This is where I feel the campus closure. In an ordinary year, this
would be my favorite weekend. I'd be curating everyone's Masterpiece
Academy presentations, reading final essays, and heading into a week of
feasting, reflection, and celebration with you all.
Instead, I'm back on the course blog, wondering where/how you are.
Thanks
to those of you who have contributed pieces for "Surviving With Class."
I'm beginning to stitch those together into one document that we can
edit and share on Monday.
Thanks to those of you who have posted your final reflection, and/or gotten in touch with me about final grades.
I'm
writing today because there are things happening in the world that
directly affect our lives. As a teacher, a father, and a caring human
being, I cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that racism, violence, and
economic inequality continue to plague our country and our community. We
need to discuss this. Please comment to this post with any ideas you
want to share, or questions you'd like to ask, and I will make space in
Monday's 1:00 meeting for this.
Please plan on attending either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday at 1:00.
And
understand: racism and inequality isn't something that happens to other
people. There is no "them" -- even racists are different versions of
us. As painful as they are, this is also about more than the deaths of
George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubery, and Breonna Taylor, and so many other
people of color who have suffered at the hands of those sworn to protect
and serve. The pandemic is not evenly distributed. People of color, and
especially poor people of color, are suffering disproportionately. If
we are ever going to get anywhere with regard to healing and improving
this country's tradition of racism, we must speak to it and act on our
convictions. NOW.
Having said all that, I hope you and your families are well and enjoying a peaceful weekend. See you Monday.
Saturday, May 30, 2020
may 29 w online meeting #47
For your MOM: [If you haven't been doing a minute of mindfulness each
day -- if you've been telling yourself you're too busy, you're too
stressed, it doesn't matter, whatever-- stop cheating yourself. Give yourself the gift of a minute. Better yet, give yourself 5-10.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: Today it's foggy and overcast where I live. But here on the central coast we have microclimates, so the weather might be different a few miles away. The same is true with how people are treating the coronavirus. In some communities, people are being really careful and maintaining social distance and cleaning protocols, and in other communities people are getting together without masks. What's the weather -- and the attitude -- like where you live?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we talked about the idea (which originated as a quote in Shakespeare's Hamlet) that, "Brevity is the soul of wit." What does this mean? How do you see the relationship between the power of language and how much language we use to express ourselves? (title: BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF WIT)
JOURNAL TOPIC: Today it's foggy and overcast where I live. But here on the central coast we have microclimates, so the weather might be different a few miles away. The same is true with how people are treating the coronavirus. In some communities, people are being really careful and maintaining social distance and cleaning protocols, and in other communities people are getting together without masks. What's the weather -- and the attitude -- like where you live?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we talked about the idea (which originated as a quote in Shakespeare's Hamlet) that, "Brevity is the soul of wit." What does this mean? How do you see the relationship between the power of language and how much language we use to express ourselves? (title: BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF WIT)
Friday, May 29, 2020
final spring semester grades
Hi. I know there has been a lot of confusion about grades, and I have received emails from some of you, so just to clarify:
- Credit/No Credit is the default grade everyone will be receiving, unless they specifically request letter grades
- UNLESS they have a grade of A or A-, in which case I took the liberty of entering the letter grade
- So
- If you have a B, and you want that on your transcript, please contact me (via comment to this post or email) and let me know.
- Also please contact me if you have any questions or need clarification.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
may 28 w online meeting #46
For your MOM: [If you haven't been doing a minute of mindfulness each
day -- if you've been telling yourself you're too busy, you're too
stressed, it doesn't matter, whatever-- stop cheating yourself. Give yourself the gift of a minute. Better yet, give yourself 5-10.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: In a normal year, everyone would be gearing up for finals week and eyeing the exits for summer. How do you feel about the end of school this year? Are you looking forward to having a break for summer vacation?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we read and discussed two poems by Emily Dickinson: "Hope is the thing with feathers" and "Because I could not stop for death." The poems deal with vastly different subjects, but they also have some things in common: 1) they reify abstract ideas through the use of metaphor, b) they use figurative language to paint pictures in the mind of the reader, and c) they use specific meters to create a sense of rhyme and rhythm. Perhaps most importantly, they both deal with topics that exist in all our lives. Over this time period, hope seems especially important. Please read both and post your thoughts (title: THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON)
JOURNAL TOPIC: In a normal year, everyone would be gearing up for finals week and eyeing the exits for summer. How do you feel about the end of school this year? Are you looking forward to having a break for summer vacation?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we read and discussed two poems by Emily Dickinson: "Hope is the thing with feathers" and "Because I could not stop for death." The poems deal with vastly different subjects, but they also have some things in common: 1) they reify abstract ideas through the use of metaphor, b) they use figurative language to paint pictures in the mind of the reader, and c) they use specific meters to create a sense of rhyme and rhythm. Perhaps most importantly, they both deal with topics that exist in all our lives. Over this time period, hope seems especially important. Please read both and post your thoughts (title: THE POEMS OF EMILY DICKINSON)
final grading
As everyone is considering Credit/No Credit versus Grades this week,
I'm mindful that we are ending this most unusual semester without the
benefit of sharing a feast, celebrating, and adjourning our learning
journey together.
Since we won't have the opportunity to talk in person, I am asking that each of you publish one last post on your blog, in which you reflect on what you've learned this year. REMINDER: your learning includes what we studied together, but it also includes what you have experienced throughout the year, including these last few months.
Here is a suggested title and an outline for you to follow. As always, you are free to build on this and include anything else you think is important. I look forward to reading your thoughts. I will enter final grades on Aeries Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
(title: FINAL REFLECTION FOR AMERICAN LITERATURE 2019-2020)
"This year was unlike any other..."
1. From the beginning, what made our course different than any other course you have ever taken?
2. As you look back on our experience together, what did you find most meaningful?
3. As you consider the work you've done, what are you most proud of?
4. Is there anything you wish you would have done differently, or better?
5. As you look forward, what did you learn in this course that will help you for the future?
6. Are you choosing the Credit/No Credit option, or a grade? If you're choosing a grade, what grade do you believe you've earned? Why?
Since we won't have the opportunity to talk in person, I am asking that each of you publish one last post on your blog, in which you reflect on what you've learned this year. REMINDER: your learning includes what we studied together, but it also includes what you have experienced throughout the year, including these last few months.
Here is a suggested title and an outline for you to follow. As always, you are free to build on this and include anything else you think is important. I look forward to reading your thoughts. I will enter final grades on Aeries Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
(title: FINAL REFLECTION FOR AMERICAN LITERATURE 2019-2020)
"This year was unlike any other..."
