Blackboard - January 28 - Feb 4

In his commentary on Obama's Inaugural Address, George Will notes that one of the President's themes was "that Americans do not just have a problem, they are a problem." He then quotes Obama's reference to Scripture in saying, "the time has come to set aside childish things." In your opinion, are Americans a problem? In what way(s)? What are some of the "childish things" our nation/society/culture needs to "put away?"

FIRST BLACKBOARD TOPIC FOR THE NEW YEAR-

Mrs. Moore said...

Blackboard Topic - Week of 12 January:

In the viewpoint question on page 18 of your text, literary historian David Daiches suggests that there is an underlying "ideal of nobility" in the tale of Beowulf as well as in much other ancient literature. What, exactly, is this "ideal of nobility?" How can we define it?

What about the literature (including film) of our own time? Do you see an underlying ideal of nobility in the works we produce, or is it necessary to view an era from afar in order to detect the kind of nobility we see in a figure like Beowulf?