Literature with Martha

Macbeth

2010-12-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

Reese the journal that you sent--is great--. You do need to work on punctuation for clarity's sake.

Work Assignment for 9th November 2010

2010-11-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

Reese,
Try this site for a quiz on Frankenstein. Pick 10 of the 15 questions to answer--or answer them all if you know the answers. That would give you a PLUS grade.
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz140766101f518.html

You can submit the answers to me--or see if you can Submit them to the site (for free)--to get your score.

NOW
Onward and Upward. Next assignment.

READ the first 16 chapters of THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Be ready to discuss this reading on Tuesday the 16th.

The book starts off with this

(Tom Sawyer's Comrade)
SCENE: The Mississippi
TIME: Forty to fifty years ago-- (Reese this would be mid 1800's for us)

NOTICE:
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted, person attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
Per G.G.., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE.

EXPLANATORY

In this book, a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods South-Western dialect; the ordinary "Pike County" dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a hap-hazard fashion, or by guess-work; but pains-takingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.
I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.
The Author.

REESE
This book is Satire as well as Humor--
The narrator is a 12 year old boy who tells us what he believes to be true and yet we know that it isn't. He describes what he sees in great detail often thinking the things are grandiose while we realize that they are common place.

Have fun with the book--memorize the first paragraph.

Frankenstein

2010-11-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

You are to be able to take a quiz on Frankenstein (the exerpt from your text book) on Tuesday. I enjoyed our conversation today.

I believe you would make a good English professor. Consider that as a major in college. You have all the qualities of a good English literature teacher.

You love to read. You are good at making critical insights into literature.

Reese illustrates

2010-11-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ozymandias - Antique Land

Kublah Khan - Pleasure Dome

Poetry lessons

2010-09-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Reese,
We are going to start with Marianne Moore's POETRY.

Go to this page site:

http://www.slate.com/id/2221785/

and you will not only see the poem, but you can listen to it read--by the once Poet Laureaute of the United States, Robert Pinsky.

After you read it--tell me what you get out of it--and then we will discuss it.

What is a "literalist" of the imagination? And what does it mean to have "imaginary gardens with real toads in them"?

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Final Exam

2010-09-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Reese

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Final Exam

Joshua Slocum was born

in Fairhaven, Maine
within view of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia
within view of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco
in the West Indies

Slocum was born

In 1895
In 1989
In 1844
In 1909

Slocum

is buried in Nova Scotia
is buried in San Francisco
was captured by pirates
was lost at sea

Slocum

Was the first man to run away to sea at age 14
Was the second man to sail around the world
Was the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was not famous during his life time.

Slocum

Earned his 2^nd Mate papers at age 18
Was never officially an officer aboard a ship
Was the only man to sail with his family for 14 years
Was not an American citizen

Slocum

Bought The Spray from a childhood friend
Bought The Spray from the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was given The Spray because it had sunk at the dock.
Was given an old hull of an oyster boat named The Spray.

While at sea on his long voyage

Slocum used his old chronometer to navigate
Used an old tin clock for a method of navigation called Dead Reckoning
Had only an electric clock
Used his father’s old wrist watch to navigate

Slocum’s voyage

Lasted 2 years and covered 23,000 miles
Lasted over 3 years and covered 46,000 miles
Had to be cancelled, because The Spray was not seaworthy.
Lasted 10 years and covered 460,000 miles.

Slocum met the Captain of The Pinta

Because Slocum had too much to drink and was hallucinating
Because the Captain tried to hijack The Spray
Because Slocum became very ill from eating rotten eggs
Because Slocum had eaten white cheese and plums and became very ill

The longest that Slocum sailed without touching the helm of The Spray

Was 20 miles in a bad storm
Was 150 miles on a wind less day
Was 2000 miles west across the Pacific

In 300 words, describe Slocum’s voyage around Cape Horn.

Joshua’s amazing trip around Cape Horn was the most interesting out of all the others. On Slocum’s way through Cape Horn, he saw many sardines beginning eaten by Cavalla fish. The cavalla fish did an amazing job of showing how the cavalla fish ate the sardines. First, the cavalla fish would circle around the mass of sardines and eat the ones of the outside. They did it so dexterously that it was hard to count how many sardines were eaten at a time.

Nasty weather was another amazing thing that happened to Joshua around Cape Horn. On his way around Cape Horn ran into a nasty lightning storm and was able to navigate out of it. The lightning was strong and the weather howled like crazy. Slocum knew that the area he was in was a bad place to be because he had heard that many boats had gone down in the area. He wanted to take the risk any was because it was better than savages and pirates. As he was doing this he remembered he had heard of a ship named the Alert was struck by lightning and was sunk but the crew was lucky and was saved that day. He met the crew after the storm he was in at the island that the crew was put on by the rescuers. The island is called Pernambuco. Later on in his voyage Slocums companion was a sword fish. The fish swam a while with him until Slocum pulled out his harpoon and the fish disappeared under the water. It was an amazing creator with a tall black fin. Later on Slocum made his voyage for the coast of Brazil. This was how Slocum spent his amazing voyage around Cape Horn. He saw lots of fish and new people.

In 300 words, tell how Slocum’s voyage compares to that of the modern day Laura Dekker’s voyage.

