Fourteenth and Final Blog Post

I want you to go back to Chapter One in Hjortshoj's The Transition to College Writing and reflect on the differences between High School and College.  I would like you to elaborate on TWO of the five "basic, categorical differences" (on pp 10-12) that he highlights by summarizing his ideas as well as adding your own experiences and then add two original differences that he didn't mention but you have experienced as you have transitioned to college.  Be sure to elaborate on these two original ideas.  (So you should have a total of four points of difference that you share with your reader.) 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. 
Your audience is a high school senior. You should write in epistolary format (like a letter).

Thirteenth Blog Post

Narration is just one of many strategies for developing an essay. Narrative writing is essentially telling a story, often relying on personal experience. Effective narrative writing:

1. is told from a particular point of view,
2. makes and supports a point (has a purpose),
3. is filled with precise detail,
4. uses vivid verbs and modifiers,
5. uses conflict and sequence as does any good plot,
6. may use dialogue.

For your blog assignment this week, you are to write a narrative consisting of about 400-500 words. I want you to choose a personal experience crossing a border (either metaphorically/imagined or literally/real). What was this border you crossed? Why did you cross it? How did it feel?  What were the consequences of crossing this border? In relating this experience, go back to how you first defined/described border in your first essay and explain how it does or does not relate to your previous definition/description of border. 

Twelfth Blog Post

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

After watching the short film, next, 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.

Eleventh Blog Post

Everyone listens to music, some perhaps more than others.  I absolutely love music...most every genre. My first love is classic R&B and Motown music...it is what my mom listened to when I was a kid and I still thoroughly enjoy listening, especially to Sam Cooke. I am a huge AC/DC fan. My kids bought me an AC/DC mug for mother's day a couple of years ago. My head starts banging anytime I hear "Highway to Hell" or "Thunderstruck". I think Angus Young is the best damn guitarist in heavy metal. I love rap...especially the stuff from my generation (after all hip hop really took off in the 80s when I was a teenager --I remember Will Smith as part of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince way before he was a movie star and Queen Latifah as a rapper before she was an actress and a talk show host). I am a huge Public Enemy fan (I still have the first cassette I bought of their Yo!Bum Rush the Show album) and I also have my first vinyl album from Run D.M.C (it is cool that vinyl is popular again). As you can tell, I clearly prefer East Coast rap. I also enjoy jazz music (in fact, I am listening to my Diana Krall station on Pandora right now). Music not only makes our lives enjoyable; it makes our lives meaningful.

With all the craziness of the world as we are living during this pandemic, music can be a great way to stay sane, have some fun, and escape the focus on COVID-19. For this blog post, I want you to select the top ten songs you would put on your pandemic playlist. Don't just focus on what you are currently listening to, but also what you loved in the past. Along with listing your playlist, you will need to explain why you choose each song on this playlist (a detailed explanation...not a "just because I like it" explanation).

Have fun and stay healthy!

Tenth Blog Post

One of my favorite lines in this novel is when Ginnie Hempstock tells the narrator, "You don't pass or fail at being a person" (Gaiman 175). Do you agree with Ginnie's statement? What makes you a person? What do you think someone might do to "pass or fail at being a person"? How do people make other people not feel like a person - i.e. take away their humanity?  Why do people do this? Do other people have an obligation to call others out when they are making another person feel as if they are failing? Be VERY detailed in explaining your responses to these questions, provide examples to help support your answers. 

Ninth Blog Post

Conflict is an indispensable quality of fiction because it is what creates plot. The conflicts  encountered most frequently in literature are person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, or person vs. self. One of the main sources of conflict in The Oceans at the End of the Lane is the tension between the adult world and the world of children. . How does Neil Gaiman develop this tension/conflict throughout his story and how does this tension between these two worlds connect to our course theme of borders? Is the tension/conflict ever resolved in the novel?  Cite specific evidence from the novel to support your analysis. 

Eighth Blog Post

In Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the three Hempstock women (Lettie, Ginnie and Old Mrs. Hempstock) share common characteristics with the triple goddesses: the Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes. Research triple goddesses and analyze the characters of the three Hempstock women in light of these archetypes.