"The Lottery"

In College Comp we read "The Lottery."

This story helped change my life.  I read it in Mr. Sorenson's sophomore English class.  It blew me away.  I had already read some Edgar Allan Poe and "The Monkey's Paw," "The Most Dangerous Game," and The Outsiders.

But something about "The Lottery"changed me forever.  And it made me love literature even more.

So to see 50 some juniors and seniors experience it is awesome.

We had a great discussion on its meaning, social implications, themes, symbols, and, most importantly, if this could really happen.

To my shock, many think it could.  Sad.

But it's true. We only need to look at the Holocaust or the drug atrocities in Mexico or the slaughter in Ruwanda to see modern examples.

Then I have the read this mock-anthropological study called "Body Ritual Among the Nacerima."  That is simply "American" spelled backwards. It looks at our modern culture (and our obsession with the dentist and our bodies) as if we were a tribal society in the middle of the rainforest.

It should make for an interesting discussion.