English 465 Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

For Tuesday, we can chat a bit more about The Strange Bird, if you wish.  And, we’ll also be hosting Mariam’s tarot readings!  Bring your questions about the future – – apocalyptic or not – – to class.

I’ve posted the “Bug-Out Bat” assignment. (Password: Hanley).  It’s due by Thursday, May 12, at midnight.

Did you complete and forward your Wikipedia reflective essay to me?

For Tuesday, let’s finish talking about The Reapers Are the Angels.  And, if you get a chance, take a look at this episode of The Walking Dead.  We can take the opportunity of a little slack in our syllabus to talk about zombies and PA monsters more generally.

In the meantime, you should have transferred your Wikipedia article drafts from your sandbox to a “live” Wikipedia page.  Now that your article is published, take some time between now and Tuesday to continue improving the article.  After you’ve improved things, you’ll be ready to write your reflective essay – – which will be due by the end of next week.  (More details on this in class on Tuesday.)

For Tuesday (4/19), let’s read up to the end of Part 1 (Chapter 7) in Alden Bell’s The Reapers Are the Angels.  It’s a zombie novel!  (Or, is it?)

Don’t forget: your peer reviews of Wikipedia draft articles should be complete.  Read the peer feedback you’ve received on your draft and revise accordingly.  The final first draft of your Wikipedia article is due by Saturday (4/16) at noon.

And, finally, a writing event.  See below for a writing event on Station Eleven (password: Hanley).  Complete the writing event by Monday (4/18) morning – – say 8 a.m. or thereabouts.

For Tuesday, try to read up to the end of Section 4 of Station Eleven – – “The Starship.”

To keep things moving and on time – – we have to establish some hard deadlines for our Wikipedia Project: 1) You must have a serious draft of your article – – new or improved – – in your sandbox by midnight tonight (Thursday, April 7); 2) You must have completed two peer reviews of drafts composed by your comrades by Tuesday (April 12) at 9:30 a.m.  (If you have not been assigned any peer reviews, this is because you don’t have a draft to be peer-reviewed.  Sam and I will do a final sweep through sandboxes by Saturday morning and – – if you have a draft – -will assign you peer reviews by noon or so on Saturday.)  These are final deadlines.  As the semester moves toward its conclusion, we must move into the final phases of the Wikipedia Project as swiftly as we can.

You’ll find a writing event on Ling Ma’s Severance below.  (Password: Hanley). Complete the writing event by noon on Saturday (April 9).

For Tuesday, make sure your Wikipedia article draft is ready!  Sam and I will start assigning you peer reviews – – i.e. you’ll review two Wikipedia article drafts from your comrades.  Your peer reviews will be due by Tuesday, April 5.  Remember: I’ll be holding online office hours for our Wikipedia work this Thursday, March 31, starting at 10 a.m.  Check your sfsu email for the zoom link etc.

For Thursday, let’s start Ling Ma’s fantastic novel – – Severance.  Try to read up to the end of Chapter 15 by Thursday.  I’ll post a writing event on the motherblog.  We’ll discuss the whole novel in our Tuesday, April 5, zoom class.

Side note: this has been a rough week.  I expect to be back up to full speed by this Thursday.  Thanks for your patience.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

For the next week and a half, we have two goals:

1. finish reading The Water Knife and complete the writing event below by Monday, March 28, at 9 a.m. [Password: Hanley]
2. complete a draft of your Wikipedia article by March, April 24.  This will give Sam and myself time to assign peer reviews.

For Tuesday, read up to about Chapter 32 in Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife.  We’ll talk about the novel on Tuesday.

There are no modules/exercises/etc. scheduled for this week in our Wikipedia project.  Instead, use this week to catch up or continue on the project.  By this point, you should have: an approved topic or article to work on; five quality sources to use in creating or improving your article; all of the pages generated by the timeline – – i.e. “Evaluate an article,” “Find a topic,” “Bibliography,” etc. pages in your sandbox; a draft article page in your sandbox (also include your sources in this draft article – – to make things a bit easier for Sam and me).  Sam and I expect to review your work by Sunday or so.  I won’t be holding Wikipedia office hours; instead, if you need help, coaching, advice, etc., email me to set up a consultation.

Don’t forget: I’ve moved the due date for your “Omega Men” assignment to Tuesday, March 15, by 5 p.m.  Feel free to submit your essay earlier if you wish.  (For your illumination, I’ve also added a page on my patent pending rules for comma use here!)

For Thursday, get up to speed on our Wikipedia project.  This means:

• finish all WikiEdu modules up to Week 7
• you’ve chosen a topic for a new article or article to improve and this topic has been approved by Sam or me
• you’ve found five (5) quality sources for your article or article improvement.  These sources should be properly cited on your sandbox page for your article draft.
• start drafting after your article topic has been approved and you’ve found five (5) quality sources

To recap – – by now you should have created and completed the following sandbox pages: evaluate an article; find an article; article draft with sources.  If you’ve fallen off the pace, now is the time to catch up.

On Tuesday, we’ll discuss the whole of Ben Winters’ The Last Policeman.

For Tuesday (March 1), let’s read up to Part 3: Chapter 3 in Ben Winters’ The Last Policeman.

No writing event for Thursday.  Instead, direct your energies to the Wikipedia project:

1. Catch up with any uncompleted work/modules
2. Complete the modules for Week 7
3. Finalize your topic so that by Tuesday (March 1) you are ready to start creating a work plan and locating sources.

I’ll be holding a Wikipedia office hour Thursday, February 24, at 11 a.m.