an open letter to incoming high school freshmen: the 5e method

P. DonahueBridging the Gap Open Institute, July 2008San Antonio Writing Project

“An Open Letter to Incoming High School Freshmen”The 5E Model

Overview

This lesson is designed to familiarize the students with the genre of the open letter as well as review (or introduce) the writing process. Done with a partner, the student should gain a sense of security in prewriting and gathering the information to be contained within the assignment. Two professional pieces of writing are used to demonstrate the genre of an open letter and to allow the students to discover common elements between the two selections. These common elements will form the basis of the rubric that will be used to assess the assignment, giving students input into the evaluation process. Throughout the process, students will act as peer reviewers and engage in self-reflection about their writing process. Two vocabulary lessons of the instructor’s choice (ten words each) are included within this lesson, and mini-lessons reviewing complete sentences, fragments, run-ons, and comma splices (fused sentences) are also included within this framework.

This lesson is a work-in-progress, although many portions have been fleshed out. I still need to read the two works to create the sample list of criteria the students can generate that will become a portion of the rubric. I also need to develop the rubric by which to assess this assignment. I incorporated various activities that could be used to generate daily/quiz/homework grades during the course of this 15-day assignment. The length of the assignment does NOT take into consideration any potential global class interruptions (fire drills, class meetings, review of campus handbook, plagiarism discussions, etc.) that often plague the high school classroom.

I have drafted this lesson using the 5E Model of Lesson Plans, beginning the process by engaging the student through discovery and inquiry and moving through to the evaluation stage. These five elements incorporate Bloom’s Taxonomy.

College Readiness Standards that this assignment meets includeEnglish Language Arts StandardsI. WritingA. Compose a variety of texts that demonstrate clear focus, the logical development of ideas in well-organized paragraphs, and the use of appropriate language that advances the author’s purpose.1. Determine effective approaches, forms, and rhetorical techniques thatdemonstrate understanding of the writer’s purpose and audience.2. Generate ideas and gather information relevant to the topic and purpose,keeping careful records of outside sources.3. Evaluate relevance, quality, sufficiency, and depth of preliminary ideas and information, organize material generated, and formulate thesis.4. Recognize the importance of revision as the key to effective writing. Each draft should refine key ideas and organize them more logically and fluidly, use language more precisely and effectively, and draw the reader to the author’s purpose.5. Edit writing for proper voice, tense, and syntax, assuring that it conforms to standard English, when appropriate.


II. Reading A. Locate explicit textual information and draw complex inferences, analyze, and evaluate the information within and across texts of varying lengths.1. Use effective reading strategies to determine a written work’s purpose and intended audience.3. Identify explicit and implicit textual information including main ideas and author’s purpose.5 Analyze the presentation of information and the strength and quality of evidence used by the author, and judge the coherence and logic of the presentation and the credibility of an argument.8. Compare and analyze how generic features are used across texts.9. Identify and analyze the audience, purpose, and message of an informational or persuasive text.10. Identify and analyze how an author's use of language appeals to the senses, creates imagery, and suggests mood.B. Understand new vocabulary and concepts and use them accurately in reading, speaking, and writing.1. Identify new words and concepts acquired through study of their relationships to other words and concepts.2. Apply knowledge of roots and affixes to infer the meanings of new words.3. Use reference guides to confirm the meanings of new words or concepts.C. Describe, analyze, and evaluate information within and across literary and other texts from a variety of cultures and historical periods.3. Analyze works of literature for what they suggest about the historical period and cultural contexts in which they were written.D. Explain how literary and other texts evoke personal experience and reveal character in particular historical circumstances.1. Describe insights gained about oneself, others, or the world from reading specific texts.III. SpeakingA. Understand the elements of communication both in informal group discussions and formal presentations (e.g., accuracy, relevance, rhetorical features, and organization of information).1. Understand how style and content of spoken language varies in different contexts and influences the listener’s understanding.2. Adjust presentation (delivery, vocabulary, length) to particular audiences and purposes.B. Develop effective speaking styles for both group and one-on-one situations.1. Participate actively and effectively in one-on-one oral communication situations.2. Participate actively and effectively in group discussions.IV. ListeningA. Apply listening skills as an individual and as a member of a group in a variety of settings (e.g., lectures, discussions, conversations, team projects, presentations, interviews).3. Use a variety of strategies to enhance listening comprehension (e.g., focus attention on message, monitor message for clarity and understanding, provide verbal and nonverbal feedback, note cues such as change of pace or particular words that indicate a new point is about to be made, select and organize key information).B. Listen effectively in informal and formal situations.2. Listen actively and effectively in one-on-one communication situations.


3. Listen actively and effectively in group discussions.Cross-Disciplinary StandardsI. Key Cognitive SkillsA. Intellectual curiosity1. Engage in scholarly inquiry and dialogue.2. Accept constructive criticism and revise personal views when valid evidence warrants.B. Reasoning1. Consider arguments and conclusions of self and others.2. Construct well-reasoned arguments to explain phenomena, validate conjectures, or support positions.3. Gather evidence to support arguments, findings, or lines of reasoning.4. Support or modify claims based on the results of an inquiry.C. Problem solving1. Analyze a situation to identify a problem to be solved.2. Develop and apply multiple strategies to solving a problem.3. Collect evidence and data systematically and directly relate to solving a problem.D. Academic behaviors1. Self-monitor learning needs and seek assistance when needed.2. Use study habits necessary to manage academic pursuits and requirements.3. Strive for accuracy and precision.4. Persevere to complete and master tasks.E. Work habits1. Work independently.2. Work collaboratively.F. Academic integrity4. Understand and adhere to ethical codes of conduct.II. Foundational SkillsA. Reading across the curriculum1. Use effective prereading strategies.2. Use a variety of strategies to understand the meanings of new words.3. Identify the intended purpose and audience of the text.4. Identify the key information and supporting details.5. Analyze textual information critically.6. Annotate, summarize, paraphrase, and outline texts when appropriate.7. Adapt reading strategies according to structure of texts.8. Connect reading to historical and current events and personal interest.B. Writing across the curriculum1. Write clearly and coherently using standard writing conventions.2. Write in a variety of forms for various audiences and purposes.3. Compose and revise drafts.E. Technology2. Use technology to organize, manage, and analyze information.3. Use technology to communicate and display findings in a clear and coherent manner.4. Use technology appropriately.