1. From the beginning, what made our course different than any other course you have ever taken?
2. As you look back on our experience together, what did you find most meaningful?
3. As you consider the work you've done, what are you most proud of?
4. Is there anything you wish you would have done differently, or better?
5. As you look forward, what did you learn in this course that will help you for the future?
6. Are you choosing the Credit/No Credit option, or a grade? If you're choosing a grade, what grade do you believe you've earned? Why?
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
may 27 w online meeting #45
For your MOM: [If you haven't been doing a minute of mindfulness each
day -- if you've been telling yourself you're too busy, you're too
stressed, it doesn't matter, whatever-- stop cheating yourself. Give yourself the gift of a minute. Better yet, give yourself 5-10.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: If you could travel anywhere in the world this week, where would you go?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we read "The Monkey's Paw" (click the title to read if you missed it, or watch the recording below). The theme we discussed is that we should be careful what we wish for, because we might GET it. This might seem illogical - shouldn't we wish for the things we want, and hope that we get them? Isn't that the whole point of wishing? The thing is, sometimes the things we wish for come to us in ways we would never wish for (this is where you should read the story for a powerful example). So, today's post is this: either in a nonfiction essay/reflection, OR in a fiction story, describe what happens when an SMHS student goes to sleep on March 13 wishing for no more school this year. And gets her wish, in the form of a pandemic.
JOURNAL TOPIC: If you could travel anywhere in the world this week, where would you go?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we read "The Monkey's Paw" (click the title to read if you missed it, or watch the recording below). The theme we discussed is that we should be careful what we wish for, because we might GET it. This might seem illogical - shouldn't we wish for the things we want, and hope that we get them? Isn't that the whole point of wishing? The thing is, sometimes the things we wish for come to us in ways we would never wish for (this is where you should read the story for a powerful example). So, today's post is this: either in a nonfiction essay/reflection, OR in a fiction story, describe what happens when an SMHS student goes to sleep on March 13 wishing for no more school this year. And gets her wish, in the form of a pandemic.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
may 26 w online meeting #44
For your MOM: [If you haven't been doing a minute of mindfulness each day -- if you've been telling yourself you're too busy, you're too stressed, it doesn't matter, whatever-- stop cheating yourself. Give yourself the gift of a minute. Better yet, give yourself 5-10.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: What do you make of all the craziness out there?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we decided to take it easy today. Most of you have writing to do, whether that's your journal, your blog, "Surviving With Class," your Big Question, or your final reflection blog post. Our "meeting" lasted just a few minutes, and you don't have a new post today. Hope to see you and/or hear from you -- we're meeting again at 1:00 tomorrow.
JOURNAL TOPIC: What do you make of all the craziness out there?
- OR -
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we decided to take it easy today. Most of you have writing to do, whether that's your journal, your blog, "Surviving With Class," your Big Question, or your final reflection blog post. Our "meeting" lasted just a few minutes, and you don't have a new post today. Hope to see you and/or hear from you -- we're meeting again at 1:00 tomorrow.
final grades
Have you posted anything on your blog since March 13?
Have you written anything for "Surviving With Class"?
Have you written a final reflection about what you learned from this course, this year, this pandemic?
Have you let me know whether you want Credit/No Credit or a letter grade?
Asking for a friend who is entering grades this week.
Have you written anything for "Surviving With Class"?
Have you written a final reflection about what you learned from this course, this year, this pandemic?
Have you let me know whether you want Credit/No Credit or a letter grade?
Asking for a friend who is entering grades this week.
Friday, May 22, 2020
may 22 w online meeting #43
For our MOM: [Close your eyes. Feel your feet on the floor. Remember that the past is past, the future hasn't happened yet, and the only thing that matters right now is this moment. Give yourself the gift of the full 60 seconds.]
JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe the ultimate sandwich. Type of bread? Ingredients? Condiments? Make us drool.
(Full disclosure: if I'm buying the ultimate sandwich, I'm heading for a French Dip at Phillippe's in LA, or a Godmother at Bay Cities in Santa Monica, or a pastrami at The Refuge in San Carlos, or a Reuben at Brent's Deli in Northridge, or a gator po' boy at the New Orleans Jazz Festival; if I'm making my own, it's the one my kids call the "World's Greatest" -- King's Hawaiian rolls smeared with pesto, then salami, turkey, & provolone. I've never published that before. You're welcome.)
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we decided to celebrate together for the rest of the semester. This will take the form of bringing short stories and poems to our meetings, so that we can trade ideas and authors and learn from each other. In today's post, make a list of the top three poems, short stories, books, and/or plays you've ever read. (title: MY TOP THREE)
JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe the ultimate sandwich. Type of bread? Ingredients? Condiments? Make us drool.
(Full disclosure: if I'm buying the ultimate sandwich, I'm heading for a French Dip at Phillippe's in LA, or a Godmother at Bay Cities in Santa Monica, or a pastrami at The Refuge in San Carlos, or a Reuben at Brent's Deli in Northridge, or a gator po' boy at the New Orleans Jazz Festival; if I'm making my own, it's the one my kids call the "World's Greatest" -- King's Hawaiian rolls smeared with pesto, then salami, turkey, & provolone. I've never published that before. You're welcome.)
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today on Zoom we decided to celebrate together for the rest of the semester. This will take the form of bringing short stories and poems to our meetings, so that we can trade ideas and authors and learn from each other. In today's post, make a list of the top three poems, short stories, books, and/or plays you've ever read. (title: MY TOP THREE)
may 21 w online meeting #42
For our MOM: [Pick a spot on the wall. Try to bore a hole through it with your eyes. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST: Compare the dialogue in the section we read today, between Lieutenant Scheisskopf, Major Metcalf, and Clevinger, with the dialogue between Abbott & Costello in their comedy routine "Who's On First" (video at bottom). Why does Joseph Heller create this style of ridiculous dialogue? Usually people talk to each other because they want to understand and be understood. Metcalf and Scheisskopf say things that make no sense and contradict each other -- and occasionally even themselves! (title: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?)
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST: Compare the dialogue in the section we read today, between Lieutenant Scheisskopf, Major Metcalf, and Clevinger, with the dialogue between Abbott & Costello in their comedy routine "Who's On First" (video at bottom). Why does Joseph Heller create this style of ridiculous dialogue? Usually people talk to each other because they want to understand and be understood. Metcalf and Scheisskopf say things that make no sense and contradict each other -- and occasionally even themselves! (title: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?)
Thursday, May 21, 2020
may 20 w online meeting #41
For our MOM: [Pick a spot on the wall. Try to bore a hole through it with your eyes. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In yesterday's reading we discussed Lieutenant Scheisskopf, whose name is German, and means, um, er... why did author Joseph Heller have so much fun with names in this book? What is his tone toward the characters, and what was he trying to tell readers? (title: WHAT'S IN A NAME)
A SPECIAL NOTE TO STUDENTS WHO TOOK THE AP EXAM YESTERDAY:
Hi y'all, CONGRATULATIONS on completing the 2020 AP exam! I hope you felt confident and successful. Thanks to those of you who joined the today's zoom call and shared your experiences. Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will discuss "Surviving With Class," final projects, grades, and course evaluations. If there's time after that we will continue with Catch-22. Needless to say, this has become a very, er, interesting year, and I'm proud of you for persevering.
