Read to page 105 in Warriors Don't Cry.

Over the weekend, look for specific historical events that you want to include in your timeline. The timeline itself is due on Tuesday.

Continue to read Warriors Don't Cry, to page 65.

Keep working on your Memory Bank and begin to organize memories by specific years.

Put the words listed in 9/24's blog entry into your Word Bank and add the following:

Naturalized
Jurisdiction
Abridge
Immunities
Equal Protection Clause
10th Amendment
Federalism
States' Rights
Nationalism

Read an op ed piece in the New York Times, "Justice in Jena," by Reed Walters, the DA from Jena (click on the title of the article).

Start working on your Memory Bank in your Nexus. Using the sheets I gave you to provoke, unbury, resurface memories, list as many important and significant memories as you can.

Read the first three chapters of Warriors Don't Cry for tomorrow, to page 32.

Read "FBI Reviewing Anti-Jena 6 Web Page" from the Associated Press, 9/23/07.

Watch the first 17 1/2 minutes of Democracy Now.

After reading and viewing the above, answer the following in a post to this blog. If the courts do in fact decide to drop all charges against the Jena 6, what do you think will be the response in Jena and Jena High School? How do you feel the 6 boys' lives might be impacted by the community in which they live?



Watch the first 20 minutes of the above interview with Salman Rushdie by Bill Moyers for his 2002 series On Faith and Reason. If you have time, you can watch the above interview in its entirety.

Read "About the Book" for Wednesday. Be able to identify:
Brown v Board of Education
Governor Faubus
NAACP
Chief Justice Warren
13th Amendment
14th Amendment
Plessy v Ferguson
Justice John Marshall Harlan
Jim Crow Laws
Justice Thurgood Marshall

New York City Opera's world premiere production of Haroun and the Sea of Stories (2004)

Thanks for all your energies and efforts today to get your voices heard in Jena. Tomorrow we will finally settle in to Haroun. Along with the three text references about censorship and free speech, look for connections in how a piece of the author, Salman Rushdie, is reflected in the characters Rashid, Haroun, Prince Bolo, and Princess Batcheat. Mark these connections in your text.

For Monday, respond to "What's the use of stories that aren't even true?" (20) Type your response/ reflection, 1 1/2 pages, 12pt., double-spaced.

Think about this story as an allegory. How has Rushdie used this story to raise questions about censorship and free speech? Find three specific text references you can bring to class tomorrow that connect with these larger ideas.

Self-Portrait/ Memory Box

The people we are becoming and the way we “see” the world are shaped not only by our culture, but also by our many experiences and “stories.” I want you to take time to think about all the “stories” that have informed who you are.

On the outside of your Self-Portrait/ Memory Box, place images/ symbols that represent how others see you. These symbols can include your gender, ethnic group, personality, place in the community, age group, etc.

On the inside of the box, place symbols/ images that represent the “stories” of who you really are:

• Include a symbol of at least one important family story
• Include a symbol of at least one story where you or someone in your family affected “change.”
• Include a symbol of at least one story about how you “changed.”
• Include a symbol of what you think your “story” will be 10 years from now.

The rest of the items/ images/ symbols that you choose to represent important stories are up to you. Include an index card for each symbol that identifies what story the symbol stands for.

Think metaphorically, symbolically. If your parents are really important to your development, do not put a photograph of them in your box. Instead, think of a story that best represents what they mean to you and find a symbol that best illustrates that meaning.

Be creative, deliberate, imaginative, thoughtful!

Self-Portrait boxes are due tomorrow.

The latest news is that charges against Mychal Bell have been dropped. Yet he is still in jail. Everyone is awaiting the D.A.'s decision to either appeal the overturned conviction, bring new charges against Mychal Bell as a juvenile, or drop the charges. He has vowed to appeal.

Some Jena6 links:

Free the Jena 6
NPR
Democracy Now
Chicago Tribune
Color of Change

Please comment on your feelings about this case.