Friday, April 13 - Sunday, April 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.

Week 12 Responding: Check your groups. The groups for Blog Responding are basically the same as last week, but there have been some small adjustments, based on the folks who are finished with the class (the blog responding will get a bit chaotic in the last weeks of the semester as people finish up, mix-and-match their points, etc). So, before you do the blog responding assignment, double-check on your group to make sure you are responding to the right folks.

Storybook Stack. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack (late Week 12 Storybooks plus early Week 13-14-15 Storybooks), 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. Because of the unusually large number of people who turned in late or early Storybook assignments this week, I may not be able to get them all returned to you on Friday; if I do not get through the stack on Friday, I will do that on Saturday morning at the latest.

Gradebook Declarations. (repeat announcement) 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.

Mix and match points. (repeat announcement) Now that there are less than four weeks of the semester left (rest of Week 12, plus Weeks 13-14-15), you might want to plan to do some "mix and match" in terms of just which assignments you want to complete this semester to get the points you need for the grade you want to get (you need 410 points for an A, 360 points for a B and 320 points for a C). So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you do this cautiously. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade.

Friday Events on Campus. The annual EVE OF NATIONS will take place at the Lloyd Noble Center on Friday, 6PM-9PM with music, food, dance and more - check the Facebook page for detailed information. Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

April 14: Ramana Maharshi. Saturday, April 14, marks the anniversary of the death in the year 1950 of the great Indian guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi. You can read more about his life and career in Wikipedia, which also has a section of quotations from his works and teachings. There's even a Ramana Maharshi comic book in the famous Amar Chitra Katha series of comic books!

Thursday, April 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, 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 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 or Wednesday are probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

Writing Center. (repeat announcement) In addition to the writing you have been doing for this class, some of you probably have writing assignments, such as final papers and projects, which you will be turning in for your other classes. So, I wanted to remind you that for any kind of writing project you are doing in any of your classes, 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), figuring our research strategies for a research paper, or whether you have some basic questions about writing mechanics (especially punctuation), the tutors at the Writing Center can help. For hours and services, visit the Writing Center website.

Thursday Events on Campus. There will be a Chinese Fashion and Culture show, 2PM-3PM, in 160 Hester Hall as part of International Awareness Week (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

April 12: Camerarius. Today, April 12, is the birthday of the great Renaissance scholar Ioachim Camerarius, who was born in the year 1500. You can read about his life and works in Wikipedia (which is also the source for the portrait below). In particular, Camerarius was famous as a scholar of Aesop's fables!

Wednesday, April 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 before 6PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. Assignments turned in later on Sunday or 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.

Finishing the class early. (repeat announcement) When you finish up with the class I record a "FINAL GRADE" in the D2L Gradebook so you can be sure you are done. So, just let me know when you have completed the number of points you need: 410 for an A, 360 for a B, 320 for a C. It's entirely up to you what grade you want to finish with in the class. There is no need to apologize for stopping out with a grade of B or C (many people are taking this class just for Gen. Ed. credit, and I know it is often not a top priority). Whatever grade you decide to stop with is fine with me. The whole idea behind this points-based grading system is to let you know exactly where you stand and to allow you to choose to be finished with the class when you have the points you need. If you have any questions about that, let me know!

Wednesday Events on Campus. Psychology professor Clarissa Thompson is offering a workshop on "How Learning Works" at 3:30PM in 245 Wagner Hall - come find out just what happens when your brain processes information! (time/location/details) For more about this and other events, see the Campus Calendar online.

April 11: Margaret of Navarre. Today marks the birthday in the year 1492 of Margaret of Navarre, who is the author (probably) of the amazing Renaissance storybook known as The Heptameron. You can read more about Margaret here at Wikipedia, which is also the source for the portrait below, painted in 1527:

Tuesday, April 10

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 12 of the class, and I've re-arranged the Quiz area in Desire2Learn so Week 12 is on top. For those of you in Indian Epics, that means continuing with Buck's version of the Mahabharata (including the great legend of Nala and Damayanti), while it's a choice between fairy tales and ballads in Myth-Folklore. If you have not turned in your Week 11 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

My schedule today. I'll be out of the office for part of today so I will be slower than usual in responding to emails in the morning. But I will be back in the afternoon and will reply to anything then. Thanks for your patience with that!

Four weeks left! Counting this week, 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. When you finish up with the class I record a "FINAL GRADE" in the D2L Gradebook so you can be sure you are done. So, just let me know when you have completed the number of points you need: 410 for an A, 360 for a B, 320 for a C. It's entirely up to you what grade you want to finish with in the class.

Storybook Stack. As usual on Tuesday, I am still making my way through the big stack of Storybooks turned in over the weekend. If you turned something in on Saturday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something on Sunday or on 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.

Tuesday Events on Campus. There will be Turkish Folk Dancing from 12PM-2PM in Hester Hall, Room 170 as part of International Awareness Week (time/location/details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

April 10: Lew Wallace. Today is the birthday of Lew Wallace, born in 1827, who was a Union general in the Civil War and later the governor of the New Mexico Territory - but who is most famous today for being the author of the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which was published in 1880. Below is an image from the 1959 film adaptation of the book starring Charlton Heston:

Monday, April 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. I'll update the stack on Monday morning, and you can then 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.

Overview of Week 12 and Week 13 Internet assignments. Week 12 will begin tomorrow, on Tuesday, and you will be commenting on other people's Storybooks. Then, for the Week 13 Internet assignment (available a week from Tuesday, on April 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 earned recognition.

April 9: Birthday of Tom Lehrer. Today, April 9, is the birthday of Tom Lehrer, born in 1928, an American mathematician and composer of some very funny satirical songs. If you have never experienced the joy of Tom Lehrer's incredible sense of humor, I recommend checking out the many Tom Lehrer songs and videos at YouTube.com. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM LEHRER! Here is a song, Who's Next, about nuclear escalation - a song that is sadly still pertinent today, over forty years later: