On the next open page of your notebook, answer the following questions: If you knew that tomorrow you would lose the ability to speak and eat, what would you say? What would be your last meal? And why? If you had to choose between remembering your last meal or your last words, which memory would you want and why?

Before reading, at the top bottom of the text, briefly respond to the following questions: 1.What kind of writing – genre – is this text? 2.What topics related to the value life do you think Ebert might talk about in this interview? Use the little knowledge you do know about him gathered from previewing the documentary. 3.Do you think Ebert’s claim about the value of life will agree with Hamlet’s?

As you read: 1.Make notes, write your personal thoughts, or write questions that come to mind. 2.Underline/ highlight important words, phrases, and passages. 3.Circle and define words you don’t understand. 4.Pay attention to style and structure. What affect does figurative language have on the reader? What is the tone of the piece? What mood does it convey? Co nsider: 5.Does Ebert present an argument about the value of death? 6.Be sure to distinguish between Jones’s words versus Ebert’s.