Ronnie Pallares

Ronnie Pallares

Driving around Rancho Cucamonga, I always make a point of looking at the flags posted on street lamps that display pictures of local servicemen and women. The reason I do this is because of Ronnie Pallares. His was the first flag I ever noticed about a year and a half ago, while driving down Haven Ave.

As many of you may have heard, Ronnie Pallares, an Alta Loma graduate from the class of 2008, died in combat last weekend when insurgents attacked his unit stationed in Afghanistan.

Ronnie Pallares was a student in my English class during his senior year. During the first week of school, when everyone did their introductions, he stated without any hesitation that his post-high school plan was to join the Army. That was the motivation he had to graduate and the moment he started having trouble in the class, he immediately re-doubled his efforts to make sure that his goal could be realized. Besides that dedication, I remember his laugh and smile most. He never said an unkind word during his tenure in my class.

When an army recruiter came to speak that year, he and Ronnie were already familiar with one another. The recruiter took the time to single Ronnie out because he had already made the commitment to join, dependent on his graduating that June. I had no qualms telling him that he had nothing to worry about when it came to Ronnie.

I'm proud to say that I knew Ronnie and sad that it took his passing to dedicate my thoughts his way. He did what I know I couldn't, and he'll always have my respect and gratitude for that.

Why Brock Lesnar never kept a beard during his WWE run will forever elude me.

With Veronica Mars arriving tomorrow, I'm left to wonder how Spider-Man will handle having another dog in the house. He's always had the attitude of a much bigger dog. Whenever he's hung out with them, he likes to put the bigger dogs in line by rough housing in an attempt to get the larger canines to chase him around. Dogs his size or smaller are another matter. He's always had a rough time with those dogs, getting a distinct growl going or just walking away from them altogether. It's going to be quite the adjustment for him tomorrow, but I'm hoping he figures it out.

Frosh
We continued reading The Scarlet Ibis. The older brother can be a bit of a jerk, but you haven't seen the worst of him yet. Keep track of those details and their larger meaning on the story chart. You are getting plenty of time to do this well since it isn't due until Tuesday, October 25.

Seniors
You worked on the Anglo-Saxon laws worksheet, which will be due at the end of class on Friday. Remember that examining the laws a society enacts is the best way to analyze the values that society holds dear. Tomorrow, the the third Article Selection is due, and I'll be checking your books for the next sections annotations. Be prepared to dive deep into the timed writing because there's more asked of you on this one than on any of the previous writings we've done in class before.

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN
Here's a video of Brock Lesnar giving an F5 to a shark.

Introducing Veronica Mars the Dog

Say hello to Veronica Mars (the dog).

My wife has never been able to solely name a pet. She's the youngest of three kids, so the pets her family had were named by her older siblings. When we first discussed getting a dog, I jokingly said that we should name it Spider-Man, and the name stuck once we met the undersized dude. Ever since we bought our house, we've been in the market for another dog. Angela, throughout all of the talk of adding a new furry friend to our household, has been insistent that she get to name our new addition. For a long time, she had her heart set on French Fry, no matter the dog we inevitably get. I fully supported this because of my love of the cartoon show, Futurama, as I could call the dog Fry. Once the naming pendulum swung back my way, it would make room for me to add a Bender to our brood, allowing the two to have intergalactic adventures. Never mind that I'm thinking two dogs in the future, I wanted the opportunity for matching names.

We were also waiting for the right time to add a new pet. One of the many things life has taught me is that there's never a right time for anything. Things just happen because the universe is equal parts random, beautiful and ugly. Which is why, despite the fact that we've had a weekend trip in place to attend UFC 121 for months, we still decided to adopt a three year old tricolor beagle from Rancho Cucamonga Animal Care & Services, which is a local no-kill shelter. We've been checking the site regularly for the past few weeks, and "Sadie" popped up. The moment my wife saw the picture (which is not the picture above, unfortunately), she immediately thought the dog was on some sort of caper. When anyone thinks of capers in the Talbot household, Veronica Mars, a short-lived detective show that launched the career of Kristen Bell, immediately comes to mind. The name suits her well, another reason that my wife is awesome in ways that words can't fully describe.

