Growth Mindset: Week 14

This is the first time I have done a Growth Mindset challenge. I chose to look through the memes. With the semester coming to a close things tend to get pretty hopeless. I scrolled through the list but one caught my eye. The "Difficult is not Impossible" meme caught my attention because something things being difficult is the central theme of a college student's life during finals week. I need to try to stay positive and stay confident that I can tackle any challenge that I face. Good luck to everyone on their finals!!

Finals Week

Famous Last Words: Week 14

The semester is coming to an end! I think it’s safe to say I am ready for it to be over and the end cannot come soon enough. Now that the end is approaching I have been primarily focusing on prepping for finals. I have always hated this time of the year. Sleepless nights, caffeine binges, not eating right, and stressing out way too much make for a pretty rotten time. I started preparing sooner than normal to try to avoid the great deal of stress I normally face during this time of the year.

This past week my biggest accomplishment was probably the essay I wrote for my History of Science class. It was an analytical essay over Galileo’s Letter to Christina. This was the longest letter I have ever seen but it was pretty interesting. The purpose of it was to seek the help of the Grand Duchess Christina to avoid condemnation for the Copernican theory and overall the harmful side effect this would have on the study of the physical sciences all together. It was a pretty interesting piece that had points applicable to today’s society in addition to Galileo’s 1600’s world.

Looking forward to the infamous dead week I hope to stay on top of my studies and not procrastinate! I have my Principles of Physiology final this Tuesday and a Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy lab practical this Thursday. I really wish that OU had a true dead week that allowed students to have time to prepare for finals. How does it make any sense that I should have presentations, practicals, and assignments due right before finals?  Shouldn’t my professors want to give me all the time in the world to study for their tests, rather than cramming because I have to worry about other assignments.

Overall I am ready for the end of the semester!

Peace

Reading Diary A: Brothers Grimm Librivox

This week I chose to read the Brothers Grimm Librivox unit. I wanted to read this one because it contained stories I grew up loving as a child. The second story within the unit is the story of Rapunzel. I really enjoyed this story and I honestly did not expect a happy ending for the two of them! My favorite was the story of Briar Rose. I grew up loving the Disney movie and I really enjoyed the Maleficent remake from just a couple of years ago.  It's really interesting to see the exact same story in three different ways. I have to say I was kind of disappointed that there was no dragon in the original story!!!

Sleeping Beauty

 

Essay: Children's Stories

This week I read the Hans Christian Andersen unit. In it were several stories I remember from my childhood; The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Suit, and of course The Little Mermaid. The Disney version of Andersen's most widely known piece was quite different from the original. The other two stories were essentially the exact same as what I grew up reading. Looking back on these stories I find it comical that such dark and terrible stories become beloved children's books or movies.

The Princess and the Pea is such a terrible story for children because it has no meaning to it. Its sole purpose is about finding a true princess and the only way to do this is to have her sleep on 20 mattresses with a single pea beneath them. This essentially teaches kids that to be a princess and get everything you want out of life you need to be a spoiled brat!

In The Emperor’s New Suit all of the town’s people fall victim to the trick of some swindlers. They do this simply because they don’t want others to think they are not worthy of what position they hold or that they are stupid. Even the Emperor falls victim to the trick. He pretends to see a set of clothes when in fact there is nothing there. In the end only a child stands up and points out the fact that the Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. It does teach the moral of thinking for yourself and not succumbing to peer pressure however, it is such a ridiculous story!

Lastly is The Little Mermaid. It’s a story we all grew up loving because of Disney’s rendition of it. This however, is far from what was originally written. Ariel doesn’t get her happy ending with the prince in Andersen’s version. The story was sugar coated to make it more suitable for children. While I do love the movie and I think it is great for children I also think it would be good for kids to hear the original. It would teach them that life isn’t fair and we don’t always get what we want in life.

Overall it was really neat reading stories that I grew up knowing. They don’t make the best children’s stories but they will always be classics!

Children's Stories

Week 13 Storytelling: The Little Mermaid

Gathering around their grandmother, the children were bustling with excitement. Tonight she was going to read them a new story. She found an old dusty book deep within her closet and it told the tale of a magical world with mermaids. It begun with the story of a little mermaid…

 Ariel was the youngest daughter of the mighty King Triton, who was the son of the God Poseidon. Triton had inherited the throne from his father in place of his sister, Ursula the Sea Witch. Poseidon made it very clear throughout their childhood that Triton was his favorite. Ursula held a great deal of jealousy within her heart and because of this she became very wicked. Her domain was in the fiery depths of the sea vents where no other creature was brave enough to venture. 
 

King Triton ruled his kingdom in peace for many years and even gave his top advisors regions to govern themselves. Though his father created his base in the waters off the coast of Greece, Triton developed his kingdom in the Atlantic Ocean. He did this in order to be able to reach other regions of the world more easily. He enjoyed the immense amount of power he held over all the seas but there was one thing he loved even more. His family.

His wife unfortunately lost her life in a horrific incident. She became entangled in a net and was pulled up onto the deck of a ship. The crew killed her in hopes to take the mermaid to their queen for a reward. Little did they know that when a mermaid dies their body dissolves into sea foam. Shock and disappointed overtook the men. This however could not compare to the terror that gripped them once King Triton discovered what became of his beloved wife. The waves Triton procured engulfed the ship and pulled the men to the deepest depths of the ocean. For years ships could not sail across the Atlantic without facing great peril.

Triton’s anger subsided over the years as his daughters grew. In particular his youngest, Ariel, had a special place in his heart. She was very young when her mother passed but she could not have been more similar to her. Triton saw his wife in Ariel more and more with every passing day. She had her mother's wild spirit, never-ending curiosity, and her beautiful scarlet hair.

