Ah Spirit Week...making exceptions for hats and onesie pajamas at school one day at a time. Today we wrapped up Tartuffe with some creative writing. We thought we'd do some unstructured free writing this week before we start tackling the monster that is the DBQ essay later this six-weeks. By the loud bursts of laughter from 7th period, I take it they truly enjoy the assignment...and that this is not indicative of off-task behavior.
Tonight's reading assignment provides some important foundational information as we segway from political history during the Early Modern Age into economic and social history. All of those powerful monarchies, whether they be in Europe, the Middle East, or Asia are going to become increasingly intertwined in global trade - sometimes at the detriment of other civilizations or even themselves. Mo money mo problems. Seriously, if only 17th century folk had access to the music of The Notorious B.I.G. Anyway, you'll probably hear us use the word "globalization" a lot the next few weeks.
Speaking of music, need a break from it all? Check it out the song You Work for Me by Laura Mvula. I've listened to it three times in a row already.
If you've felt cold, distant, and alone from your short break from CEs, fret not! We restart Current Events tomorrow! The first CE of the 2nd six-weeks is on the website.
Anderson's smolder
We've been referencing the Republican primaries for a while, but the Democrats are finally taking to the stage in just under two weeks on Tuesday, October 13...and Anderson Cooper will be moderating. Here's a quick snapshot on the leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, if you want to familiarize yourselves with them. Did you know Anderson is descended from the famous Vanderbilt family? I didn't.
- Warrior Princess Siddiqui (I accidentally posted under CBG's name.)
Phew...first quiz is DONE. Hopefully it went well and you're not thinking this:
I just cry.
Before you set fire to your class notes, please remember that we'll continuously reference information from this last unit and assess you over this information again at the end of the semester and once again whenever you take the AP exam! As Kanye West once said, "a place for everything, everything in its place". Just kidding. It was Benjamin Franklin.
A new calendar for the 2nd six-weeks was posted to the website earlier today. Make sure you take a look at that, as it's pretty action packed. And by that I mean you'll be reading forever. Time management is going to be super important.
Please be patient with us as we frantically finish grading for the six-weeks. We're trying our best; we promise!
We request that you bring any borrowed copies of Tartuffe to class tomorrow. If your loaned copy has been misplaced or damaged, we ask that you replace it.
If you need a mental break from schoolwork, try any of the following:
Find out if you're more T-Swift or Ed Sheeran with this Buzzfeed quiz
Don't have a Halloween costume yet? Use the arts for inspiration.
Happy Monday! Today we wrapped up any loose ends from class and/or spent some time reviewing material for tomorrow's quiz. Hopefully, by the end of today, you were able to:
identify characteristics of the Baroque period in the visual arts and music
identify similarities and differences in the Southern and Northern Baroque (remember, the differences depend entirely on whether one was Catholic or not...think the Flemish Rubens vs the Dutch Vermeer)
For your viewing pleasure, I present to you - the Rubenesque cat.
As we close out our first unit on State Consolidation and Imperial Expansion and you prepare for tomorrow's major-grade quiz, we hope you've been able to see the various ways in which Early Modern states were able to build their power by maximizing efficiency, expanding borders, and patronizing the arts. The still-life on the right by the Dutch artist Willem Kalf is so great because it alludes to where we're heading the next six-weeks as we study exploration and trade and their consequences. Dat Ming vase doe. How did the Dutch acquire such a vase? Wait for the next six-weeks to find out!
So, on an unrelated note, my 2nd period AP Euro class was gracious enough to send my 90+ year old grandmother in Pakistan a video message. She responded with a video of her own:
She's so cute in all her toothless glory.
Fancy a Humanities Experience already? Here are some recommendations:
Hitchcocktober at the Angelika Film Center: Every Thursday during the month of October (sorry to those of y'all involved in game-related festivities), the movie theater at the Shops at Legacy plays a classic Alfred Hitchcock film. Check out their schedule of events here. Your proof of attendance must be your movie ticket!
The National Theatre's live streaming of Hamlet at the Angelika Film Center: If you're not into black and white films, check out Benedict Cumberbatch (swoon) as the ill-fated Hamlet on Thursday, October 15 instead.
Shakespeare in the Park's King Lear: Or maybe you'd rather see your Shakespeare performed live in the park? For the next two weeks Shakespeare in the Park will be performing King Lear at Addison Circle Park. For more information, check out this. Ms. Siddiqui personally knows one of the actors!
