I am sorry that this is not the end of your senior year that you imagined. But, OK, maybe it's the end school that some of you dreamed of: no classes, hanging out in pajamas, using your phone without someone (me) threaten you with detention.... Still, I think most of us are at least missing the connections. I know I miss my colleagues and all of you. I really do. You guys give me energy and purpose and let me get paid for talking about literature with smart and interesting people. Plus, you're great young people. And as the father of a senior at McClatchy, I have a good feeling about how hard it is to not have friends at birthday parties (18th no less!), to have to make college decisions without touring campuses, to miss graduation and all the celebratory stuff that comes with ending your public school career. OK, that's kind of a downer, but it's nothing you don't know.
Something I want to do over the next few weeks is to try to create connections through our class. We will start using google classroom to respond to each other. We will also use the Mirada web site so we can engage in a public forum. I still plan to end the year with graduation speeches, but I am planning to do them over zoom . I think we can come together to make an online literature magazine. The Mirada is planning one last print edition, and I need you guys to document your experiences, write opinion pieces and review whatever your listening to, reading or watching now to make this happen.
We will continue to prepare for the AP exam by writing essays, but I want to use google classroom to comment on each others work so we can help each other. (I have never used that program so I am still trying to figure it out.)
And I really want you to write about your experiences, because what you are experiencing is unique. Years from now you'll try to explain this to your kids and grandkids and what you write now will really matter then.
OK, so FOR THIS WEEK:
For Monday: I am finishing the last yearbook deadline and that is sort of consuming me (and why it has taken me so long to post this). If you committed to writing something for yearbook for your outside writing, it is due. OK, if you let me know you need an extra day I will turn your page in a day late and hopefully that will be OK. Even if you didn't commit, we have some gaps in sports coverage and some photos that need captioning. I will post a document with photos and missing pieces and if you can contribute something please do.
On Wednesday I will zoom with 1st period at 9 and 2nd period at 11. We will see what we need to do after that.
For Tuesday (bonus if you do it by Monday afternoon) post something about you experience on quarantine to google classroom. Also have finished Hamlet. Cool news: Theaters are making content available for free. Right now and for the next couple weeks, The Globe Theatre in London is streaming Hamlet for free. Search on globe on youtube. Even if you don't watch the whole play, you can watch parts. The scene at the start of Act 2 where Polonius is telling the KIng and Queen that Hamlet is mad for love of Ophelia is genuinely funny and lets you see how actors engage with the audience.
Respond to two articles on riomirada.com. This will be ongoing, as the Mirada post articles about our lives and you post diaries, reviews, and op-eds I want to use that site to engage with the world.
For Wednesday read:
Why the Wealthy Fear Pandemics: The coronavirus, like other plagues before it, could shift the balance between rich and poor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/opinion/coronavirus-economy-history.html
Read "The Mask of the Red Death" by Poe and "The Yellow Wallpaper" in our anthology. Both are available on line.
For Thursday we will start a discussion on metaphors to see how the stuff we learn in English class plays out in the real world.
Listen to On the Media April 3 podcast, "War, what is it good for?"
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-war-what-is-it-good-for
The most relevant part is part 3. Eula Biss, author of On Immunity, on the perils of painting public health crises with the broad brush of war. Listen.
You don't need to listen to the last section on celebrity posts, but it's entertaining.
Read the Washington Post: "Are we at 'war' with the coronavirus"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/06/are-we-war-with-coronavirus/
Read: Washington Post, "Metaphors Make Sense of the Past"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/11/metaphors-make-sense-past-can-they-guide-us-toward-post-covid-future/
FOR DISCUSSION: What is the effect of using a war metaphor to describe a pandemic? How can metaphors shape our view of the world?