1.Coverage: I submitted a blog on each of the readings:

A).A Love/Hate Relationship - Can't you just taste the frustration?
B). Langston Hughes: I never heard of Hughes before this class, but I'm already an admirer!
C). Another blog to pay homage to Mr. Hughes
D). Roberts Chapter 8 - Figures of Speech - how boring life would be without them!
E). Opening thought on Good Country People.
F). Sometimes, you just need to know what others think. I needed answers on the whole hitchhiker scene from The Life You Save May Be Your Own.
G). My paper #1. I thought that I was a decent writer before this class, but in hindisght, I didn't know squat. I LOVE William Carlos Williams, but even so, this paper in no way wrote itself like my second paper did.
H). Roberts Chapter 12 - no comments, but that's OK.

2.Depth:

A). My Presentation Talking Points blog not only helped me sort out some ideas on my own paper, but hopefully provided my classmates with a reminder or what a conparison/contrast essay is all about and refreshed their memory on Literary Expressionism and Rice's The Adding Machine.
B). Expanding on my coverage blog on the same work, "Flannery O'Connor starring in the role of Mrs. Freeman" sparked some good blogging.
C). An extended blog on Mrs. Cope from A Circle in the Fire and her proclaimed thankfulness.
D). Inspired by Lisa'a blog, I kept my ideas about Mr. Shiftlet going.
E). MY FAVORITE DEPTH BLOG, even though nobody commented (Thomson's The Great Gatsby and the Sims.

3.Interaction:

A). List of Readings/Associated Topic blog where I reviewed the entire syllabus in an effort to remind my classmates what topics we covered in conjunction with what works. Chris and Melissa both thanked me.
B.) Matt Hampton's "A Late Encounter with Blogging": I gleefully discovered that Jen's paper was similar to mine-I respect her abilities immensely, and always enjoy Matt's blogs.
C). And last but not least: I started an expansive blog thread on A Temple of the Holy Ghostby comparing the girl to Bevel, and ended up with a great little discussion, which hopefully helped my classmates as mush as it helped me.

4.Discussions:

A). "Mommy" : After some give and take with Matt, as well as the classroom exercise about how I would write my auotbiography, I learned to not be so judgmental.
B). Forgive O Lord: I received 3 very thoughtful comments on my blog with the same name as the succinct, sharp Frost poem.
C). I'm so glad that the collection ended with The Displaced Person and Good Country People because by the time that I blogged on The Artificial Nigger, I was dying for something new, as some of my classmates apparently were as well.
D)." Who is the Most Careless?" elicited some thoughtful comments from at least 4 others.

5.Timeliness:As stated above, none of my blogs were submitted late. Blogs that led to class discussions were:

A). My comment on Paul's "Politics of the 60's finally has a Point" (By the way, I don't think that the 60's were "a joke", they just didn't seem that relevant for an 80's kid heavily into English Mama Boy and Big-Hair bands! (Yes, Sting was not always a solo artist).
B). Southern Hospitality, where I took a discussion from the Tues/Thurs section and applied it to Mommy in The Color of Water, not just Flannery O'Connor.
C). No less than 4 classmates weighed in on Ruby from A stroke of Good Firtune, proof that my blog was timely (As was my final comment).

6. Xenoblogging:

A). Comment Primo:Too bad Onilee dropped the class, she was an asset, and I enjoyed helping her through the readings, as much as her questions helped me. Kudos to Jen DiFulvio for her blog on Good Country People. Thanks to Chris for incorporating the Bble into McBride's The Color of Water.

B). Comment Grande: Matt is my blogging hero-he wonders where I find the time, but he's the one churning out the supreme blogs. Hats off, Mr. Hampton!

C). Comment Informative: The Comment Informative: Expanding on Chris's questions regarding free will and my newly learned concept of felix culpa - also a hats off to Paul.
Also, I discussed David Hume in light of O'Connor in reply to Lisa'a blog. Finally, I evoked a prior version of myself in reply to Melissa's blog.

D). The Link Gracious: Myrtle: Terra's little insight helped!

7. Wildcard:Maybe it was the stress of the last week of classes or maybe I was just tired of hearing that the chances of finding a job in Western PA are exactly slim and none, but I significantly unloaded on this recent NEA article. Blogging is a lot cheaper than therapy!

If there is one thing I’ve learned in working toward PA Teacher Certification in Art Education, it’s that any art educator must have a ready stockade of replies to the inevitable: “Art is a nice rest from the important subjects” or “Art Education is a luxury, not a necessity,” and in the age of NCLB, “If it's not on the test, we don't have time to teach it!” My family is making huge sacrifices for me to attend school, even though there is absolutely no guarantee of a job, or at best, a job that pays a fraction of the salary I previously earned, while constant justification and advocacy will predictably consume any spare moment. Why would an otherwise sane person make such a decision? The simple answer is that in order to develop the next generation into creative thinkers, young people need art and need to know that artful activities are important to adults. There are undoubtedly many students who find special release in art class, and even for those whose interests lie elsewhere, fostering an appreciation of creative processes will be important in their growth toward successful adulthood.

Secondly, her feeble affectations are insulting. She quotes a high-ranking NEA official as saying: “At the ESP conference, a custodian actually started crying while describing what’s happening to some of his teacher-colleagues” and continues with “He said students are so upset that they’re blaming their teachers for having to take all these tests and deciding to punish the teachers by refusing to answer the questions.” Puuuhhhleeeeze! Didn’t this official have anything better to offer? As a mother of three very bright children, I can manipulate with the best of ‘em, and wasn’t exactly moved to tears by someone whining about actually having to earn their paycheck. There comes a time when (say, about 11th grade) the student is going to suffer some pretty serious consequences (i.e., not graduating, repeating a grade, settling for a minimum wage job, etc.) if they don’t lose the attitude and take responsibility for their actions, including test results. Any teacher worth their salary would be expected to make this crystal-clear.

