Week 2 - Blogging Right and Exploring the Crazy

We began this week discussing equality. Are "all men created equal"? In-class inssights included questions about the ways in which an equal shot at life is impacted by on'es upbringing, commendations about the incredible chances that Americans have today that many did not have in yesteryear, and the disturbing question of whether true equality is even attainable.

The video above explores, in part, what can happen in societies that try to make everyone think the same way. Pink Floyd band members would argue that we all become "brick[s] in the wall" instead of our true selves. How do we live this life and not lose focus on who we are and on attaining our happiness? To quote Shawshank Redemption Andy Dufresne, in the end we'll all kick the bucket like those that came before us, so we'd better "get busy livin', or get busy dyin'".

So, we began the week by writing our bucket lists, then using them to write "Curriculum Vitae"-inspired poems. These will be a required blog post due Friday.

Tuesday, we will journal about a quote from Into the Wild, check out copies for at-home reading, become familiar with Memrise.com and use to to study vocabulary, and post some things to our blogs.

On Wednesday, we will explore why "King of the Road" might be Alexander Supertramp's favorite song, begin reading the novel, complete an assessment on the first two chapters, and watch a 20/20 special about Supertramp's life and death.

Thursday, we will journal a bit more about Supertramp, set up reading groups, begin tracking the "Characteristics of Resilient People" chart, and read and analyze "Survivor Type" by Stephen King.

Friday: We will have our first vocab quiz (it's really less a quiz than a writing requirement)- revise any journal post to include 10 of the 15 vocabulary words we learned this week. Post to your blog. Because I understand that you can use the Internet to define the words, I will be assessing your USAGE of the word, not your memorization of the definition.

On Friday, we will also read from “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience” and track the therein "Characteristics of Resilient People" .

A peep at next week's look at satire in American literature and media: