Kamber Joy Alldredge

My name is Kamber Joy Alldredge, as seen above, and I'm an English Major from Sacramento, California. I am a very passionate fan of Harry Potter and have been sorted into Ravenclaw according to the official Pottermore Sorting Quiz. I love to read, craft, draw, and explore, and I'm a bit of an introvert. My great ambition is to one day own a rabbit which I will name Aesop, and a turtle which I will name Methuselah, Sully for short.

My middle school held a Renaissance fair every year, something that I looked forward to with much excitement, so of course, they cancelled it the year I entered sixth grade. I am still yet to attend a Renaissance fair and I am still very eager to do so. I love the inventive and creative atmosphere of the Renaissance period, I am only only familiar with the basics of the time, Shakespeare and the lot, but I am eager to learn more.

While I will forever love the feel of physical books, ebooks have become much more convenient for my college life, moving between home and school. I love that publishing ebooks is much easier than traditional publishing and I believe it gives more opportunity to individuals to express themselves and share their works.

Katie Bowman

Hello, I am Katie Bowman. This may be my first blogging experience, but I refuse to be intimidated. By way of introduction, I graduated from high school in Toronto after frequent moving within the US. I care a lot about literature and music and food. As long as these are part of my every day experience I’m sure I can be happy (especially the food part). 

I entered the English major by way of BYU’s acting program, thus an exposure to Shakespeare and iconic renaissance style. In the survey courses for the English major, the time periods that interested me the most were the ones revolving around great cultural change. The renaissance, and other periods like it, had energy. I love the imagination that was triggered by discovering new worlds through travel and discovering their own world through science. It must have been a surreal experience and seeing them make sense of it through literature excites me.

The energy of the renaissance and the energy of our rapidly changing culture are interesting to compare. As we were discussing social media in class I started to think about how our renaissance is built on the foundation of THE renaissance. Both are about the increase in communication and knowledge. The printing press made literary consumption available to everyone. The Internet is making literary production available to everyone. Making the bible available to every class changed the way they saw the world, now anyone with an iphone publishing their views on religion or politics or pop culture can contribute to the way we see the world. We have appreciated the ability to listen, but now we can speak.

Nikkita Walker, Self-titled International Cowgirl

No, the name didn't stick, and thank goodness. When I was eighteen I was traveling around Peru with a bunch of Aussies when it occurred to me that I possessed the rare opportunity to portray myself as whoever I wanted to be. So I called myself "Kit" and postured as a "Cowgirl." Looking back and wincing about the mistakes of my past doesn't change the fact that I am still that same adventure seeking, story chasing, girl-child just trying to follow in the impossible footsteps of my favorite fictional heroines. I may never be Martha Gellhorn or Mark Twain, but I try to approach life similarly as best I can. Of course I love humans, stories, and travel, and started at BYU studying folklore as a sociocultural anthropologist. Eventually I jumped ship and pursued an area of study that I thought was more specific to my interests, but I never lost that original love of meeting new people and learning new, undiscovered stories. So far I've traveled to India, Costa Rica, Peru, Thailand, Laos, Japan, and Brazil; and I don't know if I'll ever want to stop. 

I love Renaissance literature and sing praises to John Donne for making me laugh in a way I hadn't since Chaucer came and went. Of course, Shakespeare is an all-time favorite and his Tempest,"We are such stuff /As dreams are made on, and our little life /Is rounded with a sleep," is a flawless way to end a literally legendary career. 

I know some people who are religious about their preferences when it comes to ebooks v. print, and I think I'm secretly one of them. I like to keep an open mind about available mediums but an ebook website will never give you the sensation of vellichor the way a bookstore will. 

Jake Hawkins, Man of Action

     Hello! My name is Jacob Hawkins and I'm the guy with the JayQuellin' shirt. I love movies, television shows, and having a good laugh. I'm an English Major at BYU and will graduate at the end of this school year.

     My experience with Renaissance literature is chiefly with Shakespeare. I love his plays and poems and feel there is a strong presence of  inherent truth that still resounds with readers and play audiences today as they did back then. I also have a basic understanding of the great Italian artists of the time and am amazed at the test of time those masters have withstood.

