Matt’s Class

Hey-oh.

I’ve been having some technical difficulties over the past couple of days. Mostly with my brain, forgetting to turn on the recording equipment and all. But I have a good excuse: My face hurts. I got a cold a couple days ago, and this cold has expressed itself through a face ache. It’s a little distracting.

Anyway, here’s a rundown of what we’ve done if you’ve been gone:

1. We brainstormed topics for the first writing assignment. (You can see the complete assignment via the link over there on the right-hand side of the page.) The main challenge with this was getting topics that were narrow enough. The topic “whales” won’t work for this paper, but the topic “the blowhole of the whale” might be perfect. Think about the kinds of things Melville focuses his little chapters on, and think on that small scale. Also, the topic doesn’t have to directly relate to the sea or whales. This book has big, spiritual, metaphysical, mythological types of themes that can accommodate almost any topic you choose if you get creative with the connections.

2. I introduced the new vocab list, which consists of terms we’ll be using for literary analysis of the book. You can come get the list from me in class. We also started making cards for the latest round of the famous party game, “Go Fish (Yourself),” which I personally think is a stupid waste of time, but other people seem to like. Whatevs. You can all go fish yourselves.

That’s it. Today (Friday), my goal is to remember to hit Record, so you can get a few more instructions about the draft due today, as well as some more reading and discussion.

MT