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In yesterday's reading we discussed Lieutenant Scheisskopf, whose name is German, and means, um, er... why did author Joseph Heller have so much fun with names in this book? What is his tone toward the characters, and what was he trying to tell readers? (title: WHAT'S IN A NAME)
A SPECIAL NOTE TO STUDENTS WHO TOOK THE AP EXAM YESTERDAY:
Hi y'all, CONGRATULATIONS on completing the 2020 AP exam! I hope you felt confident and successful. Thanks to those of you who joined the today's zoom call and shared your experiences. Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow (Thursday) we will discuss "Surviving With Class," final projects, grades, and course evaluations. If there's time after that we will continue with Catch-22. Needless to say, this has become a very, er, interesting year, and I'm proud of you for persevering.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
for you to use before and during the AP exam
You're ready. You're confident. I believe in you. Please read this and feel free to get in touch with any last-minute questions. Let us know how it goes!
Monday, May 18, 2020
may 18 w online meeting #40
For our MOM: [Pick a spot on the wall. Try to bore a hole through it with your eyes. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading, Yossarian toyed with Milo about his "syndrome." Why does Yossarian like his syndrome and want to keep it? (title: TOO SICK - OR WELL - TO DIE)
JOURNAL TOPIC: If school opened tomorrow, would you and your family trust it to be safe? Why/why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading, Yossarian toyed with Milo about his "syndrome." Why does Yossarian like his syndrome and want to keep it? (title: TOO SICK - OR WELL - TO DIE)
AP exam identifications
We're two days away, so according to the College Board you should be
receiving your ID's. Please comment or email if you need anything or
have questions. Good luck on Game Day!
SO EXCITED!!!
Special Edition of Family Story Time today, featuring at least one very special guest star from...
my family!
Join us at 3:00 P.M. All family members ages 0-199 welcome. Here is the invite:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Family Story Time
Time: May 18, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86473787220?pwd=OGJvQVZYcWN2Z2ptY1Z3MjBzempBUT09
Meeting ID: 864 7378 7220
Password: 604061
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,86473787220#,,1#,604061# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,86473787220#,,1#,604061# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 864 7378 7220
Password: 604061
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kg2058gGs
my family!
Join us at 3:00 P.M. All family members ages 0-199 welcome. Here is the invite:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Family Story Time
Time: May 18, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86473787220?pwd=OGJvQVZYcWN2Z2ptY1Z3MjBzempBUT09
Meeting ID: 864 7378 7220
Password: 604061
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,86473787220#,,1#,604061# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,86473787220#,,1#,604061# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 864 7378 7220
Password: 604061
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kg2058gGs
Saturday, May 16, 2020
caption contest
Write your caption for this photograph in a comment to this post. The best one will receive an A.
For life.
new pages for final projects & catch-22
Please check out the newest pages on the course blog, and comment or email if you have any questions.
CATCH-22
FINAL PROJECTS
CATCH-22
FINAL PROJECTS
may 15 w online meeting #39
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. Close your eyes. Let
your thoughts float away like leaves on the surface of a stream, until
all that's left is this moment. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: If the government gave every employer enough money to get through the pandemic without firing anyone -- so that everyone had job security and their regular paycheck -- how would life be different for you right now?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading we met Hungry Joe, the first character who is (at least sort of) like the traditional soldier in books and movies. He is described as a hero who has flown more missions than anyone -- but when he doesn't get sent home, he stops celebrating. First he loses his temper and then, if his nightly nightmares are any indication, he loses his mind. On p. 39, we read: "And suddenly it all made sense. Why not every night, indeed? It made sense to cry out in pain every night."
What does this passage mean? What made sense? (title: HUNGRY JOE MAKES SENSE)
JOURNAL TOPIC: If the government gave every employer enough money to get through the pandemic without firing anyone -- so that everyone had job security and their regular paycheck -- how would life be different for you right now?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading we met Hungry Joe, the first character who is (at least sort of) like the traditional soldier in books and movies. He is described as a hero who has flown more missions than anyone -- but when he doesn't get sent home, he stops celebrating. First he loses his temper and then, if his nightly nightmares are any indication, he loses his mind. On p. 39, we read: "And suddenly it all made sense. Why not every night, indeed? It made sense to cry out in pain every night."
What does this passage mean? What made sense? (title: HUNGRY JOE MAKES SENSE)
Friday, May 15, 2020
AP prep meeting today 2:00
Hi,
Today is our last AP exam prep meeting. Please join on zoom at 2:00! Here is the info:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: AP prep meeting
Time: May 15, 2020 02:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87057260545?pwd=M3g3QXFRc045Vk0rUXYySFJNMDUydz09
Meeting ID: 870 5726 0545
Password: 408437
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,87057260545#,,1#,408437# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,87057260545#,,1#,408437# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 870 5726 0545
Password: 408437
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb5Y2A91tc
Today is our last AP exam prep meeting. Please join on zoom at 2:00! Here is the info:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: AP prep meeting
Time: May 15, 2020 02:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87057260545?pwd=M3g3QXFRc045Vk0rUXYySFJNMDUydz09
Meeting ID: 870 5726 0545
Password: 408437
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,87057260545#,,1#,408437# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,87057260545#,,1#,408437# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 870 5726 0545
Password: 408437
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kb5Y2A91tc
reminder: family story time at 3:00 today
Hi,
If you have a younger sibling (or your abuela really loves Dr. Seuss!), please plan on joining us today at 3:00 for this week's installment of family story time.
Here is the zoom invitation:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Family Story Time
Time: May 15, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83142643329?pwd=Z3FGZ3ZJY0JBRHlFV2NBMEpNc0lPUT09
Meeting ID: 831 4264 3329
Password: 858446
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,83142643329#,,1#,858446# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,83142643329#,,1#,858446# US (Houston)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 831 4264 3329
Password: 858446
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kevaGiJz2P
If you have a younger sibling (or your abuela really loves Dr. Seuss!), please plan on joining us today at 3:00 for this week's installment of family story time.
Here is the zoom invitation:
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Family Story Time
Time: May 15, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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Thursday, May 14, 2020
may 14 w online meeting #38
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. Close your eyes. Let
your thoughts float away like leaves on the surface of a stream, until
all that's left is this moment. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: Who do you trust? Why? Who don't you trust? Why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading we saw Doc Daneeka complain about trust -- when he was lying -- and we learned exactly what the Catch-22 is. In your own words, explain the Catch-22. (title: CATCH-22)
JOURNAL TOPIC: Who do you trust? Why? Who don't you trust? Why not?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
In today's reading we saw Doc Daneeka complain about trust -- when he was lying -- and we learned exactly what the Catch-22 is. In your own words, explain the Catch-22. (title: CATCH-22)
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
may 13 w online meeting #37
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. Close your eyes. Let your thoughts float away like leaves on the surface of a stream, until all that's left is this moment. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: Describe something you've done that made time go by so sloooowwwwlllyyy that you thought it would never end. What do you think caused this impression? (And, if you've been joining us or following the reading, do you agree with Dunbar on the subject?)
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
The narrator in T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" seems like he's stuck. Eliot uses imagery to convey the idea that time, and love, and a personal sense of fulfillment is passing the narrator by. Choose a simile or a metaphor from the poem. Explain how it contributes to the tone or theme of the poem. (title: I SAW THE ETERNAL FOOTMAN)
JOURNAL TOPIC: Describe something you've done that made time go by so sloooowwwwlllyyy that you thought it would never end. What do you think caused this impression? (And, if you've been joining us or following the reading, do you agree with Dunbar on the subject?)
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
The narrator in T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" seems like he's stuck. Eliot uses imagery to convey the idea that time, and love, and a personal sense of fulfillment is passing the narrator by. Choose a simile or a metaphor from the poem. Explain how it contributes to the tone or theme of the poem. (title: I SAW THE ETERNAL FOOTMAN)
the love song of j. alfred prufrock
Yesterday we read about T.S. Eliot in Catch-22. Here is one of Eliot's most famous works:
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
By T. S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
By T. S. Eliot
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—
If one, settling a pillow by her head
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
may 12 w online meeting #36
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. This moment. Think, or don't. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: [Choose your own.]
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today we read about Colonel Korn's "genius policy" -- the only people permitted to ask questions were those who never did." What effect do you imagine this would have? Does it remind you of school? (title: KILLING THE CURIOUS CATS)
JOURNAL TOPIC: [Choose your own.]
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Today we read about Colonel Korn's "genius policy" -- the only people permitted to ask questions were those who never did." What effect do you imagine this would have? Does it remind you of school? (title: KILLING THE CURIOUS CATS)
Monday, May 11, 2020
may 11 w online meeting #35
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. This moment. Think, or don't. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: You don't have to look too hard to find bad news these days, so today practice looking at life from a different perspective. What's the best thing about the pandemic?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Yossarian says everyone is out to kill him. Why does Clevinger tell Yossarian he's crazy? Do you agree? (title: CRAZY LIKE A FOX)
JOURNAL TOPIC: You don't have to look too hard to find bad news these days, so today practice looking at life from a different perspective. What's the best thing about the pandemic?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Yossarian says everyone is out to kill him. Why does Clevinger tell Yossarian he's crazy? Do you agree? (title: CRAZY LIKE A FOX)
new zoom invitation
GAH! My Zoom account recycled, so when I just went online (it's 1:00) to start the meeting, it wasn't there!
Here is the new invitation. I'll be on for a while, please join ASAP.
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Dr. Preston's English Courses
Time: May 11, 2020 01:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Every day, until Jun 4, 2020, 25 occurrence(s)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76079306264?pwd=V1BiTGdGdjNWL2pHZ1ltT0I4eDVkQT09
Meeting ID: 760 7930 6264
Password: 0AD4DG
Here is the new invitation. I'll be on for a while, please join ASAP.
David Preston is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Dr. Preston's English Courses
Time: May 11, 2020 01:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Every day, until Jun 4, 2020, 25 occurrence(s)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76079306264?pwd=V1BiTGdGdjNWL2pHZ1ltT0I4eDVkQT09
Meeting ID: 760 7930 6264
Password: 0AD4DG
may 8 w online meeting #34
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. This moment. Think, or don't. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC: Describe a time you were afraid to do something -- for all the right reasons. In other words, describe a time that a healthy sense of fear led you to make a good decision.
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
When Heller describes the men in the army hospital, he describes them as dishonorable and deceitful -- why? And how does he manage to get across the idea that they are somehow innocent and decent after all? How does this make any sense? (title: LIFE DURING WARTIME)
JOURNAL TOPIC: Describe a time you were afraid to do something -- for all the right reasons. In other words, describe a time that a healthy sense of fear led you to make a good decision.
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
When Heller describes the men in the army hospital, he describes them as dishonorable and deceitful -- why? And how does he manage to get across the idea that they are somehow innocent and decent after all? How does this make any sense? (title: LIFE DURING WARTIME)
may 7 w online meeting #33
For our MOM: [Feet on the floor. fingers on knees. This moment. Think, or don't. Breathe.]
JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe a time you laughed during a moment when it was absolutely not appropriate. What got you started? Did realizing what was happening make you stop, or laugh harder?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Describe author Joseph Heller's tone toward Yossarian and the other soldiers in Catch-22. How does Heller's tone make the book more relatable, and how does it get the idea of satire across? (title: SOLDIERS OF MIS/FORTUNE)
JOURNAL TOPIC:
Describe a time you laughed during a moment when it was absolutely not appropriate. What got you started? Did realizing what was happening make you stop, or laugh harder?
-OR-
You can use your journal simply to write about life and your experiences in these unusual, challenging times.
AGENDA:
1. MOM
2. Journal
3. Meeting
4. Post
POST:
Describe author Joseph Heller's tone toward Yossarian and the other soldiers in Catch-22. How does Heller's tone make the book more relatable, and how does it get the idea of satire across? (title: SOLDIERS OF MIS/FORTUNE)
Friday, May 8, 2020
hello?
I'm on zoom -- where are you? I'll hang out until 2:10, and then you're on your own to complete the prompt.
Here's the URL: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/36641640
Here's the URL: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/36641640
this week's rhetorical analysis prompt
Please answer the following prompt in a Google doc or Microsoft Word doc and share with me via email no later than Monday, May 11. I will prepare individual and group feedback, and share a notes handout that you can use on the exam in our next -- and last -- zoom prep meeting on May 15.
(NOTE: In the prompt below, the College Board provides a link for you to read the text that it asks you to analyze. To save you time, I have provided the text beneath the embedded prompt document, so you can simply scroll down to read the text and answer the question.)
Please give yourself no more than 40 minutes to complete this. Remember to take a few minutes to analyze the prompt, do a pre-write, and proofread.
SMU Commencement speech
(NOTE: In the prompt below, the College Board provides a link for you to read the text that it asks you to analyze. To save you time, I have provided the text beneath the embedded prompt document, so you can simply scroll down to read the text and answer the question.)
Please give yourself no more than 40 minutes to complete this. Remember to take a few minutes to analyze the prompt, do a pre-write, and proofread.
