This page may not be suitable for people under 18 years old. It is not R-rated or X-rated, but it does deal with adult stories in the news.
These materials are developed with the Adult ESL Student and Adult Developing Reader in mind.
Last updated 16 January 1999
The Clinton fiasco drags on. I still don't want to touch it.
Last updated 25 December 1997
I don't really want to do the Clinton talk of the summer of 1998
Highlighted words in italicized text are to be found on the . Just click on the words to go to the glossary page.
These topics make good topics for essays because most have two sides, or points of view, to them and can be argued. You can use them for persuasive essays, giving your opinion. Others involve speculation, "What if...?" and you can practice the subjunctive present, past, and future.
31 August 1997: KFI, Sanchez and Walker are talking about boycotting tabloids in the wake of the tragedy. Princess Diana was hounded to death by the press; she loved it and used it, and has been killed by it. For a 1995 interview with Diana, in which she discusses the media, go to Diana Interview
Note from 2 July 1997: This is turning out to be a strange week for Media English, and it is causing me to rethink the format. I need to do my own editorializing and reporting from numerous sources. What has caused this change of heart? It's something that seems to be a part of American life:
If someone is doing a good job, fire or demote him; if someone is doing a bad job, promote him. This is a syndrome that has been identified as
The Peter Principle: a person is promoted until he reaches his level of incompetence. We therefore have incompetent people filling top managerial posts in all arenas of public life.
This week, Michael Jackson, of KABC, received a broadcasting excellence award. The station immediately took his M-F 9-12 hours away and replaced him with a San Francisco host.
The month, August, Disney pulled the plug without notice on KTZN, the station that received an award last month for a stimulating new format. Disney replaced the talk shows with canned programming.
Now, Princess Diana and her friend Dodi Fayed and their driver are all dead because they tried to run away from photographers who would not leave them to try to get to know each other, to date, and we are all guilty: we look at those "candid" pictures. I am rethinking this too.
If someone truly does something scandalous, like having a baby, suffocating it, and throwing it away all on a break between dances at the senior prom, then being hounded by the press is deserved, but is it right for us to look into the private places where people live their own lives--Madonna walking her new baby on the balcony of her home, Alec Baldwin bringing his wife and new baby home from the hospital--and want some quiet time to just be human?
With movie stars and sports figures, invasions of privacy come with the job, and they are paid very highly to compensate for this. Personally, I'd prefer them to make normal salaries and live normal lives.
The manner in which the picture was acquired is something that we need to consider when sponsoring the media is Gloria Allred's suggestion in being a responsible media consumer. I know I'll be much more responsible about those choices. I will do my part to prevent irresponsible journalism by being a responsible consumer.
Robert Scheer, former Vietnam correspondent, reports live from Vietnam, beginning 13 June. It also has background information that you can click on to hear Lyndon Johnson's voice discussing his feelings about the problems at the time. The LIVEEX reports are changing every day. You can hear words, read them, and see pictures that are all related. From 13 June, the story has been changing every day. As of 22 June, the reports were up to Day 8. Each day has an audio clip you can listen to. Read the article first and view the pictures, then go back and click on the microphone to hear a short summary of the day's dispatch
directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt.
It's a Wonderful Life,
with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed
All About Eve,
with Bette Davis, George Sanders, Anne Baxter, and Marilyn Monroe
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,
with Jimmy Stewart
The Best Years of Our Lives,
starring Frederick March and Donna Reed traces the return of four men from World War II to their families and shows the difficulties that they all face in readjusting to life in America after up to four years at war. This is a timeless classic because each man and his family represents a segment of society and all four men share the war experience that the civilians do not, and the problems that all of the people together encounter are universal problems after war.
Glory,
with Matt Broderick, Morgan Freeman, and Denzell Washington, is a film about the civil war, about the Massachussets 54th, the first all-black regiment. This film is historically accurate in settings and costumes and uniforms and is based on the journals of the young officer assigned to command this regiment, which was wiped out on a beach in South Carolina, but remembered for its great bravery and pride. It is a very moving film. It will make your heart swell and your eyes fill with tears, but not from sadness--from pride. We should always remember that African Americans have been the backbone of our fighting forces throughout our history and have fought bravely for the freedoms that we all enjoy, yet they are often forgotten. The first man to die in the American Revolution was an African American: Crispus Attucks. (I'm still checking the spelling of his name)
directed by John Huston, stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt. Based on a novel by B. Traven, this is a bilingual movie, in Spanish and English, with no subtitles.
The Day of the Locust,
based on Nathaniel West's excellent novel about Hollywood
"Banned Books:" (or books that parents or special interest groups have objected to in libraries
and schools, starting with The Holy Bible!) These are books that are recognized as literature that some people want to restrict access to because they don't like them!
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