Printed with Permission of Artist Luisa Rivera
Activity 1
Read “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, linked here in PDF format.
Handsomest Drowned Man
Activity 2
Click this link to arrive at a user-friendly website that contains fascinating information about Magical Realism, “The Most Handsome Drowned Man,” and themes that pervade this haunting story.
Activity 3
Printed with Permission of Artist Luisa Rivera
I think you will love the mysterious, beautiful story of the week. As you read, try to see how the appearance of the drowned man in the remote and desert-like village changes the people who live there. What was life like B.E. (Before Esteban) and A.E. (After Esteban)? What was it that brought about the change in the village?
This link will lead you to an intriguing piece of literary criticism by literary critic and scholar Dean Rader. I think it will shed light on the story—and the importance of storytelling— as well as on the reasons I chose this story as the first work of literature for our course.
If you are unable to open this link, be sure that you have access to the BMCC library. In the meantime, I have attached a PDF file of the article.
CC0
Activity 4
Please review this short PowerPoint presentation on thesis statements. It includes exercises that test your skill at writing a good thesis statement. This is the first exercise in preparation for the upcoming writing assignment, which will be assigned in Week 3. There will be a quiz in Week 2 that includes the identification of good thesis statements.
Activity 5
Quiz 1
This quiz checks on your knowledge of basic information about this course. Questions are drawn from the syllabus, the E-learning orientation, the course tour video, and the Course Information page of the course. Students have 90 minutes to complete the quiz. The quiz will be available from 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 26 through 5:00 p.m., August 30. Once the quiz has closed, it will not be reopened and will no longer be visible to students. You must complete the quiz in one sitting. Problems occur when students leave and attempt to return to the test.
To access the quiz, navigate to your Blackboard course. On the dark grey navigation panel to the left, click “Links to Quizzes.” Then click “Quiz 1.”
Printed with permission of Artist Luisa Rivera
Activity 6
Click this link to access the Week 1 Discussion Board on the Blackboard website.
