A Different Kind of Final

WEC 53 airs Thursday on Versus.

Besides making awkward jokes and talking about superheroes, one of my favorite areas of focus is MMA. That's why this Thursday will be somewhat bittersweet, as it is the final WEC on Versus show...ever.

A few years ago, Zuffa Inc., the company that owns UFC, in an effort to prevent the IFL, a competing organization, from getting a television deal on Versus, bought the regional promotion WEC, short for World Extreme Cagefighting. UFC already had a deal in place with Spike TV, so they did the next best thing to ensure their competition had nowhere to go but down by buying their way out of the problem. Some of the divisions between the two promotions overlapped, but what made WEC stand out was it's featherweight division, consisting of fighters at 145 lbs. Most notable among the smaller group of fighters was Urijah Faber, a dude that carried the promotion for years as the Featherweight Champion and had the most potential for superstar status along the lines of GSP, Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture.

Eventually, WEC decided to focus on the smaller fighters by keeping the light and featherweight divisions and starting a bantamweight division at 135 lbs, while UFC absorbed the welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. In sharpening their focus, WEC started to put on the most entertaining fight cards, top to bottom. Lighter guys usually have bigger gas tanks, so they can keep up a faster pace for a longer period of time leading to more action-packed fights that are rarely boring. Unfortunately, while the cards were awesome, their shows were still stuck on Versus, a channel few have and even fewer know exists. While it was continually the most exciting promotion to watch, their ratings were poor and the fighters outside of Urijah Faber weren't becoming stars or making the kind of money that the UFC guys make. Despite being owned by the same company, their pay didn't quite reflect it.

At the same time, UFC continued to explode in popularity. Many people seem to make the mistake that mixed martial arts is the popular thing nowadays, but that's not really the case. While MMA continues to grow in participants and general popularity, UFC is the organization that's successful. Few people get together to talk about or watch MMA; more often than not, they get together to watch UFC. Compare it to baseball or football. Outside of regional minor leagues, everyone watches Major League Baseball. Who watches the CFL or the AFL? Nobody (except McBride and his kids). The vast majority watch the NFL. Just like baseball and football are synonymous with the brands of MLB and the NFL, fighting or MMA only carries with it one brand: UFC.

It's no wonder that WEC couldn't get any traction. Dana White, the Fertitta brothers and the rest of the folks over at Zuffa were very much aware of this but couldn't do anything about it because of the aforementioned TV deal...until late last October. In a move that everyone knew was just a matter of time, White announced that UFC would absorb the featherweight and bantamweight divisions at the beginning of the year and that WEC would cease to exist. Huzzah for no longer confusing the marketplace with brand dilution!

While this is great news for the many fighters who will now be making UFC money and fighting for bigger bonuses than they've ever seen before, as a fan of WEC, I'm kind of sad. Their final show is on Thursday, and, true to form, it's packed to the gills with two championship matches and an undercard with tons of potential for a really great night of fighting. But after this show, gone are the days of nothing but lighter weight fighters going bell to bell with reckless abandon. Sure, each UFC card will have a few bantamweight and featherweight contests, but it'll be spread out between fights featuring the bigger guys.  Don't get me wrong, UFC is a tremendous organization that regularly puts on great cards, but the nature of the sport is such that they very rarely match the quality of each and every one of WEC's shows.

Anybody who's ever been curious about whether or not they'd be into watching MMA should really check out the show on Thursday at 6pm EST, 9pm PST. You won't be disappointed...and if you are, then it's probably not the sport for you, and that's okay.

Frosh
On Thursday, we finished our in-class discussion of Homer's Odyssey. You were tasked with finishing the story on your own and completing the plot point notechart.

Friday, we moved forward.

This last Monday was spent on review for the final, which consists of two tests: one is a department final that is a skills-based assessment, and the other deals with mythology and The Odyssey.


Seniors
Thursday and Friday were spent finishing up Pleasantville. There was a bonus opportunity on the backside of the note assignment that only one person decided to do.

Monday, you received your graded culminating papers. Those of you that did less than stellar have the chance to revise and rewrite them. Along with the Final Step, a short response assignment that asks you to reflect on the book, your performance on the culminating paper and the project as a whole, the rewrites will be due the day of your final.

Good luck to everyone on the rest of their finals. I know this comes a little late into the process, but getting a better night's sleep than I'm going to get tonight and eating a hearty breakfast will do wonders for your focus on any tests you still need to take. I hope everyone does well!

