Mr. Helmsing’s Backyard

I’ve been suffering from an evil, nasty, virulent despicable cold since I was in Nashville, TN this weekend. It might be from walking around in all of the cold weather outside (even though there was no snow, it was still brutally cold!) My throat is sore, my sinuses are congested, and I’m sneezing, wheezing, and coughing (imagine those people on the cold commercials with giant red noses). If you’re not in class, you won’t have to worry about catching it from me - if you are in class…make sure you wash your hands.

Today in M1, Ms. Sandberg gave a guest lecture on pieces of art that convey the feeling of fear. Complete with sound effects, a clip from Jaws, and detailed information about some macabre paintings, we wrote personal responses to some images in her PowerPoint.

M3 finished viewing What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and we mapped on the board a complex web depicting all of the stressors and factors that are “eating away” at Gilbert during the film (Arnie, Mamma, his sisters, Becky, his job, the town of Endora itself). There are some challenging questions on Moodle for you to respond to in your Moodle Journal if you have not yet done so already.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, M4 began class by collaborating on a Moodle wiki about the foods we love to eat at Thanksgiving. Foodways is a type of folklore that analyses how the foods different groups and societies eat can tell us a lot about their culture. What do the foods you eat say about your life, family, and traditions?