They told her not to come, but she came anyway. That's Bobby Kennedy on the left. That's President Kennedy on the right. And you know who that is in the middle - That's Marilyn Monroe. She had flown to New York to sing "Happy Birthday" to the president on his 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden. Of course, the first thing anyone is going to see in this picture is the dress. It's skin tight. It was so tight that it had to be practically sown on to her body for her performance. This is a black and white photo, but the color of the guaze material is the same color as her flesh. So, it looks almost transparent, like you could see right through it. What you are not going to see is Marilyn's underwear. She's not wearing any. There was no room for any garments underneath that dress. The dress is famous for all the jewelry that comes with it. More than 2,500 crystals are sewn into it. Her platinum blonde hair is arranged into a stylish bouffant. It rises up and flows downward on one side to cover part of her face. But nobody is looking at her hair. I notice both the Kennedys have their heads tilted forward and their eyes pointed downward. You can guess what they are looking at. In this picture, their behavior surprises me. They may be flirting with Marilyn right out in the open in front of everybody at the party. They knew of the rumors going around. People were whispering of their affairs with Marilyn. And the rumors were true. They were both sleeping with her. Reports say they warned her not to come because at this point, both of them must have feeling nervous for the truth to come out. Reports say they warned her not to come. But that’s Marilyn Monroe. She’s not a small nation president, princess or queen who might be intimidated by the Kennedys. She’s calling the shots. Nothing is over until she says so.
Above: Sample NYC Postcard - For Possible Use in Finals Week Group Presentations - Summer 2025 Student News conference - "The 60s New York"
Above: SNIP from Spring 2025 Student News Conference. English 105 Students Present Group Projects. Take Questions from a Live-Studio Audience.
This Summer 2025, I'm reading a novel with my classes I recently plucked off my shelf here in Mexicali. It's called Paradise Travel, and it is written by Jorge Franco. I'm not giving any spoiler alerts, but it focuses upon the American Dream - two teen-age lovers, Marlon and Reina from Medellín, Colombia, who successfully make the long, ardous journey to New York City but learn tough, life-changing lessons along the way. I like this novel, for the CHANGE in characters that happens right before our eyes. Both Marlon and Reina become Hard and Knowing. They are entirely different people at the end of the novel. Did their journey to the U.S. change the way they saw each other? How did their struggle to fit in, to find their place, to define their identities...Affect Their Love?
Over the years,I have enjoyed reading and re-reading this novel in both English and Spanish. I mean reading for enjoyment is the best thing I can share with my students. I just completed thirty-three online quizzes over the past month to upload to my Canvas curriculums. That took me thirty-three days. When I'm reading a book I love, I'm astonished by the amount of time and energy I can put into it. I know. I know Paradise Travel will not show up on many suggested reading lists or class syllabi, but that's pretty much why I have chosen it. It's a gift to myself. I'm going to tell my students that reading doesn't have to be a grind. They are not going to get much out of the book if each page is like tramping through the mud. I'm confident my students will identify with bits and pieces of Marlon and Reina. Paradise Travel will push them to understand more about themselves.
On FINAL EXAM DAY, I have asked my students to prepare both GROUP and INDIVIDUAL presentations that reflect their summer writing and learning. Each INDIVIDUAL STUDENT is expected to discuss his/her summer research paper with the rest of us. Each GROUP will create a NYC POSTCARD COLLAGE with a common theme ( See my JFK Birthday Card above - The writing goes on the back.) This week I pass out the display boards. I tell my students the following:
Students will be graded on the following:
- Professional behavior and preparation - effective use of time during presentation.
- Knowledge of subject matter - Ability to share 2-3 SIGNIFICANT elements of research
- Postive attention and feeback directed towards classmate presentations
Here are few suggestions/requirements for the class presentation:
- The presentation must last SIX minutes - THREE for your STUDENT DISCUSSION - THREE for ANSWERING QUESTIONS
- A meaningful visual must accompany the presentation - We will broadcast it on the BIG SCREEN
- Students will analyze and explain their images in a a logical way - They just may bring up our SELF-REFLECTION exercise - WHAT DID THEY LEARN? - WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE?
