Terry Galloway at CCSF this Spring!

From Kristina Whalen--
Hello English Colleagues, Before moving to California, I spent 7 years writing and performing as part of a community theater company called The Mickee Faust Club. The founder of that cabaret, Terry Galloway, has been invited to our campus in March as part of Women's History Month. Terry's memoir Mean Little Deaf Queer was published by Beacon Press and released this last June. In March she will perform her hour long show "Out All Night and Lost My Shoes" and read from her memoir. I have been asked to generate an audience for her performance. I hope you will join me in including Galloway's performance in your spring syllabus. Below I have provided a brief excerpt of Galloway's complicated biography as well as reviews of both her performance and book. The performance is scheduled on March 9th from 4:00 -5:30 on R305. If many are interested we can see about securing a bigger venue. I will leave a copy of her memoir in the conference room. You can visit the following as well: www.meanlittledeafqueer.com

The New Notebooks are Here!

Take notes!

Autumn Tea: Nov 3-4

The English Department

Autumn Tea

Tuesday, November 3 and
Wednesday, November 4
English Conference Room
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both days

This is a Stone Soup Party: the pot and the water will be there; you provide the good stuff. The table in the conference room will be pushed to one side and covered with a festive cloth. There will be hot water for tea and hot chocolate and the coffee pot will be going. Then, the magic depends on you --

Please bring goodies to share with others, savory and sweet, on one or both days.

The office machines, refrigerator and microwave will be available. It’s fine to bring your lunch. If you can, bring enough to share. Plan to stay awhile and chat.


For further info
Carol Fregly, L560, 239-3882
Pam Petersen, L556, 239-3406
Barbara Scrafford, L526, 239-3523
Ellen Wall, ewall@ccsf.edu, 239-3394.
Or call Ellen at home.

Write or Die: It's Sweeping the Nation!

Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences. Monica B. found this. Learn more at http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html.

Celebrate with the Banned

Have Lunch with the Banned!
Celebrate the Freedom to Read and Rock Out at the San Francisco Main Library, Oct. 1st

Banned Books Week: Sept. 26 through Oct. 3

San Francisco Public Library will be celebrating the freedom for everyone to read what they want – and rock out as they wish – at a lunchtime music-themed Ban(ne)d Books reading and performance on the Larkin Street steps of the Main Library on Thursday, Oct.1, noon-1:30 p.m.

With readings, songs and readings about songs, this Ban(ne)d Books event will entertain and inspire both minds and ears! An exciting lineup of musicians and writers will be on hand for the event including Joey Altman and the Pimentos, Jack Boulware, Ben Fong-Torres, Kathi Kamen Goldmark & Sam Barry, Penelope Houston & Patricio Johnson, Frank Portman, Richie Unterberger, Roy Zimmerman, emcee Jewelle Gomez and more.

Begun in 1982 by the American Library Association (ALA), this annual event takes place the last week of September and reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. Since 2001, American libraries were faced with more than 3,736 challenges to materials. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. The number of challenges reflects only incidents reported. The ALA estimates that for every reported challenge, four or five remain unreported.

“Although in San Francisco we are fortunate to receive few challenges to our materials, it is important to recognize and celebrate this democratic freedom and the diversity of materials available at our libraries,“ said City Librarian Luis Herrera. “As our mission statement says, we are dedicated to free and equal access to information and to the joys of reading for our diverse community.”

Among the most challenged books nationwide in 2008 were And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman; Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar; and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.

Learn more at http://sfpl.org/news/releases/banned_books.htm

Top 10 Worst Teaching Mistakes. Really?

Are these really the top 10 worst teaching mistakes?

We could come up with much worse stuff, I'm sure.

The Decline of the English Department? Not ours.

We should talk about this article . . .

Wiggio--a new group work tool

On Wiggio, you can share and edit files, manage a group calendar, poll your group, post links, set up conference calls, chat online and send mass text, voice and email messages to your group members. Each group member can define how they want to keep informed of group activity.

Word choice, idioms, and prepositions

I just made up this rather basic page on word choice, idioms, and prepositions for native speakers as well as ESL students. I mark these errors so often, and Rules for Writers is only of limited help to students. This page describes how to use Google Books to look up sample sentences that use a word or phrase. I'd welcome any suggestions--this is a first draft. Feel free to use it too.

Works Cited help page

I just created this Works Cited help page for my students. I'd love feedback or suggestions. Feel free to use it, too. Thanks!

Photostory is free and looks very cool

This could be a great presentation tool for teachers and students: images, text, audio.
Try it: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx

Rosh Hashanah

Happy New Year!

On the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, there is a ceremony called Tashlich, a time to release the weight of the past year. Jews traditionally go to the ocean or a stream or river to pray and throw bread crumbs into the water. Symbolically, the fish devour their sins.

Occasionally, people ask what kind of bread crumbs should be thrown. Here are suggestions for breads which may be most appropriate for specific sins:

For ordinary sins
White Bread

For erotic sins
French Bread

For particularly dark sins
Pumpernickel

For complex sins
Multi-Grain

For twisted sins
Pretzels

For tasteless sins
Rice Cakes

For sins of indecision
Waffles

For sins committed in haste
Matzoh

For sins of chutzpah
Fresh Bread

For substance abuse
Stoned Wheat

For use of heavy drugs
Poppy Seed

For petty larceny
Stollen

For committing auto theft
Caraway

For timidity/cowardice
Milk Toast

For ill-temperedness
Sourdough

For silliness, eccentricity
Nut Bread

For not giving full value
Shortbread

For jingoism, chauvinism
Yankee Doodles

For excessive irony
Rye Bread

For unnecessary chances
Hero Bread

For telling bad jokes/puns
Corn Bread

For war-mongering
Kaiser Rolls

For dressing immodestly
Tarts

For causing injury to others
Tortes

For lechery and promiscuity
Hot Buns

For promiscuity with gentiles
Hot Cross Buns

For racist attitudes
Crackers

For sophisticated racism
Ritz Crackers

For being holier than thou
Bagels

For abrasiveness
Grits

For dropping in without notice
Popovers

For over-eating
Stuffing

For impetuosity
Quick Bread

For indecent photography
Cheesecake

For raising your voice too often
Challah

For pride and egotism
Puff Pastry

For sycophancy, butt-kissing
Brownies

For being overly smothering
Angel Food Cake

For laziness
Any long loaf

For trashing the environment
Dumplings

Happy New Year! And l'shana tova to you.

FORUM: The Blog

Forum is City College of San Francisco’s Literary Magazine made by students, for students, and featuring students (but anyone else who want’s to read a copy let us know!)

We have a blog at forumccsf.wordpress.com and are currently accepting submissions for our next issue coming in October. We are welcome all forms of literary work: poems, essays, short stories, screen plays, and pretty much anything else the creative minds of CCSF students can come up with. We hope to eventually create a submission system on this set up but for now please email us at citylitjournal@gmail.com with your submissions and we will respond as quick as possible after reviewing them.

Fall Issue Submission Deadline: October 5, 2009
Submission Guidelines:
-We accept word documents with .doc extension and PDFs.
-Please be aware that formatting types can affect the layout of your piece.

For those who wish to view or purchase the last issue of Forum, you can stop by the English department on the 5th floor of Batmale Hall or once again email us at citylitjournal@gmail.com .

We can’t wait for everyone’s submissions, and please check back for more information and upcoming events!

The Rubber Room

Read it in The New Yorker . . .

Google Opt Out Feature

With all of our recent talk about Google Sites, and with this blog being another Google tool, you may want to consider their Opt Out Feature. Special thanks to Kevin Cook for sharing this option.

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village