For Class Discussion 4 December 2008

FIVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN EXIT
4 December 2008

View this Twilight Zone show in three segments (1, 2, 3), then prepare the following questions for class discussion. The show was first broadcast on 22 December 1961, three days before Christmas. Try to guess the Christmas connection.

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1. What does the clown say is in (arrived)?
2. What does the clown say should be done with the troops?
3. According to the clown, what comes quickly, even in the peacetime army?
4. What rank is the officer?
5. What does the officer call the clown for giving him a higher rank?
6. Who is called "an old sport"?
7. In the form of a question, what "important item" has "eluded" the soldier?
8. Where does the officer think the clown comes from?
9. Why does the clown say "It doesn't figure at all"?
10. What 3 "W" questions does the officer ask?
11. What does the ballet dancer say in reply?
12. What does the clown answer when the officer asks how long they will be where they are?
13. According to the clown, who knows the answer?
14. In one word, how does narrator Serling describe the nightmare?
15. Narrator Serling says "We will not end the nightmare." What does he say he'll do instead?
16. What kind of worker does the clown describe the officer as being?
17. What kind of psychologist does the officer describe the clown as being?
18. What three jobs does the clown say he might have?
19. According to the clown, in one word, what kind of "idiot" is the officer?
20. What does the officer say he wants?
21. What does the clown say they all want?
22. What four things does the clown suggest may be above them?
23. What four suggestions does the dancer give for their situation?
24. What does the hobo suggest?
25. What does the bagpiper suggest?
26. According to the clown, what is there an abundance of?
27. What possibility does the officer want examined?
28. What does the officer call their unreal situation?
29. Who brings them food and water?
30. Why does the officer feel it's natural not to feel hungry or thirsty?
31. What does the dancer say they all feel?
32. What does the major do with his shoe?
33. What three things does the officer hope to find in the wall?
34. According to the hobo, where is the universe?
35. What does the dancer think the noise is?
36. What does the officer scream to the people he believes are above them?
37. What does the dancer say about "the beginning"?
38. What does the hobo ask of the dancer to make the time pass?
39. What does the bagpiper offer to do for the dancer?
40. What has the officer never seen?
41. What does the major say is all he wants to do?
42. What does the clown call bright and incredibly inventive?
43. What does the dancer tell the major will happen after a while?
44. For whom does the dancer suggest dungeons are for?
45. Why does the officer say they must have names?
46. What does the major want to dig?
47. What seems apparent to the officer about where they are? (Incidentally, it seems he mispronounces the word "unequivocal" as "uneguivocable." There's no such adjective; there's an adverb, "unequivocably.")
48. According to the clown, how long has the officer been "trying"?
49. What is the dungeon made of?
50. What does the clown want them to pretend?
51. What does the clown call a figure of speech?
52. What does the clown admit they've forfeited?
53. What does the clown say they're all governed by?
54. What is one example of this the clown gives?
55. What sensation would the clown prefer to do without?
56. What does the dancer call a "chance"?
57. What does the bagpiper say about the group's plan?
58. What does the hobo say in response?
59. What does the clown say about exerting themselves?
60. What does the clown say was the case before the officer arrived?
61. What does the clown say about the majority?
62. What does the dancer ask about the top?
63. What does the officer say when the dancer says she can't reach the top because it's just a little above her?
64. What did the dancer think she did to her leg?
65. What proverb does the hobo quote when the officer tells the dancer she was almost to the top?
66. Where does the clown say they should go to find a rope?
67. How does the officer suggest they make a rope?
68. How many yards of "excellent material" does the clown offer?
69. The clown mentions "pagliaci." Google and discuss this well-known Italian word.
70. What does the officer say about none of them getting out?
71. What does the clown call the officer after he falls outside?
72. What is the dancer confident the officer will do?
73. What does the clown suggest the officer may have been right about?
74. What does a little girl find in the snow?
75. Where is she asked to drop it?
76. What are for the orphans?
77. How many do they have?
78. What does the woman ask the passersby to do with their hearts?
79. According to narrator Serling, what is wrought in the distorted image of human life?
80. What is in the arms of children?
81. What does Serling call the "odd stage"?
82. Discuss your responses to the drama each step of the way. For example, where did you think the people were in the beginning? But perhaps you developed other points of view as the show progressed. Discuss this. Finally, evaluate the show.

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ESL: HOME LISTENING Assignment Due 7 December 2008

Christmas Shopping
Due 7 December 2008

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1. What are people doing "with the tight economy"?
2. In what price range are all the gifts?
3. According to the show guest, Marianne Szymanski, kids should receive a) lots of toys b) good types of toys.
4. According to the host, how many good toys does a child really need?
5. According to Marianne Szymanski, what must the toy do for the child?
6. What can you do with the toy tunnel after you collapse it?
7. Whom can kids perform magic for?
8. What is the age range for the magic kit?
9. What kind of plastic is Qubits made of?
10. What concepts is it based on?
11. Does Micro Car ruin the walls?
12. What is the hottest craze with school age boys?
13. What cartoon is it based on?
14. What is the idea of Snowball Blaster?
15. What is the key to snowball fighting?
16. How does Marianne Szymanski (the show guest) answer the question if Snowball Blaster is safe?
17. Name three things that Runway allows the child to do?
18. What is always a huge hit, especially with teenagers?
19. What toy is based on strategy?
20. What gift is for the creative child or for anyone interested in fashion?

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FILM: 5 December 2008

BABY DOLL : An American Satire

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Baby Doll (Elia Kazan, 1956) was possibly the most notorious film of the 1950s. It was roundly condemned by the Catholic Church through its then powerful Legion of Decency, which regulated the films Catholics could see. Baby Doll received a rare "C" ("condemned") rating, meaning Catholics viewed the film on penalty of sin.

Although America is not a Catholic nation, a C rating discouraged families from seeing the film. It died quickly at the box-office, though the free publicity must have helped incite interest among some.

Tennessee Williams was the main force in the American theatre of the 1950s and a dominant force in films too. Many of his plays, with their controversial subject matter (including homosexuality), were quickly adapted to the screen, including A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Summer and Smoke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, and (Williams' only novel) The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, to name a few.

Baby Doll, based on two earlier one-act plays by Williams, was the first time Williams had written directly for the screen. The result was even more scandalous than his stage plays, which had been sanitized (cleaned up) for the Hollywood screen. Streetcar and Cat, for example, had homosexual themes eliminated in their screen versions.

But a careful viewing of Baby Doll shows it's not about sex at all, despite the iconic image of Carroll Baker as "Baby Doll" in shorty pajamas, sucking her thumb in her baby crib. In fact, no sex occurs in the film, though sexual play is suggested.

Williams' film (as directed by Kazan) is obviously a satire on American sexual repression in the 1950s. Why not, since Williams, as a controversial playwright, had suffered more than most from that repression?

What better way to satirize American sexual repression than by showing an adult woman sleeping in a baby crib—a clear statement of the absurdity of denying sexuality to a young woman of twenty. Moreover, this woman is married!

Freud had taught that sexuality began in infancy (though "repressed," thus "latent" until puberty). But American society (dominated by Christian churches) continued to pretend that sex did not exist, unless in naughty girlie magazines or in the smutty minds of homosexual playwrights such as Mr. Williams.

In fact the American theatre openly explored sexual themes at the time, including William Inge's Picnic and Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy (1953), also directed by Kazan, addressed the issue of effeminacy and homosexuality.

But Williams used sex as a main metaphor in his plays, as here. By showing an adult woman sucking her thumb in shorty pajamas Williams mocks the myth of sexual innocence, especially since this woman is married. By showing the absence of sexual maturity in "Baby Doll" (her name says it all), Williams and Kazan satirically advertise her sexuality.

"Baby Doll" Meighan is a "baby" and a "doll." But the two words somehow add up to their opposite meaning. They tell not of innocence (as Americans intended in their daily speech) but of a provocative sexuality (as the iconic image of Baby Doll in her crib shows). So much the better if that image provoked outrage among religious groups responsible for that repression!

In effect, Williams and Kazan "deconstruct" sexual innocence, displaying it by denying it at every turn. Baby Doll's father insured his daughter's innocence by insisting she defer sexual favors until twenty (the way adolescents were to defer sexual activity until marriage).

This seems to tweak the nose of moralists who believed sex should be saved for marriage. Why not (Williams asks with sarcasm) save sex even after marriage?

Thus the crib becomes a satirical symbol, as if to say: "Here's your 'baby doll'! You want to deny sexuality in young women and pretend they're 'babies' and little 'dolls'? Here's what you get: a Baby Doll! You get the sex you denied."

Williams and Kazan go this one further. Not only is a married woman sleeping in her crib and not having sexual relations with her legal spouse, Archie Lee (Karl Malden), but her spouse is forced to become a Peeping Tom of his own wife!

The two images together (Baby Doll in her crib and the spouse peeping at her) sum up the problem with the social repression of sex, which makes sex pornographic instead of normal. To add salt to his satiric wound, Kazan shows the Peeping Tom accompanied by man's faithful companion: his dog. Indeed, it looks like they're both peeping together.

Similarly, the farcical "hide and seek" sequence between Baby Doll and Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach) sends up (mocks) the "girlhood" of Baby Doll. For later, once aroused, Baby Doll wants to continue with what she assumed was sexual foreplay. But Vacarro insists he was only playing a child's game with her.

However the main point has been made. The house that denied sexuality in Baby Doll for the sake of a sexless "home," is now empty of everything except sexuality, which is in all the empty rooms and especially the attic (the architectural "climax" of the house).

Vacarro suggests Freud's "Return of the Repressed," by which what we unconsciously deny returns in persistent, and increasingly monstrous, form. Having denied sex in herself, Vacarro's every move arouses Baby Doll, such as in her funny line after Vacarro keeps switching flies off her: "Stop switching me, will ya?"

In this view, the staircase of her house becomes symbolic, as when Vacarro follows Baby Doll up the stairs. For Freud taught that ascending a staircase may be a symbol in dreams for sexual intercourse, with its mounting excitement.

Indeed, the "attic" (the highest part of a house) is the one place Baby Doll says she has never been; and it's in the attic that she is finally conquered: She signs Vacarro's affidavit while lying on a rickety beam and then, aroused, chases after Vacarro down the stairs.

Every viewer would know the game of hide and seek here was really a game of sexual seduction, or even foreplay. But by not showing sex, Williams and Kazan evoke a stronger (and more sinister) impression of sex in the viewer. As Freud pointed out, the "repressed" returns in distorted form.

However sex is not the main target of Williams' and Kazan's satirical barbs, which attack American middle-class (and capitalistic) values in general. For example, the film's narrative hinges on the loss of the furniture from Archie Lee Meighan's house, bought on time (that is, credit).

The absurdity of linking Baby Doll's deflowering with her twentieth birthday suggests that virginity, like consumer goods, has an expiry date. Moreover, that date depends on one's credit rating. In fact, Archie Lee vows to Baby Doll that he'll possess her on her twentieth birthday (in two days) because his credit is now good!

In fact, Baby Doll was "sold" by her father for a nice home with nice furniture, the way most marriages of the time were made. It's ironic, then, that the ideal marriage results not in a home, but in an empty house, with no furniture in it, except for the kitchen and the bedroom ("nursery"). These rooms, in fact, satisfy our two basic biological needs: food and sex.

