Final Exam questions.

OK... if you're looking now, I'm actually 1 day early.

The 5 PARAGRAH research question is a choice of A or B or C.

A) What is the first thing that Barack Obama should do when he gets into office?
B) Why should I hire you?
C) How can we make Reading a more beautiful and safe town?

Neither of these NEEDS TO BE written about on the index card. If you're doing A, think about what the most important thing he can legislate towards is. Tell me why, and be done. Stanard 5 paragraph setup. If you're doing B, use this as preparation towards an interview. I have been asked it in the past. If I was interviewing you, it would be the only question I ask at the first interview. If you're doing C, think logically and ask yourself, what would make you and those close to you more likely to come to Reading for fun and business.

For the 7 PARAGRAPH persuasive essays, the topics include:
A) Should we bail out the auto industry?
B) What should we do about the Somali pirates?
C) Should George Bush pardon Ramos and Compean before leaving office?
D) What should the U.S. do with the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay?
E) Should Americans pay tax dollars to help rebuild Gulf Coast cities after hurricanes?
F) What should the U.S. do about the situation regarding ILLEGAL / UNDOCUMENTED immigration (not legal immigration)?
G) What should have happened to Lori Drew over her role in the Myspace suicide case?
H) Considering the case of Stacy Snyer and her "drunken pirate" Myspace picture, should schools and businesses be able to hold Internet behavior against students and employees?
I) Defend the censorship of any cultural medium or defend freedom of speech as an ABSOLUTE value that cannot be censored in any case.
J) After watching Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, EITHER attack outsourcing as unfair and economy crippling or defend it as a cost-cutting necessity that will strengthen our economy.
K) What should the United States do about Iranian nuclear intentions?
L) Should the United States leverage Pakistan to release suspects to India in the Mumbai tragedy?
M) Is global warming real and potentially devastating or the greatest hoax of all time?

For all of these, use the standard format to back up your answer. You may use a note card with notes. You must use facts. If you're rambling out an opinion, you don't have a solid answer. I'm telling you in advance so that you can make this paper meaningful.

Don't forget, you can fail this class if you don't do this.

While you can bring a notecard, you can't bring an essay. If you bring an essay, I will find you guilty of cheating and fail you for the semester - regardless of your grade.

IN CLASS PEER REVIEW ESSAY 2

Once again, to get full credit for attendance, you must have an essay since we will be doing this assignment with people who were prepared for class.

Checklist for Essay 2
What do you know?
What do you do want to know?
MANY pages of notes or note cards
TYPED rough draft
Outline
Printed out websites
ALSO if you turned in any rough drafts to be corrected, turn those in as well
IS THIS PAPER AN MLA RESEARCH PAPER ON A PRE-APPROVED TOPIC OF YOUR CHOICE (NOT A REPORT OR PERSUASIVE ESSAY)?
Next
Underline your thesis
Label each paragraph as to what its main point is
Then look for the following errors:
Is your paper 12 point type
Is it written in Times New Roman
Is the whole paper double spaced
Did you make sure that there are no gullies
Is the paper 3.5+ pages long
Did you make sure that you didn’t change the margins
Is there any bold type
Is there any italic type
Is there use of the words I, YOU, WE, OUR, US, and anything else that implies you are talking conversationally to the reader
Is there any profanity, slang, or abbreviations that aren’t defined?
Mark each citation on the works cited page against what page of the essay that it is on.
List (for -5) each citation that isn’t on the works cited page and each works cited entry that isn’t in the paper.
Compare your works cited page to the one in the book (418-419). Do they look the same?
Compare your citations to the ones in the book (412-417). Do they look the same?
Read out loud for clarity!
Look for obvious grammar errors!
Does your paper prove its point?
Is there organization?
Is there flow?
Do you answer the question on a “college level?”

Also, people are starting to get sick because it is cold, wet, and gray outside. Take care of yourself. Do your work. Get enough sleep. Eat healthy. Sickness now could take out a lot of hard work. Don't let it happen to you. PLEASE. I care, so I mention this.

