Saturday, December 26, 2009

The New York Times claims teens are cutting back on spending! Is this really true?




The New York Times - December 26, 2009

Recession? Teenagers Get It, and Are Cutting Back




          After a year of observing their parents pinch pennies and fret about the economy, the nation’s teenagers may be coming to grips with reality.
          Sales are down sharply in recent months at nearly every major retail chain catering to teenagers, and interviews with teenagers suggest that the reasons go beyond their own difficulty finding part-time jobs.
         “I think my sister and I, throughout this year we’ve kind of lost an interest in getting gifts and things like that,” said Morgan Porpora, 16, who in the past had a list of things she wanted for Christmas. “I guess we’ve noticed the economy and we just kind of even feel bad I guess asking for a lot.”


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Macbeth Texts, Resources & Assignments

Click here for complete Macbeth text

Resources for Major Elements in the Play

Supernatural / superstition

Friday, December 18, 2009

TODAY DECEMBER 18

Writing Workshop in Room B49

Type response from your LJ on Macbeth
Compose and type your response to the film studies assignment ("The Bicycle Thief")
Type and print your response to Broke-ology reflection
Type and print your response to Take a Stand: Life in Prison

Read this story in the New York Times and draft a response to it:

A False Alarm

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Writing Workshop for Friday, December 11 in B49

College Reading & Writing Film Studies Paper

Open a new Microsoft Word document
Save as:  BikeThiefPaper_Lastnamefirstname

Paper Topics on film "The Bicycle Thief"
 
In this paper you will choose ONE of the scenes below and write a brief analysis of the scene. In this analysis you will apply the film studies terms (indicated below) to show how these elements of film are use din the scene to express certain qualities, emotions, ideas or images.

Since this is your first film studies paper, let's keep it very basic. It will be a big success if you can integrate both a discussion of the film studies terms and cite examples from the selected scene to support your argument or analysis.

Scene 1: Antonio (the father) goes to cellar nightclub to enlist his friend's help to find the bike, his friend is a sanitation worker but an amateur performer, Antonio's wife arrives
 
Scene 2: Antonio and Bruno confront a man suspected of stealing the bike in the marketplace and enlist the help of a police officer
 
Scene 3: Antonio makes his son Bruno sit at a bridge while he looks for the thief. At one point some men by the river yell, "help, a kid is drowning." Antonio thinks it is his son.
 
Scene 4: Antonio goes to the neighborhood where the suspected thief lives. He confronts him on the street and is surrounded by neighbors who turn on him like a mob.
 
Scene 5: In his desperation to have a bike, Antonio decides to steal another man's bike. He is caught and threatened with arrest. The owner of the bike lets him go. He takes his son's hand and walks away down the street.
 
The film studies terms are
  • mise-en-scene
  • composition
  • frame
  • camera shot
  • camera angle
It may be helpful by simply introducing the film and a providing a brief synopsis of your selected scene.

You were expted to begin this asisgnment in class on Thursday, Decemner 10.  Final draft is due Monday, December 14.  Grade is based on how well you integrate the dicussion of the use of film terms and what they help the director express in a specific scene.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Week Ahead Nov 30-Dec 4



Monday, November 30

DUE:  Written response to Brigitte's visits, "Life in Prison" / Take a Stand Argument Paper


Tuesday, December 1
Meet in Room B49 for writing workshop
Type written response to Brigitte's visit
Type the "Life in Prison" essay



Wednesday, December 2
Peer editing workshop


Thursday, December 3
Meet in Room B49 for writing workshop

Make corrections / do additional writing on articles from peer editing

Friday, December 4
Final exam on James Baldwin's novel Another Country


Reminder:  Check dogstarnyc.com daily for cheap and free things to do in the city!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Proust Questionnaire

You may find the Proust Questionnaire interesting.  Go to the blog for the class Bergtraum Voice (here ) and see the post on it.

CUNY Information Fair this Sunday at Seward Park H.S.



CUNY College Information Fair in Lower Manhattan


New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, State Senator
Daniel Squadron & The City University of New York invite you to a
CUNY College Information Fair in lower Manhattan for high school
students, college students & adult learners.



Receive one-on-one counseling and information on:academic &
honors programs, financial aid and scholarships, adult & continuing
education, citizenship and immigration services.



Seward Park Educational Campus, 350 Grand St. (Enter on Ludlow St.).
Directions By subway: B,D to Grand Street; F, J, M, Z to Delancey/Essex
Street. By bus: M9, M14A, M15, M103 to Grand Street.



Refreshments will be served.

Date:

November 15, 2009

Time:

11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

College:

The University

Address:

Seward Park Educational Campus, 350 Grand St. (Enter on Ludlow St.) 
Manhattan

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

QUOTE OF THE CENTURY

What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Join me on Thursday to meet Sue Kwon!

Anybody want to join me at Clic Gallery this Thursday?

Sue Kwon has agreed to meet with my Pace students (and you are welcome to join us) at 5:30 on Thursday, November 12 at 424 Broome Street.

See my blog for the Pace class HERE for details!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Understanding culture through comics

Do you understand EVERY panel in this recent "Doonesbury" comic?  Click on it to make it larger.  Let's talk about it!


Sammy Sosa "comfortable in his own skin"?




Sammy Sosa "comfortable in his own skin"?

Reports are coming out this week about baseball player Sammy Sosa who appeared over the weekend at a Las Vegas event with significantly LIGHTER skin,


Sunday, November 8, 2009

Class Update for Week Nov 9-Nov 13

Monday, November 9

Finish "illuminated manuscript" activity with passage from Another Country
Class discussion on Book Two


Tuesday, November 10
Two activities:
Responding to a writing prompt for Another Country (in your LJ)
Peer editing using warm/cool feedback of Personal Statements


Wednesday, November 11
Veteran's Day - NO SCHOOL



Important update for reading the novel Another Country:  Have all of the novel read by Monday, November 16.



Thursday, November 12
Meet in Room B49 for writing workshop
Type written response from Tuesday
Make additional changes to Personal Statement 1
Make additional changes to Personal Statement 2



Friday, November 13
Lincoln Center pre-show workshop on "Broke-ology" with Miss Brigitte
We will see the show on Weds, Nov. 18


REMINDER:  Returned signed permission slip forms for this trip!

Successful Work Habits in Computer Lab

How we conduct class in the Computer Lab – Room B49

A short guide for success!

  1.  SIT ONLY at the assigned station
  2. LOG IN ASAP using your own LogIn ID
  3. OPEN internet go to website for this class for goals for the period
  4. USE CLASS TIME for class work only – do not go online to other websites or open other class documents
  5. SAVE AS to be sure document is saved in proper document folder
  6. FIVE MINUTES before END:
  • Close documents
  • Log off the computer station
  • Shut down
  • Turn off monitor
  • place keyboard on top of CPU
  • Place mouse on pad at right
STAY SEATED until bell rings

Friday, November 6, 2009

Creative Writing Contest (Big Prizes!) for NYC High School Seniors Only!

Random house, Inc. - one of the largest world-wide publishers - sponsors an annual creative writing competition for New York City high school seniors.

Bergtraum seniors HAVE WON prizes in the past!

Grand Prize:  FOUR (4) students will be chosen to receive $10,000!

ALL seniors should consider entering the contest, click here for more information !

If you are serious, plan NOW be looking at the entries of past winners in YOUR CATEGORY!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Reminders for Thursday, Nov 5

CLASS TODAY MEETS in Room B49 (scroll down for week's schedule)

CLASS TOMORROW - Friday, November 6 meets outside Room B14 for auditorium program by the College Office

YOUR INTEREST in politics and the re-election of the mayor will find more explained and "unpacked" in these two stories in today's New York Times:

How Bloomberg brutally beat down any opposition (here )

How politics works in NYC works for WHITES, especially when it comes to real estate (here )

BY POPULAR DEMAND the link to the Antony video singing Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" (here )

FOR THOSE WHO MISS THEIR DAYS AS JUNIORS in the journalism class, here

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK we begin our social justice research paper project.  If you have not signed up for a topic, please make a point of seeing me about it when we meet tomorrow in B49!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Judge in Inter-Racial Marriage Case Resigns

BATON ROUGE, La. - A Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry a couple because the bride was white and groom was black resigned Tuesday.


More here... 

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Class Update for Week Nov 2-Nov 6

Monday, November 2
For Monday to be written in LJ:  Write a reflection on the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

  • Describe your reactions/impressions of seeing the film
  • Explain what it taught you about race relations in the 1950s/1960s
  • Connect the film to the novel Another Country - anything relate?
  • Write questions you may have about the film
Test on the film and miscegenation laws - short answers, no essay.  You may use your LJ notes from last week's homework (scroll down to see assignments)


Tuesday, November 3
Election Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS


Wednesday, November 4
Class discussion on Another Country
Guiding Question for discussion:
How are the central characters' lives changing and what is the impact of these changes?  Central characters:  Vivaldo Moore, Ida Scott, Cass Silenski, Eric


Important update for reading the novel Another Country:  Have all of Book One and Book Two read by Wednesday, November 4.


