This summer I'm shaping up my classroom blog site for my Fall 2021 online instruction. In a few of my classes I will encourage my students to develop mental illness research papers. This project seems to work. Students write about depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts. In today's climate, the information is growing exponentially. Many of my students know somebody, or know of someone, afflicted. They appear motivated to reduce the stigma surrounding the disease. Each semester, I find more resources. Each semester, we all learn something new.
Recently, I read a novel based on Ernest Hemingway's final days, Adios Hemingway by Cuban writer Leonardo Padura. Near the end, the famous writer suffered extreme bouts of depression. Back then, the doctors prescribed electroconvulsive therapy. This is 1961. I'm not sure if these sessions gave him any relief, but I believe they severely hampered his ability to write. Shortly after his release from a psychiatric hospital, he took his own life with his gun in his own house. This wasn't mentioned in the novel I read, but thirty-five years later - nearly to the day - his granddaughter Margaux Hemingway joined him in a family pattern of suicides. Below I write a brief paragraph about "The Hemingway Curse." In doing so, I attempt to show my students how to incorporate quotations into their essays. I provide them with three basic steps. I highlight the quotation in yellow. I hope this works!
Comments