Class Procedures and Reminders:
Alternate Storybook Schedule. You may have noticed the information on the Storybook assignments page about the alternate schedules. If you are not able to complete a Storybook assignment in any given week, an alternate schedule will kick in. So if you miss one week, you will still end up with four stories total in your Storybook, and if you miss two or three weeks, you will still end up with three stories in your Storybook, which is just fine. In fact, you might even decide you prefer to have a Storybook with just three stories. For more information about how the alternate schedules work, see this information page: Storybook Schedule.
Storybook Stack. I don't update the Storybook stack as often on the weekends, but I'll update it at least once or twice. If you want comments back on your assignment sooner rather than later, turn in your work earlier on Sunday rather than waiting until later. If you wait until Sunday evening, you will be farther down in the stack and will have to wait longer for my comments back to you.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Poetry Video. Especially for those of you who are familiar with Homer's Odyssey, you might enjoy this poem by Constantine Cavafy, one of the greatest of the modern Greek poets. You'll recognize Sean Connery's voice reading the poem, and the music is by Vangelis. The video is at YouTube:
Writing Resource: Short and Sweet Writing Strategies. As you start adding stories to your Storybook, you may start bumping up against the maximum word limit. These strategies can help you lower your word count while also improving the quality of your writing.
Foreign Words in English: Today's foreign word in English is parcheesi, which comes to English from Hindi. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Man-Eaters: Lillith's Lair of Lascivious Ladies. There are clubs . . . and then there is Lilith's club. You really should have thought twice before you entered, and you might start looking for an exit now, before it is too late!
FREE Kindle eBook: Hindu Gods and Heroes by Lionel Barnett. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. It's one that is likely to be of interest to students in the Indian Epics class.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is They wouldn’t make erasers if we didn’t make mistakes (an American proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. This is one of my favorite proverbs; fixing mistakes is how we learn, after all!
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image shows Hanuman and Ravana. As you can see, they are preparing to set Hanuman's tail on fire.
Sunday Event on Campus: You can see a matinee showing of The Drowsy Chaperone at 3PM in the Rupel Jones Theater (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
February 23: Majel Barrett Roddenberry. As a lifelong fan of Star Trek in all its incarnations, I am also a fan of Majel Barrett in all her Star Trek roles - and today, February 23, is Majel Barrett's birthday. She was born in 1932 and died in 2008; her husband, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, died in 1991. Majel Barrett provided the voice of the computer for Star Trek: The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, and she also played Nurse Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Here's a picture of her from back in the Nurse Chapel days, along with the rest of the cast of the original series:
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
