Tuesday, January 31

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 3 of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 3 is on top. In Indian Epics, this week you will be finishing up Narayan's Ramayana. In Myth-Folklore, it's the Hebrew Bible, with a choice between the stories of Noah and Babel, or the stories of Samson and Daniel. If you have not turned in your Week 2 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. (See note about that below.)

Tuesday schedule. I will be out of the office on Tuesday afternoon, which means I will not reply as quickly as usual to any emails you might send me during the afternoon. I'll get back to anything urgent on Tuesday evening, and then I will get caught up on any remaining Tuesday emails on Wednesday morning. So, don't hesitate to send me an email with any questions you have - but don't be surprised if you don't get an answer right away on Tuesday afternoon. :-)

Storybook Stack. I'm still working my way through the HUGE stack of Storybook assignments that people have turned in. If you turned in an assignment on Saturday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in on Sunday or on Monday, it 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. I read the assignments in the order that they are turned in, so the later you turn in the assignment, the longer you'll need to wait to get the comments back. It usually takes me all week to get comments back on all the Storybook assignments people have turned in! So, please wait for my comments before going on to the next Storybook assignment - and to get comments sooner, turn in your assignment on Saturday rather than Sunday or Monday.

Late Storybooks. (repeat announcement) Each week, the Storybook assignment is the only assignment that can be turned in late for partial credit. Since I cannot get all the Storybooks graded and returned immediately, you can turn in the Storybook late for partial credit. If you want full credit (10 points) you must turn the Storybook in on time, that is, over the weekend or before noon on Monday. If you turn it in late, you can receive partial credit, as follows: turn it in on Monday after noon and you can receive up to 8 points; on Tuesday, you can receive up to 7 points; on Wednesday you can receive up to 6 points. If you turn the Storybook assignment in on Thursday before noon, you can receive up to 5 points. No late Storybook assignments will be accepted after noon on Thursday.

Tuesday Events on Campus. There will be a Forum with Student Study Abroad Alumni from 7PM-8:30PM in the Cate Main Social Lounge, 347 Cate Center Dr. Free pizza, too! (time/location/details) Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

January 31: Alan Lomax. Today marks the birthday of Alan Lomax, one of the most important figures in the history of American folk music. He was born on January 31 in 1915 and died in 2002. You can read about his life and career at Wikipedia. After he graduated from college, Lomax began working in 1937 at the Archive of Folk Song of the Library of Congress. He traveled all over the country recording folk singers and recording interviews with musicians like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Jelly Roll Morton. In the 1950s, he began collecting folk music from all over the world and produced the influential multi-volume record series, Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music. Check out the Alan Lomax Collection at the Library of Congress online, and you can read in in this NYTimes article about the efforts to digitize Lomax's work AND make it available for free streaming! Exciting! The image below is an album cover from his collection of Prison Songs:

Monday, January 30

Today is Monday, and Week 2 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you have not completed the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 3 will begin officially tomorrow - and those Week 3 assignments are already available now if you want to get started!

Monday, January 30: Final day to drop with refund. (repeat announcement) Today, Monday, January 30, is the final day to drop a class and get a full refund. So, if you are finding out that this class does not fit into your schedule after all, or that the workload is too demanding, you can still drop the class and get a refund. Monday is the last day to drop with a refund!

Monday: Your chance to get ahead. Although being able to set your own schedule is one of the biggest benefits of an online class, the majority of the people in these classes are doing the assignments on the same day that they are due. Yet we all know that life is full of surprises, both good and bad. So please try to work ahead and that way you are ready for any surprises that might come up! If you can take advantage of Monday to get ahead on the Week 3 assignments, that will give you a lot more freedom and flexibility, making this class a lot easier to manage.

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 8AM or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will then start reading the assignments in the order they were turned in. Please do not go on to the Week 3 Storybook assignment until you get Week 2 comments back from me (and the same is true for those of you who have turned in Week 3 or Week 4 assignments - please do not go on to the next Storybook assignment until you get my comments). I'll be updating the stack as I make my way through the assignments!