"I've made a huge mistake."

As the journalism adviser over the last few years, setbacks have come to be commonplace. No matter how great the staff -- and each year's staff has been great in its own way -- various things have happened, some the fault of the students, some the fault of me, some through nobody's fault but the fallibility of living in a technological age, that have forced the Brave Times to publish an issue after the scheduled deadline. It stinks, and nobody is ever happy when that occurs. This is why getting an issue out on time is considered a celebratory event. Everyone pulls together to create a product that close to 3000 people see on a regular basis and it takes a ton of hard work and dedication that doesn't always come together, so we rejoice when it does.

This is a result of a Google Image search for
"I've made a huge mistake." I don't understand
GOB Bluth's use of the Apple or Microsoft logo.

This year, I've had the most motivated group in all of my years as the Brave Times adviser. Part of this motivation exists intrinsically in each member of the editorial staff, as they are creative go-getters destined for success and great things. However, the other aspect of their motivation exists because I made a short-sighted promise, which is the reason for the Arrested Development quote that serves as the subject line. See, I knew these students were motivated, and I figured I could play on that by promising that if they made each of the first semester deadlines that I would do a backflip.

Adhering to a fairly regular work out schedule for the last five years or so has allowed me to get into decent shape, but the last time I played organized sports was back when I participated in Little League when I was still in middle school. Little League isn't really demanding or rigorous either, at least not the one in which I participated. Suffice to say, I am in shape, but I'm not athletic. Backflips are something athletes due: gymnasts and stuntmen and acrobats and mixed-martial artists after winning a fight; those guys do backflips. I've never attempted a backflip in my life save for when I was standing in a four foot deep swimming pool. Granted, it's been on my bucket list for awhile, but it's a frightening endeavor, what with paralysis a viable consequence of the attempt.

The staff of the Brave Times have been aware of these circumstances, and yet they've still hit every single deadline for the semester right on schedule with the final issue of the calendar year due to be put to bed tonight and published tomorrow.  This has never happened before in my tenure as adviser to the Brave Times. Ever. There were years that the staff stuck pretty closely to a schedule, but not one staff has managed to follow through on an entire semester's worth of deadlines. It's a commendable feat, and I'm pretty proud of them, even if their motivation has been to see me commit to a comic pratfall that might make me lose the feeling in my extremities. They've even gone so far as to label the checklist for the issue the "Backflip Deadline." Now I have to follow through with a backflip attempt. My wife is worried about me.

I've made a huge mistake.

Frosh
On Monday and Tuesday, you presented your individual mythology research projects. I was impressed with most, not so much with some, but never disappointed with the results.

Wednesday, we began to discuss the qualities of an epic in anticipation of reading excerpts from Homer's Odyssey. You needed to finish reading the introduction (ending on page 908) at home, which includes information on the build-up to Odysseus' journey back to Ithaca.

Today, you participated in a small group quiz by summarizing in 3 to 5 sentences an assigned section of last night's reading. We then went on to discuss your summaries. Next, our coverage of The Odyssey began. The layout of the story is surprisingly non-linear, as the first half is told in flashback as we join Odysseus towards the end of his journey home. We'll only be reading excerpts, the first of which is the one dealing with Polyphemus, the cyclops.

Seniors
You received the portfolio guidelines for the lit project on Monday. Hopefully, everyone has held on to their assignments from the lit project over these last few months as it was one of the big points I've harped on since its inception.

We then continued to read Beowulf, concluding it on Tuesday. Beowulf experienced the thrill of victory  by defeating on Grendel's mom and decapitating the already-dead Grendel and then experienced the agony of defeat by losing to the dragon. The guy deserves some slack, though, as he put up a valiant effort in his mid-70's and FOUGHT A DRAGON. It's pretty remarkable, really, and easy to see why the Anglo-Saxons revered the dude. Also, there's always the possibility of a Wiglaf spinoff. That guy has franchise potential written all over him.

There is a bonus assignment dealing with Beowulf on the Files page called Beowulf Revisited. It'll be due December 13 and have a value of up to 40 points. Last year, a student completed this assignment by re-imagining Beowulf's adventure as a series of tweets. Thinking outside the box like that is the best way to go.

