Week 2, Friday: Feb. 19

Today is Friday of week 2.

Remember there are no Announcements on the blog on Saturday and Sunday, but I will send an email to the class when the website is updated with the materials for week 3. You will also see the assignments/declaration quizzes open up for week 3 on Canvas.

HST271

I will add the posts for Week 2 to the randomizer and load it to the webpage, and then you can begin to comment on the blog posts in the Hypothes.is group HST271. Check that link for tips on how to help your peers to find concrete ways to improve their posts, and for the links to four fine blogs randomly loaded from our fine selection of student posts. These comments are due by next week Monday, but you may start working on them as soon as the randomizer is ready. Collect your points in the Canvas Declaration Quiz! Recordings of Zoom sessions from class are on their own dedicated canvas page. There is a link from the Canvas start page, and also in the Canvas module at the top with "Useful pages".

HST471

The recordings of class sessions, including yesterday's, can now be found on the dedicated Canvas page; there of various links to take you to that page, let me know if you need more pointers. Details about the prospectus and revised bibliography following later today. remember all assignments are living documents, open for "rewrite and resubmit".

Special mentions

Special mention for Ethan, who is embracing the fun side of history with a meme that sums things up nicely!

Also have a closer look at the new look of the following blogs: Jenessa, Ben, Bianca, and Patrick. If you are in HST271, you can get extra credit this week for choosing the different theme. Collect your points by Sunday night!

East Asia at the weekend:

At the Cultural Panel together with Chinese Table on Thursday night, Dr. Miller mentioned the nian spirit. Nancy laoshi showed traditional door gods, and both of those are essential to the plot of the animation movie "Little Door Gods".

I thought you might enjoy this animation movie about traditional spirits, gods and deities from China - and what happens when they become irrelevant in the modern world!

Little Door Gods (<-- Youtube link)

If you'd like to read more about weird creatures from Chinese popular religion, check out the 2019 version of the textbook the students created for the course "China's Magical Creatures (and where to find them)". Click on "Contents" in the left corner to explore the chapters. (I still need to edit the "2020 pandemic" version.)