Time to get on the stick, people!  You have only about three and a half hours left.  

Just so you know, I will probably not have a chance to check and record these final posts until tomorrow afternoon.  

This is what I have so far.  If you disagree, let me know.  Key:  WO=White Oleander, CH=Cornhuskers, OW=On Writing

Hannah–finished

Jennifer–4 WO 3CH 3 OW

Megan–4 WO 4 CH 4 OW finished

Sara–4 WO 4 CH 4 OW finished

Meghan–dropped

Drew– 4 WO 5 CH 3 OW

Maddy– 4 WO 3 CH 4 OW

Melanie–4 WO 4 CH 3 OW 1 FQ finished

Monica–5 WO 6 CH 4 OW  1 FQ finished

Karen–7 WO 4 CH 4 OW 1 FQ finished

Ellie–2 CH dropped

Sam–6 WO 4 CH 4 OW finished

Rachel–3 WO 4 CH 3 OW

Mike–4 WO 4 CH 2 OW

Sydney–4 WO 1 CH 3 OW

Tammy– 0

Erin–4 WO 4 CH

Hope that helps.  

Sorry, guys, if it feels as if I have disappeared from the project lately, well, I really have.  First, it was finishing up my thesis and my class, and I had just finished that and gotten going on school stuff again when I found out my grandmother died.  So, I have been out of town for the past few days, and I just got back.  I got everything posted, and I saw that a few of you asked some questions.  I’ll get the answers out to you here in the next day or so.  Megan, I need to go through and count up all the posts, but don’t worry about it while you’re recovering.  I think you’re finished anyway.  

Okay, so you know the topic of our class next year, so you had to know this was coming.  What elements from these three books can you apply to your own writing?  Be specific.  

Remember, also, that I won’t be asking you to write a novel in class, so think about what can apply to stuff like essays, research papers, short stories, etc.  

I guess I can’t require you to post here because I didn’t put it as part of your points.  However, I will ask very nicely, “PLEASE post on this question!”  No word requirement; I would really just like to see that you’ve given this topic some thought.  Thanks.

Okay, in response to Hannah’s question, you can use a post on this question to count for one of your posts on the other books.  Don’t break the Dick and Jane exercise into two posts, though.  

On pages 170-173 of On Writing, King offers us as his happy readers an exercise to hone our writing skills.  I would implore all of you to try your hand at this exercise.  Try to incorporate as much of the advice that he offers as you can.  For the brave and industrious of you out there, I invite you to post your Dick and Jane stories here.  Just copy and paste them into the comment box and do any formatting that needs to be done.  That way we can all enjoy them.  Be brave!  Everyone has something special to offer.  

Here is a link to my exercise which I wrote several years ago when I first read the book.  Please write your own story before you read mine so that you are not influenced by what I have done.  Good luck!

http://home.illicom.net/~sdunlavey/on%20writing%20exercise.html

Okay, this is a tough one to write questions for, so I’m going to make this really general.  What did you think of the organization of On Writing?  Why do you think King wrote it as part memoir and part writing text rather than just doing one or the other?  What do you think is his most important piece of advice?  Why?  Is there anything King says about writing with which you disagree?  Explain.  

No comments will be posted between Wednesday evening and Monday evening.  I will be in Michigan, camping.  Go ahead and post if you want to, but just be aware that nothing will show up for a few days.  

While Sandburg was not big on using symbolism in his poems, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have anything to say.  I told you in an earlier post that Sandburg was known as a political poet.  In fact, throughout his career, he was often criticized for being too political.  He was once a political organizer and a journalist known for hard-hitting critiques of society.  He is also the only poet ever asked to address Congress.  While this is nowhere near his most political work, the influence is there.  So my question, then, is what does he have to say?  Why would he have been labeled a “political poet”?  Be sure to use specific examples from the poems to back up what you say.  

Okay, let’s try this again.

Ever hear of net neutrality?  There is a current controversy about what should be available on the internet.  The problem of ever-increasing demand for bandwidth and the rise of internet mega-companies like Google has led to internet providers trying to go to a “pay to play” style internet service, much like cable and satellite companies use.  The way I understand it, users would buy a package of internet sites from their service provider, and those sites would be easily available.  Sites not in that package would require extra load time, have limited service, or not be available at all.  This would allow larger internet companies that can afford to pay for bandwidth to edge out smaller competitors and also allow service providers to censor content.  The internet community is fighting this with websites such as savetheinternet.com, and several members of Congress have introduced net neutrality legislation to try to keep the net open to equal access.  Do some research on this, and chime in on what you think.  Remember to look at both sides of the issue.  

Melanie asked an interesting question.  Why are we reading this book?  I know that there are some inappropriate spots in it.  How do you think that was handled?  Is it necessary to tell the story or simply gratuitous?  What can we learn from this book, if anything?  Did you enjoy it?