Caption This

This week, I'm asking you to look at the picture below and create a story from what you see. What you write can either be dialogue, narration, or an exhaustive backstory. It is up to you. You have complete control. I expect a respectable length in regard to whichever way you choose to write.

Step Up to the Template

This week is about building a good thesis. What follows is a template for a good opening argument--an extended thesis. Discuss a topic (censorship, school policies, etc.) within this template. Use it to state your view and the opposing view. Publish the comment when all of the blanks have been appropriately filled.


In recent discussions of _________________________, a controversial issue has been whether _________________________. On the one hand, some argue that _________________________. From this perspective, _________________________. On the other hand, however, others argue that _________________________. According to this view, _________________________. In sum, then, the issue is whether ________________________ or ________________________.

Improvised Speech Drama

This week, create a short script in which conflict and confusion are caused by different kinds of pronunciation and speech patterns. Choose some characters who speak differently and come from different social classes and backgrounds--for example, your grandmother, an emo kid, a cheerleader, an honor student, a former boyfriend or girlfriend, a jock.
Choose a place and situation: for example, it's Thanksgiving dinner and your sister just started dating the emo kid and your grandmother disapproves.
Then, write a scene with dialogue for these characters.

Here is an example featuring a grandma, a rap star, and a cheerleader at dinner.

RAP STAR: Yo yo, G-ma, slip me some poes.
GRANDMA: Pardon?
CHEERLEADER: Duh, grandma. He's all like, "Pass the poes," and you, like, don't get it. he totally wants the potatoes.
GRANDMA: Then he should have asked that in the first place.


Your scene is expected to be much longer than this, with at least eight lines written for each character. A ending punchline would be nice.

Nevermore

Below is an excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. It is notorious for its use of alliteration and internal rhyme. Pay attention to these elements and the rhythm of the poetry, and respond with a poem of your own (2-3 stanzas) that mirrors this style.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; —
This it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"— here I opened wide the door; —
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —
Merely this, and nothing more.

Hate Poetry?

Read the following poem, and pay attention to the way it was written.
When you have a grasp on the style, write your own poem (2-3 stanzas) in the same way, playing on a different emotion than hate.

Hate Poem
Julie Sheehan

I hate you truly. Truly I do.
Everything about me hates everything about you.
The flick of my wrist hates you.
The way I hold my pencil hates you.
The sound made by my tiniest bones were they trapped
in the jaws of a moray eel hates you.
Each corpuscle singing in its capillary hates you.

Look out! Fore! I hate you.

The blue-green jewel of sock lint I’m digging
from under by third toenail, left foot, hates you.
The history of this keychain hates you.
My sigh in the background as you explain relational databases
hates you.
The goldfish of my genius hates you.
My aorta hates you. Also my ancestors.

A closed window is both a closed window and an obvious
symbol of how I hate you.

My voice curt as a hairshirt: hate.
My hesitation when you invite me for a drive: hate.
My pleasant “good morning”: hate.
You know how when I’m sleepy I nuzzle my head
under your arm? Hate.
The whites of my target-eyes articulate hate. My wit
practices it.
My breasts relaxing in their holster from morning
to night hate you.
Layers of hate, a parfait.
Hours after our latest row, brandishing the sharp glee of hate,
I dissect you cell by cell, so that I might hate each one
individually and at leisure.
My lungs, duplicitous twins, expand with the utter validity
of my hate, which can never have enough of you,
Breathlessly, like two idealists in a broken submarine.

Combine These Sentences

Combine the following short sentences into one longer sentence and then combine all of the sentences into one paragraph.


Ben Franklin was a printer.
He began his own printing business.
Benjamin was 24 when he started it.
Benjamin Franklin was married.
Ben was married when he was 26.
Ben Franklin married Deborah Read.
Benjamin Franklin retired from business.
Ben retired when he was 40 years old.
When Benjamin was 40 he was wealthy.
Benjamin Franklin retired.
Ben worked after he retired.
After retirement he did scientific work.
After retirement he did public work.
Benjamin Franklin was a famous man.
Ben is called the “first American.”
Benjamin had many fine qualities.
Ben put God before himself.
Ben put his country before himself.

Everyday Editing

Copy and Paste the following paragraphs into the comment box, and edit them for mistakes.


Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York city on October 27, 1858. He become the 26th prezident of the United States when president McKinley died. Roosevelt oversaw construction of the Panama Canal. He won the nobel Peace Prize for his role in bring the Russo-Japanese War to a peace full end. Did you know that the "Teddy bare" was named for Roosevelt. One of his favorite quotes was an old proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick.


On October 13 1792 the cornerstone was laid for a building that is now the oldest in Washington D.C. Designed by irish architect James Hoban, this 100-room building is the home of the president and his family. The building was given the name "White House" about ten years after it's construction the White House was burned down by british troops in 1814, but it was rebuild with in three years.


Have you been to Mount Rushmore. Sixty-foot-tall faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are carved in to Mount Rushmores stone hills. When sculptor Gutzon Borglum first saw mount Rushmore, he said, America will march along that skyline." Borglum begun work in 1927 but he died before the work was finished. The work was complete by his son, Lincoln on October 31, 1941.