The Langley Read

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is a community celebration of  life, dedicated to current and former cancer patients, their families and friends.  Relay For Life  raises funds to fight cancer while raising awareness about cancer prevention and the programs and services offered by the American Cancer Society. While the event is underway, a festival atmosphere is created by team members camping out, enjoying music, food, games, entertainment, friendly competition and camaraderie! 

Date: The Relay For Life of Langley-McLean will be held on April 27-28, 2013.

Location: The Relay For Life of Langley-McLean will take place at Langley H.S.

Participants: Anyone can put together a team!! Families, friends, neighbors, classmates, church members and co-workers join together to create teams that raise funds prior to the event, then walk or run relay style around the track for the duration of the event.  Each team is offered a campsite and encouraged to stay overnight, keeping at least one team member on the track at all times.

Incentive Prizes: This is a donations event. Donations are collected and turned in prior to or the day of the Relay.  Each person is challenged to raise at least $100 for the American Cancer Society.  Incentive prizes are awarded to individuals who raise $250 or more.  The top fundraisers will receive special recognition at closing ceremonies.  

Special Events: Relay For Life begins with the Survivors’ Victory Lap.  This first lap, taken by all area cancer survivors who wish to participate, is in honor and celebration of those who have fought the fight and won!

 At dusk, candles are placed around the track and lit during the beautiful Luminaria Ceremony.  This touching display of light is to honor cancer survivors and to remember those who have lost their battle with cancer. 

Why We Do It: Cancer touches everyone in some way.  This is an opportunity for the entire community to get involved.  Today, one out of two patients diagnosed with cancer survives.  That’s tremendous progress and this event proclaims that CANCER CAN AND WILL BE BEATEN!

For more information on Relay For Life, please call:

Shari True at (703) 937-1904

www.relayforlife.org

Anonymous asked: dude, John's vlogbrothers videos cover a lot of the discussion questions, however as John always says, "Books belong to their readers." No, really, he always says that. It's practically his catchphrase. BBTTR and DFTBA.

For those of you checking out this Tumblr page who don’t know what DFTBA means, it’s “Don’t Forget To Be Awesome.” You, my friend, have clearly not forgotten.  It’s great to hear that you liked the Langley Read and follow the Vlogbrothers.  Keep up the awesomeness. 

Anonymous asked: Loved the book! I took it with me to summer camp and let my friend there read it. It was a theatre camp, but a lot of people had read the book and it came up casually in a random conversation about cancer books and how most of them are super depressing, but this one actually was filled with lots of humor. I always like reading the Langley Reads, though most people don't read them, nor is it really necessary to read them, but they are always interesting.

Glad you liked it!  Yes, John Green is splendidly hilarious, and it’s great to interact with other people about the book.  Langley is going to be having a Langley Read Night sometime in the future, so if you’re interested in discussing it more, please attend! 

1)       What did you like about this novel? What did you dislike? Why?

2)       Who was your favorite character? Who was your least favorite character? Why?

3)       How does Hazel change throughout the course of the novel? Why is this important to the meaning of the work?

4)       Whom do you think changes the most throughout the novel? Discuss.

5)       How are Hazel and Augustus alike? How are they different? Are these differences important? Why or why not?

6)       What do Hazel and Augustus understand about life that their healthy peers do not?  Why is this important to the meaning of the work?

7)       Mrs. Waters tells Hazel that Augustus’ love for Hazel was “real” and not “puppy love.”  What qualities makes Augustus’ love “real”?

8)       How do Isaac and Monica set up a foil for Hazel and Augustus?

9)       Discuss your reaction to Peter Van Houten. Is he a “bad person” as Augustus asserts? Is it possible to feel sympathy for a “bad person”?  Discuss.

10)   Peter Van Houten accuses Hazel of being a “child” and tells her that her illness places her in a continuous state of infancy so that she is dependent upon others. Do you agree or disagree with Van Houten? Considering Van Houten’s own situation, why might his accusation be ironic?

11)   On page 110, Augustus says (with sarcasm), “I’d always thought the world was a wish-granting factory.” These words form a motif in the novel. Although Hazel and Gus know that the world is not a “wish-granting factory,” they still have hopes and wishes. What does Hazel hope for? What does this reveal about her as a character? What does Gus hope for? What does this reveal about him? Are there any characters in the novel who do not seem to have hopes? What does this reveal? What might a more “typical” adolescent (such as Kaitlyn) wish for? How might our wishes reveal our characters?

12)   “There is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor in dying of” (217). Does the novel seem to agree or disagree with Gus’ assertion? Discuss.

13)   How does the novel reify the idea of the heroic young person fighting cancer?  How does the novel add nuance to this stereotype?

14)   John Green took a quotation from Shakespeare which asserted that the fault of humanity did not lie with the stars (fate, the heavens, etc.) but “within ourselves.” John Green then altered the quotation. Why is this change important to the meaning of the novel? Do you believe that the problems of the world lie “in the stars,” in the human heart, or in both? Discuss.

15)   How do Hazel and Augustus and Isaac seem to be traditionally adolescent? How do they fail to conform to the stereotypes of adolescents?

16)   Sometimes, people who are ill come to define themselves by their illness. Their illness becomes the most defining feature of who they are.  Is this true of Hazel and Gus?  How important is it that these two characters have cancer?

17)   Many characters in this novel comment on the random, arbitrary nature of life. Can true meaning exist in a world that is random and arbitrary? How does Peter Van Houten answer this question? How does Hazel answer it? How does Gus? How do you?

18)   Why do you think Isaac reacts more emotionally to the loss of his girlfriend than to the loss of his sight? How might Isaac’s reaction relate to the meaning of the novel?

19)   Did you find this book to be funny? Why or why not? How does humor function in this book? Who are the funny characters? Who is not funny? Is this important?

20)   Discuss Hazel’s reaction to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  Why does she find Maslow’s philosophy to be insulting? How does Maslow’s philosophy relate to the novel?

21)   Why do Hazel and Gus view their support group with derision?  What about the support group seems to be inadequate to the participants’ needs?

22)   How does the way Augustus plays video games reveal his character? What does Augustus learn as the novel progresses? Why would Augustus rather die “hunt[ing] Nazis” than die of cancer? What does this desire say about Augustus? About our society’s view of death?

23)   Contrast Peter Van Houten and Hazel’s mother (or father).  Why are these differences important?

24)   “The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people. We are irrevocably other…” How does the novel showcase this idea?  Does the novel ever seem to argue against this idea? Discuss.

25)   At one point, Augustus tells Hazel that her recommendation of An Imperial Affliction was “a gift.” Why would Augustus feel this way about this novel? Have you ever felt that reading a book was “a gift”? Discuss.

26)   “Maybe okay will be our always.” What does this expression reveal about Hazel and Gus’ relationship and how it was different from Isaac and Monica’s?  

27)   Discuss the possible meanings behind the characters’ names: Hazel Grace, Augustus (Gus) Waters, Isaac, Kaitlyn.

28)   “Some infinities are greater than other infinities.” What does this mean?  How does this motif relate to the meaning of the book?

29)   Peter Van Houten points out that we discuss literary characters in the present tense and discuss dead characters in the past tense. Why?

30)   One page 246, Hazel recites this poem by William Carlos Williams:

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Why might this poem have been included in this novel? How might this poem relate to the meaning of the novel?