Bob Dylan Cover of Original Miners' Song About Gold Rush

Photo: Justin Townes Earle from Tuesday night's show at the Mill in Iowa City. Earle played a show with a style similar to what might have been found decades ago in the West.

Below you will find one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs since I was like 17. I did not realize it when I first heard it in high school that its actually a cover of a real Gold Rush song. Note the similarity in themes of topics we have discussed in Deadwood, including violence, alcohol use and etc.



I'm old Tom Moore from the bummer's shore in that good old golden days
They call me a bummer and a ginsot too, but what cares I for praise ?
I wander around from town to town just like a roving sign
And all the people say, "There goes Tom Moore, in the days of '49"
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

My comrades they all loved me well, a jolly saucy crew
A few hard cases I will recall though they all were brave and true
Whatever the pitch they never would flinch, they never would fret or whine
Like good old bricks they stood the kicks in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

There was New York Jake, the butcher boy, he was always getting tight
And every time that he'd get full he was spoiling for a fight
But Jake rampaged against a knife in the hands of old Bob Stein
And over Jake they held a wake in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

There was Poker Bill, one of the boys who was always in a game
Whether he lost or whether he won, to him it was always the same
He would ante up and draw his cards and he would you go a hatful blind
In the game with death Bill lost his breath, in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

There was Ragshag Bill from Buffalo, I never will forget
He would roar all day and he'd roar all night and I guess he's roaring yet
One day he fell in a prospect hole, in a roaring bad design
And in that hole he roared out his soul, in the days of '49
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

Of the comrades all that I've had, there's none that's left to boast
And I'm left alone in my misery like some poor wandering ghost
And I pass by from town to town, they call me a rambling sign
"There goes Tom Moore, a bummer shore in the days of '49 "
In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49.

Finish Deadwood By Tuesday

Hello Class.

Don't forget that you need to be finished with reading Deadwood by next Tuesday. Tuesday is also the due date of Paper #1.

China Doll

I just finished the chapter on the China Doll and I am seriously pissed off. I realize that women during this period of time were seen as nothing more than property and an investment. However, the fact that this woman's death was seen as nothing more than a blessing in disguise to most and something that "Bismarck" felt was necessary is unbelievable. Her death also is ironic...she tried to kill the man responsible for her brother's death and in turn is murdered. This is why I hate getting involved in a book and actually liking a character just to see that they're brutally murdered and no one even cares. This was more of a venting post rather than an insightful one. Furthermore, she was a prostitute even if she was off sleeping with all of Deadwood that would just mean she's awesome at her job not turn her into a butcher shop!

Wild Bill and Mercury!

I initially thought it was a little unclear why Bill was rubbing mercury all over himself throughout the reading. Here's why,

The History Of Syphilis And Its Treatment: "Treating Syphilis

Treatment of syphilis has altered the way it affects us both socially and physically. By 1557, leper colonies were being set up throughout Europe specifically for people with venereal disease. In 1690, as the epidemic slowed down a bit, hospitals were the place for most syphilitic patients. The treatment of choice at this time was mercury.

Mercury the earliest chemical treatments for syphilis. Ore cinnabar, a form of mercury, had been used in the 1300's for the treatment of various skin diseases including leprosy. The application of the ointment to syphilitic lesions was an obvious choice. Giorgio Sommariva of Verona was the first person on record to use mercury to treat syphilis in 1496. Jacopo Berengario da Carpi became famous in Italy soon after this first treatment for successfully administering mercury to syphilitic patients. Mercury was used in the form of ointments, oral administration, and vapor baths. Such treatments remained popular for three centuries. In the 1800's, mercury was used so liberally to nearly any ulcer found, that many patients were more injured from the treatment then from their ailment."

