by the brevity of “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin. LeGuin’s tale is not a simple one. Here is a copy. Print it out, read it tonight if you’d like. We will read and then discuss the tale in class tomorrow.

A couple of questions to consider for your journal:

• Is the happiness of the citizens worth the child’s lot?
• Would you stay, or would you walk away from Omelas?
• Are there situations in the real world that are similar to this one?

Also, don’t forget your quick journal assignment for tonight:
Record at least twenty choices that you make during the day. The seeming importance does not matter; you can write about choosing your clothes in the morning, what music you listen to, or whether you did your homework or not. The list does not need to be a narrative, just a sentence or phrase for each. Be prepared to share in class tomorrow.

By popular demand, our discussion this week will be centered on the emotion of happiness. Some possible things to consider:

• What makes you happy? (and the obvious follow up: Why?)
• How important is happiness?
• How powerful is happiness as a motivator?

If you think of any other questions, please add them to the comments section.

Interesting side note: In Buddhist philosophy dukka (desire) is the source of all pain or unhappiness in an individual. So, the renunciation of all desire (remember last week’s discussion) will lead to happiness. What do you think?

the next time we complain about our building. 

While many people dream of buying a large tract of land on which to retire, high school teacher Matt Schlein saved enough money to purchase 260 acres of land and then built a school.  Sort of.  Check out the story at NPR’s website.

Per your vote, the emotion of the week is desire. Look for it in your everyday stuff, write about it, talk about it in class.