January - March 2018

Post date: Jan 8, 2018 11:01:50 PM

Animals

Sperm whales. What is their brain size? (share 4/2/18)

History

Titanic. The movie immortalized the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. The movie's theme song "My Heart will go on" was sung by Celine Dion. Another song Down with the Old Canoe was written and recorded by the Dixon Brothers in 1938. (share 3/20/18)

Morgan Robertson published a novel called Futility in 1898. The plot of this book is about an unsinkable ship which hits an iceberg in April and sinks. Most of the passengers die because there are not enough lifeboats. Sound familiar? Isn't this what happened to the Titanic? Find out more Titanic facts in the journal sentinel. (share 3/21/18)

Name changes. Some people want new names. When many people marry or divorce, they want new names. Many names are changed when people come into the U.S. as immigrants and refugees. Did this happen when people arrived at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1954? Read this story about what the records say about this matter. (share 3/13/18)

How to pronounce names. Jennifer Gonzalez says people fall into three types when they try to pronounce unfamiliar names. She calls them fumbler-mumblers, arrogant manglers, and calibrators. Which one are you? Read Gonzalez's story to find out who you are. (share 3/19/18)

Food Rationing. After three years of World War I, ally troops in Europe were starving. As a way to save troops, Americans were encouraged to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and ship all the food items that would travel well to Europe. Why did Europe need food? Why weren't they growing their own food?

Shortly after the U.S. entered WWI, the U.S. Food Administration was set up to get food to Europe. We were encouraged to have "meatless Tuesdays" and "wheatless Wednesdays," because "food will win the war." Within a year, we had changed our diets and lots more food was sent to Europe. Food was sent to starving Europeans even after the war was over. (share 3/6/18)

In 1942, we entered WWII and had restrictions on more than food. See this History movie to find out what (3.01 min). By 1943, we had to use vouchers to buy sugar, coffee, meat, cheese, fats, canned fish, canned milk, and much more. The sugar ration lasted until 1947. (share 3/7/18)

Malcom X wore a conk. Read about the process from an excerpt from his autobiography. (shared 2/28/18)

During WWII, Japanese-Americans were moved into internment camps. In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston wrote about Jeanne's family's experience living in an internment camp in California during WWII. This book was published in 1973 and became a movie in 1976. Read more about Manzanar (one of ten internment camps). Topaz was the name of the camp located in Utah. (share 3/6/18)

Literature

The Scarlett Ibis, written by James Hurst (1922-2013), is about a young boy who is disappointed in what baby brothers really look like when they are born. Brothers dream of having brothers they can play with, but when a baby brother is six years younger then what do you do. (shared 3/22/18)

Gary Soto (1952-present) has written many stories. One of them is "The Bike." He tells the tale of young boy who goes outside his mom's boundaries. (shared 2/15/18)

Doris Lessing (1919-2013) wrote "Through the Tunnel." This short story focuses on a young boy's desire to venture just a little further. (shared 2/7/18)

The British writer Daphne Du Maurier (1907-1989) published her short story "The BIrds" in the 1950s. Alfred Hitchcock used this story as a basis for his movie The Birds. (shared 2/13/18)

Pat Mora (1942-present) wrote the poem Senora X. This poem centers around the thoughts and feelings of a woman who is writes her name for the first time. Do you remember what that felt like? (shared 2/7/18)

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) wrote many short stories and books with science fiction themes. "The Gift" is one of them. (shared 1/31/18)

James Thurber (1894-1961) brought alive a story about a princess and her beliefs about human kind - or maybe it was more about the princess's human fallacies - in "The Princess and the Tin Box." (shared 1/29/18)

Anne Tyler (1941-present) has written 20 novels. In 2012, she agreed to a rare interview with The Guardian while she was writing her twentieth novel. Read this article to find out more about her writing process. "Teenage Wasteland" is one of her short stories. (shared 1/30/18)

Edgar Alan Poe (1809-1849) wrote many short stories and poetry about mysteries and the macabre. "The Pit and the Pendulum," besides being one of Poe's many gory stories, is filled with lots of symbolism. The symbolism in Edgar Allen Poe's stories may have all been included with great purpose or readers over the years may be applying their own modern-day interpretations into their readings. Read what SparkNotes has to say. Check out other internet conversations. Then, tell me what you think. (shared 2/1/18)

Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote many short stories and novels. Westerns is the genre that people remember the most. His short story "Trap of Gold" focuses on one man and the gold rush. What must the main character avoid? How does L'Amour build our suspense? (shared 1/23/18)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014) wrote the short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." (shared 1/16/18)

William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), aka O. Henry, wrote many short stories and a magazine called "Rolling Stone." He was also known as a ranch hand, banker, reporter, and fleeing felon. He was sent to prison for embezzling bank funds - which actually was a technical mismanagement of funds. One of his most memorable holiday stories is "The Gift of the Magi." Another short story that resulted from Porter's prison sentence was "A Retrieved Reformation." (shared 1/7/18)

Judith Ortiz Cofer (1952-2016) was born in Puerto Rico. She became well known for writing stories about young girls coming of age. Read more about her life. Read an excerpt from her book about her life - Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood. (shared 1/8/18)

"Where have you gone, Billy Boy?" tells a fun war story about Private Paul Berlin while he was serving in Vietnam. Tim O'Brien (1946-present) writes mostly about his Vietnam experience as well as postwar stories about other vets. (shared 1/10/18)

"The Tell-tale Heart" is one of Edgar Allen Poe's scary stories. (shared 1/4/18)

The Phantom Tollbooth

We've finished the first part of the book. Watch this clever play: Part I. (21:36).