Week 12

This Week
On Monday and Wednesday this week we'll be looking at John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums," as found on pages 214-220 of your text book. Friday is Good Friday and there is no class.


Journal Activity

The satirical news site The Onion is the source of some of the most predictably funny writing around.  And although the news articles themselves are funny, most of the humour of The Onion comes in the headlines.  A good Onion headline is a satire of news style, a parody of what the media is interested in and why, and often a commentary on (usually American) society.

For your journal activity this week, write five Onion-style news headlines.  Feel free to write more if you're on a roll, but five is all you need to complete this assignment.

Remember that news headlines have a very specific style.  Read The Onion, as well as any serious newspaper, to get a sense of that style.

Example

Here are five headlines I wrote to inspire you, and hopefully make you chuckle.

NATION'S CHILDREN AGREE: BEDTIME TOO EARLY
STEPHEN HARPER ADMITS HE "SOMETIMES" EATS BABIES
NOVA SCOTIA TO FOLLOW NEWFOUNDLAND'S LEAD, SET CLOCKS FORWARD 15 MINUTES
LOCAL CAT "ADORABLE"
QUIET PEOPLE EASY TO IGNORE - STUDY

Looking Ahead to Next Week

On Monday of next week we'll be talking about the Very Short Stories found here.  We'll have other things to say about those stories in class on Monday, but one question to ask is: what is the difference between a "story" and a "headline," like the ones I asked you to write this week?

On Wednesday we're reading Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" as found on pages 172-173 of your text book.

On Friday I will be telling you how to get an A on the exam, and we'll also have time for some course review and to answer your questions about the course and the exam.