Class Announcements

Wednesday, November 11

2009-11-11T01:01:00.002-05:00

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 12 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 11 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook stack. There are still quite a few assignments in the Storybook stack. If you turned in your assignment on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. Assignments turned in on Monday or on Tuesday are probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment. If the points you will be getting for the Storybook assignment(s) you have turned in will give you the points you need for your final grade in the class, let me know and I'll check on the points total for you!

Grading and points. (repeat announcement) As you can see in the Grading Information page, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive. My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly!

Armistice Day - November 11: Kurt Vonnegut. Today, November 11, is celebrated in the United States as Veterans Day, although it was originally known as Armistice Day, "Day of the Setting-Down-of-Arms (Weapons)," to mark the end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I on November 11 in 1918. November 11 is also the birthday of one of the greatest American writers of the 20th-century, Kurt Vonnegut. You can read about Vonnegut's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Vonnegut was the author of many novels and short stories, including Cat's Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Breakfast of Champions (1973) - it is the last one, Breakfast of Champions, which is my own personal favorite. Here is a quote from that novel where Vonnegut talks about the fact that he was born on Armistice Day in 1922, just a few years after the end of World War I: "When I was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind." Sadly, Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007... but left behind many wonderful stories for us to remember him by!

Tuesday, November 10

2009-11-10T01:01:00.001-05:00

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 12 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 11 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Counting Week 12, there are FOUR WEEKS of class remaining (Weeks 12-13-14-15), which means 120 points of regular assignments, plus extra credit. That assumes you have not been working ahead; if you have been working ahead, you can look at the Gradebook to see just how many available points you can still earn in these last weeks of class.

Storybook Stack. As usual on Tuesday, I am making my way through the big stack of Storybooks turned in over the weekend. If you turned something in before 9PM on Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on later on Saturday or on Sunday or Monday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Overview of Week 12 and Week 13 Internet assignments. (repeat announcement) The Internet assignment for Week 12 is now available, which is your last assignment commenting on other people's Storybooks - it will be all free choice this time! Then, for the Week 13 assignment (available a week from Tuesday, on November 17), you will be voting on your favorite Storybooks for the semester. After you turn in your nominations, I'll set up a ballot so everybody can vote for the best Storybooks - it's not for a grade or anything, it's just for fun, and it gives the folks who have done really excellent work on their Storybooks a chance to get some well deserved recognition.

Grading and points. (repeat announcement) As you can see in the Grading Information page, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive. My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly!

November 10: Neil Gaiman. Today marks the birthday in 1960 of the genius writer, Neil Gaiman. You know, I'm not a person who is usually intimidated by other people's amazing achievements but here is this guy, just four years older than me, and he's got a list of books that is simply breathtaking - what a genius! Looking at all he has accomplished makes me feel so LAZY by comparison...! You can find out about Neil Gaiman's life and career in this Wikipedia article. My very favorite of all his books is American Gods - it is one of the most ingenious adaptations of traditional legends and myths that you will ever read! Happy birthday, Neil Gaiman!

Monday, November 9

2009-11-09T01:01:00.002-05:00

Today is Monday. Week 11 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 12 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. Weeks 13, 14 and 15 are also available for those of you who can see the goal in sight and want to start working ahead now to finish up the class.

Gradebook Declarations. Some of you are under a lot of pressure at the end of the semester with projects and tests in your other classes. So please, if you do not have time to fully complete one of the assignments for this class, just skip it, and make up the points later. Read each Declaration carefully and do NOT make the Declaration if you have not completed the work. You need to check your word count and other requirements BEFORE you do the Declaration. The penalties for making false Gradebook Declarations are serious; if you are not clear about this, please check the Honor Code for this class. Your Gradebook Declarations need to be accurate and honest; the whole grading system in this class depends on it.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in - if the points you will be getting for the Storybook assignment(s) you have turned in will give you the points you need for your final grade in the class, let me know and I'll check on the points total for you! :-)

Overview of Week 12 and Week 13 Internet assignments. Week 12 will begin tomorrow, on Tuesday, and you will have your last assignment commenting on other people's Storybooks - it will be all free choice this time! Then, for the Week 13 assignment (available a week from Tuesday, on November 17), you will be voting on your favorite Storybooks for the semester. After you turn in your nominations, I'll set up a ballot so everybody can vote for the best Storybooks - it's not for a grade or anything, it's just for fun, and it gives the folks who have done really excellent work on their Storybooks a chance to get some well deserved recognition.

Grading and points. (repeat announcement) As you can see in the Grading Information page, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive. My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly!

November 9: Howard Pyle. Today, November 9, marks the death in the year 1911 of the American illustrator and author, Howard Pyle. You can read about Howard Pyle's life and career in this Wikipedia article, and you can find a listing of all his books that are online at his Online Books page. Some of you in the Myth-Folklore or the World Literature class may be familiar with Howard Pyle's work, since he is the author of a collection of stories about famous pirates, as well as books about legendary heroes such as Robin Hood and King Arthur. The image below shows one of Howard Pyle's paintings, The Mermaid:

Friday, November 6 - Sunday, November 8

2009-11-06T01:01:00.000-05:00

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 11! The Week 11 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 11 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. Also, Friday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Thursday.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in this week. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. Everyone who turned in a Week 10 assignment on time should have gotten that back from me; if you turned in a late Week 10 assignment or an early assignment for Week 11 or Week 12, I will do my best to get comments back to you on Friday (this week has turned out to be the biggest Storybook stack of the whole semester because of the number of people working ahead, so I still have a lot to read on Friday!)

Final Grade in Gradebook. There are now a few students who have finished the course completely - by working ahead and doing extra credit, they already have the 410 points needed to get an A in the class. Exciting! I've now added the Final Grade item to the Gradebook. This is where I will record your letter grade when you have finished with the class. That way you can be sure about the grade you will receive, even though I will not be filling out the actual grade report forms until the end of the semester in December. Congratulations to those of you who are finished with the class already!

Week 11 Internet: REPEAT visit to Storybooks. (repeat announcement) For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are slightly different from previous weeks. For this week, you need to be visiting Storybooks you have visited before, reading your second (or third or fourth) story at that particular Storybook. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks this week.