On her fifteenth birthday, as customary, Triton allowed her to venture up to the surface as long as she didn’t stray too far. Arriving at the surface, Ariel couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. She quickly became entranced with all things from the land above the sea. One night she came across a ship. As fearless as she was, Ariel swam right alongside it and hoisted herself on a small shelf along the exterior. She watched the crew dance and listened to the music. Then she watched beautiful color explosions in the sky. In that moment she saw him, the most attractive being she had ever seen. Captivated she wanted nothing other than to grow close to him.

Her father received word of how close she was to the humans so he conjured a great storm. The waves grew tremendously and rocked the ship. It did not take long for the party to become a place of panic. Soon enough a monstrous wave overtook the ship and broke it into hundreds of pieces. All Ariel could think about was finding the man she had seen earlier and saving him from the storm. Floating amongst some debris she spotted him barely hanging on. Ariel wrapped her arms around him and swam to shore as she could. She knew he was still breathing but he had yet to open his eyes...

The grandmother was quite surprised. Apparently some of the pages within the book had been torn out so she had to think on her feet to not disappoint the children. So she continued…

After a very long nap the man awoke and instantly fell in love with Ariel! He asked for her hand in marriage and when she said yes he went off to find a magical fairy that could give the little mermaid some legs to walk on. Her father forgave her for mingling with the humans and even grew fond of his daughters groom. The two had the biggest and most beautiful wedding, all of the townspeople were invited. They went on to live happily ever after.

Satisfied with the happy ending the children willingly went to bed with visions of mermaids in their heads.

 

Ariel

Author’s Note: It’s not too hard to figure out that I retold the popular story of The Little Mermaid! I used Hans Christian Andersen’s version as my primary basis for the retelling. Other aspects that I added in were from previous knowledge, the Disney movie, and my own imagination! In Hans Christian Andersen’s version there is very little mention of King Triton. In the Disney movie however, he was one of the primary characters so I wanted to incorporate him back into the story. I knew that he was the son of Poseidon and that some people claim Ursula is his sister. Both of these tidbits were left out in the original story and the movie. I wanted to develop Triton’s character and really make him into a family man, which he is in the movie. I have no idea why Ariel’s mother is never around but I felt an explanation needed to be given. Neither the story nor the movie attempts to explain why. This would also explain why Triton has such a problem with humans. The Little Mermaid was a really long story so I had to find a way to only be able to tell part of the story, that is why I cut it short.

Bibliography: "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen, from Fairy Tales and Stories (1872). Web Source: Untextbook.

Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Andersen

The second half of the Hans Christian Andersen unit was entirely devoted to The Little Mermaid. I wanted to read this story because I grew up watching the Disney movie and because my Storybook project is focused on mermaids. I was always told that the original version was very different from the movie I grew to love. Disney has a way of always creating happy endings even when the original didn't! Although the original was different from the move, especially in the end, there were still many similarities. One thing that I was surprised while reading was the fact that the little mermaid was not rebellious like her Disney counterpart. She waited until she was allowed to venture to the surface of the water. In the movie Ariel frequently disobeyed her father to go up to the surface. The absence of King Triton was another factor that differed, The grandmother had more of a role in the original than the little mermaids father did. The ending was not what I expected it to be. I was under the impression that she was supposed to dissolve into sea foam. Instead she became a new being entirely and was given the chance to still obtain an immortal soul because of her good deeds. As much as you hate to see someone else end up with the Prince, you at least know that he was truly in love!

The Little Mermaid

Reading Diary A: Hans Christian Andersen

This week I chose to read the Hans Christian Andersen unit. I really wanted to read this one because the story of The Little Mermaid is in the second half of the unit. In the first half of the unit there were two familiar stories, The Princess and the Pea and The Emperor's New Clothes. I clearly remembered reading these stories when I was a child, but I did not realize how terrible they were. The moral in the first story is that Princess is defined by her spoiled nature. And in the second story a whole kingdom is fooled by two swindlers into claiming they see something when in actuality it doesn't exist. They just didn't want to admit they didn't see the clothes because it meant they were stupid... according to the swindlers. I really enjoyed the story of The Brave Tin Soldier. I found it very interesting that the whole story was written from the perspective of the toy. It was a very Toy Story-esque read. I wish the soldier and the little lady didn't have to burn at the end! I look forward to reading The Little Mermaid in the second half of the unit!

The Tin Soldier and His Love

Famous Last Words: Week 12

This past week was a relatively easy one. The only thing I really had to worry about was getting ahead on studying for a Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy test I have this week. The tests are pretty easy but it is a ton of information to memorize. For our previous exam in the class I had 122 terms to know for fill in the blank questions and 37 short essay questions. I make flash cards like crazy and this helps me to memorize all the information I need to know. Hopefully this upcoming test will go as well as the previous two!

My weekend was a pretty good one overall. I spent my entire night on Friday though sitting in front of the tv watching the news. I can’t imagine what the French people were going through. All I can say is thank God the bomber at the stadium was not able to actually make it inside. The eyes of the world were on Paris this weekend but we can’t forget that events like that are a daily occurrence in regions of the Middle East. People all over the world are in need of lots of prayers right now and we can’t forget that.

On a lighter note, how about them Sooners?! What a great win over Baylor this weekend. If we can win out hopefully we could be a contender for the fourth playoff spot. Everyone keep your fingers crossed! Lastly, I was able to be an extra in a movie  my Grandpa is working on. The movie is called “The Scent of Rain and Lightning” and is based off of a book. I was in a courtroom scene and sat just two row behind Will Patton! This was such an incredible experience to see the actors in action. Look for me on the big screen when the film comes out!