     I have no experience with eBooks but am not against the idea of it. I agree that we are in the midst of a Renaissance of sorts but have not really thought about what kind it is and what it really means. I look forward to contributing more to this blog as the class continues on.

A Brief History of Kurt Anderson

This is just going to have to work for now.  As you may have surmised, I like panda bears.  In fact, one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received from a friend was the symbolic adoption of a panda cub, who I dubbed XiaoWeiXiao.  He loves me and I love him.  Aside from that, I've been an English major for a couple of years now, and I recently returned from a study abroad in the UK, so I most certainly do have strong feelings about the Renaissance, feelings which I will briefly share with you now.

I love the Renaissance.

Going into a little more detail, I think that the age that brought about the startling literary variance of poet/playwright Shakespeare and the metaphysics of Donne is something intensely interesting.  In a time when popular culture is being reimagined, authors and writers such as these, Spencer, Montaigne, Milton, and More all demonstrated that what had previously been defined as high or low culture was meaningless.

Equally, today the definitions of what literature really is are changing.  A worldwide network of communications has shattered presupposed cultural barriers and exposed all of us to viewpoints and ideas that are radically different.  So yes, I do believe that we are in a cultural Renaissance and ebooks (or the internet in general) are to us what the printing press was to Tyndale, a medium through which a vastly greater audience may be reached and influenced.

That is all.

The Literary Past Meets the Digital Present: eRenaissance (a student ebook project)

a mockup cover
for our prospective eBook

Two years ago my students and I created this blog (and other online resources) in an effort to create an ebook connecting the study of literature from the European Renaissance of the 15th-17th centuries with our current digital renaissance. It was our belief that one good renaissance deserves another, and so we titled our work eRenassiance: Literary Past, Digital Present. I am now inviting a second group of students to build upon this foundation and complete that project.

The European Renaissance was a long period filled with many false starts; this will always be the case when some watershed event in culture (like the arrival of a new medium) overturns familiar assumptions and practices. So I do not feel bad that in 2013 we failed to complete and publish our book. In fact, in the meantime (working with other students) I've found an improved ebook publishing platform (LeanPub), and had students successfully publish a book somewhat similar to this one, Digitally Disruptive: Current Topics, Historical Perspectives. Given that success, and the foundation laid from the prior students, I am confident we can complete and perfect what they began.

Students recently published
this ebook in 2015 on LeanPub.com

As always with my courses, I invite my students to make their process public, precisely so that others can (as we are doing with a prior generation of students) build on what now do.  That is why we will be blogging our way toward publication.

In addition to the blog, at our disposal is the Open Renaissance Wiki where prior students collected and organized content and ideas. And we can, of course, communicate directly with those previous students and even invite them along if they have interest in resuming participation. We may engage other online tools, too, to help us reach our destination.

I am confident that over the course of the next few months we will in fact produce a completed book that will not just document student learning; it will become a resource for others' learning and a contribution to the conversation about how we come to terms with a world being radically revised by its communications media.

Six Themes
I have identified six themes, lenses by which we can understand Renaissance literature. These have proven to be handy concepts for understanding our present day, and also for conceptualizing our own project:

A Description of a New World, or, The Blazing Script

Video Intro to Margaret Cavendish's A Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World 

[scene: otherworldly-looking beach, with several strange creatures in the background--Fish-men, Bear-men, Fox-men, Bird-men, maybe even Steve Tyler.  There are several stars visible in the sky even though the sun is up.  Our two heroes have washed ashore and are looking about.] 

Sailor 1:  Arrgh!  Where be we? 

Sailor 2:  So we're talking like pirates now?


Sailor 1:  What else be we talking like, matey?  We be sailors!


Sailor 2:  Uh huh.


[enter a Bird-man, which I'm sorry to say is the gender-neutral term]


Bird-man:  Well, hello, strangers!


Sailor 1:  What be ye, strange creature?  Arrgh!


Sailor 2:  And where are we?


Bird-man:  I am a Bird-man, and.... 


