If you go to a museum: Find an artifact (or even an exhibit!) that somehow relates to a text we’ve read (the Met has an Egyptian wing, for example, which you might relate to the Hymn to Aten, and exhibits on Iraq might relate to both Gilgamesh and the 1,001 Nights). This artifact might also relate thematically: for example, we might not have read a text that relates, culturally and historically, to a painting or sculpture or other piece of art you find interesting, but maybe it makes you think about a theme or topic we’ve discussed a lot, like duty or how women have been perceived in history (similar to how we looked at a Li Bo poem about drinking in light of a Kendrick Lamar song also about drinking). Try to see what information you can gain about it based on information placards near the object (for example, the approximate century it’s from, or what kind of object it is).  Then, write a 250 word blog post about the artifact/artifacts/exhibit, providing a picture of it if you can (though, of course, make sure you are clear on the museum’s policies on photography; often you have to make sure your flash is off); in this blog post, tell us a little bit about the object’s history/context, and what connection you see between the artifact(s) and text/texts we’ve read in class. Provide me with your ticket stub so I can see that you went.

If you go to a play: After seeing the play (and look for student pricing–Theatre for a New Audience, as I noted, has $20 student tickets, and if you sign up at tdf.org as a full-time student, you can get ticket deals on Broadway/Off Broadway plays, ballets, etc–though there is a yearly price for this service of about $20-$30), write a blog post (~250 words) about it, relating it to what we’ve read/discussed in class in some way: how does the play you’ve seen further or deepen your thoughts on something we’ve read, or a topic we’ve discussed (like how to decide the right thing to do, how to “read for culture,” the way women are depicted in texts)–try, however, to connect it to a text we’ve read if you can.  Provide me with your ticket stub so I can see that you went

Feel free to make a social outing of it and go with other classmates–however, you should each make sure to either 1) do separate blog posts about separate objects/do separate blog posts about the play you saw, or 2) work together on doing one, longer blog post about a few different objects/about the play.

This works the same as Writing Center extra credit: a point on your grade overall.