Blog 15: Holocaust Topics and The Cage

In your groups, take some time to collect information and provide each topic below with a thorough explanation. This may be a definition or a small summary of the event.

You are encouraged to include quotations and facts from other websites, provided that you cite them correctly. Try to be as detailed as possible, (i.e. include dates, famous people, etc.).

a. The Jewish Holocaust

b. The Nazi Party

c. Ruth Minsky Sender

d. Auschwitz, Mittelsteine, Grafenort

e. personal memoir

Blog 14: Post-Taming Exam Response

In a well-developed two paragraphs (five-six sentences), explain how Petruchio tamed Kate, starting from the first time he met her and ending with the conclusion of the play. What famous couple from Hollywood/celebrity world does their rocky relationship remind you of? [If you cannot compare them to celebrities, what about a relationship in your own personal experience?]

Blog 13: Katherina's Soliloquy

*After listening to the audio of Act V, scene ii*:

At the end of Act V, scene ii, Katherina makes a famous speech about the relationship husbands and wives should have. What three (3) lines did you find particularly interesting [especially since you have read about Katherina's transformation]? What is noteworthy about what she DOES NOT mention in her speech?

Blog 12: Act IV, A Shrew is as a Shrew Does

Petruchio seems to become the shrew, more so than Katharina ever was. Curtis says, “he is more shrew than she.” Why do you think they have traded personalities? 

As a psychiatrist, write a two-paragraph explanation to Curtis about why his boss has had the change of personality. Be creative!!

Blog 11: Shakespeare's Language

Before we begin reading Act 1 of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew as a class, it is important for all of you to become familiar with the playwright's language.

Please answer the following questions in your own blog:
1. What is "blank verse"? Give an example of it from your book.

2. Interpret these Shakespearean lines using your Shakespeare Packet: Reading Shakespeare's English:
a. "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" [R&J]
b. "Thou art more lovely and more temperate." [Sonnets XVIII]
c. "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well." [Macbeth]
d. "Who wooed in haste, and means to wed in leisure." [Taming of the Shrew]

3. How many creative Shakespearean insults can you come up with? Add "thou" or "thine" to the front of the lists picked up on your way in: "Thou+Column A+Column B+Column C!"
Post your BEST Shakespearean insult as a "comment" below.

Blog 10: TKAM, Point of View at the Trial

To Kill A Mockingbird Point of View - Trial
Very often, different people view the same event in different ways. If your team had just won a state championship, you would probably describe the game differently than someone would from the losing team. Two drivers involved in an auto accident would have different perspectives about what had caused the accident.
Writing Topic
Select the role of someone who was involved with or someone who observed Tom Robinson's trial. Write an account of the trial from that person's point of view.
- - - a member of the black community sitting in the balcony

- - - a member of the jury who believed that Tom was innocent but was afraid to go against the other members of the jury

- - - a newspaper reporter from New York who was covering the trial

- - - Judge Taylor in his later years writing his memoirs

- - - Reverend Sykes

- - - Atticus writing in his journal

- - - Miss Maudie Atkinson

- - - Aunt Alexander
Make sure that what you write is consistent with the character whose point of view you have assumed.

Example:
A Sermon by Rev. Sykes Written by: Oliver Orange
An Account of Tom Robinson's Trial from the Point of View of Reverend Sykes
My brother and sisters, it is a dark day for Maycomb County. Some of us knew Tom was going to lose, but we still had hope. As one of my sisters once said, "Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up." So my friends, we must look up. Tom knows, and we know, Tom did not commit this sinful crime. I look at the Ewells with pity. As Tom said in court,"I felt sorry for her." These aren't the words of a hate filled angry man; these are the words of a wonderful God-loving man. Whites think it is appalling for any Negro man to feel sorry for any white human being no matter how low in social status. I think it is the mark of a deeply caring man.

Tom, we want to thank you for being so strong throughout this terrible time. We must stand together and say what happened in court is wrong. We must stand together and support Tom's wife and three small children. Finally, we must thank Mr. Atticus Finch for defending Tom. Atticus Finch is a good and decent man. We must pray together that his appeal on Tom's behalf will finally be heard in the halls of justice.

Written requirements:

---Two paragraphs in length

---You must use one quotation from the book to support your point of view.

---The Word program may be used to intitially type up this assignment, but ultimately, it should be posted to YOUR BLOG.

Blog 9: TKAM, The beginning of the trial

Pretend you worked very hard through law school, became a lawyer, and you now currently earn a modest living working independently at law.

You are asked by one of your closest friends to defend someone who has been accused of stealing from the PHHS scholarship fund [or another controversial topic]. The people in both communities, Montvale and Woodcliff Lake, believe that this individual committed the crime. The monetary sum of $2,000 was found in the accused individual's bank account the day after the money was discovered to be missing; the accused could not explain why the money appeared in his account.

If you take this case, you will be looked at critically by everyone around you, and you might even lose some of your close friends. People may come to judge you for your choice to defend an individual that looks blatantly guilty.

The accused person is very poor and states that he did not commit the crime. He has no witnesses to support the fact that he is innocent, but he has never been involved in any arrests/suspicious activities before. In fact, his coworkers have only the nicest things to say about him. If you choose not to defend him, no other lawyer will come to his defense.

The question is: Do you take the case? Why/why not? If yes, what would you offer as a defense? If no, what holds you back from this client?

*Challenge*: How is this situation similar to what is occurring in To Kill a Mockingbird?