Thursday, November 5
Meet in Room B49 for writing workshop
You will get back papers for revision
Goals:
Make additional changes to Personal Statement 1
Make additional changes to Personal Statement 2

Type Reader's Choice text selections and print out

Friday, November 6
Peer Editing workshop on Personal Statements
You ABSOLUTELY must have AT LEAST one draft of Personal Statement 1 or 2 ready for this activity

College Applications Demand "Context," Not Just Grades & Scores

This post is only for serious college-bound students:

Today's New York Times has a story about what colleges are looking for in applicants from high school:


Across the country, selective public colleges and universities are taking a page from their private counterparts and implementing what is commonly called a holistic or comprehensive admissions process.
The trend is partly a function of rising application numbers at sought-after publics, which is a result, in turn, of the climbing cost of private higher education and a peaking population of high school seniors. Many applicants, it seems, easily meet academic requirements. Merely pushing average grades and test scores ever higher won’t necessarily yield the most vibrant student body.


Here for link to the full story  

Monday, October 26, 2009

Class Update & Week Ahead Oct 26-Oct 30

Monday, October 26
Watch film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" on theme of inter-racial relationships and marriage (miscegenation).  When the film came out - 1967 - 14 or so states in the nation still had anti-miscegenation laws on the books making it illegal for mixed-race couples to get married.


While we are spending class time watching the film and Book Two is due on November 4, take advantage of the time and read the novel!  Putting it off will only make you fall behind!  College-bound seniors take their responsibilities seriously.

HOMEWORK DUE WEDNESDAY:  Use the link below and other resources to create notes in your LJ about miscegenation laws and the 1950s/1960s. 

In your notes, identify and explain the following:
  • Origins of the word "miscegenation"
  • Describe a super brief history of anti-miscegenation laws in the United States
  • Explain the connection between miscegenation / anti-miscegenation and racism / discrimination


HOMEWORK DUE THURSDAY:  Write a draft of Personal Statement 2 on the topic "Who are you meant to be?"  Scroll down to an earlier post to see more details.  You must either have a hand-written draft or a typed draft that you will email to yourself and be abel to access it in room B49.

Tuesday, October 27
Watch film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

Wednesday, October 28
If more time is needed - Watch film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
Reflection in LJ on the film, discussion, make connections to the novel

Thursday, October 29
Meet in Room B49 for writing workshop - You will get back papers for revision
Goals:
Create new document for draft of Personal Statement 2
Make additional changes to Personal Statement 1
Make additional changes to Another Country Paper 1

Friday, October 30
Period 5 does not meet today - we will not have class.  Special scheduel for Parent-Teacher conferences:  Only periods 2, 6, 7, 8, 9

Reminder:  No school next Tuesday, November 3 for Election Day.

Important update for reading the novel Another Country:  Have all of Book One and Book Two read by Wednesday, November 4.


2nd Marking Period:  Three drafts of Personal Statements 1 and 2, Test on Book One/Chapter 1, Written Exam on Book One/Chapters 2 and 3, Paper on Book Two, Reader's Choice Assignment (coming later this week).

Completing ALL of these assignments is required to pass the second marking period.

Anything that's missing will have to be made up to pass the third marking period.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Class Schedule Week of Oct 19-23

Monday, October 19
Meet in room B49 for writing workshop on Paper on Another Country

Tuesday, October 20
Meet in room B49 for writing workshop on Paper on Another Country


Wednesday, October 21
Meet in Room 115 for activity on Another Country

Thursday, October 22
Meet in Room B49 for additional drafting of Paper on Another Country AND typing the Personal Statement


Friday, October 23
Meet in Room 115 for Written Exam on assigned pages of Another Country (see calendar)


Some of you have expressed frustration that we have not returned to the first Personal Statement on overcoming a family-related obstacle.  Do not wait for us!  Write it, edit it, ask a friend or family member to proof read it...type a draft!  Then, move on to Personal Statement 2 on "Who are you meant to be?"  - you'll need to scroll down to an earlier post for more details.

Friday, October 16, 2009

How different from today was 42nd Street back in the 1950s? Like another planet!















As we read the novel, we want to try to imagine how New York City looked to Rufus and Vivaldo and Ida in the 1950s.


