Third years began their unit on Shakespeare this week with an introduction to Shakespeare’s first published poem, “Venus and Adonis” which is an Elizabethan version of the ancient mythic tale of Venus, the goddess of love, attempting to persuade the beautiful young man Adonis to make love to her. His refusal and then his untimely…
Ready, Set, Go! Autumn 2009 Literature at Uni
Welcome back everyone from your long summer break, or welcome to those of you who are new to our campus. I am looking forward to getting started again with all of you. We have a great semester ahead of us. We have a new literature staff member, who will be helping me with first years…
Christmas 2008
Hi all- now that marking is over (more or less) and Christmas has just about been and gone, I can begin my many catch-up tasks- one of which is attending to LJ. I hope that you have all had a wonderful few weeks in the lead up to this holiday period and that you continue…
Showcase: LiveJournals from the Clemente Introduction to Literature Program
Students in the C Program studying “Introduction to Literature” have been producing some fabulous creative and critical work and have been earning the respect of full time on-campus uni students who have been actively engaging with this group. C Students who were part of previous Introduction to Literature units and who are now undergraduate students…
Best Live Journals for first half of spring Semester
Be inspired… have a look at some of the best LiveJournals produced in the first half of spring term in first, second and third year at ACU. All the following LiveJournals received over 90% for their work: Year 1 Nicole Delmas http://ndelmas.livejournal.com/ Emma Dirks http://emmadircks.livejournal.com/ Nafsika Divis http://naffs.livejournal.com/ Jake Dowers http://jakedowers.livejournal.com/ Regina El-Hage http://rel-hage.livejournal.com/ Ian…
Commenting on the journals of others at ACU
I would like to strongly support one of our second year students who has written this direct and honest comment on why he thinks it is a really valuable exercise for us to be commenting on the journals of others doing literature at ACU…. and did you know that you do actually get marks for…
Clemente Mission Australia Introduction to Literature
Many of the students doing this short course are now up and running with their LiveJournals and are discovering – some tentatively- the joys of publishing their poems, stories and reflections to an immediate audience. We can all support each other here, giving the comments that help to nurture our creativity. These students are unique…
Cezanne/ Modernism Art Gallery visit ENGL202
A pity so few of you took advantage of this opportunity to see the Cezanne… but it will be there for a while to come. At $16,0000,000 it is destined to stay in the NSW ART Gallery for your great grand children to ogle at!. Described as one of the artist’s “most powerful creations” by…
Writing from way up north….
Hello all… one of our friends, student Alwyn Owens, doing Literature for Indigenous students has just written a fabulous free-form description of his experiences during last weekend. It would be great for him to receive supportive comments to keep his creative flow alive. Look at his entry at http://alwyno0.livejournal.com/. Alwyn is the chap in the…
Awaye
Awaye is a fabulous series of programs on aspects of Aboriginal life and spirituality. Themes here are very close to material we have been studying in literature. Just heard this program http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/default.htm- really worth a listen… and you can download it to your own computer or ipod…. The ABC is a great storehouse of imaginatively…
Study Break
Hope you are all catching up on some sleep, some work and some leisure! I have been doing some of all of these myself. I caught a dawn rainbow down in LyreBird Gulley just behind our place yesterday morning: I have actually seen many lyrebirds down here over the last few years. They are amazing…
Welcome to Clemente Mission Australia Students
Welcome to the ACU Literature LiveJournal Community. This is the place where you will be able to share your insights and experiences with around 200 on-campus students all studying literature. It is great to have you on board and as soon as your LiveJournal addresses are available they will be posted right here in this…
DRAMA AT ACU- WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ONE OF OUR OWN STUDENTS- DON'T MISS IT
ACU Drama presents: “The Silver Cord”- written and directed by Georgina Dickinson and “Grass Is Always Greener”- devised from Jeffery Archer and directed by Elly Clifton. Together for one night only, Friday 17/10/08 at 7:30pm, Murray Hall Strathfield. Also separate matinees on Wednesday 15/10/08 at 12pm (Silver Cord), and Friday 17/10/08 at 3pm (Grass is…
DRAMA AT ACU- WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ONE OF OUR OWN STUDENTS- DON'T MISS IT
ACU Drama presents: “The Silver Cord”- written and directed by Georgina Dickinson and “Grass Is Always Greener”- devised from Jeffery Archer and directed by Elly Clifton. Together for one night only, Friday 17/10/08 at 7:30pm, Murray Hall Strathfield. Also separate matinees on Wednesday 15/10/08 at 12pm (Silver Cord), and Friday 17/10/08 at 3pm (Grass is…
DRAMA AT ACU- WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ONE OF OUR OWN STUDENTS- DON’T MISS IT
ACU Drama presents: “The Silver Cord”- written and directed by Georgina Dickinson and “Grass Is Always Greener”- devised from Jeffery Archer and directed by Elly Clifton. Together for one night only, Friday 17/10/08 at 7:30pm, Murray Hall Strathfield. Also separate matinees on Wednesday 15/10/08 at 12pm (Silver Cord), and Friday 17/10/08 at 3pm (Grass is…
Reminder
