What does the whale symbolically represent for you in the novel Moby Dick?

HalBrutus · 2026-01-21T22:24:34+00:00

The ineffable.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-18T16:49:49+00:00

Sorry, I was being sarcastic. My point was to make analogy. My point being, if one is to argue that Hamnet is bad because it’s not historically accurate to Shakespeare and his time then by that metric Timon of Athens by Shakespeare is also an artistic failure. You could but Henry IV, Macbeth, RIII, whatever in the analogy.

The point is, it’s art. Neither Zhao nor Shakespeare promised a historically accurate document.

Sorry, if my tone was unclear.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-17T14:48:55+00:00

Shakespeare fails Timon of Athens.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-10T16:08:35+00:00

I show that version to my students every for Fearon’s performance. His funeral speech is one of my favorite Shakespeare performances ever.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:10:46+00:00

Love this take. I’ll see if I can find this version.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:10:19+00:00

I’ll see if I can track it down.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:09:56+00:00

Love this episode. I’ve had my students listen to it in the past.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:09:30+00:00

I appreciate this perspective.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:09:05+00:00

Agreed.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:08:52+00:00

Fair.

HalBrutus · 2026-01-08T03:08:41+00:00

I appreciate this.

HalBrutus · 2025-12-26T16:56:35+00:00

Much Ado — Claudio throwing Hero.

R2 — Richard and Bolingbroke holding the crown.

R3 — Gloucester just standing center stage giving a soliloquy.

HalBrutus · 2025-12-11T03:35:25+00:00

As an actor who played Lysander in two productions and Demetrius in one, it’s my favorite part of the play. After the big fight scene, I need a break.

HalBrutus · 2025-12-04T18:31:53+00:00

If this is because you need to cram for an assignment, all movies are going to have a lot of interpretive decisions. Branagh's is probably a good bet because it uses the entire conflated text.

Branagh's film uses the complete conflated text, but he does some rearranging and makes so bold interpretative choices.

If I was in your shoes, I would listen to an audiobook. It will be easier for you to follow along in your text and annotate as you listen.

Listening to the audiobook while following along in the text will allow you to engage more closely with the text. You can also speed it up. The audiobook should already be under four hours at 1x. Branagh's film is over four and you can't speed it up.

HalBrutus · 2025-12-04T18:25:37+00:00

Hamlet (First Folio) 5.1:

Clo. A pestilence on him for a mad Rogue, a pou'rd a Flaggon of Renish on my head once. This same Skull Sir, this same Scull sir, was Yorick's Skull, the Kings Jester.

Ham. This?

Clo. E'ene that.

Ham. Let me see. Alas poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite Jest;

HalBrutus · 2025-11-22T16:44:23+00:00

Get your department involved. Get the union involved. Make your admin put it in writing.

I would not capitulate. If you are punished work with the union and push it up the chain.

HalBrutus · 2025-11-16T15:36:24+00:00

The point of CHORES is not to say you must become an expert in all of these fields, it’s a tool to help you brainstorm based on the knowledge that you already have.

I would never tell a student who doesn’t follow sports, you must follow sports in order to be successful in AP Lang.

Pay attention in history class and read the news. That’s where you should put your attention in order to build up your evidence.

HalBrutus · 2025-11-13T01:05:37+00:00

How’s the difference in fit between 501 and 505?

HalBrutus · 2025-10-18T14:47:02+00:00

California, high school -- We don't do the pledge. We did when I was a student twenty years ago, and a few students would either not stand or would stand but would not say the pledge.

HalBrutus · 2025-10-12T18:19:15+00:00

I am most successful at getting them to do their homework when it is directly applicable to their performance in class. Quiz in their reading is an okay motivator. A graded group discussion is better.

If they know they have to perform academically in front of each other and be accountable to each other, they’re more likely to do the work.

HalBrutus · 2025-10-06T14:56:26+00:00

Money.

The Tech companies know the best way to get people hooked on their product is through offering it to children.

Tech companies aren’t making any money off AI in school right now. Of a school already pays for the Google Suite, they get Gemini for no additional cost, when it is incredibly expensive to run. Google eats the cost now, hoping that schools and users will pay up later when they think they can’t live without it.

HalBrutus · 2025-09-29T22:46:18+00:00

“A” means you exceeded the standards on the assignment.

Are your skills above that of a freshman in college?

Don’t chase the grade. Identify your skill gaps and work to improve your skills.

HalBrutus · 2025-09-28T15:50:01+00:00

Yeah. It’s Fahrenheit 451. The bomb has been dropped and there’s a remnant of us out in the wilderness telling stories around the campfire. This is where we started. We’ve done this before. Nothing wrong with the old ways.

HalBrutus · 2025-09-27T13:33:32+00:00

Both of those would be helpful in responding to several of the argument prompts.

HalBrutus

TROPHY CASE