Wednesday was reserved for peer editing. I gave those of you who brought a draft the Peer Edit Guide. Those who didn't bring a draft were labelled disappointments. Let me clarify here, too. This is not a difficult paper and should represent your best possible work. I would hope that bringing a draft to class is not completely out of the question, especially since the sole purpose is to improve what you have before turning it in for a grade. It's disappointing to me when students don't take advantage of the opportunities they have to improve, especially after hearing the question "How can I improve my grade?" so many times prior to the fall break. It's also the reason why I'm now more disinclined to offer bonus assignments through the blog. The Beowulf assignment will be a litmus test to see which students are really serious about improving prior to the end of the semester.

Today, we went over last minute questions for the big culminating paper due tomorrow. I am genuinely looking forward to reading these as it's as much a reflection of me as it is you. My goal is for everyone to  have improved over the course of the lit project, whether that's as a reader or a writer, preferably both. The plan is to get these papers graded by December 13, if not beforehand. My wife will be gone all day on Saturday for a work training, so in between stretches to limber myself up for my backflip attempt next week, I want to read as many of the papers as I possibly can that day.

After the Q&A, we started talking about Chaucer. He's often compared to Shakespeare, and I enjoy my basketball analogy enough to repeat it here: Chaucer is to Shakespeare as Dr. J is to Michael Jordan. The former introduced something to his respective fields (iambic pentameter and poetry to English, the slam dunk to basketball) while the latter perfected said something. While we won't be spending much time on Canterbury Tales, I really hope you take a liking to it because fart jokes never get old.

Superficiality, Relevance and Reverence

Little does he know the
fate that awaits him later
today at my hand.

Today is Thanksgiving! My family started a tradition of running the Claremont Turkey Trot three years ago, and we're hoping to keep it going for as long as the Turkey Trot is around. Plus, I like saying Turkey Trot. Just being able to finish it at all this year was an accomplishment considering how sick I was last week; my cough has managed to linger a bit longer than I would have liked, too. I look forward to the day that my breathing doesn't remind me of Darth Vader.

Since it is Thanksgiving, I figured that I should reflect on some of the good things going on in my life as well as offer some bonus points for those of you that pay attention to the Internet presence of your English teacher. Here's the deal: describe to me a thing, an event and a person you have been thankful to have or occur in your life in 2010. Give me a minimum of five sentences describing why. You'll earn five points for each one, totaling 15 points. If you neglect to do all three, bupkis. That's Yiddish for "nothing" and is my favorite and only Yiddish word I know. Deadline for submissions is Sunday at midnight and remember to leave your name and period at the end. Mine are as follows:

Thing - My wife and I bought a house this year. It was a long, stressful and arduous process that had us crying our eyes out in desperation and grinding our teeth in frustration. In short, it was not fun. However, in the months since we've moved in and slowly but surely started to make our house a home, I'm grateful more and more that we toughed out the process. Redoing the floor, hanging pictures and organizing the garage add to the aspects that make the domicile more than just a place for our stuff. I'm thankful for the four walls here and hope that I can remember thinking that some of these things were fun in the coming years when I'm sure they'll feel a lot more tedious.

Person - Speaking of my wife, she's a swell gal. I could not ask for a better friend or partner who makes me a better person. She's funny, thoughtful and knows just the right way to make a bad day good and a good day better. I sometimes wonder what cosmic thing I accomplished to manage to land such a beautiful and charming lady, but I find that it's best not to question such things because I would rather not have this situation unravel. In the immortal words of Rick Astley, I am never going to giver her up and (hopefully) never going to let her down.

Event - To make this saccharine mess all the sweeter, I'm really grateful for the fact that both Angela and I finished our Master's degrees this year. Her accomplishment was a much bigger deal than mine, as I took the long road of waiting a few years between classes, but it's nice to know we're finally done. I'm glad that I'll be able to look at those diplomas on the wall and know that they stand as symbols for the hard work we put in to accomplish a goal we set for ourselves. Sure, the student loan bills will be pretty extensive, but I think everyone is alive to learn more. Getting sheepskins to prove that it happened is a nice touchstone marker to prove it happened.

Frosh
Last Wednesday, you took the quiz on chapters 7-10 of The Greek Gods and we then proceeded to read through the stories of Hermes, Hephaestus and Aphrodite. Those last two are my favorite of the bunch because they are such complete opposites, and the way they end up together is a line straight out of a sitcom or SNL sketch.

Thursday, you had a work day to focus on your mythology research project or the ORU that was due the following day. The final ORU will be due December 10.

