IRP Non- Fiction Book Selection and Vote Round #1

Cool Books in Library List #1  List #2
Grains of Sand or Stars post

Now go get those books!
LRC Catalog   West Chicago Library    Winfield Public Library   Carol Stream Public Library



Alan Watts - Original #YOLO



This week's good reads...
For Chance Coats-
Soccer Violence In Argentina- From Outside Magazine ---For Bill Carter...
Last second zombie needs for Halloween.
Missouri or Missourah
Photo Essay to show Google's Cooling Centers-
Gross!  I'll use my debit card...Thanks...
Thoughts on Facebook's billionth member...
Who Will Mourn George Whitmore?

Despite a mounting belief among some civil rights activists associated with the N.A.A.C.P., and a few intrepid journalists, that Whitmore was innocent, he remained in prison, facing two death sentences. Depressed, frightened and alone, he pondered his imminent demise at the hands of the state. He asked other inmates: “If you were going to be put to death, which would it be? The chair? Lethal injection? What’s the least painful way to die?” A teenager, having committed no crime — ever — at that point in his life, pondering what means of execution he would choose: this was his reality...

Yet there are no plaques in honor of George Whitmore Jr., no schools named after him, or any civic recognition of his humble fortitude. His name should be known to every student in New York, especially kids of color, but it is not part of the curriculum.

This week, a flawed but beautiful man who offered up his innocence to New York City died with hardly any notice. To those who benefited from his struggles or who believe the city is a fairer place for his having borne them, I ask: Who grieves for George Whitmore?

ICE- 2004 Form B

Tuesday goods and clever writing...

 

 

•  As an extension to our TED speech: WoW hacked and cities razed!
• For those of you that are looking for some new scary fiction...
• Excellent sport writing about Josh Hamilton
• YUM...delicious food writing

At other times, though, the consumer of such a meal may feel as much like a victim as a guest. The reservation is hard won, the night is exhausting, the food is cold, the interruptions are frequent. The courses blur, the palate flags and the check stings.

Who knew Sesame Street is as corrosive as any other cultural product?  Sheesh...This excerpt is crazy but I love the writing.

Unlike Mitt, I loathe Sesame Street. It bears primary responsibility for what the Canadian blogger Binky calls the de-monsterization of childhood — the idea that there are no evil monsters out there at the edges of the map, just shaggy creatures who look a little funny and can sometimes be a bit grouchy about it because people prejudge them until they learn to celebrate diversity and help Cranky the Friendly Monster go recycling. That is not unrelated to the infantilization of our society. Marinate three generations of Americans in that pabulum and it's no surprise you wind up with unprotected diplomats dragged to their deaths from their "safe house" in Benghazi. Or as J. Scott Gration, the president's special envoy to Sudan, said in 2009, in the most explicit Sesamization of American foreign policy: "We've got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes . . . " The butchers of Darfur aren't blood-drenched machete-wielding genocidal killers but just Cookie Monsters whom we haven't given enough cookies. I'm not saying there's a direct line between Bert & Ernie and Barack & Hillary . . . well, actually I am.

From Gawker

 

From a biting review of Taken 2:

So yeah. Taken 2 also features Neeson saying, "I need you to listen to me very carefully" about 50 times, the obligatory torture scene where an Albanian tough erotically sniffs at Famke Janssen's face, and some of the worst expository dialog ever crafted by producer and co-screenwriter Luc Besson, which — as anyone who has seen, say, last year'sColombiana knows — is really saying something. The film is directed by the Besson acolyte Olivier Megaton, who is to his mentor approximately what a scarecrow is to a real man. It is among the worst movies I've seen all year, though its bad taste and overwhelming trashiness are so total as to be sort of entertaining. That is, as long you are entertained by things that conform to every known stereotype about our blissfully ignorant American selves and those who might one day come for our wives and daughters.

 

Muse brought it on SNL...I love it when the horns kick in...

Peer Editing For Edge Question

Combine any slides for the Twain/ Huck presentations.  We will start on Tuesday in the LRC.  Get your hands on a copy of Huck Finn soon.  We will start very soon.  Books?

Participation in the writing contest is required and you might win a late pass!
Find your class and get started.  Week 1- Anthony Mackie- Due Friday P.M.
Period 1       Period 5/6      Period 7/8

Presidential Body Language

Interesting post on NYT about what else is communicated by candidates during speeches.

Tuesdays with TED- Guest #1 Professor Jane McGonigal

Find the text of speech here.

Edge Essay Assignment and this weeks good reads

Cool post on space exploration and viability of life on other planets.

Edge Essay Assignment

Link to Urtak

Neil Gaiman's 8 Rules to Writing

Grains of Sand or Stars in the Universe?

For thise interested in mind amplification- Howard Rheingold's new book.

The Trouble with Intentions- Verlyn Klinkenborg

 Experienced writers know that every good sentence is retrieved by will from the forces of chaos

How about this opening paragraph from Robin Finn of the New York Times:

THERE are 383 aspirational keys in circulation in the Big City, each of them numbered and coded, all of them equipped to unlock any of four wrought-iron gates offering privileged access to undisturbed siestas or tranquil ambulation inside the tree-lined boundaries of Gramercy Park. At age 181, the only truly private park in Manhattan is lovelier and more ornamental than ever; yes, the colorful Calder sculpture swaying blithely in the breeze inside the fence is “Janey Waney,” on indefinite loan from the Calder Foundation.

 And...AP Writing Contest-2012-2013 Grammies
I may not give extra-credit but I do grant the wish of extra time.  Late Pass!  On way to grab it is through our weekly participation/ grammar exercise.  You will watch one vignette and write a brief description (1 to 4 sentences) that captures the tone.  The catch is that you must blend in at least one form of selected sentence structure while reflected pitch perfect connotation of the tone of the film.  How do you win?  You vote of course...After I tally all all the entries, I post them so you can review them and vote for the best one.  Let's be clear...you write, vote and gobble up class participation credit while honing your syntax.
This week's syntax move: participial phrase:

1. Pursing his lips, he struggled not to call out his professor's obvious error.
2. A lazy student, always looking for a corner to cut with his assignments, ironically, may do more work to get out of doing work. 

Remember to flex with strong verbs!

Find your class and get started.  Week 1- Anthony Mackie- Due Friday P.M.
Period 1       Period 5/6      Period 7/8