The empty house is in fact a symbol of the emotionally empty American household of the time: all appearance, with nothing inside. For this reason, Kazan repeats several shots of the house, looking like a ghostly mansion. The caretaker of the house, Aunt Rose Comfort (Mildred Dunnock) is herself a dotty relic of a past age who can't even remember to light the stove and wanders about like a ghost.

The Italian interloper, Silva Vacarro, insists there are ghosts in the house and simulates their presence in a farcical sequence superbly directed by Kazan. At the same time, Vacarro explains that those ghosts are the mean-spirited emotions of the people who live in the house. Thus the "ghostly mansion," or empty shell of the house, is a symbol for the empty (even evil) spirits that reside there.

Kazan enjoys sending up (mocking) not only the house but the entire "plantation," with its broken down automobile and swing (which Baby Doll fears cannot bear the weight of two people) and its picturesque blacks (the "Negroes" of the "Old South").

Note too how Kazan mocks the romancing of middle-class America, which customarily took place in automobiles and on swings. Here the automobile (the great American symbol of romantic escape) is a wreck; another scene between Baby Doll and Vacarro takes place in front of pigs!

Baby Doll's idea of "fine manners" is not to eat pecan nuts cracked in Vacarro's mouth. Yet later she demurs and accepts the nuts.

The issue of racism, an issue that dominated the US in the 1950s, is also exposed here. Blacks seem more like statues than like people. One even sings an Afro-American Spiritual ("I Shall Not Be Moved") on cue.

These blacks are staged as still lifes. This mocks, not blacks, but the image of blacks in movies of the "Deep South."

Comically, Gone with the Wind is evoked in the final image of Baby Doll and Aunt Rose Comfort returning to their gutted home at the end of the film, where Scarlett O'Hara's "Tomorrow is another day" becomes Baby Doll's "We've got nothing to do but wait for tomorrow," wondering if she and her Aunt Rose will even be remembered tomorrow. While the last words are given to Aunt Rose, a feeble interjection: "Oh my, oh my. . . ."

The stylish melodramas of Douglas Sirk (especially Written on the Wind) are also evoked in the image of the falling leaves, which appear at the end of the film. At this point, Kenyon Hopkins' jazz underscore suddenly turns saccharine to suit melodrama's conventions.

Unfortunately, Baby Doll does not maintain its satiric focus throughout. In fact, the last half of the film seems more like a satire on the Method Acting that Kazan had spearheaded with his introduction of Marlon Brando in both the stage and film versions of Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which revolutionized acting, not only in Hollywood, but in England as well.

Several scenes directly evoke Kazan's previous films, as when Archie Lee, crying for his Baby Doll, evokes the iconic moment in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) when Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) yells frantically for his Stella.

The other scenes look more like group improvisations, familiar in Method Acting workshops, than like coherent parts of a drama. They seem more like acting exercises than like a natural development of a narrative.

Only in the last few minutes, when Aunt Rose Comfort and Baby Doll return to their home amidst falling leaves does the film regain a satiric focus coherent with the first part of the film.

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The book of RUTH: For December 2 2008

The book of Ruth

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The story of Ruth in the book of Ruth is one of the best-loved stories in the Bible.  The story, like the book of Jonah among others, advances the idea of "universalism" in the Hebrew religion: that God's covenantal relationship with the Hebrews includes non-Jews too.
     This is made clear at the end, when Ruth, the non-Jew, becomes the ancestress of King David, and thus part of the "Davidic Covenant" (the agreement that God makes with King David in 2 Samuel 7).
     Ruth is especially important for Christians, as the ancestress of Jesus ("the son of David" in Matthew 12:23 and Luke 20:41).  Matthew shows this in his Gospel genealogy (MATTHEW  1:5).
     The idealized Ruth is referred to throughout as "the Moabitess," to emphasize that a non-Jew can be as righteous as a Jew.  The Moabites were  enemies of the Jews and scorned (in an insulting etiological story) as offspring of incest between Lot and one of his daughters.  Ruth's "righteous" behavior toward her mother-in-law, Naomi, is meant to show her behavior as superior to Naomi's, who nearly curses God:  "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter" (RUTH 1:20).
     Ruth's submission to an alien God is stronger than that of her Jewish mother-in-law, as in Ruth's famous words, "Where you go, I will go and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will by my people and your God my God" (RUTH 1:16).
     The book continues the Abrahamic promise of many descendents.  Naomi's name would have been lost had Ruth not married Boaz, of the tribe of Judah. 
    All three characters are intended as ideals of the way people behave in a just society: each concerned with the interests of each other (compare with the book of Judges, where everyone does what they want).
     Naomi tells her widowed daughters-in-law: "Go back to your mother's home.  May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me.  May the Lord grant you find rest in the home of another husband" (1:8-9).
     True, Naomi treats them as aliens; yet she blesses them in the name of her God and seems concerned about their welfare.
     Ruth in turn is devoted to her mother-in-law in an alien land, a point made famous in John Keats' Ode to a Nightingale, which speaks of "the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home, she stood in tears amid the alien corn."
     Boaz is a model of courtesy to a foreigner, a point made by Ruth (2:10).  He tells her, "I have told the men not to touch you" and invites her to eat and drink (2:9). Advising his men not to embarrass or rebuke her (2:15, 16) he follows a law of Leviticus (19:9).
     The story shows a just society, where each is concerned for each, in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). The theme of the story is that the just (not only the Jews) shall be redeemed.  Boaz is only the instrument of God's judgment, his cloak a type fulfilled in the wings of God:
     "I've been told what you have done for your mother-in-law. . . . May the Lord repay you. . . .  May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (2:11-12).
     The motif (repeated idea) of redeeming has even greater meaning for Christians, who see Jesus' selfless giving of himself as fulfilling the story of Ruth (why her name is included in Matthew's genealogy).
    The fact that the book begins referring to "the judges" is one reason the Christian Bible places this book with the former prophets rather than with the Writings (as in the Hebrew Bible). Besides, it contrasts the evil lives of people in the book of Judges with the charity of people in the story of Ruth.
    It's interesting to note that the famous talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, was named after one of the daughters-in-law, Orpah; apparently Oprah's mother misread the name, hence the different spelling.

