"If you step on people in this life,
you're going to come back as a cockroach."
~Willie Davis

http://www.quotegarden.com/kindness.html
"The Thanksgiving Visitor"

by Truman Capote
Acknowlegement: 
for Lee
Opening line:
"Talk about mean!  Odd Henderson was the meanest human creature in existence."

“Love builds bridges. Hate digs graves.”

-Unknown

Introducing Truman Capote

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379725/

Read or Listen to this Literary Critic:

"'Since 1966, In Cold Blood has served as the template for thousands of true-crime books. But the weird thing is that with a few exceptions--such as Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song--they aren't very good' (126). 'In Cold Blood,' Grossman goes on to say, 'is not just the first modern work of true crime; it is also the only true-crime masterpiece, period"' (126).

And my favorite part of the Research Resources:

 Voila! Source Citation:

Adams, Dale T. "Twice convicted, once executed: 

a literary naturalist's interpretation

of Richard Brooks's film In Cold Blood."

Literature-Film Quarterly 37.4 (2009):

246+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.    
 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA217787231&v=2.1&u=tlc139098849&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

 Joseph Campbell

Finding Joe

 http://www.findingjoethemovie.com/

http://www.fallsapart.com/the_absolutely_true_diary

“There is another world, but it is in this one.”
–W.B. Yeats

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
"Slouching Towards Thanksgiving"
by Sherman Alexie

http://ibistro.roundrockisd.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/?ps=JTQ41OXEYF/RROC/232520324/88

"A Native American equivalent of Angela's Ashes."

-Publishers Weekly

“In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.”

http://www.fallsapart.com/the_absolutely_true_diary_of_a_part_time_indian

“Challenges are what make life interesting;
overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
- Joshua J. Marine

National Book Award Winners

NEARY: One of the poems that won Finney her award was about Hurricane Katrina. And the winner of the Fiction Award, "Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward, was also about the devastating effects of that terrible storm. Ward read an excerpt from her book at an event the night before the award ceremony.

JESMYN WARD: (Reading) Daddy, I say, and I'm surprised at how clear my voice is, how solid, how sure, like a hand that can be held in the dark. Water's in the attic. The water is faster this time. It wraps liquid fingers around my toes, my ankles, begins creeping up my calves. This is a fast seduction. The wind howls.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/142437698/2011-national-book-award-winners-announced

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/11/16/142403954/salvage-the-bones-takes-top-fiction-honors-at-the-national-book-awards

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/141285171/national-book-award-winner-tells-tale-of-katrina

Less Cancer. More Birthdays.

Great American Smokeout

 Smokers are encouraged to make a plan to quit. Not only does smoking reduce your life expectancy by approximately 15 years, but it also reduces the money in your wallet. The American Cancer Society estimates that smokers spend over $3,000 per year.

Good Reasons to Quit Smoking

•      You'll be healthier.

•      You will have more energy and breathe easier.

•      Your teeth will look better.

•      Your hair and clothes will smell better.

•      You will have a stronger sense of taste and smell.

•      You'll save money.

To learn more about the Great American Smokeout and reasons to quit, visit The American Cancer Society's website at

http://www.cancer.org/Healthy/StayAwayfromTobacco/GreatAmericanSmokeout/index

Invest this money – what will it earn?

Young today. Rich tomorrow.

http://www.brassmagazine.com/
The Latte Factor Calculator
http://finishrich.com/lattefactor/

"Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned."  Mark Twain

The world is flat… indeed!

.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

Watch. Practice.

Learn almost anything for free.

With a library of over 2,700 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 238 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

STARR Assessments - see Links
http://dive-into-language-arts.wikispaces.com/STAAR+Assessments+
http://lead4ward.com/resources/

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."
- CS Lewis
Safe journey, B!

Tweak by Nic Sheff
"The author details his immersion in a world of hardcore drugs, revealing the mental and physical depths of addiction, and the violent relapse one summer in California that forever changed his life, leading him down the road to recovery. "
http://ibistro.roundrockisd.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/?ps=eRg4MwRwqN/RROC/99170662/88
And his father's perspective:
Beautiful boy : a father's journey through his son's addiction / David Sheff.
"Journalist David Sheff tells the story of his son Nic's happy early childhood, the transformation wrought by Nic's addiction to methamphetamine, and his own obsession with Nic's well-being."
 http://ibistro.roundrockisd.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi/?ps=0BEhVPmIPK/RROC/99170662/9