Millennials can't afford to be color-blind about race by Victor Luckerson

Magazine: Time
Date: July 20, 2015
Article: Millennials can't afford to be color-blind about race
Author: Victor Luckerson
Page: 25
U-$1.00-B-0.0048712312-BE-205

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Comments: This is a good opinion piece for middle school students to evaluate.

Questions
1. How do history books show racism?
2. What do history books miss about racism?
3. What is racial progress met with?
4. What does the resistance look like?
5. How old was Dylann Roof?
6. How do millennials like to see themselves?
7. What percentage of the people, 14 to 24 years old, on the 2014 survey by MTV said they believed in racial equality?
8. Same survey from #7, what percentage says their generation believed in equality more than older Americans did?
9. Same survey from #7, how many respondents were raised in households that talked about race?
10. Same survey from #7, what percentage of respondents felt comfortable talking about biases against specific groups?
11. What do young people see as a badge of honor?
12. White households are how many times richer than black households?
13. This is the largest gap in wealth since _____.
14. A black person is how many times more likely than a white person to be arrested for drug possession?
15. What survey said that 31% of white millennials rated blacks lazier than whites?
16. What percentage was Gen X on the same question #15?
17. What percentage was the Baby Boomers on the same question #15?
18. What percentage of white millennials rated blacks less intelligent than whites?
19. What percentage of white Gen Xers rate blacks less intelligent than whites?
20. The majority of children under 5 years old in the U.S. are nonwhite.  True or False

Reference
http://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/

Ronda Rousey by Sean Gregory

Magazine: Time
Date: July 20, 2015
Article: Ronda Rousey
Author: Sean Gregory
Page: 64
U-$1.00-B-0.0048712312-BE-205

Comments: interview with Ronda Rousey


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Questions
1. Who called Ronda Rousey, "the world's most dominant athlete"?
2. Who trained Ronda Rousey in judoka?
3. In what year did Ronda's mother win America's first ever judo world title?
4. In which Olympic did Ronda win a bronze medal in judo?
5. What was Ronda's lowest point?
6. What's harder for Ronda, acting of being a MMA fighter?
7. What movies has Ronda appeared in?
8. What is the weirdest thing Ronda has ate while training for a fight?

Reference
http://time.com/author/sean-gregory/

Unit 3, Lesson 5: How did California's government change?

Unit 3, Lesson 5 How did California's government change? page 85


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Questions
1. In what year did a small group of Americans start a revolt?
2. What was this revolt called?
3. In what year did Mexico and the United States fight a war over their border?
4. Who won the Mexican-American War?
5. In what year did Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
6. What territories of Mexico become part of the U.S. with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe?
7. Who became Military Governor of the California Territory?
8. In what year was a meeting called to create a state constitution?
9. How many delegates met in Monterey to write a constitution for California?
10. In what year did California become the 31st state of the U.S.?
11. Who was California's 1st governor?
12. In what year did Sacramento become the state capital?

Unit 3, Lesson 4: How did women help California grow?

Unit 3, Lesson 4 How did women help California grow? page 81


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Questions
1. Did women traveling to California face the same challenges as men?
2. Why did the women travel west?
3. Did many women mined for gold?
4. Did women run boarding houses?
5. Who lived in Santa Barbara during a time when Mexico was at war with the United States?
6. Who arranged a peace meeting between leaders from the U.S. and Mexico?
7. Who thought the treatment of American Indians was unfair?
8. Who wrote the popular novel in 1884?
9. Whose daughter was not allowed to attend public school because she was Chinese American?
10. What did The Compromise of 1850 mean for California?
11. In what year was Bridget "Biddy" Mason born?
12. In what year did Mason's owner take her to California?
13. What did free states have to obey?
14. What were fugitive slave laws?
15. Where did Biddy Mason live?
16. What occupation did Mason do?
17. Who became the first African American women in Los Angeles to own property?
18. Was Biddy Mason known as "Auntie Mason" and "Grandma Mason"?

Unit 3, Lesson 3: How did the discovery of gold affect California?

Unit 3, Lesson 3 How did the discovery of gold affect California? page 75

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Questions
1. Who was building a new sawmill for John Sutter?
2. Where was the mill located?
3. What is the name of the river the sawmill was next to?
4. What was the purpose of the sawmill?
5. Who sold gold-mining tools?
6. What was the California Gold Rush of 1849?
7. What was the name of the new settlers?
8. What were the names of the boomtowns created by the Gold Rush of 1849?
9. Who used the name "Dame Shirley" to describe life in the mining towns and camps?
10. Life as a miner was hard.  True or False
11. What was the name of the document that gave miners the right to mine an area of land?
12. Waht is the official name for fool's gold?
13. Where was most of the gold in California?
14. What is a lode?
15. Where was the Mother Lode located?
16. What was the name of the entrepreneur that made jeans?
17. What was the name of the entrepreneur that didn't make money?
18. Who governed the area of California in 1840s?
19. Who own the El Dorado Hotel in Nevada City?