Source: http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/CollegeReadiness/CRS.pdf


English III TEKS that this assignment meets include(1) Writing/purposes. The student writes in a variety of forms, including business, personal, literary, and persuasive texts, for various audiences and purposes. The student is expected to:(A) write in various forms with particular emphasis on business forms such as a report, memo, narrative or procedure, summary/abstract, and resumé;(B) write in a voice and style appropriate to audience and purpose; and(C) organize ideas in writing to ensure coherence, logical progression, and support for ideas.(2) Writing/writing processes. The student uses recursive writing processes when appropriate. The student is expected to:(A) use prewriting strategies to generate ideas, develop voice, and plan;(B) develop drafts both alone and collaboratively by organizing and reorganizing content and by refining style to suit occasion, audience, and purpose;(C) proofread writing for appropriateness of organization, content, style, and conventions;(D) frequently refine selected pieces to publish for general and specific audiences; and(E) use technology for aspects of creating, revising, editing, and publishing texts.(3) Writing/grammar/usage/conventions/spelling. The student relies increasingly on the conventions and mechanics of written English, including the rules of usage and grammar, to write clearly and effectively. The student is expected to:(A) produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct use of the conventions of punctuation and capitalization such as italics and ellipses;(B) demonstrate control over grammatical elements such as subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, verb forms, and parallelism;(C) compose increasingly more involved sentences that contain gerunds, participles, and infinitives in their various functions;(D) produce error-free writing in the final draft; and (4) Writing/inquiry/research. The student uses writing as a tool for learning. The student is expected to:(A) use writing to formulate questions, refine topics, and clarify ideas;(B) use writing to discover, organize, and support what is known and what needs to be learned about a topic;(D) represent information in a variety of ways such as graphics, conceptual maps, and learning logs;(E) use writing as a study tool to clarify and remember information;(F) compile written ideas and representations into reports, summaries, or other formats and draw conclusions; and(5) Writing/evaluation. The student evaluates his/her own writing and the writings of others. The student is expected to:(A) evaluate writing for both mechanics and content; and(B) respond productively to peer review of his/her own work.6) Reading/word identification/vocabulary development. The student acquires an extensive vocabulary through reading and systematic word study. The student is expected to:(A) expand vocabulary through wide reading, listening, and discussing;(B) rely on context to determine meanings of words and phrases such as figurative language, connotation and denotation of words, analogies, idioms, and technical vocabulary;(C) apply meanings of prefixes, roots, and suffixes in order to comprehend;


(E) use reference material such as glossary, dictionary, thesaurus, and available technology to determine precise meaning and usage;(7) Reading/comprehension. The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to:(A) establish and adjust purpose for reading such as to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy, and to solve problems;(B) draw upon his/her own background to provide connection to texts;(C) monitor his/her own reading strategies and make modifications when understanding breaks down such as by rereading, using resources, and questioning;(E) analyze text structures such as compare/contrast, cause/effect, and chronological order for how they influence understanding;(F) produce summaries of texts by identifying main ideas and their supporting details;(G) draw inferences such as conclusions, generalizations, and predictions and support them with text evidence and experience;(8) Reading/variety of texts. The student reads extensively and intensively for different purposes and in varied sources, including American literature. The student is expected to:(A) read to be entertained, to appreciate a writer's craft, to be informed, to take action, and to discover models to use in his/her own writing;(B) read in varied sources such as diaries, journals, textbooks, maps, newspapers, letters, speeches, memoranda, electronic texts, and other media;(C) read American and other world literature, including classic and contemporary works; and(D) interpret the possible influences of the historical context on literary works.(9) Reading/culture. The student reads widely, including American literature, to increase knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements across cultures. The student is expected to:(A) recognize distinctive and shared characteristics of cultures through reading; and(B) compare text events with his/her own and other readers' experiences.(10) Reading/literary response. The student expresses and supports responses to various types of texts. The student is expected to:(A) respond to informational and aesthetic elements in texts such as discussions, journal entries, oral interpretations, enactments, and graphic displays;(B) use elements of text to defend, clarify, and negotiate responses and interpretations; and(11) Reading/literary concepts. The student analyzes literary elements for their contributions to meaning in literary texts. The student is expected to:(E) connect literature to historical contexts, current events, and his/her own experiences; and(12) Reading/analysis/evaluation. The student reads critically to evaluate texts and the authority of sources. The student is expected to:(A) analyze the characteristics of clearly written texts, including the patterns of organization, syntax, and word choice;(B) evaluate the credibility of information sources, including how the writer's motivation may affect that credibility; and(C) recognize logical, deceptive, and/or faulty modes of persuasion in texts.(14) Listening/speaking/critical listening. The student listens attentively for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to:(A) demonstrate proficiency in each aspect of the listening process such as focusing attention, interpreting, and responding;


(B) use effective strategies for listening such as prepares for listening, identifies the types of listening, and adopts appropriate strategies;(C) demonstrate proficiency in critical, empathic, appreciative, and reflective listening;(D) use effective strategies to evaluate his/her own listening such as asking questions for clarification, comparing and contrasting interpretations with others, and researching points of interest or contention; and(E) use effective listening to provide appropriate feedback in a variety of situations such as conversations and discussions and informative, persuasive, or artistic presentations.(15) Listening/speaking/purposes. The student speaks clearly and effectively for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to:(A) use the conventions of oral language effectively;(B) use informal, standard, and technical language effectively to meet the needs of purpose, audience, occasion, and task;(C) communicate effectively in conversations and group discussions while problem solving, and planning;(D) use effective verbal and nonverbal strategies in presenting oral messages;(E) ask clear questions for a variety of purposes and respond appropriately to the questions of others; and(F) make relevant contributions in conversations and discussions.

