writing literature essay Martin Luther King Letter Birmingham Jail George Orwell Shooting Elephant Ted Conover Arthur Miller Death Salesman Malcolm X Ernest Hemingway Sherman Alexie David Sedaris John Updike Nancy Mairs Gabriel García Márquez Raymond Carver Anton Chekhov Charles Bukowski T C Boyle Gerald Locklin Ralph Ellison James Baldwin Joyce Carol Oates Bob Dylan Kafka Metamorphosis Jeff Wall Dorothea Lange Tillie Olsen Flannery O'Connor Junot Diaz James Joyce Tim O'Brien Andre Kertesz
Frank O'Hara reads "Having a Coke with You". O'Hara, as you know, wrote "The Day Lady Died" as a remembrance of Billie Holiday. Watch and listen to performances of Holiday singing "One for My Baby (and one more for the road)" and "Strange Fruit". The latter song is considered one of the greatest of the 20th Century and certainly one of the greatest about racism in America. If you've never heard Holiday sing, both are worth a few minutes of your time.
The Unclosed Circle by Sarah Kerr, New York Review of Books, April 26, 2007. A review of Didion's We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction
"At least some of the time, the world appears to me as a painting by Hieronymus Bosch," Didion declares in "On Morality." This triptych, above, known as "The Garden of Earthly Delights," is the most famous of Bosch's painting, the Dutch artist who lived from 1450-1516. What does the painting show, from left to right? What does this painting tell us about Didion's state of mind within her essay? Learn more about Bosch at this site dedicated to him.
LancerMail is PCC’s new Google-powered student email accessible through LancerPoint.
All official communications from PCC will go to this email account, including Financial Aid. You must check this account regularly or forward to your personal email account. Your login is your LancerPoint username that you used to register for classes.
Study in Science Shows End of History Illusion "Why You Won’t Be the Person You Expect to Be" by John Tierney. The New York Times, January 3, 2013. [Also, read Comments section following the article for reader responses.] Your View of the future is Shaped by the Past The future has ways of surprising us. Psychology Today, August 12, 2011 by Art Markman, Ph.D. in Ulterior Motives
Past Predictions: Expert Q & A Matt Novak has spent more than five years writing a blog that examines, as he puts it, “the future that never was.” Posted November 8, 2012 at PBS NOVA scienceNOW
Meet the people building tomorrow's robots, 3-D virtual environments, mind-reading machines, and more. Broadcast November 14, 2012 on PBS NOVA. 55 minutes.
AlertU is a text messaging system that notifies PCC students, faculty and adminstrators about safety news important to the PCC community. To enroll in AlertU, go to http://www.pasadena.edu/police/alertu.cfm
For your safety you may also wish to add the PCC campus police phone number to your cell phone contacts. The PCC campus police can be reached by calling 626-585-7484.
Who is Sherman Alexie? In addition to posing for photographers, he has written novels, essays, and short stories. How short? Six words short. Take a look. If the link doesn't work, you might need to register at Narrative Magazine. If you want to waste more time on the web, and I mean that in a good way, go to Sherman Alexie's website. You can also watch this video with him:
James Joyce: "A small, thin unathletic man with very bad eyes," the narrator
of the above video says, so Hemingway stood between Joyce and a punch.
Our Ernest Hemingway assignment is weeks away, but keep these links in mind for when you read his work. Timeless Hemingway is an excellent website devoted to Hemingway where you'll find an extensive page covering Hemingway's life story. Another biography of Hemingway can be found here.
Hemingway with his son John Hadley in 1927 about the time of the publication of "Hills Like White Elephants"
See the official website of Alice Waker, and you can find more information about Walker at this page.
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple
The work of many other documentarians was on view at The Jewish Museum, in New York, November 4, 2011 to March 25, 2012. The exhibition, reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, has also made a stop at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, in San Francisco, October 11, 2012 to January 21, 2013. Here's a sample of what lucky visitors will see.
Weegee (born Arthur Fellig) (American, b. Poland, 1899-1968)
Max Is Rushing in the Bagels to a Restaurant on Second Avenue for the Morning Trade,
c. 1940
Ruth Orkin (American, 1921-1985)Times Square, from Astor Hotel,c. 1950
Rebecca Lepkoff (American, 1916--)
Broken Window on South Street, New York,
c.1948
The New York Timeshas more to say about this exhibition. You can also find many photographs from the exhibition at The Daily Mail.
Nearer to home is the Getty and their wonderful photography collection. Sarah Hamil--Thank You, Sarah!--formerly of English 1C drew attention to a photography exhibition that was last on view at the Getty Center in March 2012. It was Lyonel Feininger, Photographs, 1928-1939, an exhibition the Getty calls "the first comprehensive overview of photographs by one of the most important artists of the 20th century." The Getty regularly schedules important photography exhibitions. See what they have now: The photographs of Ray K. Metzger and the Institute of Design.
In honor of our Veterans on this Veterans Day, Byliner sent out this letter with links to stories that have been published in recent years. Maybe you will find one or two worth your reading time. At least we can take a moment and thank our veterans for their service.
Dear Readers,
In honor of Veterans Day, we bring you stories of Americans who’ve served this nation at war.
In his recently released Byliner Original “The Living and the Dead,” acclaimed journalist and Iraq war veteran Brian Mockenhaupt tells the wrenching tale of three Marines— their friendships, struggles, and lives led on the battlefield and the home front. This excerpt follows them on what began as a relatively normal day: “Muzzle flashes twinkled from alleyways and darkened windows. The Marines at Dakota were terrified of buried bombs—the utter lack of control—but they loved firefights. Here they could influence the outcome.”
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have produced nearly two million veterans, many of whom suffer from physical and psychological injuries. Last year in Esquire, Mike Sager wrote about one veteran who began taking in others in need on his Tennessee farm. “Vetville,” Sager wrote, is “a sort of do-it-yourself halfway house for Marines broken by war. Some stay for a week; some stay for months; one guy is working on year two.”
“I was a soldier in Vietnam and have talked to a number of those who went. It is always hard to know if a veteran’s problems stem from his war, hard to know even for the veteran himself,” Tracy Kidder wrote in a 1974 Atlantic article, “Soldiers of Misfortune.” He summarized the scale of the problem faced by veterans such as himself: “The United States sent 2,796,000 soldiers to Vietnam: 57,002 died, and 300,000 were wounded— about 150,000 seriously enough to be hospitalized. About 75,000 were left severely handicapped, and some 25,000 came home totally disabled. But information on what happened to the wounded and to the rest of the survivors is sketchy. To some extent, Vietnam veterans have been, as one observer puts it, ‘tarred with the brush of My Lai.’”
Nancy L.W. Hoffman wrote about a female Korean War veteran in a more lighthearted 1992 Leatherneck article, “Sgt Reckless: Combat Veteran.” Hoffman’s brave, beloved, beer-drinking Marine wasn’t remarkable just because of her gender. “In fact, she was a horse—a small, sorrel or chestnut-colored horse with a white blaze on her face and three white stocking feet.”
“Nine years ago, there were 700 left alive,” Evan Fleischer reflected in “The Last Two Veterans of WWI,” written last year for The Awl. “Nearly 10,000,000 men were killed in the conflict, 65 million participated, and now we are left with two. Think about that. Think about those numbers. What are you supposed to do when an era is inches away from disappearing?”
Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Oct. 29 and 30, with powerful gusts and storm surges that caused once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than eight million people — including a large swath of Manhattan — in the rain-soaked dark.
The mammoth and merciless storm unexpectedly picked up speed as it roared over the Atlantic Ocean. When it made landfall near Atlantic City around 8 p.m., it packed maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. That was shortly after the center had reclassified the storm as a post-tropical cyclone, a scientific renaming that had no bearing on the powerful winds, driving rains and life-threatening storm surge that accompanied its push onto land.
Forecasters attributed the power of the storm to a convergence of weather systems. As the hurricane swirled north in the Atlantic and then pivoted toward land, a system known as a midlatitude trough — which often causes severe winter storms — was moving across the country from the west. It drew in Hurricane Sandy, giving it added energy. A burst of Arctic air swept down through the Canadian Plains just as they were converging. That led to several feet of snow in West Virginia.
The Aftermath:
The storm was blamed for more than 80 deaths in the United States, including 41 in New York City, 8 in New Jersey and 4 in Connecticut. Before it began its crawl toward the Northeast, the storm left more than 60 people dead in the Caribbean.
It doesn’t look good for the United States. We are proud when Iraqis and Libyans dodge bombs to vote in their first free elections in decades, and then, when it’s our chance, we barely exceed their turnout rates. Often, we do worse. Roughly half of us vote, and the other half don’t.
It made me wonder: What’s stopping us? Do we have reasons not to vote? How can we hear so much about the election, and not participate? If hope isn’t doing it, isn’t the fear of the other guy winning enough to brave the roads, the long lines?
In the middle of October, I spoke to more than 50 people between 18 and 40, almost all of whom are planning to go to the polls on Nov. 6. That made them exceptional: only 51 percent of young people voted in 2008. A smaller group is expected this year.