Late Storybooks. Each week, the Storybook assignment is the only assignment that can be turned in late for partial credit. Since I cannot get all the Storybooks graded and returned immediately, you can turn in the Storybook late for partial credit. If you want full credit (10 points) you must turn the Storybook in on time, that is, over the weekend or before noon on Monday. If you turn it in late, you can receive partial credit, as follows: turn it in on Monday after noon and you can receive up to 8 points; on Tuesday, you can receive up to 7 points; on Wednesday you can receive up to 6 points. If you turn the Storybook assignment in on Thursday before noon, you can receive up to 5 points. No late Storybook assignments will be accepted after noon on Thursday.

Monday Events on Campus. Quy Nguyen, from OU Student Life, will be leading a "Connecting on Campus" workshop from 4PM-5PM in Wagner Hall 245 (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

Friday, January 30: Assassination of Gandhi. On January 30 in 1948, Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated. The image below shows the memorial in New Delhi where Gandhi's body was cremated. Written on the stone you can see what were reportedly Gandhi's last words: "Hey Ram" (Oh Rama!) - his invocation of the god Rama will definitely mean something to the students in the Indian Epics class. Although it is a matter of some controversy as to whether those were Gandhi's last words, here is something he wrote in December 1947, just weeks before his assassination: "In the end it will be as Rama commands me. Thus I dance as He pulls the strings. I am in His hands and so I am experiencing ineffable peace." If you look closely at the photograph, you will see the words written in Devanagari script, gold letters on the black stone, just behind the burning stick of incense:

Friday, Jan. 27 - Sunday, Jan. 29

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 2. The Week 2 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 2 assignments are due now also, on Friday - or over the weekend if you prefer, on Saturday or Sunday (with the usual Monday morning grace period).

Week 2 Read and Respond (blog comment) assignment. The Week 2 blog commenting assignment is available now! Make sure you check your groups; most of you are in the same group as last time, but I have made a few changes based on add/drops. You can complete that assignment today, Friday, or on Saturday or Sunday if you prefer; the usual Monday morning grace period applies.

Storybook assignments. I will read and reply to as many Storybook assignments as I can on Friday, and the ones I do not get to will be at the top of the stack on Monday morning. The sooner you can turn in your assignment, the sooner you will get comments back from me, and you will need those comments before you go on to the next assignment. So, if you want to get comments back sooner rather than later, turn in your work on Friday or Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday.

Monday, January 30: Final day to drop with refund. (repeat announcement) Monday will be the final day to drop a class and get a full refund. So, if you are finding out that this class does not fit into your schedule after all or that the workload is too demanding, you can still drop the class and get a full refund. The Week 2 assignments should be giving you a sense of what the regular weekly assignments will be like for the rest of the semester, which means you now have a good basis on which to make your decision. If you have any questions about the class you'd like to ask before you make your decision, let me know!

Friday Events on Campus. OU's ballet and modern dance majors perform in the Young Choreographers' Showcase at 8PM in the Rupel Jones Theater on Elm; there are performances on Friday and Saturday evenings and also on Sunday afternoon. (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

January 28: Vasant Panchami. Saturday, January 28, is the date in 2012 for the celebration of the Hindu holiday Vasant Panchami, held in honor of the goddess Saraswati, who presides over music, art and wisdom. You can read more about Saraswati in this detailed Wikipedia article. Below is an image of Saraswati, showing her with a vina (a traditional stringed musical instrument) in one hand as she strums it with another hand; in her two other hands, she holds a book (a symbol of learning and wisdom) and a string of beads to be used in meditation (symbolizing spiritual practice and dedication). Her traditional animal vehicle is the swan, so you can see swans swimming around her feet, as well as a peacock in the background. Let's hope the goddess of wisdom will help to make this a good semester for everyone!

