Growth Mindset Cats

I decided to explore Growth Mindset Cats this week because I have been feeling burnt out lately. The first cat I found was the Stay Creative Cat. My field requires a lot and constant creative energy. This entire semester has beaten the creativity out of me. I am constantly second-guessing my ideas and stressed about whether they are "creative enough." I am working hard to build my creative confidence, but it's hard when you are mentally exhausted by forcing creativity. I think a lot of my worse ideas come from me forcing it. I think a lot of my best and confident work comes when I am just having fun and not planning it, so this cat really spoke to me. I enjoyed reading all the different ways to maintain creativity, and I think I really try some of the methods this week. 

The second cat I explored was the Path to Success Cat. I have gotten into this really bad habit of comparing myself to others. Like I am always doing it. I remember one of my friends in my major is a year below me and she has already had two internships related to our field, and I was set into a panic. I felt so behind and rushed to try to catch up. Then I talked to my friend who is pre-med, and she told me she was planning on taking a gap year before applying for med school. When I asked why she explained she wasn't sure if med school was what she wanted and she didn't want to rush into it. She wanted to travel and explore before rushing into anything. This automatically made me rethink my entire life. Was I rushing into my field? Should I explore more? Am I forcing myself to like this field because I'm in too deep? This cat is a helpful reminder that there isn't a correct way to succeed, and everyone is on their own path. 

Reading Part B

I finished up LibriVox section of the Grimm Tales. I enjoyed this unit overall. I was familiar with several stories, thanks to Disney, so it was interesting to see where they started and ended up. 

The Queen Bee

• Three sons and a king. The youngest son (Simpleton) continually mocked. 
• Simpleton prevented his brothers from hurting ants and ducks and a beehive. 
• They find a castle with an old man inside. 
• The old man gave them tasks to do and if the succeeded, they would free the castle. 
• The two oldest failed, but the ants, ducks and bees helped the youngest complete the tasks. 
• The queen bee helped the prince figure out which princess was the youngest.
• They married the princesses and freed the castle. 

Caption: The youngest by the end of this story. Obtained from giphy.com

The Twelve Hunstman 

• A prince was engaged to a maiden, but his father told him to marry a princess instead. 
• The maiden gathered twelve women who looked like her, dressed them all as huntsmen and rode into the king's court. 
• They were put to the test by a lion and passed all the tests. 
• The main maiden was able to win back the prince.

The Fox and the Horse

• A man kicked a very old horse out of his stable. 
• He told the horse if he wanted to stay to fetch him a lion
• The horse told this to a fox who told the horse to play dead
• The fox went to a lion and told him about a dead horse he could eat 
• The fox brought the lion to the horse and tied the lion's legs together and tied him to the horse. 
• The horse pulled the lion very fast to his master. 
• He got to stay in the stable. 

All of these seemed like possible stories to re-envision. 

bibliography: Grimm (LibriVox)

Reading Notes Part A

This week I decided to read The Brothers Grimm (LibriVox) Tales. I am familiar with the Grimm Brothers stories and how they usually go about writing their stories. I am aware they tend to write in a darker tone, so it was somewhat of a surprise when a lot of these stories ended on a rather happy note.

Princess and the Frog

I'm familiar with the Disney movie, so I was curious about how they compared. I liked how the story was built. It kept me on my toes, and I love how it ended. 

Rapunzel 

My all-time favorite Disney princess. I liked how Disney kept the integrity of the story for the most part. I also feel like this story could easily be reinvented in several different ways so I will keep it in mind. 

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

I haven't heard of this story before, and it was very intriguing to me. It seemed unlike other Grimm stories I've read before, but it was cool how the tailor sewed up a bean. 

The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage

Another Grimm story I haven't heard of. It wasn't my favorite. It was kind of dull, but it sad how the bird drowned. 

Overall, 
I enjoyed all the stories. I really like Rapunzel, but I might just be impartial to it. I liked the style of writing the Grimm brothers use. It is poetic but still understandable and flowed easily. 

Caption: Rapunzel:) obtained from giphy.com 

Bibliography: Grimm Brothers unit

Learn by H.E.A.R.T

Health. I have a typical desk job on campus, and it is one that requires me to remain at the desk as much as possible, as I have to greet and answer questions for the entirety of my shift. These exercises really helped me pass the time and keep me awake, especially on slow days. I listed below my favorite ones. 

6 Yoga Exercises You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk.

Chair twist: I like this one because I love a good back pop. 

Twisted arms: This one was fun. My co-workers and I sat around doing it for like fifteen minutes.

Growth mindset

What started out as a light-hearted conversation about a more productive mindset, slowly turned into a serious discussion about the direction of my life and the people who will be along for the ride. I had a conversation with someone very dear to me about growth mindset, and it lead me to completely re-evaluating our connection and the plotline of our story. I didn't go into it thinking it would change anything, but I came out of the conversation with a different perspective about where I am headed. I don't know if I am headed in the right direction, but at least it's the direction I chose.  

Caption: Ariana's truest moment of growth. We can all learn and grow from the love, patience, and pain and can make us more amazing. 

Reading Part B

I finished up the Nursery Rhymes, and I am still slightly confused by this Unit overall. I thought some were cute, and some didn't make much sense. They were short and some I have actually read before. Like the one, Pussy-cat where have you been? I think I will need to do some background research on specific rhymes to fully understand the context of what is meant to be said, and produce a better story. I like the rhymes in reading part A because I felt they were a little easier to follow. Overall, I think that the rhymes in reading part b do leave a lot of room for creative freedom in a story. 

Caption: the pussy-cat returning from London. Obtained from flickr.com

Bibliography:  The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

Reading Part A

For this week's reading, I decided to read Nursery Rhymes: Tales. To start, I enjoyed this section. I liked the length of the tales. They were more digestible than the Celtic Tales. However, there were quite a few I found difficult to follow. I did like how any one of them could give me a good base for a story this week. They are short and vague, so would allow a lot of creative freedom. I have chosen a few of my favorite rhymes I might want to construct a story around. 

Nursery Rhymes: Tales 

The Lion and The Unicorn: The lion and unicorn fought for the crown. The lion won. The townspeople gave them bread and sent them out of town. 
There was a Crooked Man: There was a crooked man who found a sixpence and got a cat and lived in a crooked house. 

Caption: Phoebe knew a crooked man. Obtained from twitter.com

Three Wisemen of Gotham: Three wise men set sail in a small boat and it sunk. 

Nursery Rhymes: Paradoxes

Children slid on ice in the summer. The ice cracked (or melted) and all the children drowned. It was the parents' fault for not keeping them safe. 

Bibliography: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

Storylab Week 12: Myth Crash Course

For my story lab this week I chose to watch the three Mythology Crash Course Videos. Below, I have written. my thoughts on each video. 

What is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1
   The biggest takeaway is myths are stories. Not necessarily false stories, but stories that have significance and survive for a long time. Myths usually deal with the creation of the world, and folktales/fairytales are lumped into them now. I wish this video was suggested/required at the beginning of the course because it would help clear up a lot of confusion are certain subject matters within this course. He then covers the myth of Persophone and how it explains seasons, and science has sort of built on this and derived theories from it. 

Theories of Myth: Crash Course World Mythology #12 
   He covered the definition of mythology and how myths are studied. Plato started the rumor myths are lies or made-up. A whole lot of history about how we have derived religious myths. Anthropology comes along in the 20th century, and studied how myths are a direct expression of its subject-matter and people. A lot of other -ology fields turned to mythology to build on their theories. 
Myths hold a lot of structure in culture. 

The Hero's Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25
   He jumped into stories of heroes and their journeys (monomyths). Campbell was expectantly sexist. "We are all heroes struggling to find our way through our adventures." Campbell was a little insane. He walked through the general three-part monomyth structure. 

Caption: An iconic hero with a classic journey. Obtained from giphy.com 

Reading B Celtic Fairy Tales

I finished up Celtic Fairy Tales tonight. Overall, I enjoyed these stories. I am of Irish descent, so these stories really struck a chord with me. One of the stories in this unit that really stuck out to me was Brewery of Eggshells. A woman had twins who lacked in growth. She followed some old man's advice and threw them into the lake. Turns out they were goblins and were reclaimed by the goblins in the lake. Another one that stuck out to me was Andrew Coffey. Andrew was a quiet man and traveling with his horse. The two got lost and came across a cabin. While at the cabin he could he someone calling his name, and he found a man who had been lost for many years. Overall, I liked how these stories were told and they were easier to follow. I liked the strangeness of these stories. They kept me more interested. 

 

Caption: Celtic Symbol obtained from Pinterest

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892). 

