Yakima Dust Bowl Stories

Here's video of the survivors telling their stories.

The website is notoriously bad, but the videos might give you an opportunity to write their stories for essay two option.

Day 27

English 101 Day 27

 

1. Quiz GoW 13-20—Use SID
   
2. Illustrated GoW
   
   1. Chapter 16:
      
      1. 161-172
         
      2. 173-182
         
      3. 183-192
         
   2. Chapter 17
      
   3. Chapter 18
      
      1. 201-210;
         
      2. 211-221;
         
      3. 221-230
         
   4. Chapter 19
      

   
    

H/W:     Chapter 22

All we got...

All we got is the family unbroken. Like a bunch of cows, when the lobos are ranging stick all together.
--Ma Joad

Day 26

English 101 Day 26

Also from Yesterday's paper

1. Chapter 15 + Youtube= Liberty Mutual Insurance?
   
2. Illustrated GoW
   
1. Count by 8's
   
1. For each group
   
2. (1-3) panels with an image, a quote and a title.
   
3. Chapter 16:
   
4. 1. 163-172
      
   2. 173-182
      
   3. 183-192
      

5. Chapter 17
6. Chapter 18
   
   1. 201-210;
      
   2. 211-221;
      
   3. 221-230
      
7. Chapter 19
   
8. H/W: Finish 20 + Chapter 21

Quiz Wed 12-21

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Day 25

English 101 Day 25

Steinbeck's bulletin board.

1. 1. Essay 3 option? Explain how Steinbeck was influenced by Paine, Jefferson and Marx? Stay tuned.
      

2. Prewriting Essay 2
   
   1. Imagery: The Five Senses times three
      
      1. Departure
         
      2. Journey
         
      3. Arrival
         

Chapter 15: How is this a microcosm?

Tomorrow 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

1. H/W: Chapter 20

Quiz Wed 12-21

Steinbeck’s Bulletin Board

John Steinbeck's Bulletin Board

 

An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.

Thomas Paine

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

Thomas Paine

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

Thomas Paine

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Thomas Paine

Human nature is not of itself vicious.

Thomas Paine

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thomas Paine

If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.

Thomas Paine

My mind is my own church.

Thomas Paine

These are the times that try men's souls.

Thomas Paine

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.

Thomas Paine

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

Thomas Paine

It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same.

Thomas Paine

 

 

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.

Thomas Jefferson

Every generation needs a new revolution.

Thomas Jefferson

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.

Thomas Jefferson

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Thomas Jefferson

Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.

Thomas Jefferson

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Thomas Jefferson

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

Thomas Jefferson

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.

Thomas Jefferson

Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

Thomas Jefferson

 

 

Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.

Karl Marx

Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth - the soil and the labourer.

Karl Marx

Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.

Karl Marx

Machines were, it may be said, the weapon employed by the capitalists to quell the revolt of specialized labor.

Karl Marx

Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed.

Karl Marx

The more the division of labor and the application of machinery extend, the more does competition extend among the workers, the more do their wages shrink together.

Karl Marx

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Karl Marx

The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.

Karl Marx

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

Karl Marx

The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs.

Karl Marx

Without doubt, machinery has greatly increased the number of well-to-do idlers.

Karl Marx

Day 24

English 101 Day 24

1. Sunday's paper
   
2. Egan last night
3. Getting Essays Back
   
4. Prewriting, Essay 2 Experience continued
   
1. Take one of the journey's listed yesterday and freewrite for five minutes on the details you remember.
   
   
5. Prewriting Essay 2 Observation
   
   
1. How did your family come to the Yakima Valley?
   
2. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
   
   
6. Steinbeck's bulletin board:
   
   
1. Chapter 14: Read aloud
   
2. Paine, Marx, Jefferson—Briefly
   
3. Find a quote to put on Steinbeck's bulletin board—
   
   
1. be ready to say why it's there—maybe even point to it in the book

7. What happens in Ch. 15? What is the main idea of this chapter? How is this chapter a "microcosm" of the whole book? We may need to continue this conversation next week.

