November 7th

11/7/12

In Class:
Journal: If Delaney and Kyra from The Tortilla Curtain were voting in Colorado, how would they have voted on Amendment 64?

• Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning marijuana, and, in connection therewith, providing for the regulation of marijuana; permitting a person twenty-one years of age or older to consume or possess limited amounts of marijuana; providing for the licensing of cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing facilities, and retail stores; permitting local governments to regulate or prohibit such facilities; requiring the general assembly to enact an excise tax to be levied upon wholesale sales of marijuana; requiring that the first $40 million in revenue raised annually by such tax be credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund; and requiring the general assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp?

Discussion of traditional family models, specifically in regard to gender and The Tortilla Curtain. How do culturally-specific family ideals contrast with our own? And to what extent can we share our beliefs without imposing? Discussed masculinity/femininity displayed by Delaney, Kyra, Cándido, and América.
Lecture on binary opposition in relation to Feminist literary theory, gender roles, and vocality. T.C. Boyle engages in the process of deconstruction (deliberate creation of traditional models followed by the conscious and organized destruction of said models) in order to demonstrate the irrationality and restrictiveness of certain family models. Creation of a circular spectrum, including shades of gray and binaries which are similar in their extreme nature.

Homework:
Catch up on missing work. (Each student was given a list of missing assignments.)
Read through p. 246 of The Tortilla Curtain by Monday.
Write a page of América’s diary by Monday.