SMU Commencement speech
by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
May 14, 2012
Following is a transcript of the Commencement speech give by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Southern Methodist University on May 12, 2012.
Thank you very, very much. Thank you, President Turner, for that wonderful introduction. Thank you to the chairman of your Board of Trustees, Caren Prothro, and to the faculty. Thank you for what you have done to prepare these young people for what lies ahead. To family and friends, and most especially to the graduates of the class of 2012, congratulations to you.
It’s great to be here in Mustang country. It’s wonderful to be back in
Dallas and to join you for this splendid ceremony. I do know that the
Golden Mustangs are here, but there are a few other Mustangs here as
well – or, as we affectionately call you, the Ponies. And I’ll be back
here, I can assure you, to try and watch you play, because I do love
being on a university campus.
For one thing, it reminds me of my time in a university, and today
reminds me of my time at graduation. It’s been a lot of years since that
day at Denver University, and I remember almost everything about it. I
remember how proud my parents were. I remember the closeness that I felt
to my classmates and my friends. I remember the thrill of achieving
this important goal. I do not, however, remember a single word that the
Commencement speaker said. And you won’t, either. So I promise not to
take it personally when you don’t. Because on this day, you can be
forgiven for feeling a little restless and a little proud. For many of
you, earning a degree from this great university represents a mark of
the most substantial achievement thus far in your lives. I’m sure that
it’s not going to be your last.
Instead, all of you in the class of 2012 will leave SMU with other, more lasting memories than this speech. You will remember the Boulevard, and singing during the Celebration of Lights. I’m guessing you’ll also remember late nights at Club Fondy. You’ll remember fraternity parties…well, maybe you won’t remember fraternity parties. But of all of your experiences here at SMU, none is more meaningful, of course, than the education that you’ve received in one of the nation’s most highly respected institutions.
You see, education is transformative. It literally changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated. And that is why education has always been the key to human beings and their dreams – a force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture, and unlocks every person’s potential.
This university’s mission resonates with me on a very personal level, for I’ve learned in my own life the transforming power of education. I first learned of this through stories about my paternal grandfather, a real family hero named John Wesley Rice Senior. Now, Granddaddy Rice was a sharecropper’s son in Eutaw, Alabama. And when John Wesley Rice was a young man of about 19, he decided he wanted to get book learning in a college. So he asked how a colored man could go to college. And they told him there was this little Presbyterian school called Stillman College just a few miles down the road. So he saved up his cotton to pay for his tuition, and he went off to Stillman College in Tuscaloosa.
But after the first year, they said, “Okay, so how are you going to pay for your second year?” He said, “I’m out of cotton.” They said, “You’re out of luck.” But thinking quickly, Granddaddy Rice said, “So, how are those [other] boys going to college?” And they said, “Well, you see, they have what’s called a scholarship. And if you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, you could have a scholarship, too.” Granddaddy Rice said, “You know, that is exactly what I had in mind.” And my family has been college-educated, and Presbyterian, ever since.
But you know, John Wesley Rice Senior was on to something. He knew that that education was going to allow him to become someone that he otherwise might never have even imagined. And he knew that it would resonate for generations of Rices to come. And indeed, my father would become not just college-educated but advanced-degreed, and become a university administrator as well as a Presbyterian minister. And his sister, my Aunt Theresa, would go to the University of Wisconsin in 1952, get a Ph.D. in English literature, and write books on Dickens.
Yes, indeed, my grandfather and other ancestors who endured poverty and segregation, and saw that education lifted them up, understood that it was a privilege to be educated, not a right. And so I would like to suggest to you today that that privilege brings with it several obligations and responsibilities.
The first responsibility is actually one you have to yourself, and that is the responsibility to find and follow your passion. Now, I don’t mean just any old thing that interests you, or your career. I mean something you really believe is a unique calling to you – in other words, something that you can’t live without. As an educated person, you have an opportunity to spend your life doing what you love. As you work to find your passion, you should also know that if you haven’t yet found it, it might indeed find you.
Now, that’s what happened to me, and Dr. Turner told a slightly cleaned-up version of the story, so let me tell you the real story. I started college as a music major, that is true, and I had studied music since the age of three, that too is true. But then, at the end of my sophomore year in college, I went to the Aspen Music Festival School, and I met 12-year-olds who could play from sight what it had taken me all year to learn. And I thought, “Uh-oh. I’m about to end up playing piano bar, or maybe teaching 13-year-olds to murder Beethoven, or playing at Nordstrom. But I am not going to play Carnegie Hall.”
And so I went home, and I did have that conversation with my parents that maybe some of you have had:
“Mom and Dad, I’m changing my major.”
“What are you changing your major to, dear?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t you know what you want to do with your life?”
“After all, it’s my life.”
“After all, it’s our money. Find a major.”
And so I went back to college in desperate search of a major. I had to make a quick decision, and so in the fall quarter of my junior year, I tried English literature. Now, with all due respect to the members of the English literature faculty out there, I hated it.
So now it is the winter quarter of my junior year, and I decide that state and local government – that sounds really practical. Well indeed, my little project was to interview the city water manager of Denver, the single most boring man I have met to this day. And I thought, “It’s not that, either.”
And now it is spring quarter of my junior year, and I’m getting those letters from the registrar. “You cannot register again until you declare a major.” And fortunately, I wandered into a course in international politics taught by a Soviet specialist – a man named Josef Korbel who had a daughter named Madeleine Albright. And with that one class, I was hooked. I discovered that my passion was Russian – things Russian, things international, diplomacy.
Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly what a young black girl from Birmingham was supposed to do, but it was like finding love. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew it was right. And you know something? Several years later, when I was working for President George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev was in town, President Bush asked me to take Gorbachev back out to Stanford, where he was going to California to see more of the country. I sat on the South Lawn at the White House – Gorbachev, his wife, the Secret Service and me – and I thought, “I’m really glad I changed my major.”
But you know, the story doesn’t really end there, because your passion can sometimes be a second passion; but those first passions never leave you, either. And indeed, as National Security Advisor, Yo-Yo Ma did call me, and he asked if I would play with him for the National Medal of the Arts. And of course I said yes. But I was not confused. I was not playing with Yo-Yo Ma because I was the world’s greatest pianist. I was playing with Yo-Yo Ma because I was the National Security Advisor who could also play the piano. Avocations sometimes pan out as well.
So your first responsibility is to find your passion. Your second responsibility as an educated person is a commitment to reason. SMU has prepared you with a true education because you haven’t been taught what to think, but rather how to think, how to ask questions, how to reject assumptions, how to seek knowledge – in short, how to exercise reason. You’ve been encouraged to know that reason and faith are not enemies of one another, but together permit the fullest expression of what it is to be human. This experience will sustain you for the rest of your lives.
