Friday, March 16 - Sunday, March 25

HAPPY SPRING BREAK! You have reached the end of Week 9 of the semester, and it is time for Spring Break! The Week 9 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, along with the other end-of-week assignments for Week 9. I would advise everybody to finish those assignments on Friday before Spring Break so that you can totally enjoy the break without having to worry about deadlines; if you choose instead to wait to do those assignments, you can complete them during the break, with the usual grace period on Monday morning, March 26. For those of you who are traveling, I hope you have happy and safe travels!

Spring Break email. I will be checking email intermittently over the Spring Break although I may be out of town for a few days. If you have questions or problems, send me a note and I'll get back to you as soon as I am back online again.

Storybook Stack. I've still got some Storybooks in the stack, and by the end of the day on Friday I will be sure to get comments back to anything turned in before 8AM on Friday. During Spring Break, I won't be reading any Storybook assignments, so if you turn something in later on Friday or during the break, it will go into the stack. I'll update the contents of the stack first thing on Monday morning, March 26.

Working ahead on your Storybook. If you want to work ahead on your Storybook, please do so! You can actually write the third and fourth stories over Spring Break if you want, and have them all lined up and ready to go. You can only turn in one Storybook assignment at a time, but if you want to get your stories written and ready to go, that's a great strategy for working ahead and dramatically reducing your work load in the final weeks of the semester.

Finishing the class early. If you want to finish the class early, working ahead over Spring Break is a very good way to do that! For those of you who did not see the Tuesday announcements, check there for information about the number of points remaining in the semester so that you can plan out your strategy to finish up the class with the grade that you want.

CELEBRATE SPRING WITH HAIKU!

(image from the SpringHaiku Blog)

Thursday, March 15

Today is Thursday of WEEK 9 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BEFORE NOON today for partial credit. 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.

Storybook Stack. I've still got quite a few items left in the Storybook stack. If you turned in an assignment by 10AM on Monday, you should have comments back from me now. If you turned something in later on Monday, or on Tuesday or Wednesday, your assignment 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. Also, if you want comments back from me before the Spring Break, please get any Storybook assignment turned in by 8AM on Friday morning.

Extra Credit. As you make your plan for finishing up the class, remember that extra credit points go straight into your total and can help you either to make up for missed work or to finish the class early. There are some extra credit assignments available each week (like the "Famous Last Words" post), and there are also some extra credit assignments you can do in advance (like the "Technology Tips," which you can do now for Weeks 9-15). Plus, you can get "Early Bird" extra credit points just for working ahead - no extra work, just managing your time so that you are working ahead (Spring Break might be a time for you to get a week ahead and start earning those early bird points). For those of you who did not see the Tuesday announcements, check there for information about the number of points remaining the semester so that you can plan out your strategy and finish up this class with the grade that you want.

Spring Break information. If you did not read the Monday announcements, make sure you do that now; there is important information there about Spring Break and the schedule for this class.

Thursday Events on Campus. The OU Write Club will be having Open Mic Night at Cafe Plaid from 7PM to 9PM (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

March 15: The Ides of March. Each month in the Roman calendar was marked by special days known as the Kalends, the Ides and the Nones. Today, March 15 a.k.a. "The Ides of March," must be the most famous day in the Roman calendar because it is the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated. Caesar failed to heed the warning to "beware the Ides of March" (a line made famous by the soothsayer who appears in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar). You can read more about the Ides of March in this Wikipedia article.

(image source)

Wednesday, March 14

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 9 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 8 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 MANY Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in before 10PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday or Tuesday, 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. While you are waiting on comments back from me, you can keep on adding stories to your Storybook (that is a great thing to do, in fact!) - but please only turn in one Storybook assignment at a time. So, if you have something in the stack now, please don't turn in another assignment until I get that one back to you.

Spring Break information. If you did not read the Monday announcements, make sure you do that now; there is important information there about Spring Break and the schedule for this class.

Grading. For those of you who did not see the Tuesday announcements, check there for information about the number of points remaining the semester so that you can plan out your strategy finishing up this class with the grade that you want.

Wednesday Events on Campus. Bill Barker, who is a "Thomas Jefferson Interpreter" will be giving a performance as Jefferson in Meacham Auditorium from 5:30-7:30PM on Wednesday (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online. I've seen Barker perform as Jefferson at Colonial Williamsburg and he really is remarkable! I would urge anyone with free time to attend this event if you can. Here is a picture of Barker in his Jefferson costume - and believe me: the best part is when he takes questions from the audience, so think of some good questions you want to ask Jefferson before you attend!

Tuesday, March 13

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 9 of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 9 is on top. This week's topic is Robin Hood or King Arthur in the Mythology-Folklore class, with the Mahabharata getting started in Indian Epics. If you have not turned in your Week 8 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Spring Break information. If you did not read the Monday announcements, make sure you do that now; there is important information there about Spring Break and the schedule for this class.

Week 9 Internet assignment. The Week 9 Internet assignment is available now! For this week's assignments, you will be reading a second story in the Storybooks you visit. Plus, it's all free choice this time - you can return to Storybooks you have visited before and read the second story, or else you can visit a totally new Storybook and read the first and second stories together. For details, see the Internet assignment page.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in 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. Please check the contents of the stack to to make sure I received your email.

Grading. With the beginning of Week 9, that means there are a total of seven more weeks of the semester (Weeks 9-10-11-12-13-14-15), which means 210 points of regular assignments available, plus extra credit. You may want to start planning now how you want to finish up the class. For a chart that shows you week by week point totals and other information about the grading system, you can consult this Grading Chart page. Many people take these classes just to get the Gen. Ed. credit and just need to pass the class, so it's fine with me if you want to finish the class with a grade of "B" when you get 360 points or "C" when you get 320 points; for an "A" you need 410 points. When you have reached the the points required for the grade you want to take, just let me know. As soon as you get the points you need, you are done - you do not need to do any more of the class assignments.

Tuesday Events on Campus. The Creative Writers Writing Group meets from 6PM-7PM in Wagner Hall 280 - poets, fiction writers, and creative non-fiction writers are all welcome (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

March 13: Al Jaffee. Today marks the birthday of Al Jaffee, one of the main geniuses behind Mad magazine. Jaffee was born in 1921 and he is still with us today, so - Happy Birthday, Al Jaffee! Almost every single issue of Mad magazine published since 1964 has contained material drawn by Al Jaffee. You can read more about Al Jaffee's life and career, along with the many honors and awards he has received, in this Wikipedia article. Here's one of Jaffee's 1978 magazine covers:

Monday, March 12

Week 8 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of those end-of-week assignments. Week 9 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started.

Spring Break. For Spring Break, you will have the entire week of March 17-25 off as you can see on the Semester Calendar here. You will have your regular Week 9 assignments due this week up through Thursday. Then, I would encourage everybody to finish up the final Week 9 assignments this Friday, March 16 - but if you want to wait and do those final Week 9 assignments on the weekend after Spring Break, you can do that, too. The grace period for wrapping up Week 9 will be on Monday morning, March 26, after Spring Break.

Midterm Crunch. I know a lot of you are facing a midterm crunch and big assignments in your other classes this week. So, remember that things in this class are super-flexible. If you miss some assignments in this class, there is lots of extra credit you can do later on to make up any missing points. For your Storybook, if you miss a week, that is also not a big deal; you can be one week off the regular schedule and still end up with four stories in your Storybook - so, if you didn't manage to finish your Storybook for Week 8, don't worry. You can go on the "alternate schedule" and turn in your new story during/after Spring Break. Here's how the alternate schedule works.

Google account security. I would like to urge everyone to complete the Google Security Tech Tip so that you can be sure you have a procedure in place to recover your Google account in case you forget your password or something like that. Also, just to be on the safe side, I would urge you to save a local copy of your Google Site. Exactly how to do that depends on the browser you use, but in most browsers, the File menu has a Save option that lets you save the webpage you are viewing to your computer. Do that for each webpage in your site and you will have a local backup copy, just in case.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack waiting for me to look at. 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 9AM 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 replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in. During a "new story" week, it takes me quite a while to get through the stack, so I would urge everybody to check the stack to make sure your assignment is there.

Monday Events on Campus. There will be a performance of "By the Bog of Cats" (a modern-day story of Medea) by the Irish playwright Marina Carr at 8PM in the Lab Theatre in Old Science Hall, with additional performances on Tuesday and Wednesday (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

Sita Sings the Blues. The folks in Indian Epics have now finished up the Ramayana and next they will be moving on to the Mahabharata. There are many different versions of the Ramayana, of course, in many languages and styles - including a recent animated film by Nina Paley, called Sita Sings the Blues. You can see a trailer for the film at YouTube, or you can visit the Sita Sings the Blues website - and you can even view the movie online since Nina Paley (a personal hero of mine) has made the film freely available online. As she explains at the website: From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes.