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Tell us 10 things that you learned in here this semester. It can be something you read or something you heard from me or a student in class.

Post group work here 4/22

Post your group work here 4/15

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My worldview is...

Choose one of the critical approaches to interpretation below. Summarize in one sentence how you understand your chosen approach to work. Explain why you feel that approach works best for you and your personal worldview. When you engage with the arts (literature, music, film, etc.) what critical approach are you most likely to take reflexively? [150 words]

1. New Criticism
2. Structuralism
3. Post-structuralism
4. Deconstruction
5. Narrative Theory
6. Biographical Criticism
7. Psychoanalytic Freudian Criticism
8. Psychoanalytic Jungian Criticism
9. Psychoanalytic Lacanian Criticism
10. Reader-Response Criticism
11. Ideological Marxist Criticism
12. Ideological Feminist Criticism
13. LGBTQ Studies
14. Queer Theory
15. African-American Studies
16. New Historicism
17. Cultural Studies
18. Post-colonial Criticism

Homework post for 4/15 -- B

In the episode, "White Christmas," from the British TV show Black Mirror* that we watched in class:

1. In Part Three, Joe Potter relates the story of his failed marriage with Beth and the turn of events that led to him murdering Beth's father and being indirectly responsible for the death of her daughter. Is Joe a "good man who did bad things" (as Matt says) or does his bad choices make him a bad man? [50 words]
2. In Part Four,  both Matt and Joe receives sentences. Are their sentences fair? Is the punishment meted out on Joe's cookie "identity extension" fair? [50 words]
3. If our selves are not fully integrated in time (since we do change all the time), then how can we punish the segment of our selves that is responsible for moral or immoral behavior? Note how the cookie identity extensions seem to suffer most in this story. [50 words]

*Note my use of quotes and italics in this sentence.

Homework post for 4/15 -- A

In the episode, "White Christmas," from the British TV show Black Mirror* that we watched in class:

1. In Part One, Matt Trent leads a triple lifestyle (job, home, cyber-crime). What does his character tell us about a lack of moral integration or integrity? [50 words]
2. In Part Two, the wealthy Greta has a "cookie" implanted/removed from her brain to serve as a sort of perfect servant. What does this surgical technique imply about the nature of consciousness and self-identity? What does the use of an "identity-extension" say about the value of human life? [50 words]
3. The schizophrenic Jennifer, who kills herself and her would-be lover Harry in part one, wants to escape from the voices in her head. In what way is the entire story about escaping from the multiple selves that inhabit our mind? [50 words]

*Note my use of quotes and italics in this sentence.

More human than you, man.

What does it mean to be "human," to be a human being? [150 words]

in outer space

Tell us 9 interesting things/points/fact/ideas/examples that you took from this week's readings on critical theory.

Out-of-class classwork #3, 3/18

Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late! 
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit! 
If you post early or late, you won't get credit!  

 Go to the link below to Ted Talks. Choose ONE video to watch. Try to avoid picking a video that someone else has already watched and posted on. Report on this video for the rest of us. Why would you recommend or not recommend it?

1. Summarize the content of the video in 50 words.
2. Respond to the ideas in the video in 50 words.
3. Why did you choose this video? What does it tell you about trends in technology and what such trends might mean to the definition of "the human"?

http://www.ted.com/talks?topics[]=science&topics[]=technology&sort=popular

Out-of-class classwork #2, 3/18

Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late! 
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit! 
If you post early or late, you won't get credit! 

Go to the link below. Take the free online quiz based on the MBTI, a much longer assessment developed by Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers. The MBTI is widely used as the basis for personality assessments by corporations and the military.

What type of personality are you according to the quiz? Read the information about your type. Does it seem on target? Explain how it does and does not reflect how you see yourself? [100 words]

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Out-of-class classwork #1, 3/18

Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late! 
Post between 6:00 and 9:30 PM on Wednesday, 3/18 for credit. Don't post early or late!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit!
If you post early or late, you won't get credit! 
If you post early or late, you won't get credit!   

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you're now living? What would you change? What would you not change? Explain. (100 words)

Example for citation in paper #3.

Example of citation for information from a page from a website, such a song lyric page.

Example from Purdue OWL:

For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire Web sites. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.

"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.

Tell us about your paper due today!

