IR GENRE PROJECTS

OVER THE COURSE OF THE TRIMESTER, YOU WILL NEED TO READ SIX BOOKS, ONE OUT OF EACH GENRE (SEE GENRE LIST FOR DESCRIPTONS). EACH GENRE HAS ITS OWN WRITING PROJECT WHICH NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED ON THEIR DUE DATES.

FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS: 

1) Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Remember some basics: titles of books get capitalized and italicized. 

2) Include a paragraph of 50 words (this does NOT count toward your 500!) that identifies which project you’re doing, mentions author’s full name and the book title, and provides a brief overview of the book.

THE BOOK PROJECTS:

A.  REALISTIC CONTEMPORARY.  Do BOTH parts (500 words total) . . . 

A. Describe/explain the plot of your novel by addressing each of the plot elements (LABEL EACH PART CLEARLY!):  1) basic situation: what’s going on at the start of the novel before the complications and conflicts begin?  2) Rising action: discuss the obstacles and problems the protagonist must face. This is typically the majority of the book, so it should make up the majority of your words;  3) Climax: the high point, how the main conflict is resolved;  4) the resolution: how do things conclude after the climax? [350+ words]

B. Discuss a central theme of your book. Use specific examples and detail from the book to support your assertions. [150+ words]

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics.  Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

B.  SPECULATIVE FICTION.  Choose TWO of the following writing activities (250 words min per activity; 500 words total):

Current Events.  Select several news stories from TV or print media that you think your character would be interested in.  Then explain how and why your character would respond to each of the stories and the opinions your character might have towards them.

Childhood Memories.  Choose two or three characters from your story and then write a short narrative (something they experienced) from their childhood for each that explains why they are the way they are today.  Be sure to include these connections in your writing, don't assume that I will know what the connection means.  Explain it. These need to be events created by you. If your character's childhood is described in the book, then don't do this option.

Extend the story.   Choose two or three characters from your story and write a short narrative of their life after the ending of the novel.  (Example: if you were reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn you could write about Huck late in life and meeting up with Jim again after slavery has been abolished). 

Journal Entries.   Choose a major character from your book and write journal entires (5 minimum) that cover the most important events of the novel.  Attempt to capture the "voice" of the character as well as the ideas, opinions that the character is likely to have.

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

C.  DYSTOPIAN / ALTERNATE HISTORY.  

A. Dystopian… These novels are often centered on conflict between an oppressive power and the individual, but for this assignment you will need to discuss your book in terms of ALL the types of conflict that are present in your selection:   man vs. man (other individuals, the authority/gov’t),  man vs. nature,  man vs. himself. (500 words min.)

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

B. Alternate history… Discuss what areas of life your author chose to focus on. For example, if a book explores what America might be like if we had lost World War II, the author may choose to focus on the politics or government structure under a German regime, or what it might be like to have Japanese neighbors after they invade and take over. What choices did your author make about where to focus the book’s new historical reality? (500 words min.)

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

D.  MISCELLANEOUS GENRE.  Do BOTH parts (500 words total) . . . 

A. Describe/explain the plot of your novel by addressing each of the plot elements (LABEL EACH PART CLEARLY!):  1) basic situation: what’s going on at the start of the novel before the complications and conflicts begin?  2) Rising action: discuss the obstacles and problems the protagonist must face. This is typically the majority of the book, so it should make up the majority of your words;  3) Climax: the high point, how the main conflict is resolved;  4) the resolution: how do things conclude after the climax? [350+ words]

B. Discuss a central theme of your book. Use specific examples and detail from the book to support your assertions. [150+ words]

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics.  Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

E.  NON-FICTION BIO.  Biography / Autobiography / Memoir (about a person)...

Tell the story of the person in your biography from the perspective of someone else in the book.  For example, if you were reading a biography on John F. Kennedy, you could tell his story from the perspectives of his brother Bobby Kennedy, his wife Jackie, or his VP Lyndon Johnson.  BE CAREFUL HERE - you are to tell JFK's story not someone else's; but you are writing it from someone else's point of view.  Be sure to include the same range of experience that is covered by the book (i.e. if the book covers the person's life from birth to death, make sure your paper does as well). I should be able to hear the subject’s story AND hear the voice of the one telling it. (500 words total)

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Remember some basics: Include title and author SOMEWHERE in your writing.  Titles of books get capitalized and italicized.  