Mix and match points. (repeat announcement) Several people have written to me with questions about mix-and-match strategies, so I thought I should repeat this announcement. There is no special requirement about which assignments you choose to do or not do as the semester comes to a close, provided that you get the total points you need. You can focus on your Storybook, you can pick and choose which reading assignments and quizzes you want to do - it's really up to you. So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you plan carefully. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade.

Thanksgiving. (repeat announcement) I have also had several questions from people about Thanksgiving, now that it is November. So here's the good news: You will get a full week off for Thanksgiving break in this class. So, Week 13 will start on Tuesday, November 17, with the usual Tuesday-Thursday assignments due that week. Then, you have a whole week off between Friday November 20 until Friday November 27 (Thanksgiving Day is November 26). You will have the usual Week 13 weekend assignments due November 28-29, with the usual grace period until noon on Monday, November 30. Then Week 14 will start up on Tuesday, December 1. I am guessing that many of you will probably already be done with the class by the time Thanksgiving break arrives!

Sunday, November 8: Bram Stoker. November 8 marks the birthday in 1847 of the Irish novelist Bram Stoker who is, of course, most famous for his invention of the modern literary figure of Count Dracula, published in 1897. Stoker's Count Dracula has in turn given rise to a whole genre of vampire fiction including the recent Twilight series of novels by Stephanie Meyer. You can read more about Stoker's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Stoker's Dracula has inspired many later novels, films and even comic books, but I will confess that my favorite Dracula is Count von Count of the Muppets! :-)

Thursday, November 5

2009-11-05T01:01:00.001-05:00

Today is Thursday of WEEK 11 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 10 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BY NOON TODAY for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Storybook Stack. There are still quite a few Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Mix and match points. Several people have written to me with questions about mix-and-match strategies, so I thought I should repeat this announcement. There is no special requirement about which assignments you choose to do or not do as the semester comes to a close, provided that you get the total points you need. You can focus on your Storybook, you can pick and choose which reading assignments and quizzes you want to do - it's really up to you. So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you plan carefully. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade.

Thanksgiving. (repeat announcement) I have also had several questions from people about Thanksgiving, now that it is November. So here's the good news: You will get a full week off for Thanksgiving break in this class. So, Week 13 will start on Tuesday, November 17, with the usual Tuesday-Thursday assignments due that week. Then, you have a whole week off between Friday November 20 until Friday November 27 (Thanksgiving Day is November 26). You will have the usual Week 13 weekend assignments due November 28-29, with the usual grace period until noon on Monday, November 30. Then Week 14 will start up on Tuesday, December 1. I am guessing that many of you will probably already be done with the class by the time Thanksgiving break arrives!

November 5: Guy Fawkes Night. In England, the night of November 5 is celebrated as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night, commemorating the occasion when the so-called Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was prevented. So, even though the holiday is named after Guy Fawkes, the holiday is not in his honor: Guy Fawkes, a Catholic, was involved in a plot to blow up the House of Parliament in England as a protest against the Protestant government's persecution of Catholics. The plot was discovered, and Guy Fawkes, along with the other conspirators, was condemned to death. In the celebrations of Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes is often burned in effigy; those of you who have read T.S. Eliot's poem The Hollow Men may remember the line, "A penny for the old Guy" - and the origin of our English word "guy" actually goes back to this use of the word! You can read more about Guy Fawkes in one of the Storybooks for this semester: Heroes of the United Kingdom. The recent film V for Vendetta made the Guy Fawkes mask familiar to many of you, I am sure!

(image source)

Wednesday, November 4

2009-11-04T01:01:00.002-05:00

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 11 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 10 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook Stack. There are still a lot of Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in by 8PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday or Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. A lot of people have gotten a burst of inspiration to work ahead on their Storybooks, which is great - but it also means the stack is really big this week, and it will take me more time to read and reply to them all! Thank you for your patience with that. :-)

Week 11 Internet: REPEAT visit to Storybooks. (repeat announcement) For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are slightly different from previous weeks. For this week, you need to be visiting Storybooks you have visited before, reading your second (or third or fourth) story at that particular Storybook. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks this week.

My Wednesday schedule. I'm back to my usual schedule this week, doing most of my work during regular business hours on Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, while scheduling my out-of-office commitments on Wednesdays. That means I may be a bit more slow to respond to your emails on Wednesday than on the other days of the week - but if you send me an email during the day on Wednesday, I'll definitely get back to you by the end of the day.

November 4: Guido Reni. Today marks the birthday in the year 1575 of the famous Baroque artist Guido Reni (you can read about his life and career in this Wikipedia article). He did paintings with religious themes, and also paintings with mythological themes. Some of you may be familiar with the legend of Atalanta, whose suitors had to run against her in a race, and how Hippomenes was able to slow her down by tossing golden apples given to him by Aphrodite in order to distract her. That is the story illustrated in the painting below (or click here for a larger view), where you can see that Atalanta has already got one golden apple in hand while she bends down to pick up another one just now tossed by Hippomenes who continues to race on ahead.

Tuesday, November 3

2009-11-03T01:01:00.001-05:00

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 11 of the class. For those of you in Indian Epics, that means starting Buck's version of the Mahabharata, while it's more fairy tales in Myth-Folklore (this time from Denmark and Estonia), while it's French fabliaux in World Literature.
If you have not turned in your Week 10 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook stack. As often on Tuesday during a "new story" week, there is still a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack. If you turned in a Storybook assignment on or before Sunday at 3PM, you should have comments back from me and points recorded in the Gradebook. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

Week 11 Internet: REPEAT visit to Storybooks. For the Week 11 Internet assignment, you will see that the instructions are slightly different from previous weeks. For this week, you need to be visiting Storybooks you have visited before, reading your second (or third or fourth) story at that particular Storybook. So, please make sure you read the instructions for the Week 11 Internet assignment before you start reading the Storybooks this week.

Last Words and looking back. Some of you have been doing the Last Words extra credit. As you've seen, those are more like messages to yourself rather than something for other people read; the idea is to take a breather, pat yourself on the back for having made it through another week, and get ready to move on to the next week. If you've been doing those for the whole semester, you might enjoy taking a look back at some of your Last Words posts from the very beginning of the semester. It's been almost three months now, and summer sure seems like a long time ago. So, if you want to remember what life was like back in August, just take a look back at the beginning of your blog - doesn't it seem like a long time ago? Wow!

Thanksgiving. I have also had several questions from people about Thanksgiving, now that it is November. So here's the good news: You will get a full week off for Thanksgiving break in this class. So, Week 13 will start on Tuesday, November 17, with the usual Tuesday-Thursday assignments due that week. Then, you have a whole week off between Friday November 20 until Friday November 27 (Thanksgiving Day is November 26). You will have the usual Week 13 weekend assignments due November 28-29, with the usual grace period until noon on Monday, November 30. Then Week 14 will start up on Tuesday, December 1. I am guessing that many of you will probably already be done with the class by the time Thanksgiving break arrives!

November 3: Dog in space. The dog Laika ("Barker") became the first animal in outer space on this day in 1957. Laika traveled aboard the Soviet spaceship Sputnik 2. You can read more about this cosmonaut dog in the Wikipedia article. While the Soviets launched dogs into space, the United States space program launched chimps instead (Ham the chimp, the first hominid in space, flew a Project Mercury flight in 1961). Laika proved that it was possible for an animal to sustain a weightless state in outer space, although she did not return to earth (she died during the mission from heat stroke when a heating unit in the space capsule malfunctioned). A monument was unveiled this year in honor of Laika; click on the image to view a Russian news video about the dedication of the monument (yes, the news video is in Russian, but it's still fun to watch even if you don't speak Russian):

Monday, November 2

2009-11-02T01:01:00.002-05:00

Today is Monday. Week 10 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 11 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started.

Grading and points. Some people have been asking me about the points and grading, so let me refer you again to this Grading Information page. In short, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive (many of you are taking this class for Gen. Ed. requirements, which means you just need a C to get graduation credit). My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly!

Mix and match points. Now that there are just five weeks of the semester left, you might want to plan to do some "mix and match" in terms of just which assignments you want to complete this semester to get the points you need for the grade you want to get. So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you do this cautiously. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. As usual, I will be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in, starting with the ones that were turned in on Friday afternoon and on Saturday.

November 2: All Souls Day. As you probably know, the festival of Halloween gets its name from being the "Eve of All Hallows," that is, the evening before the Christian holiday of All Hallows, also known as the holiday of All Saints, which falls on November 1 (hence the eve of that holiday falls on October 31). After the holiday of All Saints on November 1, which honors the dead who have achieved beatitude, comes the holiday of All Souls on November 2, today, which commemorates all the dead who have not yet attained heaven. In many Catholic countires, the two days - November 1 and November 2 - are celebrated together as the Day (or Days) of the Dead, Día de los Muertos in Spanish. This is a traditional time for offering prayers on behalf of the dead, and also for visiting cemeteries and decorating the graves, as you can see here in this image of a tomb in Ocotepec, a town near Cuernavaca, Mexico:

Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1

2009-10-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 10! The Week 10 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 10 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in (I was out of the office most of the day Thursday, so I will be busy catching up on Friday!). I've read and replied to all the Week 9 assignments turned in on time, but if you turned in a late Week 9 assignment, or an early assignment for Week 10, 11 or 12, it may still be in the stack. My goal is to get comments back to everyone by the end of the day Friday for assignments turned in before Friday at noon. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. If you want comments back before the weekend, make sure you turn in your assignment by noon on Friday.

Storybooks: CHOOSING to Stop with Three Stories. (repeat announcement) There is nothing sacred about having four stories in a Storybook. Some of you may have missed two weeks' worth of assignments earlier in the semester, so you already know you will have just three stories total. Others of you may CHOOSE to finish with just three stories by skipping two of the remaining Storybook assignments. Quite a few students choose to have just three stories in their Storybook every semester, and it is fine with me! So, think about that now - if you want, you could skip the Week 10 and Week 11 assignments and turn in your third (final) story in Week 12, or you can turn in your third (final) story for Week 10 now, revise in Week 11, and then skip Week 12 and Week 13. It's up to you, based on your personal preferences and the number of points you will be needing to get the grade you want (410 total for an A, 360 total for a B, 320 total for a C). If you decide to include just three stories total in your Storybook, make sure you revise the Introduction to reflect your choice.

Extra credit. For those of you who would like to finish the class early so that you have more time available for your finals and end-of-semester projects in other classes, you can work ahead AND you can take advantage of the extra credit! If you can do all the various extra credit options each week for the next five weeks, that will give you an extra 25 points, plus there are 30 points of Grammar Quiz extra credit points available - in other words, it will allow you to skip almost a full two weeks of this class and finish up early. For those of you who have big end-of-semester projects or really difficult final exams, I would highly recommend doing extra credit in this class and working ahead so that you can finish up early and concentrate on the end-of-semester demands in your other classes.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Halloween is this Saturday, of course, and I thought it would be appropriate to make a list of all the great "scary" Storybooks that people are doing this semester in case you wanted to find some good stories to read for Halloween. So, here are some of the ghostly and scary Storybooks that people are writing this semester - you will find all kinds of wonderful stories to read for the Halloween holiday!

From Beyond the Grave. What brings the dead back to dwell among the living? Find out in this Storybook... you may be surprised by the answers!
Ghost Stories From the Orient. Are you ready to find out what is inside the lovely coffin floating down the river? Mr. Zhang is not afraid to find out... or so he thinks!
Mythical Creatures: The Undead. Which is more frightening... vampires? or werewolves? ... You decide!
Supernatural Urban Legends: Ever wondered about what the mummy's curse was all about? Now you can find out... in chilling detail!
Oklahoma Ghost Stories: Spooky Stories from the Sooner State. This is the Storybook to read if you didn't know there were ghosts in Oklahoma, too!

Plus, if you are curious about the Celtic origins of Halloween, be sure to take a look at Kerry's Storybook about the Celtic goddess Cailleach - she has just added her fourth story, which is all about the holiday of Samhainn... a holiday we know today as Halloween!

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin...

Thursday, Octobery 29

2009-10-29T01:01:00.002-04:00

Today is Thursday of WEEK 10 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that UNTIL NOON today for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Storybook Stack. I've still got some items left in the Storybook stack. You can check to make sure you assignment is in the stack here. If you turned something on Monday, you should have comments back from me; if you turned something in on Tuesday or Wednesday, it is probably still in the stack, and I will get to it today or tomorrow, Friday. If you want to get comments back before the weekend, please turn your assignment in by Friday at noon so that I can get comments back to you on Friday afternoon.