H/W: Finish Chapter 16, 17, 18, 19

Day 23

English 101 Day 23

Essays back Thursday/Friday (1130—I owe you doughnuts and you'll go first next round)

Six Groups
Each group: A passage to read aloud—pick parts if you have them.
An essay question to ask the class about the passage.
8—Meet the Joads 67-74; 75-80; 81-85
10—Leaving the Land 90-97; 98-105; 106-114

Prewriting, Essay 2

Journeys: Listing

Places you've lived
Road trips
Moves
Metaphoric? (illness, recovery, divorce, loss, pregnancy, childcaring)
Freewrite on one of them.

Chapter 14: Read aloud
Paine, Marx, Jefferson—Briefly
Then, find a quote that Steinbeck would like.

H/W: Read Chapter 16 to bottom of 177 (I work for the boss)
Tim Egan 7-8 Seasons tonight

Day 22

English 101 Day 22

Essays back Thursday/Friday (1130—I owe you doughnuts and you'll go first next round)

Getting papers back (1030)
Quiz back

Six Groups
Each group: A passage to read aloud—pick parts if you have them.

An essay question to ask the class about the passage.

8—Meet the Joads 67-74; 75-80; 81-85

10—Leaving the Land 90-97; 98-105; 106-114

Prewriting, Essay 2

List journeys you've taken.

Places you've lived
Road trips
Moves
Metaphoric? (illness, recovery, divorce, loss)

Freewrite on one of them.

H/W: Read Chapter 14-15

Reed says 14 is THE BIG CHAPTER

I say 15 is A BIGGER CHAPTER

Tim Egan 7-8 Season on Thursday

Essay 2 Assignment

English 101 Fall 2007

Essay 2: Departure, Journey and Arrival

In a 3-6 page story, follow a third-person narrator's migration from the departure, through the journey, to the arrival.

Rough Draft Due: Wednesday November 7th

Bring 4 copies.

This will be graded for completion, not quality.

However, it's worth 20 points and part of your 60% grade.

Final Draft Due: Tuesday November 12th.

Bring two copies.

100 points, graded using a modified rubric. Also part of your 60% grade.

Double spaced. 12 point font. MLA paper format.

The story should convey a theme, or main idea, to the reader.

The details of the story, events as well as descriptions, will support this main idea.

Your primary sources for the ideas and details will be experience, observation and imagination.

Like a traditional thesis, your theme will be clear to the reader upon completion of the story.

Unlike a traditional thesis, your main point, or theme, may be either implied or stated directly.

Your organization using the following "Chapter" titles:

• Departure: Why leave? What is the motivation? What do you take? What is left behind?
  
• The Journey: What challenges are overcome? What skills are acquired? What dragons faced? What is the low point?
  
• Arrival: How does the trip change the way you see things? What lessons are learned? How do you bring the lessons to your new place? Are you accepted in the new place?
  

We also want to work on Setting, Characterization, Conflict, Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution.

Tips: Limit number of characters; limit time period; limit settings. I'd suggest AT MOST one setting for each section, anywhere from an hour to a day for the time period and 2-5 characters TOTAL for the essay. Any more and we'll get lost.

Also, focus on TELLING DETAILS. The more specific the better. Instead of blue car, try 1971 midnight blue Plymouth Valiant he inherited from his grandmother.

Also, DRAMA= CONFLICT (No tears for the writer, no tears for the reader. No joy for the writer, no joy for the reader)

Finally, there are the facts and then there's the truth.

Day 21

English 101 Day 21

Your essays will be back Tuesday/Wednesday (1030)

and Thursday/Friday (1130—I owe you doughnuts and you'll go first next round)

Quiz Ch 1-11 (20 points) SID only

Essay 2 Assigned

Six Groups
Each group: A passage to read aloud—pick parts if you have them.
An essay question to ask the class about the passage.

8—Meet the Joads 67-74; 75-80; 81-85

10—Leaving the Land 90-97; 98-105; 106-114

Some of this conversation will be continued Wednesday

H/W: Read Chapter 13

Tim Egan 7-8 Season on Thursday

Day 20

English 101 Day 20

NYTimes: A little late, but for revision? Either way, worth reading.

