Myth and Folklore

I decided to follow Lincoln Riley on twitter. As the head coach for OU football, I thought that it would be fun to see what he tweets throughout football season. He seems like a nice guy and a great coach, so I am hoping that his twitter account is the same! The reason I chose Lincoln Riley was because I was thinking of football because OU/TX is next weekend. I hope that he can lead us to another Sooner victory in Dallas! Lincoln Riley Boomer!

This week I decided to do the story lab again. I really liked this tactic from last week. I found it helpful and entertaining. Plus it breaks down writing so many stories into longer periods of time. I decided to look into the Writers Write . Specifically, I looked into the most popular section to get me started. 20 Myths to Use as Writing Prompts  instantly got my attention. I sometimes that I lack creativity in creating new stories. Or the stories that I do make up are a little basic. I definitely think that what I will learn in this article will be extremely useful for other stories throughout the semester. Writing a story about a myth is really interesting and something that I have never thought about before. The huge list of myths to write about have a ton of different options. From why is the sky blue to why droughts happen, it can stem creative thoughts and processes for stories. I think that using the myth idea would come in handy for the different readings that we read eac

So far, this story seems like a straight continuation of Part A. The first story has the same premise. The King is carrying the goblin and the goblin tells a riddle. The King continues to know the answer so the goblin keeps going back to the tree. It is honestly getting a little old. These are fun stories to read, but it is definitely not my favorite.  The King trying to figure out the riddle I decided to look more in depth into the story/riddle labeled The General's Wife. This way I can analyze a story more and use an idea from it to make my own story. I also want to see if I will be able to solve the riddle. Hopefully I will! The Brahmans are sneaky. I think that something will happen to them at the end for lying to the King. This seems like a cute love story. I like the phrases that they used. The King's whole body being shaken with love is a sweet image to picture. It is interesting to see the Force would just give up his wife like that. It is as if he assumes she

I start this week with looking up goblins . Goblins are monstrous creatures from European folklore. I knew that in Spider-man that there is a Green Goblin, but I never knew that there was another goblin called Hobglobin! a 19th century goblin Next I went to  Spider-Man . Spider-man is one of my favorite superheroes, so that is why I decided to look more into him. I think that he is a fun super hero that doesn't take himself too seriously. I never knew that he first appeared in 1962! After this I went to  New York Stock Exchange . I do not know much about the stock exchange or the whole system in general, so I was quick to click on this link. It was founded 226 years ago and its market cap is $23.2 trillion. That is a lot of money! Finally I ended up on  Michael Phelps . He is an amazing swimmer! He was won an outstanding 28 medals total during his time in the Olympics! I never knew that he had a child named Boomer!

After reading the introduction I am a little confused. Why would a powerful King do what the monk says? I get meeting him at the cemetery but agreeing to go somewhere else and bring back a dead body that was hanging from a tree is rather strange. A goblin inside of the dead body is super strange. But I guess that this will set up a very interesting story! Goblin From the description it seems as if the goblin is trying to keep the King occupied. Maybe he is working with the monk. Maybe I am reaching too much with this story. I like the idea of telling riddles. I could see myself writing a similar story to this. I could find a riddle online and have someone try to figure it out. In my story it was differ, but I am not sure how quiet yet.  My favorite story is Brave, Wise, Clever. That is because it discusses Rama and Ravana. I read the Ramayana when I was in Epics of India and I really liked it!  If I were the King, I would be getting extremely tired of the goblin contin

This week I started with parrot . I read Tales of a Parrot and it made me start to think about what I know about parrots. I never knew that some parrots can live to be 80 years old! It is incredible that they can live as long as humans!  a parrot riding a tricycle Next I went to  Jimmy Buffett . I know that he is a singer, but I never knew that his fans are called Parrotheads. I guess my parents are Parrotheads! Jimmy Buffett is extremely successful in all of his businesses because it says that he is worth $550 million.  Next I went to Jurassic World . Jimmy Buffett made a cameo in the movie running away with two margaritas. How fitting! I saw this movie and really liked it. I never knew that it was ranked fifth among the highest-grossing films of all time!  My final search was  List of Highest-Grossing Films . I have a feeling I know a few up there pretty high on the list, like Titanic. Titanic is ranked #2 and has made $2.18 billion! The highest-grossing film is A

The word I looked up was folklore . The course is called myth and folklore, so I wanted to learn more about the word folklore itself. I never knew that it began in 1883  screenshot of folklore from etymonline There are a bunch of different types of words that incorporate folk into it. I think that it is really neat!  I do find myself searching words that I don't know or want to know more about on Google. Google has really easy ways to look up words which is very convenient and helpful!

