Tenth Blog Assignment

For most of you, you are almost finished with the first year of college (I realize there are a couple who may have a little more college under their belts).  What truths about college were not clearly explained to you while you were still in high school? What do you wish you would have been told? What myths about college have you experienced? In answering these questions,  I want you to seriously reflect on the differences between High School and College.  I would like you to identify and elaborate (use plenty of details and reasoning) on THREE key truths you have uncovered/experienced as you have transitioned to college.  In addition, explain why we create these myths or illusions (essentially lying to ourselves) about college and why this kind of lying is not helpful. 

For this post, your audience is a high school senior and you should write in epistolary format (like a letter).

Ninth Blog Assignment

 Watch the following video:

Everyone has some regrets, what is your biggest regret? Does your regret follow the same "not" pattern? Explain what it is in detail and why you regret it. Could you "turn around" this regret so that you no longer feel regretful? If so, how? 

How does having regrets relate to our current topic of truth?

Eighth Blog Assignment - No Assignment

 No blogging required this week.  Work on Essay #2 (due Monday, March 15).

Seventh Blog Assignment

Fairy Tales are generally seen as a children's story that has imaginary characters, fantasy settings, and magical events. However, originally fairy tales were meant for every age to enjoy.  They were oral stories, they were often scary and more violent than the modern retellings, and they were handed down from generation to generation.  Sometimes, they were shared by traveling professional story tellers, which allowed for new stories to be introduced into communities. Nonetheless, when the printing press came along, these oral stories started to be written down and eventually became relegated to the world of children's literature.  I would like you to think about your favorite fairy tale (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Three Pigs, etc.) and rewrite it for this blog post. After reading Ligotti's "The Frolic", add some weird elements, give it a new ending, and/or make it modern/contemporary. 

Sixth Blog Assignment

 There are moments in each of our lives when we realize that something we believed to be true is not. In Neil Gaiman’s novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the narrator describes this moment: “At home, my father ate all the most burnt pieces of toast…When I was much older he confessed to me that he had not ever liked burnt toast, and had only eaten it to prevent it from going to waste, and, for a fraction of a moment, my entire childhood felt like a lie: it was as if one of the pillars of belief that my world had been built on had crumbled into dry sand”(18). Compose a narrative paragraph about your own experience finding out that something you believed was a lie. How did it impact your relationship with the person you had believed?

Fifth Blog Assignment

 For this week's blog assignment, I would like you to watch the following video:

After watching the short film, briefly describe what happens.  Then, I would like you to identify the author's purpose...why they chose to write and direct this video. Give a clear explanation as to your reasoning, how did you identify the author's purpose and why is that a good inference.  Additionally, I would like you to identify the author's audience...for whom did the author make this video. Give a clear explanation as to why you think that is the audience; what clues/evidence do you have from the video to help you identify the audience.  Finally, identify three ways that this video can teach people about community.

Fourth Blog Assignment - No Assignment

No blogging required this week.  Work on Essay #1 (due Monday, February 15).