My Thursday schedule. Today, Thursday, happens to be the day this week when I have some out-of-office appointments that will keep me away from my computer for at least part of the day. As a result, I may be more slow to answer your emails, but if you have a question about anything, send me an email, and I will get an answer to you by the end of the day on Thursday at the latest.

October 29: Tulsi Vivah. This year (2009), the Hindu holiday of Prabodini Ekadasi in honor of Vishnu falls on October 29, and it is also the occasion for the celebration of the Tulsi Vivah, the symbolic wedding of Tulsi (which is also the name of the basil plant) to Vishnu in the form of the Shaligram (a dark-colored stone, symbolizing Vishnu). There is an amazing legend that accompanies this ritual, and the story will probably remind those of you in Indian Epics about the legend of Ahalya - but this time it is Vishnu in disguise! Here is the story: A woman named Tulsi was married to a demon named Jalandhar. Jalandhar had obtained a boon from the gods that he would remain immortal as long as his wife was chaste. So, without fear, he tormented the gods and the holy men. In desperation, they prayed to Vishnu for help. Vishnu took on the form of Jalandhar and stayed with Tulsi, who did not realize he had replaced her husband. He was able to seduce her, which meant Jalandhar was able to be killed. When Jalandhar died, Tulsi found out the truth: Vishnu had deceived her. Tulsi was angry and turned herself into a basil plant. Vishnu decreed that he would marry Tulsi (basil) in a symbolic ritual: in the Tulsi Vivah, Vishnu in the form of a dark-colored stone called the Shaligram marries Tulsi, the basil plant. This sacred symbolic marriage is performed every year and marks the beginning of the Hindu wedding season. Here is a photo taken of a Tulsi Vivah ritual - if you look closely, you can see the Shaligram stone representing Vishnu!

Wednesday, October 28

2009-10-28T01:01:00.001-04:00

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 10 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before 10PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

The National Day on Writing. (repeat announcement) The OU Writing Center is inviting OU students to upload their best class writing assignments all day today, October 28, until midnight for publication online in a nation-wide writing gallery - plus, selected pieces of writing will also appear in a published book. You can read more at the Writing Center website, where you will also find the link for uploading your work if you want to participate.

Storybooks: Working ahead. Remember, you don't need to wait on my comments back about your Week 9 revisions before you move on to Week 10 and add a new story to your Storybook. Also, depending on your own personal preferences, some of you may choose to finish your Storybook WITH JUST THREE STORIES. So, think about that when you go to add the new story to your Storybook for Week 10. If you do not need the 20 points for adding the fourth story and revising it, you can choose to conclude your Storybook with just three stories in it, making this third story your final story. Quite a few students choose to do this every semester, and it is fine with me! If you decide to finish with just three stories, here is what you would do: Week 10 Third Story; Week 11 Revise Third Story; (skip Week 12 and Week 13); Week 14 Revise Introduction; Week 15 Final Revisions. It's up to you, based on your personal preferences and the number of points you will be needing to get the grade you want (410 total for an A, 360 total for a B, 320 total for a C).

October 28: The Philadelphia Experiment. Today, October 28, is the anniversary of the so-called Philadelphia Experiment in 1943... if such an experiment actually took place! Was it an experiment, or one of the great hoaxes of the 20th century? Did the U.S. Navy use Einstein's theories in order to render the destroyer escort USS Eldridge invisible - and when the ship reappeared, were there sailors actually embedded in the metal hull of the ship...? Was the ship then teleported to Norfolk, Virginia...? You can read more about this experiment/legend in this Wikipedia article - and it was also the subject of a 1984 film advertised in this poster:

Tuesday, October 27

2009-10-27T00:40:00.001-04:00

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 10 of the class. That means fairy tales in Myth-Folklore, Boccaccio's Decameron in World Literature, and in Indian Epics you're finishing up Narayan's Mahabharata. Note: If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Someone FINISHED already! I am pleased to announce that one student - Barry, in Indian Epics - has already finished the class. Wow. By working ahead and doing extra credit, he's reached 410 points for an "A" in the class. This is the first semester I've let people work as far ahead as they wanted, and it looks like it's been a good experiment! If there are others of you who are in the process of finishing up, remember to send me an email to let me know so that I can record your final grade for you in the Gradebook. Congratulations to Barry on finishing up the class early!

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before 6PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Writing Center. In addition to the writing you have been doing for this class, some of you probably have writing assignments, such as final papers and projects, which you will be turning in for your other classes. So, I wanted to remind you that for any kind of writing project you are doing in any of your classes, the Writing Center is the place to go for help. Whether you are struggling with the overall organization of your writing (finding a focus, working with paragraphs), figuring our research strategies for a research paper, or whether you have some basic questions about writing mechanics (especially punctuation), the tutors at the Writing Center can help. For hours and services, visit the Writing Center website.

In addition... for those of you who are aspiring writers, the Writing Center is participating in something called The National Day on Writing. Apparently they are asking OU students to upload their best class writing assignments starting at midnight tonight, October 27 (CDT), for 24 hours for publication online in a nation-wide writing gallery - plus, selected pieces of writing will also appear in a published book. You can read more at the Writing Center website, which will also be the link for some kind of upload feature that will be activated on October 27. I'm afraid I don't have any details about how that will work (I only found out about it by accident, when I went to get the Writing Center web address for today's announcements) - but if you have a piece of writing from this class or any other class you would like to upload as part of this project, you can visit the Writing Center webpage for instructions!

October 27: Birthday of Erasmus. Today marks the birthday in the year 1466 of the Desiderius Erasmus, one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance. You can read about Erasmus's remarkable life and career in this Wikipedia article. Of all the great thinkers and scholars in the history of the world, Erasmus is my own personal hero. One of his books in particular has been very important in my own life - a huge collection of thousands and thousands of Latin proverbs, with little essays about each one, called the Adagia. Erasmus is also one of the most important figures in the history of critical editions of the Bible in Greek and in Latin. Below is a famous portrait of Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger; along the edge of the book facing the viewer the letters read "The Labors of Heracles" in Greek (ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΙ ΠΟΝΟΙ = HERAKLEIOI PONOI), alluding to the amazing feats which Erasmus accomplished in his life as a scholar.

