![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gardnercampbell.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/darmok-and-jalad-at-tanagra.png?resize=584%2C438\")
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The Schedule:<\/strong><\/p>\n Saturday, April 17, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Books 1-4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Sunday, April 18, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Books 5-8<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Saturday, April 24,\u00a02\u00a0p.m. – 6 p.m. Books 9-12<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n All times EDT (UTC -4)<\/p>\n A Dr. Campbell Milton reading-aloud-together tradition since 1994. This year in three parts. All are welcome! Come when you can and leave when you want, on one or two or all three days. <\/em><\/p>\n If you don’t have a copy of the text, you can find it on the Web at the Dartmouth College Milton Reading Room: https:\/\/milton.host.dartmouth.edu\/reading_room\/pl\/book_1\/text.shtml. Note: we don’t read the “arguments,” that is, the prose summaries at the beginning of each Book.<\/em><\/p>\n This will be quite the experiment. Here\u2019s how I\u2019m thinking it\u2019ll work.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll set up a recurring Zoom meeting for all of us readers.<\/strong> You\u2019re welcome to come by anytime and stay for as long as you like. My only rule is that if you\u2019re in the meeting, you must read aloud, at least a little!<\/strong> (And no fair ducking in and out to avoid the reading\u2014Milton will shake his head, sadly, even in his beatitude.) I’ll us one Zoom link for all three sessions. I\u2019ll have a waiting room\u2014Zoom requires these\u2014so when you join, you may have to wait a little bit for me to see that you\u2019re there and click on the little \u201cadmit\u201d button. I will be vigilant, so the wait shouldn’t be very long at all.<\/p>\n The biggest problem with this virtual experience will be how to know when you’re<\/em> supposed to be reading.<\/strong> When we\u2019re physically co-located, we sit in a circle and thus we know when we\u2019re the next one to read. Each reader relies on a significant\/substantial pause from the current reader as a signal that Now It\u2019s My Turn.<\/p>\n Clearly that won\u2019t work very well in Zoom, unless you like Zoom collisions followed by colliding apologies followed by \u2026 nervous silence. And of course we\u2019ll all have different \u201corders\u201d before us on our screens with regard to who reads next.<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll do a different disruption, one that at least can become familiar and thus, I hope, less annoying as time goes on.<\/p>\n Each reader should read somewhere between 50 and 100 lines per turn.<\/strong> Fewer than that and you can\u2019t get much momentum going. More than that, and there aren\u2019t enough opportunities for other readers.<\/p>\n When\u00a0you\u2019re done reading, please either look up and nod or smile (if you\u2019re on camera) or type \u201cdone\u201d in the chat if your webcam is off. In a pinch, or if you\u2019re on your phone, you can just give your last word a real big emphasis and then go silent\u2014and we\u2019ll get the message.<\/strong><\/p>\n After a reader finishes, I\u2019ll come on just long enough to call the name of the next reader. I\u2019ll keep order based on the order on the Participants list. So be listening for when I say your name!<\/strong><\/p>\n One more Big Ask: folks, please stop reading at a period, not just at the end of a line of verse.<\/strong> If the line ends with a period, that\u2019s great. Often, though, the sentence (which ends with a period) does not end with the line, and if you stop at the end of a line and the sentence isn’t over, the next reader has to pick up in the middle of a thought, and That\u2019s Very Awkward.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested, shoot me an email (gardner.campbell AT gmail.com, with @ substituted for AT) or if you\u2019re reading this on FB, send me a private message, and I\u2019ll send you the Zoom link.<\/strong> I\u2019d prefer not to put that link out too publicly, for reasons I won\u2019t cite but I hope are obvious. (If not, I can explain in the email.)<\/p>\n I always ask participants to contribute to a Readers\u2019 Journal during these readathons. This time I\u2019ll invite comments, responses, reflections, etc. in the chat itself. I\u2019ll be recording the sessions so I can keep the chat and have a memorial of the event itself. I will not circulate any part of the recording without the consent of the participants involved. The only exception is any part in which I\u2019m speaking, in which case I\u2019ll crop out or completely obscure everyone else\u2019s face. That\u2019s a promise.<\/strong><\/p>\n I think that\u2019s it. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.<\/p>\n I do hope you\u2019ll join us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paradise Lost Readathon, Spring 2021 Via Zoom The Schedule: Saturday, April 17, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Books 1-4 Sunday, April 18, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Books 5-8 Saturday, April 24,\u00a02\u00a0p.m. – 6 p.m. Books 9-12 All times EDT … Continue reading