How Spider-Man will react to Veronica Mars back at our house will be another matter for another day. The two met and didn't hate each other, which is a promising sign. The shelter has to spay Veronica Mars before we can take her home, and the earliest that can happen is Thursday.

Frosh
We began reading The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst. While reading the tragic tale of Doodle and his older brother, you'll be on the look out for details that lend themselves to larger meanings. The story chart, which is due Tuesday, Brockctober 25, will need to have ten of those details along with the larger meanings in order to receive full credit. Additionally, you'll need to create a theme statement for the overall story; hopefully the chart will aid you in doing so. Look for patterns and motifs, especially Hurst's use of color.

Seniors
Today we started our unit on Beowulf by looking at a brief history on Anglo Saxons. It was a pretty tumultuous time in what is now known as England, but it makes for some fascinating bits of information. We'll look a little bit more at the historical context of the time period in the coming days. The key thing to remember is that Beowulf represents a transition between the pagan ways of the past to the newer ideas Christianity represents.

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN
As excitement for Brocktober 23 continues to build, let's take a look at Brock Lesnar's debut fight in the main event of K1 Dynamite USA's show at the LA Coliseum back in 2007. Just three short years later, and Brock is the UFC champ. The amazing thing about this show is that the guy made his MMA debut in the main event of a major non-UFC pay per view. Sure, it did lousy business because any company not named UFC has a hard time doing anything right when trying to market a big event. Still, Brock Lesnar's debut!

Spirit of 76 (Entries)

Who's the Teach?

While not a milestone entry by any means, I do like all of the patriotic connotations that come with number 76. Also, the gasoline is also a perk, especially if they give it to me free for the product integration. You hear that, Unocal? I'm on your side!

Since my jaw decided to be a jerk Tuesday, I spent a little time in front of the television. I tried to be productive during the first part of the day and largely succeeded as I read a hefty portion of a book I've been meaning to tackle. Eventually, when I turned on the TV, I saw this new A&E show called Teach: Tony Danza. And I'm conflicted.

Tony Danza is an older gentleman who was a well-known actor back in my formative years whose star has fallen a bit recently. He's best known for his role on a show called Taxi and his own starring vehicle called Who's the Boss: in both shows he played characters named Tony, which has been a bit of a running joke about the guy for his entire career. He may not be good at responding to names other than his own. This A&E reality show focuses on Danza taking a job as a 10th grade English teacher in urban Philadelphia. While this sounds like a horrible SNL joke, it's real, and the opening of the show tries to immediately cut down criticism by noting that the titular figure originally went to school and earned a bachelor's degree in History with an intent to become a teacher. There's good and bad that goes along with the show, so I'd prefer to break it down that way.

The Bad

• None of the particulars are laid out to the audience. From what I can gather, Danza has one class of 26 students, all of whom volunteered for or asked to be in the class, along with a "teaching instructor" who has the job of monitoring him all day, every day. This means that Danza is really more of a student teacher. That's probably in the best interest of the students, but it doesn't really explore the reality of the profession, especially that of an urban high school.
• Some of the administrators are incredibly condescending towards Danza. On the first day of school, Danza forgets to sign in and an assistant principal chastises him loudly in front of students and other teachers, going so far as to emasculate him by ordering him to stop being vain and put on his glasses to sign on the correct line. People are people and none of them are perfect, and despite any problems I've ever had with an administrator, and, granted, I've had very few, none has ever been so unprofessional as to berate me in front of students or colleagues. This is probably more of a problem with this particular school and that particular administrator. It's possible that she didn't appreciate the idea of an actor making a reality show mockery of a school she adores. Either way, it made Danza look incompetent, her look mean and the school look bad.