When Wheel of Fortune came on, Tyler knew that it was his opportunity to play with his sister's toys. Sarah, Tyler's sister, loved to watch the game show every night. Tyler knew that this was his opportunity to steal Sarah's toys.  Wheel of Fortune Board As he approached the game room, the house cat named Mittens appeared. Tyler quietly asked Mittens if he could play with Sarah's toys, expecting no response. To Tyler's surprise, Mittens replied.  "If you want to play with Sarah's toys then go ahead. It is your life, but just remember the story of Justin and the car." "What is that story?", Tyler instantly uttered. Mittens began to tell the story. "Many years ago, there was a 13-year old boy named Justin that created havoc. Overall, he was a nice boy, but he had one major issue. He was an avid thief. Justin had a mindset that if it wasn't being used, then he could take advantage and use whatever he wanted fo

Well I somehow messed up the Part A reading because I read the ending! Oops! So I think for these reading notes I will figure out where I went wrong and comment more on specific stories rather than big picture. Maybe this will help me in writing an additional story that the parrot told Khojisteh.  Something I didn't mention in the last reading post was my liking to how the story used both dialogue and storytelling all in one. This gives opportunities to use some variation in creating a story. I like this idea and would incorporate it if I choose to create a new story for the parrot to tell.  a snake from the story The Nobleman who Concealed a Snake in His Sleeve is an interesting story. To me, this story is definitely using some foreshadowing as to what will happen to Khojisteh at the end. I think that the man is Miemun and the snake is Khojisteh. The snake comes to the man and they are essentially working together, kind of like a marriage. Then the snake back stabs t

The description of this story immediately drew me in. A parrot telling stories is a fun idea, especially when the storytelling is to stop the owner from committing adultery.  Khojisteh is very lonely while Miemun is gone. She eventually sees a Prince and plans on going to be with him. She discusses this with the sharuk, the other bird, and after Khojisteh doesn't like what she hears, she kills the bird. This is pretty intense. I did not expect for this to happen. The parrot is very smart though, and cunningly creates a story for Khojisteh to hear so that the parrot won't get murdered and to hopefully stop Khojisteh from cheating. This is a very interesting story. I honestly have no clue what kind of story the parrot will tell.  a parrot The parrot tells stories and Khojisteh continues to put off her meeting with her lover. I feel like the parrot is a doing a great job of helping both his owners out. I am very curious as to what will happen when Miemun returns home. W

This week I started with Cupid . I read the story of Cupid and Psyche and it was very interesting! There was a lot that happened but I liked it a lot. I knew of Cupid from Valentine's day but I never knew his backstory and how he was connected to Greek mythology. Next I went to the Renaissance . I don't know particularly too much about the Renaissance, but I know that there was a lot of history that happened during this time period. The Renaissance actually spanned from the 14th century to the 17th century. Next I went to the Crusades . The Crusades were a series of religious wars during the medieval period. The Crusades were very expensive. I never knew that King Louis IX of France's crusade costs about six times the King's annual income! The Crusades image Finally I landed on  Piracy . This is the act of robbery or criminal violence by ship. I know about pirates mostly from Hollywood movies. When pirates were captured, they were executed in public. This used

I enjoyed these typing games. I used to be really into learning how to type. As dorky as this sounds, it really helped me out because I consider myself a good and fast typer. These games were entertaining but also helped me practice my typing. My favorite was  Type For Your Life . It was fun to see if I could type the word before I died.

