JHS Hugemanatees: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit

OMG HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. STANTON!

History is colored with societies, institutions, and people banning books. Brave New World, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Animal Farm, The Hobbit (hence the title of the post), and even the Harry Potter series. So to commemorate these stories belatedly after Banned Books Week, we've asked you to do some creative writing using the first line of some of the greats. In class today you were randomly assigned an opening line from a banned book and asked to write a short 150-word story. If you were absent today because of the pep rally, Spanish guest speakers, or something else, the instructions have been uploaded to the website, "Banned Books - First Lines" (check out the last slide). Your completed story may be typed and is due next Tuesday, October 11.

A couple of other things to keep in mind:

CE#12 tomorrow for those of y'all that need it
Words for Nerds finally due tomorrow
Your Literature textbook reading over the Mahabharata is due WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12 (there is an error on your class calendar; the PSAT/CogAt is October 19)
Epics projects due Thursday, October 13

Some of you seem to be in need of a Humanities Experience! Below you'll find some ideas:

Regarding our annual tradition of accepting Hitchcocktober at the Angelika Film Centers, the Plano location is playing The Birds on Thursday, October 6 (trailer below). Please be sure to save your ticket as proof of attendance! And don't forget - you can only use one Hitchcock film.
See a performance of the Russian ballet, The Sleeping Beauty at the Eisemann Center
Check out a recreation of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel at the Women's Museum while you're at the State Fair eating twice your weight in fried food
Watch a comical performance of Dracula - The Melodrama at The Pocket Sandwich Theater (where you can throw popcorn at the actors)
Watch a performance of Shakespeare The Tempest at Shakespeare in the Park in Addison

Trailer for 1963's The Birds

And of course there's tons of things going on this long weekend that wouldn't be Humanities Experiences, but would be fun nonetheless - Young the Giant at the South Side Ballroom (one of my favorite concert venues) or M83 at the House of Blues (another one of my favorite concert venues), showings of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (one of my favorite movies starring one of my favorite actors) at the Studio Movie Grill, or I guess you could go to a haunted house, but that's not my thing, especially with clowns out. Stupid clowns. Go back whence you came from! D:

And now for some Internet funnies.