Frankenstein Monster and Dracula Photo Project

Frankenstein Monster Hay Bale

Happy mid-semester everyone. I am not going to lie - I am dog-tired already, and I have been extremely productive. I guess I should update you. I am currently teaching two classes, organizing two workshops, watching my baby sister for the month of October, and about to pick up a third class this week. Not to mention that "other" stuff like writing my conference paper for November and that pesky old dissertation proposal. Let's just say my plate is full. I also want to give a shout out to all the single working moms out there - this sh** is tough. Even though my charge is helpful and obedient, it is still a full-time job on top of my other jobs. I guess the upside is that I find myself working like a dog between the hours of 7am and 3:30pm since she is in school and I have uninterrupted work time (except on the days I teach of course). The other upside is that I have to wake up at 6am every morning - what, this is an upside? Well let's just say it is an upside and a downside - upside: My butt is up early enough that I can get a lot more work done; downside: did I say it was 6:00 a.m.? This will be more of a downside when I pick up my third class and have 17 hour days on T/Th.

Mickey Dracula Candy Dish

Okay enough whining from me for the time being. What I really want to post about is this idea that hit me when I was madly dashing around town with my sister running errands like groceries and prescriptions. While we waited in CVS, I noticed all of these toys/decorations/candy-holders that were different interpretations of Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster. Then I thought, "it would be nice to know if my students are thinking about this sort of thing when they are out and about." Extra credit opportunity! I set up a Forum in the Discussion Board so that they can post pictures of different monsters/draculas that they see between now and Halloween -there is also a writing/critical thinking component of course for the credit. But what a fun idea, right? Well I hope they see it that way anyway. I see it as another experiment in including creative projects in my mostly analytic course structure. I also want to gear them up for thinking about how these texts are culturally produced and reproduced today - how do we view/construct Dracula and Frankenstein's monster in this postmodern age? I am off to introduce this photo project to my class, so I will let you know how it goes.
Send a little positive energy my way if you can - this month is going to do a number on me.