Swearingen

After watching the HBO episode Thursday and reading Deadwood, it is clear that Swearingen is portrayed differently in each respective piece. I found myself liking him a lot more in the episode than I do in the book. I thought his interaction with Woo showed a different side to the guy from the book, whose actions early in the book with Malcom sort of threw me off his character. Through his interaction, we can learn a lot about not only the type of people in Deadwood, but also about their interactions with one-another, both socially and economically. While Swearingen publically made examples of Woo, demanding, for instance, that he use the back door to enter and leave an establishment, he privately gave us insight into the economic relationship between whites and the Chinese. I am interested to see how his character develops, and how his character can continue to give both readers and viewers ideas of life in Deadwood.

Appaloosa

This past weekend, I watched the movie Appaloosa. The movie is set in 1882 in New Mexico Territory when two men by the names of Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch were hired by the local politicians of Appaloosa to patrol the town as marshal and deputy. At the time, a wealthy new rancher of the area had been causing a great deal of disruption in the town when his gang of thugs killed three of Appaloosa's lawmen and damaged the local commerce.

In the movie, the town of Appaloosa seems further "advanced" than that of Deadwood. One of the biggest differences I noticed was the fact that by 1882 there was a railroad running through the area. The addition of a railroad very clearly changed the economics of the American West and brought with it new means of trade and changes in immigration patterns.

Watching the movie was very interesting. It opened my eyes to yet another portrayal of the historic American West. While the presence of violence, drinking, and whores was still very prominent, the town of Appaloosa did seem to be slightly more controlled than that of the town portrayed in Deadwood. If anyone is interested, it's definitely worth watching!

Comparisons

I noticed a couple of things were similar between Bent's Fort and Deadwood when thinking about the social situations. One was that acts of violence/murder were almost too common and no one made a huge deal out of it. The Indians were known for chopping their enemies up and gun fights were a daily occurrance. In Bent's Fort, townships weren't really set up, so there wasn't a strong law. The "law-like" sense came from respect, except when it came to the Indians. In Deadwood, everyone's illegal anyway. It wouldn't make sense to have laws, so no one paid much attention when someone died. I noticed the most attention anyone ever paid was when Wild Bill died. He had quite a turn-out for his funeral, sounded like! It surprised me when no one really went after Jack McCall. The most they did was hold a court hearing for it. It didn't have much of an impact, though, because no one could possibly hold any real evidence against him. It was just another gun fight between two men, basically. Another comparison was in the amount of alcohol consumed. Alcohol never fails to make an appearance in any story/movie about the West. It's used a little differently in the two books, however. In Deadwood, it's consumed by everyone and there's many different saloons to choose from. It's just what everyone did, every night. In Bent's Fort, it was used to "pursuade" the Indians into trading away everything they had. It was thought of as a tool for business many times. Alcohol was consumed in the same amount by the "white men" just as much as in Deadwood, I'm sure, but the way it was talked about in Bent's Fort puts a different story behind it.

Summer Jobs

If reading Deadwood has interested any of you in working in the Black Hills this summer, there are still some announcements on www.usajobs.gov for positions at Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower and the BLM generally: http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=84866476&JobTitle=Park+Ranger&q=blm+south+dakota&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&pg=1&re=0&AVSDM=2010-01-29+03%3a23%3a00#duties

Pete Dexter

Pete Dexter

• Born 1943 in Pontiac, Michigan
• His father dies when he was 4 years old
• Dexter lives and writes on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington
• Famous novels include:
  God's Pocket (1983)
  Deadwood (1986)
  Paris Trout (1988) (1988 National Book Award for Fiction)
  Brotherly Love (1991)
  The Paperboy (1995) (1996 Literary Award, PEN Center USA)
  Train (2003)
  Paper Trails (2007)
  Spooner (2009)
• Famous Screenplays: Paris Trout (1991)
  Rush (1991)
  Michael (1996)
  Mulholland Falls (1996)

Social Organizations

I know we discussed in class definitions of how people organize social groups so I thought I would give the Anthropological definition to help clarify things. Elman Service was a Cultural Anthropologist who earned his PhD from Colombia in 1951.