Monday, October 26

2009-10-26T00:25:00.000-04:00

Today is Monday. Week 9 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 10 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started now!

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

Extra credit. For those of you who would like to finish the class early so that you have more time available for your finals and end-of-semester projects in other classes, you can work ahead AND you can take advantage of the extra credit! If you can do all the various extra credit options each week for the next five weeks, that will give you an extra 25 points, plus there are 30 points of Grammar Quiz extra credit points available - in other words, it will allow you to skip almost a full two weeks of this class and finish up early. For those of you who have big end-of-semester projects or really difficult final exams, I would highly recommend doing extra credit in this class and working ahead so that you can finish up early and concentrate on the end-of-semester demands in your other classes.

Spring 2010 enrollment - let me know TODAY. (repeat announcement) I know that some of you are graduating in December (congratulations!), but for those of you who will be in school next semester, I wanted to give you a chance to reserve a place in one of these online classes for Spring, if you are interested. The online courses all fill up very fast, but if you let me know TODAY, Monday, that you would like to take one of these classes in the Spring, I should be able to reserve a space for you.

October 26: Carlo Collodi. Today, October 26, marks the anniversary of the death in the year 1890 of the Italian author, Carlo Collodi, who is best known today as the creator of the the story of Pinocchio, the little boy made of wood. If you have never read the actual Pinocchio story, I highly recommend it - it's a surprising and beautiful and mysterious book, definitely one of the best books ever written for children, in my opinion. Here is Pinocchio in English online. You can also read an English version with the famous illustrations by Attilio Mussino online, which is the source for the image below:

Friday, October 23 - Sunday, October 25

2009-10-23T01:01:00.002-04:00

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 9! The Week 9 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 9 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon.

Storybook Week 9 and Week 10. For the Week 9 Storybook assignment this weekend, most of you will be turning in a revision assignment. Then, for Week 10, you will be turning in a new story. Remember that you do not need my comments on your Week 9 revisions before you start writing your new story - so don't let me hold you up! After you finish the Week 9 assignment, please feel free to move straight on to the Week 10 assignment and get to work on your new story. If you can get the Week 10 Storybook assignment turned in by this Monday, you can take a point of Early Bird extra credit for working ahead. (For those of you who are on a slightly different schedule with your Storybook, check the email I sent you with your weekly schedule.)

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in this week. If you turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment on time, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned in a late Week 8 assignment, or an early Week 9 or Week 10 assignment, it might still be in the stack. In order to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. I will do my best to get comments back to any assignment that is turned in before noon on Friday. If you turn in something after noon on Friday, it will go into the stack for Monday.

Spring 2010 enrollment. (repeat announcement) I know that some of you are graduating in December (congratulations!), but for those of you who will be in school next semester, I wanted to give you a chance to reserve a place in one of these online classes for Spring, if you are interested. The online courses all fill up very fast, but if you let me know BY MONDAY, October 26, that you would like to take one of these classes in the Spring, I should be able to reserve a space for you. You can get more information about each of the three classes at MythFolklore.net, where you will find links to the websites for each class: World Literature (lower-division Western Culture Gen. Ed.), Myth-Folklore (upper-division Western Culture Gen. Ed.), and Indian Epics (upper-division Non-Western Culture Gen. Ed.).

Microsoft Updates and Anti-Virus Software. Every semester, I hear from several students who have run into serious problems with viruses on their computers. If you use Windows as your computer operating system, and especially if you use Internet Explorer as your browser, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you update your Windows operating system with the latest security updates at the WindowsUpdate.microsoft.com website. The OU IT department makes anti-virus software available to you FOR FREE, so you also should make sure that you have anti-virus software installed on your Windows computer. To get the free software, you have to log on to the IT Store at ITStore.ou.edu, and after you log on, you can click on this Symantec Anti-Virus Software link to download and install the software on your computer for free (Symantec EndPoint is available for all versions of Windows: Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Windows 7). For additional help or if you have questions, call IT at 325-HELP. You definitely do not want to run into computer virus problems as the end of the semester draws near!

(image source)

Thursday, October 22

2009-10-22T01:01:00.001-04:00

Today is Thursday of WEEK 9 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BEFORE NOON today for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Storybook Stack. I've still got quite a few items left in the Storybook stack. If you turned in an assignment over the weekend, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, your assignment is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Extra Credit. As you strategize about getting the points you need to finish up the class, remember that extra credit points go straight into your total and can help you either to make up for missed work or to finish the class early. There are some extra credit assignments available each week (like the "Famous Last Words" post), and there are some extra credit assignments you can do in advance (like the "Technology Tips," which you can do now for Week 9, Week 10 and so on - there's no need to wait), plus there are the Grammar Quiz extra credit points which are available now and which will continue to be available for the rest of the semester.

October 22: Doris Lessing. Today, October 22, is the birthday of the great British author, Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. You can read more about Doris Lessing's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Last summer I read Lessing's novel Shikasta, which is one of the greatest science fiction novels I have ever read - if you are a science fiction fan, or interested in political literature (like Orwell's 1984, for example), it's a book I recommend most highly! Here's a recent photo of Lessing when she learned she had won the Nobel Prize. Happy birthday, Doris Lessing!

Wednesday, October 21

2009-10-21T01:01:00.001-04:00

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 9 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook Stack. There are still quite a few Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in before 5PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday or Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Finishing the course early. As you can see on the Grading page for this class, you need 320 points to get a C in the class, 360 points to get a B, and 410 points for an A. It's fine with me if you decide to finish up the course with a grade of C or B, instead of going for an A. I know many of you are taking the course for the Gen. Ed. requirement, often on top of a very full course load along with work and other personal commitments. So, just remember that as soon as you get the points you need for the grade you want in the course, you are done! My only request is that when you finish your work for the course, please let me know, so that I can mark your final grade in the Gradebook. If you are interested in finishing up the course ahead of schedule, make sure you start doing the extra credit assignments (including the Grammar Quizzes). Each point brings you that much closer to finish up the course ahead of schedule!

