Monday, November 24, 2014

Week 13

Learning Journal Activity -- End of Semester Reflections

In a paragraph or two, I would like you to consider your learning in this course and things you will take away. This is the last "official" journal activity for the course, though if you have missed entries at any point in the semester you are encouraged to catch up in the last weeks of class. For this activity, you might take up some of the following questions:
  • What insights have you gained about poetry and short fiction through your studies?
  • Which readings or course material did you find most interesting? Which did you find least interesting?
  • What are some prevalent themes that have come up in course readings?
  • What are some contentious issues raised through literature and other forms of art?
  • What insights have you gained about essay writing?
  • What things about the course were helpful for your development as a writer?
  • Do you think the essay writing workshops in the first half of the semester were helpful?
  • What are your thoughts on the blogging component of the course?
  • Any other comments or thoughts you would like to share about the course are also welcome!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Week 12

Learning Journal Activity -- How to...

For this week's activity, you are asked to write a post describing how to do a particular task. There is a virtually inexhaustible list of various sorts of things you might write about, some of which include how to cook your favorite dessert, how to fix a bike chain, how to tie your shoe, how to carve a pumpkin, how to kick a soccer ball, how to meditate, how to organize a bookshelf, how to do a load of laundry, how to organize a surprise party, and so on.

Although this activity seems relatively simple, it may be somewhat more complicated and take a bit more thought or explanation than you expect (as I learned when putting together the example below). You may find it useful to include images to guide your readers through the process of how to do whatever task or activity you decide to describe. If you have questions or comments about this activity, get in touch with me through my mun dot ca email or leave a comment on this post.

How to never lose at Tic-Tac-Toe

Tic-tac-toe is essentially a game of logic and can be understood in mathematical terms. Knowing how to never lose will make your friends think you are some sort of genius and might even help you get out of having to pick up the dinner tab. There is no sure-fire way to win every game, but there is a method that will ensure you never lose. However, if both players know the system of the game, no one will ever win. For the purpose of this description, let us assume you are playing as O. There are three main variations to be understood so you will never lose. In the description below, I have indicated the most important point in bold type, but it is also important to read a bit further into each variation to know the subsequent moves.


  • If on the first move X takes any corner (either 1, 3, 7, or 9), then O must take the center (5). Let us assume X takes the top left (1), and then O takes the center (5). In the next move if X takes the opposite corner (9), then O must take one of the side tiles (2, 4, 6, or 8) in order to force X to cut off O's potential three in a row. (i.e. assuming that O takes 6 on the second move, X must respond by taking 4 or risk losing). After this, O will then take whatever corner square will cut of X's three in a row (7, in our example), after which X will likewise cut off O (3). The players proceed in this fashion, and the game ends in a draw.
  • If on the first move X takes the center (5), then O must take a corner (1, 3, 7, or 9). Let us assume X takes the center (5), and then O takes the top right (3). If on move two X takes the bottom right corner (9), then O will simply cut off X by taking the top left (1). From this position, the game proceeds by cutting off the other player as in the earlier example. If on the second move X had taken one of the side tiles (2, 4, 6, or 8), then O would similarly proceed by simply cutting off any potential three-in-a-row.
  • If on the first move X takes a side tile (2, 4, 6, or 8), then O must take the center (5). Let us assume X takes the left side tile (4), and then O takes the center (5). If on the next move X takes a corner on the opposite side from their first move (3 or 9), then O must take a corner above or below the first X placed (1 if on the second move X takes 3, or 7 if on the second move X takes 9). The game continues, as in the variations above, with each player blocking until there is a draw.
If you are interested in testing out this strategy to never lose, have a look at this link to an online tic-tac-toe game, and if you are really adventurous you might like to go up against a poetic tic-tac-po game I put together (requires Flash and best viewed in Firefox).

Monday, November 10, 2014

Week 11

Learning Journal Activity -- Memes

I hope you will spend time working on Essay 3 this week, and so the journal activity is one that should not be arduous or time-consuming. For this activity you are asked to make a meme. If you'd like to have a look at samples, I recommend Know Your Memes, an internet meme database. For generating memes, you might check out memegenerator.net, or any of the similar generators out there. You might also use just about any image editing program on your computer. I made the samples below with paint, in a different pattern than the more typical single image memes. I tried for an inversion of themes and iconography of Newfoundland as an idealized tourist destination. As with other activities throughout the course, be sure to keep it PG13 and if you have questions or comments about this activity get in touch with me at my mun dot ca email or leave a comment below.




