Close Reading of “Night Thoughts” group work

Group1. The husband/father should be a stay-at-home-dad

                 -Names

Group 2. The wife/mother is the head of the household

                 - Names

Group 3. The husband is afraid of his wife, because she makes more money and makes all the decisions

                - Names

Group 4. The father is closer to the children than the mother because he is a teacher and does all the house chores

               - Names                 

             

Directions:

With your group, close read at least three sections of your choice from “Night Thoughts” by Helen Simpson focusing on finding evidence to support your impression of the character. Have one member of the group read a section out loud while others follow along. Then record observations, questions and define unfamiliar words and phrases. You may use a dictionary or access a dictionary on your phone.

Every member of your group should make annotations directly on his/her copy of the story. After you close read three sections, discuss your annotations with the group and determine whether these support or refute your initial impression of the character. Then complete the handout. Make sure every group members' name is included on the handout. Be ready to share your findings and submit the handout to the professor at the end of class.

Close/Active Reading

Close/active reading: active engagement with the text, that requires purposeful reading and rereading with a pen and a dictionary, which lends itself to exploring and developing approaches to writing assignments. 

                                                 General Guidelines for Active Reading:

-read a passage/paragraph before commenting/ marking it up

-mark key and unfamiliar words/phrases and look them up in a dictionary or reference book

-write questions and observations in the margins

-marking up text in this manner is also known as annotating text

Characters in Helen Simpson's "Night Thoughts"

After reviewing posts with your descriptions of characters in “Night Thoughts,” 

four categories emerged:

1. The husband/father wants to be a stay-at-home-dad

2. The wife/mother is the head of the household

3. The husband is afraid of his wife, because she makes more money and makes all the decisions

4. The father is closer to the children than the mother because he is a teacher and does all the house chores 

SWAG May 20th event- Screening of Nancy Savoca's DIRT

To all LaGuardians, Friends, and Film Lovers -

The Committee for the Study of Women and Gender (SWAG) cordially invites you to a screening of Nancy Savoca’s DIRT on Monday, May 20 in E-242 starting at 11:45 a.m. DIRT (2003), which follows the trials and tribulations of Dolores Del Rosario, an undocumented Salvadorian domestic worker who lives with her husband and son in Corona, Queens, has earned Nancy Savoca the Best Director prize at the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival and a nomination by the Writer’s Guild of America for Best Long Form Teleplay. Prof. Jerry W. Carlson, the Director of the Cinema Studies Program in the Department of Media & Communication Arts at City College, CUNY, who co-directed DIRT with Savoca, will be joining us for the screening, and will introduce as well as talk about the film. 

See you on May 20th! 

Women's Literature Salon 3/19

To all LaGuardians -

The Committee for the Study of Women and Gender (SWAG) of the LaGuardia English Department is happy to announce our inaugural Women's Literature Salon for students, staff, faculty, and alumni. Come celebrate Women's History Month by reading a five-minute selection of a piece by your favorite woman writer from 1pm to 3pm on Tuesday, March 19th in E-111.  All genres of women's writing are welcome - stories, poems, essays, plays, criticism, etc. - as are all LaGuardians, from any department, full and part time.  There's only one rule: keep it to five minutes or less, so plan on finding a reading that will fit.  Of course, you can just drop by and enjoy all the wonderful readings.  Light refreshments will be served.

If you'd like to share a selection by your favorite woman author, please contact us to sign up. Students who would like to read work from their favorite woman author, please email us to sign up. Let us know which half-hour interval between 1pm and 3pm would work best for you and we'll put you on the list!

Contact Carrie Conners, cconners@lagcc.cuny.edu, or Claudia Moreno Pisano, cmorenopisano@lagcc.cuny.edu, to sign up for a slot or with questions.

See you on March 19th!
Carrie Conners and Claudia Moreno Pisano


Carrie Conners, PhD 
Assistant Professor of English 
LaGuardia Community College--CUNY 
e-mail: cconners@lagcc.cuny.edu 
Phone: 718.482.5965

Congratulations!!!

Thank you for all your hard work this semester!

Have a wonderful break, enjoy the holidays, and best of luck on all your future endeavors!

Extra Credit

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,                                     -A
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain                                                    -B 
Under my head till morning, but the rain                                                      -B
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh                                                     -A
Upon the glass and listen for reply,                                                                -A 
And my heart there stirs a quiet pain                                                             -B
For unremembered lads that not again                                                         -B
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.                                                         -A 
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,                                                     - C
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,                                       - D
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:                                             - E
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,                                             - D
I only know that summer sang in me                                                           - C
A little while, that in me sings no more.                                                       - E

Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "What my lips have kissed, and where, and why" is written in sonnet form. A sonnet has fourteen lines and is written in iambic pentameter. This particular sonnet is an Italian Sonnet with the rhyme scheme of a b b a a b b a in the first octave. In the following sestet, the rhyme scheme is c d e d c e.