Hello from my utopia conference in London!

Just a few quick reminders:

• Tomorrow, Thursday, 3/27, is your midterm exam. You will not be able to use any notes or texts (either the short stories or novel) for the exam, so no need to bring them with you. As we discussed, to prepare for the exam you should review our class notes on utopia (as a genre), the elements of fiction, the short stories we read (“The Story of an Hour,” “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” “The Day Before the Revolution,” and “The Machine Stops”), and Brave New World. I also suggest reading through all of your/your classmates’ blog posts as well as our class discussions (the “comments”) on the short stories, reviewing the Utopian/Dystopian Framework, and looking over your freewriting (which has been available for the past week in my mailbox, N512).

• Essay #1 is due at the beginning of class tomorrow. Make sure you review the assignment and the formatting/submission guidelines before you submit it (and don’t forget about the Cover Letter … I will not accept essays without it). Include a Work Cited page. Make sure that you e-mail me a correctly labeled Word file (just one file, with the Cover Letter as the first page … not two separate files) before class begins (anything after 8:30am is considered late and will receive no credit), and bring a printed/stapled copy to class (Professor Corbett, who is subbing for me, will collect these essays at the class).

• We are moving forward with We next week (Entries 1-16, pp. 1-91), and you have a reading response blog due Monday night in preparation for next Thursday’s class (4/3).

Good luck finishing up your essays and taking your exam! See you all next week 🙂

Cheers,
Professor Belli