The Good

• The guy cares. At one point his instructional coach asks if Tony has cried yet today at which point he breaks down. He cries three to four times in the first episode alone, and nothing about his tears feels disingenuous. Trust me, I've seen plenty of episodes of Who's the Boss? and Tony Danza is not that great of an actor.
• However, what the show gets right is that caring isn't enough. Tony's good intentions aren't enough to make him a good teacher. It takes experience and failure before a person can start to learn how to teach effectively, let alone well. I still feel like I need to be vigilant in making sure that I don't become complacent as a teacher. The students think Tony's first test isn't fair and feel that he grades it too harshly. However, his first instinct is to blame it on the students not reading. Like most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. After six years as a teacher at ALHS and two years prior to that as a sub, I'm still getting the hang of making sure that any assessment I utilize works well and truly gives me an idea how much or if students learn to be critical thinkers. The show showcases this idea remarkably well.
• My favorite parts of the show are the interviews with the students. They give completely honest opinions about Tony, and so far those reviews are rarely glowing. It makes me wonder what my students think of me, or what they thought of me when I was starting out. I know I'm better at my job now than I was when I started and would like to think that those kids from the past would benefit from what I've learned in the years since they were first in my class. 
• In a tumultuous time in education, when so many people are Waiting for Superman, it's nice to see a show dealing with education that doesn't make it, the institution or the people running the show out to be such abject failures. Sometimes, teachers do a good job, even the new and inexperienced ones who are having their hands held. I appreciate that most of all.

So check it out. The show repeats on A&E all of the time between the shows about paranormal children and people with debilitating drug habits.

Frosh

Friday, we moved forward.

Today, we finished off the Elements of Theme notes. Please keep in mind the theme statement checklist. You'll be incorporating a new section to the fourth Outside Reading Update, which is due this Friday. This new section will be worth ten points and require you to create a theme statement for the book you cover for the update.

Seniors

Today and Friday, we worked on creating level questions and converting those level questions into viable theme statements. I also increased the value of the CD Creation assignment to 150 points, the breakdown of which can now be found here. 

I love when my classes feel serendipitous. 

BROCKTOBER COUNTDOWN:

This week, I'd also like to extend the excitement for Brocktober 23 by posting reasons why I think Brock Lesnar is awesome. Back when he was in the WWE and was training to look as intimidating as possible instead of to become a human wrecking machine, the wrestling company released this video in anticipation of his Summerslam match with The Rock. Please note that at the one minute mark how he starts to modify his push-up routine because he was tired of the ground getting in the way.

UFC 121

I'm scared for, but confident in, Brock.

Here's a breakdown of the main card of UFC 121 taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, which I will be attending and purchasing on PPV because I am a crazy Brock Lesnar fan. My wife fears for my safety when we attend the event because I tend to scream myself hoarse first and ask questions about my actions second. If I'm not in attendance on Monday, October 25, everyone will know that I  had a good run and left this mortal coil witnessing what I love: watching grown men punch each other in the face.

Brendan Schaub vs. Gabriel Gonzaga - Ever since his loss to Randy Couture, Gonzaga's role has been that of a gatekeeper. He beats the people who don't belong in the upper echelon and loses to the folks that do belong there. To wit, Gonzaga has defeated losers like Justin McCully and Chris Tuchscherer and lost to once and future title contenders in Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos. This is a big test for Schaub who has never been out of the first round and who has earned each of his wins by KO or TKO. Gonzaga also has a suspect chin, so I'm picking Schaub by KO in the first, especially since the latter's striking is a lot more technical than the last two guys who knocked out the former.

Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill - Ortiz is washed up and broken down. The game has passed him by but he's a good enough talker that he can get people into his fights and still has value as a draw...to an extent. His days of headlining pay per views are over, and his drawing power has eroded due to the fact that he's the MMA equivalent of the boy who cried wolf. More than any other fighter, Ortiz always claims to have never felt better and be 100% healthy before a fight and then list a litany of injuries following his eventual loss. Meanwhile, I've never felt that Hamill is as good as his record and Joe Rogan makes him out to be. His win over Jon Jones is one I consider a loss, since the fight should have ended prior to the disqualification of Jones; it was the shoulder injury he received that really ended the fight for Hamill and not the multiple 12 to 6 elbows. But it happened. Hamill also didn't deserve the win over Jardine, but that goes more towards the problem of MMA judging, which is another topic that deserves its own post entirely. Despite the fact that I don't think too highly of Hamill in comparison to others in the light heavyweight division, this is his fight to lose and the only way I see that happening is if he lets Ortiz get in his head. Hamill can, and probably will win by decision, but that's only if he doesn't let Ortiz's earlier comments about Hamill being deaf or the fact that Ortiz used to be his coach on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter get to him.

Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago - Speaking of guys who aren't as good as they appear, we have Paulo Thiago. Thiago has terrible striking -- he always keeps his hands low and his chin way out despite having some knockout power -- and was outclassed on the ground in his last fight by Martin Kampmann, an area that is supposed to be his bread and butter. Diego Sanchez is a natural lightweight who refuses to accept that he should be fighting at 155 lbs. because he'd rather eat Double Downs while chanting "YES!" to his Tony Robbins tapes. But he's completely unrelenting and moves like a tornado, staying active whether he's standing up, in the clinch or on his back. Both guys are coming off of losses where they were completely neutralized in areas that are normally their strengths. Ultimately, I really dislike Paulo Thiago for reasons I've never been able to fully articulate other than he looks like Nosferatu with hair and the fact that his training footage always mentions his job with the Brazillian Special Police Force and shows him carrying around a machine gun. That just doesn't seem fair. The last I heard, he's back to training with Greg Jackson, which means that instead of winning by TKO in the second, Sanchez will probably walk away with the decision.

Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann - This is Shields inaugural UFC match-up in the welterweight division after leaving Strikeforce as their middleweight champ and beating Dan Henderson pretty decisively. He's riding a 14 fight win streak and trains at the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu gym, home of the Diaz brothers and Gilbert Melendez. Anyone else with that win streak in the UFC would automatically get a title shot, but since Shields hasn't fought in the UFC before, he has to face a calibre opponent first. Should he win, and I see Shields possibly doing so by decision (even though I'm officially calling for a first round choke out submission by Shields), he's almost guaranteed to get the next shot at the winner of the GSP/Koscheck fight that happens in December. Kampann is no joke, having the better stand-up game and the ability to neutralize Shields' submission attempts even if he can't best him grappling. But Jake Shields is a grappling wizard while Martin Kampann is just very good. While there's a possibility that Shields could get the submission victory, the more likely scenario is that he maintains top position and gets a Jon Fitch-like victory on his road to fighting for the welterweight championship.

Unfortunately, there's also the issue of Jon "The Most Boring Fighter Alive" Fitch standing in the way, whose sole loss in the UFC has been at the hands of GSP. On paper, Fitch is the most deserving of a title shot in the division, but the problem is that GSP dominated him in every facet of the game in their first fight and Fitch is largely the same boring fighter whose style has not evolved in the least in the intervening two years. In fact, Fitch hasn't finished a fight in since 2007. He's a grinder that wins on points. There's nothing wrong with that from a sporting perspective, but, man, is it ever boring to watch as a fan.

While many fans balk at the idea of rematches, I see nothing wrong with them, and they usually do well for business. However, there has to be a desire for the rematch in some way. The first BJ Penn/Frankie Edgar fight was an incredibly close battle where one could make an argument for either guy as the winner. Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua fought to a controversial decision where it was largely believed that the wrong man won. Both of those fights lead to rematches that did much bigger business than the original. But the first GSP/Fitch match was completely one-sided, and Fitch has not done anything since then in winning to show that the outcome would be any different. Yes, he deserves a title shot, but it makes better business sense to allow Shields, provided he prevails over Kampmann, to get the next match for the welterweight belt.

Of course, when Fitch does get his next title shot, he may not even take it if Josh Koscheck prevails on December 12 against Georges St. Pierre. That's another matter entirely, and I've spent too long discussing Jon Fitch during the space reserved for the Shields/Kampmann fight.

Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar (c) for the UFC Heavyweight Championship - To properly put this fight into context, I have to revisit July 3, the night of UFC 116, when Brock Lesnar made his triumphant return to the octagon from a near-crippling illness to fight interim champ, Shane Carwin. My brother and his wife hosted the pay per view event at his apartment and I was the most excited I've been for an MMA event since, well, the last time Brock fought Frank Mir; except that fight felt like a no-brainer. Brock had proved that he had learned his lesson in adapting his strategy to a fight in his bouts with Heath Herring and Randy Couture, and taking on Mir was going to be a cake walk as long as he made sure to keep a sound strategy in mind. Then he turned Mir's face into hamburger midway through the second round at UFC 100.

But this fight was different. Shane Carwin was as strong as Brock and had the kind of striking that made men's mouthpieces fly into the third row. He proved it in the opening salvo by absolutely destroying Brock in the first round, almost to the point that I thought it might be stopped. Lesnar weathered the storm and managed to even get up towards the end of the round after Shane Carwin had punched himself into exhaustion. Meanwhile, in my brother's apartment, I about lost my mind. His computer was in sleep mode on the other side of the room; my reaction was so animated, so out of control, and involved so much jumping up and down that the computer woke up. I made no apologies, though, and when Brock Lesnar secured the head-and-arm triangle in the second round for the submission because Shane Carwin was so gassed that I probably could have beaten him, I sank to my knees like it was me that had earned the victory. Really, all I did was amaze friends and relatives alike with my undying admiration, dare I say man-crush, for the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

So I'm rooting for Brock Lesnar.

Cain Velasquez is going to make it a long night of anxiety and teeth-gnashing fear, though. Back when Brock Lesnar's feud with Frank Mir was in full swing, MMA enthusiasts talked about Shane Carwin, Junior Dos Santos, and Cain Velasquez as title contenders who were ushering in the era of the true heavyweight, as many were closer to the upper limit of the 265 lbs. weight limit in the division as opposed to the dark days of housing lazy light heavyweights and guys that Pride didn't want to employ. Carwin tried and failed while Dos Santos gets the winner of this fight. My heart and soul are behind Brock even though Cain presents two very real problems for Brock: Velasquez has much better striking and a gas tank that appears to be unlimited. Velasquez has won all but two of his eight fights by TKO, but it's another statistic that's somewhat deceiving. The technical knockouts have come by way of a non-stop barrage of punches, and he's only knocked one opponent unconscious, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a man whose best days are behind him. Without taking anything away from that win, Cain is largely considered a guy that doesn't have much in the way of knockout power, but as someone who uses his excellent wrestling and endurance to wear out heavyweights until they are too tired to be able to defend themselves from his strikes. For just about any other heavyweight, I would see Cain winning in that fashion. In fact, the longer the fight goes, the more it favors Velasquez, which is the reason most heavyweights fail to go into the deep water of the championship fights.

But Brock Lesnar is not most heavyweights. He. Is. Brock. Lesnar. He's a man and a half that eats tractors for breakfast and doesn't care that he has a phallic object tattooed on his chest because he can rip most ordinary men in half with his bare hands. He is a man that chooses to do push-ups on chairs because THE GROUND GETS IN HIS WAY. He's taken Shane Carwin's worst punches and managed to come back with a smile on his face. Brock has to cut weight to make the 265 lbs. weight limit but has the sort of speed that would put many welterweights to shame. His wrestling has proven to be more dominant than anyone else in his division. And, ultimately, that's exactly what it is: his division. My official prediction is Brock winning by TKO in the third.

That long promised Level Questions Example

We're going to skip the preamble tonight. Check it out next time as I have a bit to say about the new television show, Teach: Tony Danza.

Frosh
You worked on grammar when I was gone on Tuesday.

Wednesday, we finished going over the Elements of Fiction and you received the examples assignment. Remember that you'll be finding five examples of any of the elements we went over. You'll then fill out the following:

1. Element
2. Story
3. Quote from the text
4. 2 - 3 sentences explaining how the quote qualifies as that element

This will be due on Monday, October 18.

Today, we began going over the Elements of Theme, which is the final Element of Lit and the most important one.

Seniors
My jaw betrayed me on Tuesday, so I wasn't there, and you had a reading day.

Wednesday, we started going over level questions.