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

F.  NON-FICTION TOPICAL. (your book is on a subject - football, , the Civil War, etc.)...

L.A.R.C.  Write a four part paper in which you 1) tell me what you've LEARNED,  2) ANALYZE what you've learned, 3) REFLECT on what you've learned, and 4) CONNECT what you've learned to something outside the book.

LEARN.  In this section you will describe in general terms what you've learned.  For example, if you are reading about the US Civil War, you might describe the battles that marked turning points in the war, who won and lost, and how these influenced the outcome of the war.  

ANALYZE.  Here you are going to go into detail on what you've introduced in the LEARN section.  Using our example, choose two or three of the most important battles and go into detail - names, times, casualty numbers, (the battle of Gettysburg was made up of many smaller battles - write about those).  Analyze means breaking your subject down into its smallest parts. THIS SHOULD BE THE LONGEST SECTION OF THE L.A.R.C.

REFLECT.  Here is where you can insert your own opinion.  Reflect meaNs to think deeply or to ponder over something.  Some things to consider:  Did the learning come easily or with difficulty?  Why?  Did you enjoy learning about the subject?  Why do you think that is?  You will need to tell me something about your own styles or preferences for learning to do this section completely.  Going back to our example, you might write that you've been interested in wars and warfare before reading it so the learning came easily.  

CONNECT.  Now you need to connect what you've learned to something outside the book.  You may have studied the information in a different format (class, book, movie, etc.).  You might know someone who has experienced first hand what you've read about.  Back to the example: a Vietnam vet would have similar experiences to the Civil War veterans in your book.  You may have been to Gettysburg or another battlefield.  Any connection will do so long as it is clear and reasonable.

500 WORDS TOTAL. 

Your work must be typed (double-spaced and 12-point, non-script font) and thoroughly proofed for grammar, usage, and mechanics. Remember some basics: titles of books get capitalized and italicized. Mention the author’s full name in the LEARN section.

Don't forget the 50-word overview! (That's in ADDITION to the 500 word project).

WEEK 1

Monday, 8/31

Brit Lit A
1. Course intro 
2. Writing Inventory 

English 11A
1. Course intro 
2. Writing Inventory

Krakauer on Everest the movie

At the movies this weekend, there will be two versions of journalist Jon Krakauer on the big screen. In "Prophet's Prey," a documentary about Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he's seen as a hard-hitting reporter who helped put polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs behind bars. And in "Everest," the feature film about the infamous 1996 disaster on the world's highest mountain, he's the writer who stays in his tent while his climbing teammates are marooned in a blizzard.

Take a guess as to which he'd rather filmgoers see.

"It's total bull," Krakauer says of "Everest," which he saw upon its debut in IMAX cinemas last weekend. "Anyone who goes to that movie and wants a fact-based account should read 'Into Thin Air.' "

"Into Thin Air," of course, is the 1997 bestseller Krakauer wrote about his experience on Everest, when eight climbers died after getting trapped in an unexpected storm. The new Universal Pictures film about that fateful day, directed by Baltasar Kormákur, is not based on Krakauer's book. He sold the memoir's rights to Sony Pictures just as the book was published, and the studio went on to make a poorly reviewed television movie about the tragedy that same year.

"People told me, 'Movies never get made. Take the money. What do you have to lose?'" the writer, now 61, recalls. "I curse myself for selling it at all. What I learned from the TV movie was that dramatic films take dramatic license, and when you sign a document, you can do whatever you want with me. It wasn't worth the money I got."

Krakauer hasn't soured on Hollywood altogether. After all, he's in Los Angeles this week promoting "Prophet's Prey," which he produced and appears in as an expert because he wrote a book on the Mormon sect, 2003's "Under the Banner of Heaven." (A feature version of the book is currently under development with Ron Howard.) He also plays a prominent role in another documentary out this month, "Meru," about climbers attempting to scale a 21,000-foot Himalayan mountain. And he was pleased with the way Sean Penn handled a 2007 adaptation of his "Into the Wild," the tale of how outdoorsman Christopher McCandless ventured into Alaska and eventually starved there.