Source: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter110/ch110c.html


DAY 1 (in week 1 or 2 of 1st semester)

Engage—You are an incoming freshman at a two-year college/vocational/trade school or a four-year university outside of the San Antonio area. With a partner, draw a “map” of the “campus” indicating all the important areas that you will need to know about to survive your first semester. Also include at least 10 questions you will need answered. (20 minutes—blank paper, pencils, colored pencils/markers)

Teacher notes:Possible locations to include: living quarters, eating location(s), classroom

locations, health clinic, library, game rooms, stadium, bookstore, mall, parking location, bank/ATM, police/security location, bus stops, bicycle racks, gyms, fast food restaurants, student union, counselor/advisor locations

Time keeperRecorder

Explore—Journaling question: After completing your “map” of your “campus,” respond to “How would having a set of directions or a ‘How to make it through the first semester’ list of guidelines have helped you with deciding what to include on your list of questions and map? (10 – 15 minutes)

Explain—Debrief with peers (group to group and whole class) (10 – 15 minutes) Create list of “common” ideas

Time keeperRecorderTurn in maps and lists

HOMEWORK—Vocabulary Lesson 1—review words and definitions

DAY 2

Explain—Post maps and lists and debrief (10 minutes)

Explore—Journaling—What problems did you have when you first came to the high school campus? What questions did you have? What made high school difficult? What made it easy? Integrate as many vocabulary words from the lesson as possible.(15 minutes)

Explain—Debrief (10 – 15 minutes)

Explore—With your partner brainstorm what solution(s) could help solve those problems/questions that freshmen encounter when entering high school? List all possible sources (individuals, groups, locations) of helpful information and assistance. (10 – 15 minutes—blank paper and markers)

Teacher notes: Students will probably focus on administration, faculty, library, webpages, etc. Use questioning strategies until they begin to see themselves as


sources of information and expertise on the high school experience. Turn in list of sources.DAY 3

Explain—Debrief on previous lesson and list of sources of helpful information. (10 minutes) Post lists on wall. Incorporate vocabulary words from lesson in discussion.

Explain—Definition of “open letter” (10 minutes)http://www.answers.com/topic/open-letter

Explore—Read “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Fat Kids”—An Open Letter to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (Appendix) (5 – 10 minutes)

Explain—Definitions of audience, claim, support (10 minutes)

Explain—With your partner, use the text to brainstorm answers to the following: What topic is the subject of the “open letter”? What is the author’s purpose for writing this letter? Who is the audience for this letter? What is the author’s chief claim? How does he support his claim? What action does the author want from his audience? (10 – 15 minutes—blank paper and markers)

Turn in lists

HOMEWORK—Read Jesse Owens’ “Open Letter to a Young Negro” (Appendix) and be prepared to identify the purpose, audience, and claim of the text. Write at least three questions you have about the text.

DAY 4

Explain—In-class writing reading check: Using the text, identify the purpose, audience, and claim for “Open Letter to a Young Negro.” (10 minutes FIXED) Collect written answers.

Explain—Debrief on reading—With your partner, list and discuss the questions you had over the text and list possible answers (10-15 minutes—blank paper and markers)

Time keeper Recorder

Explain—Whole class debrief (10 – 15 minutes)

Explain—With your partner, compare/contrast the two “open letters” examined. Create a visual representation of the similarities and differences. (15 minutes—paper and markers)

Time keeperRecorder

Turn in lists and visual representation.

http://www.answers.com/topic/open-letter

http://www.salon.com/mwt/vital_signs/2008/05/21/indiana_jones_obesity/



HOMEWORK—Write a poem about your memories of being a freshman and incorporate the ten words from Vocabulary Lesson 1.

DAY 5

Elaborate—With your partner, create a list of elements/criteria that an open letter contains. (10 – 15 minutes)

Teacher notes:

READ BOTH PIECES TO CREATE SAMPLE LIST

Explain—Debrief with class; create “master” list of criteria (10 – 15 minutes)

Elaborate—Look at your list of problems and emotions incoming high school freshmen encounter and possible sources of information and select the three or four issues that you and your partner believe to be the most important for success and survival in high school. For each problem, provide a workable solution with a reasonable explanation for why it works. (20 minutes—note cards and pencils)

Turn in criteria and note cards

DAY 6

Elaborate—Review the criteria for an open letter. Review your note cards of problems/solutions. Individually,

1) Draft an Open Letter to Incoming High School Freshmen that incorporates the three or four problems and solutions that you previously identified;

2) Identify your audience for your letter ;3) Identify your claim(s);4) Identify your support for your claim(s);5) Put only your ID number on the draft. (45 – 50 minutes)

Turn in drafts for next day activity.

HOMEWORK—Vocabulary Lesson 2—review words and definitions

DAY 7

Computer LabType draft—double spaced, Arial 12 pt. font—and print two copies for next day

activity. Students should simply type the draft as it has already been drafted. Revision will come later. Number the lines on the left-hand side of the page on each draft.

DAY 8

Evaluate—Peer reviews of draft 1 with Writer Reflection (150 words) Questions to be answered in Peer Review 1: (15 – 20 min. each)


POINT out what you think is well done in the paper.SAYBACK what you believe the writer’s main focus is.What MORE is needed?What is needed LESS?

