Thursday, November 17

Today is Thursday of WEEK 13. 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.

Update: The Week 13 blog comment groups are available now.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Thanksgiving Break. Now that you have finished the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday assignments for Week 13, you have until after Thanksgiving to finish the rest of the Week 13 assignments ... and the Week 14 and Week 15 assignments are also available if you want to work ahead and finish up the class now!

Project Stack. Yesterday, I replied to projects turned in before 10PM on Sunday. I should be able to finish the Sunday assignments today, and I will get through as many of the Monday assignments as I can. You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

My schedule this week. I'll be out of town tomorrow, so if you have any questions about this week's assignments or about finishing up the semester, make sure to write me today so that I can reply with an answer before I leave!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Punctuation. This is my favorite example of why the Oxford comma does matter, sometimes: the strippers, JFK and Stalin.

Empathy. Wise words from the founder of PostSecret, Frank Warren: Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world.

GrammarCatz. This cat is struggling with one of the most frustrating verb pairs in English: lie versus lay.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: Young Jamie and the Tasks of Titania. The children of the village are disappearing, and brave Jamie decides that he will rescue them, even if it means entering into a terrifying bargain with Titania, queen of the faeries.

Free Book Online: Greek Wonder Tales by Lucy M. J. Garnett. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. These are not myths from ancient Greece; they are fairy tales from modern Greece:

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is Don’t stand by the water and long for fish; go home and weave a net (a Chinese proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. This might remind you of a similar proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Today's Video: The Divine Comedy ("Rapture" by Blondie). Some of you in Myth-Folklore have been reading Dante this week, so I thought you might enjoy Amy Burvall's Blondie-Dante mash-up:

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is unstoppable: Difficult is not impossible. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: Kara McCormack will be giving a lecture about Tombstone, "Equal Parts Deadwood and Disney" at 7PM in the Art Museum Auditorium (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

November 17: Agnolo Bronzino. Today marks the birth of the artist Agnolo Bronzino in the year 1503. You can read more about his life and career at Wikipedia. He is famous for his paintings on both religious and mythological scenes, like this beautiful scene of the resurrected Jesus, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not).

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.