Monday, August 27

Today is Monday of Week 2, and here is a link to the Week 2 assignments. This week the actual reading and telling of stories will begin!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Week 2: Reading A. Each week, the first assignment is the reading, which comes in two parts: Part A and Part B. This week, the Part A reading is kind of course content overview, so you can browse and learn about all the different reading options. Check your schedule to see if you are doing any reading today; a lot of people will be doing the Reading A assignment today.

Extra Credit. You don't need to wait until the end of Week 2 to try out those extra credit options; if there is something you want to try, you can do some extra credit at the beginning of the week. Any time is a good time to explore and try new things! Here are the Week 2 extra credit options.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Sometimes people share their own artwork in their blogs, like this wonderful piece by Selena: Space Cactus. Maybe this class will inspire you to experiment with making your own art or music!

Featured Storybook. And speaking of outer space, here are the stories of Alexander the Great, but in this incarnation he is a space explorer: Alexander the Great, Reborn.

Myth Video. Here's another modernization; this time it's the goddess Hera as a modern housewife: The Mundane Goddess. (Yes, that's Uma Thurman!)

India Video. And here's a musical mash-up, where Michael Jackson's Don't Stop meets the Bollywood hit song Chaiyya Chaiyya, featuring Vidya with Sam Tsui, and Shankar Tucker on clarinet. (The Chaiyya Chaiyya song came to Hollywood too; Spike Lee used it for the soundtrack of Inside Man.)

India Item. Meanwhile, this is a traditional proverb from India: It is vain to look for yesterday’s fish in the house of the otter. (Kind of like the English saying about the fox and the henhouse, but with otters and fish instead of foxes and hens.)

Language. English and the languages of northern India are related, belonging to the Indo-European language family, branches on the same language tree as depicted here by Minna Sundberg:

Together reading and writing turn into language magic, as Carl Sagan explains: Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Growth Mindset Cats. Even a cat knows you might need to look in a book.

And if you're interested in the history of the English language, check out this TED-Ed video: How did English evolve?

Event on Campus. President Gallogly will give a "state of the university" address at 3:30 PM today in Sharp Hall at the Catlett Music Center (details).

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

August 27: Leon Theremin. Today marks the birthday of Leon Theremin, who was born in 1896; he died in 1993. He was the inventor of the Theremin, a remarkable electronic musical instrument. You can read about Leon Theremin at Wikipedia, and he is the subject of this wonderful documentary: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. This YouTube video shows Theremin playing his instrument. Even if you have never heard about Theremin himself, I"m sure you will recognize the distinctive sound of the Theremin instrument:

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