YOU SHOULD BE APPROX. 100 PAGES INTO your novel. Your only homework during the month of February is reading and research related to your novel. Do NOT make the mistake of not using this time to read your novel. Each year, there's a handful of students who neglect their reading, and they are always sorry to have done so. I will collect and check annotation early next week. So you can look forward to that.

MONDAY

No school for a professional development day.
HW: Reading your novel. You should have at least ten sources on a bibliography for class in the Library on Friday. These are sources that you should have read, but not necessarily annotated heavily. You want a range of sources that cover a variety of depth and content, relating to both your author, and your novel.

TUESDAY

Reading Krakauer's chapter "The Alaska Interior" from his non-fiction Into the Wild. Why are Americans attracted to wilderness, despite the obvious risks it threatens?
HW: Reading your novel. Remember to annotate: What question does your author search to answer about America via the novel?

Popeye illustrates the indomitable American ethos. He beats nature into submission, violently shapes wilderness into civilized forms. His appetite is irresistible and absolute, and is unapologetically American.

WEDNESDAY

Reading the selection on the Turner thesis and writing a paragraph that uses a quote from it, a quote from yesterday's novel Into the Wild, and answers this question: How does Chris McCandless illustrate the Turner thesis? This short paragraph should include two quotes and answer the aforementioned question. We will close class by looking at the 1933 Popeye cartoon, "I Yam What I Yam," as an example of the Turner thesis.
HW: Reading your novel.

THURSDAY

We will watch the first 15 (redacted) minutes of Jim Jarmusch's iconic film Dead Man, and consider how American's conception of nature is shaped by a) their misconception of what the west is, what nature will be like; b) how technology both facilitates and exasperates their experience in wilderness, and c) how nature fundamentally changes the American character. We will then begin "Death on the Prairies: The Murderous Blizzard of 1888." Why do Americans venture into wilderness when so doing puts their mortality at risk? What is their attraction to wilderness?
HW: Reading your novel.

FRIDAY

In the Library. Mr. S. will show you a few techniques for narrowing your searches for electronic database sources, and a few tips for using NoodleBib. I'm going to want you to share with both he and I your working bibliographies.
HW: Reading yoru novel.