No Class Thursday (Sick); Read Part Four for Tuesday

Sadly, I have to miss class on Thursday since I'm a bit sick, but we'll be back on Tuesday to discuss Part Four, Chapters 10-14, with a quiz to follow. I'll post some questions here to consider when I feel more up to it this weekend. 

REMEMBER that papers are still due today by 5pm! E-mail me with any questions or concerns. Bring them to my door if you can, since I'll try to get to the office around 4 or 5 to check. 

Thanks! 

For Tuesday: Strayed, Wild, Chs.8-10

Read Part Three, Chapters 8-10, for Tuesday's class. We'll have a quiz as usual when you arrive, based on at least one of the questions below. Also, remember that the Short Paper #2 assignment is due next Thursday--the assignment is in the post below this one.

* How are the chapters of each title a metaphor for the story/events that follow? Particularly a strange one like "Corvidology?" 

* Why does she call "Mom! Mom!" when she sees the fox in Chapter 9? Does she seem to understand herself?

* Look for good metaphors in these chapters! For example, what does she mean by, "These mountains didn't count the days" (143)?

* How does Strayed's history with her father somewhat resemble (in a darker way) McCandless' story? Why is it also another piece in the puzzle of her quest to walk the PCT?

* Why does she want to be with Greg even though she admits she's not attracted to him? How might this relate to her "Band-Aid" metaphor from Part Two?

* Strayed writes that walking on the PCT "was the opposite of using heroin," because "the wilderness had a clarity that included me" (143). What do you think she means by this?

* One of the most disturbing (and memorable) scenes in the book occurs in Chapter 10 with her mother's horse, Lady. Why do you think she includes this scene? How does it underline some of the big themes of the book?

Short Paper #2 assignment--due Thursday, October 31st

Short Paper #2: A Mountain Isn’t a Mountain

“I realized I didn’t understand what a mountain was…they were, I now realized, layered and complex, inexplicable and analogous to nothing” (63).

PROMPT: For your second short paper assignment, I want you to write about an experience when you confronted something that was larger, more complex, and “analogous to nothing” you had ever experienced. It doesn’t have to be something big, like walking the PCT, but it should be something that turned out to be complex and challenging in ways you didn’t expect. Why was this? Why weren’t you as prepared as you thought? What about it surprised you? How was it an experience that even though you were told about it, or had even seen it from a distance, you simply had to confront to understand? Describe the experience as if you’re going through it for the first time: tell us what you saw and what it felt like, assuming we’ve never seen or felt it, either.

TO CONSIDER: Remember, this doesn’t have to be a ‘win’ for you: you could have failed or quit the experience. It might be a job that you realized just wasn’t for you. Or a relationship, a class, or a move to a new town or city. But even when you throw in the towel, the experience can still stay with you. What did it help you see or understand? How did it shape some aspect, large or small, of your outlook? Would you ever do it again (if you quit), and why has it become an important part of your life (if you didn’t)? If you continue to do it, what did you not understand until you actually ‘got on the trail’ and ‘hiked’ it?

THE BOOK: Strayed’s Wild introduced this conversation, so make sure you’re responding to it. Use a passage or two from the book to help you discuss your own experience, seeing things in terms of her own experience. Try to see how you’re both on the same metaphorical journey, walking the same ‘mountain.’ However, DON’T use the quote above on page 63, but find your own connections and ideas. There’s a lot to draw from in the book!

REQUIREMENTS:

• At least 3 pages, double spaced
• Describe and explain the experience: don’t assume we know
• Quote from the book, and make meaningful connections
• Due next Thursday, October 31st by 5pm

For Tuesday: Strayed, Wild, Part Two: Chs.4-7

Be sure to read Part Two for Tuesday's class (I'm including Ch.4 here as well, even though I told you to read it for last time). We'll have another quiz when you get to class, so consider some of the following ideas:

* What is the significance of her last name? Where did it come from, and why does she say "I looked it up in the dictionary and knew it was mine" (96).

* Why does she worry that the lawyer will think they're getting divorced for the wrong reasons? Why does she want to get divorced? Or does she?

* She calls the hike the "hardest thing I'd ever done," even though she recently lost her mother and suffered a divorce. What makes this harder, and why does it make "the other hardest things the the tiniest bit less hard" (95)?

* What does she learn from the other hikers she encounters on the trail? What basic information has she neglected? Could some of this information have saved her life?

* What does she learn is the most unexpected hardship of the trail? What could no amount of training or reading have truly prepared her for?

* What prevents her from quitting the trail when she finally convinces herself to catch the first bus to Alaska?

* What does the experience with the bull teach her about the PCT and about life itself?

For Tuesday: Strayed, Wild, Chs. 1-4

The author during her trek on the PCT

NOTE: Read as close to the end of Chapter 4 as you can by Tuesday. If you don't completely get there, no problem, but get close, since our quiz on Tuesday will expect you to have read at least 3/4 of this. Here are some questions to consider as you read, one of which will make an appearance on the quiz:

* How is Cheryl a bit like Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild? What problems and personality straits do both of them share? What might both be driven to explore the "wild"?

* Related to the above, what does the PCT represent for her? How is it like her "Alaska"?

* What are the "Ten thousand things"? What does this say about her relationship with her mother, and why she had so much trouble processing her death?

* Throughout these chapters, she throws herself into shallow affairs and eventually, drug addiction, almost as a way of punishing herself. Yet she says that "this is how "it must feel to people who cut themselves on purpose. Not pretty, but clean" (36). How is this kind of self-mutilation "clean"? 

* Why does she have vivid dreams--which she calls the "documentary films of her subconscious"--of killing her mother in various horrible ways? 

* Is she prepared for her journey on the PCT either physically or mentally? How is she a little like McCandless when he first sets out "into the wild" in Alaska?

Conference Schedule for This Week

REMEMBER: no class this week, but you do have to come to your scheduled conferences. It's easy and painless; just come to my office for a 5-10 minute conference about your paper, so I can help you see what works and what you might need to work on for future assignments (or to revise this one). BRING YOUR INTO THE WILD QUESTIONS WITH YOU! Otherwise, you won't get credit for them. If you need to change your conference time, no problem--just let me know as soon as possible. 

If you missed class last Thursday, let me know which of the open times you can attend. If you just show up, I might not have your paper with me, so please tell me in advance.

TUESDAY
9:30 Holly
9:40 Eva
9:50 William
10:00 Chandler
10:10 Bryce
10:20 Sofia
10:30 Cece
10:40 Jorden
10:50 Bo

11:00 Megan
11:10 Brayden
11:20 Maddie C.
11:30 Jarod
11:40 Kensie
11:50 Hailey P.
12:00 Jagger
12:10 Gavin
12:20 Felicia
12:30 Shelby

WEDNESDAY
1:00 Payton
1:10 Preston
1:20 OPEN
1:30 Conner
1:40 OPEN
1:50 OPEN
2:00 OPEN
2:10 Chandler B.
2:20-3:00: OPEN 

THURSDAY
9:30 Trenton
9:40 Zully
9:50-10:10 OPEN
10:20 Cora
10:30 Haley L.
10:40 Megan
10:50 Matthew

11:00 Alexis
11:10 Addison
11:20 Garren
11:30 Brandon
11:40 Rylan
11:50 Jadon
12:00 Willow
12:10 Maddie L.
12:20 Kaleigh
12:30 Alayna

1:00 Emily
1:10-3:00 OPEN 

For Thursday: Into the Wild (see below)

This week, we're watching the film Into the Wild (2007) as an introduction to our next book, Cheryl Strayed's book, Wild (not on the same subject--but a similar theme). I'll hand out questions on Thursday's class to be turned in during our conferences next week.

We'll sign up for individual conferences on Thursday as well, so try not to miss. You must attend an individual conference to be 'present' for class next week; otherwise, you'll get two absences and you'll have to wait even longer to get your paper back. 

REMEMBER that papers are due by 5pm today (Tuesday)! You can turn it in late, but you lose ten points a day for a maximum of two days. After that, you get a zero. So be careful!