Mad Men

Today, you took the lit terms test that covered both sets of terms, and then we finished going over the level questions, an example of which is below.

Mad Men is an excellent show, and the episode that aired on August 29 provided the inspiration to complete a series of level questions.


Level 1 (explicitly from the text): Where did Don Draper first meet advertising executive Roger Sterling?

Answer: Don Draper met Roger Sterling at a fur store. The two later met for lunch where Roger offered Don a job, although the former was too inebriated to remember doing so. Many years later, Roger claims to have "discovered" Don.

Level 2 (implicitly from the text): Why is Don Draper interested in getting a job in advertising?

Answer: Dick Whitman took on the persona of his commanding officer, Don Draper, after the latter was killed in an accident during the Korean War. Whitman was unsatisfied with his life and felt like he did not belong with his family, so he took the opportunity to assume a new identity and craft a more preferable life. As Don Draper, he is able to mold himself into the man he wants to be. Advertising is a natural fit for this Don Draper; it is the one of the few arenas where someone is able to take a simple product and perfectly shape the image other people perceive, much like Draper/Whitman himself.

Level 3 (beyond the text): How does advertising reflect the people it targets?

Answer:  Advertising shows people the idealized version of the things they desire. In reality, the product never looks as good as the ad. Truly great advertising does not sell a product as much as it does a life style. People prefer to see themselves as the best possible version that they can imagine, regardless of if that is true or even possible. Advertising represents a lie that people sell themselves. It is meant to show human beings at their best but actually shows them at their worst.

Theme: A career provides a person with the opportunity for self-discovery.

ITEM! Old timey news radio voices are my favorite kind of radio voices.

ITEM! Rhys Ifans, he of Notting Hill, The Replacements and constantly getting mistaken for Paul Bettany fame, has been cast as the villain in the latest Marc Webb directed Spider-Man reboot picture leading to speculation as to which of the webbed wall-crawler's rogue's gallery he will play. Smart money is on the Lizard.

ITEM! The air conditioning malfunctioned for most of the day in the B building resulting in hotter than normal temperatures and a teacher in a sour mood in room 37 who didn't expect to sweat through his shirt in such a short amount of time.

ITEM! Brett Favre is allegedly a dirty, dirty old man.

ITEM! In developing news, above-mentioned sourpussed teacher has experienced a strange clicking pain and swelling in his jaw which has made the rest of the day hard to bear, leaving his presence at the school tomorrow in question.

ITEM! Noted British graffiti artist Banksy directed a decidedly dark and pointed opening couch gag for noted television show The Simpsons this past Sunday. Banksy, known for being elusive and notoriously difficult to track down, directed the opening which features an Asian sweatshop manufacturing Simpsons merchandise to the detriment of cats, dolphins and unicorns everywhere.

Frosh

On Thursday, you turned in your third ORU, and then we listened to Alanis Morissette's song, "Ironic." Hopefully, you used the time wisely and finished the assignment by the end of the period.

Today, we started going over the Elements of Fiction, which is my catch-all name for everything that I think you need to know but didn't warrant its own "element" title. Sure, I could spend an entire day discussing symbolism, and it's worth knowing. However, there are broader topics we need to cover that are more vital to the rest of the year, so we're going to focus on those things first. If you're interested in symbolism, though, ask me sometime and we can discuss it. I like those kinds of talks.

Seniors

Thursday, you had your second writing day. Since there was no school on Friday, thus you didn't get your books back in time because of the second annotation check, that means the revision will not be due until Wednesday, October 13. You also turned in the second article selection assignment. There were far fewer for me to grade this time around; that's great for the fact that it didn't take me that long to get them back to you, however, everyone should take note that the more free time I have due to a lack of grading usually means that your grade will conversely suffer. Those of you that turned the assignment in, kudos! Those of you that didn't, boo!

You received the Lit Project Problems assignment today, and I hope everyone takes the time to take into account these errors, which, while not as prominent as prior years, are rearing their ugly heads more often than I would like considering how many times I've explained them so far. Everyone worked on that for the period, and, health permitting tomorrow, we'll discuss the answers.