October 21: Jack Kerouac. Today, October 21, marks the death in 1969 of Jack Kerouac, the great American novelist of the "Beat" generation of writers. You can read more about Kerouac's life and career in this Wikipedia article. He is most famous for his novel On the Road, which he wrote in a burst of inspiration during the month of April in 1951. In order to keep pace with his writing style, he taped pieces of paper together in a continuous roll of paper that was 120 feet long which he could then feed into the typewriter without having to stop to put new pages into the typewriter. Just imagine what he could have done with a word processor, eh? The actual roll of paper has been preserved; here is the start of the novel at the top of the roll (click here for a larger view - and you can also see a display of the scroll rolled out):

Tuesday, October 20

2009-10-20T01:01:00.001-04:00

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 9 of the class. That means in Indian Epics you are beginning the Mahabharata, while it's Robin Hood or King Arthur in the Mythology-Folklore class, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in World Literature. If you have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before 6PM on Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Saturday or on Sunday or Monday, it is probably still in the stack waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. If you still have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment, you can still do that late for partial credit - and the sooner you can turn that in, the better!

Spring 2010 enrollment. I know that some of you are graduating in December (congratulations!), but for those of you who will be in school next semester, I wanted to give you a chance to reserve a place in one of these online classes for Spring, if you are interested. The online courses all fill up very fast, but if you let me know BY NEXT MONDAY, October 26, that you would like to take one of these classes in the Spring, I should be able to reserve a space for you. You can get more information about each of the three classes at MythFolklore.net, where you will find links to the websites for each class: World Literature (lower-division Western Culture Gen. Ed.), Myth-Folklore (upper-division Western Culture Gen. Ed.), and Indian Epics (upper-division Non-Western Culture Gen. Ed.).

October 20: Birth of the Bab. Today, October 20, is a holiday in the Bahai religious calendar, celebrating the birthday of the Bab, one of the central figures in the Bahai tradition. He was born in Iran in 1819, and took the name "Bab" (meaning "Gate") when he announced his claims to be God's messenger in 1944. His radical religious claims were not accepted by the Muslim clergy of the time, and he was executed in 1850. You can read about his life and religious teachings in this detailed Wikipedia article, where you can also read this detailed article about the Bahai faith. The image below shows the Shrine of the Bab which is located in Haifa, Israel:

Monday, October 19

2009-10-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

Today is Monday. Week 8 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 9 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

Grading. With the beginning of Week 9 tomorrow, that means there are a total of seven more weeks of the semester (9-10-11-12-13-14-15), which means 210 points of regular assignments available, plus extra credit (extra credit that is available week by week, plus the Grammar Quiz extra credit options). You may want to start planning now how you want to finish up the class. For a chart that shows you week by week point totals and other information about the grading system, you can consult this Grading Information page. It's fine with me if you want to finish the class with a grade of "B" when you get 360 points or "C" when you get 320 points; for an "A" you need 410 points. So, when you have reached the the points required for the grade you want to take, just let me know. As soon as you get the points you need, you do not need to do any more of the class assignments.

October 19: Yorktown Day. Today, October 19, is the anniversary of George Washington's victory at the Battle of Yorktown (Virginia) in 1781, the last major battle of the Revolutionary War, which ended with the surrender of the British forces commanded by General Cornwallis. If you are a U.S. history buff, you probably also recognize the "Yorktown" as being famous as the name of a U.S. aircraft carrier which fought and was sunk at the Battle of Midway in WWII. The painting below showing Cornwallis's surrender can be seen in the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington:

Thursday, October 15 - Sunday, October 18

2009-10-15T01:01:00.002-04:00

Today is Thursday of WEEK 8 of the class. Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday. Also, because this is OU-Texas weekend, there will not be announcements on Friday - so please make sure you read today's announcements to know what is going on for the rest of Week 8!

FRIDAY MORNING: Desire2Learn maintenance. For those of you who will be doing schoolwork on Friday, please be aware that Desire2Learn will be down for scheduled maintenance on Friday morning between 7AM and 9:30AM. So, if you need to use the Friday morning grace period to finish up your Thursday assignments, you'll need to be aware of this maintenance downtime. There is the usual grace period on Friday morning until noon, but you won't be able to use Desire2Learn between 7AM and 9:30AM - so you either need to log on before that time window, or afterwards.

SUNDAY MORNING: IT Maintenance. On the third Sunday of every month, IT does maintenance on its servers. There will be a maintenance window this Sunday, October 18. This often causes service outages, which may affect email, web publishing, and other OU IT services as well as any webpages on the ou.edu system and possibly Desire2Learn. The maintenance window is in the morning, and the maintenance should be completed before noon on Sunday. For specific information and updates, see the IT Alerts page at alerts.ou.edu.

Storybook Stack. I've finished reading and replying to all the Storybook assignments that were turned in by noon on Wednesday. If you turned in something after noon on Wednesday or later, it will go into the stack on Monday. So, first thing on Monday, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure that I did receive your assignment.

NEW GROUPS. (repeat announcement) For the second half of the semester you have been put in NEW GROUPS for the Blog Responding assignment, and you will also be reading Storybooks from people in your group, in addition to the random Storybooks and the Storybooks you choose from the whole class. The Week 8 Internet assignment is available starting today, Thursday, so make sure you check to see who is in your group before you start reading the Storybooks for that assignment.

OU-Texas weekend. (repeat announcement) Friday is not an official holiday on the academic calendar, but I know many of you will be out of town. So, this week only, the Blog Responding assignment will become available on Thursday. That way, if you are planning to be out of town on Friday, you can get your assignments done before you leave, including the Responding assignment. It may be that quite a few people will not have posted their Week 8 blog posts (since those are not due until Thursday), but that's okay - you have new people in your blog groups, so you can read their Week 7 story and essay even if they have not yet posted anything for Week 8. So, when you do the Week 8 Blog Responding assignment, make sure you check to see what your new group assignment is!

Friday, October 16: Oscar Wilde. Friday marks the birthday in the year 1854 of the great Irish writer, Oscar Wilde. You can read more about Oscar Wilde's life and career as a writer in this detailed Wikipedia article. Wilde is probably most famous for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and his play The Importance of Being Earnest - and also for his conviction in 1895 of "gross indecency" (homosexuality). He spent two years in jail as a result, and died three years after his release from prison, penniless and in self-imposed exile. My favorite works by Oscar Wilde are his fairy tales, which you can read online at SurLaLune. The image below is an illustration by Jessie King for Wilde's fairy tale entitled The Fisherman and His Soul:

Wednesday, October 14

2009-10-14T01:01:00.001-04:00

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 8 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 7 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook Stack. There are still quite some Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Monday or Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

FRIDAY MORNING: Desire2Learn maintenance. For those of you who will be doing schoolwork on Friday, please be aware that Desire2Learn will be down for scheduled maintenance on Friday morning between 7AM and 9:30AM. So, if you end up needing to use the Friday morning grace period to finish up your Thursday assignments, please be aware of that D2L will be unavailable during that maintenance window.

