During the fourth week we would like to have you engage in an on-line discussion on the sense of place and how it might be interpreted. Here are two options for posting on the bulletin board and for further discussion.

Sense of Place Assignment 1:
Viewing and Writing

This assignment affords you the opportunity to examine a few works of art that depict places in the Twin Cities and discuss them with your fellow classmates. Having never taken "Art Appreciation" while a student at Macalester College, Professor Lanegran is no art critic (but he knows what he likes). Therefore, expect no professorial commenting on your interpretations of the results of the artist's muse. Once again, our goal is for you to share your insights and maximize the flexibility and networking features of the web. Your task is to view several of the works from the Bibliography and answer the Viewing Questions. Please limit your responses to 600 words. After you post your essays on the web, please read and react to those posted by your classmates. While it would be wonderful if you could view the actual paintings, I expect most of you will be unable to visit the collections and will prefer to view the paintings on the web.

Simply click on the titles of those that interest you and you will be taken to the proper locations. Or go to the primary web sites of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Then use their search engines to find the pieces of art that you think you might be interested in. Please do not confine yourself to this list. If you find other paintings, copy and paste the illustration or its URL into your report and post it for the rest of us to view and think about. Enjoy!

This assignment affords you the opportunity to read a few literary works set in the Twin Cities and discuss them with your fellow classmates. Professors Lanegran and Kane will chime in from time to time but our goal is for you to share your insights and maximize the flexibility and networking features of the web.
Please read the essays Geography Through Literature (PDF file), by David Lanegran and Susan Allan Toth and Fictive Saint Paul, by Patricia Kane before you begin to read selections from the bibliography. Read as widely and intensively as you wish. But remember this a geography class, not a seminar in literary criticism. We are primarily interested in your thoughts on how literature effects your sense of place, but we also welcome your thoughts about the works as pieces of literature. We would like you all to read Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, by Stanley Gordon West. This is a book set in the neighborhood of Macalester College during 1949-50. It is well done and presents some interesting issues. Some of you may be in locations where that and other books on the list may not be readily available. We are sorry about that, but this is a web course and the web is not perfect.

Your task is to read at least two works from the bibliography and answer a few of the questions that interest you, poised in the following page. We have selected books from several genres and time periods. Please limit your responses to 600 words. After you post your essays in the virtual classroom, please read and react to those posted by your classmates.