Eastern Stars up to 113

1. Baltimore, baseball and America

• Read article from NYTimes. Watch some clips.
• Question -- is baseball baseball without the fans? What has changed in the game in there isn't anyone in the stands?
• Does MLB need to do more. It managed segregation and riots and 9/11. Why close its doors now?

2. The Eastern Stars ...

• Value of language in creating community? (107)
• Construction of race in the DR, and how that conflicts with US racial tensions?
• What has the MLB done to help latino players?
• Idea of one representing the whole. One Latino man integrating. What pressure does that put on a person? How does that inform their experience?

Eastern Stars up to 79

1. Some Ken Burns ... finish part about Barry Bonds. Go back and look at Latin presence.
2. Read handouts ...
3. Working in groups of three: Lots of history about the DR and baseball. Boil it down. What are the key moments and how did they influence both the DR's history and baseball's presence in the country?

Weekly #12: Bryce Harper

This is one of my favorite baseball articles of the last few years. The content is good. The media is good. The combination of the two is awesome. I'm not asking you to think about larger themes or ideas, just respond to what you read. What did you learn? What did you think of this baseball package? I definitely look at this as a great example of alternative story-telling, and that's why I think it's great. Enjoy.

Game of Shadows & Eastern Stars

Game of Shadows

Writing: What is the cost of striving for the American Dream? No book. No evidence. Just your thoughts. Respond to the question in terms of Games of Shadows.

Recap
Major themes?
Take-aways?

The Eastern Stars

The prologue and first chapter of Eastern Stars contain an anecdote and a lot of history.

• How does the author create tension?
• Craft the DR as a major character of this book (think about the details shared ... what are we to think of the DR? what emotion are we to feel about the country?)?
• What are some themes alluded to in the opening two sections? Please cite the text specifically.

In your group, read the three articles and answer the following questions:

What must you sacrifice to achieve the American Dream? What role does sacrifice play in achieving the Am Dream? Use text evidence.

Weekly Post #11

Batting around. Every heard of that phrase? I have, and it's not as straight forward as I thought. What do you take away from this piece? What made you go hhhmmmm?

Great questions for Lance. He was so impressed with the breadth and depth of the questions. Nice work!

Weekly Post #10

Since the authors of Game of Shadows are coming to class on Monday, this week's assignment is to pose questions for the writer's. Do make sure you read what others have asked and try not to repeat. It'll pay to post early. You can ask Lance & Mark anything about the book, the process, their lives as writers.

Please post 3 questions about the text and 1-2 questions about anything else.