Thursday, January 26

Today is Thursday of WEEK 2 of the class. For those of you in Myth-Folklore, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Week 2 Read and Respond assignment. The Week 2 blog commenting assignment is NOT available yet; it will be available starting on Friday. The blog commenting assignment is the only assignment you cannot complete early, and that is because people will still be adding posts to their blog today, Thursday. So, after midnight tonight, that is, at 12:01AM on FRIDAY, you can do that Read and Respond assignment; you have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to finish the blog responding since it is one of those Friday/weekend assignments.

Storybook Stack. If you turned in a Storybook assignment before 5PM on Wednesday, you should have comments back from me; if you turned something in later on Wednesday, it is probably still be in the stack (you can check the contents of the stack here). Meanwhile, if you want Storybook comments from me this week, make sure you get your assignment turned in today. I do my very best every week to read and reply to every assignment that is turned in before noon on Friday but to be 100% sure you get comments before the weekend, turn in your assignment on Thursday.

Tech Tip emails. I have also read and replied to all the Tech Tip emails; sometimes it takes me a week or to to reply to those. Each week I do the Storybook assignments first, which sometimes takes all week long! Remember: you don't need to wait on my reply to your latest Tech Tip email - just go ahead and keep sending me the emails for each Tech Tip that you complete; I'll get back to you, but it might not be for a week or even longer.

Google Site websites. Thanks to those of you who are working ahead and have done your Google Site website. I will start looking at those and replying to your emails on Thursday!

Monday, January 30: Final day to drop with refund. Monday will be the final day to drop a class and get a full refund. So, if you are finding out that this class does not fit into your schedule after all, or that the workload is too demanding, you can still drop the class and get a full refund. The Week 2 assignments should be giving you a sense of what the regular weekly assignments will be like for the rest of the semester, which means you now have a good basis on which to make your decision. If you have any questions about the class you'd like to ask before you make your decision, let me know!

Thursday Events on Campus. The World Literature Today Book Club meets at noon in 105 Monnet Hall; lunch will be provided. The book under discussion will be the graphic novel, Daytripper, by Brazilian twins Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

January 26: Republic Day honors Sundarlal Bahuguna. On this day in 1950, the Indian Constitution came into force, making India officially a "Republic," and so January 26 is celebrated as "Republic Day" in India. You can read more about the holiday at Wikipedia. Each year on Indian Republic Day, heroes of the nation are celebrated. One of the heroes who has been honored as a hero of the nation on this day is the environmental activist, Sundarlal Bahuguna, a member of the Chipko movement which is fighting to preserve the forests in the Himalayas. The image shows Sundarlal Bahuguna standing in front of a painting that depicts his meeting with the Dalai Lama (source):

Wednesday, January 25

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 2 of the class. 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 of 5PM on Tuesday, I had read and replied to all the Storybook assignments in the stack at that time; I'll update the stack again on Wednesday morning. Working through that Storybook stack is my top priority each week. Then, after finishing the Storybooks, I can respond to other emails like the Tech Tip emails, etc. Be warned: there will be quite a few weeks during the semester when it takes me all week long just to get through the Storybook stack. Remember, though, you can always check the stack to make sure I have your assignment, so you don't have to worry about whether or not I got your email. :-)

Storybook Emails. Please remember to save the emails I send you back about your Storybook assignments. My comments are marked with ==> in the body of the email, and you will need those comments when you go on to the next Storybook assignment. That also means you need to wait on my comments before you go on to the next Storybook assignment, but don't worry: you can keep working ahead on other assignments in the course while you are waiting to get your Storybook assignment back.

Wednesday Events on Campus. Campus Activities Council Open House will take place from 7PM to 8:30PM in Wagner Hall 235 (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

For an image today, here is a painting by Jennifer Ma (Myth-Folklore) that is on display and for sale in the Student Art Gallery at the Union - Jennifer included this in her Introduction post, which is how I found out about it. If any of you who are painters or photographers or musicians, etc., have any kind of showing or performance I can include in the announcements, let me know!