Gentlemen,
Welcome to the fourth quarter, or as Asmar would call it, "the fizzle quizzle." Good work last quarter, gentlemen. Grades are all done, except for the Floater tests, which I'll grade tonight. I'll keep you in suspense until report cards, though.
Big news today, other than the disappointing rescheduling of the Middle School baseball opener against Norwood, is that YOU HAVE HOMEWORK! You must copy Tennyson's "Ulysses" into your notebooks by tomorrow (unless you're in second period, in which case you get an extra day). Ten points for those who do it tonight, un-diaper-able zeroes if you don't.
Just so's we're clear: your papers on Ulysses (or, as Asmar would put it, "Ulizzle") will be due next Friday, April 18. We'll work on them at least this week in class and part of next week, too. My plan is to get you a format sheet in the next day or so. It's either going to be a three or four graph effort, probably worth 40 points. Ulysses is also posted in the "Poems Boys Should Know By Heart" section at the bottom-left of this page.
As we write the Ulysses paper, we'll also be working on several class exercises on the practicalities of essay writing. Much of it should be old hat by now, but we'll drill it 'til we kill it.
Finally, there is another matter...
HOOPER PROJECT: Congrats to everyone who monkeyed around with the last Hooper: Edgar Allan Poe wrote the first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," the case was solved by the famed investigator Auguste Dupin, and the killer, of course, was the orangutan.
To start the fourth quarter, a four-themed quarter of Hoopers for you to put, er, four feet under. Five points, and an immediate A-plus in the early going, to the first (and one to the rest) who can tell me: (a) Who was the fourth president of the United States?, (b) By what surname was England's King Henry IV known?, (c) What four events make up the Grand Slam of men's professional golf?, and (d) What does one mean when he refers to "the fourth estate"? Good, good, good, good luck.