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses performance at Fair Park: I don't know much about this, but I figured some of y'all would be intrigued. Here's more information.
Here's this month's brunch SUPER(Siddiqui's Unbelievable and Prepossessing Eating Recommendation): The Chicken and Sourdough Pancake from Braindead Brewing in Deep Ellum. Didn't know that was a thing? Neither did I until recently. I still dream about it.
YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH. Our new president agrees with me:
So today we discussed Baroque art. We spent the day in the South - Italy & Spain - and discussed the role the Church and the King(s) played in art. We also practiced finding the characteristics in each painting while comparing styles.
Which was your favorite? Was it Judith Beheading Holofernes?
Was it Las Meninas?
Or perhaps you are a Bernini fan, realizing that he is legit one of the greatest sculptors ever!
But wait, don't decide NOW, tomorrow we will move into the North and look at the Baroque there, perhaps you will find a new favorite.
Tomorrow, you also have a humanities experience due if you are choosing to do it. We are working on getting all of your grades in, but most of you have a non-100 daily grade, so we highly recommend doing one! You need to have it turned in before your class starts!!
One last lol Baroque meme before moving on to this day in history:
This day in history:
The trial of the "Chicago Eight", a radical antiwar and counterculture activists accused of conspiring to incite riots at the 1969 convention, began.
1991: Children's author Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, died at age 87.
1996: The United States and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.
We are not super pleased with your total lack of vocab skillz. Come on y'all. We will work on it. Although we think you should practice at least two of the words you didn't know until today.
Today. We took a 25 question quiz-lette over Tartuffe. If you missed it, you need to make it up ASAP so that you can have a grade for this six weeks. Then we discussed Louis XIV's reaction to the play, which was mixed.
Oh Louis, how could we.
TOMORROW we are back to the Baroque. I'm so excited. I literally squealed. Bernini, Caravaggio, my heart.
Also, tomorrow, you will have your last CE of the six weeks. Two questions over the President of China. I would meme him, but I value my life much more than that. You also need to turn in your Tartuffe mini-project. That plus your quiz-lette from today = a major grade.
Friday, humanities experiences are due.
Now, here are a bunch of articles that I think are funny/interesting that have been denied as current events because Stanton hates me or something:
I think the Pope is adorable, which is probably an inappropriate adjective for the head of one of the biggest religions in the world, but eh. He is visiting this week (not Texas, just the US), so a lot of the news is about him.
Reminder:
Did we like the this day in history? Shall we continue?
1939: Sigmund Freud died in London. :( Oedipus jokes anyone?
1846: German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune
1973: Former Argentine president Juan Peron returned to power. He is not quite as famous as his wife, Eva otherwise known as Madonna.
Finally, if all of this doesn't get you through this lovely Wednesday, consider peanutizing yourself. It's funny, look I did it to all the humanities teachers:
Happy Yom Kippur for those of you celebrating today!
I don't care what anyone says Mme. Parnell's lines are my fav. I mean my goal in life is to get old and say whatever I want and then have everyone just be all "she can't help it, she's so old." Mme. Parnell is my hero.
Me, in the future.
Also me in the future:
Today, we answered any points of confusion over Tartuffe, discussed the discussion questions (where I learned y'all were so cold-hearted, no pity for Orgon), and began a bit of work on characters and their relationships.
Tomorrow, you should expect a multiple choice quiz-lette over the play. It will be 50% of you Tartuffe major grade; the other 50% will be the mini project that is due on Thursday.
Also, guys, the end of the six weeks is nigh, so if you have ANY makeup work, you need to get to it! No more procrastinating! That's for senior year, not now!
I don't have anything cutesy to add today, so here are some things that happened this day in history!
1862: Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, proposing to free all slaves of rebel states as of Jan. 1, 1863
1792: French republic proclaimed. If you are in Euro, then you know how cray those French are.
1989: Songwriter Irving Berlin died. Here is one of his songs for your listening pleasure:
Have a great Tuesday! Almost halfway through the week!! And Tuesdays mean TACO TUESDAYS. Mmmmmm. Perhaps it will be a Rusty Tacos night at the Garafola's.
I'mmmmmm back. I see you have found the blog and I hope for equal comments on my blog posts. Just so you know....
Ok, so today. We jammed out to some epic beats. Or learned about the Baroque, same thing. We took some notes over WHAT is Baroque music, why couldn't people Handel the awesome changes (lol at my puns), and about three influential and important composers - Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach. If you missed, here are some sweet jams to start your week off right:
Vivaldi's Autumn - grab yourself a pumpkin spice latte and a scarf and feel all the fall feels.
Handel's Hallelujah Chorus...DON'T FORGET TO STAND!
Also this:
This is 3 hours of Bach on the organ. You're welcome.
Tomorrow, you have a couple of things. 1st: You have a double CE over the US's role in Europe's migrant crisis. 2nd: All of Tartuffe should be read. Be prepared to discuss.
Other things this week - Tartuffe mini-project is due Thursday (instructions on the google site), Tartuffe mini-quiz will be Wednesday first thing, and Humanities Experiences are due Thursday, but will be accepted until Friday.
For your Humanities Experience, if you didn't do it this weekend (SHAME ON YOU), the DMA is open until 9 pm on Thursday. OR you can go see my awesome professor at my awesome Alma Mater:
After today's lesson on teenage character stereotypes in class, all I want to do this weekend is watch 80's and 90's movies and relive all the teenage memories. Today we brought up these character stereotypes to introduce the idea of stereotypes Moliere has presented in Tartuffe. You'll be tracing many of these stereotypes as you read through the play, which needs to be read by TUESDAY. It's short and sassy, and we hope you like it. Use the study guide questions posted on the website in our Tartuffe folder to guide you as you read.
Because we brought up so many golden references to genius movies today, here's a couple of awesome clips and articles to relive the movie gold with us.
Find out which High School Musical character you are; I know you won't be able to rest until you know.
Dress like Cher from Clueless on Monday! You'll be like totally rad.
Vote in our Jake Ryan poll...you're welcome 7th period: http://goo.gl/forms/0dmNMr4F3q
Don't forget...Humanities Experiences are due a week from today, so if you want to partake, this would be the weekend to go! There are lots of exciting events happening this weekend...go out and get your art on in your awesome Cher Horowitz outfit.
In light of our CE article today, you may enjoy this and this.
So today while the freshmen were watching a presentation on being a Grade-A Jasper student or something like that, the sophomores were getting their DBQ on. We hope this was a good refresher for you; it's not the last time you will have the chance to practice your DBQ skills. All this practicing hopefully means this won't happen in April when you take the AP test...
Everyone knows how I feel about Trader Joes, but if not, you will soon. This is why I am obsessedwith the greatest store to embrace mankind since Target...cookie butter AND bacon?!? Seriously, people, it doesn't get better than that. Who cares if I'll probably have some form of heart failure after consuming this? Totally worth it.
In other news, don't forget to bring your copy of Tartuffe tomorrow to class if you have one! If you would like to borrow one of our copies, we'll be issuing those tomorrow! Get excited for some French satire.
It's almost the weekend...YAY! We hope you are taking advantages of all the Humanities Experiences out there in the world, but if you need any ideas, Shakespeare in the Park is presenting King Lear until next Saturday. It's a really cool opportunity to see one of Shakespeare's most famous works in a unique setting. Plus you can bring your own snacks and a blanket and sit outside while you watch...so swing by Trader Joes for snacks and watch a classic play!
In the exhilarating world of Humanities today, we introduced Baroque Art to you in all its fanciful glory. We will go more into depth with specific artists and works next week, but make sure you are familiar with the characteristics we discussed today in class (emotionalism, illusionism, splendor, light and shade, movement, religious fervor, and domestic intimacy). Maybe you can make up some fun acronym as a memory device...Edward Is Selfishly Littering Magnificent Red Donuts?? Get creative and come up with one of your own! We're so excited to be able to start talking about artsy stuff with you; we hope that today you were able to get a good sense of what kind of content is important when you read through the Humanities book. If you felt totally scattered with the practice questions in class, talk to your teacher about more effective strategies for reading the HUM textbook. In the meantime, distract yourself with this awesome video. We LOL'ed. ALSO, don't forget to pick up a copy of Tartuffe from a bookstoreif you want your own copy to write in!
Today is the lovely Amy Poehler's birthday! In honor of dearest Amy, aka Leslie Knope, I will leave you with some of Leslie's words of wisdom that sum up how I feel about life...
Now go eat some waffles! (Or pancakes, because they're better...you know it's true).