POVERTY IN READING assignment

If you're interested in the election, check out the O' Reilly Factor on Fox at 8 tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday for continuing coverage of his interview with Barack Obama. This is Obama's first actual challenge in ideology, so it should definitely be worth viewing.

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Potential problems of an impoverished town
1. Housing available attracts $ (see HGTV)
2. Jobs available attracts workers and a tax base
3. Industry leaving for other places kills jobs
4. Desperation causes crime
5. Schools that no longer educate or enforce standards of learning
6. Lack of discipline enforced in youth to rise up
7. People get complacent on the entitlement system (when McD’s doesn’t pay as much as handouts and it isn’t as grueling as the work, why work)?
8. “If a neighborhood isn’t nice, why work to make it better (why clean trash when someone else will just litter it up)?”
9. “It’s easier to move out than to change a losing situation.”
10. Inflation keeps people stuck in dead end situations.
11. People use credit as a temporary solution and get strangled for long periods of time (potentially forever and ever)
12. Fear of failure.
13. Fear of success.
14. In a Brave New World sense, some people will know their place and demonize the mainstream society’s version of success and choose to not succeed.
15. Single parent households not being able to make enough to pay daycare and to support a family.
16. Language difficulties
17. Political infighting on solutions in government cause inaction, which is much worse than failed actions.
18. Fear of PC special interest groups and getting caught up in legislation.
19. Environmental and pollution issues.
20. Racial conflicts between emerging and defined groups in an area.

You need 3 - your group needs to fill out the Dresser Drawer Method (1 per group) and turn in your brainstorming (1 for each person in the group).

ARON RALSTON ASSIGNMENT

As I said, one of the things that I encourage students to do is to travel and see the world. How many national parks have you been to? How many can you name? You really should check out the US National Park system. There is so much that is out there to see. To sit in your comfy eastern PA houses and not see it... anathema.

We will be doing the Aron Ralston video and in class essay writing experience. As I don't lend out my videos and I don't know any other video store that is cool enough to have this video, YOU WILL NEED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY TO WATCH THE VIDEO TO GET THE POINTS. This is a 50 point assignment that includes notes, typing an 8 paragraph rough draft, and correcting it in class. It does not need to be perfect because it is for peer editing, but it needs to be done - all 8 paragraphs. If you go through all of the motions and give it your college best, you will get all of the points, if not... then...

You can read about his amazing life here and here.
You can read about the video of his life's major changing event here.
I can only completely and totally recommend that you buy the book about his adventure that he wrote after the events in Blue John Canyon.
You can see pictures by the guys at You Can Never Have Too Much Fleece here.
I only wish I was that great of a photographer and had that much time to adventure to really cool places.

This is about all we really have time for...
well, in there, we are going to talk about
First paragraphs
How to write essays well (and poorly).
I'll have sample essays of both varieties.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ARON RALSTON PROJECT (this is in-class)

2+ PAGES OF NOTES

1 8-paragraph essay (should not be perfect SINCE:

we will correct it in class as a peer review assignment.

If you do all of this correctly, then I will give you 50 points.

NOTES
Blue John Canyon – a slot canyon in Canyonlands National Park.
Issues that Aron faced during his 6 day ordeal.
1. Starvation (2 burritos)
2. Dehydration (22oz of water)
3. Decompensatory Shock
4. Trapped feeling
5. Blood loss
6. Weight loss (over 40 pounds)
7. 8 mile hike across exposed desert in excessive heat (the distance from RACC to the other side of Sinking Spring OR back and forth to the Fairgrounds Mall)
8. Hypothermia (cold temperatures at night)
9. Fear of death / thoughts of suicide
10. Lack of sleep
11. Hallucinations
12. Anger at self for making a foolish mistake
13. Worry about how his predicament would affect his family
14. Decomposition gasses poisoning him
15. The decision and actions involved with cutting off his own arm
16. Weakened state

HOW TO BEAT A COM050 FINAL EXAM!!