Questions for Writer Reflection 1: (10 – 15 minutes)Where are you in the composing stage of this paper? How do you feel

about what you have written and why? What problems have you had in drafting this paper? What strategies do you have for continuing with this paper? What would you like help with?

Turn in draft, peer reviews, and writer reflection 1. Peer reviews and Writer Reflection 1 graded.

DAY 9Computer LabExplore/Elaborate—Re-read your draft, the two peer reviews, and your writer reflection. Decide how to improve your draft from your reviews and your reflection. Revise your draft accordingly. Integrate vocabulary from Lessons 1 & 2 into your paper as much as possible. Save this draft as a new document and print out two copies of this new document. Double-spaced, 12 pt. Arial font, lines numbered on the left-hand side of the page. (45 – 50 minutes)

Turn in revision and all supporting papers.

DAY 10

Mini-lesson—Sentence structures (fragment, run-on, comma splice) and sentence length variety (20 – 25 minutes)

Explore/Evaluate—With your partner, look in your own drafts and locate any examples of fragments, run-ons, or comma splices. Revise your sentences to create—for effect—a variety of sentences of differing lengths. Highlight them and revise them to reflect Standard American English. Hand write the revisions into the drafts. (20 -25 minutes)

DAY 11

Evaluate—Peer reviews 2 and Writer Reflection 2Questions to be answered in Peer Review 2: (10 – 15 minutes each)

POINT out what you think is well done in the paperPOINT out the claim of the draftPOINT out the evidence used to support the claimPOINT out vocabulary words from the first two lessons contained in the

draftWhat MORE is needed?What is needed LESS?

Questions to be answered in Writer Reflection 2: (250 words) (15 – 20 minutes)


How has your writing changed from the first draft? How do you feel about your writing now? What problems did you find as you revised your initial draft? How did you deal with them? How did using the new vocabulary words in your writing make you feel?

DAY 12

Computer LabExplore/Elaborate—Re-read your draft, the two peer reviews, and your writer reflection. Decide how to improve your draft from your reviews and your reflection. Revise your draft accordingly. Check vocabulary integration and sentence structure accordingly. Save this draft as a new document and print out two copies of this new document. Double-spaced, 12 pt. Arial font, lines numbered on the left-hand side of the page. (45 – 50 minutes)

Turn in revision and all supporting papers.

HOMEWORK—Create a poem about writing using the vocabulary words from Lesson 2.

DAY 13

Evaluate—With your partner and using the peer reviews of each of your drafts, decide which of your papers you will proceed to take to the final draft. Write a JOINT Writers’ Reflection.

Questions for JOINT Writers’ Peer Review: (20 minutes)POINT out the criteria you used to decide which paper to use as the basis

for the one you take through a final revision and submit for gradingPOINT out the strengths of each writer’s draftWhat MORE is needed?What is needed LESS?

Questions for JOINT Writers’ Reflection: (250 words)How do you each feel about selecting only one paper to submit for a

grade? What revision needs to be done to this draft to prepare it for publication (grading)? What composition problems will revising this draft present? What strategies will you use to overcome these problems?

DAY 14

Computer LabElaborate/Evaluate—Use the peer reviews to evaluate your draft and elaborate (revise) any portion that you as the writers think needs to be “transformed” for the readers (audience). Save this draft as a new document and print out two copies of this new document. Double-spaced, 12 pt. Arial font, lines numbered on the left-hand side of the page. Put both writers’ names in the heading. (45-50 minutes)

DAY 15

Evaluate—Peer Review 3 and Writers’ Reflection 3


Questions for final Peer Review: (20 minutes)Celebrate the writing on the paper.POINT out the improvements visible in the paper.SAYBACK the thesis (claim) of the paper.SAYBACK the evidence used to support the thesis (claim)


Questions for final Writers’ Reflection: (20 minutes) (250 words)How is the process you experienced with this paper similar to or different

from what you have experienced in previous English classes? How did you feel about it? How will you use what you learned in this process as you approach your next writing assignment?

Complete a Rubric on your own final draft with any comments you would like me to keep in mind as I apply the rubric to your writing. Attach your Rubric to the BACK of your final draft.

Turn in Final Draft. Keep all previous drafts, peer reviews, and writer’s reflections in your Writer’s Notebook.

Estimated time for return from instructor: One week


Appendix

Source Materials needed for Unit

1. Definitions of “open letter” from about.com, wikipedia, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary

2. “Indiana Jones and the kingdom of fat kids”: An Open Letter to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (provided)

3. “Open Letter to a Young Negro” (provided)

4. Sample List of Criteria (in process)

5. Sample Rubric (in process)

6. Vocabulary lists (teacher selected)

7. Review materials for sentence structures

Complete sentences, fragments, run-ons, comma splices (fused sentences)

Sentence length variety

Artistic Materials Needed for Unit

1. Colored pencils/markers

2. Butcher paper or poster board quarters

3. #2 pencils


Indiana Jones and the kingdom of fat kidsWith childhood obesity at alarming rates, movie tie-ins to fast food are irresponsible. An open letter to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

By Rahul K. Parikh, M.D.

May. 21, 2008 | Dear Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg,

When I was a kid, your movies were a big part of my summers. So were all the goodies that came with them -- "Star Wars" action figures, Indiana Jones trading cards, Reese's Pieces (E.T.'s favorite candy). Somewhere in my parents' house, I think I've still got a box of treasures with all of those memories. Among them are souvenirs I picked up at Taco Bell and Burger King, like a "Return of the Jedi" soda glass with a portrait of the menacing Darth Vader painted on it.

A generation later, I still eagerly anticipate your movies. My friends and I lined up hours in advance to see "The Phantom Menace" in 1999, and I weaseled my way out of a family obligation with the in-laws so I could catch "Attack of the Clones" in 2002. A couple of weeks ago, I hopped online to check out the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and I'm looking forward to buying the first three films on DVD.

In the 30 years since you've started making movies, one thing that hasn't changed is a kid's (or in my case, a grown man's) imagination and wonder. And who sparks that better than you?

But a lot of other things about kids have changed. Their health is one of them. Today, almost one in four kids is obese, putting them at risk for, among other things, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The epidemic of obesity is serious enough that we're predicting that this current generation won't live as long their parents and grandparents. That's incredible if you think about it.

Which brings me to why I wrote this letter. I'm a pediatrician, and every day I see overweight kids coming into my office. Getting families and kids to change how they eat is an uphill battle, and it doesn't get easier when big studios like yours wheel and deal with companies that peddle junk food and fast food.

You tied "Star Wars" to Pepsi and Frito-Lay, plastering Yoda and Obi-Wan over 2-liter bottles and Doritos bags. Recently I was watching CNBC and saw the chief marketing officer of Burger King unveil the Indy Whopper, a mammoth, juicy burger with pepper jack cheese and jalapeño sauce (to give it "adventure," the CMO pointed out), a tie-in to "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." I see you also got Mars to manufacture a Snicker's Adventure Bar with coconut and chai that has Dr. Jones' face on the wrapper.


Besides the fact that none of these foods is healthy, one has to ask if they're what your characters would eat. Would Lord Vader chug down a Pepsi before he wielded his light saber? (If he did, would he drink it with a straw or take off his entire mask?) Wouldn't Indy, now a senior citizen, have more than just a little bump in his cholesterol if he had scarfed down his namesake burger with fries and a soda? How could he be fit enough to chase down ancient relics while dodging boulders and outwitting Nazis?

You may think I'm playing the blame-the-media-and-Hollywood game. But an increasing body of medical evidence shows that child advertising and obesity are correlated. Take a look at a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the report, each week American kids spend a full-time job's worth of time in front of the TV, on the Web and playing video games. They will see about 40,000 ads per year, and two-thirds of those ads are for junk food and fast food. Studies show that what kids see on TV is what they tell their parents they want for supper. No doubt the Indy Double Whopper -- with bacon! -- will be flying off the greasy grill in short order.

It's not all the media's fault. Parents need to take charge of what foods they're buying and how they're preparing those foods. Many families, especially poor ones, get a whole lot for their hard-to-earn dollars when they buy cheap, processed and calorie-dense foods. Fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive, don't last as long and take time to prepare -- time that's hard to find if both parents work full time to pay the bills. This gap between the waistlines of the rich, middle class and poor is only going to get worse with rising food prices. It's also a crime that many hospitals, like shopping malls, now contain a McDonald's, where patients with Type 2 diabetes, cancer and other serious illnesses can gorge on fast food before and after they get treated for those very diseases.

So I'm asking you: Why do you still tie in your movies with junk food and fast food? I know that you and your corporate partners make millions from deals with conglomerate food companies and fast-food chains. But do you really need the extra cash at this point? Wouldn't it be better, in a corporate crusader kind of way, to change course? Stop these deals, or partner with somebody who thinks a little healthier?

I don't want to single out just movies. There's a ton of companies that use characters and celebrities to peddle junk food. Check out this summary from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Being a sports fan, my favorite is the one about Jason Giambi, who endorsed Pepsi by saying that drinking several a day really "lifts him up." (Actually, I think it's safe to say that it was more than Pepsi that lifted Jason's batting average during the 1990s.)

On the other hand, you are two of the most powerful and influential people in the media today. Mr. Lucas, you've even been called the forefather of the movie tie-in. So if you change, and do so publicly, others may well follow suit.


About two years ago, Disney backed out of its long-term partnership with McDonald's in part because of the issue of childhood obesity. Would you both be willing to do the same?

If not, then perhaps a little truth in advertising, or in cinema, is in order. You should show us how your characters would look if they ate the food that you helped peddle. In that vein, you got Jabba the Hutt right. But Princess Leia in her skimpy steel bikini with cellulite? Indiana Jones having to hit the brakes during a car chase and find a glass of water so he can take his Lipitor? Now that I think about it, wouldn't Viagra have been the best tie-in for the new movie?

Humor aside, I ask you to consider the reality of childhood obesity. It's a serious problem; it needs serious solutions. Doing your part would help more than you might imagine.

Sincerely, Rahul K. Parikh, M.D.

-- By Rahul K. Parikh, M.D.

**Hyperlinks contained in this article have been removed. See document on the web for links.

Source: http://www.salon.com/mwt/vital_signs/2008/05/21/indiana_jones_obesity/



“Open Letter to a Young Negro”Blackthink, Chapter 10

—Jesse Owens

[p. 181]

Chapter 10: Open a Letter to a Young Negro10: Open Letter to a Young Negro

"Tell them how the good times between us were."

-- Luz Long

"All black men are insane. . . . Almost any living thing would quickly go mad under the unrelenting exposure to the climate created and reserved for black men in a white racist society. . . . I am secretly pleased about the riots. Nothing would please the tortured man inside me more than seeing bigger and better riots every day."

Those words were spoken by Bob Teague to his young son in Letters to a Black Boy. He wrote these letters to "alert" his son to "reality" so that the boy wouldn't "be caught off guard -- unprepared and undone."

Are his words true? [p. 182]

Does a black man have to be just about insane to exist in America?

Do all Negroes feel a deep twinge of pleasure every time we see a white man hurt and a part of white society destroyed?

Is reality something so stinking terrible that it'll grab your heart out of your chest with one hand and your manhood with the other if you don't meet it armed like a Nazi storm trooper?

Bob Teague is no "militant." He's a constructive, accomplished journalist with a wife and child. If he feels hate and fear, can you ever avoid feeling it?

Whether it's Uncle Tom or ranting rioter doing the talking today, you're told that you'll have to be afraid and angry. The only difference is that one tells you to hold it in and the other tells you to let it out. Life is going to be torture because you're a Negro, they all say. They only differ on whether you should grin and bear it or take it out on everyone else. But National Urban League official, Black Panther leader or any of the in-betweens all seem to agree on one thing today: "We must organize around our strongest bond -- our blackness."

Is that really our strongest bond? Isn't there something deeper, richer, better in this world than the color of one's skin?


Let me tell you the answer to that. Let me prove it to you so strong and deep that you'll taste it for all the days to come. Let me throw my arm around your shoulder and walk you to where so much good is and where the only blackness worth fearing is the black they're trying to color your soul.

Even though you weren't born for ten, maybe twenty [p. 183]years after, you've probably heard the story -- the story of the 1936 Olympics and how I managed to come out with four gold medals. A lot of words have been written about those medals and about the one for the broad jump in particular. Because it was during that event that Hitler walked out on me and where, in anger, I supposedly fouled on my first two jumps against his prize athlete, Luz Long. The whole Olympics for me and, symbolically, for my country, seemed to rest on that third jump.

Yes, a lot of words have been written about that day and the days that followed. And they've almost been true, just as it's almost true that sometimes every black man weakens a little and does hate the white man, just as it's almost true that reality is tough at times and does make you want to weaken.

Yet, just like those "truths," what was written about me was only a half-truth without some other more important words. I want to say them to you now.

I was up against it, but long before I came to the broad jump. Negroes had gone to the Olympics before, and Negroes had won before. But so much more was expected of me. Because this was the time of the most intense conflict between dictatorship and freedom the world had ever known. Adolf Hitler was arming his country against the entire world, and almost everyone sensed it. It was ironic that these last Olympic Games before World War II was to split the earth were scheduled for Berlin, where he would be the host. From the beginning, Hilter had perverted the games into a test between two forms of government, just as he perverted almost everything else he touched.

Almost everything else.

The broad jump preliminaries came before the finals of [p. 184]the other three events I was in -- the hundred-meter and two-hundred-meter dashes and the relay. How I did in the broad jump would determine how I did in the entire Olympics. For here was where I held a world record that no one had ever approached before except one man: Luz Long, Hitler's best athlete.

Long, a tall, sandy-haired, perfectly built fellow (the ideal specimen of Hitler's "Aryan supremacy" idea), had been known to jump over twenty-six feet in preparing for the Games. No one knew for sure what he could really do because Hitler-kept him under wraps. But stories had filtered out that he had gone as far as I had, farther than anyone else in the world. I was used to hearing rumors like that and tried not to think too much about it. Yet the first time I laid eyes on Long, I sensed that the stories hadn't been exaggerated. After he took his first jump, I knew they hadn't. This man was something. I'd have to set an Olympic record and by no small margin to beat him.

It would be tough. August in Berlin was muggier than May in Ann Arbor or Columbus. Yet the air was cool, and it was hard getting warmed up. The ground on the runway


to the broad jump pit wasn't the same consistency as that at home. Long was used to it. I wasn't.

His first jump broke the Olympic record. In the trials!

Did it worry me a little? More than a little. He was on his home ground and didn't seem susceptible to the pressure. In fact, he'd already done one thing I always tried to do in every jumping event and race I ran: discourage the competition by getting off to a better start.

Well, there was only one way to get back the psychological advantage. Right off the bat I'd have to make a better jump than he did. I didn't want to do it that way -- it [p. 185]wasn't wise to use up your energy in preliminaries. Long could afford to showboat in the trials. This was his only event, the one he'd been groomed for under Hitler for years. I had to run three races besides, more than any other athlete on either team.

But I felt I had to make a showing right then. I measured off my steps from the takeoff board and got ready. Suddenly an American newspaperman came up to me. "Is it true, Jesse?" he said.

"Is what true?" I answered.

"That Hitler walked out on you? That he wouldn't watch you jump?"

I looked over at where the German ruler had been sitting. No one was in his box. A minute ago he had been there. I could add two and two. Besides, he'd already snubbed me once by refusing the Olympic Committee's request to have me sit in that box.

This was too much. I was mad, hate-mad, and it made me feel wild. I was going to show him. He'd hear about this jump, even if he wouldn't see it!

I felt the energy surging into my legs and tingling in the muscles of my stomach as it never had before. I began my run, first almost in slow motion, then picking up speed, and finally faster and faster until I was moving almost as fast as I did during the hundred-yard dash. Suddenly the takeoff board was in front of me. I hit it, went up, up high -- so high I knew I was outdoing Long and every man who ever jumped.

But they didn't measure it. I heard the referee shout "Foul!" in my ears before I even came down. I had run too fast, been concentrating too much on a record and not enough on form. I'd gone half a foot over the takeoff board. [p. 186]

All the newspaper stories and books I've ever seen about that Olympic broad jump had me fouling on the next of my three tries, because the writers felt that made the story more dramatic. The truth is I didn't foul at all on my second jump.

I played it safe. Too safe. I was making absolutely sure I didn't foul. All right, I said to myself. Long had won his point. But who would remember the preliminaries tomorrow? It was the finals that counted. I had to make sure I got into those finals. I


wasn't going to let him psyche me out of it. I wasn't going to let Hitler anger me into throwing away what I'd worked ten years for.

So I ran slower, didn't try to get up as high during my jump. Hell, I said to myself, if I can do twenty-six feet trying my best, I sure ought to be able to do a foot less without much effort. That would be enough to qualify for the finals, and there I'd have three fresh jumps again. That's where I'd take apart Luz Long.

