Welcome and First Assignment

Welcome to the Blog! I have provided a few materials that you are welcome to browse through to get a sense for the course. 

I've posted a famous quote from Martin Niemoller in order to focus on one theme for this course, which is the role of the "innocent bystander." When we study the Holocaust, or look at more recent genocide in Darfur or Kosovo, we need to ask what role did the bystander play? Did ordinary people try to help save their friends and neighbors from genocide, or did they look the other way?

We will be reading three books over the ten-weeks; Night by Elie Wiesel and the graphic novels Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman.  Feel free to start reading as soon as you get your hands on these excellent books. October 7 is less than two months away, so please register soon. 

For those of you looking to get more information about this course, or to register, please click the Course Description link at the right.

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The first reading we will work with is a poem by Maurice Ogden called "The Hangman." I've posted the four stanzas, or parts, of the poem in four separate pages that you can link to at the right side of this blog. 

Each page has definitions for the words in the poem that might not be familiar, and I've put review questions at the end of each stanza.  We will discuss "The Hangman" in our first class meeting and we will watch a short movie that was made from the poem.

Assignment due by October 7: Please read the four parts of "The Hangman" and email me your answers to the review questions. Links are included in each stanza.