Class Procedures and Reminders:
Storybook stack. I'm doing my best to keep up with all the Storybooks being turned in so that I can get those points recorded for you in the Gradebook; if you turned in something on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment. For those of you who will be turning in a Week 15 Storybook, please try to get those turned in soon rather than waiting for the last minute!
Week 15 schedule. (repeat announcement) The schedule for Week 15 is compressed because of finals. Instead of lasting for the whole week and the weekend, Week 15 will end at NOON on FRIDAY, May 2. All the Week 15 assignments are available at this time, with the exception of the Responding assignment which will become available starting on Thursday this week.
Finishing the class. (repeat announcement) For those of you who are not done with the class yet, you need to have a specific plan in place for the assignments that you will complete in order to get the points you need, and I would urge you not to put any of those assignments off until the last minute. As you reach the points you need for your final grade in this class — 410 points for an A, 360 points for a B, 320 points for a C — let me know, and I'll record the letter grade for you there in the Desire2Learn Gradebook.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Writing Resource: Comparing Collins, Meyer and Rowling. In addition to adjectives, you can also find charts for comparing their adverbs and even their most common sentences!
Indian Words in English: Today's Indian word in English is ashram, a Sanskrit word that has been adopted in English. For details, see this blog post. The image below shows the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Featured Storybook: How to Acquire Divine Wisdom: The Journey of Jack. In this new Storybook for Indian Epics this semester, you get to journey with a young American named Jack as he seeks wisdom deep beneath the Himalayas. And there he meets... the gods!
FREE Kindle eBook: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. Some of you are enjoying Alice's adventures in the Myth-Folklore reading for this week!
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is A cat may look on a king (an English proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. The proverb predates Alice in Wonderland, but most people know the proverb from its use in that book!
Mahabharata Image: Today's Mahabharata image is the marriage of Kunti and Pandu, parents of the Pandavas-to-be.
Tuesday Event on Campus: More food goodness from the Union Programming Board: there will be a free late-night breakfast in the Food Court, with free eggs, sausage, potatoes, and more at 7PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Ancient Roman Floralia. We are in the midst of the ancient Roman festival called Floralia, which lasts from April 27 through May 3 - that is, from ante diem quartum Kalendas Maias in the old Roman Calendar, until ante diem quintum Nonas Maias (those Roman dates are for those of you who have studied Latin!). Flora was a goddess in ancient Rome, and she presided over flowers and all blossoming plants. You can read more about the Floralia here, and you can see the goddess in Botticelli's Primavera (Spring); the smiling goddess Flora is all covered with flowers (detail view):
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