It's funny how sometimes you can forget the most important things. I forgot that I wasn't the kind of guy who could ever go halfway at anything. More than that, no sprinter or jumper can really take just a little bit off the top. It's like taking a little bit off when you're working a mathematical equation or flying an airplane through a storm. You need the total concentration and total effort from beginning to end. One mistake and you're dead. More than that, my whole style was geared to giving everything I had, to using all my speed and energy every second of what I was doing. Once or twice I'd tried a distance race just for kicks. I was miserable at it. If I couldn't go all out all the time, I was no good.

So my second jump was no good. [p. 187]

I didn't foul. But I didn't go far enough to qualify, either. It wasn't just Long and Owens in the event anymore. There were dozens of other participants from other countries, and a bunch of them -- too many -- were now ahead of me.

I had one jump left.

It wasn't enough.

I looked around nervously, panic creeping into every cell of my body. On my right was Hitler's box. Empty. His way of saying I was a member of an inferior race who would give an inferior performance. In back of that box was a stadium containing more than a hundred thousand people, almost all Germans, all wanting to see me fail. On my right was the broad jump official. Was he fair? Yeah. But a Nazi. If it came to a close call, a hairline win-or-lose decision, deep down didn't he, too, want to see me lose? Worst of all, a few feet away was Luz Long, laughing with a German friend of his, unconcerned, confident, Aryan.

They were against me. Every one of them. I was back in Oakville again. I was a nigger.

Did I find some hidden resource deep within me, rise to the occasion and qualify for the finals -- as every account of those Olympics says?

The hell I did.

I found a hidden resource, but it wasn't inside of me. It was in the most unlikely and revealing place possible.

Time was growing short. One by one the other jumpers had been called and taken their turns. What must have been twenty minutes or half an hour suddenly seemed


like only seconds. I was going to be called next. I wasn't ready. I wanted to shout it -- I wasn't ready!

Then the panic was total. I had to walk in a little circle to keep my legs from shaking, hold my jaw closed tight to [p. 188]stop my teeth from chattering. I didn't know what to do. I was lost, with no Charles Riley to turn to. If I gave it everything I had, I'd foul again. If I played it safe, I wouldn't go far enough to qualify. And this is what it all comes down to, I thought to myself. Ten years and 4,500 miles to make a nigger of myself and not even reach the finals!

And then I couldn't even think anymore. I started to feel faint, began to gasp for breath. Instinctively, I turned away from everyone so they couldn't see me. But I couldn't help hearing them. The thousands of different noises of the stadium congealed into one droning hum -- ch-ch-ch-ch ch-ch-ch-ch, louder and louder in my ears. It was as though they were all chanting it. Hatefully, gleefully. Ch-ch-ch-ch. Ch-ch-ch-ch. CH-CH-CH-CH.

Suddenly I felt a firm hand on my arm. I turned and looked into the sky-blue eyes of my worst enemy.

"Hello, Jesse Owens," he said. "I am Luz Long."

I nodded. I couldn't speak.

"Look," he said. "There is no time to waste with manners. What has taken your goat?"

I had to smile a little in spite of myself -- hearing his mixed-up American idiom.

"Aww, nothing," I said. "You know how it is."

He was silent for a few seconds. "Yes," he said finally, "I know how it is. But I also know you are a better jumper than this. Now, what has taken your goat?"

I laughed out loud this time. But I couldn't tell him, him above all. I glanced over at the broad jump pit. I was about to be called.

Luz didn't waste words, even if he wasn't sure of which ones to use. [p. 189]

"Is is what Reichskenzler Hitler did?" he asked.

I was thunderstruck that he'd say it. "I --" I started to answer. But I didn't know what to say.

"I see," he said, "Look, we talk about that later. Now you must jump. And you must qualify."

"But how?" I shot back.


"I have thought," he said. "You are like I am. You must do it one hundred percent. Correct?" I nodded. "Yet you must be sure not to foul." I nodded again, this time in frustration. And as I did, I heard the loudspeaker call my name.

Luz talked quickly. "Then you do both things, Jesse. You remeasure your steps. You take off six inches behind the foul board. You jump as hard as you can. But you need not fear to foul."

All at one the panic emptied out of me like a cloudburst.

Of course!

I jogged over to the runway. I remeasured my steps again. Then I put a towel parallel to the place half a foot before the takeoff board from where I wanted to jump.

I walked back to the starting spot. I began my run, hit the place beside the towel, shot up into the air like a bird and qualified by more than a foot.

The next day I went into the finals of the broad jump and waged the most intense competition of my life with Luz Long. He broke his own personal record and the Olympic record, too, and then I -- thanks to him -- literally flew to top that. Hours before I had won the hundred meters in 10.3, and then afterward the 200 meters in 20.7 and helped our team to another gold medal and record in the relay.

During the evenings that framed those days, I would sit with Luz in his space or mine in the Olympic village, and we would form an even more intense friendship. We were [p. 190]sometimes as different inside as we looked on the outside. But the things that were the same were much more important to us.

Luz had a wife and a young child, too. His was a son. We talked about everything from athletics to art, but mostly we talked about the future. He didn't say it in so many words, but he seemed to know that war was coming and he would have to be in it. I didn't know then whether the United States would be involved, but I did realize that this earth was getting to be a precarious place for a young man trying to make his way. And, like me, even if war didn't come, Luz wasn't quite sure how he would make the transformation from athletics to life once the Olympics were over.

We talked, of course, about Hitler and what he was doing. Luz was torn between two feelings. He didn't believe in Aryan supremacy any more than he believed the moon was made of German cheese, and he was disturbed at the direction in which Hitler was going. Yet he loved his country and felt a loyalty to fight for it if it came to that, if only for the sake of his wife and son. I couldn't understand how he could go along with Hitler under any circumstances, though, and I told him so.