Bands : Small groups of related people; typically hunter-gatherers.

Tribes : Somewhat larger food-producing groups; no central control or strong heirarchy.

Chiefdoms : Larger groups with central control; redistribution of resources by chief; embedded rank and status differences

States or Civilizations : Centralized and institutionalized control.

Modern Deadwood

I went to http://www.deadwood.org/ and what is written above is the introduction to the town. After reading the first pages of the book, this description made me laugh. While in modern times this may be a fun vaction spot, I am sure that "fine food and hot nightlife" were not typical reason for people going to Deadwood in the 1800s. Also, I see no mention of the "whore" that seem to define much of the cultrue of Deadwood in the first pages of the book, guess they forgot that part of the "rich and diverse" history haha.

Justin Townes Earle Live at Mill Next Week

Earle, like his father, has been making hay out of so-called western-noir for years in terms of style and music. If you go to this show and write a one age response I will give you 1 extra credit point.

Model 1879 Trapdoor Springfield

Thought some people might like to know what kind of rifle the whore man has in the first chapter. Charley calls it a Springfield Needle gun. I had never heard of these, so I found this article!

http://www.rifleshootermag.com/featured_rifles/RS_0108_11/

It's pretty cool how this rifle works. It is basically a Springfield Model 1863 muzzleloader which has been modified to use a centerfire cartridge. It is nicknamed the Needle gun because it employs a very long firing pin.

Vinnie

Deadwood the TV Series

I decided to watch a couple episodes of Deadwood on DVD since we are reading the book and HBO shows are usually pretty good (The Wire and The Sopranos) and it was surprisingly good. I think if anybody has started reading the book and found it enjoyable, they would like the show. It is only 3 seasons and each season only has 12 or 13 episodes so it probably goes fast, but so far the episodes I have seen have been worth the watch.
Also, AOL rated it as the 3rd best show of the 2000's. http://insidetv.aol.com/2009/12/07/feature-page-10-1/

Bent's Fort vs Jeremiah Johnson

Overall I thought that the novel and the movie were both good. The book contained more details than the movie did, but the movie helped to clarify visuals from the book. For example, the book gave us many descriptions of the Indians painting their faces and the movie had many Indians with painted faces. The movie also gave a good idea of the habitat that the traders needed to travel through. I also wanted to discuss some of the similarities and differences that I picked up during our class discussion that might be helpful.

To begin, trading with the Indians was a similarity that the novel and book showed. The novel was mostly about trading with the Indians and how they managed to have a mutal partnership for trading. They were both reliant on each other for products. The movie portrayed trading when Jeremiah gave the Flathead Indians the scalps and mules of the Crow Indians. The leader of the Flatheads would have been insulted if he could not give a better gift, so he gave Jeremiah his daughter's hand in marriage. This leads me to the next similarity which is marrying an Indian woman. The book and the movie both show that it was okay for the whites to marry an Indian girl. The book showed some people to have more than one Indian wife, and this was a good idea, because now that tribe had your back. Another similarity was the idea of white people settling to the West. The white settlement in the West is one of the main reasons why Indians had problems with the white traders. Indians were used to roaming freely and now they were trying to be tamed and alcohol was also not a good factor to the Indian tribe. These were just some of the similarities.

There also were some differences from the book and the movie. The book was more about fur traders and how they manages to create a new passage for trading with the Mexicans and Indians. It also was more of political aspect of trading. The book also talked mostly about traders and the Indians that they had problems with or had an alliance with. The movie on the other hand was more about a mountain man who wants to be left alone. Jeremiah Johnson did not care for trading, he cared more about the natural environment and he wanted to live freely in the mountains. These were just some of the differences that I picked up from the book and movie.

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

DO YOU KNOW AN OUTSTANDING TEACHING ASSISTANT? Please consider nominating them for an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award. This spring the Council on Teaching will administer 30 awards of $1,000 each.

Nominees must have had formal student contact during one of the following semesters: Spring 2009, Summer 2009, or Fall 2009. Directions for preparing nominations can be found on the Council on Teaching website at www.uiowa.edu/~cot. Nominations are due to the departmental executive officer (DEO) of the TA's teaching department by March 15 and to the Council on Teaching, in care of the Office of the Provost, by March 29.

If you have any questions, please contact Jill Beckman (jill-beckman@uiowa.edu, 335-0214) or Carol Lammer (carol-lammer@uiowa.edu, 335-0146).


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The Role of the Humanities in the Research University

NEH Chair Jim Leach will be visiting campus on Feb. 16-17 (next week). On the morning of Wed., Feb 17, 10 am- 10:50 in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol, the UI Faculty Senate is sponsoring a short presentation by Jim and then discussion on the topic “The role of the humanities in the research university.” (Jim Leach’s understanding of the humanities includes the arts as well.) We anticipate that the Provost and VP for Research will be present to listen.

Deadwood Background

Key Concepts and Terms to Take Away:

The Significance of Gold and Mineral Mining in Western American History

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868: http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/1868_la.html

The Black Hills War

Social Life of Mining Camps

The Legal and Ethical Dilemmas of the Federal Government in the Black Hills Gold Rush

Some Random Photos of The Black Hills: http://www.flickr.com/photos/denniskuhnel/collections/72157615505242337/

Jeremiah Johnson

I believe that watching the film Jeremiah Johnson while we were reading Bent's Fort was good. I was able to get a better understanding for the book by watching the film. There was comparisons we made in class that helped get a better visual of what the Bent's and the traders went through. We talked a lot about the interactions between the Indians and Jeremiah Johnson versus the Bent's and the Indians. I agree what was said in class, Jeremiah Johnson had more of a emotional interaction with the Indians, where as the Bent's relationship was strictly political. Without the Indians the Bent's trade would not exist. Johnson was more of an independent 'mountain man'. He kept more to himself, but when there was interaction it was pulling more on the emotions. For example at the end of the film when the Indian and Johnson did a salute and went on their way. I also found it interesting how Jeremiah Johnson considered himself a 'mountain man' where the Bent's were traders. I think that is because Johnson was more on a mission of living on his own in the mountains and the Bent's were all about the fur trading business. I thought the movie overall was okay, it did help draw an image of what the Bent's some what went through.

Jeremiah Johnson

When we were discussing Jeremiah Johnson in class we talked about the message the movie was trying to send, and i feel that the movie being filmed in the early 70's really helps reveal what the movie portrays about the West. In the 60's and early 70's there was a lot more coverage on things like nature and the hippies were very influential. Jeremiah Johnson symbolizes being one with nature and living life of "total freedom". The movie really shows what was so intriguing about the West for people back then. It shows how certain people in the 70's and still today can want to live a life of absolute freedom and among nature albeit under much different circumstances and in a more modern world. In the end the ideas of being able to live chasing every inner impulse still holds true today.

Reading Schedule for February

February 2 Lavender, 153-217 , Indians and the Fur Trade.
February 4 Lavender, 218-289, Remembering the Fur Trade.
February 9 Lavender, 289-END
February 11 Class Discussion, Skim sections in White on Gold Camps for class.
February 16 Dexter, 1-60
February 18 Dexter, 61-120.
February 23 Dexter, 121-End
February 25 (Spare Class Period)
Paper 1 Due March 2!

Wednesday U. of Iowa Writer's Workshop Reading at The Mill

Wed 02.10

Talk Art - Writers' Workshop

In a warm, dark room, listen to U of I Writer's Workshop student readings. There will be one poetry reading and one fiction reading. Sit back and enjoy the words of tomorrow's literary talent. 10PM / Small Cover

Web site: http
://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/

Slaying of Charles Bent

In a previous class we talked about the violence in this novel and how we as the readers had almost become immune (for the most part) to it. The murdering of Charles Bent seemed different to me. The detail that went in to it just made me somewhat cringe as I read. The struggle that he went through, however, with pulling arrows out from his face and chest and still managing to make it to the escape hole, showed his character that had been portrayed throughout the novel.