P.S. You may or may not have noticed that I've been providing links to PDF versions of assignments I've handed out in class using Google Docs. I'm hoping that this is helpful to those of you who may have missed class. If successful, it may provide me the excuse to finally delete my Teacherweb site that I find to be a pain to update and allow me to focus everything here instead. Streamlining my Internet presence may be the way to go in order to make it easier for students and parents to keep up with the events in class.

Brocktober Beards

BROCKBEARD

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of beards despite the fact that I can't grow one myself. My dad, who has always been a hero of mine, has had a beard for my whole life and the entire length of his marriage to my mom. There was a brief respite in the mid-90's where he went from a full beard to a van dyke goatee when that was the in-thing to do. Otherwise, though, beard all the way! Unfortunately, my beard gets patchy on the sides, which is the most important part of a full beard. Since many people always want most what they can't have, my lack of beard-growing ability only fuels my appreciation for beards more. Heck, that's at least 20% of the reason why I'm friends with McBride.

Imagine my surprise when I watched UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez tonight and saw that Brock Lesnar, my favorite fighter and UFC Heavyweight champion went and grew himself a mountain-man beard. As if the guy didn't look enough like a viking already, he decides to go and seal the deal with the manliest facial hair around. He really does seem poised to take over The Rock's position as my number one man-crush.

Frosh
Today you turned in your setting questions, and we went over the elements of irony. Keep in mind that you need to be able to differentiate the three kinds of irony. Tomorrow, we look at Alanis Morissette's version of irony.

Seniors
Everyone used the period to catch up on reading and annotation. Tomorrow is our second writing day. This one won't have an easier prompt, and I will be looking at the revisions closer this time around. Make sure to avoid first and second person and to keep the summary to a minimum. The revision for tomorrow's timed writing will be due Wednesday, October 13.

And, if you're reading this in time, don't forget that your second annotation check will take place tomorrow and to turn in your latest Article Selection.

Brocktober Begins

Get used to a lot of talk about Brock Lesnar as Brocktober 23 gets closer and closer.

In the meantime, the reason for my, as one student put it, "Negative Nancy" attitude recently is that my family had to put down Hershey, the dog I mentioned two weeks ago. And it's been rough.

Frosh
For Thursday, we began to cover the elements of setting and you turned in the inference chart. Friday, forward was the name of the game. Monday, we finished our setting notes and you received the following questions:

1. What kind of place is the story set? Season, climate, time of day?
2. Are the characters in conflict with their setting?
3. Does the setting help to understand the nature of the characters?
4. What kind of atmosphere does the setting create?  Would you avoid it or like to live in it?

You'll apply the questions to The Most Dangerous Game, Cask of Amontillado and Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory. The point of all of this is to connect the idea that setting has a tremendous influence over mood and tone, and, without it, a story can lose much of its luster. Today, we'll continue reading A Christmas Memory, and anything left will be part of your homework tonight.

Seniors
Last Thursday, you had one last work day in class to work on your Persuasion Portfolio, which I will collect today. Friday, I assigned your CD Creation assignment which also came with format guidelines. The CD Creation assignment will be due November 10. We began a discussion about the Radical Honesty movement, tying that in to our discussions about Truth (with a capital T) and what that actually means when we all take a minute to stop and think about it. The article can be found here.

We finished that discussion on Monday and then moved on to discussing what analysis looks like. Always remember that summarizing, while a valuable skill, is not analysis, which is our goal for this lit project. I desperately want you to come away from this project with the ability to analyze literature and, ideally, the world around you at large. One way to focus on analysis and avoid summary in your timed writings and your culminating paper is to write with the assumption that the person reading your papers has already read the text in question. We'll be discussing this at length once we start talking about theme in the next week or two.

Today, we'll go over the Persuasion Portfolio's point distribution and I'll be giving you a proofreading assignment in order to better help you identify some problems I found in the timed writing revisions.

One more thing to keep in mind is that there will be a test covering both sets of lit terms on Thursday, October 14. Don't let that knowledge fall out of your brains just yet.