Grading. I've gotten some emails recently as people are checking up on their grades, so I thought I should make a general announcement about that, especially now that the semester is almost half-over. Each week there are 30 points of required work, so to get an A in the class, you need to be getting around 27-30 points per week. There is extra credit every week, too - some people use extra credit to make up for missed work, but you can also use extra credit to get ahead in class, earning more than 30 points per week. For a chart that shows you week by week point totals and other information about the grading system, you might want to look again at this Grading Information page (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the chart) - you saw this page back in the first week of the semester, but now you will be able to make better sense of the information, watching your total points adding up week by week. Let me know if you have any questions that are not answered on that page.
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.
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.
October 11: Thich Nhat Hanh. Today marks the birthday in the year 1926 of the Vietnamese writer and Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. You can read about his life and career in this Wikipedia article. Over 40 of his books have been translated into English, and they are a wonderful way to learn about Buddhism. There is a collection of quotes at Wikiquote, including these words which will certainly resonate for those of you who have been looking at the notion of karma in the Indian Epics class: The present moment contains past and future. The secret of transformation, is in the way we handle this very moment. The photo below comes from Thich Nhat Hanh's website, PlumVillage.org:
