

Arrogance

From the test on 9/9

Naïve(ly)

Significant(ly)

Anticipate

Speculate

Authentic

Alter(ed)

Modify

Synthetic

Skeptics

Assert

From the test on 9/16

Imposing

Diminutive

Attire

Provoke

Literally

Intimidation

Inflicted

Humiliated

Mute

Conform

Honors Class Only

From the test on 9/2

Soars

Clenches

Unique

Whine

Dreary

From the test on 9/9

Public

Chronic

Mass

Myth

Conceptions

From the test on 9/16

Tyrant

Acknowledge

Vile

Exert

Insurgent

Reading Response #2

The Prompt: Explain the title.  Explain one character trait.  Connect those two things two a theme idea (only one word).  Make it like a math problem (1+1=2; T+CT=THM)

Corey Ryan

Reading Response Number #2

Period 0

August 25, 2015

Background

I am currently on page 110 of Mat Johnson’s Loving Day. Loving Day is mostly about Warren Duffy’s struggles with his current situation.  Warren is recently divorced.  He moved back to Philadelphia, PA from Wales, Scotland because his father died and left him this huge mansion, a mansion that is falling apart and surrounded by crackheads in the ghetto.  He hates this house.  He also finds out that he has a child, a girl, Tal.  Tal’s mother is dead and her grandfather, Irv, is too old to take Tal’s attitude anymore, hence Duffy and his newly found fatherhood.  The situations all have to do with race: Duffy and his daughter are bi-racial.  Duffy identifies as black while Tal identifies as white.  This creates hilarious dialogue and scenes that parody just how far our society goes to help everyone fit in--whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  

The Prompt

The title of my book is Loving Day.  I don’t know if that is an actual day (Okay it is, I just Googled it-it’s June 12).  The title has not been referred to in the book yet.  From my background knowledge I know that the Lovings were an interracial couple from Virginia who took their love all the way to the supreme court to overturn a prohibition on interracial marriage in 1967.  There’s movies and kids’ books about them.  Everyone should know about them.

+

The strongest character trait I can attribute to Warren Duffy would be pride.  He is proud to be black, proud to be mixed, but not exactly proud to be white.  “Well, I don’t consider myself as a ‘biracial’ artist...I’m black and I’m an artist” (26).  Duffy is saying this because someone asked him the question of what it’s like to be a biracial artist.  He is proud to be an artist and proud to be black. He is almost too proud.  This question leads to a mess for Duffy involving him being rude and obnoxious to someone he will later fall in love with.  

=

As you can see, Loving Day and pride both involve race which leads me to the real heart of the matter: identity.  Race is theme idea.  Identity can not be chosen.  (just an FYI, I don’t know if I like that.  I probably don’t, but I’m keeping it anyways).  

My Thinking

This book has caused me to think deeply about race, specifically, I guess, biracial people and even more specifically, my daughter, Zuri.  I’m white.  You probably guessed that.  My wife is black.  Zuri is mixed.  How will she identify?  Can it ever be 50/50.  How can I teach someone to be proud of being white?  That sounds racist as I don’t know what, but do you get what I’m saying.  Tal is a crazy character but she is only crazy because of how she was raised.  maybe she’s ignorant, but I don’t think so. I think she’s going to be proud of her mixed heritage and actually find some peace within it.  Someday I hope my daughter reads this book and laughs out loud.  This book is a classic for anyone biracial.