Week 1

I've got to be candid here and admit that I still don't understand the Blogger aspect of this course at all. I'm not certain that there's a post due this week since there's no school on Monday, but I believe that there is. According to the syllabus, each student's weekly blog entry should “enter into discussion with the previous entry,” but I don't even understand how to access the students' blogs, let alone figure out who was the last person to post in a given week. I do hope that this issue is addressed in class. Another issue I have to be candid about: I was slow getting to the Bookie, which seems now to be sold out of the Gansworth novel, so I have not yet read any of that book. I have ordered it online, however, so I should have it in time for next week's discussion.

I did, however, procure a copy of Almanac of the Dead, and am getting a jump on the reading for that novel, so I'll offer some thoughts on that reading. I read Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony junior year in high school, but I didn't particularly care for that book. I get the feeling that I would like it better were I to re-read it now, however, because I have a greater depth and breadth of understanding of Indian literature and culture than I did then, as well as a better appreciation of literature in general. One of the most striking things about Silko's writing is the tone: Almanac of the Dead begins in the immediate present tense, an uncommon tense for fiction that lends it a sense of immediacy. Her writing is also interesting for how she incorporates references to both American pop culture as well as traditional Indian myths. The first chapters of this book show promise, and I'm actually eager to get into it.