What do Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky have in common?  They've both
been shunned, one way or another, by society.  I've used this project
with 11th graders and gotten some nice results:

Objective:
Students will be able to compare a literary character with a person of
today's society.
Students will analyze why society shuns people for certain actions.
Students will prepare a well written analysis of their subject's 
situation and present their findings in a speech.

Students will have to have read Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" to do
this project.

The project has three elements:

1.) Students will find a person in today's society who has been
"shunned".  They should do their own research on-line in the library
(maybe set aside a day or two for a class library trip.)  They are to
come up with a letter that represents the persons actions that are being
frowned upon.  Then create an elaborate picture of the letter that the
person would have to wear if in Puritan times.. As Hester had to wear
the "A" to represent ADULTERY, Mike Tyson may have to wear a "B" for
BITER!  Or Dennis Rodman may have to wear a "D" for being DIFFERENT!

2.) The students then have to write a five paragraph essay on their
subject...
1st par...Introducing why people still may "shun" people today,
2nd...then describing the person and what they've done to be shunned,
3rd...then describing how the "shunning" (ie: tabloids, paparazzi,
media, lost their job, etc...) has affected them,
4th...then comparing the person to Hester,
5th...then wrapping up with by referring back to the intro and making a
statement about public "shunning".

3.) The third element of the project is the oral presentation, you can
get a whole lesson on the Speaking Rubric of your state out of it.  They
should use their art project and write a speech from the essay...and if
you video students, they take the presentations more seriously.

Some student subject choices:
Monica Lewinsky "A"
Drew Barrymore  "D"
Bill Clinton    "L"
Marilyn Manson  "P"
Richard Nixon   "L"
Tonya Harding   "A"
OJ Simpson      "K"     
You can come up with your own letter/sin analogies!

Good Luck!
Marli Janata