The first chapter - when Rufus walks 42nd Street in desperation - describes all kinds of elements of "forty-deuce" that no longer exist today:  bars, arcades, movie theaters showing Italian films, pornography shops (although these are sprinkled along 8th Avenue), prostitutes (male and female), heroin addicts and drug dealers.


The novel is set in the years just after World War II and a 42nd street changed to have all these kinds of things with a rough and dangerous atmosphere.  Before WW II, 42nd Street and the whole Times Square area was mostly theaters with plays, musicals and bands performing nightly.  These kinds of places never left the area but the block of 42nd Street between 7th & 8th Avenue (now it has the McDonalds, the two 25-screen movie theaters and "Mary Poppins") became run-down and taken over by the newer businesses.


Why?  Well, American soldiers returning from Europe and Asia returned to the states and were exposed to pornography, different sexual habits and heroin (derived from battlefield morphine).  Another reason is that outside this area in the city, there was no other place to buy drugs, meet a prostitute or meet other gay people.  It is well known that the Mafia also controlled pornography and prostitution businesses with the help of crooked police officers.


So, during the 1930s, after the regular theaters shut their doors Mayor LaGuardia (he was a mayor before he was an airport) worked hard to keep the area safe with police patrols and vice squads.  vice enforcement unit or vice squad is a department in many police forces that investigates public order crimes. This generally includes narcoticsalcohol (including sales to minors), prostitutionpornography and gambling.  During LaGuardia's time, especially, police conducted raids on places suspected of being involved in any of these things.  Sometimes crooked cops would threaten real businesses with a raid on their place - which would scare off customers - unless they paid them off with a bribe.


Here is a story from the NY Post about how Vice Squads operate today with the internet 


LaGuardia was followed by two more mayors who pretty much kept on doing the same thing.  However by the mid-1950s, Mayor Wagner was too scared and just not aggressive enough to tighten it up and take control of the area.  His hands-off attitude meant that all the bad business was "contained" (in theory anyway) to this one area to keep it from spreading to the rest of the city.


Here for a list of New York City mayors 


By 1960, Times Square had become the prime area for all the things described in the novel.  What we see in Times Square today is from the efforts of Mayor Giuliani to transform the area almost back to what it was before WW II:  family entertainment.


A bit of New York City trivia for you:  Times Square used to be called Longacre Square until The New York Times moved into 43rd Street (now they are on 8th Avenue & 41st Street) and convinced city leaders to re-name the area in the early 1900s.


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Mixed-Race Couple Murdered Last Year by Racist Marines

A Brooklyn Marine named Jan Pietrzk and his wife Quiana were murdered last year in California.  A mixed-race couple murdered in 1948!  No, wait, that was 2008!

More here...

Mixed-Race Couples Against the Law in Many States!

In the novel we are reading, Rufus and Leona receive hateful stares on the streets of New York City.  The time is the 1950s and in many states in America it is illegal for mixed-race couples to get married.  The taboo against miscegenation (mixing) extends to public attitudes to unmarried couples as well.

Last year, Mildred Loving died and she is remembered as one who stood up for what she believed in:  racist laws should not dictate who adults may marry.

Read more about Mildred's story here...


In Louisiana, a judge has refused to grant a marriage license to an inter-racial couple.  Last week!


More here... 

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

OFFENSIVE PLAY: How different are football and dogfighting?

This week's issue of The New Yorker magazine features a fascinating piece by Malcom Gladwell on the dangers and questions raised by this question:   How different are football and dogfighting?

We would like you to try and read it by next Friday, October 23 - no need to print it out if you can read it online.

Malcom also participated in a Chat Forum on the article and the transcript is also on the New Yorker website.  In addition there is an audio slide show.  In this audio slide show, Gladwell discusses the traumatic brain injuries suffered by football linemen and other ex-athletes, and the inherent dangers of contact sports.

Here for Malcom's article on football / dogfighting

Here for the Q & A between Malcom and some readers of the magazine


Here for the audio slideshow

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Class Update & Plan for Wednesday

Tuesday, October 13
DUE:  Draft of Personal Statement in your LJ or typed and printed.  Craft Exercise:  Find three places in the draft where you could add dialogue.  Write ten lines of dialogue for each of these places.  Determine which best strengthens the essay with imagery, expresses understanding or insight and generally lifts the tone of the writing.  One-on-one college admission consultations.