My Grandma and I on Set

Extra Reading: Looking Glass

I decided to do extra reading for this assignment instead of the essay. I chose to read the second half of the Through the Looking Glass unit since I read the first part of it last week. I love the Alice and Wonderland stories since I grew up watching the Disney movie. This second half of the unit is quite different from the movie I grew up with. In the beginning Alice watches a battle between a red and white knight one claims to be holding her as a prisoner while the other is trying to set her free.  The white knight ultimately went on to win the battle. Then Alice gets into a situation with the Red and White Queens and she herself finds a crown and becomes a queen. She begins to shake one of the queens until she grows smaller and smaller and eventually turns into a kitten. This is the point when Alice awakens from her crazy dream. She was actually shaking her own kitten. Such a weird story…  

The Red and White Queen

Week 12 Storytelling: The King and the Dragon

Long ago there was a mighty warrior who was known far and wide for his heroic deeds. In his youth he travelled to a foreign land to defeat two monsters that were wreaking havoc on the locals. This astonishing feat was the start of him being regaled as a hero. He returned to his homeland and became king after his uncle passed away. He spent many years in relative peace. Every so often a new challenge would present itself but it was nothing in comparison to his challenge he faced years ago.

One day while the people of his kingdom were presenting their problems to their ruler a peasant from a distant part of the realm presented him with a new dilemma. A dragon had attacked his village and was living in the neighboring mountains. The king was skeptical of the peasant’s claims but intrigued at the same time. This would finally be a chance for him to relive his glory days and have an opponent worthy of his skill.

The king assembled a small group with only the best warriors his land had to offer. The mountains would be difficult to maneuver with an army and he wanted to surprise the dragon. The men set off on their journey in good spirits knowing their warrior king was leading them to what they felt should be a victory. He had never lost a battle before after all.

The men located the dragon and got quite cocky because the mighty beast was asleep out in the open. The king called off his men and went to kill the dragon himself. Foolishly he woke the dragon. In a bit of rage the dragon breathed a mighty breath of fire that instantly killed half of the king’s men. A great battle ensued between the king and the dragon. The king’s shield was effective in blocking the beast’s flames but he soon grew weary. The years had not been kind to the king and he was not the strapping young man he once was.

The king was cornered and with one mighty swipe of its tail the dragon flung him into a pile of boulders. When turning to face its attacker, the dragon left its vulnerable soft belly exposed. One of the quick thinking men ran in and thrust his sword straight into the heart of the beast. It let out a mighty bellow and fell with a heavy thud. The remaining fire within the dragon died out and smoke wafted out of its nostrils. The man ran to his king as he breathed his last breaths. Both the dragon and the king perished in the epic battle but the kingdom had a new hero to praise.

The King and The Dragon

Author’s Note: This is a retelling of the story Beowulf. I included bits and pieces from the whole unit, with a primary focus on the end with the battle with the dragon and Beowulf’s death. I chose not to use Beowulf’s name within my retelling because I was hoping my readers could guess this was his story. For the same reason I chose not to mention Grendel or his mother specifically. I felt this story was ultimately a very brief summarization of the classic story Beowulf.

Bibliography: "The Story of Beowulf" by Strafford Riggs, (1933). Web Source: Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Beowulf

In the second half of the Beowulf unit, Beowulf finally met and battled Grendel. He became an instant hero in Heorot. However after Grendel was killed an even worse monster became angered, Grendel's mother. After Beowulf killed Grendel everyone was finally able to sleep peacefully without a guard. In the night his mother sought revenge for her son and killed all the men within the Great Hall. The queen knew it was the work of Grendel's mother so Beowulf set off to kill her. He accomplished his task and at last the Danish people were safe. Beowulf then returned home to Geatland with all the treasures the Danish people had given him. He eventually took the throne in Geatland after his uncle passed. The story skips forward a couple of years, during times of peace. Eventually a dragon comes along and a great battle takes place between the mighty beast and Beowulf. They both end up perishing from the battle but Beowulf did not kill the dragon, his companion Wiglaf did after Beowulf had been struck down.

Beowulf and The Dragon

Reading Diary A: Beowulf

For my reading this week I diverted from the reading plan I did a couple of weeks ago. I chose to read the Beowulf unit. I read it in high school and saw the animated movie with Angelina Jolie so this was a refresher. I enjoy rereading classic pieces of literature such as this. Plus, the story of Beowulf is such an intriguing one because of his battles against mythical beasts. In the first half of the unit Beowulf's background is detailed, he journeyed to Daneland, and he arrived at Heorot. Beowulf journeyed to this land so that he could defeat the mighty Grendel that was wreaking havoc on the Danish people (his fight with Grendel will be in the second half). Before this point many people doubted Beowulf on his stories, achievements, and his abilities. In going to Daneland and defeating Grendel he could prove himself once and for all.

Beowulf the Bada$$

Famouss Last Words: Week 11

This past week was a pretty hectic one. I had a lab practical in my Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy class. It was over the muscles in the shark, nectarus, and cat. This was definitely the most difficult practical we have had so far so my entire week was devoted to studying for it. Someone actually did the math based on how much we had to memorize and how little we were tested over. Only 12% of what we had to know was actually on the practical! I’m pretty sure doing that math is the ultimate form of procrastination, but at least I wasn’t the one who did it!

In addition to studying for the practical I also had to write an essay for my History of Science class. It was an analytical essay over John Buridan’s paper On the Compatibility of Earth’s Diurnal Motion with Astronomical Phenomena. This paper questioned whether or not the Earth rotated on its axis. This paper was of course written during the medieval ages before they knew the answer to such questions. The way he wrote this paper exemplified the classrooms within the universities during this time period. The manner in which he did this is called the scholastic method. This is the form of proposing a question based on an authoritative text then detailing the various sides of the argument. This was also how the classrooms during this time was conducted. It was an interesting read but slightly confusing. I didn’t even know what the Buridan’s stance was until I went to office hours to speak with my professor. He went back and forth so many times and proposed so many different argument that it was hard to figure out which point he agreed with.

