Friday, February 9

HAPPY FRIDAY! You have reached the end of Week 4! Here is a link to the class calendar, and after you finish Week 4, you can start in on next week's assignments if you want too, or maybe do some extra credit!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Success Tips: Browser Word Counter. If you're looking for a useful Tech Tip, you can install a word counter in your browser. Here are instructions for the Chrome Word Counter, and you can find something similar for other browsers I'm sure. Optimizing your browser is a really good success strategy, especially in an online class.

Project Stack. I should be able to finish all the Week 3 assignments in the stack today, and I will reply to as many Week 4 assignments as I can! While you are waiting on comments back from me, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. There are lots of stories in the blog stream, and I wanted to share this one by Nate in Indian Epics: To Challenge the Gods' Favored. It's a wonderful example of the power of third-person style where the storyteller can give us access to the characters' thoughts (like in the opening sentences) while also providing rich descriptions of the setting and all the action too.

Myth Item. Here is a word from classical mythology: SYRINGE, from the name of a nymph, Syrinx, who turned herself into a clump of reeds to escape from the god Pan. He, in turn, made those reeds into "Pan's pipes," and our "syringe" is a hollow tube, like the reed form of Syrinx's metamorphosis.

India Video: Here's a beautiful video from Maati Baani, celebrating the music of India and of Pakistan: Rang Rangiya. Find out more here: Pakistani, Indian artists jointly release song. And be sure you turn on the CC captions for English lyrics:

Myth Book Online: Today's free book is The Jewish Fairy Book by Gerald Friedlander. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. If you read the Jewish fairy tales unit in the UnTextbook, you will find lots more stories here!

Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is from an English translation of Homer: Jove weighs affairs of earth in dubious scales / and the good suffers while the bad prevails. Find out more at the Proverb Laboratory.

Writing: This is a power we all have: the power to create! When life gets complicated, choose to create.

H.E.A.R.T.: Depending on how your week has gone, you may be feeling like this clock: Whatever... I'm late anyway.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is using Friday to ponder: Look at the big picture and remember your why. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Video: And here's a feel-good video for Friday: Friends Furever: Be Together. Not The Same.

Event on Campus: It's the 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk from 6PM-9PM in the Walker Arts District of downtown Norman (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online. You can see this painting by Sarah Warmker at Gray Owl Coffee:

February 9: Paul Laurence Dunbar. Today marks the death in the year 1906 of the great African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was born a free man in Ohio in the year 1872; both of his parents had been slaves. You can read more about his life at Wikipedia, and you can find his poetry at the Lit2Go. I've also included a short video from the Paul Laurence Dunbar House, which is now a historic site in Dayton, Ohio.

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