Symbolic Retribution

Since we are reading Dante's The Inferno, I have had symbolic retribution on the mind. When I ran across this article in CNN, I wondered what you would think about this story: http://tinyurl.com/5cbl9l

This story tells the story of an Iranian woman who was blinded by a stalker with acid. She has requested that he also be blinded--under Islamic law of "an eye for an eye." As the article states, "Attacking women and girls by throwing acid in their faces is sufficiently common in countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia that groups have been formed to fight it. Human rights organizations have condemned the practice in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is not clear how often such attacks take place in Iran. Iran and Saudi Arabia are the only countries that consider eye-gouging to be a legitimate judicial punishment, Human Rights Watch has said" (http://tinyurl.com/5cbl9l).

What do you think about this idea of "an eye for an eye"?

Wednesday Assignments

Before Thanksgiving break, you have two assignments due:

1. LRJ #2 on Antigone
2. Antigone paper

Both assignments are due on Wednesday. You can decide if you post them on your blog or if you hand them in as a hard copy, but for either case--formal Standard Academic English applies, as does MLA format (to the best of your ability on the blog).

For a Sample Works Cited, refer to the class wiki.

Antigone LRJ #2

1. Trace the important images from the text. What images are repeated? Find textual evidence and explain the importance of the image.
2. What is the character's fatal flaw? Find textual evidence where the reader sees this fatal flaw in the play.
   
3. Anagnorisis--when does the character discover or recognize the truth?
   
4. Peripeteia--when does this character have a reversal of circumstances, a sudden reversal of fortune?
5. Catharsis--is a Greek word meaning "purification", "cleansing" or "clarification" derived from the infinitive verb of Ancient Greek: καθαίρειν transliterated as kathairein "to purify, purge," and adjective Ancient Greek: καθαρός katharos "pure or clean" (http://tinyurl.com/63aon6). When does the audience have a catharsis-- a purging of emotions of fear and pity?
   
6. How are women characterized in the play? Find textual evidence to support your statements.

Due: Tuesday, November 25th

Antigone Symbol Project

Create a symbol of one of the characters of Antigone. For that character, find textual evidence that supports that symbol. You should have at least 5 quotes for this project. Then, you will present your symbol to the class, read the textual evidence that you found, and explain how those quotes define your character.

Antigone Writing Assignment

Choose ONE of the following writing assignments (taken from your textbook):

1. Write a newspaper article with a headline that would have appeared in a Thebes newspaper (if newspapers existed then) the day after Polyneices was buried. Make sure you answer the who? what? where? when? and why? in your article.

2. Write a letter to Antigone as Ismene before her arrest. What would you tell her about her plans to bury Polyneices? When do you think she has a change of heart? What motivates her to want to stand next to Antigone in her punishment?

Tips on Blogging

I thought this online article entitled "10 Mistakes That Could be Killing Your Blog" was interesting. Here are my favorites on the list:
1. Less than useful blogs
2. Infrequent posting
3. Writing about infrequent posting
10. Boring or uninformative headings

Read the full article for more information!
Photo from: http://tinyurl.com/5exocs

Review of class 11.13

Just a quick review from class:
1. Your voice is very important. In the new posts that I have read tonight, it is evident that you are on the right track! The story telling, sensory details, and thoughtfulness helps the reader hear your voice.

2. Audience--the class, the instructor, yourself...and of course, now, the audience is also the abstract notion of "the Internet" or as the British say, "T'internet." As I said in class, I don't usually worry about this last audience when I am writing. I like to think of that as the thing that keeps the writing accurate--an imbedded fact checker if you will, one who may or may not give me feedback. On the other hand, your peers and your instructor will give you feedback guaranteed. Lastly, and most importantly, you should be your audience. You should be writing for yourself, to satisfy yourself and your sense of who you are as a writer. You should be proud of your writing...and I am sure we'll all be impressed too! :)

3. In class today, Natalie asked what the red and green dots meant on the site meter map. I just figured that out: red means your last visitor, green means your last 10 visitors, white means your last 10+ visitors. If you want to attach a site meter to your site, just go to this link for site meter.

4. Lastly, I am very excited to read all of your blogs and have your peers read them too. I am very impressed already with your first blog posts and look forward to reading them in the future!

P.S. One last note for the day...my first blog post was 149 words; this blog post is 313 words, so you can use these two posts as general guidelines for your posts--post lengths should be anywhere between these two blog post lengths.

First Blog Assignment

The first blog post assignment is to tell us about your previous technology experience, your first impressions of setting up this blog, and how you think technology could work in school. Please remember that this is a school assignment so you will graded on content, thoughtfulness, and--of course--correct grammar and use of standard academic English.

Blogger does underline words that are misspelled so keep your eye out for that red line when you are typing. It could be as simple as capitalizing! If you need to edit your entires, go into customize, posting, and then edit posts. Then you can choose the entry you want to either view, edit, or look at the comments--or delete an entry.

If you have any questions about this process, please let me know!

Also, don't forget to cite anything that you are using from a different source--including pictures you get from the web.

Picture: http://tinyurl.com/553doy