Extra credit: you can improve up to 5% (500 points) of you final grade with extra credit.

THIS PAGE WILL CHANGE OFTEN!

This is due any time you want before the last week of the semester.

→READ one or more of the following texts (in English! and that you have NOT read before!) and type a one page critical and thoughtful report (per book) about what you've learned, liked, and disliked, where I can see that you have REALLY read that book (remember, 100 pts = 1% of your total grade!). (If you know about a good link to these books and authors, please send me the information, thank you.) I reserve the right to ask you questions about the books you said you read if I am not convinced that you did read it:

• Gandhi, an Autobiography (250 pts)
• The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven (two books) -- Barbara Kingsolver (250 pts)
• Jihad vs. McWorld -- Benjamin Barber (250 pts)
• One Hundred Years of Solitude -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (250 pts)
• Woman of Egypt -- Jehan Sadat (240 pts)
• The Heart That Bleeds--Latin America Now -- Alma Guillermoprieto (240 pts)
• To Destroy You Is No Loss -- JoAn Dewey Criddle (240 pts)
• What Should I Do With My Life? -- Po Bronson (230 pts)
• The Things They Carried -- Tim O'Brien (230 pts)
• The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver (230 pts)
• The Scarlet Letter -- Nathaniel Hawthorn (230 pts)
• Mean Spirit -- Linda Hogan (230 pts)
• A Passage to India -- E. M. Forster (230 pts)
• Fast Food Nation -- Eric Schlosser (200 pts)
• Death in the Andes -- Mario Vargas Llosa (200 pts)
• The Tortilla Curtain -- T. Coraghessan Boyle (200 pts)
• House of the Spirits -- Isabel Allende (200 pts)
• Where I'm Calling From -- Raymond Carver (200 pts)
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -- Dee Brown (200 pts)
• A Mighty Heart -- Mariane Pearl (180 pts)
• Alive -- Piers Paul Read (180 pts)
• The Beloved Country -- Alan Paton (180 pts)
• Blow-up and Other Stories -- Julio Cortazar (180 pts)
• 1984 -- George Orwell (170 pts)
• For Those I Loved -- Martin Gray (170 pts)
• A Farewell to Arms -- Ernest Hemingway (170 pts)
• Siddhartha -- Hermann Hesse (170 pts)
• The Chosen -- Chaim Potok (170 pts)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Oscar Wilde (150 pts)
• To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee (120 pts)
• The Hiding Place -- Corrie Ten Boom (110 pts)
• Blood Brothers -- Elias Chacour (110 pts)
• My Name is Asher Lev -- Chaim Potok (110 pts)
• Things Fall Apart -- Chinua Achebe (110 pts)
• The Joy Luck Club -- Amy Tan (100 pts)
• The Diary of a Young Girl -- Anne Frank (90 pts)
• The Stranger -- Albert Camus (80 pts)
• The Story of My Life -- Helen Keller (80 pts)
• Hiroshima -- John Hersey (80 pts)
• My Left Foot -- Shane Connaughton (80 pts)
• I Heard the Owl Call My Name -- Margaret Craven (80 pts)
• Animal Farm -- George Orwell (60 pts)
• The Giver -- Lois Lowry -- (60 pts)
• Foreigner -- Nahid Rachlin (60 pts)
• Other books that interest you, if you bring them and let me read them first.

→LISTEN for an hour to one of the following NPR shows (online or on the radio) and type a reflective and critical report about what you've learned and what you think about it (10 pts. first page, 5 pts per extra page):

• NPR allows you to listen to the news and find other sources of interesting information. GREAT radio station!
• Marketplace.org is a place which explores the news, the world, education, the economy, the military, health, the arts, technology, etc.
• World Radio Network from NPR offers the best English language reports. Listen to English-speaking radio stations (and other languages!) from across the globe.
• Living On Earth explores our environment, what we're doing to it, and what it's doing to us and examines how the environment affects medicine, politics, technology, economics, transportation, agriculture, and more.
• Justice Talking is an in-depth look at the cases that come before the US's courts and challenge our conscience.

 

→TALK for one hour with someone from another country about current political events and write a one page summary of what you've learned, what your opinion is/was, and what the other person said that was new to you, showing reflection and understanding of new concepts. (10 pts first page, 5 pts per extra page)

 

→WATCH the following movies (that you have NOT seen already!), and type a thoughtful and critical report about what you've learned, what you liked, how you feel about this movie, etc. (10 pts first page, 5 pts extra pages, 10 pts if you come to the movie nights) (* = MUST see):

Good Bye Lenin	about the Berlin Wall, family, capitalism, changes--fun, interesting, excellent! * (comes out in February)
House of Sand and Fog	about an Iranian family and a young woman who has lost her house, and how the choices they make will influence their lives--interesting, depressing, shows differences of cultures and lives
Lost in Translation	about culture shock in Japan, loneliness, and frienship--funny, sad, gives an interesting picture of modern Tokyo *
Gandhi	true story, about Gandhi's fight in India--very violent, long, beautiful, very well done, incredible! *
The Thirteenth Floor	about "different" worlds, a little like Matrix--thought-provoking, very well done, not violent
Bowling for Colombine	documentary about violence in the US--incredible, unbelievable, interesting, funny, scary, amazing, very well done *
Rabbit-proof Fence	true story, Australian movie--beautiful, unbelievable, sad, incredible! *
With Honors	movie about life, death, Harvard, stress, and friendship--strong, emotional
Pay It Forward	about the power to change things--sad, happy, thought-provoking, full of hope
Dangerous Beauty	true story, about Italy and "courtesans"--beautiful, sad, amazing, thought-provoking, a bit racy
Pie	independent movie, about the brain and mathematics--incredible, strange, very weird, a little disturbing, scary
13 Conversations About One Thing	about fate and money--thought-provoking, strange, well done, very interesting
The Last Emperor	true story, about the life of China's last emperor--long, very well done, incredible *
Eat Drink Man Woman	Chinese movie about family and food--very funny, sad, makes you hungry! *
Bagdad Cafe	about friendship, life in the desert, and Las Vegas--very funny, full of good feelings
Seven	about the seven sins--very violent, very disturbing, thought-provoking
Gattaca	about genetically "enhanced" children--thought-provoking, not violent, amazing, raises very important issues *
SLC Punk	about drugs, friendship, and fate--sad, weird, a little disturbing, very interesting
Life is beautiful	about Italy, WWII, and the power of the family--amazing, beautiful, incredible, funny, sad, ...incredible! *
Oh Brother Where Art Thou	based on the Odessey, about three prisonners from Mississippi who try to find a treasure--very funny, interesting, very well done *
Shine	true story, about music and madness--strange, sad, beautiful
Traffic	about Mexico, the US, and drugs--very well done, quite violent, strong, amazing *
Schindler's List	true story, about WWII and the Jews in Poland--very sad, long, violent, disturbing, amazing, strong, beautiful! *
12 Angry Men	about the power of convictions and the truth--very well done, impressive, thought-provoking, a classic! *
All About My Mother	Spanish movie, about life's choices--quite disturbing, strange, happy, sad*
Talk to Her	Spanish movie, about love and madness--very disturbing, strange, sad
Fried Green Tomatoes	about friendship and segregation in the South--funny, happy, full of good feelings
American History X	about racism and neo-nazis--very violent, very disturbing, amazing, incredible, very interesting, beautiful! *
Run, Lola Run	about fate and time--weird, fast, cool!
Il Postino	Italian film about the life of Pablo Neruda--beautiful, sad, very interesting
Shower	Chinese movie about the difference between the young and the old--excellent, funny! *
The Motorcycle Diaries	movie in Spanish about Ernesto "Che" Guevara's first trip around Latin America--great, beautiful, very interesting, funny, sad*
Hotel Rwanda	incredible true story about courage, war, racism, and survival--violent, sad, amazing!*
Three Colors: Blue, White, Red	3 French movies to watch in this order, about fate, death, music, Poland, prison, betrayal--beautiful, strange