Annotation Assignments
Weekly Annotations: part of your participation grade

Log on to the site and explain stuff (y'now annotate). One of the expectations for this course is that  you annotate Moby Dick. The entire book is  on Rap Genius (each chapter is a "song"). For the most part, I would like you to annotate [the chapters of Moby Dick open to the public](2756764), not the chapters that are semi-private (for our class only). This way you can contribute to the RG community of knowledge each time you have something to add about a particular chapter of the novel.

Of course, you can explore the site and annotate whatever you like. You can also annotate poems and songs related to the novel. You might want to check out other works of literature inspired by Meliville's novel like Dan Beacher Quick's, ["Moby Dick"](2756806) and Tony Hoagland's ["Reading Moby Dick at 30,000 Feet."](2756795)

Remember what you I asked you to read on the intro to rap genius page: You have to be interesting, you can't cut and paste from wikipedia, and you should link to other media when possible. Check out one of my explanations for Chapter 1: Loomings. I posted a map of Manhattan from the mid-nineteenth century that helps us recreate Ishmael's walk around the city.


You can also suggests improvements. You might politely correct someone if you think there is an error in an annotation. You can also add breadth and depth to previous explanations. I recently suggested an improvement to one of Arrogant Leader's annotations.



I added the you tube clip from Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, a badass movie with a badass original soundtrack by the RZA, one of Arrogant Leader's explanation of William Burrough's, "A Thankgiving Prayer."  Check it out on Rap Genuis.

Assignment II: Curate a chapter on Rap Genius 15%

For this assignment I would like you to use the semi-private (our class only) text of Moby-Dick. Start at our class roster page. Scroll down to the bottom right of the page. You will see chapters of Moby-Dick listed under the heading Dr. Fassi's texts. Follow this link and find the chapter you've chosen to annotate under "all songs." Make sure a 0% in red text follows the title of the chapter before you begin working on it for the first time.

Make this chapter your own. Turn it into a multimedia exhibit. Continue to reconsider and annotate one chapter from the text as we make our way through the book. There's no reason you shouldn't read the chapter right now, even if we won't get to it for weeks. And you should reread and reconsider its richest passages in light of what comes not only before but also after.
I will have either assign you chapters or ask you to sign up for chapters that might interest you. You might consider what themes most interest you? What historical themes are you interested in exploring? I may be able to help point you in the right direction once you've gotten through done some initial brainstorming.

Assignment III: Present your exhibit in a three-minute class presentation and upload the audio of your presentation to your chapter on RG. 5%

In a three-minute presentation you will introduce us to your "exhibit." I will make a high-quality 48k/16bit audio recording of your presentation that we will upload to your chapter of rap genius.