21L.320  Big Books

Grades are wending their way through the system, and you should see them tomorrow; as I'm able to, I'll post the breakdown on the Stellar gradebook module, but since grading is largely points-for-work-completed, it should be fairly straightforward.  Lower grades reflect missing journals/responses, in general, and may not correspond at all to my estimate of the value you got from or added to the class.
On a different track, I've been writing qualitative/responsive comments on your final essays.  When these are done (a few more days) and uploaded to your homework page as attachments, you'll get an email from my assistant.
It's been a real pleasure having you all in class this semester.  And I am touched and grateful to have been nominated for the Levitan Prize.  The gift of your time means as much as the appreciation.

Please go to:  web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation/

The competition is heating up.  So far, I see allusions in magazines (ELLE, United's in-flight magazine), political cartoons, the Washington Post (an article on gardening in the age of climate change), movies (Seven -- the screenplay deliberately conflates/confuses Paradise Lost with the Aeneid), a rap video by Eminem, a speech to the UN on the global environment by Margaret Thatcher, and comments at the Aero-Astro centennial symposium -- the astronaut Michael Collins cites one of my favorite passages from Book 1 in a comment on the important of English literature to STEM education.

These are fantastic entries, all different from what last year's class found.  So check it out -- and keep adding!  We'll look at the entries and award a prize on the last evening of class.