Academic Assistants: Please free to contact any of these assistants for help and guidance in troubleshooting issues you might have with LiveJournal or in expanding your ways of using LiveJournal to express yourself. All these volunteers are experienced and highly creative users of the medium and are keen to expand their own knowledge through helping…
Week 7 LiveJournal Suggestions
Hi all- thank you for all the hard work that you have all put into your LiveJournals during weeks 1-6. I am plowing my way through these as we speak and there are some extraordinary creative talents emerging- both in words and images. I encourage you all to continue making contact with the LiveJournal Academic…
Week6- LiveJournal Suggestions
Hi all – this is the week when the first half of your LiveJournals for this semester have to be prepared for presentation. In particular you need to finish off your entry for week six and then post a new separate entry with the SUBJECT “My Best Entry from Weeks 1-6”. When you have done…
Week Five
Well it has been a momentous week in more ways than one. As well as having the joy of working with a group of Aboriginal students on Introduction to Literature (see previous post) I have had to cope with the near extinction of my vocal chords… some may be very grateful for this lull in…
Welcome to ACU Literature Community: Chris, Gertrude, Alwyn
Our ACU Literature Community is expanding this week and the week after next. This week we welcome 3 students on-board who have come from as far afield as Normanton in the Gulf Country (where the fishing is really good!)- welcome Alwyn; from Cairns- welcome Gertrude; and from Australia All Over – welcome Chris who, while…
First Years at the Art Gallery
Thank you first years for being such an eager bunch, keen to understand the ways in which art can illuminate what is going on in literature. What a fabulous icon that was in the main entrance hall to the gallery “THE TRUE ARTIST HELPS THE WORLD BY REVEALING MYSTIC TRUTHS”. That is a message which…
Amazing Weekend
Spring is definately in the air in the bush around where I live. Flowers waist high in some areas. I and my brother went walking along the track that the artist Margaret Preston used to walk on when she lived in Berowra some 60 years ago. Here I am egocentrically perched next to my favorite…
Suggestions for Entries Week 3
Hi all… what a great week it has been! Alex Miller’s Journey to the Stone Country- an extraordinary read which I can recommend to all years. First years are doing this in Australian Literature. It is a wonderfully hopeful novel about the way towards reconciliation in this country. In second year we were exploring the…
Suggestions for Entries – Week 2
As promised here are a few suggestions for those having difficulty getting started in their entries this week. First year: Write a letter in the voice of Henry Lawson telling Mary Fortune (“Waif Wanderer”) what you think about her description of the Australian Bush. Second year: Write a letter in the voice of Siegfried Sassoon…
Weeks One and Two
Hi all- Units are up and running: Australian Literature, Twentieth Century Literature and William Blake- The Visionary Imagination…. and it is great to have Nikki on board to help out with many of our tutorials. We now also have a team of willing LiveJournal Assistants (drawn from Years 2 and 3) who are keen to…
Welcome Back to Literature in Spring Semester 2008
Hello all, I hope you had a profitable few weeks away from the pressure of uni life. It is my plan this semester that we all have a little less pressure and more meaningful engagement with literary and artistic expression. We are here to enjoy literature and art and to find the ways in which…
LiveJournal Garnering: Years 2 and 3
So I have now finished my saunter through the fields of creativity in Second and Third year LiveJournalers…. it has been a feast, but I have had to much swimming and bush walking to keep my appetite alive…. over 200 journals in all!….. So again while many many journals had interest, merit and originality, I…
Ekphrastic Poems
Hi all. Here are the images I used to stimulate your Ekphrastic imaginations the other day (what the hell is that say some- but they are the un-initiated ones!) Let them find out here. So if you are keen, willing and able why don’t you post/ copy your ekphrastic poem into THIS Blog [as a…
First Year Live Journals
Hi all- I have just finished marking this HUGE BATCH of LJs…. Here are my comments and thoughts. Marks will be visible in My Grades soon. I have enjoyed immensely the journey through first year LiveJournals… so many of you have cottoned on so quickly to the rich possibilities within this medium and it is…
A message for Trusted LJ Helpers (LJ Academic Assisants)
Hello my favoured band of LJ enthusiasts (I am of course speaking to the team of LJ Academic Assistants- volunteers in a good cause). I have just put the following notice out to my first year crop and anticipate there might be a rush on your services…. I am hoping so….. Message to First Years:…
Brilliant Lecture Series on the Importance of Story
Hi all- I just caught on ABC Radio an extraordinary lecture (the first of 5) by the well known Argentian author Alberto Manguel. The program is on the significance of story in human experience. It provides a brilliant insight into the nature of language and into the powerful reasons why studying/ reading/ writing literature is…
Amazing Weekend
Welcome back after Easter to the mid-point of Semester one. First years- we are now about to enter the world of poetry. This is my favourite section of the unit and I look forward to sharing with you some of the poetic delights of our anthology as well as encouraging you to turn your experiences…
Turner- Monet Exhibition