Before asking why they will vote, I asked why most young people won’t. They told me that many of the issues they care about — climate change, civil rights, the war on drugs, immigration, prison reform — are not discussed by Democrats or Republicans. That there is such a gulf between what candidates say they will do, and what they do, that it’s impossible to trust anyone. That apathy is actually supported by the evidence.
Voting is a leap of faith. Calling it a civic duty is not enough. Either you believe that the system is both changeable and worth changing, or you don’t — and most new voters are not convinced.
The arguments against voting have been persuasive to many Americans. But what about the flip side? Why bother? Here I think the arguments are better. War and peace. Equal rights for women and same-sex couples. My personal favorite, the balance of the Supreme Court. The prospect of meeting the love of your life at the polling place. Several people argued that if you don’t vote, you lose your right to complain about the results of an election. But I respectfully disagree. In our society, the right to complain is even more fundamental than the right to vote.
I don’t know what, in the end, forces me to vote. It could be fear; it could be guilt. Although my mother died over 10 years ago, I feel that she is watching me, and I don’t want to disappoint her.
I would like to thank everyone who volunteered to be interviewed. I would also like to thank Doug Abel, Bob Chappell, Steven Hathaway, John Kusiak, Isaac Silverglate, Nick Rondeau, Dan Mooney, Jeremy Landman, Julie Ahlberg, Robert Fernandez, Amanda Branson Gill, Dina Piscatelli, Eric, Lori and Jessica Lander, Bina Venkataraman, Linda Carlson, Angus Wall, Jennifer Sofio Hall, a52, Kim Bica, Kirsten Thon-Webb, Arcade, Dana May, Patrick Regan, Ronnie Lee, Zoey Taylor, Adam Picchietti, Timothy Collins, Josh Kearney, Max Larkin, Drew Beirut, Reid Savage, Karen Skinner, Ann Petrone and Julia Sheehan.
This Op-Doc video was produced in collaboration with two creative agencies, CHI & Partners NY and Moxie Pictures, and with the I CAN. I WILL. Campaign for Our Time, a nonprofit organization that advocates for young voters and consumers.
Errol Morris is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker (“The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara”) and author of the recent book “A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald.” His first film, “Gates of Heaven,” is on Roger Ebert’s list of the 10 best movies ever made, and his latest, “The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld,” will open in 2013. He lives in Cambridge, Mass., with his wife and two French bulldogs. FAQ: posted November 5th.
WHEN ARE POLLING PLACES OPEN?
Polls are open from 7:00am until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6.
CAN I STILL MAIL MY ABSENTEE/MAIL BALLOT?
No, as postmarks don’t count. However, you can drop it off at any polling place in your county and it will be counted!
WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO VOTE?
Google has set up a nonpartisan page that makes it easy to find your polling place:
If you go to the Google site and type in your address, your nearest polling place will appear. You can go to the polling place and, if your name is not on the roster, ask to complete a “provisional ballot.” If your registration was processed by the county, your vote will count!
I just found a terrific site that you might find helpful as you write about photography. The Duke University Writing Studio tells you what kinds of questions to ask and observations to make when you are looking at a photograph. It is a must site to see.
From Pasadena City College News: PCC Hosts First Writer In Residence, Reyna Grande:
Pasadena City College is proud to present its first Writer in Residence, award-winning author and PCC alumna Reyna Grande, on campus Oct. 15 to 17. Grande has written two novels: “Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies” and a new memoir called “The Distance Between Us.”
Grande will be featured at two events on campus that are free and open to the public. On Tuesday, Oct. 16, she will be at the Community Writing Workshop from 12 to 1:30 p.m. in the Circadian. On Wednesday Oct. 17, she will be at a Public Reading from 7 to 9 p.m. in C333. Grande will also be visiting several classrooms, speaking with creative writing and composition classes.
Grande is a recipient of the American Book Award (2007), the El Premio Aztlan Literary Award (2006) and the International Latino Book Award (2010). Copies of Grande’s books are available in the PCC Bookstore.
The Writer in Residence program is made possible by a generous grant from the Pasadena Festival of Women Authors.
For more information or to reserve a spot at the Writing Workshop, please contact Manny Perea, English Division instructor, at (626) 585-7496 or via email at mxperea@pasadena.edu.
The New York Times Gray Matter: Why Bilinguals are Smarter By YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE Published: March 17, 2012 SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age. Read all of the article here. As someone who has struggled to learn to read, write and speak one language and half-hearted attempts to learn another, I am humbled by people who know two or three or four or more languages. How is this possible? I am interested to hear stories from all of you re: acquiring a language, whether it has been one (like me) or more. I invite you to post your comments here at our blog.
Whether you are writing a college personal statement or not, take a look at these words of advice from college admissions officers. Their advice can be applied to all forms of writing.
