Week #3 MP4---Assignment #3--Junot Diaz/Zoom workshop

AGENDA:

Please read the Junot Diaz short story "Drown" and answer the questions.

More importantly, prepare one of your short stories to read and share at a Zoom workshop this week.
How is Thursday at 4 pm?

https://shortstorymagictricks.com/2018/04/25/drown-by-junot-diaz/

“Drown” 
1. How would you characterize Beto, the narrator’s friend, based on the first couple pages of the story. Choose two adjectives that best characterize Beto and cite a sentence or two from the early part of the story that demonstrate each. 
2. What kind of son is the narrator to his mother, in this story? What are two reasons to think he is a good son and two reasons to think he is not a good son? Which side would you say is weightier, more significant, more valid as an interpretation?
 3. How is the narrator’s father depicted in this story? If he were to represent two powerful forces in the narrator’s life, what would those forces be, and which incidents or dialogue in the story substantiate each of them? 
4. The narrator has two sexual encounters with his friend Beto. What they tell us about the narrator’s sexuality, if anything? How does sexuality affect the relationship between Beto and the narrator? In the end, what kind of relationship do Beto and the narrator have?

More Junot Diaz:
http://www.openculture.com/2015/02/seven-stories-from-junot-diaz-free-online-in-text-and-audio.html

http://www.junotdiaz.com/2012/05/19/the-money/

A Virtual Reading--Shelter-in-poems American Academy of Poets

Here's the link.  It's free, but I think you need to register.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shelter-in-poems-a-virtual-reading-tickets-103370060634

SOTA SPIRIT DAY--Extra Credit

Post a picture of yourself with or without SOTA gear or just hold up a SOTA sign.

To find out more, go to SOTA Community on Google Classroom.  Code:  kfoad43

Week #2/MP4 Assignment---"Boys and Girls" by Alice Munro

AGENDA:
I hope you're staying well.

Here is Weekly Assignment #2 for MP4/Week 2.  The pdf which is attached on Google Classroom has the short story as well as several literary analyses.  DUE FRIDAY, MAY 1.

Here is the link to the short story, though:
http://www.giuliotortello.it/shortstories/boys_and_girls.pdf


Also, work on revising (look at previous post) or creating a new short story to share at a Zoom workshop (invite forthcoming as we check on our schedules).  There will be credit for worshipping so plan on worshipping a short story this marking period!



AGENDA:

Read "Boys and Girls" by Alice Munro and answer the discussion questions.


"Boys and Girls" is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro that first appeared in Dance of the Happy Shades, a collection of fifteen short stories by Munro published in 1968 by Ryerson Press.Discussion Questions "Boys and Girls"

1. Who is the narrator? What perspective does she have on the events in the story?

2. Where and when does the story take place?

3. What roles are assigned to men and to women in the world of this story? How do the mother, the father, Henry Bailey, the narrator, and her brother Laird exemplify aspects of these masculine and feminine roles?

4. What people and things represent freedom in this story? What people and things are not “free”?

5. What do you see as the primary conflict in the story; in other words, what does the dramatic tension come from?

6. What do you see as the turning point in the story?

7. What changes occur in the course of the story --to the girl, to her fantasies, to her relationship with Laird and her father?

8. The phrase “only a girl” is used in two different situations. What meaning does the phrase have for the girl in each situation? How does it contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

9. This sort of story is called a “coming of age” or “initiation” story. Why do you think that is? What is the girl “initiated” into? Of what does she become aware?

10. In “Boys and Girls”, what does the girl gain? What does she lose? Do you think what she becomes reflects nature or nurture? Do you see these changes and losses as necessary?

  

Literary Hub--A REALLY good resource

This is a really good resource with great links. Lots of suggestions for books, articles, etc.--quarantine reading!

https://lithub.com/

Extra Credit---BOA EVENT

BOA Is Here Virtual Poetry Salon Celebrate National Poetry Month from the comfort of your own living room with BOA's first ever virtual poetry salon! Tune in to hear readings, stories, and more from seven BOA poets with new books from BOA Editions. We hope you'll join us! Event Details Time, Date, Place: 8:00–8:30 PM Eastern, Tuesday, April 28, simultaneous premiere on Facebook and YouTube. Videos will be archived on both platforms for on-demand viewing. Admission: Free, no registration required. Closed captioned. Follow BOA on Facebook to get a reminder or subscribe to our YouTube channel to get a notification when the salon premieres! Featured Poets Diana Marie Delgado is the author of Tracing the Horse (BOA, 2019). Her work is rooted in her experiences growing up Mexican-American, and she is a member of the Canto Mundo and Macondo writing communities. She currently resides in Tucson, where she is the Literary Director of the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona. Deborah Paredez is a poet, performance scholar, and cultural critic whose writing explores the workings of memory, the legacies of war, and feminist elegy. She is the author of Year of the Dog (BOA, 2020). Born and raised in San Antonio, She lives in New York City where she is a professor of creative writing and ethnic studies at Columbia University. Matt Morton is the author of Improvisation Without Accompaniment (BOA, 2020), which won the 18th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. He serves as associate editor for 32 Poems and is a Robert B. Toulouse Doctoral Fellow in English at the University of North Texas. He lives in Dallas, TX. Rick Bursky is the author of Let's Become a Ghost Story (BOA, 2020) and I’m No Longer Troubled By the Extravagance (BOA, 2015). Originally from New York City, Bursky lives in Los Angeles where he works in advertising and teaches poetry in the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program. Kathryn Nuernberger is the author of Rue (BOA, 2020) and the James Laughlin Award-winning The End of Pink (BOA, 2016). After spending many years directing Pleiades Press, she now teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Minnesota and lives with her family in The Twin Cities. John Gallaher is the author of Brand New Spacesuit (BOA, 2020) and In A Landscape (BOA, 2014). He is also the co-author with G.C. Waldrep of Your Father on the Train of Ghosts (BOA, 2011), which was written in collaboration almost entirely through email. He is the co-editor of The Laurel Review and The Akron Series in Contemporary Poetics. He lives in Marysville, Missouri, where he is an assistant professor of English at Northwest Missouri State University. Jillian Weise is a poet, performance artist and disability rights activist. She is the author of Cyborg Detective (BOA, 2019) and The Book of Goodbyes (BOA, 2013), which won the Isabella Gardner Award and the James Laughlin Award. Weise identifies as a cyborg, and her essays on cyborg identity and disability rights have appeared in The New York Times, Granta, and elsewhere. She hosts a series of satirical videos highlighting literary ableism under the persona Tispy Tullivan. Stay tuned to the end of the broadcast for a special treat from BOA's video archives!

WEEK 1 Assignment Due!

Please post on Google Classroom for Week 1 credit.