This was an awesome day in Canberra. The exhibition just gives such a powerful sense of how important landscape was in and is to human beings. The whole exhibition is of course anchored in the ideals of Romanticism since it begins with that core Romantic Turner. For Turner and his followers, the miracle, mystery and…
Easter Break
The week of on-line work seems to have been enjoyed by most- including myself! I have managed to take many of you to the art gallery and to the Shakespeare Collection in the State Library and get a swathe of marking completed! Comments on your LiveJournals are also coming thick and fast – so watch…
Bush Walk Jerusalem Bay
With a friend, Graeme, I went for an awesome walk down to Jerusalem Bay- just north of where I live on the edge of Kuring-gai Chase- I have never seen so many glistening spider webs, catching the rays of the rising sun. And the birds at dawn in this secluded valley are just amazing: lyrebirds…
Third Year URLS
Hi all third year Shakespeare Scholars: here is the list of your URLs which I will also be publishing in Blackboard. I will also be putting them into Delicious… so check this out shortly (http://del.icio.us/ljblogs): Please make sure that I have now got you and that your URL works. In a few cases your URL…
First Batch of Second Year URLs
Here are all second year entries I think- please check that you are there and that your link is working. Shortly this will be posted into Blackboard, but I am also creating a link in Delicious – and hope that will be a much easier way of keeping all of you together – and in…
Final Batch of First Year URLs
I think this is just about all the first years… please check and see if you are there and if your URL is actually working. I will be posting these gradually into “delicious” (http://del.icio.us/) where it will be easier for us to access each other… watch out for details. Cheers MG Umamah Abdat http://umamahabdat.livejournal.com Jessica…
List of First Year URLs is expanding expanding
Check the list below… browse through and see who you want to exchange ideas with…… MG
LiveJournal Helpers
Hello All- the LJ URLS are coming in thick and fast and I will soon be able to publish a complete list. However, as you know (especially first years- but all years are welcome)- we have a team of competent, accomplished LJ Users who are happy/keen/excited/willing to share their skills and enthusiasms with you. I…
Welcome Especially to New First Year LiveJournalers
Hi all- I am really enjoying tasting the first fruits of many of your entries into this weeks LJ Literature Blog. Some excellent material is already appearing here: philosophical comments, poems, reflective pieces. So if you haven’t dared to write anything yet, or if you are stuck please don’t be afraid. We are all keen…
Welcome to Literature 2008
Hello all -many of you again! We are in for a fabulous semester of Literature whether you are in first, second or third year. What a feast we have in store: Literature an Introduction; the amazing 19th Century and the awe-inspiring Age of Shakespeare. I hope you all like the new, more free and easy…
End of Semester 07
Thank you all for a fabulous semester in Australian Literature, Twentieth Century Literature and William Blake: The Visionary Imagination. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching you all and wish you well for the remainder of the year. Good luck with your exams and I look forward to seeing all returning students next year. Those of you…
Bush Bash thanks to George W. Bush
I, my friend Graeme and my son David had a fabulous bush walk into new territory on the APEC (oops OPEC) holiday just gone. We wandered into the Marramarra National Park between Wisemans Ferry and Arcadia. An amazingly undisturbed tract of bush full of rare wild flowers- some that I have never seen before. The…
George Orwell in the News Today
George Orwell- one of the greatest figures in modern literature- has a message that is still deeply threatening to those in power who try to control people’s opinions about anything. Orwell has strategies to make us think, to make us see, to see the difference between truth and lies. So I was fascinated to see…
Spring Day in The Bush
What a wonderful spring day last Sunday. Father’s day and my son took me and his three kids (my grandkids) to the Muogamarra Nature Reserve. The word “M..” is Aboriginal for “preserve for the future”. The reserve is only open for 6 weekends a year at the start of spring and the wild-flowers there are…
At the Opening of the Blake Prize for Religious Art
As most of you know I am something of a Blake fanatic (teaching a course on him in third year at the moment)… so I was keen not to miss the Blake Prize for Religious Art Opening Ceremony last night at the National Art School in East Sydney. Macolm Turnbull was the guest speaker (yawn!)……
Films worth seeing!
I had the good fortune to find time to see two excellent films this weekend, both having a direct bearing on the literature I have been teaching in these last weeks. First there was Michael Moore’s “Sicko” which gives a terrifying glimpse of the way American Imperialism is leaching the wealth of its own people:…
First Year Australian Literature Art Gallery Visit
Hi Folks- thank you all who made the effort to come. It is always a joy to me to be able to introduce students not only to Australian painting, but also to the many hidden links between painting and literature. I hope in your own teaching in years to come (for some) you will take…
LiveJournal in the Spring 2007
Welcome back everyone to another season of LiveJournal… this time with a difference, more structure, less stress, but still all the possibilities of creative innovation at your fingertips. I am looking forward to seeing how you handle the questions you have been given and how you interact with each other. Please send me your URLs…
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Spring 2025 