The following announcements are repeat announcements, reflecting the special schedule this week:

Storybooks this week: Wednesday noon. (repeat announcement) Because this week is shortened, the deadline for getting a Storybook in order to get comments back from me is today, Wednesday, at noon. So, if you want comments back before the weekend, make sure you get it turned in this morning, and I'll be sure to get comments to you before the weekend. If you need to turn in a late Week 7 Storybook assignment for partial credit, you can still do that up to Thursday at noon, but you will not get comments back until Monday of next week. So, be warned: if you turn in a Storybook assignment after noon today, you may not get comments back until next week.

NEW GROUPS. (repeat announcement) For the second half of the semester you have been put in NEW GROUPS for the Blog Responding assignment, and you will also be reading Storybooks from people in your group, in addition to the random Storybooks and the Storybooks you choose from the whole class. The Week 8 Internet assignment is available starting today, Tuesday, so make sure you check to see who is in your group before you start reading the Storybooks for that assignment.

OU-Texas weekend. (repeat announcement) Although Friday is not an official holiday on the academic calendar, I know many of you will be out of town. So, this week only, the Blog Responding assignment will become available on Thursday. That way, if you are planning to be out of town on Friday, you can get your assignments done before you leave, including the Responding assignment. It may be that quite a few people will not have posted their Week 8 blog posts (since those are not due until Thursday), but that's okay - you have new people in your blog groups, so you can read their Week 7 story and essay even if they have not yet posted anything for Week 8. So, when you do the Week 8 Blog Responding assignment, make sure you check to see what your new group assignment is!

October 14: e e cummings. Today, October 14, marks the birthday in the year 1894 of the American poet, Edward Estlin Cummings - better known as e e cummings. Cummings experimented with spelling and typography and the conventions of the English language in ways that were unheard-of at the time. You can read about his life and career in this Wikipedia article. I have reproduced in an image below the unusual layout of one of his poems, the sky was candy luminous:

Tuesday, October 13

2009-10-13T01:01:00.002-04:00

Today is Tuesday, the first day of WEEK 8 of the class. Yes, this means the semester is one-half over! (In the Indian Epics class, you will see it is a review week before you start the Mahabharata in Week 9.) If you have not turned in your Week 7 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

NEW GROUPS. As I explained in the announcements from yesterday, for the second half of the semester you have been put in NEW GROUPS for the Blog Responding assignment, and you will also be reading Storybooks from people in your group, in addition to the random Storybooks and the Storybooks you choose from the whole class. The Week 8 Internet assignment is available starting today, Tuesday, so make sure you check to see who is in your group before you start reading the Storybooks for that assignment.

OU-Texas weekend. Although Friday is not an official holiday on the academic calendar, I know many of you will be out of town. So, this week only, the Blog Responding assignment will become available on Thursday. That way, if you are planning to be out of town on Friday, you can get your assignments done before you leave, including the Responding assignment. It may be that quite a few people will not have posted their Week 8 blog posts (since those are not due until Thursday), but that's okay - you have new people in your blog groups, so you can read their Week 7 story and essay even if they have not yet posted anything for Week 8. So, when you do the Week 8 Blog Responding assignment, make sure you check to see what your new group assignment is!

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before 4PM on Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Saturday or on Sunday or Monday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Storybooks this week: Wednesday noon. (repeat announcement) Because this week is shortened, the deadline for getting a Storybook in order to get comments back from me this week is Wednesday at noon. So, if you want comments back before the weekend, make sure you get it turned in by Wednesday at noon, and I'll be sure to get comments to you before the weekend. If you need to turn in a late Week 7 Storybook assignment for partial credit, you can still do that up to Thursday at noon, but you will not get comments back until Monday of next week. So, be warned: if you turn in a Storybook after noon on Wednesday, you will not get comments back until next week.

October 13: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Monday, October 13, marks the birthday in 1948 of the great Pakistani qawwali singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Sadly, he died in 1997, but he left behind an amazing musical career with many beautiful recordings. You can read more about his musical career and legacy in this Wikipedia article. I was lucky enough to hear him perform in 1994, and it was one of the most marvelous concerts I have ever attended. Qawwali is a musical style traditionally associated with Sufism (that should mean something to those of you in World Literature, and also to those of you in Myth-Folklore who read about Rumi back in Week 6). There are some wonderful concert recordings at YouTube - and here is a picture that give you a sense of what his ecstatic concert performances looked like:

Monday, October 12

2009-10-12T01:01:00.006-04:00

Today is Monday, and Week 7 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 8 will begin tomorrow, on Tuesday. There are some new announcements related to OU-Texas weekend, so please make sure you read today's announcements: THEY ARE IMPORTANT. Please read them carefully, and if you have any questions, let me know.

Week 8 starts on Tuesday: NEW GROUPS. After the Week 7 grace period expires at noon on Monday, I'm going to be shifting the groups for the second half of the semester! So, when you do the Week 8 Internet Storybook comments assignment (available starting on Tuesday) and when you do the Week 8 Blog Responding assignment (available starting on Thursday, see below), you will see that you have new people in your groups. These will be the groups for the rest of the semester. So, when you do the Week 8 Internet and Week 8 Responding assignments, make sure you check the assignment instructions carefully to see which group you are in now.

Friday Holiday: OU-Texas Weekend. I know that many of you will be out of town for the OU-Texas football game. So, there will be one change to the schedule to accommodate the Friday holiday: the Week 8 Blog Responding assignment will be available starting on Thursday, so that you can finish that assignment before the Friday holiday. Now, that does mean quite a few people probably will have not posted their Week 8 blogs yet, but that is okay: since you have new people in your blog groups this week, that means you will be looking at totally new blogs! So if you are reading some Week 7 posts instead of Week 8 posts, that is fine: there will be plenty of new posts for you to read, from either Week 7 or from Week 8.