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Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion.
     And Elimelech Naomi's husband died.  And she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab.  The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth.  And they dwelled there about ten years.
     And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them.  And the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose that she might return from the country of Moab.  For she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
     And Naomi said unto her two daughters-in-law,
     "Go, return each to her mother's house.  The LORD deal kindly with you as ye have dealt with the dead and with me."
     They lifted up their voice, and wept. And Orpah kissed her mother- in-law.  But Ruth clave unto her. And she said,
     "Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her
gods: return thou after thy sister in law."
     And Ruth said,
     "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me."
     When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. 2 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech.  And his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,
     "Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace."
     And she said unto her,
     "Go, my daughter."
     And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers.  And her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers,
     "The LORD be with you."
     And they answered him,
     "The LORD bless thee."
     Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers,
     "Whose damsel is this?"
     And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said,
     "It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab: And she said, 'I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.'  So she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house."
     Then said Boaz unto Ruth,
     "Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.  Let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them.  Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn."
     Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him,
     "Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?"
     And Boaz answered and said unto her,
     "It hath fully been showed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother- in-law since the death of thine husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."
     Then she said,
     "Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord.  For that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens."
     And Boaz said unto her,
     "At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar."
     And she sat beside the reapers.  And he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed and left.  And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying,
     "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she
may glean them, and rebuke her not."
     So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went into the city.  And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and she said unto her,
     "Where hast thou gleaned today? And where wroughtest thou? Blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee."
     And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said,
     "The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz."
     And Naomi said unto her daughter in law,
     "Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead."
     And Naomi said unto her,
     "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen."
     And Ruth the Moabitess said,
     "He said unto me also, 'Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.'"
     And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter-in-law,
     "It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field."
     So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law. 3 Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her,
     "My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley tonight in the threshing floor.  Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor.  But make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking. And it shall be when he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet and lay thee down and he will tell thee what thou shalt do."
     And she said unto her,
     "All that thou sayest unto me I will do."
     And she went down unto the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn.  And she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her down.
     And it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself.  And, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said,
     "Who art thou?"
     And she answered,
     "I am Ruth, thine handmaid.  Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid.  For thou art a near kinsman."
     And he said,
     "Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter.  For thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not.  I will do to thee all that thou requirest.  For all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.
     "And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman.  Howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman's part.  But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then I will do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth.  Lie down until the morning."
     And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said,
     "Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor."
     Also he said,
     "Bring the veil that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city.  And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said,
     "Who art thou, my daughter?"
     And she told her all that the man had done to her.
     And she said,
     "These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, 'Go not
empty unto thy mother-in-law.'"
     Then said she,
     "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day." 4 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said,
     "Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here."
     And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said,
     "Sit ye down here."
     And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman,
     "Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advise thee, saying,
     "'Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.'"
     And he said,
     "I will redeem it."
     Then said Boaz,
     "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."
     And the kinsman said,
     "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it."
     Now this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing and to confirm all things: A man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour and this was a testimony in Israel.   Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz,
     "Buy it for thee."
     So he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people,
     "Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my
wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day."
     And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said,
     "We are witnesses."
     So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife.  And when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception and she bare a son. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became nurse unto it. And the women, her neighbours, gave it a name, saying,
     "There is a son born to Naomi."
     And they called his name Obed.  He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

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The Book of Ruth:

Commentary

Though a Hebrew story, the student will see issues related to the Christian story:
    In a time of famine, God provides, as in the time of Moses (manna) or the time of Jesus (the loaves and fishes).
    In answer to death, there is life, and hope: Ruth's child with Boaz is born: he is the ancestor of King David and Jesus.
    The story illustrates the Commandment of Leviticus, to love one's neighbor as oneself, which Jesus said summed up the entire Torah, or Law.
    The book of Ruth dramatizes the principle of universalism, a main theme of the prophets, which Jesus later will make part of his "Great Commission": to preach to the Gentiles.
    For those who wish to hear a pop song (1959) based on the most famous verse (1:16) from the book of Ruth, click here. The lyrics are below:
Whither thou goest I will go, wherever thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people will be my people, my love, whither thou goest I will go. For as in that story long ago, the same sweet love story now is told, thy people shall be my people, my love, whither thou goest I will go. For as in that story long ago, the same sweet love story now is told, thy people shall be my people, my love, whither thou goest I will go.

Marilyn Monroe (Click to ENLARGE)

Composition: adapted from an online cartoon. CLICK TO ENLARGE.

Class Lesson for Tuesday 2 December 2008

Night of the Meek

For 2 December 2008

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View this program from The Twilight Zone in three segments (1, 2, 3), then prepare the following questions.

