10/3

In an effort to make up for the class' general lack of knowledge about the historical realities of the Vietnam war, we're dividing up the period into years, with each of you taking one year and writing a 3-5 sentence (no longer) summary about what was happening in Vietnam during that year (even if your year follows or preceeds the height of American inolvement, we want to know something about what was happening in Vietnam during that period). We will assemble these into a 'timeline' we can post on the blog to give ourselves a sense of the events and their order. Critically, you must cite the source of your information, as you would on a works cited page. When you have finished, email your mini-paragraph and citation to me and I will post the results here on the blog.

Those of you who missed class were assigned a year--email me to get it.

Secondly, read all of the O'Brien listed under important links (two separate links, and 'Tim O'Brien: Spin, The Man I Killed, Good Form' consists of three pdf files). Expect a quiz on the reading Wednesday. In fact, expect a quiz every class until the reading consistency improves.

Lastly, post a response of 250-400 words connecting a specific moment (no more than a scene or one of the shorter stories) in one of the O'Brien stories to a specific quotation (of your chioce) from the Davidson and Lytle article 'Where Trouble Comes' in order to answer the following question: How would Davidson and Lytle look at O'Brien's stories? Would they call them 'authentic' or 'mythical'? Be sure to quote 'Where Trouble Comes' and O'Brien in your answer.

Because there is no school Monday, all of this is due by Wednesday at 10am. And of course, those who haven't yet read 'Where Trouble Comes' should do so immediately and expect it to also be covered in Wednesday's quiz.