Friday's Class and HW for Monday

Hello--

Quickly--for Monday make sure that you do the following: complete the book and write a quick blog entry--you can post it here--about who you think is to blame for the accident on the way back from NYC. Please, let me know if you would like me to provide more clarity regarding this assignment.

More than anything else, I hope that this finds you well. While I don't want to jinx us, or our class on Friday, I just wanted to sincerely thank you for the efforts, passions, and thoughts you gave our discussion--in all honesty, I can say that I have never had a conversation better than that one regarding Gatsby.

So as a thank you--I give you this...
It truly is an an honor to read with each and every one of you.

A Ritual to Read to Each Other
By William Stafford

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider—
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give—yes or no, or maybe—
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

—William Stafford