Sailor 1:  [interrupting] A bird!  By Poseidon's beard, I'll gut ya and fry yer innards!


Sailor 2:  He actually won't.  Not only are we unarmed, but he hates fried food.


Bird-man:  No, I understand.  Anyway, you are on the Blazing World!  A human woman from your world named Margaret Cavendish once wrote about it.


Sailor 1:  Women-folk writin' stuff!  Preposterous!


Sailor 2:  And how did we get here?


Bird-man:  Well, according to Margaret Cavendish, our Blazing-World rests atop your North Pole.  As she says, "[I]t is impossible to round this World's globe from Pole to Pole, so as we do from East to West, because the Poles of the other World...."


Sailor 2:  [interrupting] Whoa, whoa, whoa.  We've only got ninety seconds, buddy.  Save your quotations for the next section.

Bird-man:  Sorry.

[Text pops up asking the viewer how to proceed:  "How does the sailor respond?  Option 1:  "It's okay, I'd love to hear more about Margaret Cavendish and The Blazing World."  Option 2:  "I'm pretty sure our viewers are familiar with The Blazing World.  Let's just go to the quiz."]

Option 1: Tell Me About Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World

This would be another short video, perhaps five minutes long, of narrated scrolling texts.  It would give a brief (20-second) overview of Cavendish, then outline The Blazing World and including some quotes and passages.  It will, of course, provide a link to the full text.  It would end with a link to the quiz.

Option 2: The Blazing World Quiz

1. The book A Description of the New World, called the Blazing-World is usually referred to by which nickname?

a. The Blazing World
b. The Description
c. The New World

2. Who wrote A Description of the New World, called The Blazing-World?

a. Margaret Thatcher
b. John Winthrop
c. Queen Elizabeth
d. Margaret Cavendish

3. Where is the Blazing World in relation to Earth?

a. underneath Earth
b. on top of Earth
c. at the center of the Earth

4. What does the Emperor do when he first sees the Lady?

a. worship her
b. ask her to marry him
c. order her execution

5. Which of the following creatures is NOT mentioned in the text?

a. Fish-men
b. Bear-men
c. Goat-men
d. Ape-men

5. Why does the Empress eventually return to our world?

a. She misses her family.
b. The Blazing World is drifting away from Earth and she does not wish to be trapped there.
c. Her homeland is under attack.

6. What was the occupation of the Bird-men?

a. They were Philosophers.
b. They were Mathematicians.
c. They were Astronomers.

7. The Blazing World is an early example of what genre of fiction?

a. science fiction
b. travel fiction
c. utopian fiction

(Trick question--all answers are acceptable, even if some are better than others.)

8. Write two paragraphs or record a short video describing why The Blazing World relates to the theme of the Brave New world.  Include an explanation of why we should study The Blazing World today.  Post your paragraphs or video HERE (imbed link to our website).

Plough Boys Backdrop - Draft Version

On Saturday I worked on creating a backdrop for our Plough Boys avatar.  We decide that we really liked the stick figures idea and wanted to run with that, so I did a computer-drawing farm as a backdrop to match the stick-figure farm boy.  The farm boy himself is yet to be born, but here is the draft of his farm:

It's rough, I know.  But I'm going to play around with it more when I can get on a computer with some better picture features.

The Tempest and Christian Forgiveness

"As you from crimes would pardon'd be, 

Let your indulgences set me free."

-The Tempest, Epilogue

These lines bring to close Shakespeare's play of discovery, love, and forgiveness.  Perhaps the greatest of these themes is forgiveness since it permeates both the play and the entire character of Prospero.  In the Renaissance world of renewed religious fervor, due to the Protestant Reformation, Prospero stands as an example of the ideal Christian: both forgiving and desiring to be forgiven.

Prospero's gift for forgiveness is no small matter in this play.  He is betrayed by his brother and king, exiled from his land, and left to the mercies of the sea with the young Miranda.  But the seas and Providence are merciful and Prospero and Miranda make it safely to their new island home.  Now, years later, those who betrayed Prospero are delivered into his hands.  But what is shocking is that rather than take revenge on his brother and the king for their betrayals, Prospero returns the mercy shown to him by God and forgives his enemies.  