Unit 3, Lesson 2: How and why did people travel to California?

Unit 3, Lesson 2 How and why did people travel to California? page 71

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Questions
1. Which trip took up to 8 months to complete and was about 17,000 miles?
2. What is the Isthmus of Panama?
3. How long will a trip from the state of Missouri to California take?
4. Which one of these trips did people have to cross rivers, mountains, and deserts?
5. In what year did the Pio Pico family arrive in California?
6. What was the name of the group that the Pio Pico family travel with?
7. Who was the last Mexican Governor of California?
8. What was the name of the person that led the group through Utah and the Mojave Deserts?
9. In what year did the first wagon train of settlers arrive in California?
10. What was the name of the person who arrived in the first wagon train from Independence, Missouri?
11. Who made maps for the U.S. government in the early 1840s?
12. Who was a guide that led settlers west during the 1850s?
13. There were 3 famous trails leading west from Missouri in the 1850s, what are their names?

Unit 3, Lesson 1: Where were California's settlements?

Unit 3, Lesson 1 Where were California's settlements? page 67


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Questions
1. Who was Ivan Kuskov?
2. Who led a group of Russian and native Alaskan fur trappers?
3. Why did the fur trappers come to Northern California?
4. What was the name of the trading post built in Northern California?
5. What happened to the area's sea otters from 1812-1822?
6. Who were unsuccessful to farm around Fort Ross?
7. What event happened in 1821?
8. How many years before Mexico wins independence from Spain do the fur trappers arrive to Northern California?
9. What became Mexican settlements?
10. What were good locations to live, farm, and trade because of their locations?
11. Name three cities that grew from Missions.
12. Who built Sutter's Fort?
13. What year was Sutter's Fort built?
14. What event happened in California in 1769?
15. What was built in San Francisco in 776?
16. What was happening in the east coast in 1776?

Unit 2, Lesson 8 How did Mexican Rule affect California?

Unit 2, Lesson 8 How did Mexican rule affect California? page 61

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Questions
1. From who did Mexico win its independence?
2. Who is the Governor of California?
3. What order did the Governor of California make in 1834?
4. Who lost power and control with this order in 1834?
5. Who received land grants between 1821-1848?
6. Who gave out the land grants?
7. What type of Mexican settlers received land grants?
8. Why were land grants given to the wealthy?
9. What farm or or rancho products were important part of the California economy?
10. What replaced the missions as the center of government?
11. What became powerful under Mexican rule?
12. Who were the rulers of the area under Mexican rule?
13. Did the California Indians have money and land under the California Missions rule?
14. Did the California Indians have money and land under Rancho rule?
15. Was their a change for the California Indians regarding land and money under either rule?

Unit 2, Lesson 7: How did the Mexican War for Independence affect California?

Unit 2, Lesson 7 How did the Mexican War for Independence affect California? page 57

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Questions
1. Who wanted to be free from Spain?
2. What were the 2 reasons for wanting independence?
3. Why were some landowners afraid that Spain was becoming more democratic?
4. What did the landowners do to keep their land?
5. When did Mexico win its independence from Spain?
6. What present day states were included in Mexico's territory?
7. When did Mexico's fight towards independence began?
8. When did Mexico's fight for independence end?
9. In what year did Father Hidalgo call for an end to Spain's rule of Mexico?

The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud

Book: The Meursault Investigation
Author: Kamel Daoud
ISBN: 978-159051751-2
U-$1.40-B-0.0048712312-BE-287

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Comments: This book didn't get interesting until chapter 8.  I recommend this book to any parent to read.  Great summer reading.

Chapter 1

1. Musa is the name of the Arab that got shot.
2. Meursault is compared to Robinson Crusoe.
3. A man who's drinking is always dreaming about a man who'll listen. page 6
4. You drink a language, you speak a language, and one day it owns you. page 7
5. Musa= alias Zuji
6. Musa worked as a porter. page 8
7. Musa's brother's name is Harun. page 7
8. "We were the ghosts in this country when the settlers were exploiting it and bestowing on it their church bells and cypress trees and swans." page 11
9. Story takes place in Oran, Algeria. page 12
10. Old Neighborhood in Sidi El Houari.