Step 1: Read the essay. Don't take notes. Just read it.
Step 2: Contemplate the author's intention. You're doing a summary. If you don't know his / her intent, re-read it again without taking notes.
Step 3: When you're done reading, then you re-read it. Then you take notes. You need 4 ways that the author proves his / her point.
Step 4: Create an outline with the points arranged in most important to least important. These are bookended by an intro paragraph that ends in a thesis and a conclusion paragraph that begins with "it is clear to see that" in order to summarize.
Step 5: Write the paper.
Step 6. Rewrite the paper in a clearer frame of mind that comes after you put your head down and zone out.
Step 7: Zone out again and come back in a few minutes to edit the paper one last time.

All of this should take you most of the 2 hours.

Make sure your sentences are short, simple, and to the point.
Don't write everything - just the 4 more important ways that you can prove your thesis of the author's intent.
Make sure your sentences make sense and are done to the best grammatical way possible.

Make sure that you have the fact, the explanation, and the "and so" that this means to proving your whole point.

If you can do this, you should be ok.

Extra Grammar practice - complete and return if you want help!!

Grammar Test 1
YOUR NAME ___________________________________
You can have errors regarding commas / semicolons / capitalization / homonyms / word choice / apostrophes / hyphens / colons / fragments (F) / run on sentences (R) / dangling modifiers (D) or sentences can be correct.
1. Seventeen years ago, I joined the air force.
2. I was really young when I went in so it was a difficult experience for me.
3. Because I had a self-defeating attitude when I joined this branch of military service.
4. When Mr. Glass was caught leaning against a locker during inspection, he was forced by his drill instructor to say “What’s up GQ daddy?”
5. Every time my name was called I was forced to utter these words.
6. It might have bin embarrassing, but it was a lesson that I would never forget.
7. Standing at the locker as the other airmen laughed, a feeling of utter stupidity was ineffectively concealed by Dan.
8. I am a lot different then I was at that time in my life.
9. Over the course of a persons life, he or she has to change.
10. If a person chooses to remain the same, then they will make the same mistakes over and over again.
12. One day, my flight was suppose to donate blood.
12. As a reward for doing this we would be able to drink soda and eat cookies.
13. Unfortunately, the squadron leaders were yelled at for the entire flight not being able to make their beds thus they weren’t allowed to go for this special treat.
14. The reality was that the leaders hadn’t distances themselves from the rest of the group, this situation had to be rectified immediately.
15. For the majority of the day the leaders had to make bed after bed to perfect specifications.
16. Making beds to military specification a task that seems difficult at first was something that we became professional at.
17. On April 13 1990 I stepped onto the bus that would take me to Basic Training.
18. This was located at Lackland Air Force Base, which is located outside of the city of San Antonio Texas.
19. Many things that I tried to do during that time seemed to effect me in a negative way.
20. I could not march good to save my life.
21. The first Sunday night, I was forced to stand on a balcony and think about how bad I marched.
22. For an hour or so, I wondered back and forth on the metal staircase as I pondered the situation that I had gotten myself into.
23. Nevertheless, I eventually got use to some of the things that I had to do to make it to tech school.
24. For instance, we were forced to fold our T-shirts into 6 inch squares.
25. There was a specific method of doing this that involved folding the shirt spraying starch onto it ironing it so that it would stay in place using tweezers to pull the edges even and then starching and ironing it again.
26. This seemed to be the most ridiculous thing at the time but there was a method to the drill instructors’ madness.
27. If a person could pay attention to detail with a mundane task like this he could achieve anything that he set his mind to.
28. Also, when a person is forced to rise to the occasion, he either will do this, or he will fail, in this, it is better to separate those people who can’t do their job properly before they get into a situation where someone else’s life depends on them working well under intense pressure.
29. I can remember one guy who wanted to quite, so he just stopped trying.
30. He got sent back to our group for failing to do a task properly, and with this he decided that it wasn’t worth it to work to complete his training anymore.
31. The instructors decided that they weren’t going to let him give up on himself, so for the next 2 nights, they placed his bed in the drill sergeants’ corridor and would kick his bed repeatedly to keep him awake; eventually, he excepted his destiny in the military.
32. During guard duty people would take out there aggression on each other by scuffing up the toes of other airmen’s boots.
33. If someone did this to you, then a person would have to wake up and shine his boots.
34. If someone messed with your sleep, it was a capitol offense!
35. The lesson in this was that you wanted to be a person who didn’t stand out in to positive or negative a way.
36. There were only a few real requirements for physical training being able to run 2½ miles, being able to do 30 sit ups, and being able to accomplish 30 pushups.
37. Other than this we had to make it through the confidence coarse without messing up on more than 1 water obstacle.
38. Of course, I fell into the water on the rope swing; this event is recorded on a video tape that I still have to this day.
39. Mr. Glass I don’t know if I can do all of this work that is required for the class.
40. Yes you can do the things that you put your mind to.