Today you all got a chance to discuss either the Akbar+Elizabeth article or the Louis XIV+Kangxi article. We heard some really interesting things during your discussions today...keep in mind this idea of an absolute ruler and the various methods these rulers used to increase and keep rule over their respective empires. For homework, you FINALLY have the chance to open your Humanities textbook for a short reading due tomorrow. Sophomores, it's time to say hello to an old friend, and freshmen, you get to meet your new best friend (or worst enemy...I'm just being optimistic). Make sure and have that ready to go for tomorrow!
Tomorrow is Open House from 6:20 to 8:00. This is a great opportunity for your parents to meet our lovely, smiling faces and ask any questions they may have about the class this year! We would love to meet them!
Pause for an important video. TIGER CUBS. Props to Garafola for finding this cuteness.
Anyways, we know it's only Tuesday, but you're probably already thinking about the weekend...so check out the Fall Block Party in the Dallas Arts District this Friday. The various museums in the Arts District are open late and have special activities, in addition to being FREE. Yes, $0. Errbody loves a free Humanities experience. Plus, the Nasher is showing the classic 90's film Empire Records. Viewing the movie doesn't count as a Humanities Experience, but knowing it makes you awesome. So hit up a museum and then catch the movie or grab some food from the food trucks across the street.
Also, THANK YOU everyone for being so sweet and kind today with your birthday wishes. You all made me feel like this...
Welcome back on this lovely Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and brunched and Netflixed to their heart's content. Personally, I hope you enjoyed the insanely perfect weather that graced our presence this weekend. It made me feel like I was back in Colorado(sigh)...
Today we sped through a myriad of activities. Firstly, we took a map check, which I'm sure you aced, right? We spent the rest of class introducing and discussing point of view. This was one of the many many times we will go over POV this year and next, so don't worry if you're still a bit confused!
Don't forget to read your P&P article for tomorrow, either the PDF about Akbar and Elizabeth or Kangxi and Louis XIV (Team Elizabeth all the way). IF you would like, you may print out your own copy and mark all over it to prepare you for the graded discussion tomorrow! We also have a 2X current event, or two questions over the same CE article. Double trouble...or should I say double Trumple...
Okay, REALLY bad joke. Moving on to the more important things in life...like food.
Since it feels so amazing outside, here are some amazing fall breakfasts to make this week to inspire you to hop up and get ready for an amazing day. Because if there is one thing better than fall, it's breakfast...so why not combine them? You're welcome. I myself will be inhaling the Brown Butter Pumpkin Seed granola and Sweet Potato Breakfast skillet...nom nom nom. After you make one of these amazing breakfast dishes...hop in the car with your friends and drive yourself to school all like this-
You're three weeks into the new school year... feels longer than that doesn't it?
So, how are you feeling? At this point, you should be "settling in" to your schedule and what it demands of you. We're not saying you should have everything figured out; it's just that school shouldn't be a long feeling of shock and awe. This is probably a pretty good time to take stock of how you're handling things and see if maybe we can help. We are more available than ever with block lunch. If you are feeling like you cannot quite get a grasp of things yet, come see one of your teachers. We can help with content, skills, fashion choices, quick and easy dinner recipes, competitive finance rates, vacation tips... you name it. We can help!
From what we've seen so far, you all did an excellent job on your posters. We'll start looking at those and grading your in-class writings. Those will take a bit of time, so give us some space.
Don't forget that your map check is on Monday, and you need to have read your assigned online reading by Tuesday for a graded discussion.
We hope you have a fantabulous weekend.
Here's your soundtrack for Friday to get your weekend started right. (By the way, you really need to see this band live; they will change your life. Plus, who doesn't love a video with Pee Wee Herman in it?)
I can haz poster??
So, today was our final full class work day on your Early Modern State posters. We have seen some great work as we've walked around in class. We know the finished products will dominate.
You will have a little bit of time to finish up some last details in class tomorrow. After that, we'll let you loose to walk around and learn from your colleagues and the work they did. We'll finish tomorrow by doing a short in class writing over these empires.
I was really hoping we'd be making some sort of all-you-can eat buffet stocked with foods from the various states, but, apparently that "lacks academic merit". Psshhh... standards...
Speaking of all you can eat buffets; have you been here?So much goodness - in my heaven there will be entire trays full of hummus and baba ganoush.
Don't forget that we assigned a new homework reading due next Tuesday. The reading is online on our website. Make sure you read the essay that you were assigned. Are you Team Akbar & Elizabeth or are you Team Kangxi & Louis XIV? I feel like this could degenerate into some sort of awesome history based WWE match.
Again, keep an eye and ear out for Humanities Experience opportunities. With Fall sort of arriving, there will be more and more events going on. We'll post ideas here often.
To get our football boys fired up for their games tonight, here's your musical soundtrack for Thursday:
So, how's your poster coming along?
Today we assigned your short term in-class assignment comparing various states of the Early Modern Period. Remember, your goal is to create a persuasive poster that convinces someone that your state is the most well run of all of them, thereby making it the best place to live. As we mentioned in class, don't be afraid to put a little spin on some of the less attractive features of your empire. Release your inner salesperson! You'll have tomorrow to finish your poster in class. Friday we'll give you some "gallery time" to look around at other posters before you write a short piece related to the assignment.
Don't forget that we have another CE for tomorrow as well. Enjoy reading it with some tea and crumpets. Don't know what a crumpet is? Me neither... let's learn togetherhere. Hmmmm... that just looks like an English muffin to me. Silly Brits.
Looking ahead - we'll start our study of the French play Tartuffe by Moliere next Friday (9/18). So, if you have your own copy or would like one, you might want to get to work on finding one.
We hope that you are making good use of your newfound time during block lunch. If you have any suggestions for how we might improve block lunch, be sure to let us know.
In honor of today's current event, here's your musical soundtrack for Wednesday:
Yee-haw Labor Day! We hope that you enjoyed your three day weekend. Let me just say that I am so happy we have a day set aside to honor mothers and all they go through giving birth.
So, today in class we looked at quite a few super groovy and extravagant buildings. Remember, these buildings are more than just impressive... they are carefully designed instruments of the state. By creating palaces, religious buildings and other significant pieces of architecture, leaders were able to communicate to their subjects the full authority and power of the state. In many ways, palatial complexes like Versailles and The Forbidden City are living crystallizations of how these governments saw themselves and their relationship to the larger world. We hope you saw some things that impressed you. We also hope you get to one day visit these places and possibly subject people to your vacation selfies as we've done to you.
We'll be wrapping up our theme of state consolidation the rest of this week with a small group assignment. Next week we'll be back in the art world exploring the Baroque movement in European art. If you like drama and over the top theatrics, this is your kind of art.
Speaking of art, keep an eye our for Humanities Experience opportunities. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE... like Roloefs.
It's Friday! Today in class we gave you a few examples of conflicts between states during the Early Modern Age. As states became more centralized, developed better weapons, and struggled for access to land, rivalries developed between them. Some of the more notorious rivalries were that between the Ottomans and Safavids, the English and Spanish, the English and French, and the Spanish and French (the Europeans are crazy). Initially these seemed religious in nature, and by the end of the era, religion played little, if any, role in warfare.
One of my favorite quotes from this time period is by Elizabeth I right before the Spanish Armada arrived:
I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king!
You go, Elizabeth. On a related note, one of my favorite movies is Elizabeth (1998) starring the lovely and talented Cate Blanchett (Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings trilogy).
We might have thrown around the word defenestration in class this week - it literally means to throw someone out of a window. One of the more important defenestrations occurred in the city of Prague in 1618 (apparently the Czech defenestrated people often enough that there are multiple Defenestration of Pragues in history), thus beginning the Thirty Years' War. Don't be sad for them, though...they landed on a soft pile of poop, although Catholic accounts suggest that the delegates were saved by angels.
Whoopsie Daisy!
We hope you have a wonderful long weekend and enjoy your extra day off. Remember - there will NOT be a Current Event on Tuesday because of the holiday!
OMG READING CHECK. Hopefully today's reading check went well, and not because you heard about it from someone in a morning class and frantically took notes during another class, but because you paced yourself with the reading assignment and used the study guide's review questions and vocabulary. And if it didn't go well, we hope you know how to do better next time and that you can always replace an unfortunate grade with a Humanities Experience.
Speaking of Humanities Experiences, here are some suggestions for the long weekend:
Dallas Museum of Art's Inca or Albrecht Durer exhibits
Nasher Sculpture Center (free this Saturday!)
Crow Museum's Samurai exhibit (free!)