Overall it was a great week that ended with a basketball and football win! That made me a very happy girl!

FYI the Earth Does Rotate On its Axis

Extra Reading Diary: Looking Glass

For today’s assignment I chose to do some extra reading rather than write an essay. Since I read the Alice and Wonderland unit earlier in the week I wanted to read the Looking Glass unit. I read the first half of it because it had the sections with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, and the Walrus and The Carpenter. I remembered both of these sections from the Disney movie, but I never understood the desire of the Walrus to eat the little baby oysters. My child self couldn’t understand why someone could be so mean! One big difference between this unit and the movie I once loved was the addition of Humpty Dumpty. I guess he didn’t make the cut for the movie! Humpty grows angry with Alice because she knows the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty so she knows what he is doing perched up on the wall. He doesn’t believe her when she insists that his story is within a book. I did love how they brought up the premise of unbirthays in this section! Overall it was pretty cool to see a part of the Alice story that I have not seen before. What made it even better was the fact that it was a popular nursery rhyme mixed in with this classic piece of writing.

Humpty and Alice

Reading Diary B: Alice and Wonderland

In the second half of the Alice in Wonderland Unit Alice has tea with the Hare and Mad Hatter, plays croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and takes part in a trial. At the very end of the unit, Alice wakes up and realizes her crazy adventure had merely been a dream. I don’t think I will ever quite understand this story. It’s very odd I don’t know how Lewis Carroll could have come up with such crazy ideas (without the help of drugs). My favorite part in this second section of the unit was the tea party, even though they didn’t sing a very merry unbirthday song. I think I enjoyed this section the most because of the banter between Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Hare, and the Doormouse. Alice is so rude! It was very comical to me to listen to her griping about them not having manners when she was being just as wicked. Now I am really in the mood to go watch the movie…  

A Very Merry Unbirthday to You

Reading Diary A: Alice and Wonderland

I chose to read the Alice and Wonderland unit this week. I chose to read it because when I was a kid I loved the Disney movie. I watched the movie awhile ago, wishing to reminisce about my childhood. Wow, did I not realize when I was young how weird that movie is. At the very start of it Alice "sees" a rabbit talking and reading a watch! This ridiculousness only grows from this point on. This movie was of course based on Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking Glass. After reading the first half of the unit it seemed fairly similar to the movie I used to love. The book was definitely different for its time. A common question people pose when reading this is, "was Lewis Carroll on drugs when he wrote this?". I tried to find out myself, because this is definitely an interesting read. I came across some sites that said no he didn't, and some that said yes he did. Back during this time people took opium for headaches so it is likely that he might have. Either way, this guy wrote a pretty trippy story that has some how found its way into the hearts of children all over the world thanks to the magic of Disney.

Who Are You?

Extra Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

Rather than do an essay I decided to do the extra reading assignment so that I could read the other half of the Tejas Legends unit (since I only did one half earlier in the week). I really liked the story When the Storm God Rides because it hit close to home. This story detailed why there are islands around the coast of Texas. The Native Americans say they were created by the Storm God. This god had a giant bird that the Indians were scared of. One day the Storm God witnessed the Indians killing birds. He created these little islands for the birds so they could get away from man and be safe. I’m from San Antonio and it’s only two to three hours from the coast depending on where you want to go. During the summer my friends and I like to make day trips down to the beach. It is just really neat to see a story explaining how all of the little islands came about, especially since it is in an area I have been going to for years. In other stories it also discusses Spanish moss and the winds from the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish moss gets really prevalent the closer you get to Louisiana. Once you’re in Louisiana that stuff is everywhere! I don’t think we really have it in San Antonio.  I’m glad I chose to read this unit. On my next beach trip I’ll have to tell my friends how all the islands came about;)

Map of the Texas Coastline and Native American Tribes

Storytelling Week 10: Foolhardy

There was once an old man who had little to his name but he was a good man. He lived his life to serve others but most importantly, God. Unfortunately, the man’s health was quickly failing him. He went to his church and told the pastor all about his troubles. He knew he did not have much time and was very worried about his two boys. He raised them as best as he could but unfortunately despite his best efforts, they weren’t very bright. They relied upon their father and were very cautious of all other people.

The pastor met with the board members of the church after he spoke with the old man. One member who was well endowed took pity upon the man because he had done so much for the church. He took it upon himself to repay the man for all of his kindness. He contacted the man and set up a time to meet one evening. Things however, got worse for the old man. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the meeting so he instructed his sons to meet on his behalf.

The two boys went to the location of the meeting as instructed by their father. They were spooked by a figure approaching from the shadows so one of them smashed a vase over his head. He was out cold and they feared he was already dead. They went to their father with their news. In anguish the old man realized the boys had killed the board member from church. The shock overtook him and he quickly passed from a heart attack. Due to the boys rash behavior they were subject to living a life of poverty for the remainder of their days.

Author’s Note: This is a more modern version of the story How Sickness Entered the World within the Tejas Legends unit. In the original story there was no sickness in the world. A medicine man knew it was his time to die and he was supposed to meet with a Messenger from the Great Spirit. The Messenger was going to give the man a great deal of information for the rest of mankind. Unfortunately, the medicine man was too ill to make the meeting. He sent to boys in his place. The Messenger went to the meeting in the form of a snake. This frightened the boys and they killed the snake. They reported their actions to the medicine man and foolishly thought nothing would happen to them if they left the carcass somewhere else. The mate of the snake discovered what happened and laid eggs that released sickness amongst all of the people. I wanted to put the story into a more modern setting. Rather than being plagued with illness the two boys in my story will be plagued with poverty.