1-13. List the rules of commas
14. List the semicolon rule
15. List the hyphen rule
16. List the colon rule
17. What are apostrophes used for and how do you use them correctly. If you don’t correctly list this, then you don’t get points.
18. What is the name of the river outside of RACC? Spelling counts.
19. What is the difference between proper and common nouns?
20. What is a comma splice?
For all word listings, make sure you either number or label the groups correctly.
21-27. Name 7 coordinating conjunctions.
28-30. Name 3 articles.
31-35. Name 5 relative pronouns
36-40. List 5 transitional expressions
41-48. Name 8 subordinate conjunctions
49-55. Name 7 Conjunctive adverbs
56-75. List 20 different prepositional phrases that use a different preposition in each.

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THAT’S IT!!!! The final grammar test of this class
YOUR NAME ____________________________________
1. After finishing the class, jubilation will wash over my students.
2. The semester that has been giving you so many headaches since day one.
3. Finally, Spring classes at RACC will be finished, and you can go on vacation.
4. I know that there are only a few days that you will truly be off but you should do your best to enjoy every minute of your time away from teachers, books, and homework.
5. As for me I won’t be going anywhere.
6. This sounds an awful lot like when Bob Dylan warbles “You ain’t goin’ nowhere!”
7. I may sing bad, but I’m not that bad at singing.
8. When I drive to school I have been known to sing along to my car stereo.
9. Right now, Crackers CD entitled Greatest Hits Redux is on heavy rotation in my truck.
10. Yesterday albright college had an awareness of school costs day.
11. It was suppose to educate students as to why their tuition is so high.
12. However it only made many of the students angry.
13. These students were wandering why they had to hear the school complain about costs when the tuition was already so high.
14. For example the cost of water and sewage is $220,000 a year.
15. According to the accounting people at this local berks county college, it costs $44 million to run the school for a year.
16. Compared to the cost of over $26,000 a year, $348 for a 3 credit class is not a bad price to get comparable college credits.
17. This day, a day officially known as tuition ran out day, is something that many students need to see and understand.
18. Whether or not you now what it takes to earn $348, you need to know that the costs of school comes out of someone’s pockets.
19. Taxes are not a bad thing if there used for the right things.
20. Some people try to scam the system nevertheless they eventually get discovered and lose their rights to get financial aid.
21. However, bye this time, they have already taken your tax dollars and used them for whatever it is that they were trying to do.
22. All things considered, the cost of living in Reading Pennsylvania is much higher than any amount of after class “profit” that these scam artists have made.
23. Unfortunately, when enough people fine a way to beat the system, it adds up to a lot of money that is wasted for the community as a whole.
24. Eventually, you will be paying money into the funds that are used to help people get through school and benefit from other Social Programs.
25. Some programs that are very helpful to a student trying to balance family and school without “going under.”
26. The feeling is that if the students are financially helped and become proficient at a skill they can contribute to the economy by putting their tax dollars back into the system.
27. When it comes to American politics, members of the Democratic Party are more likely to want to contribute to financial assistance programs; especially ones that benefit people that are having difficulty making ends meet.
28. More conservative members of the Republican Party feel that they should be able to choose what they spend their money on and thus, they don’t want to feel mandated to a cause that they don’t necessarily believe in.
29. When I think of tax programs that I could support, I think of the military the police department the fire companies the compulsory educational system and anything that has to do with environmental concerns.
30. Environmental concerns range from picking up and disposing trash to the United States national park system.
31. Personally, I don’t feel that profits should take precedence over the future of our natural world.
32. I am by no means a member of the green party, but I do believe that we need wild and unspoiled lands for our enjoyment.
33. Ricketts Glen State Park is by no means unspoiled, but it is supposed to be a place where a person can get away from their cares for a while.
34. If you don’t know that this is my favorite place to visit in America, then you haven’t been conscious all trimester.
35. In the winter a person could snowmobile within the confines of the park.
36. In spring, the same person could go fishing, he could also go hiking.
37. As all of you so clearly know, my greatest passion is taking a ton of pictures of the roaring streams with black and white film.
38. I love to be alone on the trails as the sun rises up above the tree line.
39. If I was truly lucky, I might be able to see a dear dart off into the brush.
40. However, I mostly see squirrels birds and chipmunks running off in front of the thumping sounds of my boots.
41. Granted, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t where boots, but all things considered, they do give my ankles a little more support.
