Welcome to the CTCS 412 Blog

This blog is a communal space for the class that we will use to address and ponder course themes and to point each other to interesting materials. During the semester, you will be required to post to this class blog at least 12 times. Five of these posts should be in the form of weekly reading responses (approximately 300-350 words). These “core” responses should engage critically with the course reading for that day and should demonstrate both a grasp of the material and your own considered response to the same. Simply saying you liked or didn't like something or providing a straight summary of the readings is not sufficient; you should demonstrate careful, analytical thinking. Please also pose questions for group discussion for the next class. Feel free to draw on class screenings or materials outside of the course as well, integrating them into your discussions and analyses. These 5 “core” responses should be posted by 11:59 a.m. on the Tuesday evening before class. You will sign up in advance for these posts. Your other 7 “supplemental” posts can take the form of meaningful responses to your peers’ posts, star sighting stories, links to interesting celebrity sites or tales, etc. These should be posted by 10 p.m. on the Wednesday evening before class and can be posted throughout the semester. You are, of course, expected to read the blog regularly and are encouraged to post more frequently if the spirit moves you. The quality of your posts is the most important aspect of your grade for this portion of the class, but quantity will also be considered.