list of student blogs for commenting

Student	Blog Address
Oliver B	ooollliiivvveeerrr.blogspot.com
Breanna Raina	anoctopusshellagarden.blogspot.com rainaharlemrenaissance.blogspot.com
Deighzsa	deighzsa.blogspot.com
Cullen	cullenshr.blogspot.com
Olive F	olivehr.blogspot.com
Pilar	liberatedinparis.blogspot.com
Jessica	noodleboop.blogspot.com
Sophie	inthewintertimesandthenightimes.blogspot.com
Amanda	harlemsswing.blogspot.com
Katie            kateharlem.blogspot.com
Sheril
Allen	allenshrblog2012.blogspot.com
Keiandra	lovablekei-kei.blogspot.com
Marina	itsmarinayo.blogspot.com
Anastasia
Kaahiye
Tucker	kingtukk.blogspot.com
Zora	zoramoniz.blogspot.com
David
Mumal	mumalharlemrenaissance.blogspot.com
Christy	harlemchriste.blogspot.com
Paul
Vanessa V	itsvanessavalenicaa.blogspot.com
Gabe
Vanessa AS	punkinangeljones.blogspot.com
Miguel	mexicanbloger.blogspot.com
Christian	ranger1415.blogspot.com
Shyenne	justshyenne.blogspot.com
Brian	filipinobloggin.blogspot.com
Jesus	hr-jesus.blogspot.com
Kesta	kestaharlem.blogspot.com
Mikia	missmiaantoinette4.blogspot.com
Gina	ginaharlemrenaissance.blogspot.com
Johanna	johanna-harlemrenaissance.blogspot.com
Joey	sadie14078.blogspot.com
Milo	milohenderson.blogspot.com
Elle
Kushal	kushalkharel.blogspot.com
Naeema	gypsyqueeninharlem.blogspot.com
NaOmi	naomiadmatharodriguez.blogspot.com
Molly	harlemrensaissanceassignment.blogspot.com
Damone	the HRKID.blogspot.com
Tam	poppinpanda.blogspot.com
Emma	emmawatryblogspot.com
Destiny	destinyloveslarry.blogspot.com

HR 2012 blog assignment

Harlem Renaissance: BLOG

Due: ________________________

Blog: “a chronological publication of personal thoughts, media objects [audio or video files], text, images web links and data that can be viewed in an HTML browser” (problogger.net, 2005).

Assignment: using blospot.com you will create an original blog about the Harlem Renaissance.  This means that you will need to have personal thoughts, media objects, text, images, web links and data published on blogspot.com.   Although we’ll have laptops in class for you to work your blog, assume it will not be enough time and expect work after school/at home to successfully complete this project. 

Note: a gmail address is required for this assignment. I think you can use the Berkeley.students.net account , but if you don’t have a gmail and need to make one WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORD AND USER NAME

Note: if you have your own blog that is not associated with blogspot.com you MIGHT be able to use it but first you and I have to figure out how I can access it.

Check out Erby’s blog

http://erbyharlemrenaissance2011.blogspot.com/

→ you can't actually see my blog until you sign in with a gmail account. 

Content Criteria: there are 5 different subjects listed below and you must have 5 different write-ups, but you can mix and match.  So for example you can do 5 different songs OR you can do 2 songs + 1 art + 2 poetry etc. 

1) Music from the HR: this can be music FROM the HR or music ABOUT the HR

Ø  Upload a song or music video, OR

Ø  Post a link to a song or music video

Ø  Include a written analysis of the song

Ø   What is this song about and how can you tell?

Ø  What HR themes are present?  And what lines from the song explain the HR themes?

Ø  Why did you choose the song, why do you like / dislike it?

Ø  For each song you should write ~3 paragraphs and refer to specific examples

Ø  Include the name(s)  of the song and of the performers and/or songwriter

Ø  Include the lyrics

2) Poetry from the HR

Ø  Upload a poem, OR

Ø  Post a link to a poem

Ø  Include a written analysis of the poem:

Ø  What is the poem about and how can you tell?

Ø  What HR themes are present and which lines from the poem explain the theme?

Ø   What poetic devices (symbolism, imagery, alliteration, irony, rhyme, alliteration,  etc.) are used?  Find examples to demonstrate this.

Ø  Why did you choose this poem;  why do you like/ dislike it?

Ø  For each poem you should write ~ 4 paragraphs and provide specific examples

Ø  Include the name of the poem and the poet

3) Visual art from the HR: artist, art, and art analysis:

Ø  Upload an image, OR

Ø  Post a link to an image

Ø  Include a written analysis of the image:

Ø  What is the art piece about and how can you tell?

