Hi All- we may be lucky enough to see the streets of New York just like it is presented below! At all events blogging your way through New York is one sure way of making your trip significant and memorable. Yes you have three specific questions in both literature and drama that you must answer for your assessment, but there is no reason why you can’t use this opportunity to blog informally about whatever takes your fancy in this wonderful World City filled with cultural and social significance. The specific requirements for your assessable blogs are printed at the end of this page. They are also in LEO.

[In case you didn’t know the image used as the header in this blog is Brooklyn Bridge in the Snow with some superimposed hot Sydney summer images!]

You all must set up your blog site (like this one) simply by going to WordPress.com follow the prompts to everything that is FREE. You don’t have to get sucked in to a paid account, just ignore those prompts and stay with what is free. Once you have set up your NEW YORK BLOGGING site then please send us all your URL (mine is Michaelgriffith1.com). Yours will be something like janesimmonds.wordpress.com – or whatever name you want. My suggestion is post your URL into WhatsApp then we can all share each other’s blogs and see what we are up to. Remember you can post your photos into your blogs along with any text. For assessment purposes you will just need to let James and I know which six blogs (3 literature and 3 drama) you want us to assess. The full details of the required questions are in LEO but they are also printed again under this photo. Have fun with this.

Assignment 1- Blog Questions For Drama and Literature

Students will make six blog posts that focus on the days of the study tour in New York. Each blog must consist of answers to a question, three on drama and three on literature/art. Students are encouraged to post while abroad, but they must ensure that all blogs are completed and carefully edited by February 8^th.

 

Literature Blog Questions

Each literature question allows you to choose from several options; these are numbered i, ii, and iii. You MUST complete one blog on prose (fiction/ autobiography), one blog on poetry and one blog on art.

 

6. Washington Square / Poetry Blog

Choose ONE of the options from the topics listed below.

 

1. Write a paragraph in the style of Henry James – and using James’ style of narrator – describing your experience of a location in New York that gave you a new understanding of the novel. Briefly say what this new understanding is.

 

1. Choose one of the stanzas from Walt Whitman’s poems (in LEO) and discuss how it has amplified or enhanced your understanding of a particular place or event seen in today’s travels through New York.

Try to imitate the style of your poem by writing one stanza which describes the place or event that you have chosen to focus on.

 

iii. Choose a painting that you have explored at MET and discuss how it has amplified your understanding of the literary themes and forms that we have been exploring.

 

7. The Great Gatsby / Poetry Blog.

Choose ONE of the options from the topics listed below.

 

1. Write a paragraph in the style of F.Scott Fitzgerald– and using Fitzgerald’s style of narrator- describing a location in New York that gave you a new understanding of the novel.

Briefly say what this new understanding is.

 

1. Choose one poem or prose piece from the selection in LEO for Lecture 2: the Early 20^th Century and discuss how it has amplified or enhanced your understanding of a particular place or event seen in today’s travels through New York. Try to imitate the style of your poem by writing one stanza which describes the place or event that you have chosen to focus on.

 

iii. Choose a painting that you have explored at MET and discuss how it has amplified your understanding of the literary themes and forms that we have been exploring.

 

8. Catcher in the Rye / Poetry Blog.

Choose ONE of the options from the topics listed below.

 

1. Write a paragraph in the style of J.D. Salinger – and using Salinger’s style of narrator – describing a location in New York that gave you a new understanding of the novel.

Briefly say what this new understanding is.

 

1. Choose one poem or prose piece from Lecture 3: The Mid Twentieth Century and discuss how it has amplified or enhanced your understanding of a particular place or event seen in today’s travels through New York. Try to imitate the style of your poem by writing one stanza which describes the place or event that you have chosen to focus on.

 

iii. Choose painting that you have explored at MOMA and discuss how it has amplified your understanding of the literary themes and forms that we have been exploring.

9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings / Poetry Blog.

Choose ONE of the options from the topics listed below.

 

1. Write a paragraph in the style of Maya Angelou– and using Angelou’s style of narrator- describing an event experienced in New York that gave you a new understanding of this autobiography. Briefly say what this new understanding is.

 

1. Choose one poem or prose extract from Lecture 4: The Later Twentieth Century and discuss how it has amplified or enhanced your understanding of a particular place or event seen in today’s travels through New York. Try to imitate the style of your poem by writing one stanza which describes the place or event that you have chosen to focus on.

 

iii. Choose one painting that you have explored at MOMA and discuss how it has amplified your understanding of the literary themes and forms that we have been exploring.

 

DRAMA BLOG QUESTIONS

You MUST answer  THREE of the following FIVE questions.

Each blog post MUST BE on a DIFFERENT MUSICAL.

For example, you might answer question 1 on Waitress, question 4 on Book of Mormon and question 5 on Bronx Tale. Alternatively, you could simply answer the first three questions which specify a particular performance. If you are confused please make sure you ask for clarification.

1. Blog on Waitress

Choose a theme that has some resonance with American life or culture and comment on the way this is explored in the musical version of Waitress. For example, you might write a blog post that critiques the musical in terms of its exploration of American middle-class apathy OR its critique of American capitalism. You are encouraged to explore a theme that has not been discussed in class.

2. Blog on The Book of Mormon

This blog post asks you to employ your knowledge of the elements of drama in relation to the stage play The Book of Mormon. Choose three to four elements of drama (discussed in the first drama lecture) and consider how these are employed to symbolically represent pertinent American issues in the performance of the musical. In other words, you need to consider how the theatre techniques employed by the director and company critique, endorse, criticise or expose particular American themes. For example, you might focus on a character that is a caricature of a particular American type OR you might focus on a piece of set or a prop that symbolises some aspect of American life.

3. Blog on A Bronx Tale

Write a blog post that compares the portrayal of gender in the film version of A Bronx Tale with the musical adaptation. In view of the two texts, do you believe that gender is represented differently or is there a commonality?

 4. Blog on the morality of Broadway

“The narrative of the American musical critiques the very capitalism that it relies on to make a profit to survive. Therefore, this is a hypocritical industry that smugly challenges the power that comes with success, while enjoying the financial rewards and fame associated with Broadway”. Discuss this statement in view of one of the musicals studied on this course.

5. The American Dream Blog

Choose one of the performances that you have seen and detail what you think it suggests about the American Dream.  In your post, make sure that you compare the musical with the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

 

Instructions for Assessable Blogs

Each blog must contain 1 x 500 word (minimum) response to a particular question. Three x drama blogs AND three x literature blogs. Therefore, you will develop 6 separate blog posts in total. See the unit outline for full details about this assessment.

Due date:                                          All six blogs must be completed, carefully edited, and submitted by February 8^th, 11.59pm

Weighting:                                        30%

How to submit:                                All your blogs must be posted onto your WordPress Blog site.

Return of assignment:                    The blogs will be assessed within two weeks of completion. Blogs will be commented on directly in WordPress.

And this will be one of the high points of our visit to Central Park. Remember the Carousel in Catcher in the Rye? This is it!