    1. What time was the bartender supposed to notify Mr. Corwin?
    2. How much does Corwin owe the bartender?
    3. For what?
    4. What kind of Santa Claus dows Corwin wish for?
    5. What does the bartender think has gone to Corwin's head?
    6. What is the bartender's name?
    7. Who does the bartender say is trying to heist the joint?
    8. What does "heist the joint" mean?
    9. What does the little girl ask Santa for?
    10. What other gifts are asked for?
    11. What is a uniquely popular American institution?
    12. Who's an ersatz Santa Claus?
    13. Narrator, Rod Serling, says the North Pole Corwin is about to enter is one part the wondrous spirit of Christmas and another part, magic. Where can this magic only be found?
    14. How late is Corwin at the department store?
    15. Whom doesn't the store manager, Mr. Dundee, want to be disillusioned?
    16. He calls Mr. Corwin a wino. What might that mean?
    17. What is the little boy's name who sits on Santa's lap?
    18. What's his nickname?
    19. What does the boy call Santa after he stumbles and falls?
    20. What does that mean?
    21. Why does the mother think her son may have suffered a traumatic experience?
    22. What does the mother angrily tell the manager? (Incidentally, that's an unusal expression. What is the word more likely used today?)
    23. Where does she say the store hires its Santa Clauses?
    24. The manager sarcastically calls Santa "Mr. Kris Kringle of the lower depths." Google who Kris Kringle is. Discuss the meaning of "the lower depths" (also the name of a famous Russian play).
    25. How many hours till closing time?
    26. What is Dundee's distinct pleasure?
    27. In one word, how does Dundee characterize Santa's suit?
    28. What does Santa admit is indefensible?
    29. What kind of apologies does he give? (Look the word up based on sound if you've never heard it before.)
    30. What does Corwin say he has little choice in?
    31. What does he say are his two alternatives?
    32. Which is the more subtle of the two?
    33. What does Corwin say someone should remind the woman who complained about him?
    34. According to him, what four virtues should Christmas come with?
    35. In one word, what does Dundee call Corwin's long drunken statement?
    36. According to Dundee, what standards has Corwin graciously laid down (another word for Christmas)?
    37. Who, according to Corwin, is an aging, purposeless relic of another time?
    38. Where does Corwin live?
    39. Who lives on his street?
    40. What, according to Corwin, comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve?
    41. Why does Corwin drink?
    42. What does he want to see happen to the meek on one Christmas?
    43. What does the bartender call Santa (Corwin) when he knocks on the bar door? (If you don't know the word look it up based on sound.)
    44. What does the word mean?
    45. What song does the woman sing in church?
    46. What is her name, or formal title?
    47. What does the sign behind her on the wall say?
    48. What does the woman accuse an old man of doing to the Christmas Eve service when he enters the church?
    49. When was the last time he's touched a drop, according to him? Last Thursday. ("I haven't touched a drop" is an idiom for drinking an alcoholic beverage.)
    50. According to him, what kind of truth does he speak (another idiom)?
    51. Who does he say is heading down the street?
    52. What does Bert fancy (desire) from Santa?
    53. What does Bert want to go with his pipe?
    54. What does Corwin's Santa bag give to everyone?
    55. What does Corwin give the woman who sang the Christmas carol in church (he gives the gift to someone else to give to her)?
    56. Corwin admits to being drunk, but with what special spirit?
    57. What are two other words for "drunk" used by Corwin? (Look them up based on sound if you don't know them.)
    58. According to Corwin, what has magic and wonder?
    59. Why does the policeman ask to see a receipt?
    60. What does he want the church singer to do with the gifts until he finds out who owns them?
    61. Dundee hopes to see his wistful St. Nicholas go up the river for ten years. What does "up the river" mean?
    62. How long has Santa been giving out his gifts according to a policeman?
    63. Whom does Dundee call a moth-eaten Robin Hood?
    64. Corwin and Dundee both use the phrase "a slight discrepancy." What does that mean?
    65. The bag held gifts before, but (in one word) what does the bag hold in the police station?
    66. What does the policeman say they are dealing with?
    67. Dundee uses the word "abracadabra." (Look up the word and discuss it in class. When is it normally used?)
    68. What does Dundee fancy from the bag?
    69. What vintage?
    70. What does "vintage" mean?
    71. What is the policeman's name?
    72. What color is the sweater that Corwin gives from his bag?
    73. What kind of dog does he give from his bag?
    74. What baseball gift does he give?
    75. What does Corwin say to his porch neighbor, Bert, what he really wanted?
    76. What is the gift he would really like?
    77. According to the girl elf, how much hard work is required to get ready for next Christmas?
    78. What Christmas carol is chimed out by bells as Dundee and the policeman walk home together?
    79. Why is the policeman afraid of telling Dundee what he saw in the sky?
    80. When Dundee invites the policeman home, what does he say they'll pour into their hot coffee?
    81. What does Dundee say they should thank God for?
    82. Narrator Rod Serling says a word to the wise to all the children of the 20th century, whether their concern is pediatrics or geriatrics. What two age groups are involved in those two words?
    83. Which group of people have a special magic reserved for them?
    84. According to Serling, what is mightier than the meek?

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ESL: For Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) 27 November 2008

Class Assignment
Thursday 27 November 2008

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1. What is the movie, An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving about?
2. Who is the legendary actress interviewed?
3. Who wrote the story?
4. What is "bugging" one of the interviewers?
5. How many generations of women is the movie about?
6. How does she descrbe the grandmother character she plays?
7. Who is this character intimidated by?
8. Which character in the film is more like her?
9. Who is an adventuress in the film?
10. Did she read the short story? No.
11. Briefly, why or why not?
12. What book did she read in detail to prepare another film?
13. What attracts the actress to certain parts?
14. Which film has comedic stuff?
15. Who co-stars in this film?
16. When was it released?
17. Which character does she play?
18. Does she like doing comedy?
19. Does she find comedy difficult to do?
20. With which family member did she have a complicated relationship?
21. What did she resolve with her mother before she died?
22. Has the actress had botox or plastic surgery?
23. What does she believe in?
24. According to the actress, what do nasty thoughts in the mind do to the system?
25. What does she think the government should give everyone?
26. What size pot does she mention?
27. What does she think can be cleaned up by this?
28. What part of eating does she want to get rid of?
29. What kind of food does she prefer?
30. What is she not fanatical about?
31. What kind of student does she advise being?
32. Who suffers in the film and becomes more human?
33. Where does An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving premiere?
34. What day will the show air?
35. What happened on that day in 1963 (not in the interview)?