Reading Notes Part A

This week I decided to read about Celtic Fairy Tales. As someone of strong Irish descent, these immediately jumped out at me. There were a couple that appealed to me a little bit more than others. The first one was The Field of Boliauns. This one captured the story of how Tom was tricked by a Leprechaun, which I thought was pretty funny. The other story that caught my attention was The Shepard of Myddvai. The story of a married couple with a certain condition. The man could not strike the woman more than three times, or she would leave him. He broke this rule and she left him and immediately left him. Overall, I liked all the stories in the unit, but they were slightly hard to follow. 

 

Caption: The Luck of the Irish giphy.com

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

Week 11 Tech Tips: Pinterest Research

I have been using Pinterest since the seventh grade, but I actually haven't opened the app in a while. It was funny, cause it felt like an entirely new app to me. It's gone through so many updates and I was honestly surprised by how incapable I was at using it. However, I managed to create a new board for this class and pinned a few things related to my storybook. I hope this helps me continue to write and organize my story.

Caption: Mythology Pinterest board. 

One Polar Bear Shot, Sir.

It was an unusually slow Friday night in the Eskimo Bar. The bartender was cleaning the iced countertops when a frail old woman walked into the bar. Another unusual sight for the Eskimo Bar. She sat at the end of the bar with her hands in her lap and her head down. The bartender wiped the counter down and made his way to her. 

"A shot for your thoughts?" he said with a small laugh. 
"Uh, yes I would like one Polar Bear shot," the woman replied. 

Taken aback by this request, the bartender nodded and retrieved the woman's shot. He slid it the shot in front of her and she picked it up and raised to the ceiling. 
"
To letting go," she said and threw back the drink. Her face scrunched and she began shaking her head. The woman picked up her purse hanging on her seat and fumbled in it for a few moments. She set her purse on the counter and sighed. 

"Sir, I am terribly sorry, but I don't have the money to pay for this," the woman said. 
The bartender sat for a moment and thought about her predicament. Usually, he wouldn't be forgiving of this, but seeing her state he felt she deserved some slack. 

"I will let you off, but on one condition. You tell me your story of what brought you in today," he said. 

The woman smiled and took off her jacket. 

"Well, I better take off my jacket because we will be here awhile," she replied. 
The woman proceeded to tell the story of how she had been fostering a large wolf-like dog she found on the side of the road. She loved this dog as if he were a child. She walked him, fed him and bathed him. Although the dog was sweet and protective of her, the dog was vicious to others. One day the dog broke out of the backyard. He charged around the neighborhood and attacked a man and left him severely injured. As a result, the dog had to be put down, but before putting him down she released him to the woods to find a pack of his own.

"So that is how I ended up here. To take a strong shot of something to let go of the only being that did not remind me how alone I am," she said and looked back down at her hands. 

The bartender now felt even more guilt than before. He sighed and swung the towel over his shower. 

"M'am, I'm sorry about your dog and tell you what. How 'bout every week you stop by for a Polar Bear shot on the house. You can tell me about your week or whatever," he said with a smile. The woman nodded. 

"Thank you, sir. You are very kind and I look forward to it," she said and gripped his hand. 

The end. 

Caption: Wolf by Simon Rae. 

Author's Note: I chose to do The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. I changed the bear to a dog and had her tell her story a bartender. I didn't want to alter the story too much, and I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to keep the same emotion, but give the old woman a happy ending. Without the dog, she wouldn't have met the bartender. Another thing to note is a Polar Bear shot is one part chocolate liqueur and one part peppermint schnapps, and I felt it fit the Eskimo vibe. 

Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Reading Notes B

I finished up part B of the Eskimo Tales. I enjoyed this unit. I feel like it exposed me to a group I know little about. It was an eye-opening journey going through these stories. Here are a few that stuck out to me. 

The Wife Who Lied. A grotesque story about a woman pitting two tribes against each other. She ultimately pays the price when her tribe is taken over and the new tribe chooses to cut off her arms and kill. 

Papik, Who Killed His Wife's Brother. Papik hunted with his wife's brother, and Papik would always come home empty handed, while his brother-in-law would return with big animals. He became enraged and killed his brother-in-law and as a consequence, he was attacked by a vengeful spirit. 

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton. Atdlarneq went out hunting one day and stumble upon a house with three women in it. They greeted him with open arms, but they said their master would be home soon and he needed to hide. As he hid they fed him food, even when he was full. After nearly dying, he left and never returned. I thought this story was interesting and similar to Hansel and Gretel. 

Caption: Bart is the Great Glutton. Obtained from pinterest.com 

Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Week 11 Reading Notes A

This week I decided to indulge in the Eskimo Tales for my reading. Overall, I enjoyed Part A. I thought the structure of some of the stories was a little funny. In The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son it ends with "Here the story ends," which I found interesting. There were a few stories that stuck out to me. The first one being The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. It was about a woman who had been given a bear-cub, and she took it home and raised it as her own. As it grew older, it became more aggressive and killed a man. The woman decided to let it free to be with its own kind. I felt this story could be applied to a lot of modern situations of loving something and being forced to set it free. 

Another story that stood out to me was Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak. A twisted story of a brother killing another brother and eating him. I don't think I can translate this to another plot line, but I would like to give it a try. I might explore it this week. I just thought it was twisted and disturbing. It was definitely noteworthy. 

Caption: Brother Bear. Obtained from giphy.com

Bibliography:  Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

 

Week 10 Story Lab

This week I decided to watch the TED talks over storytelling and stories. I enjoyed both videos, and here are my thoughts for them. 

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

   I thoroughly enjoyed this TED Talk for a number of reasons. Firstly, I enjoyed Chimamanda's approach to telling of her story, and how she wasn't attacking or being vengeful in her argument. She made it a universal problem, one that everyone can work on. I feel this was an overall eye-opening TED Talk. 
   Secondly, I remember when I took Discoveries of Archaeology, we often discussed the racism among common myths, legends and conspiracy theories we have today, an argument that I feel can contribute to this TED talk. For example, a wild conspiracy out there is aliens actually built the pyramids, not the Egyptian. There are books, reddit threads and several t.v. shows that claim this. Although not pointed and obvious racism, to claim this is stripping the Egyptians of an incredible accomplishment that spurred technological and cultural advancements. I think this follows along with only reading a single story. The consequence of reading a single story is stripping a person or collective group of earned merits and accomplishments. 
   Lastly, I was raised in a diverse neighborhood. On my right was a Hispanic family, on my left an African-American family, two doors down was a Yemeni family, and then there was my Irish-catholic family right in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Due to this, I never felt I had one single story of any background because I got to see several different cultures engage in the same experiences as I did. This doesn't mean I haven't mindlessly stereotyped or (shamefully) jumped to conclusions about people, but I have grown to be aware of the dynamic backgrounds people have. I liked how she called herself on it, too. Overall, one of my favorite TED Talks to date. 

Caption: What happens when you only read a single story. Obtained from giphy.com

Imaginary friends and real-world consequences: parasocial relationships | Jennifer Barnes | TEDxOU

I enjoyed this TED talk as well! It is funny though because I began zoning in and out, but when she started talking about Taylor Swift and Olivia Pope (a.k.a my queens) I was zoned in. I experienced, what she later identified as, a social facilitation effect. I enjoy psychology and the cognitive behaviors which lead us to do the things we do. Overall, I enjoyed this video, maybe not as much as the first, but it was very interesting and informative. 

Week 10 Reading Notes Part B

I finished up the Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest where we explored more about why things are the way they are through the use of the coyote. We learned how the rattlesnake learned to bite after being taken advantage of. In the story of the Coyote's Eyes we learn how he desired a brighter eye color and through a rather gruesome method, he achieved yellow eyes. In How the Bluebird Got Its Color, it was discovered that the bluebird achieved its color through singing in a lake. These were the stories I enjoyed the most. I love reading different interpretations of how the universe and the world came to be. It will be fun to explore these storylines this week.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912).

Caption: Bluebirds (or roadrunners) and Coyotes obtained from giphy.com

Reading notes Part A: Week 10

This week I decided to focus on the California and the Old Southwest stories. I liked the idea of reading a unit involving regions I have been to and have stories I might have heard before. I enjoyed how this unit focused a lot on the creation of the world a lot, and it has some biblical aspects in it. In the Legend of the Flood covered a flood that wiped out the planet sparing one coyote. He gathered and planted feathers and they sprouted into trees. Coyotes were a consistent theme throughout the unit, and there may have been a deeper meaning to that. However, I am deliriously tired right now, so as far as I am concerned this coyote brought fire into the world and man and everything else.

Caption: the coyote carrying out God's assignments. Obtained from giphy.com

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912).