Your essays will be back Tuesday/Wednesday (1030)

and Thursday/Friday (1130—I owe you doughnuts and you'll go first next round)

Getting papers back—for 930

From last week:
Setting Characterization Exposition
Themes: One Big Soul, Unity in Family (Nuclear and of Man), Big guy v. Little Guy, Agrarianism, The evils of Capitalism

Ch. 7—Car salesman

Ch. 8—Meet the Joads 67-74; 75-80; 81-85

Ch. 9—Selling your life

Ch. 10—Leaving the Land 90-97; 98-105; 106-114

In Six Groups

Each group:

A passage to read aloud—pick parts if you have them.
An essay question to ask the class about the passage.

Some of this conversation will be continued Tuesday.

H/W: Read Chapter 11 and 12
Quiz Ch. 1-11 Tuesday

Day 19

English 101 Day 19

From Yesterday:

Setting Diner:

1. Lonely, Greasy Spoon, Truckers, meeting place
   

Jim Casey Characterization

1. Reborn, Doubter/Seeker, Honest, Man of Thought, Philosopher—Oversoul, Holy Spirit is One Human Spirit
   
2. Togetherness and cooperation over practicality
   
3. Why isn't this Christian? What parts might be?
   

1. Chapter 5: How Do You Shoot the Monster?
   
   1. Yakima Pallet and Bin and the tape measures
      
   2. Tenant farmers
      
   3. Tractor driver muzzled and goggled by…
      
   4. Who is taking it?
      
   5. Why?
      
   6. What happens to the small farmer once it's gone
      
      1. Jefferson Agrarianism
         
      2. Find examples of this in GoW
         

2. Chapter 6 Notes:
   
   1. What Muley tells them
      
   2. What Casey tells Muley
      
   3. What Tom thinks about unity
      

H/W Read 7, 8, 9 and 10 (Quiz on first 11 Tuesday)

The Transparent Eye-Ball

In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing! I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God. [Nature, 1836].

A leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole. Each particle is a microcosm, and faithfully renders the likeness of the world. . . . So intimate is this Unity, that, it is easily seen, it lies under the undermost garment of nature, and betrays its source in the Universal Spirit. . . It is like a great circle on a sphere, comprising all possible circles; which, however, may be drawn, and comprise it, in like manner. [Nature, 1836].

Day 18

English 101 Day 18

Setting for chapter 1:

Hot+red+hazy+dry+shut tight+dying plant+no rain+pale++++ = Hell

First Impression of Tom Joad:

New cheap clothes + smokes + drinks + swears + manipulative + smart + insightful + aggressive+young/old+calloused hands+bug crushing+solitary+loner+homicide+straight talker = Badass

Setting Diner:

Time

1. 1. Year
      
   2. Season
      
   3. Month
      
   4. Day of Week
      
   5. Time of Day
      
   6. General Era
      

Place (physical environment)

1. 1. Country
      
   2. State
      
   3. City
      
   4. Landscape
      
   5. Climate
      
   6. House
      
   7. Yard/Surroundings
      

Jim Casey Characterization

(1) showing the character's appearance,

(2) displaying the character's actions,
(3) revealing the character's thoughts,
(4) letting the character speak, and
(5) getting the reactions of others
(6) their names

Chapter 3: The Turtle

1. 1. The Setting? What's the turtle's world like?
      
