The End of Geoff Klock’s Spring 2020 Classes!

These are three goodbye videos I made, so you can choose your own ending to the class! These have nothing to do with your grades so you can also ignore them!

The Meaning of Life:

(also in this video I ended by saying it doesnt matter what you pay attention to but don’t pay attention to racists and anti-Vaxxers and flat-earthers and 9/11 “truthers” and MRA people and stuff that is generally inimical to life).

Stay in Touch:

A poem, because I like poetry and how are you going to stop me from reading a poem in my own house if I want to?

The End: Shakespeare!

For my students that read Shakespeare this term I thought I would end by reading a Short Story about Shakespeare — this is “Everything and Nothing” by Borges

The Hamlet Mash Up!

Something silly for the end of term for my 250 students who studied Hamlet!

CLICK HERE FOR THE HAMLET MASH UP

101 Paper 4 (also known as the Final Exam) Instructions!

What I call Paper 4 the English Department calls the ENG101 final exam but it is the same thing — this is the essay that is going to be 500 words, 

where you are going to get 3 questions but you are only going to answer ONE, 

With reasons and examples

and as PART of your answer you are going to quote 

(and put in your own words, and give your opinion on, with reasons and examples) 

at least one thing from David Foster Wallace 

and one thing from Michael Pollan 

(you can agree or disagree with any part of what they wrote!). 

Make sure each paragraph you write ties back into YOUR answer to the the question you are answering. 

To do this you are going to log into Blackboard here

https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/academics/elearning/blackboard-for-students/

Here are instructions about what to do when you get there

DESKTOP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QljjZJCb9qc

MOBILE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROM2jUeiAiU

The three questions will be there at 6am on May 14. You have until 6am on May 17 to submit your essay. You can start and stop any time in between those two dates/times. So you could start it at noon on the 14th and work on it for two days but if you wait until 5am on May 17 to start you will only have an hour to work on it. 

Ask questions below or email me if you want to know anything! Good Luck! 

Walter Pater — our Final Philosopher!

Our final philosopher of the term! Walter Pater! These are the paragraphs that changed my life! Enjoy them! He is the finest prose writer I know! The text is HERE!

What Freud thinks of HAMLET

Oh boy would Freud have SO MUCH TO SAY TO HAMLET — the end of the ART AND AUDIENCE packet!

Let’s finish the Phoenix and the Turtle!

Guys lets finish THE FINAL TEXT FOR CLASS! It has a SECRET ENDING that NONE OF THE DUM-DUM BIRDS IN THE POEM CAN FIGURE OUT. Shakespeare left a SECRET HAPPY ENDING only for YOU.

Tips for all my students writing papers!

To all my students, this is a quick note to say that the syllabus has a page about tips and tricks for doing well on papers for me — as this is the time of year to turn things in maybe find that in the syllabus (and if you can’t find it you can email me and I will email it to you).

How to do Research for Paper 4

You have a fourth paper in ENG201 which involves comparing something we looked at in class to something you like — and you only have to compare some PART of a thing we looked at in class to a PART of a thing you like (for example just compare two characters, one from each story). More info can be found in the syllabus. This fourth paper also needs a bit of research so here are some videos about doing research.

Talking points for Paper 4 on DFW and Pollan

Talking Points !!!
“Listed here are the talking points for the final exam readings. As you may already know, the Composition Committee pulls together these talking points after we write the final exam questions. Here I have included a brief definition or description based on the readings”

• Dilemma —
  a dilemma is when a difficult choice has to be made between at least two possibilities, 
 usually equally undesirable possibilities
• Omnivore —
  a person or animal that can eat both plants and animals for food (The worksheet for Pollan further defines terms like vegetarian, vegan, herbivore, and carnivore.)
• Ethical Decisions and Responsibility —
  the process of evaluating and choosing something with the desire to do what is right regardless of the cost
• Consumption (food and in general) —
  the using up of a resource (food or other materials); the total amount of food that is available to eat in a town/state/nation; the total amount of food a person eats; 
• Culture —
  the customs of a particular people, nation, or other social group
• Conviction —
  a firmly held belief or opinion
• Production and/or Products —
  the process of making something
• Moral Justifications —
  a process of evaluation where a person attempts to make a morally questionable act seem right

Freud (and the movie 300)

Lets talk about Freud! Plus King Kong, 300, and a NEW LOCATION

Here is the trailer for 300: https://youtu.be/UrIbxk7idYA

ENG373: The Phoenix and the Turtle

Let’s do the first half of our FINAL text AND look at a Batman comic book AND I AM FILMING AT AN EXCITING NEW LOCATION! Here is a link to the poem:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45085/the-phoenix-and-the-turtle-56d2246f86c06

Problem Fixed!

There was a problem with the videos where you could not play them but that problem has now been fixed!

LET’S FINISH THE TEMPEST!

Let’s reach the end of the Tempest, our final class text for ENG201! Plus an exciting new location!

The end of the FINAL CLASS READING!

I take you through THE END of our FINAL READING for ENG101— Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma! Let’s finish the term! Plus I am filming from a NEW AND EXCITING LOCATION

CREDIT/NO-CREDIT AKA PASS FAIL

So these links have an insane amount of information — too much really — but basically the way this works is if at the end of term you do not like your grade you have 20 days to go into CUNYFirst and change your grade to PASS/FAIL so that the class grade will not effect your GPA. But if you got above an F you can make the class PASS which means you in addition to not effecting your GPA you will get credit toward graduation and not have to take the class again and if you needed to pass the class to get into other classes you will be able to do that and if the class fulfills a requirement you can consider the requirement fulfilled! 

Policy: www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/credit-no-credit-policy/
FAQs: www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/credit-no-credit-policy/faq/

Let’s Finish Romeo and Juliet!

Or should I say JULIET AND HER ROMEO

Let talk about Bourdieu and my Clothing Choices!

Let’s finish Bourdieu!

Empire Building and the Tempest!

Starting Pollan, our LAST READING OF THE TERM!

Let talk about the Michael Pollan article, The Omnivore’s Dilemma!