Meadows Museum at SMU's Infanta Margarita in a Blue Dress exhibit
Kimbell Art Museum's From Botticelli to Braque exhibit
Pocket Sandwich Theatre's Bride of Frankenstein: The Musical performance (PG-13)
Winspear Opera House's Dracula ballet performance
I'm all about lists, so if you're without any work to do (LOL) because there's no homework due tomorrow, here are some sources of entertainment:
Today was a little helter-skelter (if you don't know what that means, look it up, and no, it's not a reference to the Beatles song) with trying to wrap up the class notes over the Islamic Empires, taking yearbook pictures, and then flying through the European empires map activity. If you felt rushed, here are some things we would have liked for you to have taken away from class:
The Mughals and Ottomans, much like the other Early Modern states, developed centralized empires by appointing "qualified" individuals (noblemen, scholar-bureaucrats, or representatives from the middle class) in ministerial positions and expanded their empires through the use of military force.
The Europeans created a series of sea-based empires in the Americas and Asia (the color coded map has been uploaded to the class website).
Jafar, the Grand Vizier from the OttoMughAbbasid Empire...seriously, when is Aladdin set?!
Man, so those Ottomans were really cutthroat when it came to maintaining power...murdering or imprisoning your brothers to prevent coups? If you're still struggling with the Islamic Empires and class notes weren't enough, you can consult Chapter 27 in your WHAP textbook.
If you're into Sunday brunch at all, here's one of Siddiqui's Unbelievable and Prepossessing Eating Recommendations, or as I'll now refer to them as, SUPERs - St. Martin's Bistro in Lower Greenville. It seems like a really classy and pretentious restaurant, but it's delicious and prices are really reasonable! I've been there twice now and can't recommend it enough, especially when you're hangry. So take Grandma (not mine, because she's mine) there this Sunday for the long weekend.
You know what's frustrating? When you're trying to text the word to and you accidentally type in a y instead of a t and it doesn't autocorrect. Yes, Phone, because I use the word yo so often. Smh, yo.
Do you need a quick break from it all? See if you can do nothing for two minutes. It's hard, isn't it?
Today's the first day of September...which is an amazing month. It's birthday month for Ms. Virdin, Ms. Moreno, and Mr. Roelofs. I think we should eat cake everyday in honor of their birthdays. Did today feel like Thursday to anyone else? Anyway, today in class we defined bureaucracyand looked at it as a way in which Early Modern rulers consolidated their states. If you need to revisit the definition or any of the examples, check out the class website for the PowerPoint file.
The example that stood out most to me was that of the English Privy Council...mostly for their "coffee filter collars". So I decided to read into them. Apparently, the collar is called a ruff. According to Wikipedia, they're still currently worn by some members of the Danish clergy.
Freshmen, yearbook pictures are happening tomorrow during class. If I could, I'd totally take my picture wearing one of these sweet neck accessories:
This ruff almost looks like some kinda cone-of-shame.
So we've been posing larger questions or discussion topics to the whole class and only hear from the students that are quick enough to raise their hands or blurt out a response. Often times we fail to hear from our more introverted students. Please know we know you know things!
For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.
- Jonathan Rauch
I shared with my 7th period today that I took a quiz a while back to determine which character from the Harry Potter series I most am like (I don't entirely remember why this was brought up), and somehow angered the gods of the Internet to get Dolores Umbridge (seriously, I would rather be Voldemort). If you need a study break, take the quiz yourself.
See? I told you she's way worse. Is it because I like cats?
A new calendar for the 2nd six-weeks was posted to the website earlier today. Make sure you take a look at that, as it's pretty action packed. And by that I mean you'll be reading forever. Time management is going to be super important.
OMG READING CHECK. Hopefully today's reading check went well, and not because you heard about it from someone in a morning class and frantically took notes during another class, but because you paced yourself with the reading assignment and used the study guide's review questions and vocabulary. And if it didn't go well, we hope you know how to do better next time and that you can always replace an unfortunate grade with a Humanities Experience.
If you're into Sunday brunch at all, here's one of Siddiqui's Unbelievable and Prepossessing Eating Recommendations, or as I'll now refer to them as, SUPERs - St. Martin's Bistro in Lower Greenville. It seems like a really classy and pretentious restaurant, but it's delicious and prices are really reasonable! I've been there twice now and can't recommend it enough, especially when you're hangry. So take Grandma (not mine, because she's mine) there this Sunday for the long weekend. 
