As part of our Life & Death Project, we read "Our Town" (1938) by Thorton Wilder. In Act III, Emily goes back to the land of the living and realizes that she never realized anything at all. She has a farewell to the world, and for your writing assignment tonight, you should copy the style of the Emily's monologue. (Need the handout? Click here.)

I enjoyed writing this, because I kept remembering all the things I love about life that I would certainly miss if they were taken away from me. Remembering what you'd miss is a great way to remember to appreciate what you have.

Good-bye world...good-bye gentle sunrises and glorious sunsets. Good-bye Mom, Dad, Caitie and Jas... Good-bye blue & green room, and red curtains, and artwork still unfinished. Good-bye students - I barely knew you. Good-bye mismatched socks, and holy shoes, and cowboy boots. Good-bye freeways, and free-drives, and singing out loud with all of my heart. And coffee, and blueberry muffins, and tea, and toast with jam. Good-bye green grass, green trees, blue sky, and whimsical cloud creatures. Good-bye ocean, mountains, lakes, rivers. And sea shells, and sand on my feet, and wind in my hair, and sun on my face.

Oh, stupid planet. You were so much more than I knew. I wish I had opened my eyes to notice.

I look forward to reading all of your good-byes! I hope you love the rest of your day - all that is left of it, anyway.

-k

Bonjour mes étudiants!

As you are all slaving away finishing your Perspective Blocks, I am looking ahead to the next project -- the Life & Death Project. It's gonna be sweet & I'm very excited.

Since we all love music so incredibly much, I wonder if you can think of any songs that revolve around the idea of life & death?

Yazmin's song she presented in class a couple weeks ago is one of the songs that first comes to mind: "Gone, like yesterday is gone. Like history is gone. The world keeps spinning on. We're going going gone."

Any others?

Bianca gave me Twilight a couple weeks ago and I finally sat down to read it. It's actually all I did last night! Honestly, I was skeptical about the craze over this book. A human falling in love with a vampire? But it caught my interest and now I'm falling in love with vampires too.

I also completely understand how sometimes you guys can't put away your books when we're trying to work on other assignments in class. It's a hard book to put down! I'm excited to read it later. Thanks for the recommendation, guys.

"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer."
- Henry David Thoreau

For your perspective block, you need to interview someone about their views on immigration! This is an incredible opportunity to really communicate with someone, and hear what they have to say! They will appreciate you taking the time to listen to their story - trust me!

Remember, you can interview anyone you want, including someone you don't know. The only rule is that the interview must be spoken and not written.

If you want to review the interview notes and questions we went over in class, click here to download them (PDF): Interview Notes & Questions by K. Flewelling, the Stud Muffins and the Flying Pigs.

Your interview notes are due Friday at the beginning of class.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo

Humanities is the story of human existence, and some stories cannot be said with only words. In the Perspective Project, we are exploring the variety of perspectives within Team Vista -- and there are many. This Friday, we will share our perspectives with music.


On Friday, come to class prepared with:

1) Your favorite song

(you may bring 1 minute of music -- this can be a medley of songs, if you prefer, but it may only be 1 minute!!)

2) A written speech about your favorite song

For your speech, please tell us what it is about this song that you like. You may tell us anything about the song, its artists, what you love about it, how it makes you feel, what it tells us about you, or anything else that you think is important. I warn you, one minute will probably feel like a long time! So make sure to really think about your speech and what you will say. You might even want to time it to be sure it is the right time.

I am so looking forward to a wonderful day of music! I am also excited to share my favorite song with you (still deciding between two... so Friday will be a surprise to even me!)

Much love.
Kay

We will use our blogs to share our ideas with each other and the world. Welcome to the magical world of Internet blogging. I hope you have fun!

Imagine that you are a Haitian -- you live in the poorest country on the planet, and the rising cost of food in your country is leaving you and your family with hunger pains every day. What would you do for food?

Write a journal entry about your day, and what you would do for food.

If you want to further inform yourself about the situation in Haiti, check out these articles from BBC News Online:

Food riots turn deadly in Haiti
Hungry mob attacks Haiti palace
View from Haiti: Aid Worker