But no one should assume that a life of reason is easy. To the contrary, it takes a great deal of courage and honesty. For the only way that you will grow intellectually is by constantly examining your opinions, attacking your prejudices, and completing your journey toward the force of reason. It can be unsettling, and it can be tempting instead to opt for the false comfort of a life without questions. Unfortunately, that’s easier to do today than ever. It’s possible to live in an echo chamber that serves only to reinforce your high opinion of yourself and what you think. That is a temptation that educated people have a responsibility to reject.
There is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately. But at those times when you’re absolutely sure that you’re right, talk with someone who disagrees. And if you constantly find yourself in the company of those who say “Amen” to everything that you say, find other company.
A commitment to reason leads to your third responsibility as an educated person, which is the rejection of false pride. It is natural, especially among the educated and on a day like today, to credit your success to your own intelligence and hard work and good judgment. And it is, of course, true that all of you sitting here do in fact possess those qualities. But it is also true that merit alone did not get you to this day. There are many who helped and sustained you. Remember that no one really does it on his or her own. Reflect for a moment on those who have stood with you – parents, family, and friends.
And remember, too, that there are many people in this world who are just as intelligent, just as hardworking, just as deserving of success, but for whatever reason – maybe a broken home, or maybe poverty, or maybe just bad luck – these people did not enjoy the opportunities that you have. SMU has summoned you to the ideals of compassion and charity for those less fortunate. Now, Commencement marks your opportunity – indeed, your obligation – to graduate with both wisdom and humility.
The fourth responsibility of an educated person is to be optimistic. Too often, cynicism can be the fellow traveler of learning, and I understand why. History is full of much cruelty and suffering and darkness, and it can be hard sometimes to believe that a brighter future is indeed dawning.
But for all of our past failings, for all our current problems, more people now enjoy lives of hope and opportunity than ever before in all of human history. This progress has been the concerted effort not of cynics, but of visionaries and optimists, of impatient patriots who have dealt with our world as it was but never lost sight of the world as it should be.
Here in America, our own ideals of freedom and equality have been borne through generations by optimists. There was a day in my own lifetime when the hope of liberty and justice for all seemed impossible. But because individuals kept faith with the ideals of equality, we see a different America. And just imagine this: It has been 15 years since the United States of America has had a white male Secretary of State.
You’re headed into a world where optimists are too often told to keep their ideals to themselves. It is your responsibility as educated people to remain optimistic no matter what, but that’s not all. You have an obligation to act on those ideals, and this, the final responsibility of an educated person – really, the most important responsibility of all – is to work toward human progress.
Now what do I mean by human progress? I believe that all human beings share certain fundamental aspirations. They want protections for their lives and their liberties. They want to think freely and to worship as they wish. They want opportunities to educate their children, both boys and girls. And they want the dignity that comes with having to be asked for their consent to be governed.
All too often, difference has been used to divide and dehumanize. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama – a place quite properly called the most segregated city in America – and I know how it feels to hold aspirations when half your neighbors think that you’re incapable of or uninterested in anything higher. And I know there are some in this audience who have perhaps faced the same.
And in my professional life, I have listened in disbelief as it has been said of men and women in Asia and Africa and Latin America and Eastern Europe and Russia, from time to time, that they did not share the basic aspirations of all human beings. Somehow these people were just “different.” That meant “unworthy of what we enjoy.” “Maybe they’re just not ready for democracy,” it would be said. But of course this was once said even about black people. We were just too childlike. We didn’t care about rights or citizenship or the vote. We didn’t care about freedom and liberty.
Well, today in the Middle East, the last bastion of that argument, people are putting a nail in the coffin of that idea. They are not just seeking their freedom, they are seizing it. But freedom and democracy are not the same thing. Freedom and rights have to be institutionalized into rule of law, into constitutions. And if you don’t think constitutions matter, just remember this: When Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to say that segregation was wrong, in my hometown of Birmingham, he didn’t have to say that the United States had to be something else – only that the United States had to be what it said it was. That is why the creed matters.
But stable democracy requires more than just the institutionalization of freedom. It requires that there can be no tyranny of the majority. And most importantly, it requires that the strong cannot exploit the weak. Indeed, democracy is only as strong as its weakest link. And indeed, if every life is equal before the law, and within the eyes of God, then every life is worthy. Every life is capable of greatness. And it truly doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you are going.
At SMU, you have been taught the importance of service. You have been taught to serve those who are less fortunate. And yes, it will help them, but it will help you more. Because when you encounter those who are less fortunate, you cannot possibly give way to aggrievement – “Why do I not have?” – or its twin brother, entitlement – “Why don’t they give me?” In fact, you will ask instead, not “Why do I not have?” but “Why have I been given so much?” And from that spirit, you will join the legions of impatient patriots and optimists who are working toward a better human future. And yes, sometimes it seems very hard indeed. But always remember in those times of trial, that what seems impossible seems inevitable in retrospect.
I read one summer the biographies of the Founding Fathers, when things weren’t going very well for us in the Bush Administration. And by all rights, the United States of America should actually never have come into being – what with a third of George Washington’s troops down with smallpox on any given day, the Founding Fathers squabbling among themselves, and against the greatest military power of the time – but we did come into being.
And then we fought a civil war, brother against brother, hundreds of thousands dead on both sides – and yet we emerged a more perfect Union.
And those of us who live in the West and have ever come across the Continental Divide know that they did it in covered wagons. And they had to be optimists, because they didn’t even know what was on the other side and they kept going anyway.
And in Birmingham, Alabama, a little girl whose parents can’t take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant – her parents nonetheless have her convinced that she may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth’s lunch counter, but she can be president of the United States if she wanted to be, and she becomes the Secretary of State. You see, things that seem impossible very often seem inevitable in retrospect.
This morning marks a new and glorious beginning for each of you, and all of you are well prepared for what lies ahead. You leave SMU to join the ranks of the world’s most privileged community: the community of the educated. It is a club from which you can never withdraw, and it is a club from which you can never be expelled.
But membership confers responsibility. So as you leave, bear in mind your responsibility to find your passion and to act on it, to use your reason, to cultivate humility, and most of all to remain optimistic as you serve others.
And so today, take what you have learned forward with you. You celebrate here, in this moment, what you have achieved. Now, vow to make it matter when you leave, throughout the rest of your days.
Godspeed, and thank you.
Following is a transcript of the Commencement speech give by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Southern Methodist University on May 12, 2012.
Thank you very, very much. Thank you, President Turner, for that wonderful introduction. Thank you to the chairman of your Board of Trustees, Caren Prothro, and to the faculty. Thank you for what you have done to prepare these young people for what lies ahead. To family and friends, and most especially to the graduates of the class of 2012, congratulations to you.
