The Thome Report: Holiday Edition.

My mother and sister were shopping yesterday and ran into Dad Brad. Dad Brad is the father of none other than one (pause for effect) Justin Thome. He informed my mother and sister that Justin is currently "hopping volcanoes in Guatemala" (Dad Brad, Bay Park Square, 12.23.2009).

So, we've pinned him down to a specific country, and it's a small one at that. (Only 42,042 square miles,--roughly the same size as Ohio.) Plus, there can only be so many volcanoes. We're closing in on him! Anyone near Central America over break?

Q & A: The Death of Languages

From the New York Times blog, "Schott's Vocab: A Miscellany of Modern Words and Phrases":

Q & A: The Death of Languages

Have a laugh.

Sage advice from a living protagonist.

Poll results:
1. Do you believe the Justin Thome stories are true?
Yes: 24 (75%)
No: 8 (25%)

2. Regardless of your answer to number 1, do you want them to be true?
Yes: 25 (78%)
No: 0 (0%)
Indifferent: 7 (22%)

What's left, then, is the truth, which is as follows:

The Odd Couple.

From left to right: Mr. Roberts & Mr. Roberts.

You know . . .

Not only is it that you don’t know what you don’t know, the more you know the more you realize how much more you don’t know you don’t know, you know?

An insight into "idea."

idea
ORIGIN late Middle English: via Latin from Greek idea ‘form, pattern,’ from the base of idein ‘to see.’

An outside connection.

Thanks to Aditi in block two for sending me the following:

Below is a photo of a Kathakali dancer that was taken in India. Kathakali is renowned for the unique style of makeup it uses. It reminded me of the quotation from Haroun, "His face was painted green, with scarlet lips, exaggerated black brows and eyes, and white stripes on his cheeks." Hmm . . .

Haroun in just two sentences.

Somehow Haroun came up in conversation this afternoon in my sophomore American Lit class. One of my students offered the following summary of the novel: "Me and my dad went to a magical place. We flew birds."

Course eval.

The course eval is due by 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 26.

Please know that I will take your feedback seriously and it will inform changes to the course for second semester.

I suggest that you type your answers in a Word document and then copy and paste them into the survey so that you do not lose unsaved work and have to start over again.

Thanks,
pb.

Think punctuation doesn't matter? Think again.

Version #1:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be yours?

Gloria


Version #2:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we are apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours, Gloria

Overheard in the freshman lounge:

"Mr. Roberts has told us many things about the world, and we would like to know if any of it is wrong."

Serial Killer.

From the Columbia Journalism Review:

Why the serial comma—also known as the “Oxford” comma—isn’t important.

Thanks for an anonymous World Lit blogger for bringing this to my (our) attention.

Grammar comedy sketch.

Thanks to Brandon for passing along this comedy sketch on grammar:

Quiz details, including a practice quiz.

Click here for a practice quiz on punctuation: apostrophes and quotation marks. Page one is the quiz; page two is the answer key.

Tomorrow's class consist of only the quiz. You'll be given it on your way into class and have the whole period to work. (All 20 minutes of it.) Don't be late.

See you then; in the meantime, enjoy Wolfberg's visit. He's a student fave.

pb.

Bike-to-School Challenge 2009.

Wednesday. Block 4 vs. Block 5. The class with the most students who bike to school wins something yet to be determined. Could be some bonus points, could be bagels and juice, could be a "Get Out of Grammar Free" card. And here's an addition catch, anyone who bikes 10+ miles will be counted double.

Quiz sample sentence.

Here is the sample I promised to you on Friday: Quiz sample sentence. Also as promised, here is the parts of speech Power Point: Parts of speech.

Weekend homework.

1. Continue to write your play. Use the writing a play handout as a resource.
2. Post a blog comment that addresses the following questions regarding "The Real Durwan" from Interpreter of Maladies:

• What did you learn about the story through discussion?
• What led you this (or these) new understanding(s)? Be specific; use examples from the text.

"To faithfully execute" or "to execute faithfully"?

Chief Justice Roberts' flub of the Oath of Office at Tuesday's inauguration has been attributed to his grammar hang up. Read about it in the New York Times: "Oaf of Office."