I wonder how many men, hiding their youngness, rise as I do, Saturday mornings, filled with the hope that Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck will be there waiting as our one true always and forever salvation? ("Why Cartoons Are Forever" by Ray Bradbury, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 3, 1989.)
Thursday, 2/27/03
Warm Up. Copy 1-6 into notebook.
  1. *flustered : poised :: definite : ___________
  2. *infinite : infinitesimal :: valuable : ________
  3. *stiff : resilient :: chaotic : _________
  4. annihilate (v) ---> _________ (n)
  5. expendable (adj) ---> ________ (v)
  6. poised (adj) ---> ________ (n)
  7. (?) What things does the phrase "a sound of thunder" represent?
If not already done...Correct EMEN Test.   If not already done...Finish "ASOT"
hubris...predestination?
     "The ancient Greeks thought it was the nature of all humans to try to go too far, . . . to challenge the gods," said Susan T. Stevens, assistant professor of classics. "And in their culture they were both praised and punished for doing so."
     The classic case, she and others note, is that of Icarus, who used wings fashioned from feathers and wax by his father, Daedalus, to try to escape an earthly prison. But, intoxicated by the achievement of flight, Icarus disregarded his father's warning and flew so high the sun melted his wings and he fell to his death.
  1. Were the Earth Men of the previous story guilty of hubris? That is, did their downfall come because of their overweening (arrogant, cocky, conceited) pride? Or was their fate predetermined? That is, there was nothing they could have done to prevent what happened; it was fate. What makes you think so?
  2. What about the men of "A Sound of Thunder"? Were they guilty of hubris?
Write!
  1. I get so mad when...
  2. You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 117.
  3. Write a commercial (complete with a jingle) for yourself...for your favorite class...for your favorite...???
  4. How I feel about my alarm clock.
  5. What if you could turn invisible, but you couldn't control when or for how long? Show a day in your life.
  6. What novel should we read next in English? Why?
  7. Invent a new kind of furniture. Show how would be used.
  8. What are "10 Things Everyone Should Know"? Why those?
  9. Create a new mascot for the school and convince us to vote for it.
  10. If I could talk to my younger self, I would tell me...
  11. Make a list of things you would never see in your front yard… Turn it into a poem.
  12. What is your favorite word, and why? Write a poem about that word.
  13. Create a list of slogans for Laguna.
  14. Which social studies activities have been the best? Why? Worst? Why? Give suggestions for improving the social studies program.
The Simpsons parody.