Famous Last Words: The End

Grainy screenshot, from your's truly

With this post I will have made 93 posts on this Myth and Folklore blog, and accrued enough points for an "A" in the class. I made 84 posts to finish in Epics of India, so my posts/points efficiency ratio dropped from Spring to Fall. The warmer weather of the end of Summer must distract me, or maybe it is senioritis. Now that I have finished both this class and Epics of India, I think that I am all out of creative writing energy. I drew so many blanks when it came time to find some new ideas to write about for my storytelling. It's a really frustrating experience, believe you me. Still, I am proud of the seven storytelling posts that i came up with. 

I have made 20 reading posts, which I really find to be the most enjoyable part of the class. However, I didn't find that I liked the readings as much as Epics of India, which is not what I expected. I figured some familiarity with the subject material and extra cultural relevance would make it more interesting, but perhaps I just have a thing for the exotic parts of life. I think Homer's Iliad was my favorite of all the readings I did. I really enjoyed the characters on both sides, along with their interactions with the Gods of Olympus. Second would be The Voyages of Sindbad. They were comically unbelievable, which made them fun to read, but it also made them the focus of my favorite storytelling series, The Voyages of Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor, this semester. Third favorite would be an extra credit reading, a collection of Hans Christian Anderson stories. The original story of the Little Mermaid was a lot darker than the Disney version, shockingly so. 

Thanks for reading along with me this semester, good luck with your own work!

Backup and Review: Don't Wait

From Laura Gibbs

I think that this is an important piece of advice. While I fell that it is important to have a goal and plan before you begin writing, sometimes you just have to let the words flow onto the page. Thanks for reading.

Wikipedia Trail: Dalai Lama to Guru Nanak

The Dalai Lama, from Wikipedia

I used a quote from the Dalai Lama in a recent Learning Challenge post, so I decided to start there. Our current Dalai Lama is the 14th one, which seems like relatively few for having been around since 1391. The Tibetan word 'lama" corresponds to the Sanskrit word 'guru". I couldn't remember which countries spoke Sanskrit, so I decided to click and find out. It turns out I was very wrong, Sanskrit is the Hindu religious language. It is also the religious language of the Sikhs. Sikh's have a number of gurus, so I clicked on Guru Nanak quite randomly. He lived from 1469 to 1539, and he was the founder of Sikhism. Lucky guess on my part, the list was alphabetical.

Tech Tip: Quotemakers

There are a number of quote image making websites, I decided to try PosterGen. Thanks for reading.

Learning by HEART: Being Busy

From Laura Gibbs

I like this, because it seems ridiculous, but it's something that we have all certainly done before. I also want this to serve as your reminder to occasionally dry out of caffeine. Things start to get weird as you cross the 300 mg/day boundary for months in a row.

Growth Mindset: Planning

From Laura Gibbs

I chose this because it is a good representation of my writing process, which is important for this class. I can't just jump into a writing mood. I have to plan what I want my writing to be, or I won't be happy with the final product.

Week 9 Extra Credit Reading: The Brothers Grimm

This post will cover part B of The Brother's Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt.

Bearskin, from Wikisource

• The appearance of the Devil is interesting. I hadn't seen any Christian connections yet, but this is classic German writing. Perhaps I just missed them. 
• The other two daughters killing themselves is exactly the darkness I expected. Plus, the Devil masterminded this whole thing. 
• This is the second time a couple has received exactly the child they wished for. First, thumb sized, and now a hedgehog. You think that they would learn after a while. 
• Hans is certainly a weird and principled fellow. Why did he raise those pigs just to let others slaughter them, even after his father shunned him. Also, what happened to his donkeys? Germans eat funny things, but not donkeys. 
• I never knew there was a Rose-red who was Snow-white's sibling. This should get interesting. 
• The dwarf being wicked is not what I expected. This might be the story that was "Disneyfied" the most. 

Thanks for reading.