And Friday, we moved forward.

Seniors
For Wednesday, we reviewed in-text citations and works cited pages. Sixth period didn't get a chance to finish receive all of the information on the works cited page formatting, so I suggest going to Citation Machine if you get stuck on any of the minutiae of creating your specific entries for your page. The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University is also incredibly helpful and always up to date.

On Thursday and Friday, you received time to do research in the library. Hopefully, everyone got a chance to find some relevant and valuable sources.

Been hit with a few shells, but I don't walk with a limp.

Spider-Man is not as
adept as 50 Cent at
surviving wounds
unscathed.

After a nice getaway weekend where Angela and I spent time with my parents, we picked Spider-Man (the dog) up from his pet hotel stay. Like always, he was very annoyed that we left him anywhere else in the first place but ultimately glad to see us.

We played around with him, and he managed to pass out early like he always does when he's spent a few days away from home. Unfortunately, after an uneventful morning, I came home to find that he looked like he was walking diagonally. After a few minutes of trying to assess the situation, I noticed that Spider-Man (the dog) began to favor his left forepaw and had a distinct limp.

My better half was still at work, so I took him to the emergency vet clinic where the doc diagnosed him with soft tissue damage. Basically, he sprained his ankle. Or dog ankle. At least, it was the dog equivalent of an ankle. My guess is that he did it while chasing a bird that he thought was playing with him or by being too nosey around a portion of our chain link fence and getting caught in it. There weren't any "deformities" like a cut or a bruise or noticeable broken bone anywhere, and his neck had the full range of motion, which are all good signs. She prescribed some (expensive) pain medication and we have to keep our boy confined while we're gone for the next week to insure that he doesn't start running and jumping around too soon and do more damage to himself. Seeing my spry, three and a half year old dog limping, though, was not a pleasant sight, so I hope Spider-Man (the dog) is back to normal really soon.

Frosh
Last Wednesday, you completed the second research day for the mythology project. This doesn't mean that your research is done, necessarily, just that we won't spend anymore class time researching in the library.

Monday, you completed the quiz on Poseidon, Hades and Demeter. We then read about the birth of Apollo and Artemis and followed that up with a detailed look at why Artemis is a perfect fit for MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen.

Beowulf via
BetterBookTitles.com

Today, we discussed creating a proper MLA formatted works cited page. The handout gives you the proper punctuation and information needed. The first entry is for a book; the second is for an online resource. Remember that all entries need to be listed in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. If you need further assistance, I always use Citation Machine. We then discussed Apollo, who went on to eventually get his own theatre, and some of his progeny. Expect a quiz on these folks tomorrow.

Seniors
On Wednesday, you finally got the chance to turn in your CD Creation projects. I graded them the following day, and it's hard to put into words how truly impressed I was on a whole with everyone's work, especially compared to last year. My first attempt at doing this project didn't go very well and I'm glad that the tweaks and changes myself and Ms. Windt made to it worked so well. Of course, you folks were also a vital component as well, and for that I thank you. Good job.

That day we also experienced the big showdown between Beowulf and Grendel. We'll resume the story of the Danes' favorite outsourced exterminator when we return from the fall break.

Monday, we discussed thesis statements and my version of the ATSO3. Utilize the ATC3(or 4) (author, title, claim and 3 or 4 sub-topics) correctly, and you will have yourself a thesis statement that is pure analysis. At least, that is, if it's written well and flows as a sentence. Just including the parts and not paying attention to the whole will hurt your thesis. Make sure that anything you write in the paper can tie back to your thesis, as it serves as the road map for the entire paper. I'll be hammering this point home in ways that will ultimately annoy you, but it's my hope that everyone gets the idea that a thesis is the most important sentence in your entire paper.

Today, you completed the final timed writing and turned in your fully annotated books. The optional revision, which will take the place of your lowest scored, previous timed writing, is due Friday. If you opt to not complete the revision, the in-class portion will still be due that day. And Thursday, you will turn in your final article selection. We're in the home stretch now. Keep December 3 on the brain in the meantime.

Top Numbered Something

McBride writes his own classroom blog called The Active Voice, and he brought up a cool idea when he listed his ten favorite soundtracks. Here are mine.

