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Unit One Readings: Education & "the Other"

• Our first reading from the book was "What True Education Should Do," by Sidney J. Harris, p. 671
• Along with that was the selection from Plato's Meno, where Socrates gets a slave boy to "remember" a geometric proof.
• Our second reading was "The Struggle to be an All-American Girl," by Elizabeth Wong, p. 672.
• We did an activity based upon the work of Howard Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences," from "Many Ways of Knowing," p. 716.
• The next reading was "The Village Watchman," by Terry Tempest Williams, p. 623.
• The class handout with questions about reading "The Village Watchman".
• The last reading in this unit was "Graduation," by Maya Angelou, p. 610.
• The class handout was a Reading Guide & Note-Taking sheet for "Graduation".
• "The year was 1900 and Johnson was a school principal in his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla. He was asked to speak at an Abraham Lincoln birthday celebration, but instead of speaking he decided to write a poem. With time running short, plans changed again and James asked his brother, music teacher J. Rosamond Johnson, to help him write a song..." Thus was born the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Click, and you can read a little profile of the author, and a short history of the song from National Public Radio in the United States. Included are four different audio versions, in RealPlayer format. I recommend the traditional version from the Choral Arts Society, and to better hear the words, the solo modern version from Kelli Williams. (At the bottom of the page is a link to the words to the song, so you can read along.)
• If you don't have RealPlayer on your computer, you can also listen to another recording of the Negro National Anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," in a female choir version to be heard at the excellent University of Virginia Library exhibit of that name. The song can be played from this site in both MP3 and QuickTime formats.
• Here is the review chart that covers and compares all of the text readings.

Unit Two Readings: Dreams, Daydreams, and Unexpected Heroes

• We started with the short story in your text, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," by James Thurber, on page 650.
• The full text of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" can be found in several places on the Net, including here and here and here.
• The pre-reading sheet, an article about daydreams with blanks in it, came from the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology entry mentioned below.
• After British weapons expert David Kelly committed suicide in the summer of 2003, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair called him a "Walter Mitty." That spokesman had to apologize for the remark, which sparked headlines like "Who is Walter Mitty?" in The Guardian newspaper.
• The term "Walter Mitty" has made it into the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, meaning "an ordinary person who dreams of leading a romantic life".

• "Walter Mitty" was turned into a musical film in 1947 (see the poster on the left)...and it's being re-made for our times, starring Jim Carrey and directed by Steven Spielberg. Honest. Read all about it at CountingDown.com.
• Can you complete these three textbook activities over the story as a review for yourself? I did not assign them in class.
• The average person daydreams every 90 minutes. This comes from the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology's article on daydreams, where you'll learn the science behind the daydreaming.
• What happens when you dream about rain? Why, it means that you are trying to overcome an emotional issue with someone. At least, that's what the Dream Dictionary says, although I think it's all a lot of nonsense myself.
• The author of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" was James Thurber, a classic American humorist whose comedy was a lot more subtle and interesting than you might guess. He drew odd cartoons, as well. You can learn more at the Thurber House, which has now been turned into a museum.
• From the Thurber House quote page comes this, about Thurber's wife Helen: "When I wrote 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,' I had a scene in which Mitty got between Hemingway and an opponent in a Stork Club brawl. Helen said it had to come out, that there should be nothing topical in the story. Well, you know how it is when your wife is right. You grouse around the house for a week, and then you follow her advice."
• We also have seen the World War II film, Memphis Belle.
• The words to the poem Danny reads in the film are from W.B. Yeats's "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death":
  I know that I shall meet my fate
  Somewhere among the clouds above;
  Those that I fight I do not hate,
  Those that I guard I do not love...
  Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
  Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
  A lonely impulse of delight
  Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
  I balanced all, brought all to mind,
  The years to come seemed waste of breath,
  A waste of breath the years behind
  In balance with this life, this death.
  
• The complete poem can be found here.
• You can learn about the real Memphis Belle by visiting its official site, set up by the Memphis Belle Memorial Association. A quick look at the history of the plane and its missions can be found here (although it's hard to read with a terrible background). As for the film, the full details about cast, director, and crew can be found at one of the best sites on the Net for movie lovers, the Internet Movie Data Base. You can even find an early version (not the final version seen in the film) of the entire script of the film online, at The Daily Script.
• Also part of this unit is your winter vacation reading, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou. The TallMania page dedicated to that book can be found by clicking here.

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