The Lovely Bones

Use this post to share your reactions to the novel. 

Alice Sebold's story is narrated by a 14 year old victim of a violent crime who tells the story of her death from heaven. How can you apply the fiction writing we've been doing with the Columbia Artists/Teachers to analyze Sebold's story-telling techniques?

The Color of Water

Use this post to share your reactions to James McBride's memoir. I hope you enjoy the last book of the semester!

New Moon

We read it.

We loved it.

We saw it.

Now Blog it :)

Columbia University MFA Students

Both Scholars' Academy classes have two Columbia University graduate students working with us on our poetry and prose. The 10th graders have Carmen and Kate and the 11th graders are working with Natalie and Adam. Don't forget to submit the work we do to In Print! Let's use this post to communicate with each other, share the pieces we are working on, and encourage each other to keep writing...

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Use this post to share your reactions to the novel. Remember to focus on analysis, not plot summary. 

The Color Purple

Use this post to express your reactions to the novel. You may want to dive deeper into class discussion here and/or introduce a new topic that we haven't mentioned yet.  

Hester

Kiswana, Ysabel, and Alyssa

Which themes are explored through Hester's character? What was it like to play the heroine of the story? How did you get into character?

Dimmesdale

Lizette, Deja, and Kenya

What are the connotations of his name? Which themes are explored through Dimmesdale? What was it like getting into character?

Chillingworth

Jessica, Ayesha, and Ron

What are the connotations of his name? Which themes are explored through his Chillingworth? What was it like getting into character?

The Scarlet Letter: Scaffold Scene 3

In this scene, we are showing Dimmesdale's death. In our scene, Dimmesdale is lying on the scaffold with Pearl, Hester and Chillingworth around him. Pearl is finally accepting him as her father and Hester is in mourning. Chillingworth is mad because his life's accomplishment is dead. -Ayesha

The Scarlet Letter: Scaffold Scene 2

Dimmesdale is being eaten alive by his guilty conscience for having sinned and not confessed it. So, in the middle of the night, he decides to let out some of his bottled up anguish by confessing to the eerie night. -Ron

As Dimmesdale stands there, Mistress Hibbins, a witch, looks out to see him. [Hester and Pearl ascend] the scaffold and hold hands like a string of electricity. -Kiswana

Pearl is happy, secretly sensing that Dimmesdale is her father. -Deja

Chillingworth is in the dark sidelines creeping up behind Dimmesdale, showing that he has him right where he wants him. -Julianne

Scarlet Letter: Scaffold Scene 1

In this tableau, Hester is flawless but she has a look of terror when she sees Chillingworth. Hester is proudly holding her baby Pearl in her arms with the big "A" sewn onto her dress. Chillingworth is signaling to Hester to keep his identity a secret. On the right, we have Dimmesdale imploring Hester to reveal the name of her lover. Oh, the irony! By, Jessica