   2. Characteristics of the Turtle
      
   3. Symbolic in every sentence
      
2. Chapter 4 Notes: Tom Meets Casey
   
   1. Character
      
      1. Jim Casey
         
         1. Reborn, Doubter/Seeker, Honest, Man of Thought, Philosopher—Oversoul, Holy Spirit is One Human Spirit
            
         2. Togetherness and cooperation over practicality
            
         3. Is this Christianity? Is part of it Christianity?
            
         4. What can we add to the picture of Tom?
            

3. Chapter 5: The Monster
   
1. Yakima Pallet and Bin and the tape measures
   
   1. Any fruit packing line, mill, etc
      
2. Tenant farmers
   
3. Tractor driver muzzled and goggled by…
   
4. Who is taking it?
   
5. Why?
   
6. What happens to the small farmer once it's gone
   
1. Jefferson Agrarianism
   
1. Farmers are the backbone of the country because of the connection to the land.
   
2. Dignity, self-respect, humility, life come from the land and the cycles we are connected to.

Day 17

English 101 Day 17

1. BP Living Care 230-330 and Faculty Lecture 730-900
   

   
   

Setting:

1. Time
   
   1. Year
      
   2. Season
      
   3. Month
      
   4. Day of Week
      
   5. Time of Day
      
   6. General Era
      

1. Place (physical environment)
   
   1. Country
      
   2. State
      
   3. City
      
   4. Landscape
      
   5. Climate
      
   6. House
      
   7. Yard/Surroundings
      

Characterization is the method used by a writer to develop a character. The method includes

(1) showing the character's appearance,

(2) displaying the character's actions,

(3) revealing the character's thoughts,

(4) letting the character speak, and

(5) getting the reactions of others

(6) their names

1. Chapter 1: Setting
   
2. Chapter 2: Character of Tom Joad + Setting
   
3. Chapter 3:??
   
4. Chapter 4: Character of Jim Casey + Tom Joad
   
5. Homework GoW Ch 5
   

Day 16

English 101 Lesson Plan Day 16

1. This week BP
   

   1. Selah Tues 7-8
      

   2. Wed:
      

      1. Living Care 230-330
         

      2. Faculty Lecture 730-900
         

   3. IL
      

      1. Tues 210 Information Sources
         

      2. Thurs 730 Web Evaluation
         

2. Oral reading—Intro to Thesis and Conclusion
   

   1. Y= +5; N= -5
      

3. El Abrecamino
   

   1. "Those who make a way where there is no way. Abre means to open. Camino means way. An abrecamino is one who opens the way. One who opens one way opens many ways."
      

   2. Who do you know who is an abrecamino? Who made the way for you?
      

   3. How are you an abrecamino? Who are you making a way for?
      

4. Audio GoW Big Read?
   

5. Reader's Guide H/O
   

H/W: GoW 3 & 4

Day 15

English 102 Lesson Plan Day 15

1. This week BP
   

   1. Selah Tues 7-8
      

   2. Living Care 230-330
      

   3. Faculty Lecture 730-900
      

   4. IL
      

      1. Tues 730 Proquest; 210 Information Sources
         

      2. Thurs 730 Web Evaluation
         

2. Feedback from Peer Editing
   

   1. Over all, helpful.
      

   2. Be harder readers.
      

   3. Take them home?
      

   4. More anonymous?
      

   5. More/Less worksheet work?
      

3. H/I "Final" Draft of Essays
   

4. Y/N oral reading?—Intro to Thesis and Conclusion
   

   1. Y= +5; N= -5
      

5. Essays returned in about a week. Asking for them before next Monday makes me go slower and put your essay on the bottom of the pile.
   

6. You passed your first big hurdle. Good job.
   

7. Reading schedule GoW
   

   1. This will be the biggest challenge of the quarter in 101.
      

   2. But it will be fun, too, with the right approach.
      

H/W: GoW 1&2

Works Cited

Your Works Cited List

The works cited list should appear at the end of your essay. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and be able to read any sources you cite in the essay. Each source you cite in the essay must appear in your works-cited list; likewise, each entry in the works-cited list must be cited in your text. Preparing your works cited list using MLA style is covered in chapter six of the MLA Style Manual, and chapter four of the Handbook for Writing Research Papers. Here are some guidelines for preparing your works cited list.

List Format

Begin your works cited list on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label Works Cited (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), which should be centered at the top of the page.

Make the first line of each entry in your list flush left with the margin. Subsequent lines in each entry should be indented one-half inch. This is known as a hanging indent.

Double space all entries, with no skipped spaces between entries.

Keep in mind that underlining and italics are equivalent; you should select one or the other to use throughout your essay.

Alphabetize the list of works cited by the first word in each entry (usually the author's last name),

Basic Rules for Citations

Authors' names are inverted (last name first); if a work has more than one author, invert only the first author's name, follow it with a comma, then continue listing the rest of the authors.

If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order them alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first.

If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc. This rule does not apply to articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle.

Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films.

Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, book chapters, poems, and songs.

List page numbers efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.

If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should provide enough information so that the reader can locate the article either in its original print form or retrieve it from the online database (if they have access). For more about this, see our discussion of electronic sources.

Books

Author(s). Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Book with one author
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999

Day 14

English 101 Day 14

1. Complete Peer Review
   

2. Complete Peer Review Review.
   

3. Get your essays back from other classes
   

   1. Let me know if you were overly abused
      

4. A story about plagiarism?

5. Works Cited

6. How should we grade this?
   

Day 13

English 101 Day 13

1. Continue Peer Editing Process
   
   1. Try scratch outlines of your essays if there is time
      
2. H/I Peer Edit of other class essay (10pts)
   
3. Complete Peer Review Review (20pts)
   

"Final" Draft Due Monday BOP. As always, no late work accepted.

Creating MLA Format in Word

Here's the YVCC Writing Center Handout

Day 12 Peer Edit

English 101 Day 12

1. Moxee/IL BP?
   
2. Hand in one copy of your essay to me. This goes to the next class.
   
3. Groups of 3
   
4. Some notes on how this works
   
   1. Pretend you are at a job. That you are pros getting paid for this because you are (20 points for helping each other) and you will—this is a skill your employers are looking for.
      

   2. Readers: Kind Honesty
      
      1. "You have my permission to rip my paper to pieces."
         
      2. Don't, but…
         

   3. Writers: Thick Skin
      
      1. You are not your rough draft.
         
      2. You are here to improve your writing. To learn a skill.
         
   4. Write down 2-3 questions you have about your rough draft.
      
   5. Number the paragraphs on your essay.
      
   6. Hand out your essay.
      
      1. Traditionally, this is when you apologize to your group.
         

   7. Pen in hand, read the essay aloud.
      
      1. Not the author. They read it too well.
         
   8. Mark it as you go.
      
      1. Listen for stumbles.
         
      2. Listen for nice sounds, too.
         

   9. Fill in the Worksheet
      
      1. One for your own, too.
         

   10. Discuss the worksheet with the author.
       
       1. Author is QUIET, taking notes, not explaining.
          

   11. Author asks their questions.
       
   12. Author thanks their peers.
       
   13. Repeat with next essay.
       
   14. Practice one.

Day 11

English 101 Day 11

1. Wait a day or two for GoW reading schedule revision. You can start reading of course, but the schedule will change. We will read the whole book, so feel free to read ahead.
   

1. BP: 10 points towards your 40% score or 1 abs for each.
   
   
   1. On the Road/Big Read Calendar
      
      
2. Thesis Statements
   
1. Narrow, arguable, roadmap.
   
   
2. Why are we interested in the Dust Bowl now? The most direct reason is so we can understand the events surrounding the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Like the Dust Bowl, Katrina was a natural disaster made worse by our failure to heed warnings. Secondly, as a result of the disaster, hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted from their homes. Finally, both areas have been undergoing extensive restoration in order to bring it back to where it was.
   
   
3. Organization
   
4. Intros and Conclusions
   

Rough Draft Due Tomorrow.

Bring 4 copies.

A few more ideas and a warning

Pine Beetle & Grasshopper plague

Amazon.com search inside feature

Katrina on Wikipedia

Dust Bowl on Wikipedia

Don't use Wikipedia for academic research?

Whole entry here.

Day 10

English 101 Day 10

1. Return Quiz WHT
2. BP: 10 points towards your 40% score or 1 abs for each.
   Saturday 12-2pm YV Museum?
   
3. Logging in.
   
4. Research/Question time.

Rough Draft Due Wednesday.

Bring 4 copies.

Day 9

English 101 Day 9

1. Quiz WHT
2. The writing process
   
1. Hacker
   
3. Rubric
   
1. High/Low ends
   
2. Sample Essay?
   

Reading: Friday 21; Saturday 23; Sunday Epilogue

Rough Draft Due Next Wednesday.

Research time on Monday.

BP: 10 points towards your 40% score or 1 abs for each.

Saturday 12-2pm YV Museum

The Plow That Broke the Plains (WHT 250-253) Bam White's a movie star.

And some other places to research.

A few more links

ABC News: Dust Bowl and Katrina



Teaching Tolerance Lesson Plan


NPR Katrina and Dust Bowl

NPR WHT and Dust Bowl

NYTimes on comparing the exodus

New Dust Bowl in AZ? Washington Post, also

New Dust Bowl in South Dakota? Big Time Drought.

From GW Bush's Katrina Speech:

In the life of this nation, we have often been reminded that nature is an awesome force and that all life is fragile. We're the heirs of men and women who lived through those first terrible winters at Jamestown and Plymouth, who rebuilt Chicago after a great fire and San Francisco after a great earthquake, who reclaimed the prairie from the dust bowl of the 1930's. Every time, the people of this land have come back from fire, flood and storm to build anew, and to build better than what we had before. Americans have never left our destiny to the whims of nature and we will not start now.

The Plow That Broke the Plains

Then, there's this

Chinese dust over LA (and of course in China)

and this

Day 8

English 101 Day 8

1. Discuss Chapter 12 and 16
   
1. Best dialogue (spoken words)
   
2. Best statistic
   
3. Ugliest detail
   
4. Similarity to New Orleans?
   
2. The writing process
   
1. Hacker
   
3. Rubric
   
1. High/Low ends
   
2. Sample Essay?
   
   

H/W Quiz over Intro, Chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 18

Look over your notes. Look over the book.

Reading: Thursday 17-18; Friday 21; Saturday 23; Sunday Epilogue

Day 7

English 101 Day 7

Finish discussion of 7, 8, 9

In same groups using overhead.

Discuss Chapter 12

Detailed essay requirements

Reading: Wednesday 16; Thursday 17-18; Friday 21; Saturday 23; Sunday Epilogue

Good places to start:

NYTimes

Times-Picayune

Essay 1 Description

English 101 Fall 2007

Essay 1: Why Now?

In a 3-5 page essay, explain the similarities between the Dust Bowl era and our time.

Rough Draft Due: Wednesday October 10^th

Bring 4 copies.

This will be graded for completion, not quality.

However, it's worth 20 points and part of your 60% grade.

Final Draft Due: Monday October 15^th.

Bring two copies.

100 points, graded using the rubric. Also part of your 60% grade.

Timothy Egan's book, The Worst Hard Time won the national book award in 2005. He's big time on the lecture circuit and in book clubs around the country. It's a book lots of people have read and recommended to their friends. Our question is Why Now? Why are people interested in this subject again?

Double spaced. 12 point font. MLA paper format and citations.

Your primary source on the Dust Bowl will be The Worst Hard Time, but there are others, lots of them.

Your primary source for our era will probably be newspaper reports from the NYTimes, The Times-Picayune and possibly library databases such as Proquest. Google might help, but beware bogus science, conspiracy theories, crackpots etc. There are enough credible sources available that you shouldn't need to stretch to find support. I'd suggest at least two sources outside WHT.

For a description of what I'm looking for in excellent papers (and what to avoid) refer to the rubric in your class syllabus.

Your organization should be something like:

• Intro—Hook, background, title of book, author's name, brief summary, thesis
  
• Body paragraphs—each dealing with a single idea, in this case, a similarity.
  
• Conclusion

Egan gives us the thesis. You can go your own way, too.

We've got to connect the dots and find support.

You may also consider a short "digression" into the differences between now and then. This can be done within paragraphs, or could be a separate section.

We did a pretty good job yesterday with the broad areas of similarity, but you'll want to get more specific.

Here's what Egan said in an interview. He's handing us a thesis statement. We have to connect the dots and fill in the support.

Why a book on the Dust Bowl now?


The story of the people who lived through the nation's hardest economic depression and its worst weather event is one of the great untold stories of the Greatest Generation. To me, there was an urgency to get this story now because the last of the people who lived through those dark years are in their final days. It's their story, and I didn't want them to take this narrative of horror and persistence to the grave. At the same time, this part of America — the rural counties of the Great Plains — looks like it's dying. Our rural past seems so distant, like Dorothy's Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. Yet it was within the lifetime of people living today that nearly one in three Americans worked on a farm. Now, the site of the old Dust Bowl — which covers parts of five states — is largely devoid of young families and emptying out by the day. It's flyover country to most Americans. But it holds this remarkable tale that should be a larger part of our shared national story.

Do you see any parallels between the Dust Bowl and Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster of our time?


There are so many echoes of what happened in the 1930s and the hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005. For starters, there were ample warnings that a large part of the United States could be rendered uninhabitable if people continued to live as they did — in this case, ripping up all the grass that held the earth in place. In one sense, the prairie grass was like the levees around New Orleans; the grass protected the land against ferocious winds, cycles of drought, and storms. Then after the big dusters hit, you had a massive exodus: more than a quarter million people left their homes and fled. Never before or since had so many Americans been on the move because of a single weather event — until Hurricane Katrina. And finally there was the whole restoration effort: President Franklin Roosevelt thought he could restore the land to grass, plant trees, and maybe bring it back.

Beyond the hurricane, what is the relevance of the Dust Bowl to our times?


Remember what Lincoln said: We cannot escape history. That goes for the natural world as well. The Dust Bowl story is a parable, in a way, about what happens when people push the limits of the land. Many people think what happened in the 1930s — with drought, endless hot days, white skies, plants dying and the earth blowing — is a precursor to what could happen as the climate continues to change and the earth heats up.

Day 6

English 101 Day 6

We're on the front page, twice.

Bonus Point Opportunities this week:

Sunday 12-2 YV Museum

Information Literacy Workshops in P177

Wednesday 3^rd, Thursday 4^th at 2:10pm Research: Topic and Thesis

Friday 5^th 9:30am Research: Information Sources

Academic Essays

Analysis of the text—some of this is summary, some of this is reading between the lines

Original/Creative/Unique/"Risky" ideas

Use of sources to support your ideas

Talking with an audience

Eventually, argument and counter argument

What can we assume?

Grammar

MLA?

Some things about organization (Intro, body, conclusion)

Promise and Betrayal Notes In groups of five

Ch 5; Ch 7; Ch 8; Ch 9

What is the big picture of 1935?

What are the big themes?

Last week we saw:

Failure to learn from history

Failure to heed warnings

Environmental devastation brought on by

Overconfidence/Hubris/Hype

Greed

Technology/Machines

Exodus(ters) (um...that's ¼ million, not 14 million)

Indifference to the problem by Feds/Rest of us

And on the plus side:

The human spirit

Self reliance

Community building

Connection to the land

Resilience & Persistence (tough, tough mothers)

Hopes & Dreams

Reading: Tuesday 12; Wednesday 16; Thursday 17-18; Friday 21; Saturday 23; Sunday Epilogue

Schedule for next two weeks

Wednesday Oct 3^rd

Finish discussion of 5, 7, 8, 9

Discuss Chapter 12

What Egan says

Detailed essay requirements

Thursday Oct 4^th

Discuss Chapter 16

A look at the writing process.

Breaking down the rubric—what a good paper looks like.

Friday Oct 5th

Quiz WHT

Teaching Tolerance lesson plan

A good paper—looking at the rubric

(Sunday Kick-Off 12-2pm YVMuseum; free books)

Monday Oct 8th

Research for evidence for what Egan says

Tuesday Oct 9^th

Organization and support

Wednesday Oct 10th

Rough Draft of Essays due—peer edit practice This is a change.

Peer Editing

Thursday

Peer Editing

Friday

Intros and Conclusions

Monday

Final draft of essays due