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!

Tuesday, January 24

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 2 of the class. I've moved the Week 2 Quizzes and Declarations to the TOP of the Desire2Learn area now. This week in Indian Epics you are starting Narayan's Ramayana, while it's Ancient Near East week in Myth-Folklore - you will be choosing EITHER Gilagmesh OR Egypt. I really hope you will enjoy the readings!

Proofreading Assignments. I finished returning all the proofreading assignments on Monday and also sent out a general email about the results. If you have any questions about that or did not receive the email for some reason, let me know!

Storybook Stack. A very large number of Storybook assignments came in over the weekend and on Monday, and I've been reading through those in the order that they came in. If you turned in an assignment before 11PM on Saturday, you should have comments back from me, with points recorded for you in the Gradebook (check and make sure!). If you turned something in later on Saturday or 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.

Storybook Comments via email. When I send back Storybook comments to you via email, you will see that my comments are inserted into your email and marked with ==> so you can find them easily. PLEASE READ THESE COMMENTS. The comments for each week should help you when you do your assignment for the next week, and possibly in future weeks, too, so make sure you save the emails that I send back to you about your Storybook assignment. That way, you can consult them later as needed. If you have any questions about the comments or if something is not clear, let me know!

Tuesday Events on Campus. Jeff Beekman will lead a walking tour of artworks by OU students in the Nancy Johnston Records Gallery from 1:30PM - 2:30PM (time/location/details). Find out more about this event and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

WLT Book Club. The World Literature Today Book Club will have its first Spring meeting this Thursday, January 26, at noon in the WLT conference room, 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. There are still a couple of books left in the WLT office in Monnet Hall, so go pick up a copy of the book while they are available. For more information contact Katlin Seagraves (Indian Epics) or Marla Johnson in the WLT office. World Literature Today is one of the most amazing projects you will find at OU - definitely check them out if you are not already familiar with all that they do.

Monday, January 23

Today is Monday, and Week 1 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the Week 1 assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

Monday: Time to work ahead. You do not have any assignments due on Monday, which makes it the PERFECT chance to work ahead on the Week 2 assignments. Believe me: if you put off the assignments in this class until the day that they are due, you are going to be under a lot of stress. If you can work at your own pace, even just a day or two ahead of the deadlines, you will find the class much 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 Week 1 Storybook assignments from Myth-Folklore, plus early Week 2 and Week 3 Storybook assignments from both classes, along with some Proofreading assignments also. The first thing I will do on Monday morning 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 then start reading the assignments in the order they were turned in. For those of you who are working ahead on your Storybook: you will need my comments on the assignment before you can move on to the next Storybook assignment - but you can keep working ahead on other assignments, and I will get the Storybook assignments returned as quickly as I can.

Myth-Folklore: Gilgamesh OR Egypt. Those of you who are in the Myth-Folklore class will have a choice of readings each week. In Week 2, the choice is between Gilgamesh OR Egypt. You will do only one set of readings, and take the background quiz and reading quiz based on your choice of Gilgamesh OR Egypt. You will end up with some blank items in the Gradebook; that is just because Desire2Learn, expensive software though it may be, cannot even conceive of a world in which students have a choice of what to do (sad, isn't it?). Your goal is to get 30 points per week, and if you do the quizzes for just one of the reading selections, you will end up with the points you need. Please do not do both sets of quizzes; just do the quizzes for the reading option you have chosen.

Monday Events on Campus. UC Action Tutoring launches its Spring 2012 Walk-In starting today - find out more at the Action Tutoring website. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Monday at the Campus Calendar online.

January 23: Chinese New Year. Today, January 23, is the Chinese New Year - and this year it is the Year of the Dragon - exciting for me, since I was born in a Dragon year also. You can read more about the Chinese New Year tradition in this Wikipedia article. In the Chinese zodiac, the different animal years are also associated with different elements; the 2012 Dragon is the water dragon (as for me I am a wood dragon). Happy New Year!

(image source)