Hi Everybody. This is where we will practice our critical writing skills on subjects related to gothic literature and culture. For this first gothic coffeehouse post (DUE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9), I wish to students to consider these two questions: First, name one fun thing that you did this summer that surprised you, or motivated you, or made you feel good. My answer to this is that I took a paddleboarding lesson. Always wanted to learn how, and it was pretty fun, but also stressful. I took my lesson on Jamaica Bay. The problem is that I have a fairly serious fear of sharks, so I was very timid and worried about falling in. I fell in once, but luckily, the sharks did not eat me.

The second question that I would like students to answer is this: which of the three stories we have read so far is your favorite? And why? [“The Captive,” “The Black Cat,” and “The Lottery”] I won’t write my opinion here because that might sway students too much. At any rate, these coffeehouse posts should be conversational, friendly, and experimental. This means that you don’t have to be overly formal, but you should stretch yourself in terms of vocabulary and sentence structures. And, of course, please proof your work carefully before publishing.

How do we post to OpenLab? It’s pretty simple. Once logged in and on our class site, go to Dashboard, and find Posts > Add New on the top-left. Then, click the Category type. This is very important or it will show up on the Home page. Once you click the category “Virtual Coffeehouse,” then you can start typing. Proofread your work, then save. Then, you can preview it. Finally click publish.

Here’s a short video I made last semester on how to create and post a Virtual Coffeehouse post:

Here are the directions from OpenLab:

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/blog/help/writing-a-post/
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/blog/help/writing-a-post-block-editor/

Cheers,

Prof. Scanlan