Encapsulation Scripts

Feathertop takes a bow

I am posting the encapsulation scripts here so that you can all read through them over the short Christmas vacation. Familiarize yourselves with the stories, and certainly offer any helpful comments or suggestions should you have any.

The Birthmark [PDF]
"Let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me. This hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life!"

The Bosom Serpent [PDF]
"Oh, there is poisonous stuff in any man’s heart sufficient enough to generate a brood of serpents. I myself have only one, some people have giant hordes, but you have none in your bosom, therefore you cannot sympathize with the rest of the world. It gnaws me! It gnaws me!"

Lady Eleanore's Mantle [PDF]
"Nay, your Excellency shall not strike him. When men seek only to be trampled upon, it were a pity to deny them a favor so easily granted -- and so well deserved!"

Ethan Brand [PDF]
"Leave me, ye brute beasts, that have made yourselves so, shriveling up your souls with fiery liquors! I have done with you. Years and years ago, I groped into your hearts and found nothing there for my purpose. Get ye gone!"

Rappaccini's Daughter [PDF]
"I know this wretched girl better than you know her yourself! She is as poisonous as she is beautiful! Rappaccini was a vile enough man to offer up his daughter to this fatal life! What then will be your fate? Rappaccini will not stop at anything!"

I am still in need of the script for "Feathertop." Pedro?

How to Compose An Email

For those of you who still need help with this: Here's a helpful (and essential) list of 20 questions you should answer before you hit the send button on any email. Join the resistance, and help fight email slobbery:

1. Is the subject line helpful?

2. Did you get right to the point?

3. Is the language clear?

4. Did you say too much?

5. Are your facts right?

6. Did you say what you're replying to?

7. Were you polite?

8. Were you discreet?

9. Is there a greeting and a closing?

10. Is the attachment welcome?

11. Did you use the shift key? Capitalize properly!

12. Did you break for paragraphs?

13. Will the reader get the shorthand? Avoid "slanguage"

14. Will the joke fall flat? Don't forward jokes!

15. Does this look like spam?

16. Do all these people need copies?

17. Should you sleep on it? Never e-mail in the heat of anger.

18. Does it have to be an e-mail?

19. Did you read it again?

20. Did you check the grammar, spelling, and punctuation?

See the whole thing at Grammarphobia.com

How To Write a Literary Essay

Just a reminder: You should consult your "How to Write a Literary Essay" packet, paying particular attention to the "seven steps." This is designed to help you write your reader response essays. It should be a valuable tool; use it! Excerpt:

Analyzing literature is a learned skill and a process you can master. As you gain more practice with this kind of thinking and writing, you’ll be able to craft a method that works best for you. Until then, here are seven basic steps to writing a well-constructed literary essay:

1. Ask questions*
2. Collect evidence
3. Construct a thesis
4. Develop and organize arguments
5. Write the introduction
6. Write the body paragraphs
7. Write the conclusion

* Read the "ask questions" section carefully.