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Film Class: WIDESCREEN

WIDESCREEN

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"Widescreen" is a screen size twice as wide as the industry norm (4:3), called the "aspect ratio."
Widescreen is as old as cinema. There were no standards in the early days of film until 35m gauge (film size) became the norm. Expensive machinery discouraged the use of other gauges.
But television changed films in the 1950s. Why pay money when there was free entertainment at home? So movie theatres lured patrons back.
Movies had a magic television lacked: stars, who rarely appeared on television (TV). Star power was enough to attract movie fans.
Still, TV had cut into audience numbers. The goal was to attract them back.
Besides stars, movies had color. TV lacked color in the 1950s.
There were gimmicks too. Like dish sets.
Movie patrons received a new dish each week. They returned weekly to complete the set.
3-D was another gimmick. The movie was shot with two cameras, for a binocular image. This image was viewed through special 3-D (polarized) glasses.
Wearing special tinted 3-D glasses was also a gimmick, as publicity photos show (right). In addition, directors would stage scenes so objects or people seemed to come at the viewer.
3-D (1952) lasted a year: The novelty wore off.
3-D was also costly for theatres. Directors disliked staging scenes for shock (throwing objects at the viewer, etc.). And viewers got headaches from the glasses.
Widescreen was longer lasting. It enlarged the image the way TV couldn't and looked different from the standard screen ratio (4:3).
Cinerama came first (1952). This produced a wraparound image by shooting a scene with three cameras, exhibited by three projectors.
The results were satisfactory but costly. Only special films, usually travelogues, could be made in this way.
Twentieth Century-Fox found a simple solution with the old technology. This is called the anamorphic or squeeze lens.
By placing an anamorphic lens on top of the regular camera lens, the image was compressed in width. When exhibited, a lens expanded the image to widescreen format.
This was patented as "CinemaScope." The first film in scope was The Robe (1953).
Another format was devised by Paramount Pictures and patented as VistaVision. The image was photographed horizontally, not vertically, enabling a wider screen format and better resolution (image quality) when projected.
Barbra Streisand's song refers to this widescreen experience. To hear the song, go here, or here (with a Streisand slide show). (Lyrics below.)
For the director, widescreen was not a matter of technology or commerce, but art. The challenge was to fill the screen in a satisfactory manner.
Epics were easy. They required large masses (Land of the Pharaohs).
But as widescreen became the industry norm, directors had to learn to use the new aspect ratio (much wider than high) for dramatic effect, not to shock or amaze.
Editing on a wide screen was distractive. So directors used less editing. Besides, the width of the screen enabled more complex (and realistic) mise-en-scene.
Directors learned to use the two sides of the screen in effective ways, by balancing foreground and background or left and right, or a combination of both.
As in the case of sound or color, the best directors learned to use the new technology for artistic purpose: more realism, a more complex mise-en-scene, and more emotional involvement in the image.

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There are songs that sound like movies There are themes that fill the screen There are lines I say that sound as if they're written There are looks I wear the theater should have seen.
But though I've made my life a movie The matinee must end by five And I must stagger out into the blinding sunlight half alive Wishing I were back inside the picture show There where it's always night Notice how the screen is wide The second row I've sat around too tight Will I stay? Yes, I might
Oh widescreen wider on my eyes Blind my mind with lies Find the world like nothing that I've seen Oh widescreen dreams are just my sighs
As we walk from out the movie Are we acting out a scene? Does the orchestra play chords When we start loving? Do we move just like slow motion On the screen?
Life's a constant disappointment When you live on celluloid But my movie expectations are a dream I can't avoid Waiting for a man to say the things That I heard in the film last night But he doesn't want to play the role And he can't pick his cues up right Will I dream? Yes, I might!
Oh widescreen winding round my eyes Blinding me with lies Finding I've been fooled by what I've seen No, widescreen dreams are more than you How can lies be true? All we have is life and mind And love we find with a friend Oh let the movie end. . . .

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Scheduled viewing for 28 November 2008

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

Land of the Pharaohs (Howard Hawks, 1955) is scheduled for our 28 November viewing. It was filmed in CinemaScope, a widescreen format that requires careful compositional design in order to fill up the entire screen effectively.
Thus this is a good opportunity to study how a director designs a screen image in a balanced or dynamic way. The film is also one of the simplest examples of widescreen design, since much of the action occurs in long shots and crowd scenes.
Besides production design, as it's related to the film's theme and subject, the viewer should also enjoy the complicated mise-en-scene, often of many laborers hewing or dragging large stones to use for the pyramid. Scope adds to the realism of these scenes, since scope includes a unity of space (avoidance of editing) less likely in regular screen ratio, which relies more on editing to establish screen space.
Although a discussion of musical scores is in a later chapter of your textbook, still you should pay attention to the wall-to-wall musical underscore by Dmitri Tiomkin. This nearly continuous score increases the epic distance of the images, even in close shots. To test this, when you view the film imagine the scenes you're watching without the underscore and notice how dull or shallow the scenes become.
Indeed, the film has little substance. In fact, director Howard Hawks disowned the film and asked it not be shown at retrospectives of his career.
Which brings up the issue of an "auteur" director. An "auteur" ("author") is a director who has a point-of-view or vision and does not merely direct screenplays without personal involvement in the characters and themes of the film. He is, in other words, the true "author" of the film, not merely the assigned director of a screenplay.
The problem with directing epics, such as Land of the Pharaohs, is that the director begins to lose personal control of the film as technicians take over instead. An auteur can put his or her stamp (personal signature) on two or three actors in a frame, but it's more difficult to do with thousands of actors in the frame and a setting thousands of years from one's own time. Hawks complained that he didn't know how an ancient Egyptian should talk.
Yet the auteur critic studies patterns in a director's work. Such patterns can be found even in Land of the Pharaoahs.
For example, Hawks was always interested in groups of men unified by a main goal, whether to defend a jail in Rio Bravo or fly airplanes in Only Angels Have Wings. In Land of the Pharaohs, the slaves are unified by their main goal to build the pyramid and to be set free.
Another Hawksian theme that can be found in Land of the Pharaohs is the emphasis on this life and the "now" moment, rather than following an abstract philosophy of life; in this case, an afterlife such as the ancient Egyptians (among others) believed in.
In fact, the story suggests the conflict between the ancient Egyptians, who used slaves in support of their afterlife, and the ancient Hebrews (Jews) who did not believe in an afterlife but in the dignity of man instead. The film scorns a belief in an afterlife for which humans are sacrificed.
But themes cannot be separated from mise-en-scene, or the staging of the scenes (the way the actors move and talk). Most critics agree that Land of the Pharaohs lacks Hawks' usual touch, especially in the direction of the actors and the way they speak.
Yet the most effective parts of the film are in the superb long shots of the building of the pyramid; the masses of slaves and attendants, especially at the beginning of the film; and the sealing of the pyramid. That's enough to make this a worthwhile film to watch and study, even if it doesn't rank with the best of Howard Hawks.

