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Alice and Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis by Alexis Coe

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Alice and Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis by Alexis Coe

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This non-fiction narrative depicts the lives and events involved in the 1892 murder of 17-year-old Freda Ward by her ex-fiance, 19-year-old Alice Mitchell, in Memphis, Tennessee.

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"their tragic story will feel familiar. They were teenagers in love, and they planned to spend the rest of their lives together. Their relationship ... was fraught, in no small part, because it was illicit. ... It was wrong. It was unnatural. It was impossible. It was forbidden" (13).

"As the hours passed, Alice concluded that either she or Freda would have to die. Laudanum, a potent mix of opium and alcohol, was easy to procure for various aches and pains, but it came with a warning. The solution was highly concentrated, and fatal overdoses were not uncommon. If Alice could get enough past Freda's lips while her beloved slept, the drink would likely be her last. Alice would eventually write out a more comprehensive list- "How To Kill"- but that night Laudanum was her only option, and she could hardly guarantee there was enough for both of them. And so she lay there, inches from her love, contemplating how many doses she held in her hand" (28-9).

"the unfortunate saga of a troubled teenage romance turned deadly: Alice believed she had found her one true love, and that their commitment could withstand any challenge- or be immortalized in death. For some time, Freda felt the same way, or at least proved convincing enough that the withdrawal of her affections truly broke Alice's heart. Her only solace was the assumption that Freda was bowing to familial pressure, and when she learned this was not the case, that Freda's love had been fickle, Alice was determined to hold her to their agreement" (78-9).

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Love, hate violence, adolescent forbidden romance/society disapproval, death

5.3.100-105
"ROMEO: [...] —O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. / Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet / Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, / And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.—"

5.3.173-8
"What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? / Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.— / O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop / To help me after? I will kiss thy lips. / Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, / To make me die with a restorative.

5.3.307-11
" [...] —Capulet! Montague! / See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! / And I, for winking at your discords, too / Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.

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In a Florida poolside visit, Chicago teens glimpse Parkland students’ lives, and find gun violence in common

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In a Florida poolside visit, Chicago teens glimpse Parkland students’ lives, and find gun violence in common

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In a Florida poolside visit, Chicago teens glimpse Parkland students’ lives, and find gun violence in common

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Mary Schmich: On a recent trip to Parkland, Fla., six Chicago students sat down with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to discuss a common problem: gun violence.

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"Two of the nation's leading gun sellers, Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods, took steps on Wednesday to limit their sales of firearms, thrusting themselves into the middles of the polarizing national debate over gun control. [...] The dual announcements, made two weeks after 17 students and staff members were killed in the school shooting in Parkland, Fla, were among the most significant actions take on guns by corporate America. Both retailers said their decision were a response to the shooting."

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Walmart and Dick’s Raise Minimum Age for Gun Buyers to 21

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Walmart and Dick’s Raise Minimum Age for Gun Buyers to 21

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Earlier, President Trump met at the White House with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and called for a series of gun control measures, some of which the National Rifle Association has vigorously opposed.

Walmart and Dick's acted after a number of major companies moved last week to dissociate themselves from the N.R.A. Hertz car rental, MetLife insurance and Delta Air Lines, among others, publicly ended their relationships with the organization.

In a news release late Wednesday, Walmart noted that in 2015 it discontinued the sale of high-powered rifles, including AR-15-style weapons, in its stores in the United States. But at the time, Walmart sidestepped any controversy involving gun politics, attributing its decision to lower customer demand for the military-style rifles.

This time, Walmart directly linked its action to the shooting in Florida, saying, "In light of recent events, we've taken an opportunity to review our policy on firearm sales."

Top Walmart executives made the decision and then informed the board, a company spokesman said.

Walmart sells guns in roughly half of its nearly 4,000 supercenters, the company said, but the sheer scale of its customer base gives its decision significant heft. Every week, more than 150 million people around the country shop at Walmart.

Dick's decision was announced by Edward Stack, the 63-year-old chief executive whose father founded the store in 1948. Mr. Stack made clear that he was deliberately steering his company directly into the storm over gun reform.