Assigned Readings and Overview for Week 11 

This week we will be reading Timothy Findley's "Stones" (70-82), a story that deals with war and its aftermath. The story relates to Remembrance Day, in some regards, in that it comments on the psychological trauma experienced by war veterans.

Essay 3, which was previously due this coming Friday, has been extended until Friday November 21st. Please feel free to send me intro paragraphs or drafts if you want some feedback.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Week 10

Learning Journal Activity -- Quotable

This writing prompt asks you to choose three of your favorite quotations and tell us something about them. If you know who said the quote or if it relies on a specific historical context, then these are things you should obviously tell your readers (however some quotes are only attributable to "anonymous" or "unknown"). Along with any general information, you should also say something about what the particular quote means to you and why you decided to share it. Quotations can be inspirational, thought-provoking, urbane, and sometimes just plain silly, but presented on their own they can sometimes be lost on your audience unless you set the stage. Your writing on each quote does not need to be more than a few sentences, though you are certainly welcome to say as much as you like and some quotes may require providing more information.

Below is a sample I have put together using quotes from famous authors, but don't feel like you have to follow along similar lines -- the sky is the limit, but do try to keep it PG 13. If you have any questions about this activity, send me an email at my mun dot ca address or leave a comment below.

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"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying." -- Oscar Wilde

Wilde, the author of the famous book The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), is perhaps equally well known as a Victorian era socialite and quick-wit, whose flaunting of authority ultimately landed him in hot water. He was imprisoned as a result of a libel charge he initiated against a member of the aristocracy, and the affair ended with his conviction on the charge of sodomy. During his trial, Wilde was typically flippant toward the prosecutors, and perhaps may have heeded the implicit advice in the above quote: think before you speak. After being released from prison, Wilde went into self-imposed exile in France, where he died penniless at the age of forty-five. This quote serves as a reminder that no matter how sharp we may think we are, sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

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"When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep." -- Ursula K. Le Guin

Along with being a prolific, award winning author of science fiction and fantasy novels, such as The Dispossessed (1970) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), since her university days Le Guin has been an avid social justice advocate and activist. In recent years she has even taken on the internet giant Google over its plans for a digital library, which she feels disregards the status of authors and any copyright claims they have in their work. Although her politics is, at least in principle, against the idea of copyright altogether, Le Guin has fought on the grounds that the author's associations and guilds have given up what little control (and access to funds) writers have in the digital literary marketplace. The quote above, which originated well before the advent of the internet, is a statement on activism, but is also now a quote that can be understood in an ironic light, since Google is undoubtedly the information gatherer par excellence.


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"2 + 2 = 5" -- George Orwell

The novel 1984 (published 1949) by George Orwell contains many enigmas, such as the phrases "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." But aside from this, perhaps no other notion from the text has left such an indelible mark on the modern consciousness as the seemingly poorly done math equation that in fact turns out to be perfectly correct. It is a sample of what Orwell calls doublethink, which is part of the contradictory logic ruling the dystopian world in the text. It is a willingness to hold an irrational view in order to fit in, and extends to such a degree throughout the narrative that what is "true" becomes merely a matter of perspective. This doublethink is presented in such a convincing way that many people admit that upon finishing the book they have convinced themselves that the answer is really five (or that it makes little difference if it is "actually" four). Examples of doublethink abound in our everyday lives, though of course most of them remain within the realm of assumed, unquestioned truths. Conveniently, even if I was to indicate an example it would likely make so little sense that it would seem I am the one who has the math wrong.

 


Assigned Readings and Overview for Week 10 

This week we will be examining two short stories, Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path" (269-71) and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" (163-71). The theoretical lens through which we will be discussing these stories is the extended metaphor: allegory. For some background on this concept, please have a look through the write-up on allegory posted on my blog at this link or through the tab at the top.