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Sample Profile (optional)

Sample Profile

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First note that this article, on a college tuition increase in Florida, fails to answer the question of how much tuition costs now and what it will cost after the increase. It wrongly assumes the reader knows these facts. I give this just as an example of how even published articles can have problems. Now follows the profile and analysis.

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Profile

This is a profile of a call girl, notorious for her services to a former New York governor, leading to his resignation. The profile is organized around Cause-Effect (why she became a call girl; but also the consequences her choice has had on her family and herself) and Definition (who she thinks she is compared to the image created by the scandal or by her profession).
Once the focus was chosen, the quotes were easy to choose, since they had to develop the main Cause-Effect and Definition topics. Coherence was also easy, beginning on Cause-Effect (how she became a call girl) and ending on how she wants people to see her.
It's not a perfect model, since the profile was not written by the same person who did the interview, but uses quotes from the interview instead. Other than that, it's a good model to use for a profile.
Below is a copy of the profile. The student can also hear part of the actual interview here, thus seeing how the quote is included in the profile below:

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The young woman at the center of the historic downfall of the governor of New York is finally speaking out. Ashley Dupré, the 23-year-old former escort who was the target of intense media scrutiny in the days after Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation from public office, has stepped forward to give her first television interview. Dupré told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that she does not feel responsible for Spitzer's downfall.
The writer begins with what is called a cataphora: that is, describing the person before she's identified. This is a useful way to engage interest, as in mystery stories: "She was walking along a dark narrow street when she saw him." Also used is an appositive (telling us who Ashley Dupré is by using a comma separation after her name, as in, "Barack Obama, the president-elect," where "the president-elect" lies in apposition to "Barack Obama," describing him).
Note the second sentence is long but well controlled. So the profile begins on Definition, followed by Cause-Effect ("she does not feel responsible"). The writer chooses an apt quotation:

"If it wasn't me, it would have been someone else," she said. "I was doing my job. I don't feel that I brought him down."
Note another use of apposition to explain "Emperor's Club V.I.P." Then another use of Cause-Effect (how the scandal affected Dupré's life), with another apt quote:
In March, the media discovered Dupré was "Kristen," her alias at the Emperor's Club V.I.P., the high-end escort service that had arranged her rendezvous at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., with Spitzer. Soon after the story broke, Dupré sought refuge at her family's home in New Jersey.

"I felt like it was surreal, like it wasn't happening," she said. "But it was."
Yet another use of Cause-Effect: "how an upper middle class girl" "could become an escort":
Dupré's situation raised questions about how an upper middle class girl from New Jersey, whose stepfather is a prominent oral surgeon, could become an escort.
Still more Cause-Effect, emphasizing Dupré's difficult relationship with her father:
She told Sawyer that, as a child, she was a "happy kid" who "got along with everybody" and was particularly close to her older brother, Kyle Youmans. She changed her last name to Dupré because she didn't have a close relationship with her biological father.
Note how the quotes are linked together well, so that each quotes seems inevitable when it comes. Here again Cause-Effect "explains" why Dupré changed her name:
"I wanted a new name to go along with me," she said. "I've been searching for so long for that identity of who I am." In high school, Dupré was an honor student, worked in a restaurant and "never really socialized and went ... to any of the parties, the high school parties."

"I got along with everyone, I was kind of popular," she said. "I was pretty popular."
Note the use of antithesis ("But"): Dupré was happy but also struggled with drugs and relationships with men. Note the careful alternation of descriptive transitions and quoted speech:
But Dupré also told Sawyer about her struggles with drugs, running away from home at 17 and troubled relationships with men in her life.

"I was an angry 17-year-old," she said. "I was so confused and I didn't understand my emotions. Where I became self-destructive."
"Where I became self-destructive" (above) is not grammatical, but allowed in quoted speech; in fact, it becomes effective as quoted speech to evoke a real person trying to find words to express her emotions.
At 19, Dupré moved to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. She was working three jobs when someone gave her a business card for the escort service.
Once again, the writer carefully balances narrative (above) with quoted speech (below), at the same time linking each section like a mosaic:
"You don't mean to make those choices but you're put in a situation and, you know, you have an opportunity to do it," she said.
In a traditional profile, the writer would use a descriptive transition to link these two quotes (usually it's not good to have two independent quotes next to each other without a narrative or descriptive transition, such as: "Ms. Dupré nervously fondled the yellow beads that hung around her neck, then explained how she slipped into the escort business."
The quote allows the speaker to use comparison and contrast, as well as analogy, to defend herself:
"I really didn't see the difference between going on a date with someone in New York, taking you to dinner and expecting something in return," she said. "I really thought it was more of a trade-off. He's expecting something in return when you date, whereas, you know, being an escort, it was a formal transaction."
Once again, two separate quotes follow each other. This is not the best style but it's becoming more common in fast-paced media publications, where readers have little time for description. In the past, when there was nothing but print media, people enjoyed having a writer evoke an image of a person, the way she looked, dressed, talked, behaved, sipped coffee, etc. Today, a photo is worth a thousand words (see left). Artistically this is not true; since writing is as much style as substance (content); the way that art lovers are not interested in the landscape so much as in the way it's painted. But people are not as interested in artistic style today as in the past. So most writing today is functional: it gets to the point with economy and clarity of expression so people enjoy it but don't invest too much time, which they don't have to spare these days!
"The media thinks that I'm this crazy partyer and, you know, I like limelight and I want to be out and socializing," she said. "And I would love nothing more than to sit at home and watch a movie. And hang out with my dog, or cook with some close friends."
Note how the writer sums up a lot of dialogue by indirectly quoting it. Note also how Dupré justifies herself, as if she were the victim of others (a boyfriend, for example), or of circumstances outside her control (debts):
Dupré said she worked on and off for the escort service and, after being left by a boyfriend with a $3,600 apartment lease to pay off, medical bills and a heavy load of credit card debt, she returned to the agency. Four weeks later, she went to Washington, not knowing that she was meeting a governor.

Dupré says she initially didn't know the identity of the man referred to in court documents as Client No. 9.

"He looked familiar," she said. "But I was 22 years old, I didn't, I wasn't reading the papers, I was so involved in my life and I was so selfish and caught up in my life and I didn't know who he was. And I was whoever they wanted me to be, and he was whoever he wanted to be."

When asked how often she saw Spitzer, Dupré was reluctant to discuss the details.

"Legally, I am not able to answer that question," she said.
Note (above) that though the writer leaves out important information (how often Dupré saw her client, Spitzer) she gives a reason for doing so (legally, Dupré was unable to answer); so the reader is satisfied with the missing facts or details.
Dupré remembers the moment of shock when she watched Spitzer's televised resignation.

"I didn't know the depth to my situation," she said. "That's when I connected the dots, was when everyone else found out. I turned on the TV and I said, "Oh s--, what did I get myself involved in? I felt like everything slowed down around me. And it was just the TV and I and, I was shocked."

Dupré says she was not focused on the governor during the speech, but rather, wife Silda's face as she stood by his side.

"I felt connected to her," Dupré said. "I didn't feel connected to him. Her pain. And I just saw the pain in her eyes."
Much of the profile uses Cause-Effect as the main organization principle (the effect on Dupré's mother and stepfather):
Dupré is well aware of the pain she caused her own family. Her mother's sadness was intensified by pressure to turn against her daughter.

"So many people told her to kick me out," Dupré said. "You know, don't, why are you taking her in? And my mom's response is, 'She's a piece of me. How can you just throw it out?'"

Dupré's relationship with her stepfather has been particularly strained.

"He was so disgusted with me when everything happened," Dupré said, adding that he wouldn't look at her or hug her for quite some time. "Now it's, it's getting better. And we're working on our relationship."
Cause-Effect (Dupré's goal is to sing) is followed by Definition ("that's not who I am"):
Dupré says her only ambition now is to pursue the singing career of which she has always dreamed. She has received a number of lucrative offers, from reality shows to $1 million to pose for Hustler magazine, but she has turned them all down.
Now Contradiction is used; that is, Dupré tells who she is by who she is NOT. This is followed by Cause-Effect ("do what I love"), then Definition ("who I am"), finally ending in Cause-Effect again ("I'm not going to let this change who I am"; the state will not pursue charges; Dupré wants time to heal, etc.:
"You stop and think, but that's not who I am," she said. "And that's not what I want to do. I want to go after my music and do what I love. And not lose track of who I am on the way. I'm trying to pursue my music. I'm still living for it. I'm not gonna give up my dream. I'm not going to change. I'm not going to let this change who I am. And what I love."

Legal experts say it is unlikely that Dupré will be charged with a crime because federal prosecutors have announced they will not seek any criminal charges against the former governor.

"I needed to give myself time to heal," Dupré said. "And the people that were hurt by my choices time to heal, as well. And now it's time for me to tell my side of the story. And for people to get to know me. The real me, not, not the person that was created by the media."

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THANKSGIVING DAY Home Listening, Due 30 November 2008

Home Listening
Due 7 December 2008
View video, below.

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1. What can happen to consumers if they're not careful about Thanksgiving purchases?
2. According to the show host, how many ways are there to save on Thanksgiving Day dinner?
3. Regarding the state of the economy, what are people closely watching this Thanksgiving?
4. What might one find in one's refrigerator and pantry?
5. Where should one shop to save money?
6. What kind of turkey will likely save the consumer money?
7. How much was a fresh turkey in the store?
8. How much was the frozen turkey?
9. What food is often free in stores?
10. How much do you have to spend to get it for free?
11. What kinds of vegetables should one avoid in stores?
12. How should one purchase vegetables to save money?
13. What foods should one clean and cut oneself?
14. What is the best bread to use to make stuffing and save money?
15. How much do pies cost in stores?
16. How much did the can of pumpkin pie filling cost?
17. How much can one save if one bakes one's own cookies?
18. How much did the homemade pumpkin pie cost?
19. What kind of milk was used to make the pie?
20. In one word, what should Thanksgiving Day be according to one consumer?
21. Besides "advanced planning" what, according to the host, does one need to save money on one's Thanksgiving Day feast?

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Scheduled film for Friday 21 November 2008

BLACK NARCISSUS
Friday 21 November