Friday, November 13 - Sunday, November 15

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 12! The Week 12 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 12 assignments 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.

Blog Responding. You will find more and more people without the current week's posts in their blogs as they decide to mix-and-match assignments in order to finish up the class. So, please check to see if there are blog posts for the current week you can respond to but, if not, just follow the instructions in the assignment: you can respond to other blog posts in that person's blog if they do not have blog posts for the current week. If you are looking for other blog posts to respond to, try to find posts which do not already have comments (you can see the number of comments for each post displayed in blue writing to the right of the date and time stamp).

Choosing your grade. One of the reasons I designed the class grading system based on points is so that you can choose to stop exactly when you have the points you need - and that includes the option to stop when you have the points you need for a grade of B or C in the class. Most of you are taking this as a General Education requirement, so the crucial thing is that you pass the class, and whether you get an A or a B or a C is not really that important. For those of you who have jobs, who have families, etc., you have some things going on in your life far more important than this class. So please do not be embarrassed or feel like you need to apologize if you decide to take a grade of B or C in this class. The grading system is designed precisely so that option is available to you, no questions asked. When you get the number of points you need (410 for an A, 360 for a B, 320 for a C), you are done! My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can adjust the comment assignments accordingly.

IMPORTANT NOTE: IT Maintenance. On the third Sunday of every month, IT does maintenance on its servers. There will be a maintenance window this Sunday, November 15. This often causes service outages, which may affect you if you are trying to publish webpages at that time. 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 (this is also a good page to check if you are experiencing problems with Desire2Learn, email, or other IT services).

Storybook Stack. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. As always on Friday, I will do my best to get comments back before the weekend to any assignment turned in before noon on Friday. Anything that is turned in after noon on Friday will be added to the stack first thing on Monday morning.

Thanksgiving. (repeat announcement) You will get a full week off for Thanksgiving break in this class. So, Week 13 will start on Tuesday of next week, 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 13: Vine Deloria. Today, November 13, marks the death just three years ago, in 2005, of the Sioux Indian author and political activist Vine Deloria, Jr. You can read more about Vine Deloria's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Deloria is most famous for his 1969 book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, and also for his various works in religion and theology, such as God Is Red: A Native View of Religion and Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Deloria's writings are thoughtful and thought-provoking, and very witty, too, as you can see in one of Deloria's most often cited quotations: When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, ‘Ours.’ If you are curious to hear Vine Deloria, you can check out this webcast from the Library of Congress from 2002, as part of the National Book Festival.

Thursday, November 12

Today is Thursday of WEEK 12 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 11 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that 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. There are just a few assignments in the Storybook stack. If you turned in your assignment before 10PM on Monday, you should have comments back from me now. Assignments turned in later on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday are probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

My Thursday schedule. This week my out-of-office tasks are on Thursday, which means I may be a more slow today to respond to your emails - but if you send me an email during the day on Thursday, I'll definitely get back to you by the end of the day.

Interactive Storybook. Some of you may have seen Sarah Harris's Myth-Folklore Storybook Famous Fairytale Heroines, based on The Bachelor television series - except that this bachelor goes on dates with Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel. I've been so curious who the bachelor would choose at the end of the show... and as it turns out, Sarah has left the choice to her readers! She combined the PollDaddy Tech Tip with her own Storybook project - what a great idea! True confession: after reading all three stories, I voted for Rapunzel. :-)

November 12: Bahaullah. Today, November 12, marks the birthday in the year 1817 of the great religious leader named Bahaullah ("Glory of God") who founded the Bahai faith. The Bahai faith is a monotheistic religion in the tradition of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and it has gained followers around the world. Estimates place the number of Bahai faithful at between five and six million ... including a Bahai community in Norman. The life of Bahaullah is filled with many dramatic events, as you can read in this detailed Wikipedia article, which is also the source for the image below. He was born in Tehran, the capital city of what was then called Persia (Iran) and the image below shows Bahaullah's Persian (Iranian) passport:

Wednesday, November 11

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

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

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: