Five Lead Ideas

1. San Jose State University vamps up efforts to create a sustainable campus.
• Questions: 
• What have we been doing recently?
• How do we compare to local and national campuses?
• Is this a trend?
• Does legislature encourage this trend?
• Does the city of San Jose follow this trend?
• People to interview:
• Debbie Andres, FD&O (debbie.andres@sjsu.edu)
• Michael Fallon, Director, Community Learning and Leadership (michael.fallon@sjsu.edu)
• Kristen Wonder, Spartan Shops Sustainability Coordinator (kristen.wonder@sjsu.edu)
• Derrick Arbiol, Environmental Resource Center, Student Leader (derrick.ercsjsu@gmail.com)
2. International House hosts Internationally Inspired Pancake Breakfast.
3. Students from faculty-led program sell bags, donating proceeds to the refugee camp they visited.
4. Mixed reactions about Apple's new iOS.
5. Displaced students finally move in to CV2.

My Favorite Writing

It's hard to pick one favorite piece of writing, but among them is definitely "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," by Neil Gaiman.

I always enjoy Gaiman's short stories.

Two innocent main characters, young boys, go looking for girls at a party, and the scene slowly becomes more and more bizzare.

I like Gaiman's vivid descriptions. 

For example, he describes "narrow houses," "rusting cars," "concreted front gardens," "dusty glass" and "alien spices" all in the same sentence.

Descriptions like that conjure sights, smells, and almost leave me feeling the dust in my nostrils.

The author also gives insight into his characters through narration.
Enn, the narrator, uses the word contradictory and thinks, "[i]t was a word I had read many times but never said aloud before that night, and I put the stresses in the wrong places. Contradictory."

Little details like this reveal Enn's youth and naivete, also explaining why he seems oblivious to the otherworldliness of the scene.

At one point, a clearly alien girl says, "'[t]he last tour, we went to sun, and we swam in sunfire pools with the whales.'"

The narrator follows up, unphased and innocent, and wonders if she is American.

This kind of subtle humor is characteristic of Gaiman's style.

He likes to give a very normal human situation a supernatural twist, and often the reader does not know whether this alien occurrence is normal to the world of the narrator, or whether it is simply being overlooked.

The writing style mesmerizes me, and I always wonder exactly what the reality of the main character is like.

I found this piece at http://www.neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Short_Stories/How_To_Talk_To_Girls_At_Parties/How_To_Talk_To_Girls_At_Parties_(Text).

Vocabulary Enrichment #2

arcane - adj - requiring secret or mysterious knowledge

(from https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/176046)

The shaman performed an arcane ritual, creating an air of mystery for her audience.

avarice - n - reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth

(from https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/176046)

The organization's avarice led to their eventual downfall.

circumspect - adj - heedful of potential consequences

(from https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/176046)

He walked in to the new situation with a circumspect manner.

quotidian - adj - ordinary or everyday, especially when mundane

(from friend's essay)

The gala, while formerly impressive, had become quotidian.

enmity - n - a state of deep-seated ill-will

(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)
His enmity showed through while he glared at his opponent.

inveterate - adj - stubbornly established by habit

(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)
I am an inveterate coffee drinker.

knell - n - the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death
(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)

The funeral knell made people take pause and remember their friend.

nadir - n - the lowest point of something
(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)

The nadir of the day came when I realized I had an assignment due that I had forgotten.

obsequious - adj - excessively compliant or submissive
(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)

No one likes to be in a relationship with someone who is so obsequious that they do not have their own opinion.

staid - adj - sedate, serious, self-restrained 

(from http://www.world-english.org/improve_vocabulary.htm)

My coworker at Starbucks was so staid that no customers felt able to connect with him.

Fairy Tale Leads

The Little Mermaid
Lead: Prince Eric marries a mermaid princess after a magic spell turned her fins into feet.
Teaser: A union of two worlds leaves the ocean king with an empty nest.