Ø  What HR themes are reflected in the art and what visual images help describe the themes?

Ø  Why did you choose this piece;  why do you like / dislike it?

Ø  For each art piece you should write ~ 4 paragraphs and provide specific examples

4) Dance of the HR: dancer, and analysis:

Ø  Upload a video showing lindy or swing dancing to jazz/swing music of the HR  OR

Ø  Post a link to a video of  lindy or swing dancing to jazz/swing music of the HR OR

Ø  Videotape yourself dancing lindy or swing to music of the HR and post it on your blog

Ø  Include a written analysis of the dance:

Ø  What is it the dance all about?

Ø  What is the history of the dance?

Ø  How does the dance connect to the HR?  NOTE: if the dance DOESN’T connect to the HR don’t use it!

Ø  Why did you choose it; why do you like/dislike it?

Ø  For each dance piece you should write ~ 3  paragraphs

Ø  Include the names of the dancers featured.

5) Biography of influential HR people: (note—you are restricted to a maximum of 2 biographies)

Ø  Identify an influential person from the HR (i.e. Alain Locke, Duke Ellington, Aaron Douglas, Josephine Baker….) and write their biography

Ø  Biography includes highlights of their life and why you chose them

Ø  Biography includes why this person is influential

Ø  Biography includes which HR theme(s) best reflects his or her life and why?

Ø  You cannot just post a link to a biography that someone else wrote

Ø  You must have a picture of this person

Ø  You must have some other kind of visual: a timeline, for example, or a meaningful quote

Ø  You need to be careful of plagiarizing

Ø  Each biography should be ~ 4 paragraphs. 

Other: 500 word essay on the film Brother to Brother (we will watch this video in class at the end of the month and you’ll get the assignment sheet at that time).

Blog Criteria: your blog must –

1) Include citations where necessary.  Okay: I know there is a way to properly cite blogs but honestly I don’t know how (yet) so for the purpose of this assignment you can just reference the URL where you get your information.

2) Have a visually interesting background page

3) Include several image: you don’t want your blog to be cluttered with visuals, but it’s more visually pleasing to see lots of images. 

4) Be user friendly and work

5) Have comments posted by a minimum of four AHA juniors

Ø  It’s great comment on your BFFs blogs but here’s a good opportunity to step outside of the box, look at and comment on blogs not from your BFFs.

6) I really encourage your blog to be professional:

Ø  Save often.  Let me be clear: SAVE YOUR WORK EVERY FEW MINUTES

Ø  Don’t forget to publish (make public) your work

Ø  Include lots of images and/or sounds (remember: Harlem = CULTURE and ART!)

Ø  Proofread and spell check: take pride in your work and don’t submit crappy writing and/or lame ideas (HR theme = PRIDE!)

7) Where necessary, provide citations.  When is it necessary to provide citations?

(fill in this blank):

We will have laptops on:

Wed Feb 29

Thurs Mar 1

Thurs Mar 8

Fri Mar 9
Mon Mar 12

PROJECT IS DUE: Monday March 12 at midnight

To get started: go to blogspot.com and sign up (like creating an email).  Write down your username, password, and then name your blog.  Write down the name of your blog. 

Questions?

Name______________________________________________________   Period_____

Name on Blog _______________________________________________

Rubric: turn in on due-date or 5 points off

	Excellent	Advanced	Proficient	Developing/Poor
Music: thorough analysis of song connected to HR themes, w/ multiple, specific  examples, opinion offered (13 points/each)	All requirements have been met; analysis is high quality & examples are thoroughly described	All requirements have been met; analysis is strong & examples are used w/ some description	All basic requirements have been met—lacks analysis / specifics	No analysis; analysis is too vague or incorrect
Poetry: poem thoroughly critiqued w/ a high level of analysis; multiple poetic devices are explained, w/ examples, HR themes analyzed, opinion offered (13/each)	All requirements have been met; analysis is high quality & multiple examples are thoroughly described	All requirements have been met; analysis is strong & examples are used w/ some description	All basic requirements have been met –lacks analysis / specifics	No analysis; analysis is too vague or incorrect
Visual art: thorough analysis of art, art connected to HR themes w specific, multiple examples, opinion offered (13/each)	All requirements have been met; analysis is high quality & multiple examples are thoroughly described	All requirements have been met; analysis is strong & examples are used w/ some description	All basic requirements have been met – lacks analysis / specifics	No analysis; analysis is too vague or incorrect
Dance: through analysis of dance style, connected to HR themes w/ history of dance and multiple, specific examples, student opinion offered (13/each)	All requirements have been met; analysis is high quality & examples are thoroughly described	All requirements have been met; analysis is strong & examples are used w/ some description	All basic requirements have been met – lacks analysis / specifics	No analysis; analysis is too vague or incorrect
Biography: important biographical info is offered, why person is influential, HR theme of life, & student opinion offered. (13/each)	Biography is very complete	Biography is mostly complete	Biography lacks detail	Expectations have not been met