After reading Slocum’s Sailing Alone Around the World and following Laura Dekker’s blog I found out that both voyages have the same but different things in common. It is amazing how two things can be alike and unalike at the same time. Slocum and Laura both have the same wanderlust as each other. Both wanted to sail at a young age and both wanted to sail around the world. An amazing thing is that Slocum not being that wealthy was given a broken down Sloop that he rebuilt almost completely by himself while Laura having bought a Jeanneau Ginfizz ketch being from a rich family and redid some things on it. Slocum and Laura both had to plan their trips out around the world thought. They both are using almost the same routes as each other to sail around the world. However, both started from different places from each other. Slocum started at Boston and Laura started in England. Both used instruments of navigation but at the same time, they both used different tips of navigation. Laura being in the 21 century is using technology to help find her way. Slocum being of a much early time period used his head and a few sailor instruments. Laura has people watching her every move while Slocum was all alone in the big blue sea. The names of the boats are different from each other. Laura’s boat is the Guppy while Slocum’s was the Spray. Slocum sailed alone around the world at a much older age than Laura 14. Laura uses a blog as a diary or a log to keep track of what she is doing. Slocum wrote in a journal about his voyage. I was glad to be able to compare these two amazing people.

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD Final Exam

2010-09-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Test for Reese on SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

Joshua Slocum was born

in Fairhaven, Maine
within view of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia
within view of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco
in the West Indies

Slocum was born

In 1895
In 1989
In 1844
In 1909

Slocum

is buried in Nova Scotia
is buried in San Francisco
was captured by pirates
was lost at sea

Slocum

Was the first man to run away to sea at age 14
Was the second man to sail around the world
Was the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was not famous during his life time.

Slocum

Earned his 2^nd Mate papers at age 18
Was never officially an officer aboard a ship
Was the only man to sail with his family for 14 years
Was not an American citizen

Slocum

Bought The Spray from a childhood friend
Bought The Spray from the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was given The Spray because it had sunk at the dock.
Was given an old hull of an oyster boat named The Spray.

While at sea on his long voyage

Slocum used his old chronometer to navigate
Used an old tin clock for a method of navigation called Dead Reckoning
Had only an electric clock
Used his father’s old wrist watch to navigate

Slocum’s voyage

Lasted 2 years and covered 23,000 miles
Lasted over 3 years and covered 46,000 miles
Had to be cancelled, because The Spray was not seaworthy.
Lasted 10 years and covered 460,000 miles.

Slocum met the Captain of The Pinta

Because Slocum had too much to drink and was hallucinating
Because the Captain tried to hijack The Spray
Because Slocum became very ill from eating rotten eggs
Because Slocum had eaten white cheese and plums and became very ill

The longest that Slocum sailed without touching the helm of The Spray

Was 20 miles in a bad storm
Was 150 miles on a wind less day
Was 2000 miles west across the Pacific

THREE MUSKETEERS

2010-09-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

I started reading the book last night. Of course, I have read it in years past--but I had forgotten how funny it was. The comparison between Don Quixote ( if you don't know his story--which was made into movie THE MAN OF LA MANCHA) look on Google for info about it.

The French vocabulary is confusing at times. I think you can guess what the words and phrases mean, or make a list of them and look them up on line. My Kindle reader allows me to hover over a word and get the dictionary meaning instantly.

There are movies made of the book. I prefer to read first and make my own movie in my mind--and then watch a movie to see if the maker read as well as I did. Often I am disappointed in the movie.

After we are finished with the novel, perhaps we can check out a movie copy from the library and enjoy it together.

Test for Reese on SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

2010-09-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Joshua Slocum was born

in Fairhaven, Maine
within view of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia
within view of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco
in the West Indies

Slocum was born

In 1895
In 1989
In 1844
In 1909

Slocum

is buried in Nova Scotia
is buried in San Francisco
was captured by pirates
was lost at sea

Slocum

Was the first man to run away to sea at age 14
Was the second man to sail around the world
Was the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was not famous during his life time.

Slocum

Earned his 2^nd Mate papers at age 18
Was never officially an officer aboard a ship
Was the only man to sail with his family for 14 years
Was not an American citizen

Slocum

Bought The Spray from a childhood friend
Bought The Spray from the first man to sail alone around the world.
Was given The Spray because it had sunk at the dock.
Was given an old hull of an oyster boat named The Spray.

While at sea on his long voyage

Slocum used his old chronometer to navigate
Used an old tin clock for a method of navigation called Dead Reckoning
Had only an electric clock
Used his father’s old wrist watch to navigate

Slocum’s voyage

Lasted 2 years and covered 23,000 miles
Lasted over 3 years and covered 46,000 miles
Had to be cancelled, because The Spray was not seaworthy.
Lasted 10 years and covered 460,000 miles.

Slocum met the Captain of The Pinta

Because Slocum had too much to drink and was hallucinating
Because the Captain tried to hijack The Spray
Because Slocum became very ill from eating rotten eggs
Because Slocum had eaten white cheese and plums and became very ill

The longest that Slocum sailed without touching the helm of The Spray

Was 20 miles in a bad storm
Was 150 miles on a wind less day
Was 2000 miles west across the Pacific

In 300 words describe Slocum’s voyage around Cape Horn.

In 300 words tell how Slocum’s voyage compares to that of the modern day Laura Dekker’s voyage.

Assignments.

2010-08-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

We can post assignments on this one.
The next one is to read 3 more chapters ( 4 5, and 6) and write a letter to Joshua Slocum--.

Welcome Reese

2010-08-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon, Reese.

Are you eager to begin our sessions? I am. I love literature, I love teaching, and I like Joshua Slocum's SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD. It is in the genre of travel writing.

I hope you will come to like it as much as I do.

So, let's begin.

Read the first 3 chapters. Then write a brief synopsis of those chapters. And write a 200 word essay based on the topic of "What a landlubber would need to know to understand those chapters."

You might take notes as you read of special nautical terms--and their meanings. For instance, I didn't know what reefing a sail meant.

I will be looking for your work when it is completed in a couple of days or sooner.

M.

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD

2010-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Our first book is SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD by Joshua Slocum.
It is the account of a 57 year old man who spent 3 years sailing alone in his 37 foot sloop and covering 47,000 miles.