Here is the link to my Storybook. Enjoy! Retirement Home for the Gods Greek Gods

This week, I decided to take a break from writing stories and participate in the Story Lab. I feel like this will be really helpful for weekly assignments and for the Storybook. I decided to read the EmpoWord Chapter 2 . From the description, it says that it is best for college writers, which in this class, that is exactly what I am.  This chapter starts off by saying how important narration is. I completely agree with this statement. Narration is something that can make or break a story in my opinion. There are many ways to switch up narration which is a bonus.  A word that I hadn't heard before in regards to storytelling is scope. This means the boundaries of a plot. It focuses on what important information is needed to better understand the story and what is the main focus. I think that I may have an issue of making my scope too broad. When I'm writing a story, I seem to open up too many possibilities in case I want to switch it up at the end or if I am trying too

Starting off Part B, I realized the format of the stories are different than the way I would write. The sentences are very long. It is as if the writer decided to extend the sentence solely due to commas. I am not a big fan of this, but I could use this idea in making my sentences contain more. I know that I can make my sentences too short sometimes so this will broaden my writing skills.  Wow, Venus is a little crazy. She is enraged once she knows that Cupid is in love with Psyche. Venus seems to threaten Cupid by saying she will take away his powers and give them to some other boy. She also mentions how reckless and stupid Cupid must be to go against what she told him to do. This seems like she is manipulating the situation. There seems to be a lot of manipulation in Cupid and Psyche. Venus definitely wants revenge.  Venus Mercry and Venus set out a warning to all of the mortal men to help find Psyche. They promised a big reward that they all wanted. This part reminded me

This is a much different approach to storytelling. The young woman is captured and is in torment. The old women eventually begins to tell the story of Cupid and Psyche. This set up is different than previous stories I have read. I do like the way that it starts, but I do not see myself telling a story this way.  I like the way that the story was told like a fairytale. The start of the story reminds me of "Once upon a time", a classic way for fairytales to start. Psyche seems to have it a little rough. She is a beautiful girl, but no one wants to marry her. This seems like something that will tear her apart. I like the way that the old woman that is narrating is using the sad story of Psyche weeping. It shows how she is using what is happening in the story to reflect real life. This is a clever way of making the story and real life parallel one another. I could see myself using this kind of story telling. It would be much different than previous stories I have done. The man

Odyssey I started my search with what my readings and story was about. I found the Odyssey really interesting. I never knew that it was written at the end of the 8th century BC. That is such a long time ago and we are still reading it today!  Trojan Horse   I think that the entire idea of the Trojan Horse is fascinating. This is how the Greeks ended the Trojan War. I love the idea of how something from so long ago still has its effect today. There are stories today that use the same idea of the Trojan Horse. It definitely left an impression.  A Replica of the Trojan Horse Malware Malware is sort of like a technological Trojan Horse. It intentionally damages a computer. Malware is very malicious and damaging. Antivirus software is used to protect computers against Malware.  Email Attachment I was finally left at Email Attachment. This is a computer file that is attached to an email. I use this a lot when sending Pictures or Word documents. The common indica

I have had the Canvas Mobile App on my iPhone for awhile now. I find it extremely helpful. It shows me when grades are put in. It also shows me when I receive and email from my professors. Having access to all of your classes and their information anytime and anywhere is a major advantage. If I think I forgot an assignment then I have quick and easy access to the syllabus. The Canvas Mobile App is really helpful!

Feedback is important in many different aspects of life. Giving and receiving feedback are both important.  Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" This article highlights reasons to stop praising kids at times. One of the reasons from the article that I like the most is that saying praises like "Good Job" creates praise junkies. I have never thought of this idea before but I have definitely seen this before. When an authority figure continues to praise a kid for what they are doing or saying, it is creating a different sense of what is good. The kid is doing what they are doing because they know the authority figure likes it. Ultimately, this is damaging. Giving praise can also reduce achievement. When uses a phrase like "Good job", it makes the child think that what they did might be the only correct way. This then makes the child stop trying to be as creative in the long run. It can be harmful to the way that the child does anything else. This ar