42. You wouldn’t know this if you had heard me wine about how twisted up my foot got from stepping wrong on a rocky pathway.
43. This, however, was the fault of the crampons that I was wearing.
44. My groans and complaints might have sounding like I was in morning, but the truth was that it really did hurt.
45. I know that yous feel sad for me!
46. After all of the horrible grammar tests that you have had to endure, the last thing that you want to do is feel sorry for your teacher not being able to walk properly while hiking through the woods in winter.
47. I am sure that you would rather I kept quite and just taught you how to figure out if this sentence is a dangling modifier or not.
48. Its not.
49. Honest.
50. At least you got too watch the classic movie entitled Gridiron Gang.
51. Watching the Rock, laughter is always something that I am prone to.
52. I use to find it humorous when he did his catch phrases.
53. For example, he might say “The Rock doesn’t care what you think!”
54. Mr. Glass would never be uncaring with regards to what you think all the same he feels that using words like think and believe show uncertainty.
55. “Your job as students is to know or find out,” he has said on many a occasion.
56. The Rock might refer to his adversary as a jibroni, but Mr. Glass would never say any thing negative about you.
57. He respects you as students and people, and even if you don’t pass this class, he still feels that you have value as a person since you had the heart to stick it out until the end.
58. You are probably all ready aware that Mr. Glass loves to use the term “heart.”
59. Because he watches too much ESPN Sportscenter.
60. It is soon getting to be that time when Mr. Glass summons up all of his venom for the Evil Empire.
61. Yes, nothing beats meaningless days in front of the television wishing the over rated Derek Jeter the worst.
62. If I could, I would put him on a raft down the Schulykill River and hope that he doesn’t return until 2018.
63. Even that might be two soon.
64. I don’t know what’s worse the puppy dogs eyes or the way that the announcers swoon over everything that he does.
65. “Oh Derek, you’re so wonderful” Joe Buck Jr. will say “How do you set the stars in the sky?”
66. I prefer the baseball crushing power of Albert Pujols, the clutch hitting of David Ortiz, a slugger known as “Big Papi,” and the desire to beat out any infield grounder that possesses Ichiro Suzuki in his quest to be the next player to hit .400 in a season.
67. And I am definitely looking forward to Daisuke Matsuzaka’s gyroball as it leaves Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi looking like fools as they strike out looking!
68. When it comes to sheer love of the game, I definitely prefer David Eckstein’s scrappy presence to the brooding narcissism of Barry Bonds, which is just a chore to deal with.
69. I would like to see Barry Bonds rocketed to the kuiper belt before he gets a chance to break Hank Aaron’s historic homerun record.
70. All this talk about baseball is making me excited for the warm whether of spring!
71. I am currently having a hankering for some rasberry iced tea.
72. Nevertheless, I will stay away from it since I gave up caffiene almost 3 years ago.
73. There was a time that I would drink coca cola like it was going out of style.
74. Know, I prefer to drink ice cold water, Hawaiian Punch, or pink lemonade.
75. I know, these are sophisticated tastes.
76. Then again, the simple things in life give me a sense of inner piece.
77. For example, I can be appeased easy with a couple of Pizza Hut pan pepperoni pizzas and the Pulp Fiction DVD.
78. Samuel L. Jacksons one-liners always make me laugh like a goofball.
79. I’m not ashamed to admit it!
80. You won’t catch me berrying my head in the sand over some of the stupid things that I did as a kid.
81. For example, I once skinned the backs of my ankles when I jumped off the bed while trying to play air guitar to Billy Idol’s White Wedding.
82. My sister will always tell that story to Mom, and then, the 2 of them will laugh at what a goofball I was when I was little.
83. All things considered, I am probably more eccentric then any one that you know.
84. If you aren’t careful, you might loose your mind like your beloved teacher!
85. On March 19, 2007 this class will be over for good.
86. You should reward yourself for all of your hard work.
87. I wood like to start a tip jar just to see if people would donate to the Mr. Glass Is Wonderful Fund.
88. However, since that is unethical I won’t bother.
89. It’s not like I would get alot of money to go on vacation to the desert anyway.
90. I would like to commend you for excepting the challenge to be a great student.
91. You have shown that a winner doesn’t quit, a quitter doesn’t win.
92. A great way to reward yourself is to go to east coast Massage Therapy.
93. Granted, it is $53 to get an appointment, but your body will thank you when the masseuse removes all the stress and strains that your body has built up over the past 3 months.
94. I will be going on principle alone.
95. I won’t be going to the US Capital building in the nation’s capitol over this vacation.
96. I also won’t be going to the country of England on vacation; besides, it is too expensive to get a ticket.
97. What I will be doing is sitting on my lazy but for the better part of a week.
98. The first thing that I will have to due is to finish figuring out your grades by next Thursday.
99. Overtime, that will be a daunting process, but in the end, I will complete the mountains of paperwork that will arise from the last week of school.
100. And so with that, I bid you, “auf wiedersehen.”

