Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to Semester Two of your freshman year. We're plunging right into The Grapes of Wrath, so make sure you have it, and bring it to class with you starting with next week's meeting. You have homework in the book for this weekend, which is to read the first four (4) chapters (pp 1-30) and annotate as you go. This text will be easier to read, probably, than either of the other two you've encountered this year. Still, there are a lot of characters to sort out. And you'll notice something right away in these first chapters about the narrative focus. Be prepared on Monday/Tuesday to explain what you see going on in these early chapters. Pay attention to characters of course. You might want to make a list for yourself. But what else is happening here in the way Steinbeck tells the story? Not something you are required to post about here, but please feel welcome to do so if you have something you'd like to share.

Also, some members of the community have ancestors who were involved in this aspect of American history. If you know that already, great. If you don't know if you had any people living in the dust bowl who later made their way to California, ask members of your family to fill you in. On a later posting, you'll be invited to share.