Whitman

This is our first “virtual” class, and we’re going to keep it pretty simple.

Your goals in this class are: to publish at least two blog posts on blogger; read and comment on at least two of your comrades’ blog posts; browse and comment on Whitman’s Specimen Days.  The two blog posts are due by Tuesday at 1 p.m.

1) blog post one: comment on your favorite two lines from “Song of Myself.”  Find your favorite couple of lines and put those at the top of your blog post.  Use a couple of paragraphs to explain what you like about these lines.

How do I do this?  First, go to blogger.com; log in.  In the upper right-hand corner of your blog, you’ll see a link that says “New Post.”  Click on that link.  Type in a title for your post.  In the large text box below the title, write your post.  Click on “Publish Post.”  You are now a published author!  Congratulations!

You can always go back and re-edit your post.  At the bottom of your blog post, you’ll see a little icon that resembles a pencil.  Click on that.  Your post now appears in the editing mode.  Cut, copy, paste, etc.  Then, click “Publish Post.”

While you’re in the editing box, why not play around with your blog text.  For instance, insert an image.  Click on the little picture icon in the toolbar above the text box.  A window will pop up that will ask you to “choose files.”  Click on that and upload the image.  After clicking on “Add selected,” you can resize the image, change the text flow around the image, change its alignment, etc.  Experiment.

You can also include links, especially by linking text in your post.  For instance, say you mention “Song of Myself” in your post, and you want readers to be able to see the poem if they wish.  In the edit box, simply highlight the text – -here “Song of Myself” – -and then click on the little icon titled “Link.”  Paste in the url for the page you want to link to.  Keep editing and then publish your post.

Need more help, try the blogger help page.

2) read and comment on at least two of your comrades’ blog posts.

You can find your colleagues’ blog posts in two ways: in the blogroll in the right-hand column of the mother blog.  (Look to the right!)  Or, via a new addition to the motherblog – – the page titled Class Blog Feed (again, look to the right under the Pages heading).  If you use the blogroll – – just browse through the links until you find a couple of posts that look interesting.  If you use the Class Blog Feed page, be patient while the page loads.  Once it’s loaded, you’ll see a digest of all the recent blog posts from the class.  Scroll through these until you find a couple that look interesting.  Click on the linked title of that post.

Once you’ve arrived on your fellow student’s  blog post, make sure you’re logged into blogger.  You’ll see a link labeled “comments,” “add a comment,” or a comment box under the blog post.  Click the link and type your comment into the box.  Click “publish.”  Your comment is now added to the blog.

3) blog post two.  First, go to Specimen Days.  Browse through the headings for the sections of Whitman’s diary/memoir.  Click on a heading and read the entry.  Blog your response to the entry in a couple of paragraphs.  What’s interesting about the entry?  How might it relate to “Song of Myself”?  How does it add to your understanding of Whitman and/or Leaves of Grass?

A couple of other things:

– –  blogging is an informal kind of writing.  Think of your blog as a place to think out-loud about the poem, Whitman, Specimen Days, etc.  Your blog should function as a kind of public or quasi-public journal.

– – don’t forget: I’ll be in the google hangout on Monday at 11 a.m.  To join the hangout, be sure to add me on google+.  I.e. sign into google.  Then click google+ from your google bar – -at the top of your browser window.  Click on the little “circles” icon.  At the top of the page you’ll see link that says “find people.”  Click on that, enter my email, and add me to your google+.  On Monday at 11 a.m., I’ll send out an invite to join the google hangout.  If you’re having trouble finding me or the hangout – – just email me or look for me in the chat list next to your gmail window.