He wasn't angry when I said it. He just held out his hands and nodded. He didn't explain because he didn't understand completely himself, just as I couldn't explain to him how the United States tolerated the race situation. So we sat talking about these things, some nights later than two Olympic performers should have. We didn't come up with any final answers then, only with a unique friendship. For we were simply two uncertain young men in an uncertain world. One day we would learn the truth, but in the


[p. 191]meantime, we would make some mistakes. Luz's mistake would cost him too much.

Yet we didn't make the mistake of not seeing past each other's skin color to what was within. If we couldn't apply that principle to things on a world scale, we still could live it fully in our own way in the few days we had together, the only days together we would ever have.

We made them count. We crammed as much understanding and fun as we could into every hour. We didn't even stop when we got out on the track. Luz was at my side cheering me on for every event, except the broad jump, of course. There he tried to beat me for all he was worth, but nature had put just a little more spring into my body and I went a handful of inches farther.

After he failed in his last attempt to beat me, he leaped out of the pit and raced to my side. To congratulate me. Then he walked toward the stands pulling me with him while Hitler was glaring, held up my hand and shouted to the gigantic crowd, "Jesse Owens! Jesse Owens!"

The stadium picked it up. "Jesse Owens!" they responded -- though it sounded more like Jaz-eee-ooh-wenz. Each time I went for a gold medal and a record in the next three days, the crowd would greet me with "Jaz-eee-ooh-wenz! Jaz-eee-ooh-wenz!"

I'd had people cheering me before, but never like this. Many of those men would end up killing my countrymen, and mine theirs, but the truth was that they didn't want to, and would only do it because they "had" to. Thanks to Luz, I learned that the false leaders and sick movements of this earth must be stopped in the beginning, for they turn humanity against itself. [p. 192]

Luz and I vowed to write each other after the Games, and we did. For three years we corresponded regularly, though the letters weren't always as happy as our talks at the Olympics had been. Times were hard for me and harder for Luz. He had had to go into the German army, away from his wife and son. His letters began to bear strange postmarks. Each letter expressed more and more doubt about what he was doing. But he felt he had no other choice. He was afraid for his family if he left the army. And how could they leave Germany? It was Luz's world, just as the South had been the only world for so many Negroes.

The last letter I got from him was in 1939. "Things become more difficult," he said, "and I am afraid, Jesse. Not just the thought of dying. It is that I may die for the wrong thing. But whatever might become of me, I hope only that my wife and son will stay alive. I am asking you who are my only friend outside of Germany, to someday visit them if you are able, to tell them about why I had to do this, and how the good times between us were. Luz."

I answered right away, but my letter came back. So did the next, and the one after. I inquired about Luz through a dozen channels. Nothing. A war was on. Finally, when it was over, I was able to get in touch with Luz's wife and find out what had happened to him. He was buried somewhere in the African desert.

Luz Long had been my competition in the Olympics. He was a white man -- a Nazi white man who fought to destroy my country.


I loved Luz Long, as much as my own brothers. I still love Luz Long.

I went back to Berlin a few years ago and met his son, [p. 193]another fine young man. And I told Karl about his father. I told him that, though fate may have thrown us against one another, Luz rose above it, rose so high that I was left with not only four gold medals I would never have had, but with the priceless knowledge that the only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.

Today there are times when that bond doesn't seem to exist. I know. I felt the same way before my third jump at the 1936 Olympics, as well as a thousand other times. There've been many moments when I did feel like hating the white man, all white men, felt like giving in to fearful reality once and for all.

But I've learned those moments aren't the real me. And what's true of me is true of most men I've met. My favorite speech in a movie is the scene in High Noon when Gary Cooper, alone and hunted by the four sadistic killers, momentarily weakens and saddles a horse to get out of town. Like everyone else, his deputy wants him to do it and helps him. But Cooper finally won't get up on the horse.

"Go on!" his deputy shouts. "Do it!"

"I can't do it," Cooper says.

"You were going to a minute ago!"

"I was tired," Cooper tells him. "A man thinks a lotta things when he's tired. But I can't do it."

We all get tired. But know yourself, know your humanness, and you'll know why you can never finally throw in with the bigotry of blackthink. You must not be a Negro. You must be a human being first and last, if not always.

Reach back, Harry Edwards. Reach back inside yourself and grapple for that extra ounce of guts, that last cell of manhood even you didn't know you had, that something [p. 194]that let you stand the pain and beat the ghetto and go on to break the records. Use it now to be totally honest with yourself.

For when the chips are really down, you can either put your skin first or you can go with what's inside it.

Sure, there'll be times when others try to keep you from being human. But remember that prejudice isn't new. It goes way back, just as slavery goes way back, to before there ever was an America. Men have always had to meet insanity without losing their own minds.

That doesn't mean you should stand still for bigotry. Fight it. Fight it for all you're worth. But fight your own prejudice, too. Don't expect perfection in your white brother until there's not an ounce of blackthink left in you. And remember that the


hardest thing for all of us isn't to fight, but to stop and think. Black, think . . . is the opposite of . . . blackthink.

I'm not going to play any Establishment games with you. My way isn't its own reward. Self-knowledge, getting rid of the bitterness, a better life are the rewards.

So be a new kind of "militant," an immoderate moderate, one hundred percent involved, but as a man, not a six-foot hunk of brown wrapping paper, be an extremist when it comes to your ideals, a moderate when it comes to the raising of your fist.

Live every day deep and strong. Don't pass up your Olympics and your Luz Long. Don't let the blackthinkers sell you out for a masquerade rumble where the real you can never take off the mask.

You see, black isn't beautiful.

White isn't beautiful.

Skin-deep is never beautiful.

Owens, Jesse, 1913-1980, Chapter 10: Open a Letter to a Young Negro in Blackthink: My Life as a Black Man and White Man. Neimark, Paul G.. New York, NY: William Morrow & Co., 1970, pp. 181-194 [Bibliographic Details] [1970] S8198-D011

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an open letter to incoming high school freshmen: the 5e method

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