	Excellent	Advanced	Proficient	Developing/Poor
Visual requirements: each section of blog has relevant & required visuals (20)	Student went above and beyond the requirements & visuals are highly relevant	Student met minimum requirements and visuals are relevant	Basic requirements have been met	Visuals lacking in number or relevance
Links/posts: each part of blog (music, poetry, art, dance, bio) has correct link, posts or uploads (7.5)	All requirements have been met	You missed a couple	You missed a lot	Hello?
Citations: there are citations (URLs) where needed: anything that is not in your own words! (10)	Excellent!	Good job	Nice try!	Hello?
Professionalism: blog is user-friendly, neat, error free, all writing is minimum length, everything is logical (7.5)	Excellent	Good job	Nice try!	Hello?
Student posts: at least 4 different AHA students have posted meaningful  comments on blog (8)	Great commentary by 4+ students	Good commentary by 4+ students	Good commentary by less than 4 students	Either no commentary or it was lame....
Brother to Brother: you'll have a separate grade for this essay but I want you to post it on your blog

Total: _______________ / 118 points

Film: Brother to Brother

Brother to Brother

Due:

Essay prompts: use evidence/examples/quotes when possible.
A) James Baldwin is one of the most critically acclaimed black writers in the country (if you haven't read him yet, you will in Becker's class).  Richard Bruce Nugent, although not as well known, is probably equally talented.  They are both gay, yet they forced to separate their struggle for equal rights as black men and equal rights as gay men. Why?
Erby's notes:

• black males in Perry's class: hostile towards gay issues.  Don't even want to watch film (Perry's project).  They are the black community and they don't see gay rights civil or equal rights. 
• black kid in Perry's class jumped him: black on black violence
• video clip with Eldridge Cleaver who looked down on Baldwin, judged him and basically crucified him by saying "you let the white man F you in the ass, what does that make you?" Cleaver's calling him a whore and a sell out. By Cleaver's definition (a well-respected Black Panther/activist) one can't be black AND gay. 
• The NAACP burning "Fire" because they don't agree with content--homosexuality.  --> again, it's separating minorities instead of recognizing that minorities can and do have the same struggle: the struggle for equality. 
• basically: gay black men have 2 strikes against them.  1) gay men didn't accept them because they're black 2) black men didn't accept them because they're gay (cynical comment: I guess black gay women have 3 strikes.  Figures.)
• equal rights are equal rights.  if they're not applied to everyone they're not equal

B) The book publisher wants both Thurman and Hurston to change their writing styles before he will publish their books.  What is the publisher's justification for this request?  How do Thurman and Hurston respond and what is their reasoning?  What is your opinion?
Erby's notes:

• Publisher says to Thurman that the public wants a Harlem that is dark, dangerous and violent --> Thurman says that's not accurate. It's like what Dubois was saying in "Criteria of Negro Art:" (see yellow book)-in the past white people told black history and experience and being told second hand is inauthentic. 
• Publisher says to Hurston that Nigger Heaven was the best selling book written by a white person but the public wants an authentic voice.  --> isn't this contradictory?  They get an authentic voice but then Thurman was told it's inauthentic because Harlem wasn't painted as a dark and dangerous place.
• Publisher says to Hurston that her voice needs to change from vernacular to white English ---> she explains that it's written for her people and they'll understand it fine
• Interesting point: Ms. Cunnane gave me a copy of Hurston's most famous book "Their Eyes are Watching Go" but I didn't finish it--it was too hard to read in the vernacular and I lost interest.  (note: although this is VERY bad modeling for you guys, I have read other Hurston novels, and "Dust Tracks on a Road" is one of my favorites). 
• Perry is told that before he can get an art gallery his art has to change
• HR theme: pride

Prompt C) Scholars claim there are 6 main themes of the HR.  The film Brother to Brother is contemporary and therefore ~ 75 years after the HR.  Which themes do you still see present in the black community, as illustrated by the movie?
Erby's notes:

• anger at racism: Marcus
• pride: Perry is out 
• reconstruct meaning of Negro: black can be gay; not separate
• negro heritage and history: entire film is a reflection on HR when black culture flourished and was appreciated by all

Langston Hughes: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
     flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln 
     went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy 
     bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clearly this poem is about Negro heritage and history: the Euphrates River in the Middle East--Babylon was built on its banks.

The Congo and the Nile Rivers flow through Africa; the former in particular goes right through what was the kingdom of the Kongo; a thriving and

important kingdom ravaged by the European slave trade while the latter reminds the readers of the accomplishments of the Egyptian people.   The Mississippi River of course references slave states and was, in a way, a dividing line between

slave and free states (when viewed in terms of east/west; not north/south). 

Imagery is present when describing the Mississippi ("muddy" and "golden").  Hughes also uses a simile when comparing his soul to the rivers; furthermore repetition is employed 

by repeating that simile: his soul is old, long, and holds many secrets. 

I chose this poem because I like geography and I like how Hughes takes us from the Middle East through into Africa and then into the US. Geography is taken for granted

in the US and overall Americans are too arrogant (or ignorant) to find value in places outside of the 50 states.  Can you identify the the rivers that Hughes has known on a map? And why should you care?

I also think it's important that one understand that African-American history does not begin in the United States--African history is, to quote Hughes, "ancient as the world" and should not be neglected when learning about or reflecting upon

Negro heritage and history. 

John Hope Franklin: what is your opinion about his opinion?

John Hope Franklin (1915-2010) was an African-American scholar and professor who reflected on Harlem as "the articulation of consciousness brought on by suffering and discrimination."  Do you agree with his analysis?  Why or why not, and what evidence do you have to support your opinion?

Read more about Franklin at: http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/franklin/bio.html

Samples of Jazz Music:

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/beat/

This link will take you to Duke Ellington's album "Echoes of Harlem."  I chose this album because according to PBS, it was recorded on February 28, 1936 (and my birthday is February 29, leap year, and 1936 was a leap year, so it was almost recorded on my birthday but 40 years before I was born!)  One of the songs on this album is Sophisticated Lady: I'm in a Sentimental Mood and I really appreciate this song.

I do not know the background of the lyrics, but I do believe that the speaker is Ellington and he is addressing a woman whom he not only respects, but has deep affection and possibly longing for, such as a girlfriend or wife.    Duke sings "She's a different lady with a different style.  She stands tall and ready like the Eiffel Tower.  She is hip to politics, but loves her jazz.  She's got lots of rhythm, she's got lots of class..."  It's clear that this woman is unique because, like the Eiffel Tower, there is only one of her.  In comparing this lady to the Eiffel Tower Ellington explains that she is strong, and proud, but not arrogant ("she's got lots of class.")

Sophisticated Lady, although recorded after the official end of the Harlem Renaissance, still embodies the themes of this cultural rebirth: the theme that best reflects this song is the desire to reconstruct the meaning of "negro," especially negro women.  This negro lady is no longer cast in the role of pickananny or mammy; rather she is a lady in the truest sense of the word "she wears knee length dresses" indicates that she dresses with class.  "She's hip to politics" shows her intelligence and interest in national or even world affairs (and implies that she is a voter, as women gained the right to vote in 1920).  Finally, by describing the new negro woman as "the person you'd like to meet" the listeners gather that she has respect among the community as an equal, not as the subordinate old negro woman.

As the new black woman I can appreciate the sentiment to these lyrics--and the melody is just lovely!

Painting by Jacob Lawrence

 

I never even heard of Jacob Lawrence until I started teaching about Harlem. I really like his work and this painting, "The Great Migration" reminds is a powerful image to what the great migration was all about:

The birds are migratory birds (perhaps pelicans?) that are leading the family from the south to the north. The birds are kind of like a compass: they know which way to go.

The family is poor: they are walking with all of their belongings in pillowcases or knapsacks, in search of something better. The entire family migrates as one, emphasizing the importance of family in the negro community.

The title of the book is "An American Story" and I think the great migration, while obviously unique to African-Americans, connects to all stories of immigration, particularly the ones in which oppressed people are so desperate to find liberty, opportunity, and often escape poverty, that they are willing to walk thousands of miles carrying their meager belongings, knowing that nothing could be worse than their current situation.

HR themes: I'm not sure if this is the best answer but I think one possible answer is pride. The family may not be proud of any specific experience, but they have pride, which is the impetus to migrate to the north. What do you think?