"When we saw what happened in Parkland, we were so disturbed and upset," Mr. Stack said in an interview. "We love these kids and their rallying cry, 'Enough is enough.' It got to us."

He added, "We're going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation."

The decision drew immediate - and passionate - reaction on social media. By midday, the number of Twitter messages containing Dick's name had jumped 12,000 percent from the average over the previous 10 days, according to Sprout Social, a social media management, advocacy and analytics software platform.

About 79 percent of the tweets had a positive sentiment, Sprout Social said, including supportive messages from Hollywood actors and actresses.

But the company's critics posted their plans to no longer shop at the retailer, some closing their tweets with "#boycott."

Investors did not appear to worry about a backlash, as Dick's stock spent much of Wednesday trading about 1.8 percent higher before finishing up 0.69 percent.

Mr. Stack said Dick's hoped to move the conversation beyond social media and into the political realm. As part of its stance, the company is calling on elected officials to pass what it called "common sense gun reform": raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21, banning assault-type weapons and so-called bump stocks, and conducting broader background checks that include mental-health information and previous interactions with law enforcement.

This is not the first time that Dick's has made changes in response to a school massacre. In 2012, after a gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dick's removed assault-style rifles from its main stores. But a few months later, the company began carrying the firearms at its outdoor and hunting retail chain, Field & Stream.

As of Wednesday morning, the company said, AR-15-style and other semiautomatic rifles will no longer be sold in its 35 Field & Stream stores or on its websites. And this time, Mr. Stack added, the changes will be permanent.

Mr. Stack said the retailer had begun scouring its purchase records shortly after the identity of the suspected Parkland killer, Nikolas Cruz, became known. The company soon discovered that it had legally sold a gun to Mr. Cruz in November, though it was not the type used in the school shooting.

"But it came to us that we could have been a part of this story," Mr. Stack said. "We said, 'We don't want to be a part of this any longer.'"

That response raised rounds of discussions with the company's top executives and its directors, all of whom backed the decision to take a stand, Mr. Stack said.

He said Dick's remained a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and would continue to sell a variety of sport and hunting firearms. Although he has never been a member of the N.R.A., Mr. Stack said, he is a gun owner and enjoys trapshooting.

But when it comes to selling guns to individuals under 21 or stocking assault-style rifles, Mr. Stack said, his company is done. "We don't want to be a part of a mass shooting," he said.

The company said that it had not decided what to do with its inventory of assault-style rifles but that they would not be sold in the marketplace.

Legal experts said they saw no likely challenges to Dick's decision to stop selling assault-style rifles. But the decision to stop selling weapons to anyone under 21, however, could be tested in court.

Adam Winkler, a professor of constitutional law at the School of Law of the University of California, Los Angeles, said Dick's could be challenged in lawsuits claiming a violation of laws that bar age discrimination. Although federal civil rights laws do not apply, some states, including New York, prohibit businesses from denying goods and services on the basis of age.

"Don't be surprised if an aggressive attorney general of a gun-friendly state brings an age-discrimination claim against Dick's," Professor Winkler wrote in an email response to questions.

The company said that it believed its decision was in accordance with the law and that it was instituting the policy immediately.

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Walmart and Dick's Raise Minimum Age for Gun Buyers to 21

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Earlier, President Trump met at the White House with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and called for a series of gun control measures, some of which the National Rifle Association has vigorously opposed. Walmart and Dick's acted after a number of major companies moved last week to dissociate themselves from the N.R.A.

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Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships: Center for Awareness, Response & Education - Northwestern University

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At their core, healthy relationships are ones in which you feel happy to be involved and an equal partner. They enrich you or your life, and neither or both individuals involved feel like the relationship is a burden. Whether romantic, friendly, or familial, healthy relationships are mutually suppor…

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"At their core, healthy relationships are ones in which you feel happy to be involved and an equal partner. They enrich you or your life, and neither or both individuals involved feel like the relationship is a burden. Whether romantic, friendly, or familial, healthy relationships are mutually supportive and beneficial to the individuals that are a part of them."

