Welcome to my first portfolio for my second round of EL 336. So far, we’ve covered mostly assigned texts regarding the materiality of books, which was a heavily covered topic last time around in this course. Our main reading, The Late Age of Print covered a historical perspective of where books have gone since the 1920s and 30s. In this portfolio, you’ll see the posts I’m most proud of and where I exemplified the most growth as a writer and scholar.
Depth
You, my dear, have the mark of the Grimm; a look at Harry Potter and the Conclusion of The Late Age of Print was one of my longer entries, because I took a look at several quotes from the final assigned reading. I included my own reflections concerning the impact of Harry Potter on my generation and on the publishing world in general. I then followed up with a brief analysis of the conclusion of this book, arguing that the general public isn’t ready to let go of print yet, and that we owe more of our lack of reading to life’s other distractions in the form of epic RPG video games and series of movies and television shows that captivate audiences.
Whether we like it or not, Oprah performed magic in the book industry was a response to Striphas’ analysis of the Oprah Book Club, which persuaded America to read again—or at least, it encouraged a select audience group to read very selective books. In this entry, I question whether the books on Oprah’s list really hit their stardom as a result of being on her list or if they were well on their way anyway.
In The rise and fall of Bookstores, I find myself questioning the longevity of bookstores in general. I find it remarkable that Barnes and Noble lasting this long. In class, I posed the suggestion that I could see it turning into an physical eBook store / coffee shop, because eventually Barnes and Noble will be selling more electronic books for the Nook than physical books.
Interaction
In my blog entry, You, my dear, have the mark of the Grimm; a look at Harry Potter and the Conclusion of The Late Age of Print, I link to Kiley’s entry about Potter Security measures, because I found our differences of opinions to be enlightening.
I confess that I don’t have any more interaction entries, because it’s been so long since I blogged for class that I completely forgot about this aspect of the portfolio until Tuesday… Better luck next time 
Discussion
Although some of my blogs weren’t heavily commented, I did have a few interesting conversations with my peers concerning sections of the Striphas assigned readings.
It all comes full circle, my first entry on the Striphas reading entertained a delightful conversation about the rise of the Kindle and fall of physical books. Beth Anne, Aja and I agreed that books will never become entirely extinct due to the desire to collect editions.
You, my dear, have the mark of the Grimm; a look at Harry Potter and the Conclusion of The Late Age of Print also entertained some light commentary among my peers.
Other people’s blogs… For the first time since Video Game Culture two years ago, I managed to comment on at least two of my peers’ blogs for every assignments. Yay for improvement!
Aja’s Late Age of Print, Author and e-book Although I didn’t comment first, I provided a useful insight that resulted in a response from both Aja and Dr. Jerz.
Aja and I also shared a friendly discussion in her final blog about Late age of print in Potter Pandemonium
Jalen, Katy and I shared a deeper discussion about the future of book stores in his entry, Collapse of independent Bookstores
Timeliness
As usual, I have issues working ahead once I get through syllabus week. However, I did manage to post my first blog semi-early…this is definitely something I need to work on in the future… (I acknowledge that I’ve been saying this for four years…)
Coverage
These are the entires that otherwise don’t have much of a home on my portfolio…
How has and will eReaders change the reading world: Presentation Proposal
Golden age of reading and bookstores This was my in-class response to Michael Sims.