- Students should offer supporting evidence and alternative viewpoints from your own - Share their RESEARCH.
- Students must maintain eye contact with their audience while you present.
- Students must speak in an appropriate volume of voice so that everyone can hear them, and they must speak clearly.
- Students must be prepared to present and speak with confidence.
- Students must use language that is appropriate for a class presentation.
I like the idea that my students will have the opportunity to share an image they themselves have created for their presentation. Visual Analysis is an IMPORTANT academic skill. The ability to capture meaning in images is a great way to display y CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS. I've designed this assignment to ENHANCE your PARADISE TRAVEL READING EXPERIENCE. The more they know about New York City, they will get out of their novel. This is how we ROLL:
For our Summer 2025 Paradise Travel READING and WRITING enjoyment, I ask my students to convert a NEW YORK CITY image into a POSTCARD.
- They choose an interesting NEW YORK IMAGE to make up the FRONT of your POSTCARD.
- It could be a New York PERSON, PLACE, THING, HISTORICAL EVENT, CULTURAL PHENEMONON, MUSICAL OR SPORTS MOMENT, FASHION STATEMENT, MOVIE SCENE, SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY...
On the BACK of the card, I ask them to share 200-300 words of VISUAL ANALYSIS.
- Like, what EXACTLY are we looking at - I encourage you to be DETAILED and SPECIFIC in your DESCRIPTION.
- Is this a picure of Taylor Swift at Madison Square Garden? - What is she wearing? What is she doing? How are people responding?
- Is this a picure of an Aaron Judge home run at Yankee Staidum - What is that stuff under his eyes? - Who are the Yankees playing - What does the expression on Judge's face say?
- OK. Maybe there is NO ONE in the picture - What exciting details can be shares? - Like, what makes a New York City Slice of Pizza world famous?
- Maybe there is WRITING to be found in the image - What do the words say - What do the words mean? - What message is being sent. Like this one - of a Broadway Theatre and Marquee:
Here are the questions that need to be answered:
- Discuss the basic elements of your image: picture, captions, description, colors, shapes.
- What visual element grabs your attention first. What seems to be most important?
- Can you SUMMARIZE what is happening in the image?
- Are the people in you postcard important. What are their facial expressions. How are they dressed. What may they be thinking at this moment?
- What probably happend the moment before this picture was taken. After?
- Is there something IMPORTANT that WE DON'T SEE in this PICTURE?
- Is there something YOU DIDN'T SEE the FIRST TIME, but now you SEE IT'S IMPORTANT?
- Share your discovery with your classmates!
Jay's Tips:
When you look at your IMAGE, you may want to consider ONE, MORE, or ALL of the following WRITING PROMPTS - You DECIDE!
1. SUMMARIZE the overall idea of the image - imagine describing the image to someone who cannot see it - WHAT'S GOING ON?
2. DESCRIBE THE PARTS. Identify the visual elements that make up the entire composition. Consider the identifiable objects in the piece (such as buildings, shapes, icons, people, and so forth) as well as more abstract visual elements, like colors, textures, typefaces, organizational layout, groupings, patterns, and so forth WHAT CATCHES YOUR EYE?
3. EXPLAIN HOW THE PARTS RELATE TO THE WHOLE. Look at the items in the visual holistically; that is to say, see how all of the combined elements together make for interesting meanings. How do the colors, buildings, shapes, locations, and so forth combine to make for an interesting communication and reading? MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF YOUR IMAGE.
4. EXPLAIN THE TITLE & CREATOR. Use the name of the piece and describe the creator/artist to analyze the message the artist may have been trying to convey. Understanding the title and author can provide clarity, historical context, and meaning to a piece. IF YOUR IMAGE DOESN'T HAVE A TITLE - WHICH IT PROBABLY DOESN'T - MAYBE, YOU COULD PROVIDE YOUR OWN TITLE - Like this: This image doesn't come with a title, but if I had to create one myself, I would call it this: "Insert Your Title Here."
5. CONCLUDE WITH A STRONG ANALYSIS - Now that you’ve described the many pieces of the visual, you’re in position to make interesting claims about the visual as an entire composition. Provide an analysis that gives insight into what the painting may be trying to portray - WHAT'S THE MESSAGE - WHAT DO YOU THINK?