Chapter 2

1. "I tell myself that after losing their land, their wells, and their livestock, women were all our guys had left." page 19
2. Possible girlfriends' name is Zubida. page 20
3. Harun was 7 years odl when Musa was killed.  page 22

Chapter 3

1. Mama lives in a senior home in the village of Hadjout.   Hadjout is also known as Marengo.
2. Harun's profession is government land administration.
3. Harun and his family go their house from settlers who left during independence.
4. When colonist run away they leave words, roads, and bones.
5. Meursault's mother died in 1942. page 33
6. (Mama) "she lied not from a desire to deceive but in order to correct reality and mitigate the absurdity that struck her world and mine." page 37
7. M'rabti were people who used to be servants, they took care of mausoleums. page 38
8. El-Mellah family descendents of the ancient Maghreb. page 39
9. Mama was the armala the "widow." page 39
10. I was her object, not her son.  page 39

Chapter 4

1. It's your hero who does the killing, it's me who feels guilty, and I'm the one condemned to wandering... page 47

Chapter 5


Chapter 6

1. Arab-ness is like Negro-ness, which only exists in the white man's eyes. page 60

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

1. Meursault seeked refuge in their house in 1962.
2. Meursault was killed.
3. Mama's employers asked her to watch their house until they return.  They never returned
4. This house was located in Hadjout.
5. The remaining French people were promised protection from the new Algerian government.

Chapter 9

1. Sadhu Amar Bharati received a revelation.
2. As a general rule, one sleeps better after a confession.

Chapter 10

1. Two soldiers came to the house to investigate reports by neighbors of two gunshots.
2. The soldiers told her a Frenchman disappeared last night and that the colonel wants to talk to her son.
3. Meursault killed the Arab 20 years earlier.
4. Harun was arrested when he reported to the colonel.

Chapter 11

1. An officer in the Army of National Liberation question Harun. page 107
2. Harun knew he wasn't there for having committed a murder but for not having done so at the right moment.
3. Interesting comment from interrogating officer: "I'm not asking fo rthe truth.  Nobody needs that here.  If it turns out you killed him, you'll pay." page 107
4. Harun killed Joseph Larquais= Meursault
5. At 2pm, Harun was taken to the colonel's office.
6. The colonel slapped Harun for asking a stupid question.
7. Harun was released at dawn the next day.
8. Harun's brother loved to go swimming at the sea everytime he visited his mom at Hadjout.  When he visited his mom he liked to vist the Larquais family.  The Larquais family shared the same joy as Mama when her son visited.
9. This is why Mama chose Joseph Larquais as the sacrificial victim to avenge her son's death.

Chapter 12

1. "What is it that makes them forget they were born alone and will die separate?  I've read many books, and I've concluded that love's an accommodation, certainly not a mystery." page 115
2. Harun says that three people killed him
a. Musa, his brother
b. Mama
c. Meursault
3. "It pained my heart to be only her shadow and not her reflection." page 116

Chapter 13

1. A priest along with Monsieur Larquais insisted to Harun's mother that Harun should go to school.
2. My note: weird that Mr. Larquais insisted he go to school to learn to read and write.  Then in the future he kills one of his sons.
3. Harun was barefooted when he went to school.  The teacher pretended not to notice. page 119
4. "The French language fascinated me like a puzzle, and beyond it lay the solution to the dissonances of my world." page 119
5. A young woman knocked on the door one day.  She asked, "Is this the family home of Musa Uld el-Assas?" page123
6. The lady knocked on their door on a Monday in March 1963.  Algeria had problem stills under independence.  The commanders were fighting for power.
7. Meriem was her name and she was a teacher.  She said in French that she was working on a book that told Musa's story, and the book was written by his murderer.
8. Harun felt that Musa died 3 times
a. 2pm at the beach
b. when Harun had to dig him an empty grave
c. Meriem entering their lives

Chapter 14

1. Harun noticed right away that Meriem was lively, penetrating intelligence, which was combined with a sort of innocence.  Meriem said she was from Constantine. page 128
2. Harun twin is called "Zujj."
3. Meriem slowly explained to Harun so he can understand how our hero saw the world.  Meriem slowly explained to Harun his beliefs and his fabulous, solitary images.
4. Harun's tablet of life.  His definition of love: "It's pompous but sincere, I concocted it all by myself.  Love is kissing someone, sharing their saliva, and going back all the way to the obscure memory of your own birth." page 133
5. "I therefore operated as a widower, which adds to one's appeal and attracts the tender feelings of the unwary female.  I've been approached by unhappy women and by others too young to understand." page 133
6. "Her type of woman has disappeared in this country today: free, brash, disobedient, aware of their body as a gift, not as a sin or a shame. page 135

Chapter 15