Friday, August 24

HAPPY FRIDAY! Today is Friday of Week 1, and here is a link to this week's assignments. I hope you are getting a good sense of what the semester will be like as you finish up the Orientation, and next week the readings and stories will begin!
Update: The Week 2 blog comment assignment is ready now! For those of you who are curious to start meeting other people in the class, you can do that anytime now.

Class Procedures and Reminders

The weekly schedule. As you saw this week, there are assignments due on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (which you can always turn in early), and there are never assignments due on Monday or on Friday. Instead, there are assignments to finish up at the end of the week, either on Friday or over the weekend, with a grace period for those end-of-week assignments on Monday morning. The most important thing, of course, is to set up the weekly schedule that will work best for you, which is what the final assignment of Week 1 is all about, getting ready to start Week 2 on your own schedule.

My comments. I think I've managed to comment on all the Favorite Places posts (they were so much fun to read!), and today I'll start reading the Introduction posts; it takes me a week or two to read and reply to all of those. Meanwhile, in Week 2 you will start reading each other's Introduction posts too; I hope to have that assignment ready to go this afternoon for those of you who are eager to start commenting.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Here's a beautiful picture of a rainbow at "Lake Pasque" in Vienna, Missouri. You can find out more about this lovely lake in Melanie's Favorite Place post. And of course rainbows are a big theme in folklore: Rainbows in Mythology.

Featured Storybook. This is one of my favorite mash-ups from the Indian Epics Storybooks, sending Sherlock Holmes to India: The Mystery of the Missing River. Sherlock Holmes and his faithful companion Dr. Watson are hoping for some rest and relaxation, but when they find a murdered woman in their rented room, they have no choice but to pursue the mystery.

India Video. Here's another Epified video about India: Temples in India.

Myth Video. This video is for any fans of Doctor Who: Is Doctor Who a Religion? (yes, it's Mike Rugnetta again; I am a fan both of the Doctor and of Mike Rugnetta).

Myth Item. Here's a bit of Latin dragon lore from Hogwarts; it's the school motto! Never tickle a sleeping dragon. In Latin: Draco dormiens numquam titillandus.

Writing. Here's a thought about dragons from the writer Tom Robbins: We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

And a cartoon about the power of fantasy heroes: Role-Playing, Then and Now.

Growth Mindset Cats. This cat captures the spirit of Orientation Week! I'm learning as I go.

And here's a fun video to enjoy on a Friday, celebrating with Pharrell Williams: Happy... over a billion views at YouTube. Wow!

Event on Campus. There will be free showings of Avengers: Infinity Wars in Meacham at 6PM, 9PM and midnight (details). You can vote on future movies in Meacham too.

Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

August 24: Vesuvius. On this day in the year 79 C.E., Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Italian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in lava and ashes. You can read the dramatic details in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for the image below showing a computer-generated image of the eruption.

And speaking of Doctor Who, here is a video snippet from the episode of The Fires of Pompeii, in which the Doctor arrives just in time for Volcano Day:

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