Some of the distinct details on page 303:

-"The Pueblos began mutilating Charles's body"

-"Ululating other crouched over him and, as the Pueblos could, deftly scalped him with a bowstring."

-"Fastening Charles's scalp to a board with brass tacks..."

-"...Charles's body beside them in a pool of drying blood."

Jeremiah Johnson

Overall, I thought watching Jeremiah Johnson helped me to get a better grasp of what life was like for mountain men and traders. After watching the film, I had a greater appreciation for the stories told in Bent's Fort about the traders' encounters with Natives, with each other, and with nature.

I thought it was interesting to watch the relationship between Jeremiah and Swan to play out, especially after our in-class discussions about such relationships. Often in Bent's Fort, it is hard to believe that a loving relationship ever really blossomed between traders and Native women. With a few exceptions in the novel, it seems as though such marriages occurred for political and economical gains more frequently than they occurred on the basis of love. In Jeremiah Johnson, we see a different side to such stories, for even though Jeremiah was not looking for a wife (or child,) it was clear through his actions that real feelings for both parties had developed when Jeremiah returned to his home to find his family killed.

Random Relation to Bent's Fort

While watching a movie this weekend- I thought of Bent's Fort. The clip from District 9 shows a someone working to get rid of "district 9"- he is going around an making the aliens sign a form that will lead to their eviction. This reminded me of how the Indians used to be taken advantage of in the same type of way in Bent's Fort. This may be a random thought- but I thought I would share... I would also like to note that this was NOT a very good movie and wouldn't recommend watching it!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4i8XlWilQ

Jeremiah Johnson meets Johnny Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPA3RuC8pK0

Even though director Sydney Pollack captured the real essence of mountain man in Jeremiah Johnson, portraying Johnson single-handedly taking on, and defeating, a group of 10+ Crows, fighting off a pack of hungry wolves, and by chance marrying the most beautiful Flathead woman of the tribe, he absentmindedly forgot one thing that would have added to the movie's genus...Johnny Cash. The creator of this youtube video inserted Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" as Jeremiah leads the soliders through the Crow's burial ground. It's hilarious how well the lyrics match up to Jeremiahs's journey there and back. The only thing that would've made this video complete is if the Crow singing to Johnson at the end of the clip would've been Cash's voice instead of the Crow's chant.

Reaction to Movie (Jeremiah Johnson)

While watching the movie I noticed a lot of things that I take for granted in life. For example, little things such as gloves. I noticed in the film, Johnson never really wears a proper glove. When it was winter, he was shown tearing off a piece of a sleeve to wrap his hands for some warmth. He sleeps outside underneath a tree; he wakes up and blows on and rubs his hands together. This is unimaginable to me. I feel as if I need gloves walking to and from class around Iowa City in the winter. I guess this shows how life styles over generations have changed so much. Also another side note on gloves, anyone who has chopped wood knows the wear and tear on your hands is inevitable and agitating. Johnson build one heck of a cabin by hand with out any type of glove as well. Johnson is a true, rugged country man. This is just a small example of what I take for granted, not really including all the tedious material possessions I very so much as a twenty year old male in this century.

