"The Namesake"

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Sometimes the best movies come from books. That is definitely true about this one, which is based on Jhumpa Lahiri's beautiful novel, The Namesake.

"Twilight"

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"Twilight," which will be released in theaters 12/12/08, is based on Twilight, the first novel in Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular vampire series. Other books in the series include Eclipse, New Moon, and Breaking Dawn (in book stores this Friday, 8/1/08--so, if you email me this weekend, I might not get back to you until Sunday...).

Where are you going, what are you thinking?

The first time I read this story I was a freshman in college, like you. Like you, I had an immediate reaction to the story.

This time round, I read it a little slower and as I read I highlighted different passages that I thought were interesting. Many of them are listed below for you:

"...she knew she was pretty and that was everything." pp. 407
"Everything about her had two sides to it..." pp. 408
"It was a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold." pp. 409
"He wagged a finger... and said, 'Gonna get you, baby...' " pp. 409
"But all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face, but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July." pp. 409
"It was too hot." pp. 410
"...she whispered 'Christ, Christ...' " pp. 409
"He was standing in a strange way, leaning back against the car as if he were balancing himself." pp. 410
" 'I know my Connie...' " pp. 412
" 'Didn't you see me put my sign in the air when you walked by?' " pp. 412
" 'I'm your lover, honey... I'm always nice at first, the first time.' " pp. 414
"His whole face was a mask..." pp. 415
"...but again he almost lost his balance." pp. 415
" 'Don't you know who I am?' " pp. 416
" '...then they're all going to get it." pp. 416
" '...and nobody else gets hurt...' " pp. 416
" 'It's all over for you here, so come on out.' " pp. 417
"...an incantation..." pp. 417

How do the areas I marked/highlighted compare with those you marked? What do you think of the story? What is your interpretation?

Post a comment to either the story in general or to one/all of the above questions. Then post a comment to at least one other student response.

What's all the hype about reserach topics?

Chapter 23 of Quick Access proposes that one way to get started on a research project is to choose a research topic that:

• interests you
• is sufficiently narrow
• is significant and worthwhile
• is worth researching

That's all fine and good, but how do you create, find, stumble upon, come up with, or vomit a research topic? The book suggests the following:

• talking with others (like in this blog)
• browsing books/textbooks
• reading encyclopedia articles of interest
• browsing the library/bookstore
• browsing the Internet

Take a few minutes and think about the different literary selections we have read so far this summer. In doing so, can you come up with any possible research topics? Just to recap, we have read the following poems and short stories:

• "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros
• "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway
• "The Flea" by John Donne
• "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke
• "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter
• "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold
• "The Dover Bitch" by Anthony Hecht
• "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
• "Ripe Figs" by Kate Chopin
• "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
• "Loveliest of Trees" by A. E. Housman
• "The Span of Life" by Robert Frost
• "Harlem" by Langston Hughes
• "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber
• "Immigrants" by Pat Mora
• "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
• "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent" by John Milton
• "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost
• "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal" by William Wordsworth
• "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot
• "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
• "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy
• "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks
• "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen
• "Anthem for Doomed Youth" by Wilfred Owen
• "Naming of Parts" by Henry Reid

Post at least one possible research topic and/or area of research interest. Then comment upon the various directions that topic can go...

Check out this video on YouTube.com

This short video covers some of the basics of research paper writing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZnUm_IyQ5M
After you've viewed the video, comment on how the information in it relates to what you read in Literature for Composition and Quick Access concerning research.

The Research Paper

So... we're about ready to begin thinking about the dreaded research paper. (We don't want to move forward too quickly...) Have you read chapter 8, "Research: Writing with Sources," from Literature for Composition? What about chapters 23, "Starting a Research Project," and 24, "Developing a Search Strategy," from Quick Access?

What are your thoughts on these chapters and the research paper process?