Thursday, September 1

Today is Thursday of WEEK 2. There is nothing due today, which makes it the perfect day to get ahead and/or do some extra credit. Here is a link to this week's assignments; you can find all the extra credit options at the bottom of that page.

UPDATE: The Week 2 Blog Comment groups are ready to go now! :-)

Class Procedures and Reminders

My schedule today. I'll be out of the office for part of the morning, and for part of the afternoon also. If you have any questions, send me an email, and I'll be sure to get back to you by the end of the day! I also hope to finish commenting on the Introductions today too.

Blog groups. When people finish publishing their story posts this morning, I'll be able to make the blog groups, and I should have those ready by the end of the work day on Thursday. I'll update these announcements when I make the groups available.

Project Stack. For those of you who are turning in the Week 2 Project assignment, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Due dates. Each week has a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday cycle of due dates for the reading and storytelling. If you found yourself scrambling this week, try a different schedule next week where you plan out your 3 hours based on what is really convenient for you. Check the "Weekly Schedule" email from me back in Week 1, and if you'd like me to help you invent a different weekly schedule, let me know!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Science/Fiction. With all the science majors in class, I thought this would be a good cartoon to share. It's by the marvelous Tom Gauld.

Plot Twist. If you start thinking about your life as a story, there are all kinds of metaphorical possibilities. Find out more at The Writing Laboratory.

Word Origins. Did you know that the word "shampoo" is a Hindi word, champo, adopted into English? Find out more at Words from India.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Indian Epics class: The Story of Ravana. Ravana's grandfather looks back on Ravana's life centuries later, trying to figure out just where his brilliant grandson went so terribly wrong.

Free Book Online: The Swedish Fairy Book by Clara Stroebe. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. You really can find fables and stories from so many different countries online!

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is Every dog has his day (an English proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. Just because there are lots of cats in this blog, the fact remains: every dog has his day. :-)

Today's Video: The Mundane Goddess. This video is a great example of the kind of storytelling you might be doing for this class: it's Uma Thuman as Hera... in therapy. The goddesses of India might need therapy too!

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is on the move: Standing still is not growth. Take a step forward. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: There will be an American Indian Welcome Picnic at 6:30PM today in Reeves Park (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

September 1: Saint Giles: Today is the holiday of Saint Giles; he lived as a hermit, with a deer as his only companion. You can find out more about his story at Wikipedia, and there is also a Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer in the "Saints and Animals" unit of the UnTextbook, which is the source for this image:

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