1. People who worked at the food banks should have their papers and interviews to turn in on Monday 1/6 (no exceptions).
2. People who were scheduled to present on Friday 1/3 and Monday 1/6 should all be ready for Monday.
3. Keep up with the reading of your choice book (be ready for the scheduled meeting for 1/8). Remember to keep up with those blue books.
4. Targeted rewrite opportunity is attached below. These rewrites need to be turned in to me by Tuesday, January 7 without exception. I have d-hall duty on January 6, so I will not be available after school for help. I can answer questions via email if they come to me before noon on Saturday, 1/4.
5. HOMEWORK: This weekend (1/3-1/5) please read pages 4-10 (the brief biography of DuBois, his introduction to the book and its purpose, and part of chapter 1) from W.E.B. Dubois' The Soul of Black Folks. You will find a .pdf of the entire book here . The "problem" he writes of being is, of course, the problem of being black in America. There are three particular ideas I want you to react to (they are all in chapter 1): the first is DuBois' story of his interaction (at the schoolhouse) as a young boy with the girl in his class, the next is the idea of double-consciousness (and the idea of the Veil) and the final one is his explanation for the difficult work of the black artist in this kind of world (this beings on page 9 with the line "This, then...and finish that paragraph by reading through page 10: "...make them ashamed of themselves."). In your blue books, respond with at least 2/3 a page on each idea. First, "define" the idea - explain in your own words what Dubois was writing about, then for each, react and reflect. It would be very much worth it to make connections between these ideas and the novel that you are reading right now (either Song of Solomon or Black Ice). It would also be a good idea to shape your choice book blue book responses around DuBois' ideas.
6. Book club information is on the race page. I did put up some discussion points that we would have used had we been in school on Thursday. They might help direct your thinking and your blue book entries.
Finally, simply to add to your growing body of knowledge, here's a terrific piece by Henry Louis Gates about the decision to arm freed black men in the Civil War (it features Frederick Douglass).