This is what Jay's INDIVIDUAL Submission May Look Like on Canvas:
- I probably followed a few of the instructions above and ignored others - This is how it came out - I LIKE it.
- The FIRST THING I noticed was NICO'S CHEEKBONES - The rest was EAZY.
- My students will decide what's BEST to write depending on the information they have available.
The first thing you might notice about Nico is her high cheekbones. I say they are high, because they are closer to the bottom of her eyes than the bottom of her nose. Maybe they give her an icy look, for she was a very cool customer. This probably came from her modeling experience. She was non-flamboyant. She showed little expression. Her hair, long and straight, falls to her shoulders and down her back. Her look is accentuated by her bangs, which are full and cut straight across the face. This page-boy look accentuated her cheekbones. The golden blonde hue of her hair sharply contrasted with the dark tones of her bandmates. The Velvets were famous for dressing in black and wearing mirrored sunglasses on stage. I just read some place the lips are the face's most sensuous feature. The structure of the lips is thought to offer information about a women's sensual aspect. In this photo, Nico looks extremely attractive but at the same time very sad. Nico's time in the Velvet Underground may have been the most exciting time of her life; however, the jealosy and anamosity she felt from her bandmates brought her down. They were serious musicians. She was a pretty face. They didn't like being pushed into the background. The expression that appears on Nico's face may have nothing to do with her sensuality. It probably has to do a lot with her depression. Bandmate John Cale once said, "She hated the idea of being blonde and beautiful, and in some ways she hated being a woman, because she figured all her beauty had brought her was grief.”
Jay's Note:
- I haven't been to New York City in like 40 years. I know about as much about the City as my students do.
- But, here in Mexicali, I have a lot of BOOKS on my SHELVES. I have a lot of ideas to choose from
- OUR NYC WORK WILL RAISE OUR SKILL LEVELS AND PERFORMANCE IN THE CLASS
- Papa Johns Pizza arrives at the end of the Press Conference- EVERYONE WINS!
SUMMER MEAN FUN -This is going to be great!
Paz,
JL
It's been three days since the accident and I still can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear the sound of the train approaching us, getting closer and louder, the wheels scraping on the metal train tracks, the pessimistic look of despair on their faces, and worst of all, the piercing scream that still haunts my ears
My mother, the only parent I know, is both a mom and a dad to me. Both of my parents would work, but even then my father would demand for my mothers paychecks. He'd use that money to get totally wasted, and it went on for a while like this....
In the book “Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility” the most valuable part is when Chuy offered a ride to Yoli on his motorcycle through many places of the San Diego city. no. Yoli thought she hadn’t heard him right...
On November, 1993 both my father and brother started the Richard McGee Correctional Basic Correctional Academy....
For America in the novel The Tortilla Curtain, Being married to Candido is like carrying a backpack full of bricks all day long....
My mother had struggled her whole life to make us happy. Being a single mother of two with two jobs was almost impossible yet it was her daily routine....
My father's addiction has had significant effects in my life. My father's alcohol abuse has made me realize what I want in my life and what I don’t want....
After the bell had rung, I quickly got to my seat, of course being tardy was probably a bad first impression because as soon as I picked a desk to sit at my teacher was glaring at me. He then began to yell at me saying how it was an essential to be on time to his class. This was my first encounter with my economics teacher and I already knew it was going to be a long year. Little did I know that Jack had a specific purpose in my life and although he was scary to me at first, he soon became my strongest adult in my life. As the years went by, I got to know Mr. Little and we became the greatest of friends. Once Jack Little passed away, I had a different perspective on the little amount of time we all have to live...
After living three years in this country, it was important for me to realize that I needed to go to school to learn English. I was feeling like I was illiterate and deaf. When my husband was in work I was afraid to answer the phone, or afraid to go outside. I remember the day when I had my first daughter, I was in pain in the hospital and my new born daughter was crying; the hospital was cold, with a pale color on the walls, and its smell was like alcohol. There were nurses walking on the long and bright hallway. You can hear the nurses talking morning and night. I couldn’t express myself and talk for my daughter that was crying...
Comments