To her credit, Jehlen offers the reader a link to NEA website where they can weigh in on the issue. The NCLB Act renewal will undoubtedly be THE hot topic in education in 2007 (just when I’m about to graduate), and there appear to be hundreds of organizations that will hopefully have their say in something that will affect public education as deeply.

The NAEA (National Art Education Association) has recently sent an electronic newsletter which indicates that “One third of school districts reported reducing time for social studies ‘somewhat or to a greater extent’ to make time for reading and math, while 29% said they had reduced time for science and 22% for art and music.” Another alleges a “20% reduction in programs in the arts with these proportions higher in urban and rural schools and schools serving heterogeneous groups…” Teachers of all subjects, not only the ones in jeopardy, are going to have to band together and remember the best interests of their students when this significant law soon comes up for renewal.

An integral arts curriculum has been shown to improve standardized test scores (NEA/OMG Study), better prepares students for the workplace by teaching judgment skills in a safe environment and enables students with different learning styles to find special expression. If the arts are integrated with seemingly disparate subjects like math or reading, students make connections and true education takes place.

There are so many dedicated art teachers whose work makes huge differences in the lives of their students. Some excellent resources include the Incredible @rtDepartment’s advocacy page, Elliot Eisner’s The Arts and the Creation of the Mind, and Americans for the Arts, where anyone can get involved in keeping art programs viable.

When I started classes to obtain teacher certification, I had no idea that so much of my efforts will by necessity be focused on art advocacy. I am ready to join those who have “been on the front lines” to help ensure that a free, appropriate public education includes a solid art program.

Reference

Jehlen, Alain. "Moving Beyond NCLB." NEA Today 24.8 (May 2006): 16.

I may need to include Bailey from “A Good Man is Hard to Find” as a defective child, so I deleted the whole defective daughter issue. (By the way, is a “Bad Man easy to Find?) I also could not imagine Mr. Shiftlet, the boys in “A Circle in the Fire”, “Manley Pointer” as angels (Mr. Guizac may have gotten away with it, but probably only because he didn’t know much English). Furthermore, I could not locate 1 iota of respected literary criticism about angels in Flannery O’Connor’s work- (“America” magazine and www.thezodiac.com don’t count), so I thought about the archetype more, coupled with O’Connor’s motivations, and came up with the whole “onus of growth on the reader” idea and dropped the kindness to strangers theme.

Because I didn’t want to completely lose the kindness to strangers idea because I think that this is where the archetype lies, I changed to:

O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own ”,“ A Circle in the Fire ”,“ Good Country People and “The Displaced Person” all have similar structure, characters and themes. In each story, a flawed single or widowed female landholder is visited by transient males who eventually cause upheaval. Based upon a mixture of secular and religious literature, an archetypal reading of O’Connor’s design is that each visitor is a personified opportunity for the prominent female characters to examine their lives and repent their selfishness. But because O’Connor’s stories often end before the reader knows whether the main female characters have evolved, the onus of growth transfers from the flawed female characters to the audience, who are warned against being greedy, insincere, prideful and distrustful. In doing so, she leans on the teachings of her faith and conveys the lesson that we should be kind to strangers.

I still wasn’t comfortable with the “…audience, who are warned against being greedy, insincere, prideful and distrustful” line, so the present version is as follows:

O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own ”,“ A Circle in the Fire ”,“ Good Country People and “The Displaced Person” all have similar structure, characters and themes. In each story, a flawed single or widowed female landholder is visited by transient males who eventually cause upheaval. Based upon a mixture of secular and religious literature, an archetypal reading of O’Connor’s design is that each visitor is a personified opportunity for the prominent female characters to examine their lives and repent their selfishness. But because O’Connor’s stories often end before the reader knows whether the main female characters have evolved, the onus of growth transfers from them. In doing so, she leans on the teachings of her faith to convey the belief that we should be kind to strangers.
Besides Trojan Horse, Aesop fables, and Snow White-any other stories that include a malicious visitor?
Do you think that the female landowners each have a fatal flaw?

Example MLA style:
BOOK:
Aesop. Aesop's Fables. Trans. John E. Keller and L. Clark Keating. Lexington, KY: The
University Press of Kentucky, 1993.
ARTICLE:
Collins, Caroline. "Jilted Southern Women: The Defiance of Margaret Cooper and
Her Twentieth Century Successors." Studies in the Novel 35.2 (2003): 178-
89.
The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. Toronto: Thomas
Nelson & Sons, 1966.
WEB SITE:
"expressionism: In Literature." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. © 1994, 2000-
2005, on Infoplease. © 2000–2006 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease.
26 Apr. 2006 .

Some of these works and topics clearly mesh, others don't. I am just trying to formulate some sample questions as an aid in studying for the final.

Taking Harlem as a beautiful sensory experience as a present to your girlfriend. How cool is that! He's giving her a crown of neon, writing her a song out of the rumble of subways and cars and dancing with her until the dawn. This poem is so lively and energetic, you can't help but smile when you read it.

This sounds like lines from a child's prayer with it's ryhme scheme. I am fascinated how poets pack their words with so much. Frost's "The Death of The Hired Man" wasn't as precise. I also enjoyed "Dust of Snow" on page 210. It's another version of the adage to "Stop and Smell the Roses".