What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Extra Credit

If you stayed after school Monday to watch What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, please respond to the following before 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 3.

Choose one character from the movie, and compare/contrast that character with one from The Grapes of Wrath. Give at least three connections that demonstrate the similarity you see. Don't think along black-and-white lines; go deeper. As always.

F1RST awards dinner

Carbs and Ayari were chosen to represent the senior class as this year's first F1RST students. We all know they're awesome, but did you expect them to rise to the Pounder Challenge at Fuddrucker's?

I had no idea. Carbs put his away in about seven minutes, whereas Ayari probably worked on it all night. You can see in the photo that Mr. Dies wasn't kidding about it being the size of her head.

Congrats to both of you!

Little angels

You know how parents love to watch their babies sleep?

I love to watch y'all write timed essays. Like right now. You look so smart and diligent.

(No photo because it would distract you.)

Independent Book Selections, Round 1

More on this in class soon...but, you will be choosing a British novel for your first independent book selection. For the record, here are your options. You will need a copy of the book in your hot little hands by October 4, so consider this plenty of advance notice.

For each class, no more than two people will be allowed to choose the same novel. You will sign up starting September 27. Take this opportunity to do some research on Amazon or with the readers in your life. Ask some of your teachers for recommendations; they may have a favorite in this list that you'd enjoy, too.

A Room With a View, E.M. Forster
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Dubliners, James Joyce
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Passion, Jeanette Winterson
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
Under the Net, Iris Murdoch
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte

Amy Tan Bid Trip

I've purchased three tickets (for me and two other people) to attend author Amy Tan's reading at the Wortham on Monday, September 20th.

In addition to writing the vignette Fish Cheeks, which we've read in class, Tan is the author of several ah-mazing novels, such as The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, and The Bonesetter's Daughter. I own all of these if anyone is interested in borrowing one/two/all.

I'll take the highest bidders to Chinese food beforehand and to the reading. Bidding will start on Monday, September 13.

Signing the Last Beam

August Blood Drive

It was a huge success! Thanks to all who participated and supported the event. Despite the huge downpour in the middle of the day, all went smoothly.