Homework answers / question archive / BLOG ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS & TEMPLATE The purpose of the blog assignment is: --To encourage you to engage deeply with the themes and concepts we are discussing in class, generating inspiration you might apply to your final project and/or midterm exam

BLOG ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS & TEMPLATE The purpose of the blog assignment is: --To encourage you to engage deeply with the themes and concepts we are discussing in class, generating inspiration you might apply to your final project and/or midterm exam

Sociology

Share With

BLOG ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS & TEMPLATE The purpose of the blog assignment is: --To encourage you to engage deeply with the themes and concepts we are discussing in class, generating inspiration you might apply to your final project and/or midterm exam. ESSAYS/POSTS: These are a MINIMUM of 400 words (about a page and a half). You have freedom to explore many aspects of black horror—an argument, examination, question, critique, book or film review, or just a collection of thoughts directly related to the works and/or discussions from recent class assignments. Your blog may sound academic, journalistic or conversational. The voice is up to you. Unlike the Final Assignment, it will not be graded for spelling or grammar. You will not receive feedback or a grade on your blog posts. Instead, you receive FULL CREDIT for turning them in and EXTRA CREDIT for publishing them. (Although blog assignments will be accepted until the end of the term, I STRONGLY suggest—based on students failing to turn in blogs last term—that you turn them in the week they’re due. They add up faster than you think. When 400 words turns into 800 words, etc., it’s harder to fulfill.) Sometimes the blogging extra credit can increase your class grade from a B+ to an A-, or a C+ to a B-, or from an A- to an A. I will accept all assignments, no matter how late, until the end of the quarter. Aim to get full credit: the blogging assignment is worth a quarter of your grade, as much as the midterm. Whether or not you publish your blog, you must send me the full text via CCLE the week it is due to receive full credit. IF YOU PUBLISH YOUR BLOG: For EXTRA CREDIT, I strongly encourage you to publish your blog posts even after you have turned in the text to me via Moodle. (To receive the extra credit, I must have the URL and the full text in Word or a PDF—and the text only needs to have been emailed to Moodle on time.) You may choose to publish one or more of your posts AFTER the due date and still receive extra credit as long as you turned in the text to me via Moodle on time. My posts tend to be much longer, but here’s the link to my writing blog: www.tananarivedue.worpdress.com ------------------------------------------------SAMPLE STUDENT BLOGS: https://blackhorrorahiddengenre.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/that-one-time-jordan-peeleunknowingly-showed-up-to-my-class/ https://berryblackhorror.wordpress.com/2017/10/15/jordan-peele-and-social-thrillers/ https://dajahvu.wordpress.com/ Try creating your own blog at Wordpress, Tumblr, Medium or another site. Students who publish their posts will receive EXTRA CREDIT: How to create a Wordpress blog: https://learn.wordpress.com/get-started/ How to create a Tumblr blog: http://www.guidingtech.com/6378/get-startedwithblogging-on-tumblr/ HOW TO RECEIVE CREDIT FOR YOUR BLOG ASSIGNMENT: EACH WEEK, turn in your blog via Moodle. Your assignment should be double-spaced. The SUBJECT HEADING should say BLOG ASSIGNMENT and the NUMBER, i.e.: “Blog Assignment #1” etc. Email each new blog assignment INDIVIDUALLY, not in groups, or you may not receive full credit. If you have published your blog, YOU MUST ALSO SEND THE FULL POST into a document addition to the blog’s URL. COPY AND PASTE your 400-word blog entry into a Word or Word-compatible document or PDF and send that to me via Moodle. NOTE: Without a working URL, I cannot give extra credit for publishing your blog. You will not receive full credit if I cannot read or find your blog post. A SAMPLE BLOG SUBMISSION: Blog Assignment #__________ Your name ________________ URL: [only if published] EXAMPLE: http://tananarivedue.blogspot.com/2015/09/thetoxic-racial-imagery-in-fear.html 400 words: (This excerpt © 2016 by Tananarive Due) This excerpt is 414 words As a lifelong horror lover who has co-written and co-produced a short zombie film, I've often pondered why zombies have so taken hold of the public imagination. An uncomfortable revelation dawned on me in 2014 as I watched the police army amass in reaction to protesters in Ferguson: We--people of color, and black people in particular--are this country's zombies. We are the horrifying shadow suburbia is afraid will slip through the window at night. We are the reason for the U.S. history of stockpiling guns, dating back to fears of slave rebellions. Terror over the nation's "browning" make us the shambling masses who drive people to lock their doors and fantasize about barricades and sudden flight. It's not true for all of us who love zombies, obviously, and it's usually not conscious--but it's the simmering social subtext. Recently, science fiction author Greg Bear echoed my observation during a lunch with me and my husband, author Steven Barnes, at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon): American horror, he said, has its origins in fear of The Other. Which brings me to the new AMC series "Fear the Walking Dead," which had so much blatant anti-black imagery in its first two episodes that even white reviewers took notice. The word The Hollywood Reporter used was "polarizing," but I'm comfortable with "racist." This week, Vanity Fair published the rhetorical headline "Has Fear The Walking Dead Inherited The Walking Dead's Race Problem?" Another blogger wrote yesterday on how the show is angering fans. And this post from a black writer: "Why I'm Quitting Fear the Walking Dead: It's Kind of Racist." If you've been paying attention to the show's predecessor, "The Walking Dead," these charges of racial bias against black men in particular are far from new. My husband stopped watching it with me after the strong Alpha from the graphic novels, Tyreese, was killed off after being rendered utterly ineffectual on the TV version. (This after the insulting creation and sacrificial death of "T-Dog," who was even more ineffectual.) We've heard the dismissive "Who, us?" responses from showrunners, basically, "Hey, it's the zombie apocalypse--everybody dies!" But "Fear of the Walking Dead" shows its hand in ways that even its predecessor did not. During a moment in Episode 2, I said to my husband, "Oh, God--do you think they would...?" And his response, even as someone who had disavowed "The Walking Dead" was: "They wouldn't. It would be too obvious." Well, they did.