"Relationships as a Spectrum: Relationships are made up of behaviors, and all behaviors can be characterized as healthy, unhealthy, or abusive. However, the behaviors may look different for different people, and what is unhealthy for one person may be abusive or healthy for another. Relationships may be a mix of these behaviors, but should be mostly healthy. Examining relationships as a spectrum of behaviors allows us to examine both our own and our partners’ actions more objectively, and gives the opportunity to fix problems rather than ignore them. For example, sometimes an unhealthy attempt at gaining power may be in response to a perceived loss of control."

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Love's potential for forcefulness, intensity, and potentially violence; wrong vs. right/morality when loved ones cause harm

3.2.101-2;106-8
"JULIET: [...] But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? / That villain cousin would have killed my husband. / [...] My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain, / And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband. / All this is comfort. Wherefore I weep then?"

Writing Assessment:
1. In your opinion, what is a "healthy" relationship? Explain.
2. Do you believe people can fall in love more than once? Why or why not?
3. Do Romeo and Juliet have a healthy relationship? Explain.

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Loyalty/dependent to family structures, Pride/disrespect, Violent retaliation against perceived wrongs

1.5.52-63
"TYBALT: This, by his voice, should be a Montague.— / (to his PAGE) Fetch me my rapier, boy.— / What, dares the slave / Come hither, covered with an antic face, / To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? / Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, / To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.
CAPULET: Why, how now, kinsman? Wherefore storm you so?
TYBALT: Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, / A villain that is hither come in spite / To scorn at our solemnity this night.
CAPULET: Young Romeo is it?
TYBALT: 'Tis he, that villain Romeo."

3.1.25-6;31-8
"MERCUTIO: Men’s eyes were made to look and let them gaze. / I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I. / [...]
TYBALT: Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain.
ROMEO: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee / Doth much excuse the appertaining rage / To such a greeting. Villain am I none. / Therefore, farewell. I see thou know’st me not.
TYBALT: Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries / That thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw."

3.1.65
"MERCUTIO: [...] A plague o' both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat to scratch a man to death! A braggart, a rogue, a villain that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
ROMEO: I thought all for the best."

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Romeo and Juliet: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds

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Romeo and Juliet: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Gareth Hinds

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60-1
Mercutio: "Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonights?"
Benvolio: "Not to his father's; I spoke with his man."
Mercutio: "This Rosaline torments him so, he will run mad."
Benvolio: "Tybalt hath sent a letter to his father's house."
Mercutio: "A challenge on my life."
Benviolio: "Romeo will answer it."
Mercutio: "Alas, poor Romeo! He is already dead — stabbed with a white wench's black eye, shot through the ear with a love-song, the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shaft. And is he a man to encounter Tybalt?"
Benvolio: "Why, what is Tybalt?"
Mercutio: "More than prince of cat, I can tell you." "O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. He fights like a musician — keeps time, distance, and proportion: one, two, and the third in your bosom!" "He's the very butcher of a silk button — a duelist of the first rank, who needs little cause." "Ah, the immortal passado! The punto reverso! The bay!"

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Culturally relevant pedagogy/text, representative of student demographics, better connect/relate students to material, visual representation aids in understanding language

Writing Assessment A:
1. What might happen between Romeo, Benvolio, Mercutio, and Tybalt?
2. What types of experiences have you had with death? Has anyone close to you passed away?
3. Have you ever been to a funeral? What was it like?
4. Do you think all people should be honored in death?

Writing Assessment B:
1. Who is to blame for all of the violence that occurred in Act 3 Scene 1? Whose side would you be on if you had to defend Tybalt or Mercutio?
2. Use one quote from the text and explain why you chose that quote to support your decision.