Wednesday, October 14
Special School Schedule
10th & 11th grade:  Arrive by 8:10 for PSAT until 11:15
9th & 12th grade:  Arrive by 9:30 and report to deisgnated locations
11:15 - school day begins with these 30-minute periods ONLY:

Period 2  11:19-11:49
Period 4  11:53-12:23
Period 5  12:27-12:57
Period 6  1:01-1:31
Period 8  1:35-2:05
Period 9  2:09-2:39

MR. GAGNON WILL BE ABSENT ON WEDNESDAY

In class on Wednesday go ahead and read the novel.

Another Country chapters and Written Exam will be on Thursday

Thursday, October 15
Written Exam on Another Country (Book 1, Chapter 1)

Friday, October 16
Personal Statement drafting continues
Another Country Discussion continues

Monday, October 12, 2009

College Applications & YOU the Brand

While researching something else, we came across the website Helium (click here ) and found an article titled "Personal brand management concepts" (click here ).

This article had a few ideas applicable to the college application process.  How will you sell yourself to a college?  By thinking of yourself as a "brand" to be marketed to colleges, you may also have advantages over other candidates.  So...if this sounds interesting to you, read the article and then think about ways you can manage the college application as if you were managing a brand.

(We have our own ideas about how to go about managing YOU as a brand for the college application but think that YOU should think about it before we give any of them away.)

Have you checked out DOG STAR lately?

If you missed DOG STAR NYC this weekend, check out posts on these great things to do:

  • Free program for teens interested in a design career
  • Free admission all next week at Cooper Hewitt
  • New video with Q Tip and Norah Jones from Hypebeast
  • Free party at El Museo del Barrio coming up on Saturday


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Personal Statement - Update on Assignments

The weekend has been bright and beautiful.  I hope you are getting out there and enjoying it - maybe even finding the fun on Dog Star NYC?

On-going homework:  In your LJ, continue to make a list of colleges and a strategy for admission.  The goal is to find a match:  a college you can get in and one that meets your needs.

Past Due:  The "another country" encounter description will need to be finished by the end of the week.  It goes into the LJ and as you think of details and description to add, complete additional writing.  Please stop asking if it is an essay to hand in.  Please start listening to what is explained in class.  As you now know the assignment relates to the novel you have been assigned to read.  When we have more conversation about the text we will have more conversation about the writing we're doing on the text.

Personal Statement Number One:  You are considering ONE specific encounter with a family member in which you had to overcome some obstacle.  Consider all the causes, the persons involved, the time / place / setting and dialogue!  Please have a draft on loose leaf paper or typed for Tuesday.

Personal Statement Number Two:  Start thinking about this topic and any first thoughts and ideas you have for it are to be recorded in your LJ under "Personal Statement 2":  Who are you meant to be?  Are you that person now?  Are you moving toward the person you are meant to be?  While there may be many responses, there are only two essential elements to this question:  the exterior person (the YOU on the outside, the one in a certain job or career, the one who people see every day) and there is the interior person (the YOU who may want to change some aspect of yourself, the one who can really shine if only..., the one nobody really knows).  rather than choosing one of these in these first steps, write about both - the exterior and the interior - keeping in mind:  Who are you meant to be?  Is this challenging?  YES!  Push yourself!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

QUOTE OF THE DAY

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Class Schedule Week of October 5-9

Monday, October 5
FINAL DUE:  "Into the Light" papers on ONE short story
Warm/Cool Feedback Protocol
Debriefing

Tuesday, October 6
Collaborate with another student in class on an activity

Wednesday, October 7
Meet outside College Office - Room 239 for consultation with Dr. Powell and visit by rep from Skidmore College in Saratoga Spring's NY

Thursday, October 8
College office consultation follow up
Making a Match

Friday, October 9
Making the Plan

College Student in G's Pace Class Shares Segregated Prom Link

ALL students are welcome to forward links and resources they think most relevant to our course work.

Whitney has passed along this link and I want to share her note about it, too:

After our discussion in class last night, I thought it would be appropriate to send you a link about a story that you may or may not have read. It was a story that came out in the NY Times earlier this year about segregated proms in Montgomery County, GA. I did not live in Montgomery County, and the segregated prom in my area stopped almost 10 years ago, but this story, from May of this year, shows that it is still going on in some parts with the only explanation being "tradition". I wanted to pass this along because I heard alot of people in class respond with shock and disbelief that segregation still exists, so I thought this would be something to supplement our discussion about the way that the issues from the past we have read about are still relevant today.

Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24prom-t.html?_r=1

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

What does it mean to be "ready for college"?


MAXIMUS (at right) has no use for college, of course, but everyone in the class will end up in college some day.