Storybooks this week: Wednesday noon. Because this week is shortened, the deadline for getting a Storybook in order to get comments back from me this week is Wednesday at noon. So, if you want comments back before the weekend, make sure you get it turned in by Wednesday at noon, and I'll be sure to get comments to you before the weekend. If you need to turn in a late Week 7 Storybook assignment for partial credit, you can still do that up to Thursday at noon, but you will not get comments back until Monday of next week. So, be warned: if you turn in a Storybook after noon on Wednesday, you will not get comments back until next week.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. The first thing I will do on Monday morning when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 8 a.m. or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and reply to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

October 12: Columbus Day / Día de las Culturas. As you know, today is celebrated as Columbus Day in the U.S. as a federal holiday, but throughout many of the countries in Central America and South America it is designated instead as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) or Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) to honor all the cultures of the Americas, including those exterminated by the European invasion. If you would like to learn something new today about a nearly-lost Native American tradition, take a look at Cliff's Storybook for World Lit. this semester, which contains legends told by the Tejas Indians - the Indians whose tribal name gives us the name of the state "Texas." Especially if you are planning a trip to Texas this weekend, you might want to take a few minutes and learn something about the Tejas Caddo people who lived there long before the Europeans came. Here is a great story they tell: Why the Woodpecker Pecks, which you can see illustrated in the image below - to find out just what it is you see there in the image, read the story: it is really powerful!

(Why the Woodpecker Pecks image)

Friday, October 9 - Sunday, October 11

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HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 7! The Week 7 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and so is the Week 7 Internet assignment (Storybook commenting), along with the remaining Week 7 assignments that are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon. Friday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Thursday.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. I've read and replied to all the Week 6 assignments turned in on time, but if you turned in a late Week 6 assignment, or an early assignment for Week 7 or 8, it may still be in the stack. My goal is to get comments back to everyone by the end of the day Friday for assignments turned in before Friday at noon. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Writing Center. For those of you who are finding it difficult to proofread your own writing, the Writing Center is the place to go for help. Whether you are struggling with the overall organization of your writing (finding a focus, working with paragraphs), or whether you have questions about writing mechanics (especially punctuation), the tutors at the Writing Center can help. For hours and services, visit the Writing Center website. The Writing Center is there to help with the writing assignments you have in this class, as well as any writing assignments you will have in your other classes, too.

Extra credit Grammar Quizzes. By now you are probably starting to get a sense of what aspects of English writing are the most difficult for you. Often, people have a really hard time with punctuation, which is understandable, since you do not have to use punctuation when you speak - only when you write. There are some Grammar Quizzes which you can do for extra credit to get some practice with commas, apostrophes, and other kinds of punctuation problems, along with homonyms and tricky spelling problems. You can find out more about the Grammar Quizzes here, and I'd really recommend them as a good way to get extra credit and review the rules of written English. As the semester goes on, I will expect your Storybook assignments to be written in English which is correctly spelled and correctly punctuated, so if you know you are having trouble with that, maybe these review quizzes can help!

Saturday, October 10: R.K. Narayan. Saturday, October 10, is the birthday of the Indian novelist R.K. Narayan, who was born in 1906 and who died in 2001. This name is familiar to those of you in the Indian Epics class, since you are reading Narayan's versions of both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Narayan was one of the most famous Indian novelists who wrote in English, and he was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once, although he did not win the award. You can find out more about Narayan's life and work in this Wikipedia article. The image montage below is from an article celebrating the centenary of Narayan's birth: 100 years of RK Narayan, The Master Storyteller.

Thursday, October 8

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Today is Thursday of WEEK 7 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 6 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit; please make sure you get it turned in by noon today at the latest. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Grades and Points. If you did not read Tuesday's announcements, please see the note there about the university's mid-term grade reports.

Week 7 Internet assignment. If you did not read Tuesday's announcements, please read that; the instructions for this week are somewhat different from last week since you will be reading the Introduction AND a story at the Storybooks you comment on this week.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, your assignment is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Storybook Week 7 and Week 8. For Week 7, you will be doing revisions to your first story, so that means you you need to wait until you get my comments back on your Week 6 assignment - but if you want to work again, go ahead and add the next story to your Storybook and turn in the Week 8 assignment early, adding your second story to your Storybook. Meanwhile, if you want to turn in an assignment early and get comments back before the weekend, make sure you turn it in by Friday at noon. I always do my best to get comments back to you before the weekend if you turn something in by noon on Friday.

October 8: Frank Herbert. Today marks the birthday of the science fiction writer Frank Herbert in 1920 (Herbert died in 1986). His novel, Dune, published in 1965, is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever written. Herbert himself wrote five sequels to the novel, with further volumes added by Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, using notes left by his father at his death. Below is a cover for one of the paperback editions of Dune, showing one of the mighty sandworms!

Wednesday, October 7

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Today is Wednesday of WEEK 7 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 6 Storybook assignment yet (adding your first story), you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Grades and Points. If you did not read yesterday's announcements, please see the note there about the university's mid-term grade reports.

Week 7 Internet assignment. If you did not read yesterday's announcements, please read that; the instructions for this week are somewhat different from last week since you will be reading the Introduction AND a story at the Storybooks you comment on this week.

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the large stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment by 10PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in later on Sunday night, or on Monday or Tuesday, your assignment is probably still in the stack, waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check to make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

My Wednesday schedule. I do most of my work during regular business hours on Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, while scheduling my out-of-office commitments on Wednesdays. That means I may be a bit more slow to respond to your emails today than on the other days of the week - but if you send me an email during the day today, I'll definitely get back to you sometime this afternoon.

October 7: Edgar Allan Poe. Today, October 7, marks the anniversary of the death of Edgar Allan Poe in the year 1849, which is 160 years ago this year. You can read more about Poe's remarkable and tragic life in this detailed Wikipedia article. One of the best Storybook projects from last year was based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, so you might want to take a look at that - Poe's stories are so powerful and mysterious, and in this Storybook - Case Notes: The Mary Rogers Investigation - you can see the stories put to incredible use in the creation of a new mystery tale. Below is an image of the cover designed by the famous illustrator Gustave Dore for Poe's famous poem, The Raven: