LIT THINK is a philosophy, an assignment, an OPP. Time to think hard, learn a lot, write endlessly and finally get credit, college credit, for your hard work. Robert Frost included you in his thoughts with the quotation:

Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.

You put the AP in apples, this is all about you.

It's about writing (until your hand hurts and your head hurts), it's about reading way more than you ever expected. It's about THINKING and literature and understanding. Welcome to AP11, Lit Think 101, a course that will take you into the depths of language. You will absorb it. It will absorb you.

For the next 20 weeks, you will be asked to read four novels, one play, a classic treatise on the American Revolution, and a series of American Short Stories, all while you survey American Poetry from Walt Whitman to Sylvia Plath. A lot of work. You'll also keep a journal that when finished will amount to 900 minutes of writing. Sound like a lot? Reality, that's but 10 minutes per class day. Both in class and out of class assignments are to be kept in your journals, which will be worth the equivalent of two test grades, and represent the most important aspect of what we do in here.

You will be asked to write both in class and at home, to write book reports and essays, and to complete at least one quiz and one test on each of the novels and the play. Tests and quizzes will also include the assigned poetry and short stories. Classwork amounts to 75% of your course grade. Your midterm and final represent the other 25%.

Novels:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Play:
Hamlet

American Narrative:
Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Short Stories:

"Hills Like White Elephant" by Hemingway
"A Family Supper" by Kazuo Ishiguro
"The Swimmer" by John Cheever
"I Could See the Smallest Things" by Raymond Carver
"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver

(Short stories available online)

Poetry:
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
Collected Poems by e.e. cummings
MORE

Our first piece of literature is The Great Gatsby, considered by many to be the Great American Novel. It's all about affluence, coincidence and a way of life quite foreign to most of us. You'll also be reading Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence on your own, which carries on Gatsby's central theme.

As well, we will begin looking at Poetry on a (nearly) daily basis. Ofttimes this will include song lyrics and fresh new voices. I encourage everyone to check out poetry180.com, as it contains many of the poems we will discuss over the semester.

Let's start:

5 Years
David Bowie

Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought I'd need so many people

A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children
If the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of that

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think
you knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk

We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got
We've got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got

www.davidbowie.com

BLOG

This website is a BLOG for Mr. Stowell's 11th Grade AP Umatilla High School Students. A Blog (weB LOG) is a fast and simple method for creating a website without having a great knowledge of computers or html code. Check this site often for assignments, extra credit projects, the course syllabus, opinions, cool web links, and general stuff to enhance your experience in class.

To create a BLOG of your own, visit blogger.com or another of the many free Blog web sites. It's fun, interesting and can improve your grades in class. In fact, I'm toying with the idea of using a Blog as a means to post your journals (see me for more info). Have a great semester!