Now, in the final scene of the play, Prospero turns the role of mercy to the audience.  Using the imagery of judgement and forgiveness, Prospero begs the audience for their applause and approval.  Watch the following clip of the British Shakespeare Company's The Tempest Epilogue and then respond to the Questions For Thought.

Questions For Thought 

1. How is the audience to exemplify the idea of mercy based off of Prospero's epilogue?

2. Prospero asks the audience to let their praise free him "as you from crimes would pardon'd be."  Is this referring just to temporal crimes?  Or is their a spiritual element to this?

3. Much of the Protestant Reformation focused on having a personal relationship with God.  Are there instances/allusions in the play which demonstrate a personal relationship between Prospero and God?

Connecting Old and New: Humanism

Old Themes, New Genres

My Handsome Grandpa

So this is my awesome grandpa back in the ...70's? He was a country grass rock star. No one could play the gee-tar like grandpa--or the mandolin, or the banjo, or whatever else had strings and would sit still long enough for him to play it.

Now grandpa's getting on in years, but he hasn't lost a lick of spunk. Last year he finished building his own motor home so he could take long weekends down to Las Vegas, and he just barely got a bicycle for Christmas so he can take long bike rides down to the drug store.

What has my grandpa got to do with our class? Well...

my own picture of my own grandpa

We have some cool old themes, some fun new genres and plenty of creative kids to work on a fusion between the two.

This is my brainstorm for how we can bring them together. Think of it as turning the hearts of the children to the Renaissance, if you will--we've got to find cool connections to today to catch people's interest (just like Jerrick was saying here--though adaptations can lose the specifics of the piece, it incites interest, which may be worth it!). 

First I'll try to synthesize the theme into a little bit more modern summary...

Humanism: This is the stuff of Les Mis's "Can you hear the people sing?" and Aragorn's "A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship... when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!" Whenever you've been moved by a speech or a movie scene or even song lyrics, humanism was probably at work. As we've reviewed before, humanist principles quietly put into place such glorious stuff as "I have a Dream" and even "I'd like to buy the world a Coke." Whenever rhetoric championed intellect and reason, looked back to earlier masters of logic and debate or found mistakes in the original score (think "digitally remastered for better sound"), humanism reigned. We're talking  1776,William Wilberforce, evangelicals of 1830 and our own presidential debates. 

So how could be get this into a feasible video introduction? Remember our tweethis:

Humanism threw down established orders and doctrines in favor of the fresh, new worlds of individual imagination, claiming, “What a Piece of Work is Man.”

...and my grandpa.  Turns out you can teach an old theme new tricks, as he shows here.

receiving instruction from another granddaughter on how to work his very own cellular de-vice back in 2004

Who is Petrarch?

Here is a fun introduction to who Petrarch is... or at least, who people think he is. This would be a lot more fun if you could see their faces and reactions to questions. Perhaps I'll redo it when I have a camera available and working to make it better quality. But it's a bit of a promotion for our blog to discover who this guy actually is...seeing how wrong other people are.

Paradise Lost Meets Disney

Here is my introduction to Paradise Lost by Jon Milton. I had a lot of fun, and got really excited about this poem. I don't know how I will be able to tie in my ideas to a scholarly piece of work either by myself or another author, but this was fun and would get my younger sibling interested in this piece. Enjoy!

Hannah

Welcome to the eRenaissance Project

a mockup cover
for our prospective eBook

Let's create an eBook that explores the connections between the European Renaissance of the 15th-17th centuries and the current digital renaissance. After all, doesn't one good renaissance deserve another?

That's the premise for this project, launched by students of a Renaissance literature course at Brigham Young University in early 2013. The embedded picture is a mockup cover for our prospective eBook. As we think through our book's content and form, we will make that process public on this blog.

Already we have been using the Open Renaissance Wiki to collect and organize our content and ideas. But with the blog we can interact better among ourselves and with potential readers of our finished book.

Six Themes
We have already identified six themes, lenses by which we can understand Renaissance literature. These have proven to be handy concepts for understanding our present day, and also for conceptualizing our own project: