The Assignment

This week, I want each of you to imagine yourself as the writer of a blog that focuses on international issues - political, cultural or otherwise. I will leave the choice of issues to you, but there will be an expectation of multiple sources exploring the issue in question from various angles. A minimum of ten links should be included in your blog entry, which should be between 400 and 500 words. Examples of the kinds of issues you might tackle: news about AIDS in Africa, about China-North Korea trade now that UN sanctions are supposed to be in effect, about Russia after Putin (he announced last week he wouldn't run for another term), or about, for instance, Europe's efforts to keep American culture from overwhelming its film, art, television, fashion and other industries.

Another important caveat: at least half of your ten links should be to overseas newspapers (in English). A great source for these is "onlinenewspapers.com". Also, the style should be fluid, not just "Paper X says this, while paper Y says that. Read a few Daily Analysis Briefs from my site, CFR.org, to get the idea. The ideal is this: if you removed all the links, the entry would still be worth reading.

Some other basics: Make sure your links work, don't link to sites that require subsciptions (though 'registration' is okay), and you get extra credit for adding a photo.

I'm going to assign each of you a day to do this, and we'll review the results in class next week. Feel free to edit or to collaborate. But no one is to edit another person's work unknowingly. You are on the honor system in that regard. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW TO DO THIS IS CONTAINED ON TEH BLOGGER PAGE "HELP." GOOD LUCK.

So here's the schedule:

FRIDAY:
Marika and Dylan (separate entries, of course)

MONDAY
Ilaria and Christiane

TUESDAY
Alexandra and Jack and Natalie

Wednesday
Daniella and Demian