Digital Mind Mapping

As a follow up to our conversation about mind mapping and Short Paper 1, I wanted to post the recent article, "11 Free Mind Mapping Applications & Web Services". For those of you who prefer working and thinking with the aid of a computer (and for whom the very thought of drawing ideas on a piece of paper sends a shiver down your spine), these digital mind mapping programs will offer you the same service without the reliance on the material realm. Another great online resource is XMind. You can download the software for free onto your computer and design some pretty amazing conceptual maps using traditional mapping techniques, outlines, lists, notes, and "fish" diagrams. Now, go forth and map!

New & Improved Course Schedule

I've recently created a "new and improved" way to keep track of course readings and requirements: the course schedule link. With it, I've combined our reading schedule with your various written assignments, wiki notes, and discussion leading dates. In other words, this will be a one-stop-shop for almost everything related to class. Please let me know if you have other suggestions--in fact, this page came as a result of Caitilin's request in class--so keep them coming!

Bloggers Challenge!

For your next blog post, I challenge you to compose your own Petrarchan sonnet, following (as many as is humanly possible) of the conventions we discussed in class. These include:

• Octave / Sestet
• rhyme scheme
• iambic pentameter
• themes of love, love lost, love unfulfilled
  
• enjambment (your sentences can spill over several lines)

For reference, return to the Poetry resource page on the wiki. After you're done or even while you work, record your experiences in trying to mirror Petrarch's poetry. Where do you run into difficulty? What was surprisingly easy/fun?

Poetry Page

Go check out the new resource page, Poetry: Sonnets & Lyric, on the wiki. You'll find helpful links as well as a summary and comparison between the different kinds of sonnets we'll study this term.

For your reading, you might find the following questions helpful:

• Why do you think Petrarch chose this particular literary form to express his thoughts?
• Do you notice any similarities/differences between the lyric Petrarch and the "secret" Petrarch from the dialogue we read last time?