Angus: Music From
The Motion Picture

10. Wayne's World 2
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
8. Orange County
7. Garden State
6. Scream 2
5. Songs in the Key of Springfield - The Simpsons
4. Once More, With Feeling - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2. Mallrats
1. Angus


Please note that the soundtrack to Orange County is not my fancy way of fitting in one of the many soundtracks to the popular FOX teen dramedy, The OC, but is instead a Colin Hanks/Jack Black movie from around the same time.


Frosh
You went to library to conduct research for the mythology project. Remember that the note chart I gave you is for your benefit. I won't be collecting it, but it's a great place to keep all of the information you need for your final product. Tomorrow will look a lot like today did, so come prepared to make the most of your time.

Seniors
In pro wrestling, when someone "cuts a promo," they conduct an interview or monologue as a means to advance a feud that ultimately results in a big time match. Back in the 80's, Hulk Hogan told kids to eat their vitamins and say their prayers while Ric Flair talked about being a wheelin', dealin', kiss-stealin' son of a gun. The 90's saw Steve Austin yell about opening cans of something or other, and The Rock...well, The Rock wanted people to just bring it. Now, John Cena insists that not seeing him is the biggest jab he can hurl at his opponent while Randy Orton usually glowers menacingly while the announcers call him a viper. Cutting a promo has a long and storied history which I think can be traced all the way back to the Anglo Saxons. The whole point is to get people to want to see that final battle between the two opposing forces. What's a better battle than the embodiment of evil and the personification of all things that the Anglo Saxons hold dear? And that is what we get to tackle tomorrow...or possibly Wednesday since we'll also be going over the culminating paper tomorrow and that might take a little while.

Skatescapades

Jealous...?

It sometimes amazes me that there are so many physical things for which I have the capacity to expand my talent and how much those same things can be completely useless. To wit, you'd never know it by looking at me, but I am a terrific roller skater. I'm okay using in-line skates, but my slap a pair of four wheel roller skates on my feet, and I take off like a man possessed, no matter the amount of time that's elapsed since I last tried my hand (or feet, as it were) at the matter. This because there used to be a Roller City skate rink where the Albertson's on Foothill and Vineyard now resides, and just about everyone I knew growing up, myself included, had at least one birthday party there. I honed my skills during those formative years, and it wouldn't surprise me if I would have an easier time riding around on some skates as opposed to trying to ride a bike again.

Like most things in my life, I have my wife to thank for skatescapades. A friend from back in her high school days had a 30th birthday party on Saturday at a roller rink. Coincidentally, the last time I skated was at Ms. Miller's 30th birthday party at a different roller rink. The morning of the event, I could barely contain my excitement to the point that I annoyed Angela with my own version of "Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band, replacing the word shake with skate. This was something that got very old, very fast. Regardless, I was on fire skating in that circle on Saturday. I knew in advance that I didn't even need to work out that morning because of the afternoon plans. During the entirety of the two hours, I only fell once as I attempted to spin to a stop coming out of a turn a little too fast. But my jeans didn't tear and I didn't bleed, so I got right back up and started again. There's a metaphor for life in there. Also, the birthday girl's husband is a bit of shutterbug, so he captured this awesome shot of me mugging for the camera...on skates.

I really think I missed my calling for being a server at Sonic.

Frosh
Last Tuesday, we picked up The Greek Gods from the library and began reading the first three chapters, which you then finished for the quiz that took place on Thursday. It's a no-frills book that provides some pertinent information about the Pantheon as well as several nature myths. Feel free to read ahead, but know that we will be reading portions of some of the stories in class.

Wednesday, we watched a video about the Greek Gods to allow you to figure out which mythological figures interested you the most for your research project. You turned in a page of notes on the video at the end of the period.

Thursday, you took a quiz on Zeus, Hera and Athena. We then discussed your mythology research project. This is the first time I'm doing this particular version of the mythology research project as I am adapting an assignment originally designed by Mrs. Batdorf. I look forward to seeing what you guys produce. Half of the grade depends on your presentation of your final product for which you have to dress up.

Friday, we moved forward.

Our plan for today and tomorrow is to go to the library where you will start your research on your mythological figure. The project is due November 29, and presentations will take place that day and November 30.

Seniors
We finished discussing theme statements on Tuesday and then tackled TLQ guidelines. This will be a pretty vital component to your culminating paper, so get used to utilizing this format.

Finally, after much deliberation, we began reading Beowulf on Wednesday. While we didn't get very far, those first few stanzas are a wonderful set up because the Hrothgar's subjects exemplify everything the Anglo Saxons are not, allowing Beowulf to really shine as the ultimate embodiment of a hero when he arrives. Keep in mind that we are not reading the Seamus Heaney version, nor is it the full text, so I encourage you to check those out if this interests you in the least because it's a fun story buried underneath all of that pesky literature.

