The Dark Side of Jane Austen

I hope you and your loved ones are well and getting by. Contact me at any time if this changes and/or if you need help.

First, if you haven’t already, by sure to read the post for the first online assignment, which is here:

Feeling as *We* Ought about Fanny Price

Every Thursday, I’ll be posting an assignment that takes the place of our Monday class (which will no longer meet “live”). Be sure to keep an eye on the course blog, but I’ll also send email reminders. I know you have a lot to keep track of.

Here are some useful links as we transition to online:

On Mondays, from 2-4PM, I’ll hold virtual office hours on the chatting platform Slack. Just click HERE. I’ll also be available for a quick response via email if you prefer (and I’ll check my email and the Slack chat periodically throughout the week).

On Wednesdays, from 12:50PM-2:05PM, we’ll have a class discussion on Zoom. Every meeting will work from this link (once I’ve shown up—just like with our real classroom!): https://baruch.zoom.us/my/profhershinow

• If you haven’t used Zoom before, you’ll need to download it. In my experience, it’s been quick, but give yourself a few minutes. You can also download the app on your phone if you prefer.
• I understand that many of you may have new commitments and responsibilities that mean you can’t join our Zoom discussion during our typical class meeting time. For this reason, immediately after each session, I’ll post a recording of the session and ask those who were unable to make it to “join” by posting a comment that responds to or builds on the discussion. (If you have trouble streaming the video, just reach out to me, and we’ll figure out another way!)
• This platform will have a LOT of traffic in the coming weeks, since the whole world is moving online. If it doesn’t work for us, we’ll stay flexible and try something else.

This Wednesday’s discussion will be both a check in and (I hope) a chat about the short readings about Mansfield Park and empire listed on the syllabus. (See the syllabus tab of this blog.)

I’m working on scaling back our course assignments, and I’ll have an update on that during the Wednesday live session. I’ll confirm everything over email. Also, please bear with me on grades/feedback for previous assignments. I had done nearly all of them in hard copy and need to translate those into a digital form. I’ll get those (and the midterms) to you as soon as I can.

Just for fun, check out this twitter account, which is monitoring Jane Austen and William Shakespeare’s lives under quarantine:

Tweets by PridePlague