"I only went on the set on the very last day and said, 'Sean, if you [screw] this up, I don't want you to say I was there,'" says Krakauer, who advised Penn in an unofficial capacity because the McCandless family was in charge of the film rights. "And he didn't [screw] it up. When he showed me the rough cut, I wanted to kiss him, I was so happy."

But then there's "Everest." No one asked for Krakauer's input on the story, and he says he was never approached by Michael Kelly, who played him in the film. In fact, he considers the film a personal affront from Kormákur himself. He's particularly aggrieved by a scene in which his character is asked to help with the rescue by Russian guide Anatoli Boukreev but replies he cannot because he is "snow blind."

"I never had that conversation," Krakauer says. "Anatoli came to several tents, and not even sherpas could go out. I'm not saying I could have, or would have. What I'm saying is, no one came to my tent and asked."

"Our intention in the tent scene that Mr. Krakauer mentions was to illustrate how helpless people were and why they might not have been able to go out and rescue people..." says Kormákur in a reply sent to The Times through his publicist. "They were not malicious. They were helpless."
The filmmaker said he had access to a number of books written about the 1996 events on Everest, as well as "all the radio calls that went on in the Adventure Consultants camp." (Krakauer was embedded with guide Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants team on Everest, gathering material for an Outside Magazine article.)

Furthermore, the director says, four advisors who were "present on the mountain during that disaster and participated in the rescue" worked on the movie. "The writers and I tried to look at things from a fair point of view without choosing sides," Kormákur says in his statement.

Still, the mention of the film causes Krakauer to bristle. And he's not a particularly angry guy — or at least, he doesn't seem that way when he shows up at his hotel's restaurant and asks to search for a quieter spot because his hearing is bad. In his collared shirt, blue jeans and glasses, looking like the cool professor who conducts class on the quad when the weather's warm, it's hard to imagine him on Everest.

He is, by his own admission, a quiet guy. He lives in Boulder, Colo., with his wife, a botanist, in a 3,000-foot tract house.

"I'm a pretty weird person," he says. "The last time my wife and I had someone over for dinner was maybe three years ago."

That's probably because he spends so much time working. He's obsessive about research but hates writing itself. The stories he's drawn to almost always have something to do with injustice: In recent years, he's focused on NFL player-turned-Army soldier Pat Tillman, charity fraud allegations against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson and college campus rape.

"I'm interested in obsessive types," he explains. "I think it's a way of understanding myself. I'm not even religious, but I get fanaticism. I get the appeal of it. When I was 23, I climbed this mountain in Alaska called Devil's Thumb alone. It was incredibly dangerous, and I did it because if I thought that if I did something that hard and pulled it off, my life was gonna be transformed. And of course, nothing happened. But I get the search for purpose. Happiness means nothing to me. I just want to have meaning and purpose."

Needless to say, his work often gets under his skin and stays there for awhile. After investigating the FLDS church, he decided to foster a 18-year-old boy who had escaped the cult, paying his living expenses and community college tuition. (The young man, whom Krakauer will not name, has since graduated and is living in Denver.) He feels a "moral obligation" to help the victims — many of whom the film alleges have been sexually abused by church elders, and he often worries that the 15,000 or so remaining members of the cult might cause harm to themselves if Jeffs instructed them to do so.

"Unlike many people who see what's going on and then turn a blind eye to it, Jon gets affected by things," says Sam Brower, the private investigator who partners with Krakauer in "Prophet's Prey" to look into the religion. "He's a climber. He understands the obligation to back up who you're with."

Which is probably why he still feels so guilty about what happened on Everest nearly 20 years ago. In the new film, the idea is floated that Krakauer's presence on the mountain pushed Hall to take unnecessary risks. Krakauer agrees with this: "They were taking chances trying to get clients to the summit because I was there."

After he returned home from Nepal and the weight of what he'd seen on the mountain sunk in, Krakauer found himself in a deep depression. It wasn't until a decade later, when he met a number of war veterans while working on his Tillman book that he realized he had post-traumatic stress disorder. He's been going to weekly group therapy meetings for the last four years.

"I was [messed] up for years," he says. "Depressed and I didn't even know it."

