Tuesday, November 10

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!