Sidebar Articles

See below for national parks video assignment.
Keep studying for grammar and completing journals.
The following is optional extra credit (1 full page DONE CORRECTLY).

What's not on the sidebar is available from me. As we are short on time, I don't want to waste time explaining multiple articles. Some of them are shorter than others, but all are written expressively and well and have a greater meaning that the author has found. That is what you are to be looking for. Write only about these 2 things - not what the story is about. I picked it; I know what it is about.

These are summaries of all of the articles that you CAN read for credit. You do not have to read all of them.
1. The Crocodile Hunter by Terri Irwin – The story of how the Crocodile Hunter and his wife met is a tale of love, happiness, and the reflections of how one person can change the life of another person. Not just that, it’s the story of a person that we all know (the Crocodile Hunter) and an even more human reflection of who he was.
2. Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell – The story of how Orwell served as a police officer in Burma and was asked to “do his job” despite the fact that he was morally repulsed by his title. In the midst of this, he is faced with the responsibility and the hate of those that he serves in his quest to metaphorically and actually kill a rampaging elephant.
3. Lonely at the Top by Steve Friedman – a magazine article where the author expresses his desire to get away from society and philosophically convene with his true self, but in the end, he actually just finds that his true self is more about his Family Guy DVDs than it is about classic literature and nature.
4. The Write Stuff by Buster Olney – a Yankees beat writer (I can be fair and balanced!) recounts a nostalgic tale about growing up to love baseball as told from memories of being the expert autograph hunter.
5. A School for Warriors by Marcus Luttrell – The beginning of his Navy SEAL training. If you find yourself at Barnes and Nobles, you can also read chapter 5, which is the end of his SEAL training. I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who can do physical, intellectual, and social things that I can’t. Luttrell is to be admired for all that he went through to protect US freedom as well as to become the best that he could be.
6. An Apostle of Basketball Jesus by Bill Simmons – The best humorous sportswriter in the business. While Peter Gammons writes incredibly in a straightforward factual manner, Bill is all about Boston area nostalgia and pop culture references in reminiscing about growing up as a Larry Bird fan. I can definitely relate since my dad is every bit the Bird fan that I am the Mcgwire fan.
7. Orchid Fever by Susan Orlean – This is the New Yorker story that became the book entitled The Orchid Thief, which later became the Nick Cage / Charlie Kaufman movie called Adaptation. A good story for rare flower lovers, true crime aficionados, or future psychologists as John Laroche is definitely a “unique” character.
8. You Are Here by Chuck Palahniuk – The author of Fight Club completely agrees with your teacher when it comes to the concept of selling life gone awry stories for cash. Unlike your teacher, he can relate from his real life experience about the concept of going to conventions to sell stories while also telling about the hit or (mostly) miss world of becoming a famous writer.
9. What I’ve Learned by Bryan Anderson – A former Army soldier recounts the horrible tale of losing 2 legs and his left arm in an IED explosion that almost killed him. Nevertheless, instead of being miserable and dejected, Anderson finds strength and purpose in life despite having only 1 limb left. If I could be this positive, my life would be much better than it is. Anderson is a true hero in every form.
10. My Summit Problem by Aron Ralston – The followup to the video that we watch in class. Aron finished the 14ers! Yep, it’s just another chance to read about my personal hero, but alas, any opportunity to be inspired by the toughness of Aron is a good thing.
11. The Truth About Barry Bonds and Steroids by Mark Fainaru Wada and Lance Williams – This is an excerpt from Game of Shadows, the sports altering tell all that combines ethics, sports, criminal justice, and the quest for greatness into one horrific expression that sees the end of any perception of baseball, track, and football’s innocence.
12. Cannibals at Cowboy Wash by Jennifer Marlar and Richard Marlar – If for no other reason to say that you learned “crap” today, you can see how molecular biology applies to archaeology and solving riddles written in history.
13. Death of an Innocent by Jon Krakauer – the tale of Christopher McCandless that became the book and movie Into the Wild expresses how a young man gave up everything to live by a higher moral purpose while becoming Nietzsche’s Uberman in the remote Alaska wilderness. His death gives way to questions and tragedy in the life of all of those that it touches while all the while inspiring people to live by their own power instead of drowning in a sense of entitlement.
14. The Noble Experiment by Jackie Robinson – I could never imagine having to sit back and endure racist garbage without retaliating for a 3-year period, but Jackie took it all in and carried the future of sports integration and civil rights on his back until 1950 when he safely paved the road for all future athletes of non-white races. This autobiography tells about how he came to be faced with the question and the challenge that came before him.
15. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – The final chapter of this book details what it means to walk in the woods and what constitutes success. Bryson and his out of shape former high school friend Katz traverse the Appalachian trail in the outback of Maine and wrestle with the decision of what it means to have hiked the trail in this mix of humor and purpose in life story.
16. Amy’s Mom, the Fairy, and the Hedge Clippers / For the Birds by Laurie Notaro – Laurie is basically your friend that just can’t get it together, but still is a good-hearted person with an incredible ability to storytell. These 2 humorous accounts reflect her dealings with her 2 neighbor kids whose misadventures show her a humanity that she otherwise had no knowledge that she had.
17. September 23, 1989 by Chuck Klosterman – From his classic novel Fargo, Rock City, Klosterman takes you on a narcissistic and nostalgic journey to the time that his bank screwed up and deposited additional money in his account. Since it was a large sum of money and it kept finding its way into his account in greater quantities and because he inquired about this twice and it still happened, Klosterman did what any kid would do – spend the money on the subconscious orders of Gene Simmons’ lyrics! I think you can imagine where it goes from here.
18. Hip Hop Planet by James McBride – A jazz loving sociologist reflects the hypocrisy of his lack of understanding of hip hop and proceeds to come to terms with its validity through its history.
19. The Learning Curve by David Sedaris – Have you ever overestimated your talents and abilities because the price is right? David Sedaris did when he took a job as a creative writing teacher at an adult training facility. While his writing is hilarious, his ability to educate students is less than stellar. You can guess where this is going from here.
20. Excerpts from Songbook / Excerpt from High Fidelity by Nick Hornby – A music loving Brit writes fictionally and in retrospective of music’s place in his life. High Fidelity was a movie starring Jack Black and John Cusack and this section discusses how making a good mix tape is an art and how it needs to be planned out. Yes, it’s a subtle attempt to get you to understand how papers need to be planned.
21. Introduction to the Civil War series by Shelby Foote – anyone who can write about one topic in super detail for 20 years and create the definitive resource on the topic is worth listening to or reading about. If for no other reason than to see the 2 greatest compliments that he received, this article is well worth reading.
22. Chapter 1 from I Was Right on Time by Buck O’ Neill – That I never got to meet Buck is one of the things that I can’t take back, but I do have his book, his bobblehead, and his video reflections in the Ken Burns series, so I can remember how much he contributed to getting fellow Negro Leagues players into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. This chapter is the altruistic tale of a man attempting to get his fellow teammates into the immortality of baseball’s highest shrine. For the tales of Satchell Paige that are reflected by the kindly old grandfather, this chapter is well worth the read.
23. The Aunties by Anne Lamott – reflections of a woman concerning her coming to grips with the fact that she is no longer a young woman. Nevertheless, her understanding and love of her body is greater than the teenagers who conform to society’s acceptance of what beauty is – while all the while loathing their place in the world. An alternating vision of laughter and the sadness that many people have been reduced to.
24. This is How We Lost to the White Man by Ta-Nehisi Coates – The complexities of Bill Cosby’s recent political speeches are reflected amidst the world of African American identity politics and history. This article is from the Atlantic, and while it is long, it provides an introspective journey into the author’s understanding of the misunderstood comic and social activist.
25. Ty Cobb by Al Stump - For those who like to read about dysfunctional people, Cobb was the most ornery scumbag to ever achieve on the baseball diamond. For all he did on the field, he betrayed everyone in life. This is the story of Stump having to get the info for Cobb's biography and the ordeal that he went through.
26. Mexico's Other Border by Cynthia Gorney - The effects of Mexico's other border on illegal immigration is told compassionately by National Geographic. There are many good articles and essays on the topic of immigration and before people condemn the U.S.'s policy, it is the belief of this teacher that you need to understand all sides. In this, I have a really good Edward Abbey article I would be willing to share with you if you are interested.
27. Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl - What it meant to see, experience, and survive a concentration camp and somehow come away with a clearer purpose in life. Frankly is another of my personal heroes for his decision to choose to live.
28. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe - What it meant to be a fighter pilot and NASA astronaut in a time when prop planes were moving to jet planes and WW2 was taking place all around the pilot in question. This is the first chapter that romanticizes the danger and the glory of pushing the envelope and fighting the demon in the sky.
29. Ghosts of the Eck by Charlie Adams - Adams is a local enthusiast for all things Berks County. He is especially knowledgable on stories of the paranormal. Many students like these things, and therefore, reading his expressions and connections to this could be very beneficial.
30. Jarhead by Anthony Swofford - Not for the easily upsettable. Not a politically correct watered-down account of what it's like to be a Marine, but rather the last few pages of a book that describes what it feels like to train to be a Marine, to go to war, to see the true expression of war, and to know that said Marine never got to "fire a shot." In the end, this is for better or worse. You decide based on Swofford's words.
31. Breaker Boys by David Fleming - The greatest game ever played by the Pottsville Maroons and Notre Dame 4 Horseman. Football and local history combine as evil forces conspire to ruin Pottsville's chance for the first ever NFL championship after Tony Latone and crew change the face of the game forever. One thing you'll come to see quickly is that this isn't your NFL. Soon to be a movie, but before that, it should be a must read for you!!
32. AND...

Celebrate your local football heritage.

Here, you can see the story of the Pottsville Maroons - the NFL's first championship team in 1925.

Homework for Friday is only to study grammar, write journals, and figure out what topic you want for your 2nd and 3rd essays.

If you haven't turned in your essay, you NEED to do that.