Still, he finds his way back to the mountains. He says he can go out his back door in Colorado and embark on world-class rock climbs — "the way people play tennis in Beverly Hills." Jimmy Chin, who directed "Meru," calls Krakauer a "dark horse" of the climbing world with a legacy of risky first ascents.

"We just went on a rock wall the other day in New York City, and Jon was climbing higher than me," says Chin, who's about two decades Krakauer's junior. "I watched 'Everest,' and I can see how people might misconstrue his character. He comes on strong. And because most people don't have the balls to have an opinion, it's hard for some to handle those who do."

So if people think he's a jerk after watching "Everest," Krakauer says, so be it. It comes with the job. He's written about people who thought they were conveyed inappropriately, too. But he wants one thing to remain clear: Summitting the mountain isn't a point of pride — it's a regret.

"Everest is not real climbing. It's rich people climbing. It's a trophy on the wall, and they're done," he says. "When I say I wish I'd never gone, I really mean that."

SAT practice essay

SAT prompt 1 "Let There Be Dark"

SAT essay review...
Before you begin, look carefully at the prompt and at the writing assignment described in the last paragraph. This language does NOT change from test to test, and it asks you to consider specific things. Look at what I've highlighted before you start reading the essay. These should be the building blocks of your writing. 

So here's your work:

1. Read the essay below. 

2. Write an essay that responds to the prompt. 

3. Type your writing this time. Don't worry (too much) about proofing.

4. 400 words minimum (there is a correlation between high score on these essays and word count; the highest scoring essays average 600-700 words. The lowest 25% average 250 words. Yes, you can write a terrible 700 word essay, but it's impossible to write an excellent 200 word essay. Since today's essay is practice, we'll make it a 400 word minimum. 

5. Be sure to include these main parts:
    
    In the intro... 
            author, title of persuasive piece
            what is being argued for
            your three points of development
    In the body paragraphs...
            clear topic sentences that correlate to your three points
    In the conclusion...
            bring it all back to what is being argued for

The Prompt (Everything below, except the highlighting, has been taken directly from the SAT test.)

As you read the passage below, consider how Paul Bogard uses

• evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
• reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
• stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

---

Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” ©2012 by Los Angeles Times. Originally published December 21, 2012.

At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.

All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights. Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch. And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.

Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for “light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels.” Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.

The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known—the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs—and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse....

In today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world, night’s darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasingly in short supply. Every religious tradition has considered darkness invaluable for a soulful life, and the chance to witness the universe has inspired artists, philosophers and everyday stargazers since time began. In a world awash with electric light...how would Van Gogh have given the world his “Starry Night”? Who knows what this vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?

Yet all over the world, our nights are growing brighter. In the United States and Western Europe, the amount of light in the sky increases an average of about 6% every year. Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars. Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights. Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve, using new lighting technologies and shielding existing lights. Already, many cities and towns across North America and Europe are changing to LED streetlights, which offer dramatic possibilities for controlling wasted light. Other communities are finding success with simply turning off portions of their public lighting after midnight. Even Paris, the famed “city of light,” which already turns off its monument lighting after 1 a.m., will this summer start to require its shops, offices and public buildings to turn off lights after 2 a.m. Though primarily designed to save energy, such reductions in light will also go far in addressing light pollution. But we will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.

---

Write an essay in which you explain how Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. In your essay, analyze how Bogard uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Bogard’s claims, but rather explain how Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience

ITA audio book

We can thank Mr. Jones for posting the 
audio of Into Thin Air!

Macbeth Director's Notebook

Macbeth Director’s Notebook…

Here’s your task in a nutshell: you’ll be making all of the production and directorial decisions needed to stage one scene from the play. You’ve already watched three versions of Macbeth, so in a way you’ve been able to look into the thoughts of three directors. These thoughts don’t belong to you. You’re only an observer. You can’t steal them for your own, but unfortunately that will be the temptation. One objective in watching several was to help you see the range of creative interpretation available to you, not to put specific ideas of how to do it into your heads. The challenge here will be to think originally and to put on a new version of Macbeth.