Tell us about your paper, #3. What poem from the textbook and favorite song lyrics did you choose? Why did you choose these texts? What is your thesis and argument in the paper? What is your conclusion? [100 words]

Chapter 20, Internal Structure, and 21, External Form

In your own words:

1. Explain how internal structure in a poem works and give an example . [50 words]
2. Explain the purpose of stanzas and give examples of traditional forms . [50 words]

Chapter 19, The Sounds of Poetry

In your own words:

1. Explain why rhyme has traditionally been seen as central to English poetry. [50 words]
2. Explain how poetic meter works. [50 words]

Teaching Website

Just FYI, this is the sort of website good teachers read on a regular basis:

http://www.facultyfocus.com/

If a tree falls...

Our phones can speak to us (just as a human would). Our home appliances can take commands (just as a human would). Our cars will be able to drive themselves (just as a human would). What does “human” even mean?

Respond to the article linked below in 100 words.

if-an-algorithm-wrote-this-how-would-you-even-know

YOUR poem

Tell us about the poem you chose to report on in class. Why did it "speak" to you? How does it work technically? What themes do you find in it? [100 words]

Poetry Paper Report

Briefly tell us about your paper #2. What is your thesis statement, your argument? What are your examples? What's the conclusion? [100 words]

Weekly Reading

Tell us 10 things you learned from this week's readings.

One Poem

1. Read a poem from pp. 887-972.
2. Briefly respond to the poem here using the questions on p. 860-67. You don't have to use each question, just get ideas on how to respond. [150 words]

Black Mirror -- response

In the Black Mirror episode, "The Entire History of You,"* lawyer Liam Foxwell is driven crazy by jealousy over his wife Ffio's ex-relationship with lady's man Jonas. If Liam hadn't had a "grain" neuro-record of his past to interrogate, we have to wonder if his jealously would have gone to such extremes. Or if he would have discovered the truth. Respond to this episode in 200 words keeping in mind the questions below:

1. In the Nathaniel Hawthorne story "The Birth-mark," a man of science, Aylmer, is obsessed with perfecting his lovely wife, Georgiana, and in finally eradicating the one "blemish," (a small, red, hand-shaped mark on her cheek) he kills Georgiana...forcing her soul to leave her body. Based on the first and last paragraphs of the story on which I expounded in class, what "lesson" did Aylmer fail to learn as an intellectual and man of science? How does his lesson compare that the one that Liam Foxwell learns (or fails to learn)?
2. How does the hypothetical "grain" in the show that records our individual histories differ from a ubiquitous computer-based virtual record of public events and personal histories, one that surrounds us this minute? Keep in mind social media archives, medical records, black-market software, exposed government documents, Google maps, etc. in answering this question.
3. Can you think of any time that you obsessed over a physical imperfection in yourself or someone else? What reasons lie behind this concern with physical perfection?
4. Can you think of a time when you relied on technology to solve a problem or mystery? How might you have solved the problem without technology?

*Notice that the titles of series are in italics and of episodes in quotes.

The Birthmark -- response

1. What is the symbolic significance of the birthmark? Note how it is shaped and changes.
2. How does the Hawthorne story tie into the myth of Pygmalion?-- or with science and technology?

[150 words, answer both questions]

Me and My Robot

Check out a blog (linked below) by famous economist, Robert Reich. Read the posts "Back to the Nineteenth Century" and "The Share-the-Scraps Economy" and give us some feedback here (100+ words).

We've been talking about identities and bodies and technology. What is your opinion of the computer/machine economy? Should we worry -- or will new jobs be created that we can't now foresee? How do you plan to make money in an economy based on machine-work?

http://robertreich.org/

King of the Bingo Game

1. What did you expect the story to be about based on the title? What is the symbolic significance of the title?
2. What happens in the story?
3. How is the story narrated?
4. What is the setting of the story?
5. What images do you think might have symbolic meaning?
6. Explain the role of body and racial identity.

[200 words]

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

1. Why is this story subtitled "A Tale for Children"?
2. Why do people stop going to see the winged man?
3. What insights into human behavior does the story reveal?
4. What themes might you assign to the story?
5. Is the man an angel? What is an angel? What might angels look like?

[200 words]

"I've seen America with no clothes on..."

1. Re-watch the "Cheerleader" video carefully by St. Vincent. Link below.
2. Read the lyrics carefully. Link below.
3. Post a 100-word interpretation of the video here.
4. Try to tie your interpretation into our discussions in class about the short stories, gender, and body consciousness.
5. video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY9GJAm8bA&x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl=85114404
6. lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/st_vincent/cheerleader.html#!
7. If you enjoy interpreting music videos or other short popular texts (visual or language), let me know and we can do it some more.

Tell us a story...

In 100 words, tell us a story, something funny or scary or sad, something that happened to you personally or that you just heard or read, something that happened recently or long, long ago. Use your best language to make the narrative clear and simple.