Some of you WILL go directly to college from high school and others will delay it until you discover that you want to be in college and you need college to get ahead.

So, where are you in the college admissions process?  I ask because one of your classmates said, "I have 15 colleges to apply to."

I was a little alarmed.  Fifteen!  And he plans to stay at home and not go away to college!

My response to him (and all of you):  Choose wisely.  Narrow the college choices to FIVE:

  1. ONE "safety" CUNY school you are willing to attend.  More on "safety" school below.
  2. TWO CUNY colleges with your intended major
  3. ONE or TWO SUNY colleges out of the city with your intended major
  4. ONE or TWO private colleges out of the city with your intended major

Another option:  Add a NYC private college

A "safety" school is a college you are willing to attend, qualify to get admitted and if you receive no acceptance letters from your first choices, you have a fall-back plan with the "safety" school.

Let's give you some time to think about it.  I will ask you next week to discuss your plans in class.

College Reading & Writing Tip: Read George Orwell and Follow His Commands!

This post is ONLY for students serious about college-level reading and writing!

You've earned an A in the course.  Congratulations, you've got the job!  Welcome to the team, when can you start?

It's nice to hear these kinds of things, right?  Or how about a letter in the mail that begins:  "We are pleased to inform you of your acceptance to the university"?

What's going to set you apart from other candidates - in college, at your job, as you begin a career - will be your ability to WRITE AND SPEAK clearly and creatively.

George Orwell (more on him here ) has a famous essay called "Politics & the English Language" and I want you to read it.  I want you to make a page in a notebook to write down all things he suggests to write with CLEAR MEANING and fresh, vivid metaphors.

On Friday, October 2 when we review your drafts for the first "into the light" essay, we will be able to talk about what Orwell recommends for your writing.

Here for the link to "Politics & the English Language" 

Sunday, September 27, 2009

FREE! FREE! FREE! Meet Powerful & Inspiring Writer Cornel West this Weds. at B & N!



DOG STAR knows and respects Cornel West for his enlightened, clear and articulate views on race, civilization and life in general.  Among those with "West" for a last name, it is Cornell who should get your attention most.  Kanye has much to learn from Cornel, too, humility chief among them and having a values-centered philosophy of life is another.

This Mr. West, Mr. West, Mr. West (a reference to a lyric on Kanye's "College Dropout") has tackled issues of hip hop's place in our culture, has rapped a few songs of his own and is a a professor at Princeton University.

Now, he shares his memoirs in a new book "Living & Loving Out Loud: A Memoir."  And he will read from the book and be available for signings and conversation this Wednesday, September 30 at Union Square Barnes & Noble.

If you are starving for something richer than the usual playlist of your life, consider heading over to B & N by 6:30pm to get a seat.  Mr. West is very funny, very accessible - he talks plainly and truthfully - and you will surely become a fan of his too.  When you do become a fan there is a treasure of previous books to dive into DOG STAR recommends "Democracy Matter" for the chapter on hip hop culture.  It will open your eyes and, no, he does not bash it, he sees it in a different light.

Will you give yourself the chance to see life in a different light, too?





Saturday, September 26, 2009

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Friday, September 25, 2009

FREE! Read a great short story this weekend!

Edwidge Danticat has published a number of memoir pieces and short stories in The New Yorker magazine.


Here are links to two of the stories:


Ghosts (click here )
Short story about an aspiring radio journalist in Haiti and the gangsters who frequent the restaurant owned by his parents.

Reading Lessons (click here )
Short story about a Haitian teacher in America who slaps one of her students.


And...Edwidge is friends with Junot Diaz.  Listen to Junot read his short story “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)” and then hear Edwidge discuss the story (click here )

FREE! - Go to the Whitney this weekend!


Look at this painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.  Is it a highway cutting through the night landscape with a burning horizon off in the distance?  Is it a beating heart, aching for love?

It is both of these things and neither of these things.  Magically, the power and the beauty of this painting - and many, many more like it - is in the way it can grip your sight, first, and hold on to your other senses, too.  And then the imagination generates wildly different responses - all bursting with half-explanation because the mind wants to sort it out and make sense of it.

Don't let it.  Enjoy the superb technique (the smooth lines, the very clean shapes, the expertly applied paint) and enjoy the incredible color crawling through the paintings.

DOG STAR urges teens to run, don't walk, to the O'Keeffe show at the Whitney Museum at 75th Street and Madison Avenue.  We're not even going to suggest it only if you like this one.  Just go.

The Whitney is ALWAYS free for everyone under 18 years old.