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"Run, baby, run
Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart
If you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart
Don't say we're not meant to be
Run, baby, run
Forever we'll be
You and me"

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Intense immediate teen love, relationship between hate and love

2.2.2-3;10-11
"ROMEO: But, soft, what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. / [...] It is my lady, O, it is my love! / O, that she knew she were!"

1.5.42-3;50-1
"ROMEO: Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. / [...] Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."

1.5.138-41
"JULIET: My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy."

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"For Women Who Are Difficult To Love" by Warsan Shire 

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"For Women Who Are Difficult To Love" by Warsan Shire 

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"you are a horse running alone
and he tries to tame you
compares you to an impossible highway
to a burning house
says you are blinding him
that he could never leave you
forget you
want anything but you"

"so what did you want to do love
split his head open?
you can’t make homes out of human beings
someone should have already told you that
and if he wants to leave
then let him leave
you are terrifying
and strange and beautiful
something not everyone knows how to love"

"frightening in the way you want him
unashamed and sacrificial"

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Love's potential for extreme emotional turbulence

3.2.80-3
"JULIET: A damned saint, an honorable villain! / O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell / When thou didst bower the spirit of a friend / in moral paradise of such sweet flesh?"

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"The purpose was simple and hard: Unite the students across race, class and geography to help them see that gun violence, which disproportionately affects young people, is a common cause.
In the weeks since the shooting, the crusading students in the wealthy, predominantly white town of Parkland have received a lot of attention, most of it positive. Their prominence has hurt or rankled people who don’t see the same praise and publicity given to crusading students in less advantaged places."

"In Chicago, they explained, young people are accustomed to the vigilance required to walk down a block; to school security so tight it makes them feel like criminals; to July 4 celebrations when it’s hard to tell gunfire from firecrackers.
Vashon told them about the night his mother was shot in the chest and face, caught in the crossfire during a robbery.
As he told that story, he recalled later, “I saw a couple of eyes open wide.”
The Parkland students talked about what had happened to them, as well, and Trinity, listening, thought that one difference was in how much support they’ve received for the trauma they’ve endured.
“I didn’t feel resentful,” she said, but she wondered what would it take to get more support for Chicago’s young victims of violence.
A critical moment came when one of the Parkland students apologized for the privilege they took for granted."

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Community/school relevance (gun and gang violence), culturally relevant topic/pedagogy

Writing Prompt A:
1. Research/writing on gun laws in Ohio: Who can purchase a gun? Who can carry a gun? When can someone use their gun?
2. Discuss proposals to gun reform: Are there any other options that could end the fun violence in our streets, communities, and schools? How many more shootings will we face before change occurs?

Writing Prompt B:
1. Write a response to the article. What sticks out to you?
2. Describe how the students from Chicago might feel. Describe how the students from Parkland might feel. Why is it important that these two groups of students learn from each other?
3. What do students have the power to do? Do you feel that you have hat power?
4. What has been your experience with this topic?

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William Shakespeare's most famous play is a tragedy detailing a forbidden romance between two adolescents from rival families with a powerful feud in 1300s Verona, Italy. When Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet at her family's party, their love at first sight sets off a chain of events to a tragic ending for both families.

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Prologue
"Two households, both alike in dignity / (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. / From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, / Whose misadventured piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. / The fearful passage of their death-marked love / And the continuance of their parents' rage, / Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, / Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage— / The which, if you with patient ears attend, / What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."

2.6.9-15
"These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, / Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey / Is loathsome in his own deliciousness / And in the taste confounds the appetite. / Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. / Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."

3.131-43:
"TYBALT: Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain.
ROMEO: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee / Doth much excuse the appertaining rage / To such a greeting. Villain am I none. / Therefore, farewell. I see thou know’st me not.
TYBALT: Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries / That thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw.
ROMEO: I do protest I never injured thee, / But love thee better than thou canst devise, / Till thou shalt know the reason of my love. / And so, good Capulet—which name I tender / As dearly as my own—be satisfied."

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Where do we see love and violence intersect? Why might this happen?

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Where do we see love and violence intersect? Why might this happen?

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What do healthy relationships look like?

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What do healthy relationships look like?