On Thursday, you completed your fourth in-class timed writing and turned in your annotations and fourth Aritcle Selection.

For Friday, I informed you that I would not be collecting a revision for the fourth timed writing due to an abundance of factors coming together that we don't need to get into here. Suffice to say, we're both getting a break. You also used the period (and I mean that in the loosest possible terms) to work on your CD Creation project, which is still due Wednesday, November 10.

Today, we continue reading Beowulf and tomorrow, you'll receive the guidelines for the culminating paper.

And mustard! Honey mustard, at that!

Dynamic Duo!

Yes, Brock Lesnar lost. I still had a great time at UFC 121, though. There are lots of fighters that I will always pay money to see, Brock Lesnar chief among them, but I'm really a huge fan of the sport. The show demonstrated the sport pretty well, both good and bad but more the former than the latter. Even though Jake Shields stunk up the joint and should write a thank you card to the two judges that gave him the win, the rest of the fights were entertaining enough that I still had a great time despite my guy losing.

The night also served as a welcome distraction from the previous two days as things with the dog we adopted did not work out. My wife and I were very disappointed and saddened by the turn of events but feel we made the right decision for us and, hopefully, for her.

Halloween was also pretty fun, and I enjoyed seeing the costumes of the folks who decided to dress up. I included a picture of my wife and I as Batman and Robin. And before I get any snarky remarks (he says as he laughs at the idea of actually getting any kind of comments on the blog), there was a female Robin at one point in the Batman mythos. Her name is Stephanie Brown who started her career under the alias of Spoiler and served as the fourth Robin (there have been five total) for a brief period of time before Batman fired her. She died, came back to life and now has taken on the mantle of Batgirl. Comics are awesome and confusing. A hearty high-five to the person who can name the other four Robins by their secret identities.

By the by, my Xbox came back from its repair trip today and I promptly fired up the Netflix to find that Batman: Under the Red Hood, a direct to DVD animated release from last August, is now available in their Watch Instantly section. If you're a fan of Batman or good (animated) action with an intriguing and at times heart-wrenching story, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. To my mind, it's the best DC animated release so far, even edging out Justice League: New Frontier.

Now it's time to play catch up.

Frosh
On Friday, October 22, I was gone and you moved forward.

Monday, October 25, you took the Elements of Lit test and turned in those notes, which took up most of the period. I've since added those tests to the gradebook. It's definitely a more difficult test than you may have anticipated because there were no multiple choice options and instead relies on your ability to remember your notes. But keep in mind, there was nothing on the test that wasn't also in your notes. That's how I like to operate for your tests so you know how best to prepare for them.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 26 and 27, you worked on the Root Words vocabulary worksheet. We went over why root words are important (what with them allowing folks to more easily define new words if able to correctly identify the root) and turned our focus to how many of the roots find their origins in Greek mythology (e.g. narcissist, herculean, titanic).

I collected the assignment on Thursday, October 28, which is when we began our mythology introduction. If you take away nothing else from this beginning portion of our unit, at the very least understand that myth does not automatically equate to something that is untrue. Keep in mind that myths merely explain that which is unexplainable in an attempt to get a better understanding of the world or universe at large.

After moving forward once again last Friday, we concluded the mythology introduction notes today by defining and discussing a few key terms:

• fairy tale
• parable
• legend
• myth (It's kind of redundant, I know...)
• epic
• folk tale

We will be reading some of these in class, and others may or may not show up on a test. (Hint: that usually means they WILL show up on a test.)

You need your student ID cards tomorrow and have an ORU due Friday with a section four that includes a theme statement.

Seniors
Last Friday, October 22, I was gone and you worked on completing the Anglo Saxon laws worksheet in anticipation of our Beowulf reading.

We shifted gears slightly on Monday and Tuesday (October 25 and 26) when we examined the hero journey and hero archetypes, respectively. However, the concept still applies to Beowulf because he's an epic hero. When we start reading the actual (translated) poem this week, it'll make some more sense, but understand that he's the manliest man up to that point in the history of storytelling. If there were a way for me to finagle a reference to The Rock as a manlier man right now, I'd do so, but every attempt I made sounded really weak. Also, neither of these guys stand a chance of losing to Cain Velasquez, so there's no way I would have to eat crow later. Additionally on Monday, you were assigned the theme worksheet which was due today, but I pushed it back one more day so that I could continue checking your theme statements. But more on that in a second.