I have decided to use the idea of Olympian Gods and Goddess living in a nursing home. My plan is to set up the scene of the nursing home and then base which characters I want to have tell their story in my Storybook. Originally I thought that I would have four Gods/Goddess playing a game together and something is said that sparks a memory of a story involving them. The character would then take the time to tell the story from their point of view. Sort of like a "back in my day" retelling of a popular or favorite story of theirs. It crossed my mind to maybe have enemies be playing at the table so that it could create a heated discussion, but I will have to see which Gods/Goddess I end up choosing. As of right now, here are the stories/characters that I plan on including for my Storybook. There is a lot of interaction between all of the Greek Gods/Goddess, so finding some that have been involved with one another should not be difficult. Trojans and Greeks fighting

My name is Polyphemus and I have an unfortunate story to tell you. This story revolves around the reason I have this giant bandage over my eye. These men... Odysseus and his men. Let me tell you my side of the story and how I got injured.  The Cyclops It was just like any other day. The same routine that I always do. I left my cave to complete some tasks. I soon arrived back to my cave in order to milk my ewes. That is when I saw the men that had been hiding in my cave. I questioned their presence and they begin to tell me to fear the gods. My short temper did not handle this well. I filled with rage that they obviously think so little of me to tell me what to fear in my own cave. After this, I grabbed two of their men so that they would fear me, but I ended up eating them for dinner. Oops. This might have been savagely, but I had to make an example out of the two men so that the rest of the crew would not treat me with such an attitude. This might have backfired. I kept t

The idea of having the main character see a ghost is interesting. It draws an emotion when Odysseus is talking to his ghost mom. He then wants to know the truth from the Theban Teirisias. This could create a different kind of story because it will show Odysseus' emotions. If I were to expand on this conversation it would allow Odysseus to be able to feel what is going on. He is usually very brave so this would break some barriers.  a  ghost A large portion of Part B deals with ghosts. Writing stories from either a ghosts perspective or how the ghost got to be there would be fun! In a story using ghosts, I could take the stories from the Odyssey and reimagine them, or I could make up completely different stories. This is still using the Odyssey for inspiration but not having it be based on the reading stories as much as it could be. It is different than other ideas and thoughts that I have had. I like Odysseus' ghost mother. Using a character like her in a story would b

Right from the beginning of the story there is a lot of description. This is a nice touch as it allows the reader to see exactly what the character is seeing. In this case, we are able to be there and see what Odysseus is seeing. I could use the story of the Cyclops and change it up a bit. The idea of using giants in a story seems like fun. I do not think that I would make the Cyclops as vicious. Using the idea of being frightened of a giant off of mere sight but once the characters begin to have a real discussion, then it is shown that the Cyclops is nice and that a person should not be judged for their size. Another idea would be to tell the story from the Cyclops point of view. It is always interesting to take a story but tell it differently. This would be very different as the "villain" would be able to tell exactly why they are doing what they are doing. An additional angle that I can take the story is to have the men blinding the Cyclops fail. This way the Cyclops wo

I really like the Canvas Dashboard. It is really easy to customize the Dashboard as well. Once all of my classes are published for a semester, I usually color code each class. This is just a fun way to incorporate some flare into the Dashboard. I took Laura's advice and turned off the color lay feature for the courses. My professors have pictures set up so now it is easier to see what exactly the professors wanted to be shown! I also like how you can rename the courses. Usually they have the Course ID number and it can get confusing when all of your classes are HR. I really appreciate the Canvas Dashboard for being easy to navigate. D2L was confusing at times but Canvas was a good system to switch to.

Seven Ways to Crush Self- Doubt in Creative Work This article immediately made me think about the ways that I use self-doubt in the different areas of my life. Comparing myself to others is something that I unfortunately do too often. The comparison trap is easy to fall into. Realizing that comparing myself to others is the culprit and self-doubt isn't, it opens up my mind a little. It makes me take a step back and look at exactly what I am doing. Setting goals that are within my control is another thing that I need to be more aware of. It is easy to get caught up in making goals that are a little outrageous. Acknowledging that some things are out of my control and using self-assessment and self-reflection are so important. These are all things that I need to better incorporate into my life and it will help me get feedback better as well. Self-doubt Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head Negativity is something that can really tear a person up. The negative and critical v