I would like to thank the Academy

I think this is how we felt starting off our journey in American Lit.

      

       So, here it is:  the last blog for this class. And, y'know, upon reflection, I have learned an awful lot about American literature, and, as noted in the above cartoon, none of us had any idea what we were doing from the get-go. So, before I thank everyone, I would like to relive some of the highlights of my blogs and this class period with you, and, more importantly, what I learned.

          I learned in one of my communication’s classes that one of the reason’s the media has such a powerful effect on us is because it is a media that is not designated to a specific time- we can read and connect with items anywhere, anytime and, then, because we are reading and finding a connection, we forge a bond with others through that medium. I think it’s true, and we learned through class discussions how the basic application of these texts parallel with our own lives; thus, we forged a relationship with one another and with the authors. I guess we figured out that Wishbone dog and the Reading Rainbow guy were right: the power is in the word.

          This class allowed for a lot of open discussion and feedback. We really got to make this course our own thing. During the creation story section, for instance, we were able to identify the Trail of Tears practically to our own knowledge of the material. We evaluated and compared where the Trail of Tears started and ended. We also identified how the Trail of Tears motorcycle is used as a sort of remembrance ride for those men and women who perished on the forced march. http://www.trailoftears-remembrance.org/ is the link to the Trail of tears motorcycle site.

          After looking at some of the creation stories, we were able to take those themes and try to make sense of how the New World explorers may have felt about coming to the new countries as well. We really considered how we would feel about leaving their English homes to make a new “home” in a place that was so brutal and unforgiving. In addition, we were able to identify how some authors’ seemingly “ancient” ideas or perception on the world could actually apply to us in today’s time as well.

          With the Ben Franklin lecture, we each picked a few of the sayings written by “Poor Richard” in Poor Richard’s Almanack that we could identify with. A lot of us picked out some of the sayings that applied to the importance of saving money and reaping the rewards later or how important it is to work hard now instead of procrastinating the work and regretting it later. What can I say? We are college students after all.

          The point is, though, we figured out early on in the class how similar we are-- the texts did not just connect us to one another as students; we connected with the authors and characters in an entirely different dynamic.

          Second, I learned a lot about research. Through class discussion, we would often bring up some “I don’t know, let’s check it out” points. Let’s be honest, at first, I foolishly thought that the constant need to “look it up” was a problem—I thought the teacher was always supposed to have the answer. By midterms, though, I found it refreshing. It was nice to check and double-check a source to be absolutely sure our research was not being misleading. The magical thing was, sometimes, we would find out more about an author because we would stumble upon something through our research as well.  

          The in-class research especially helped when it came time to do our own research for our blogs. By modeling the behavior we observed in class, we were able to apply and, thereby, find the same results in our own research. I liked that every so often we would look at Wikipedia to find the “gossip;” we never used any of the actual information from Wikipedia, but we did learn where to start and that’s what was so important.

          I will be the first to admit that my first blog was not the best. I was confused about Blogger’s features and had not one inkling as to what I was doing. I feel like I deserve a medal for even adding in those YouTube videos. By the second blog, I was determined to “one up” (actually 100 up) in my content. Maybe it was because the topic was easier or maybe I just had a better game plan and grasp to what I was doing, but I managed to find a lot more external links and pictures and include those in my blogs. I also got to take a trip down memory lane with Plimouth plantation.   I liked that through my research on Thanksgiving I learned about the pattern of presidents who had established the holiday (although the progression was not included in that blog), some of the basic Thanksgiving myths, and, also, how much the re-enactment site I, literally, grew up visiting had changed since I had last been there. 

          

          I am also really proud of the research I did with Edgar Poe. I began by looking at what I did know about him, double checked it, and listed it in my blog. Then, I spent a good hour trying to find some other little known facts about him. As a result, I found out that how to differentiate between his original signature and a fake (he did not like the “Allen” in his name and, thus, used only Edgar A. Poe when signing). learned that his now world- famous mustache came about during the last 6 years of his life and that the man who wrote “The Fall of the House of Usher”. I also learned about the Poe Toaster and the several myths that were associated with his death. It made so many of the topics in his book more real—it suddenly made just, I don’t know, it clicked. I made some real connections that, for the very first time, actually had me intrigued in some of Poe’s writing. 

          

          Finally, I learned how to critically apply that research to my knowledge of the text. I found through the research that I ended up reading more and more of the readings outside of the required selections. The background on the authors and the history thereof encouraged me to get to know the time period better. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love reading, but I figured out that I have read a lot more British literature and seemed to have bypassed the American literature section of history. I’m glad that the research helped me to “fill the gaps,” so to speak. 

          Because I had lived around the Boston area for so long, I already had an established “relationship” with Louisa May Alcott’s work, for instance. However, I got interested as to what type of writer she was when she younger. The result was my blog that examined some of her earlier writings and what type of publications she was writing for. I found out that her stories reflected some of her own real life events and, especially, with her beloved character Jo. 

          To sum it up, the class discussion helped me to understand how to start researching, the researching encouraged me to see the parallels with the authors and my own life, and the critical application only further my interest in the works and made me want to read (and learn) more.

          I’d like to thank the Academy for getting me here and starting me on this journey. I learned a lot more than I thought I would and I plan to use my Christmas break to catch up on some Poe and Alcott, and, maybe, a little bit of Thoreau and Emerson. Much love, y'all. Keep it classy.