Next, I also wanted to make a note on how this dysfunctional family of Johnson, Swan and Caleb really find a way to bond. This family was not right from the start. Caleb was thrown onto him by a suicidal mother. At first I thought this kid was just shy or in shock after seeing basically his whole family slaughtered in front of him. But as the movie progressed I was just waiting for the boy to say something, anything, but he did not. I do not know if he could not speak well or at all, but I have to imagine he could being how old he looked. He could clearly understand English, as his mother spoke it and he understands Johnson perfectly. He just does not say anything. I do not understand, I believe it would be harder not to say anything for so long, rather than to non-stop talk for that long. Then this Indian, Flathead, wife gets thrown into the mix. Swan does not speak a word of English, not even "yes" as we saw. Swan is a diligent worker. She, I assume, is the typical Indian women, or so portrayed in the film. She eagerly makes food for the family, even though Johnson's taste buds would argue the flavor. Also Swan was very good for Johnson as clothe maker. She could prepare a hide into a nice, luxurious coat, as fast as Johnson could supply them. After a little while Johnson and Swan seemed to me like they were getting or starting to get intimate and actually connect on a personal level more so than on the basic survival level. The director of the film sure made it apparent that the family was beginning to bond and actually become family. The director did this in what I thought was a corny, but loosely funny way of showing a smiling face glimmering across at the others accompanied by an even cornier music.


I thought it was kind of ironic how the story has unfolded for all three of them along the way. For the boy, Caleb, I think it is kind of ironic because he actually died the same death as the rest of his family had already experienced, and he witnessed. For the Indians it was kind of a "fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice shame on you." Next, it was a little ironic for Swan, being an Indian things like raids we easy to be desensitized to. It is ironic because I assume her tribe has done similar raids and killed people just like her. It to me feels like karma. Lastly, the irony for Johnson is a bit different. Johnson did not want to leave his family to travel with the group, but the leader of the group guilt tripped him into it by saying, "Those people, young children and women, will die if your don't help." Johnson did reluctantly. However the irony or through my eyes stupidity was that he saw first hand the aftermath of an Indian raid, in result he took in Caleb. He knows the Indians are vicious and will do those kids of things, and yet he still left his family alone, unprotected to these savages.


Overall this movie has been entertaining and enjoyable, I will make my final opinion after the movie is completely done with.

Paper Topic #1: Screen Adaptation Assignment

The American West and the Historical Imagination
Screen Adaptation Assignment

For this assignment choose either Option A: Screenplay, Option B: Novelization.
Option A: Fiction/NonFiction into Film

Your assignment is to write your own screenplay or portion of a screenplay adapting a novel or historical episode to film. The texts you should use are Its Your Misfortune, Deadwood or Bent’s Fort. The best plan would be to read all of the book before selecting a section, chapter, or scene to work with. Read the book carefully and select a scene or a sequence of scenes that you can imagine cinematically or visualize projected on a movie screen in your head. You may have to read the section several times to come to know it well enough to fully comprehend its significance in the novel and to write a film version of it.

The screenplay or screenplay portion you produce should include a brief explanation of the context for the scene you are adapting and the scene itself written in script format. Also feel free to consult these screenplays in the Main Library, though this step is not necessary.
Field, Syd. Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay
Field, Syd. Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Horton, Andrew. Writing the Character-Centered Screenplay
Scorese, Martin. The Age of Innocence: The Shooting Script

You should remember that you will be trying to make us understand what the camera sees and shows us; it is not enough to repeat what's in the novel with a suggestion that that's what we're seeing--try to make the screenplay cinematic by imagining how to use the camera to tell the story or dramatize the action. The paper should run 6 pages, typed, double-spaced. The final draft of the paper will be due April 26, 2004.

If you are doing a screenplay, follow these guidelines:

1. The paper should run 6 pages, typed, double-spaced. (It's okay if it runs longer--you'll likely have a lot of white space.) If you would like to work with a partner(s) on a script that is fine, just make sure to add 6 pages of length to your final script for each member of the group.

2. The paper should have a title centered on page 1 with your name centered two lines below it.
3. The paper should begin with a section titled Introduction which runs three-quarters of a page to two pages in length and explains where in the play your screenplay is taken from and what has happened in your screenplay just before the scene you've written begins. END THE INTRODUCTION WITH THREE ASTERISKS (* * *) CENTERED ON THE PAGE.
4. OPTIONAL: If you need to add an afterword to the paper, to explain what happens after your scene or scenes, separate the afterword by three asterisks.
5. Remember that you are adapting the play and are free to make changes that you need to in order to make a better screenplay.

