Jillian B.
In the spirit of a class that I took over the summer on Victorian literature, where we, too, kept a class-wide blog (the first post of which was also titled, “The Soul of Man Under SoCalism,”), I will keep this short. The bastardized title of this entry is a purposely cheesy re-imagining of Wilde’s “The Soul of Man Under Socialism.” You’re probably wondering what WRIT 140, Oscar Wilde, environmental policy and blogging have in common. My reasoning for the class blog (and the name of the first post is four-fold:
- POSC 220 will be looking at policy, politics, economics, and the ethics of environmental issues, usually with a distinctly Los Angelean bias (hence the SoCalism angle). Whenever possible, I am hoping that we will be able to take larger concepts, such as the hot-button issue of global warming, break it down and apply realistic solutions such as public transportation and sustainable development in order to better comprehend issues that can feel impossibly broad.
- Evoking “socialism” as “SoCalism” is a concept I stole directly from Professor Tongson in order to launch this blog as a collective enterprise of all the participants in this workshop. In short, each of us will post entries and comments on this site–some casual, some more formal, it’s up to the student doing the posting–as a way to continue discussion outside the classroom in a more casual environment, as well as work as a vehicle to foster new/different ideas and perspectives.
- It’s better title than WordPress’s automatic first entry title, “Hello World!” which carries a hint of a pro-natalist/Hey-Industrialized-Countries-Let’s-Keep-The-Birth-Rate-Up agenda (because isn’t that what babies are imagined to say?). I realize it’s a stretch, but it makes me laugh.
- I figure whenever I can tie in Oscar Wilde it’s a good thing.
A note on etiquette: it is required that you sign add your name at the top of each post (like I did) since it’s nice to know who’s doing the talking before we begin reading, just so our modes of response and address can be more thoughtful. If you’re uncomfortable signing your whole name at the top, you can follow my lead and simply use your first name and last name initial.