The Good Man

Bibliography: "How Disease Entered the World" by Florence Stratton, from When the Storm God   Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends (1936). Web: Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

So I skipped Reading Diary A of this week because I haven’t being feeling well. I waited until this morning to do Reading Diary B in hopes I would feel better. Just my luck, I’m sicker today than I have been! I read the second half of the Tejas Legends unit because I am from Texas so I thought it would be pretty interesting. In this unit, like many others, the Native Americans told stories to explain natural phenomena around them. This half had some pretty interesting explanations such as How Sickness Entered the World, which is pretty relevant to me right now. Sorry for keeping it so short today. I barely felt good enough to get this much done!

Current Status

Essay: Ancient Sciences

Within this Marriage Tales unit there was a common theme of marriage between man and animal. In many of the stories this was the way the Native Americans explained certain behaviors and appearances of animals because of the actions of man. For example in The Splinter Foot Girl, a young girl is married off to a buffalo. Eventually her family misses her too much and decides to secretly take her back. After the buffalo tracks them down and discovers them in a tree he and his herd begin ramming it. They lose a big chunk of their horns, thus explaining why buffalo have such small ones. In addition, the buffalo chief gets his horns stuck in the tree at one point. The people then began firing arrows into his neck to kill him. This was also their explanation as to why the buffalo were so scared of man and would run when they saw them.

Marriage between man and beast is a certainly odd one to read about in our present day society. While going through this unit the reader has to be conscious to the fact that the Native American people had a lot of respect for the animals around them. They were regarded at a much higher “status” than people see them today. The lives of animals were so intertwined with their own and each beast had certain defining characteristics. The stories told make them seem almost human like.

Ancient people used stories such as the one above to describe the actions and the appearances of the world around them. They tried to explain why things happened the way they did and these stories were logical for them. Being a science major I particularly enjoy reading stories like this. Our present day foundation for science has only built upon what our predecessors established.  It is truly fascinating to know the curiosity they had and to see what they came up with as an answer.

Buffalo

Storytelling Week 9: Foolishly Falling in "Love"

Marriage; the one thing every little girl dreams about. They envision their prince waiting at the end of the aisle. Their daddy walking them amongst all of their friends, family, and heaps of beautiful flowers. The fantasy starts early and some spend their whole lives working towards it. Two sisters in particular had set their sights on their perfect days. Both of them foolishly focused on the more material things in life. When they envisioned their ideal groom he wasn’t kind, compassionate, or particularly loving. Their main selling point was if he was handsome or not. The older of the two always saw herself marrying an actor. Someone who was truly handsome and was talented as well. The younger one wished to marry a lawyer, a handsome one of course. Both types of men could provide them with the lifestyle they felt they were entitled to.

As they grew into adulthood their childhood fantasies were never far from their minds. Both of the girls worked hard towards obtaining their Mrs. Degree. They set their sights on the ideal man and finally said I do. Their husbands worked tirelessly to achieve all their goals. The lawyer moved himself and his wife out to New York to become a partner in a big time law firm. The actor moved himself and his wife out to Hollywood so he could be closer to all the stars and the action. The girls were split up for the first time in their lives and although they obtained what they always desired things became very hard for them.

They were away from their family, separated from one another, and trapped within loveless marriages. Realization of their foolishness came far too late. When both of the sisters discussed moving back home with their husband’s things did not go over well. Things were going well for the men and they told their wives that they refused to even talk about such things. Verbally berated on a constant basis the women couldn’t handle it any more.

The sister that lived in New York called one of her brothers and begged him for his help. The sisters had three brothers and all three went into the police force. Immediately they hopped on to a plane and flew out to New York to help their sister. The lawyer knew his verbal abuse of his wife was coming back to bite him when her brothers showed up on his doorstep. They demanded that she go back home with them. With her bags packed and ready to go the woman left her husband behind and didn’t look back.

Knowing her sister was going through the same situation with her husband in Los Angeles, she demanded her brothers do the same for their other sister as they did for her. So the brothers flew out to Los Angeles and did the same as they did in New York. They showed up unexpectedly on their doorstep and took their other sister away from her abusive husband. When the two girls were reunited back home they were happier than they had been in their many months apart from one another. The sisters learned their lesson, got divorces, and vowed to never be so foolish again.

Author’s Note: This is a retelling of The Eagle and Whale Husbands that is within the Native American Marriage Tales unit. Within this story two sisters are playing on the beach with whale and eagle bones. The one with the eagle bones decides she will marry an eagle so one comes along and swoops her away. The other decides to marry a whale so one comes along and ties her to the bottom of the ocean. The two realize how foolish they had been and wish to leave their “husbands”. Their brothers eventually come along and rescue them. I put this story into a more modern sense so that it is more relatable. Blindly going into a marriage then being trapped within it seems to be a very common theme in present day dramas.

Falling in "Love"

"The Eagle and Whale Husbands" by Stith Thompson, from Tales of the North American Indians (1929). Web Source: Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Marraige Tales

The second half of the Marriage Tales unit continued on with the same ideas that the first one held. The biggest factor in this unit is the relationship depicted between man and animal. These stories are still a little off putting to me since they have sexual relationships with each other. Another component that is similar in both the first and second half of the unit is the idea of reincarnation. Both the bison and the deer would keep the bones of the dead and bring the dead back to life. This was particularly interesting in the story The Youth Who Joined the Deer. A man married into a family of deer who could change form to become human. What was so interesting about this story was the fact that the deer would hunt and kill each other for food. After they would eat the meat they would throw the bones of the dead into water and the deer would come back to life.

