Wednesday, December 5

Today is Wednesday of Dead Week (Week 15). Here is a link to this week's assignments. All the assignments are ready to go; no need to wait!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email. My goal today is to get through all the projects in the stack from people who are working on finishing up the class. Then I'll start replying to assignments from those of you who are done; thank you for your patience while I make my way through the stack one last time for the semester.

Evaluations. The College reports completion rates during the eval.ou.edu time window, and most of you have not yet done the evaluation yet (see below); maybe you can do that today! I really appreciate your feedback, and student input on the online courses is very important. Plus, you might win an iPad!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Here's a cool Wikipedia Trail that Shivani did, starting in India: From Adam's Bridge to Black Magic.

Featured Storybook. Here's a fun one about Rama and Sita's sons: Double Trouble: The Adventures of Kusha and Lava. Rama has some special bedtimes stories for his twin boys... in which the boys themselves become the heroes.

As the semester winds down, I am repeating favorite items from earlier announcements; these items come from Week 11:

Myth Video. Here's a video from the Smithsonian: The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers.

Myth Item. And here's a word from mythology: MORPHINE, which takes its name from the Greek god Morpheus.

India Video. This is a video about a dance tradition from India: Revelations: Celebrating LGBTQ Stories Through Bharathanatyam.

India Item. Here's one of the Krishna comics on Reserve in Bizzell: The Parijata Tree. If you're looking for something for Reading B or an extra credit reading option this week in Indian Epics, this is a good one!

Writing. Unleash your imagination! In the words of Carl Sagan: Without imagination, we go nowhere.

And if you need a nap, take a nap! How Long to Nap.

Growth Mindset Cats. The growth mindset cat knows that resting is part of the creative process.

But falling asleep from boredom is not resting. Here's a great story: The Sleeper.

Event on Campus. The Writing Center is still open regular hours this week, with special hours during Finals Week (details).

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

December 5: Krampus. In Austria and other Alpine regions, the dark companion of Saint Nicholas is called Krampus, and he spends the first two weeks of December going around at night, rattling chains and ringing a bell to warn the naughty children of his presence. On December 5, it is traditional for people to dress up as the Krampus! You can see pictures of people dressed as the Krampus in this Wikipedia article, and below is a Krampus holiday postcard:

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