The Bibliothecary

For your assignments until we meet again, please write 250 words on each of the Poe stories:

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Black Cat

Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Man of the Crowd

If you do not have the tales in a book, then you can find them online by clicking on each story above.

These are not true Scribblers.  I would like you to write them as well as you can.  Don't just dash them off.  And do NOT give me plot summary.  I know what happens in the stories  Don't write about WHAT happens, but rather, write about WHY it happens.  Critique each story.  Interpret them.  What do they mean to you? 

These four pieces are due by email by next Tuesday, Oct 20.  NO LATER.  If you need an extension, then ask me.  I won't accept them the following week in class unless you have asked me ahead of time for an extension. 

Also, due at our next meeting on Oct 27, is another 250 words (or more) connecting one or more of these stories to Philadelphia.  That will be the purpose of your longer Poe paper: to write about Poe and Philadelphia using these stories.  You can write about the time Poe lived in Philly and how it relates to these stories, or you can connect them to Philly today or Poe's Legacy in Philly today.  This is a kind of proposal for what you will be doing in your longer Poe essay.  Use the resources I've posted in the previous blog post, "Poe Philly Primer."  The final paper will probably run around 1500 words.  So take your time on the story assignments AND on the last one.  You may wind up using a lot of these words for your final Poe piece. 

To recap:

250 words on Tell-Tale, 250 on Black Cat, 250 on Murders, 250 on Man of Crowd all due by email on Oct 20

250 words on Poe, Philly and one or more of these stories due in class (and by email) on Oct 27

Who the hell is this guy?Here are some links about the Philadelphia Poe, as well as the Poe War.  

The piece that started the war in which I claim Poe for Philly: We're Taking Poe Back

The Emmy Award winning short film on Poe's time in Philadelphia

NPR reported on the Poe War: Philadelphia, Baltimore Battle Over Edgar Allan Poe

The New York Times article on the Poe War: Baltimore has Poe; Philadelphia Wants Him

At the Free Library of Philadelphia, the gloves came off for the Great Poe Debate

The Philly Poe House at 7th & Spring Garden Sts.

The Philadelphia Gothic Exhibit at the Library Company of Philadelphia

My talk at the Library Co about Poe and Philadelphia Gothic (scroll down to find it)

My piece from a few years ago about Philly porno-gothic novelist and friend of Poe, George Lippard

If you want to read Poe's works, the best place on the web is the Baltimore Poe Society's site

And there are lots more links on the left sidebar.  

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!Your Philadelphia column should be 700-800 words on any topic concerning Philadelphia.  You could focus on an issue or a current news event.  You could just tell a story about a particular Philadelphian or yourself.  As long as it's a relevant issue to a contemporary newspaper reader. 

Remember, don't go overboard on arguing a position on an issue.  We're telling stories here.  The relevance to the big picture should lie underneath your story.  Here's Pete Hamill from the introduction to Pete Dexter's collection of columns, Paper Trails:

The local columnist writes for the guy beside him in the subway car or the bus, the woman in front of him on the line at a supermarket, the teacher crossing the schoolyard.  Such columns are built on a sense of place, a feel for the local (not the parochial), and the belief that the best stories might lie right around the corner. (p. xii)

And here's Christopher Morley from his column, "Sauntering":

I love to annotate the phenomena of the city.  I can be as solitary in a city street as ever Thoreau was in Walden. . . And as one walks and speculates among all this visible panorama, beating one's brains to catch some passing snapshots of it, watching, listening, imagining, the whole hullabaloo becomes extraordinarily precious.  The great faulty hodge-podge of the city, its very pavements and house-corners, becomes vividly dear.  One longs to clutch the whole meaning in some sudden embrace--to utter some testament of affection that will speak plain truth.

Tell me your stories.  Annotate the phenomena of Philly.

In honor of National Punctuation Day (September 24) and it's Punctuation Bake-Off Competition, you'll be doing a little baking of your own.  For your fourth Scribbler, please write 250 words (on any subject, but food might be a good topic for this) and include the following punctuation ingredients:

Blend in 20-30 commas

Fold in at least 4 semi-colons

Add a dash of at least 2 colons

Top with at least 3-5 apostrophes

Bake at 250 words

You must use all of your punctuation correctly.  For help, consult Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots & Leaves or use the National Punctuation Day website (just click on each punctuation icon for usage rules and examples).  You can find further resources here.

And here's a little help from the old Electric Company's musical Punctuation Brothers (I wonder what instrument they'd play for the semi-colon?):

For Essay 2, you'll be writing a Philadelphia newspaper column.  I'd like you to try to get the personalDexter during his time in Philly tone and style of a local columnist.  We'll be looking at columnists from the past, Pete Dexter and Christopher Morley and one from the present of your own choosing. 

When finished the assignment will be 700-800 words long.  But to begin, I'd like you to write the first 100-200 words, the introduction or opening of your column.  This means you'll have to decide what you're going to write about first.  An encounter on the street, an issue that affects Philadelphia. 

But remember, we're going to try to relate the issue to everyday life.  I don't want a position piece, in which you debate the merits or shortcomings of an issue.  Think about how Pete Dexter described his encounter with the hungry boy outside a Church's Chicken.  Dexter told a story and did not directly talk about homelessness, hunger, begging.  That's the approach I want you to take. 

Also, I don't want a typical sports column about how a team is playing.  But you can write about an issue related to sports.  For example, a description of tailgaters at an Eagles game or even just a group of friends watching a game would be fair game for a column.  Even a piece on the fans' attitudes to Michael Vick.  But you can't just write about a player or team's performance.  The piece needs to have a human narrative element.  Again, think of the Dexter piece.  Imagine him writing a column about kids playing a game of football or stickball in the street.  Maybe one of them is wearing a Vick or a McNabb jersey.  This could be a column about the innocence of sports and how it is sullied by hero worship or a superstar athlete fallen from grace.  But you wouldn't directly write about the pros and cons of that issue.  Just let the story take hold of you.

You all have your own stories to tell.  So let's hear them.

To find a contemporary columnist, here are the Inquirer's Metro columnists:

Karen Heller

Daniel Rubin

Annette John-Hall

Monica Yant Kinney

and here are a couple Daily News columnists:

Ronnie Polaneczky

Elmer Smith

There are other local columnists, as well.  Remember to pick one that does what we're doing, tells a story about a local person or community issue.