Over the next few days you will be building a director’s notebook for one scene in Macbeth. Your notebook must include each of the following pieces:

1. Interpretive analysis [25 points] (200+ words). Discuss how you’re interpreting the play. The PBS folks did it through setting and costuming that suggested the Stalin-era Soviet Union. The James McAvoy version had a fancy restaurant be the context. So imagine you are producing the entire play. What is an interesting setting/context that could be used to tell the story? Be creative. Start with the big ideas—you have an ambitious leader who takes control of things in a violent way. Could your Duncan and Macbeth be something other than kings? Where else in life do we have people with authority over other people?  Your interpretation must be suitable for presentation on a stage!  

2. Theme analysis [25 points]: (300+ words). In a carefully proofed article, explain how the theme of Fair is foul, and foul is fair gets treated in this scene. How does the theme develop further? Is the theme stated, but in different words? But remember, the majority of the theme’s expressions throughout the play are NOT in words but in situations and in the characters’ actions. How are good things made bad or bad thing made to appear good? How do good and bad, natural and unnatural get flipped around or mixed up?

3. Character analysis [25 points]: (300+ words). In a carefully proofed article, discuss where either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth is at in terms of their fall. For this analysis you may refer to what happens before or after your scene, but the focus (most of your writing) should discuss the point your character is at in THIS scene.

4. Script with stage directions (& footnotes) [25 points]. Type your scene [cut and paste from the internet; just make sure it’s an accurate version] and insert 12 stage directions. Be sure to mix it up: include voice (inflection, tone, pause or stress on a significant word), physical movement (as in a threatening movement across the stage to intimidate the boy messenger), and meaningful activity (what does LM do to show her washing her hands?). You don’t have to follow the book’s format, but it must be in script format (speaker is clearly named, followed by spoken part; ITALICIZE all stage directions. Bracket them if they’re embedded within a spoken line).  You must have explanations/rationale for each direction. Include them with the direction itself, NOT footnoted or listed at the end.

5. Detailed drawing of your stage. [25 points] Include any unusual structures, furniture, doorways, etc. If your drawing is…iffy, you may need to depend on labels and explanations. Be sure to choose your stage type (you may need to look up stage types and terms such as thrust, arena, and proscenium). This choice will determine what your set looks like. This is not an art class. I won’t grade you on ability, but I will grade you on effort. Attempt it in 3D if you can. If not (if you’re just giving me a bird’s eye view, for example), fill it in with a lot of detail. Remember: effort!  IMPORTANT: I should be able to recognize your interpretation (what you wrote about in your interpretive analysis) in your stage drawing. 

DUE DATE:  Monday 1/20

IR Genre requirements...

FICTION: (fake, made-up, not real, didn’t happen, fanciful, an invented story…)

A.Realistic contemporary: These kinds of stories could happen today. They are usually set in modern times with recognizable settings. Young adult romance are usually realistic contemporary.

B.Non-realistic (sci-fi and fanstasy): This is a wide and ever-changing genre. If the book relies on fantastical elements (new species , technologies, worlds, etc.), then you probably have a sci-fi or fantasy.

C.Dystopian: A futuristic, imagined world where a central power maintains the illusion of a utopia.

     Alternate: genre in which one or more historical event occurs different from reality.

D. Misc: (Read one from the following):

•classic – we’ll define these as books that have withstood the test of   time (written before 1950)

•historical – set in the past within a particular era, which also plays   a central part in the plot

•western – set in the American West (usu. the late 1800s); good guys,   bad guys, gunfights

•crime/mystery – the central plot device is an unsolved crime or   unexplained event; the protagonist  tries to figure it out

•horror – scary, maybe gory, think Stephen King

NON-FICTION:  a real story that actually happened; or  a real topic or area of study

E. biography, autobiography, memoir – these tell the story of a single   real-life character.

F. topical – a book on a particular subject such as hunting, baseball,   photography, WWII, economic policy in third-world countries,   gardening, the history of cheese, etc.

The following books are off limits for this course:

•Lord of the Flies
•A Separate Peace
•Animal Farm
•Of Mice and Men
•Huckleberry Finn
•To Kill a Mockingbird
•The Things They Carried
•Things Fall Apart
•The Crucible
•Scarlet Letter
•Their Eyes Were Watching God
••1984
•Handmaid’s Tale
•Frankenstein
•Night
•Great Gatsby
•Pride and Prejudice
•Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
•Raisin in the Sun
•Gatsby
•Invisible Man
•The Bell Jar
•Jane Eyre
•McTeague
Into Thin Air