Big Buck

Reading Diary A: Marraige Tales

I chose to read the Marriage Tales unit for this week. This provided some very interesting readings with the primary focus being humans marrying animals. This is certainly something you wouldn’t see in present day storytelling but this was the Native Americans way of explaining natural phenomena such as why the buffalo is scared of men. A wide variety of animals were utilized in these stories. There was a bear, and eagle, a whale, and several buffalo stories. Unless I find a more interesting piece in the second part of the unit I already have a pretty good idea of what I will do for my storytelling assignment later on in the week with the story of The Eagle and Whale Husbands.

 

Why the Buffalo is Scared of Man

Reading Plan

For the remainder of the semester here is a layout of the reading units I am interested in.

Weeks 9-10: Native American

• Native American Marriage Tales
• Tejas Legends

Weeks 11-12: British

• Nursery Rhymes
• Alice in Wonderland

Weeks 13-14: European

• Brothers Grimm (Crane)
• Hans Christian Andersen

Within the Native American unit I chose the Tejas Legends because I am from Texas! I thought it would be pretty cool to read stories from where I’m from. In the British unit I chose Alice in Wonderland because I am familiar with the Disney version but not the original. In the European unit I of course had to select the Hans Christian Andersen unit because of my Storybook project. I can’t do a mermaid storybook and not include The Little Mermaid! I’m looking forward to all the stories I have left to read for the rest of the semester!    

The Little Mermaid

Reflections: Looking Forward

For the remainder of the semester I think the most important thing I can do is get ahead on my work in this course. I abuse the grace period pretty frequently and need to finish my assignments in a timelier manner. My goal is to start getting ahead in this class so that I can finish it up with an A before the end of the semester. This will be really useful when finals week rolls around so that I have one less thing I have to worry about. One thing that I am really excited about is to see how my Storybook will develop! The other storybooks that I have seen so far are coming along really well!

Goals

Reflections: Looking Back

Looking back on this semester my favorite assignments were always the storytelling ones. Some of my stories were straight retellings and not very creative. Some of them I feel pretty good about. I think my best one was probably my retelling of Adam and Eve. It was really difficult for me to find a way to be creative in retelling that story but once I got an idea it came pretty easily.

 

When I am working on assignments for this class I am typically in the downstairs area of the library. It’s not quiet but not too loud but the biggest thing that I like is the comfy chairsJ I go by a day to day basis but it would be beneficial to get ahead. I’m shooting to try and finish this class early with an A so that it is one less thing I have to worry about when finals week rolls around. Overall I’m really enjoying this class and I am especially excited about the Storybook project! From what I have seen so far from other assignments there are going to be some really creative stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets Get Bizzy

Essay: Always Wanting More

In stories and in our present day society we always see that reoccurring role of the person who is never satisfied with what they have. They are always in search of more money, a higher social standing, or the latest and greatest IPhone. The story The Stonecutter perfectly exemplifies man’s desire to always have bigger and better things.  As you probably figured the main character within this story is a stonecutter. He comes upon a glorious house one day while working and wishes he could be rich just like the owner of the house. A mountain spirit hears him and grants him his wish. After this point he became angry that even a rich man such as himself cannot protect himself from getting a sunburn. He then wishes to become the Sun, and so he does. He feels powerful for a brief duration of time but becomes angry when a cloud covers him denying his rays from shining on the Earth. He then becomes a cloud. As a cloud he is angered over the fact that no matter how much rain he produces he can’t chip away at the mighty mountain. So he becomes the mountain. One day a stonecutter approaches him and begins cutting away pieces of him. So what does he turn into next? That’s right, a stonecutter. No matter what being he was, he always saw one that was more powerful in its own way. His selfish ways kept him from seeing the cyclic nature of this so he kept wanting to be “more powerful”. He didn’t realize how foolish he had been until after he came full circle. At least he, unlike most, actually came to his senses. The Stonecutter vowed at the end to never be so selfish and ignorant again in wanting more and more for himself.

Wanting More

Week 7 Storytelling: Young Love

Over the years two childhood friends, Michael and Sarah, grew very close to one another. They met on the playground at school one day and became inseparable. In their teens when they were looking to go to college the two longed to remain together because they were in love. Unfortunately, however much they loved each other didn’t matter to their mothers. Each mother saw the potential her child had and wished them to go to a certain university for their specialty degree. Unfortunately for the two the colleges were on opposite sides of the country. The summer after graduation the two decided to run away so that they could stay together. They snuck out in the middle of the night and met up at the local park.

They didn’t have much money but they knew nothing could stand in between their love. They spent a couple of days on the move going from motel to motel, distancing themselves from home. One night they were making their way to their next stop when they were jumped by some gang members. Sarah hid behind a dumpster while Michael tried to fight them off. It was a heroic but foolish effort because he was outnumbered 3 to 1. H knew he had to protect Sarah though. Some other men walked by, saw the struggle, and drove the gang members away. They took Michael to one of their apartments so he could get some food and rest.  He was beat up pretty badly and didn’t think of Sarah as he was half carried by the men. Once at the apartment he was shown to the guest bedroom and passed out on the bed.

Meanwhile back in the alley, Sarah was still hiding behind the dumpster. The shock of such a traumatic event paralyzed her. She couldn’t even speak when the other men took Michael away. Without realizing she ever went to sleep she awoke to the sounds of traffic in the morning still hidden behind the dumpster. She had no money, no food, and no belongings. Everything the two had was in a backpack carried by Michael. Alone in a foreign city Sarah was scared to death. She walked into a nearby diner and explained her situation to the manager. He laughed in her face and kicked her out when she asked for some food.  This happened again and again for days until she was forced to dig for scraps out of the trash. She was filthy, starving, and completely hopeless that she would ever see Michael again.

