Et Tu, Brute?

We wondered whether "brutal" came from Brutus, of Julius Caesar fame. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (which you can access with your KCLS library cards here!), "brutal" comes from the Latin brutus and was first used in English around 1500, but the noun and adjective "brute" shows up earlier, in 1475.  I can't find any evidence that English uses brutal because of Brutus's name, but the connection is exactly the sort of meaningful connotative observation that AP scholars should make. ;-)

And be careful! The OED is a very dangerous place for a logophile to get lost.

Medea and Eurydice on stage!

Seattle Shakespeare is performing Medea right now, through November 13! See link here!
(would be fantastic if you've chosen to read Medea for your November MOR!)

Also you can maybe get day-of-show $5 tickets if you sign up through Teen Tix.

Also, Seattle Pacific University is performing a modernized version of the Eurydice and Orpheus myth Nov. 10-12 and 17-19.  Only $12 for students!

Medea: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/976x549_b/p019203t.jpg

November MOR (due Dec. 1)

A list of all works that have been suggested on the AP exam since 1971 can be found at this link (most frequently recommended works are also listed at the bottom).

For November, please read a Classical text (another Greek play such as Electra or Medea [see here for list], or the Aeneid, etc. The Aeneid is the epic poem about Aeneas, who leads the remnants of the Trojan people; they flee the destruction of Troy and go found the city of Rome.)

Remember to write 4 entries per person, with at least 250 words per entry, analyzing quotations and literary devices, and discussing each other's questions. Remember to deal with the significance of the work's ending. Thanks!

(There will be no MOR required during December.)

http://lowres.cartoonstock.com/theatre-greek-ancient_greek-ancient_greece-rome-roman-shr0533_low.jpg

Crime and Punishment Reading Card

Let's complete this first reading card as a class--future cards will be completed individually, because you'll remember your understanding of the books better if you put the notes in your own words.

1) Go to this Google Sheets document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PaCt94XW47eCobqwM3VU1TWqbcqwmMrp9Zyd5l37BcM/edit?usp=sharing

2) Locate which topic(s) you have been assigned. Thoughtfully and thoroughly add notes about that topic as it functions toward theme in Crime and Punishment.  If there is a useful C&P quote that illustrates your notes, you should include it, but quotations are not required.

3) Due before school Wednesday.

Music Mondays

Music is literature, and musicians use the same literary devices to develop their purposes. See these examples for ways in which lit devices in lyrics can be analyze to show how they are supporting the son's message/theme/tone/etc. Enjoy!

Simile & Metaphor  / "Screen Door"
Aesthetic / "November"
Connotation / "Let It Be"
Hyperbole and Diction / "A Thousand Years" / Notes

October MOR (Due Nov. 1)

http://blog.paperblanks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2008-the-wild-swans.jpg

Please partner up and read a Contemporary novel for your first MOR partner dialogue. As you read, you should write four entries each (approx. 250 words per entry), conversing with each other as you go, to analyze the text. Please refer to quotations from the text and include at least one question for your partner in each entry.  Your dialogues may be informally composed (I/you/contractions ok), but they should also demonstrate that you are reading deeply and keeping an eye on how the lit devices that we are studying show up and help create deeper meaning. Don't forget to discuss the ending!

You should post these dialogues on one of your blogs. For example, Jordan might make the first entry by posting on his blog, and then the rest of his and his partner's entries would be posted as comments on that first post. (I highly recommend composing the posts in Word or another program first, however, as it is easy to lose track of spelling, word count, and even whole pages of content if one composes in the blogspot space itself.)

A list of all works that have been suggested ON the AP exam since 1971 can be found at this link (most frequently recommended works are also listed at the bottom). You may, of course, read a novel that is not on this list, but please make sure it is of sufficient literary merit that you might be able to use it on the open essay question of the AP test. If you would like any advice, I've got plenty!

For October, a "contemporary" novel will be one published after approximately 1950 (the novel 1984, published in 1948, would count!).

Click here for a fuller discussion of what "contemporary fiction" means today.

Understanding your type

In addition to the websites listed in #8 of the "Creating a Blog" post, here is some key info for understanding your letters:

Information about the four categories of M-B letters:
How do you recharge when you're tired?  With people, or by yourself?
E= extrovert (you gather energy by being with people)
I = introvert (you gather energy by being by yourself)

What kind of information do you trust and employ?
N = intuitive (you're comfortable with theories, philosophies, and hypotheses-- more abstract ideas)
S = sensing (you're comfortable with information you can experience through your five senses-- basically, stuff you can see and hear; hard facts.)

How do you make decisions?
F= feeling (you are an emotional decision maker)
T = thinking (you are a logical decision maker)

What is your work tendency?
J = judging (You are detail oriented, love organization, and appreciate plans and structure)
P = perceiving (You are more big-picture, are comfortable improvising on the fly, and enjoy impromptu adventures.  You like variation rather than routines, and may struggle with the details of a project’s execution.)