Option B: Film Into Fiction

The point of this assignment is to help you to a better understanding of the difficulty in imagining the American West in writing. For this assignment you can use the film Jeremiah Johnson or an episode of Deadwood (if you would like feel free to choose with my approval another film about the American West to write about). Your task then is to write in fiction form a scene from film. Your best approach would be to see or see again a DVD or video of the film, select a scene that is representative of the whole or a crucial moment in someway and try to write it as a novelist would.

The fiction excerpt you produce should include an explanation of the context for the scene you are adapting and the scene itself written in fiction format. You should remember that you will be trying to take the place of the camera; it is not enough to describe what happens on the screen--you will have to make the prose sufficient to give us all the information we need and to provoke the kind of response in prose that the film is (perhaps) provoking in images and cinematography. The paper should run 4 pages, typed, double-spaced.

Follow these guidelines:

1. The paper should run 4-5 pages, typed, double-spaced.
2. The paper should have a title centered on page 1 with your name centered two lines below it.
3. The paper should begin with a section titled Introduction which runs three-quarters of a page to two pages in length and explains where in the screenplay your novelization is taken from and what has happened in your novelization just before the scene or chapter you've written begins. END THE INTRODUCTION WITH THREE ASTERISKS (* * *) CENTERED ON THE PAGE.
4. The novelization should begin two spaces after the asterisks and follow a format similar to the fictions we've read in the class. It should read like fiction, not like a screenplay or a description of what is happening in a movie while you're watching it.
5. OPTIONAL: If you need to add an afterword to the paper, to explain what happens after your scene or scenes, separate the afterword by three asterisks.
6. Remember that you are adapting the screenplay and are free to make changes that you need to in order to make a better novel.

Grizzly Adams DID have a beard!

After seeing the Grizzly Adams clip in class today it reminded me of when I first heard the name in a classic film, Happy Gilmore. I figured I'd post it to hopefully share some laughs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTOY8qEaIs&feature=related

Indeed Grizzly Adams DID have a beard!

Extra Credit

As I mentioned on the first day of class, I have decided that I will offer everyone some extra credit opportunities this semester.

Like I have done the past couple of years in my classes- if there is interest- there will be an optional field trip to Effigy Mounds National Monument offered. http://www.nps.gov/efmo/index.htm If you go on this trip (which will take place when it gets warmer in March or April), I will give you 3 points on top of your final overall grade in the class.

Also, on Tuesday I will mention the opportunity to watch some films outside of class for extra credit. If you watch one of the films I approve and write a 2-3 page response, you will get one extra credit point. Like with the trip to Effigy, this will be offered only if there is class interest.

Grizzly Adams

Skin Griz scene from Jeremiah Johnson

Jeremiah Johnson and Bent's Fort

Hi Folks.

Make sure you continue with the assigned reading in Bent's Fort. We will split class time on Tuesday between discussing the book and watching the next part of Jeremiah Johnson.

Take care.

My thoughts on Chapter 8

I found Chapter 8 really interesting and had to share a few thoughts about it. The first thing that really interested me was how the military was being used to travel west. The dragoons and other military protection seemed, to me, a bit extreme? I suppose the government wanted their goods to be as safe as possible. It made me wonder when the idea of a police force was first introduced. (I'm sure a police force, like it is today, wasn't introduced for a long, long time). I also found myself getting upset at the way the American government was basically forcing the Indian tribes to get along with each other, almost as if they were groups of kids fighting on a playground. Treaties were being forced upon them, and bribes were being made. I noticed that any time the Americans wanted the Indians to behave they gave them presents (again, like children). Obviously this isn't very fair at all, forcing the Indians out of their native lands and farther west. Many times alcohol was used as well when getting the Indians to "do what the government says." I was surprised at how big of an impact alcohol really had! Eventually William Bent did see how bad this really was and limited the amount allowed to the Indians.



My only other thought was that I loved how Bents' Fort had a pet grizzly bear :)