She began living her life on the streets. Making it by on what she could scavenge out of dumpsters. One night when she returned to her normal sleeping spot there was a man in her spot. When the man saw her he attacked her and threw her onto the ground pressing her face into the pavement. This was the lowest of the low points in her life when she didn’t even care what he did to her or if he even killed her. Before she knew it the man was no longer on top of her. She turned around in time to see another man punching him and scaring him off. She was overcome with happiness when she saw the face of her savior. It was Michael! The two embraced and promised to never be separated again. She was taken back to the apartment he was now living in with the man who helped him so many nights ago. He was a very kind man and said he would be more than happy to have Sarah as well. She discovered that the two had been searching for her nonstop since that one fateful night. Michael and Sarah became best friends with the man and his girlfriend. They all went on to live out the rest of their days together and happy.

Author’s Note: The original story is called The Cat’s Elopement from the Lang Japanese Fairy Tale unit. In the original story the two lovers were actually cats. Their owners were so fond of them that neither would part with them so that they could live together in one household. The two ran away and were separated after being attacked. A servant of the princess stepped in and took the male cat back to her. He lived with her but missed his wife every day. One day he stepped in between a larger cat fighting a smaller one and discovered it was his love. She went back with him to the palace where they lived for the rest of their days. In the original story it followed the male cat and didn’t tell the reader what happened to the female cat while he was at the palace. I chose to write the story in a more modern context and use people as the main characters! Another big difference was that during their time of separation I detailed the female’s point of view. I wanted to show the struggles she would have encountered all alone in a different place.

Kitty Cat Love

"The Cat's Elopement" by Andrew Lang, from the Pink Fairy Book (1897). Web Source: Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tale

I did not specify in my previous post that the JapaneseFairy Tale unit that I chose was the Lang one. Within this second half there were several stories that had a tanuki as one of its central characters. In all of the stories it never gave an explanation as to what exactly this being was. In the story The Slaying of the Tanuki, an illustration was given detailing the appearance of the beast. It was a very odd creature that possessed qualities of several different beings. Based on these stories I would assume that the tanukis were popular pieces of Japanese storytelling. In each piece they played the role of the trickster and/or villain. I didn’t enjoy this half of the unit as much as I did the first one though. With the first unit I was captivated by most of the stories. In this one I really didn’t feel that way about any of them. I guess I will be picking a story from the first half of the unit for my storytelling assignment!  

The Tanuki

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales Unit

This week I chose to read the Japanese Fairy Tales Unit. There were only a few stories but they were all really intriguing. My favorite was probably The Envious Neighbor, although it was pretty hard to choose just one! Within this story there is an old couple who never had any children so they gave all of their love and affection to their dog. The dog never left their side and one day it discovered buried treasure. The jealous neighbor then borrowed the dog in hopes that he too would get some treasure as well. The dog instead only found bones so the man killed him. After his death the old man had reoccurring dreams in which his dog visited him and gave him commands. When the commands were followed the old man came into a great deal of wealth. The neighbor grew more and more envious each time this happened and did the same thing the old man had done. Instead of gold however he would get stinky berries, and imprisonment for hurting the Daimio. The old man and his wife went on to live a very rich life while the neighbor became hated by all those who knew him because of his wicked ways. Someone really needs to figure out what breed of dog this was because I want one!

Wise Words

Week 6: Famous Last Words

This past week was another hectic one for me. I had a huge lab practical for my Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy class so many hours were put towards studying for it. One thing that I continually catch myself doing is falling behind in this online course when I have other things going on in my other classes, such as this lab practical. I really needing to stay on top of this course rather than putting it to the side to focus on my other ones. This is going to be my goal going forth from this week.

In my last Famous Last Words post I talked about my volunteer work with Second Chance Animal Shelter. This past weekend I spent some more time with them. They had their Dog Days adoption event at Adams Park yesterday and I was out there for it. They were able to send home five puppies to their new forever homes! Yay! There were two other shelters there as well as Second Chance who got some of their dogs adopted I’m just not sure how many. It seemed like a pretty successful event where in addition to dogs being adopted they raised money through donations, raffle tickets, and other concessions. I even won a raffle prize that had a couple gift cards in it so that was exciting!

Looking forward to this upcoming week I intend on using it as my catch up/ get ahead week. I’ve been kind of slacking lately and I really don’t want to get caught in a bigger slump than what I am in right now. Hopefully when I write my Famous Last Words next weekend I will be able to say I got a lot done and caught up on all of my classes! Here is to positive and proactive thinking!

Goals

Essay: The Quest for Knowledge

A reoccurring theme throughout this whole unit and previous ones that I’ve read was the explanation of why things appear the way they do. The ancients were very limited on their knowledge of the world but they sought a greater understanding. Most of these stories have something to do with animals, nature, and the extraterrestrial structures that are observed from Earth. Being a science major makes these pieces really interesting for me to read. They prove the curiosity the ancients had and the proof that we as people are always searching for a greater understanding of the world around us.

Within this particular unit it detailed the explanation for why the fish lives in water, why the elephant has such little eyes, and why the hawk eats chickens: amongst several other things. Of course in today’s society we know these explanations are far from the truth. The story The Fish and the Leopard's Wife was the one that detailed the reason why all fish live in water. The Nigerian people believed that fish used to live on land and were best friends with the leopard. The fish grew to love the leopard’s wife and while his friend was away he slept with her. After the leopard discovered what had been done he addressed the problem with the King. The King then banished the fish forever to always live in the water. In addition, he was condemned to be hunted by animal and man alike for food.

This of course is nowhere close to reasoning as to why fish live in the water. It simply provides an interesting view as to what people thought a long time ago. These stories have no scientific backing but they provided a basis for learning. The thirst for knowledge is the first step in actually acquiring it. We owe a lot to the ancients for first starting the quest for a greater understanding of the world we live in.