Wednesday and Thursday, October 27 and 28, we explored evil and all that entails. See, Grendel is the living embodiment of evil and an all around jerk. We're looking at both sides here, but, spoiler alert, the good guy is going to win in the end. At the same time, too often we (in the big picture, humanity sense of we) tend to define things by what they aren't when it comes to difficult concepts like evil. You are all to be commended for attempting to define it on your own, and I look forward to reading the varied definitions you wrote.

Friday, October 29, I began checking your theme statements and continued to do so today. This took a lot longer than I thought and will continue into tomorrow when I plan to really finish checking them. The important idea to keep in mind is that a theme statement needs to be universal and not tied to the text in any way. Remember that just because we framed theme statements as the main idea (or lesson, as some put it) of a story doesn't mean that it needs to be positive. Too many of the theme statements I'm seeing refer to what characters should do or labeling actions as evil. Some of your books are dark and have pessimistic views of the world. The theme needs to reflect that.

I'll collect the theme worksheet tomorrow. On Thursday, November 4, you have your fourth annotation check and Article Selection 4 both due. Don't forget that next Wednesday, November 10, is the due date for your CD Creation project. Finally, your annotations need to be complete by Tuesday, November 16. This is a lot of work, but if you've paced yourself out well, it should be manageable.

Pleasant Journeys

Frosh
You turned in the final draft of your Mything in Action paper. We read of Odysseus' return to Ithaca while you took notes. Said notes will be due on the day of the final.

Seniors
We reviewed the ideas of symbolism and imagery. You watched Pleasantville while looking for examples of symbolic imagery. Again, I am still amazed that despite earning three Academy Award nominations, hitting the ten year milestone last year, and starring several incredibly famous actors that no special edition DVD or Blu-Ray exists of this movie. A making-of documentary and some commentary would be pretty fascinating.

The grading of the culminating papers continues. I have yet to hit my groove on them, but that'll probably be on it's way back shortly.

Finals Day (for me, that is...)

Today is the last day my ULV class meets for the semester. I stayed up way too late writing my paper, which was a minimum of two pages, but I managed to write enough to almost fill up the fifth page. The focus was an interview with Charles Rose, ALHS' school psychologist, who is a heck of a guy and really opened my eyes to everything his job entails. Hint: it's tough.

Frosh
First period managed to finish off part one (as designated by our textbook) of The Odyssey while fourth period still had about a page and a half left, which they now need to read for homework. Odysseus sacrificed his men to the Scylla, avoided the Charybdis only to have the boys betray his trust for their stomachs by eating the cattle. I'm still very disappointed that this textbook doesn't include the cooked and skinned cattle rising from the dead to freak Odysseus' men out because nothing beats a zombie hamburger. Remember that all notes will be collected for points with each section getting a designated amount to be determined later. Also, the Mything in Action (say it out loud!) final draft is due tomorrow. Everyone needs to have three in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Seniors
Everyone turned in their portfolios (hopefully) and then received a day to work on the Beowulf Revisited assignment which is due Friday and worth 100 points. Many of you asked some really good questions about how to apply your own experiences to the story. I was also impressed at how many of you are making the attempt to look at the Beowulfs and Grendels that exist in the world symbolically. These should make for some fun reading.

The First Day of the Last Week Before Finals

Frosh
You figured out how to create a hanging indentation in a Word document and will hopefully utilize that info. We then discussed the importance of actually reading the homework since I'll be collecting your notes for points. Not reading means not getting the credit. After that, we started going over Circe's warning for Odysseus. He's in for a rough trip.

Seniors
You organized your portfolios in an attempt to get the full 80 points on the assignment, which is due tomorrow. Good luck and never look a free-to-use hole punch in the proverbial mouth. And sixth period was curious about the one-legged pro wrestler named Zach Gowen. When I get home, I'll search the YouTube for some videos. He rose to prominence in the WWE in 2002 and was unceremoniously fired after the novelty of a one-legged wrestler wore off and his limitations as a one-legged wrestler came to light. Oh, wrestling, you are crazy.

Edit: I found some gems that include current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar throwing Gowen down a flight of stairs because he was an EVIL wrestler. You can view them under the cut...