 Condoleezza Rice Watch her speech  Listen to/download her speech  |
Instead, all of you in the class of 2012 will leave SMU with other, more lasting memories than this speech. You will remember the Boulevard, and singing during the Celebration of Lights. I’m guessing you’ll also remember late nights at Club Fondy. You’ll remember fraternity parties…well, maybe you won’t remember fraternity parties. But of all of your experiences here at SMU, none is more meaningful, of course, than the education that you’ve received in one of the nation’s most highly respected institutions.
You see, education is transformative. It literally changes lives. That is why people work so hard to become educated. And that is why education has always been the key to human beings and their dreams – a force that erases arbitrary divisions of race and class and culture, and unlocks every person’s potential.
This university’s mission resonates with me on a very personal level, for I’ve learned in my own life the transforming power of education. I first learned of this through stories about my paternal grandfather, a real family hero named John Wesley Rice Senior. Now, Granddaddy Rice was a sharecropper’s son in Eutaw, Alabama. And when John Wesley Rice was a young man of about 19, he decided he wanted to get book learning in a college. So he asked how a colored man could go to college. And they told him there was this little Presbyterian school called Stillman College just a few miles down the road. So he saved up his cotton to pay for his tuition, and he went off to Stillman College in Tuscaloosa.
But after the first year, they said, “Okay, so how are you going to pay for your second year?” He said, “I’m out of cotton.” They said, “You’re out of luck.” But thinking quickly, Granddaddy Rice said, “So, how are those [other] boys going to college?” And they said, “Well, you see, they have what’s called a scholarship. And if you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, you could have a scholarship, too.” Granddaddy Rice said, “You know, that is exactly what I had in mind.” And my family has been college-educated, and Presbyterian, ever since.
But you know, John Wesley Rice Senior was on to something. He knew that that education was going to allow him to become someone that he otherwise might never have even imagined. And he knew that it would resonate for generations of Rices to come. And indeed, my father would become not just college-educated but advanced-degreed, and become a university administrator as well as a Presbyterian minister. And his sister, my Aunt Theresa, would go to the University of Wisconsin in 1952, get a Ph.D. in English literature, and write books on Dickens.
Yes, indeed, my grandfather and other ancestors who endured poverty and segregation, and saw that education lifted them up, understood that it was a privilege to be educated, not a right. And so I would like to suggest to you today that that privilege brings with it several obligations and responsibilities.
The first responsibility is actually one you have to yourself, and that is the responsibility to find and follow your passion. Now, I don’t mean just any old thing that interests you, or your career. I mean something you really believe is a unique calling to you – in other words, something that you can’t live without. As an educated person, you have an opportunity to spend your life doing what you love. As you work to find your passion, you should also know that if you haven’t yet found it, it might indeed find you.
Now, that’s what happened to me, and Dr. Turner told a slightly cleaned-up version of the story, so let me tell you the real story. I started college as a music major, that is true, and I had studied music since the age of three, that too is true. But then, at the end of my sophomore year in college, I went to the Aspen Music Festival School, and I met 12-year-olds who could play from sight what it had taken me all year to learn. And I thought, “Uh-oh. I’m about to end up playing piano bar, or maybe teaching 13-year-olds to murder Beethoven, or playing at Nordstrom. But I am not going to play Carnegie Hall.”
And so I went home, and I did have that conversation with my parents that maybe some of you have had:
“Mom and Dad, I’m changing my major.”
“What are you changing your major to, dear?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t you know what you want to do with your life?”
“After all, it’s my life.”
“After all, it’s our money. Find a major.”
And so I went back to college in desperate search of a major. I had to make a quick decision, and so in the fall quarter of my junior year, I tried English literature. Now, with all due respect to the members of the English literature faculty out there, I hated it.
So now it is the winter quarter of my junior year, and I decide that state and local government – that sounds really practical. Well indeed, my little project was to interview the city water manager of Denver, the single most boring man I have met to this day. And I thought, “It’s not that, either.”
And now it is spring quarter of my junior year, and I’m getting those letters from the registrar. “You cannot register again until you declare a major.” And fortunately, I wandered into a course in international politics taught by a Soviet specialist – a man named Josef Korbel who had a daughter named Madeleine Albright. And with that one class, I was hooked. I discovered that my passion was Russian – things Russian, things international, diplomacy.
Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly what a young black girl from Birmingham was supposed to do, but it was like finding love. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew it was right. And you know something? Several years later, when I was working for President George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev was in town, President Bush asked me to take Gorbachev back out to Stanford, where he was going to California to see more of the country. I sat on the South Lawn at the White House – Gorbachev, his wife, the Secret Service and me – and I thought, “I’m really glad I changed my major.”
But you know, the story doesn’t really end there, because your passion can sometimes be a second passion; but those first passions never leave you, either. And indeed, as National Security Advisor, Yo-Yo Ma did call me, and he asked if I would play with him for the National Medal of the Arts. And of course I said yes. But I was not confused. I was not playing with Yo-Yo Ma because I was the world’s greatest pianist. I was playing with Yo-Yo Ma because I was the National Security Advisor who could also play the piano. Avocations sometimes pan out as well.
So your first responsibility is to find your passion. Your second responsibility as an educated person is a commitment to reason. SMU has prepared you with a true education because you haven’t been taught what to think, but rather how to think, how to ask questions, how to reject assumptions, how to seek knowledge – in short, how to exercise reason. You’ve been encouraged to know that reason and faith are not enemies of one another, but together permit the fullest expression of what it is to be human. This experience will sustain you for the rest of your lives.
But no one should assume that a life of reason is easy. To the contrary, it takes a great deal of courage and honesty. For the only way that you will grow intellectually is by constantly examining your opinions, attacking your prejudices, and completing your journey toward the force of reason. It can be unsettling, and it can be tempting instead to opt for the false comfort of a life without questions. Unfortunately, that’s easier to do today than ever. It’s possible to live in an echo chamber that serves only to reinforce your high opinion of yourself and what you think. That is a temptation that educated people have a responsibility to reject.
There is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately. But at those times when you’re absolutely sure that you’re right, talk with someone who disagrees. And if you constantly find yourself in the company of those who say “Amen” to everything that you say, find other company.
A commitment to reason leads to your third responsibility as an educated person, which is the rejection of false pride. It is natural, especially among the educated and on a day like today, to credit your success to your own intelligence and hard work and good judgment. And it is, of course, true that all of you sitting here do in fact possess those qualities. But it is also true that merit alone did not get you to this day. There are many who helped and sustained you. Remember that no one really does it on his or her own. Reflect for a moment on those who have stood with you – parents, family, and friends.
And remember, too, that there are many people in this world who are just as intelligent, just as hardworking, just as deserving of success, but for whatever reason – maybe a broken home, or maybe poverty, or maybe just bad luck – these people did not enjoy the opportunities that you have. SMU has summoned you to the ideals of compassion and charity for those less fortunate. Now, Commencement marks your opportunity – indeed, your obligation – to graduate with both wisdom and humility.
The fourth responsibility of an educated person is to be optimistic. Too often, cynicism can be the fellow traveler of learning, and I understand why. History is full of much cruelty and suffering and darkness, and it can be hard sometimes to believe that a brighter future is indeed dawning.
But for all of our past failings, for all our current problems, more people now enjoy lives of hope and opportunity than ever before in all of human history. This progress has been the concerted effort not of cynics, but of visionaries and optimists, of impatient patriots who have dealt with our world as it was but never lost sight of the world as it should be.
Here in America, our own ideals of freedom and equality have been borne through generations by optimists. There was a day in my own lifetime when the hope of liberty and justice for all seemed impossible. But because individuals kept faith with the ideals of equality, we see a different America. And just imagine this: It has been 15 years since the United States of America has had a white male Secretary of State.
You’re headed into a world where optimists are too often told to keep their ideals to themselves. It is your responsibility as educated people to remain optimistic no matter what, but that’s not all. You have an obligation to act on those ideals, and this, the final responsibility of an educated person – really, the most important responsibility of all – is to work toward human progress.
Now what do I mean by human progress? I believe that all human beings share certain fundamental aspirations. They want protections for their lives and their liberties. They want to think freely and to worship as they wish. They want opportunities to educate their children, both boys and girls. And they want the dignity that comes with having to be asked for their consent to be governed.
All too often, difference has been used to divide and dehumanize. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama – a place quite properly called the most segregated city in America – and I know how it feels to hold aspirations when half your neighbors think that you’re incapable of or uninterested in anything higher. And I know there are some in this audience who have perhaps faced the same.
And in my professional life, I have listened in disbelief as it has been said of men and women in Asia and Africa and Latin America and Eastern Europe and Russia, from time to time, that they did not share the basic aspirations of all human beings. Somehow these people were just “different.” That meant “unworthy of what we enjoy.” “Maybe they’re just not ready for democracy,” it would be said. But of course this was once said even about black people. We were just too childlike. We didn’t care about rights or citizenship or the vote. We didn’t care about freedom and liberty.
Well, today in the Middle East, the last bastion of that argument, people are putting a nail in the coffin of that idea. They are not just seeking their freedom, they are seizing it. But freedom and democracy are not the same thing. Freedom and rights have to be institutionalized into rule of law, into constitutions. And if you don’t think constitutions matter, just remember this: When Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to say that segregation was wrong, in my hometown of Birmingham, he didn’t have to say that the United States had to be something else – only that the United States had to be what it said it was. That is why the creed matters.
But stable democracy requires more than just the institutionalization of freedom. It requires that there can be no tyranny of the majority. And most importantly, it requires that the strong cannot exploit the weak. Indeed, democracy is only as strong as its weakest link. And indeed, if every life is equal before the law, and within the eyes of God, then every life is worthy. Every life is capable of greatness. And it truly doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you are going.
At SMU, you have been taught the importance of service. You have been taught to serve those who are less fortunate. And yes, it will help them, but it will help you more. Because when you encounter those who are less fortunate, you cannot possibly give way to aggrievement – “Why do I not have?” – or its twin brother, entitlement – “Why don’t they give me?” In fact, you will ask instead, not “Why do I not have?” but “Why have I been given so much?” And from that spirit, you will join the legions of impatient patriots and optimists who are working toward a better human future. And yes, sometimes it seems very hard indeed. But always remember in those times of trial, that what seems impossible seems inevitable in retrospect.
I read one summer the biographies of the Founding Fathers, when things weren’t going very well for us in the Bush Administration. And by all rights, the United States of America should actually never have come into being – what with a third of George Washington’s troops down with smallpox on any given day, the Founding Fathers squabbling among themselves, and against the greatest military power of the time – but we did come into being.
And then we fought a civil war, brother against brother, hundreds of thousands dead on both sides – and yet we emerged a more perfect Union.
And those of us who live in the West and have ever come across the Continental Divide know that they did it in covered wagons. And they had to be optimists, because they didn’t even know what was on the other side and they kept going anyway.
And in Birmingham, Alabama, a little girl whose parents can’t take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant – her parents nonetheless have her convinced that she may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth’s lunch counter, but she can be president of the United States if she wanted to be, and she becomes the Secretary of State. You see, things that seem impossible very often seem inevitable in retrospect.
This morning marks a new and glorious beginning for each of you, and all of you are well prepared for what lies ahead. You leave SMU to join the ranks of the world’s most privileged community: the community of the educated. It is a club from which you can never withdraw, and it is a club from which you can never be expelled.
But membership confers responsibility. So as you leave, bear in mind your responsibility to find your passion and to act on it, to use your reason, to cultivate humility, and most of all to remain optimistic as you serve others.
And so today, take what you have learned forward with you. You celebrate here, in this moment, what you have achieved. Now, vow to make it matter when you leave, throughout the rest of your days.
Godspeed, and thank you.
# # #
more AP exam info
(Passing along with thanks to its creator, Ms. Katherine Toews at SMHS!)
Important AP Lang Exam Information
Exam Date/Time: May 20, 11:00 a.m.
Please read the following information carefully, as it pertains to your success on the AP Exam.
Follow this link to learn about the Exam Day Experience: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/exam-day-experience
Here’s a link that walks you through the exam itself:
A few important points to note:
- you will receive an AP ID# in an email 2 days before exam - if you don’t receive it, sign in to the AP Classroom portal and confirm your email. This is very IMPORTANT, as you can’t take the exam without this ID #
- You have 50 minutes from the time you start the exam until your response has to be uploaded
- you may use a desktop, laptop, or phone
- your response may be typed or handwritten - if you handwrite, you must have the ability to quickly take and upload clear photos of your writing
- If using a tablet or desktop computer, you need to have Google Chrome installed
- you must write/type your AP ID# and initials at the top of the page. Number your pages
- 3 ways to submit a response:
- attach a text file typed in another application
- paste a response typed in another application
- attach photos of work you wrote by hand
- check your work before you submit -- you cannot go back and resubmit
- Make sure you’ve talked with the people in your house on exam day. Let them know that you need it quiet from 11-12 a.m. on exam day. Ask others in the household not to use the internet during this time, in order to minimize the risk that your connection will be slowed or interrupted.
How to submit your essay on exam day: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams/exam-day-experience/submission-guidelines
(Continued on next page -- keep scrolling down!)
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LAST POST FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR/ june 3 w online meeting #50
What a year. As often as I say it, I still feel like I don't say it often enough: Thank you. Thank you for your effort, your insig...