The Quest for Knowledge

Week 6 Storytelling: The Woman and the Farmer

In present day Chicago, Anna went about her daily routine. While out and about she was constantly approached by men because she was a rare kind of beauty. Knowing how beautiful she was made her into a selfish person and she immediately shot down anyone who approached. This was all in spite of her dear parents pleads for her to find a nice boy and settle down. Anna ignored her parents because she felt she deserved the most attractive man the city had to offer.

After some time she decided to create an online dating account. This way she could comb through pictures in search of the most handsome man available. In a small rural town a few hours away a lonely farmer joined the same website. The only dilemma he had was choosing a profile picture. He was so ugly he tried not to look at himself in the mirror as much as possible. So, the farmer searched the internet for a suitable picture. He choose one of the best in hopes that whoever he met would fall in love with him and not the pretty face. In his preliminary searches on the dating website he came across the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Instantly he became consumed with reaching out to this woman…

It wasn’t surprising the amount of men who contacted her so quickly on the website. Just as she did with those who approached her in person she shot them all down. That is until one profile picture grabbed her attention. He was so handsome and exactly the kind of man she always pictured herself with. His request was the only one she responded to.

Back on the farm the farmer couldn’t contain his excitement when he heard back from Anna. He knew he needed to be charming and win her over now before she saw him in person. The two messaged one another constantly and they both fell head over heels for one another for all of the wrong reasons. When the time came for Anna to venture out to his home and meet him her parents begged her not to go. Like always she disregarded the wishes of her parents.

When the woman arrived at her destination she was shocked to see a small rural town surrounded by farmland. How could someone so handsome live in a place such as this? Hopeful she walked from the bus stop to the diner they were going to meet at. She walked in and sat down not seeing her man already there. Ten minutes passed before a hideous farmer approached her. He confessed to misleading her but promised he intentions were pure. Anna was stunned and angered but she had no choice but to go home with him because the next bus would not be there for two days.

Upon arriving to the farmhouse Anna was introduced to the farmer’s frail old mother that lived with him. While he plowed the fields she was tasked with taking care of the old woman. In their short time together the old woman grew very fond of Anna and before the next bus came she gave her some money to take a cab and get out of the small town. Anna left and returned home to her parents to tell them all about her weekend of misery. She went on to find her happy ending but from this point on she was less picky on the appearance of the men she spoke to.

Author’s Note: The story that I based this off of was The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull from the Nigeria Unit. In the story there is a beautiful young woman who turns down all suitors because she wants to be married to the most handsome man in the land. A skull from the spiritland admires her from afar and collects the best looking body parts from other beings. He builds himself into a perfect specimen and goes to the woman. She falls in love because of how handsome he is and despite her parents’ concerns she marries him and goes off to the spiritland. Once there the skull returns the body parts and she sees him for who he truly is. She is in charge of taking care of his old mother so she does so because she is trapped in this marriage and new land. The old woman grows fond of her and tells her the people of the spiritland are cannibals and she must leave to save herself. It is definitely a really odd story but when I read it I immediately knew how I could retell it in a modern sense. With internet dating someone can easily become someone they aren’t to lure others in. It’s actually a pretty scary thing!

Risky Business

Reading Diary B: Nigeria Unit

The second half of the Nigeria unit was very similar to the first in that the stories all attempt to explain the world around us. Within this unit it described why there are land and water turtles, why the birds live in the trees, and why the moon wanes and waxes. There were several stories that were told for the simple premise of storytelling in this half unlike the first. My favorite story within this unit was Of The Fat Woman Who Melted Away. It was a very odd story but quite interesting. The woman within this story is made of oil therefore she has to stay out of the sunlight and is unable to work. She marries a man who promises he will keep her shaded and comfortable her whole life because she was so beautiful and precious. His first wife was so jealous of her because she never had to pull her own weight around the home. She verbally abused the fat woman to the point she finally went to work in the field. Once there she worked from the shade until she was chastised so much she stepped into the sun. She melted on the spot with only her toe being left behind. When her husband discovered the brutal treatment his beloved wife endured at the hands of his first one he had her sent away and sold as a slave. After three months of keeping the toe within a pot the fat woman sprung forth as her former self. This was definitely an incredibly strange story and it didn’t quite have a moral. The whole point was to illustrate that if a wife displeased her husband she could be sold into slavery and the man would receive back the amount he paid for the dowry. This was an odd story but kept me intrigued until the very end!

Sunny Days

Week 6 Reading Diary A: Nigeria

I chose to do my reading this week over the Nigeria unit. Many of the stories offered explanations as to why certain things were the way they are.  I always enjoy stories like this because it shows the curiosity that the people of these older times had in wanting to learn about the world around them. In this unit the Nigerian people explained why the elephant has such small eyes, why the sun and moon take residence in the sky, and why cats eat mice; amongst other things. My favorite was probably The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull. This is probably the most bizarre story I have read so far in this class. The story starts off with a very beautiful woman who felt she was too good for all of the suitors that approached her despite her parents’ wishes.  She felt she deserved the most handsome man in all the land and nothing less because of how beautiful she was. A Skull from a far off spiritland fell in love with the woman from afar and concocted a plan to win her over. He borrowed the best looking body parts from the different people in his land and went on a journey to meet the woman. With all the best looking body parts he was easily the most attractive man in all of the land and ended up marrying the woman. He took her back to the spiritland then had to give the body parts back to the others. The woman realized what a terrible mistake she had made but was stuck with him. She was tasked with taking care of the skulls frail old mother. The old woman grew very fond of her and told her that all of the people of the spiritland were cannibals and sent her back home to protect. The woman went on to find a new husband and live a long and happy life. Sound strange? It certainly did to me but it gave me a pretty good storytelling idea for later on in the week!

The Disobedient Daughter and Her Husband