Friday, September 2

HAPPY FRIDAY! You have reached the end of Week 2! The blog commenting assignment for this week is available now, and I hope you will have fun meeting some new people in class this week and reading their stories. Here is a link to this week's assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Introductions. I think I have commented on all the Introductions; I will double-check today to make sure. It's been fun learning more about all of you! My participation at the blogs is very random, but the Introductions are something I always want to read, and you'll be getting comments on your Introductions from other students in the class all semester long.

Labor Day Weekend. Monday is the Labor Day holiday! Week 2 still ends on Sunday as usual, but Week 3 does not start until Tuesday. See the Week 3 page for details. If you are taking a three-day weekend, finish up Week 2 today (Friday), and you are good to go until Tuesday next week.

Project Stack. Thanks to everybody who has already turned in the Week 2 Project assignment. That is the only assignment you'll turn in each week by email (real email is best; not Canvas messaging). You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Creative Writing. Why do we need creative writing? Here's why! More about writing at the Writing Lab.

Google Search. And creative writing benefits from good research, so here are some tips to Google Like a Boss.

GrammarCatz. Skateboard Cat is ready for the long weekend! Find out more at the GrammarCatz blog.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: Sky Warrior: A Tournament of Champions. The brave warrior Pyppa does battle with the flying creatures of the gods' arena as each round threatens death in a new form — Medean dragons, the bloodthirsty flying goddesses called Keres, and more. What will she do in order to survive the ordeal?

Free Book Online: Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan). See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. This is one of my favorite collections of jataka tales, which are tales of the Buddha's previous births:

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is He that hunts two hares will catch neither (a French proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. Beware of multitasking!

Today's Video: Why babies in medieval paintings look like ugly old men. The title of this video may seem kind of silly, but the video is really informative!

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is not afraid of things that are puzzling: Explore ambiguity. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: It's a paranormal movie in Meacham at 6PM, 9PM, and midnight: The Conjuring 2 (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

September 2: J. R. R. Tolkien. Today, September 2, marks the death in the year 1973 of the great English author, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who is best known for creating the marvelous fantasy world of Middle Earth in which he set his novel The Hobbit and the trilogy known as Lord of the Rings. You can read about Tolkien's life and career in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for this drawing that shows Tolkien's own design for the covers of the three LotR books:

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day.