IDEAS FOR FUTURE ENGLISH 100 COURSES

Any original thoughts on how to improve the course? Write them here.

THANKS, EVERYONE, FOR A GREAT QUARTER!

You've done some wonderful writing, thinking, and interacting.
Have a great break!

Neruda's Questions

Pablo Neruda(1904-1973), a wonderful poet from Chile, wrote a book called The Book of Questions in which he asked many strange and perplexing, often unanswerable questions. Read them, and then either respond with what you think of these questions or leave your own imponderable question:


Tell me, is the rose naked or is that her only dress?
Why do trees conceal the splendor of their roots?
Who hears the regrets of the thieving automobile?
Is there anything in the world sadder than a train standing in the rain?

Why don't the immense airplanes fly around with their children?
Which yellow bird fills its nest with lemons?
Why don't they train helicoptors to suck honey from the sunlight?
Where did the full moon leave its sack of flour tonight?

If I have died and don't know it of whom do I ask the time?

THE ECONOMY AND YOUR VALUES

I recently had a conversation with a friend who argued that the current economic trouble in the country and around the world might lead people to re-evaluate their values, re-assess what is most important in life, and realize that they had been leading lives too determined by material goods. As I drove around town and saw the third and then the fourth drive through coffee kiosk closed, out of business, bankrupt, I realized, people are not buying that coffee as much because it's the first and easiest item on our personal economic agenda that is obviously defined as a luxury. I thought, that guy who now cannot afford a $4 latte is not saying, "wow, now I really value what I have." Instead, he is saying, "wow, I am suffering because I now cannot afford that coffee." What rubbish! In fact, I think the current economic crisis will only accentuate our materialism, making us miss what we have now defined as "needs" but what, in reality, are not needs at all. We may be beyond help...how many people do you know who define themselves as "poor" but who also have cable tv and cell phones? The current economic trouble will not lead us to re-evaluate our values because we are hopelessly devoted to a world that can be bought rather than one that has internal significance.
What do you think?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MOVE?

One of our very own is moving after this quarter to a new country. Look at the roo to the left and then guess where she might be headed...no, not to a zoo. It's to Australia, mate!

Here's what I want you to think about. What does it mean to move to a new country? Have you ever made that move? What sorts of issues were there for you? If you have not, what do you imagine would make it difficult? What would excite you about the prospect? You might miss people if you moved, but what else of your original country would you miss? Let's use this blog space to brainstorm so that our future expatriate can prepare her mind for the journey.

Academic Writing

How is writing in a typical "academic" setting different from the many other writing settings we've written in this quarter?

RANDOM AUTOBIOGRAPHY FOR MONDAY/WEDNESDAY FOLKS

We're going to do a class random autobiography, so add your great random thoughts from your in-class writing here or come up with new ones. Then, after it's full of random genius, I'll put it all together and we'll see what we have. I'll start...

Dad once scolded me for buying a dolphin.

I have been lost in Sears.

MORE RANDOM AUTOBIOGRAPHY--Tuesday/Thursday People

Now that we've done that Random Autobiography in class, let's make one that will become a collective random bunch of autobiographies. You can use ones you thought of in class, or you can add new random thoughts. Don't explain any of your statements, just insert the randomness and then eventually I'll print it all out and bring it to class. I'll start...

I burned down the garage and blamed it on the wiring.

A wild boar once chased me through a Carolina forest.

HOW TO MAKE CAL STATE BETTER

So, most of you have now been here for six weeks. What would you do to make this university better?

Restaurant Review

Do you have questions, problems, or any other issueswith this assignment? Ask your questions here.