Handful of Nothin'

This entry is for period 6 and 8 students.

After "beating" Dragline in the fight (by getting pounded on),and after "winning" the poker game (with an inferior hand), Luke claims that "Sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand."

Give an example (from another film, a book, a short story, etc.) that proves Luke is right, that proves that sometimes "nothin' can be a real cool hand."

Be sure to read all of the responses before yours; remember, no repeats.

Hotel Rwanda - blog 1

This post if for periods 1 and 2 students only.

First, please do me a favor - read the blog entry entitled "Quick Poll" - it's the one right below this one. Then meet me back here.

Good, you're back. Thanks for taking the poll. Now, here is a speech by Paul Rusesabagina, the man about whom the film Hotel Rwanda is based. Give it a look.



Think of a person/character - living or dead, real or fictional - that you think shares a characteristic with Rusesabagina. Take your evidence both from the film and the speech video. Be sure to supply details to support your claims.

Quick Poll

This poll is for all students in all periods. Thanks for the help.

The GBS summer book committee would like some feedback. Read the following book summaries and indicate which you'd most like to read using the poll menu to the right of this page. Thanks for your time.


My Fair Godmother by Jeannette Rallison
Savannah Delano is NOT stupid. She just finds a lot of school subjects irrelevant to everyday life. So why did her boyfriend just break up with her to date her older sister? Enter Chrissy Everstar, her airheaded boy-elf chasing “fair godmother.” Now, Savannah spits toads when she lies, ends up stuck in two fairytales that are NOTHING like the movie versions, and accidentally wishes Tristan (her potential prom date) to the Middle Ages. When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, she must team up with Chrissy to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy Black Knight.

Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beah was a typical precocious 12-year-old growing up in Sierra Lone. But rebel forces destroyed his childhood innocence when they hit his village, driving him to leave his home and travel the arid deserts and jungles of Africa. After several months of struggle, he was recruited by the national army, made a full soldier and learned to shoot an AK-47, and hated everyone who came up against the rebels. This gripping story by a children's-rights advocate recounts his experiences as a boy growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, during one of the most brutal and violent civil wars in recent history.

Aimee by Mary Beth Miller
This nameless teenager must not see her close friends again, she is forced to transfer to a new school, and she must attend psychiatric counseling sessions. Why? Because her best friend, Aimee, is dead. Although readers do not get the answers to their questions about how this tragic death occurred until the conclusion of the story, they will be consumed by the narrator's fixation with the end of everything. She wonders aloud what it must feel like to let all fall away and to end life's struggles.

Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Just before his senior year, Ben Wolf is diagnosed with a rare, incurable leukemia. At 18, he has the legal right to keep the news to himself until he's ready to reveal it. With only his doctor and therapist in on his secret, Ben sets out to live an entire lifetime in a year: There are insects that pack it all into a day, he reasons. His goals are to join his brother on the football team; learn everything he can; and ask out gorgeous Dallas Suzuki.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life’s calling: to cure infectious diseases and to bring the life saving tools of modern medicine to those who need them the most. While studying at Harvard, Paul cannot ignore the impoverished people of Haiti that have captivated his mind and his heart. With much sacrifice, Paul dedicates his time, medical talents and resources to Haiti. This book is the example of a life based on hope and on understanding of the truth in the Haitian proverb, “Mountains beyond mountains” – as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on to solve that one too.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Miranda's disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they fight to survive.

Of Mice and Men - Chap. 6

Steinbeck got the title of Of Mice and Men come from a poem by Irish poet Robert Burns. Give it a read:

Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With hurrying scamper!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!

I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor little beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.

Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse grass green!
And bleak December's winds coming,
Both bitter and keen!

You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel plough past
Out through your cell.

That small bit heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter's sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.

But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

Still you are blest, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!

Tough one, huh? I can help you out with it. Here's a 5 minute lecture from a semi-retired college professor. Do this: pres play, and re-read the poem and the guy gives his lecture. You'll be able to follow along pretty well. (He starts reading it and describing what he's reading about 1:30 in.



Here again is the part that inspried Steinbeck:

But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

Here's the question: To what degree to you agree with this claim? Support your claim with evidence not from the text, but rather from another text - a short story, a novel, a film, a poem, etc.

Again, you can earn extra credit by responding to your classmates' posts.

P.S. Anyone remember this game, or am I just old?

Of Mice and Men - Chap. 4

This chapter is all about not fitting in.

It's about being a "freak."

It's about being a "misfit."

Here's the question posed to you: To what degree is it the fault of the "misfit", the "freak", the "outsider" that he or she doesn't fit in? What responsibility do "non-outsiders" have, if any, to include "outsiders" in social situations? In short, whose fault is it that some folks don't fit in, and whose responsibility is it to fix it? Use a specific example - either from the novel or elsewhere - to support your claim.

Again, you can earn extra credit for commenting on the posts of your classmates.

After you've done your work, I have a little treat for you. You might have seen this before, but maybe now you'll get the joke.

Of Mice and Men - Chap. 2

This entry is for periods 6 and 8 students only.


Throughout chapter two, we learn some of the rules - both explicit and implied - of the ranch. We learn what kind of behavior is expected of the men, and what kind of behavior is not tolerated. We also get a glimpse at how the men speak to and treat one another.

All of this leads to a question Steinbeck is posing to the reader: To what degree is life on the ranch – the social behaviors and constructs of the men, that is – a snapshot of life in general? In other words, is the ranch a ‘microcosm’ of real life, or is it simply its own thing?

Here’s your task: Pick a character from another work of fiction - novel, short story, film, television program - and explain, in a thoughtful and thoough paragraph - whether or not that character would fit in on the ranch. Be sure to be specific in your response.

Read the entries before yours -- no repeats allowed! If you’d like some extra credit, feel free to comment on your classmates' responses in separate entries.