Reading notes part A

This week I read Tibetan Folk Tales (PART A). There were various stories, but there were a couple that jumped out at me that I feel could contain a good storyline for this week's assignment. 

Caption: How I imagine the tiger felt obtained from tenor.com

• How the Fox Fell Victim to His Own Deceit: Tiger and her baby cub are living in a cave, and the mother goes out one day and asks a baby fox to be her cub's friend. She provides all the food and shelter for this fox and in exchange, he is the cub's playmate. Soon after, the mother tiger brings home another playmate for the cub (a calf), which makes the fox incredibly jealous. The mother tells the cub and the calf that they are brothers and not to believe anyone who says otherwise. The fox begins stirring rumors between the two out of jealousy. The two figure out what the fox has done and attack and kill him. 
• I like how these stories are relatively simple to read, and I feel they can be rather timeless with their messages. 
• The Ingratitude of Man: There once was a man, a snake, a crow and a rat were walking in a narrow dark pass along a deep chasm. The road gave out and they fell into the chasm. A traveler help rescued them one-by-one. They all promised to repay him one day, but he only believed the man would. However, the crow stole a string of jewels from the queen for the traveler. The traveler showed the man the jewels and the man turned him into the king. As he was sitting in jail, the rat brought him bread. Then the snake promised to release him and proceeded to turn himself into a ghost and choke the king. The king begged for his life and in return, he would set the traveler free and give him many jewels. 
• I feel this story could definitely be reimagined into a modern tale about gratitude. 

Caption: Men. Obtained from wifflegif.com

Bibliography: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).

Week 8 Progress

So far, I am content with the progress I've made especially with my storybook. I really feel it's coming along. I haven't use the extra credit yet, but I do plan on utilizing that in the coming weeks when things slow down. In the second half of the semester, I plan on planning my schedule a little bit better. I am dropping a course next week, so I think that will open up my weeks a little bit. It's overall been an overwhelming semester with work and school and social life, and I am still trying to find a balance. I think I will get it down soon, so I'm hopeful.

Caption: Leslie Knope speaking my inner-truth. 

Week 8 Reading and Writing

It took me a while, but I finally got my blog layout designed in a way that I think reflects me best. I played with it a couple weeks back and it took me some time and several different layouts to finally get to one I liked. I have always liked the layout of my project's website. I always felt it reflected the story well. I feel my reading posts have declined a little bit in development. As the semester has progressed and my investment in my project has grown,  and for my personal preference I pour myself more into that, but I will try to improve my reading notes. 

This is the Monkey King and it is my favorite image I have used because just look at it...it is incredible.

Reading Notes B

I read the second half of the Monkey King. It developed nicely. It was interesting to explore heaven as a class system with titles and such. The story reminded me kind of Plant of the Apes, maybe because there was so much discussion of apes and kings. Again there I don't know what I will use for this week's story because it was kind of a long story and might be hard to condense, but I enjoyed the read. 

Caption: the call of the Monkey King obtained from themonkeyking.com

Reading Notes Part A

The Monkey King Unit

I enjoyed this set of stories because they were easy to read. The dialogue throughout the story made sense and didn't lose me as a reader. I really enjoyed the descriptive words throughout The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung and the entire series, it gave it more depth and clarity. I enjoyed reading about Xuangang in the second part and his whole journey. I am not sure if I will draw any inspiration from these stories to integrate into my own, but I enjoyed the read. 

Caption: Funny looking Monkey King obtained from madman.com.au

Story Lab Week 6

   For my story lab this week I decided to poke around Writers Write. I have always been a strong visual person. If I don't see something done, I probably won't remember it. I would rather go deaf than blind. I love music, but mainly because I have synesthesia, which allows me to basically see certain colors as I listen to it making it a more visually appealing. I find poetry to be boring and I prefer to paint my feelings rather than write them. It's not that I don't enjoy writing, I just have always found it more stressful and personal to me. I don't like treating public forums as personal diaries and my social media always stays on the lighter side. I remember I attempted to keep a journal and I would try to write it when I was stressed or upset, but then I would read what I wrote back and just laugh at how overdramatic I was coming off. There's never a satisfying ending to a book and I never think my writing is good enough. 
   I was hoping to poke around Writers Write and find some helpful tips on writing and maybe become more confident in it. I was right I enjoyed reading about how to strengthen my antagonist in Use The 7 Deadly Sins To Strengthen Your Antagonist’s Motives. I always find it hard to create a good bad character, so these helped. I also learned how to strengthen my characters in general with 5 unusual ways to round out characters. Overall, I think this website will be helpful in strengthening my own story. 

Caption: Elijah O'Donell on unsplash.com

Reading notes Part B

Caption: Featured in The Book of Thoth, the papyrus of Ani

I finished up part B of the "Egyptian Myth and Legend" by Mackenzie. I really enjoyed both parts of this story, but I think I enjoyed part B more. I liked the continuation of each story, as I enjoyed that with Aladdin, as well. "The Two Brothers" was fun and entertaining, and I enjoyed the development of the characters. When I first started reading it I got major Caine and Able vibes, so it was interesting to read that story unfold. Although some of the stories dragged on at some points, I felt it was necessary to get a feel for the characters and watch the development throughout the story. Similar to my previous post I felt the story was well told and easy to read. 

Reading notes A

   I have always had a fascination with Ancient Egypt. I remember being in Discoveries of Archeology freshman year, and we covered the Pyramids, King Tut's tomb and all the mystery surrounding the subjects. That's why I chose to read from Ancient Egypt unit. I enjoyed how easy it was to read, and the titles drew you in a captured what the story would be about without giving anything major away. I like how they tied in education into it. It was nice the stories were not too long, but they were still descriptive. Overall, I enjoyed reading about Ancient Egypt and I am excited to incorporate that into my writing this week. 

Caption: Ancient Egypt 

Week 5 Story: Aladdin's museum

   "Find your partners! Buddy up everyone! We just arrived at the museum!" Ms. Loretta exclaimed across the crowded school bus.
   It was field trip day at Lincoln Memorial Elementary School, and all the kids had been excitingly waiting to get to the museum. The kids followed Ms. Loretta off the bus and she halted before entering the museum.
   "Now, need I remind all of you we are entering a museum. We must follow closely with our gracious tour guide and remain polite and courteous as to not to disturb other museum-goers.  I am looking at you, Alex," Ms. Loretta brows furrowed and her crows-feet covered eyes fell to the seemingly angelic child by her side. Alex appeared to be a sweet and innocent child, but he was truly a chaotic ball of energy. So much in fact that no other child was allowed to be his field trip buddy. Ms. Loretta assumed the role so she could keep her eye on him.
   The class entered the museum and immediately the kids fell into a state of amazement. Light cascaded through the large skylight above them and fell upon the enormous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton sitting the main lobby. Standing directly below the T-rex was a man in a navy-blue blazer and a stiff bow-tie covered in little mummies. He stood with an enthusiastic grin plastered across his face. His voice pierced Ms. Loretta's ears and echoed throughout the corridor.
   "Welcome Lincoln Memorial Elementary School to the American Museum of Natural History! You are visiting us on a special day. Not only will you be getting to participate in our usual thrilling exhibits, but you will also get to enjoy our NEW Arabian Nights exhibit, which is only here for a limited time," he recited as if he was reading it off a hidden teleprompter, "now, before moving into our first exhibit let me remind you of a few museum rules, which if followed carefully will give everyone a more enjoyable museum visit-"
   Before even getting to the first rule, Alex had already climbed on the T-rex and was attempting to pull the large leg off. Luckily Ms. Loretta pulled him off quickly enough before any real damage was done but suffered a large run in her panty-hose. She hand remained gripped around Alex's arm as Michael proceeded to run down the list of extensive museum rules.
  "Now, let's jump back in time and rediscover our pasts!" Michael did a small animated jump he had rehearsed a number of times before.
   With every exhibit they entered Michael would lower his voice, and glide slowly through every row of artifacts neatly laid out. And with every exhibit, Alex would attempt to disrupt Michael and provoke Ms. Loretta. In the paleontology exhibit, he climbed into the caveman exhibit and swung from the stage vines. In the oceanography exhibit, he managed to jump into a display pool of fake fish. By the astronomy exhibit, he was on lockdown. He was forced to sit between Ms. Loretta and Michael, and if he moved one step out of line he would be sent straight to the bus.
"We are now entering our final exhibit of the day. Our Arabian Nights exhibit. Discovered by archaeologists over the past several years, we have collected A TON of ancient artifacts and are excited to share these stories with you," Michael began on a long-winded monologue of every small piece they walked by. As Michael excitedly yammered on about every small piece, whether it had a significant backstory or not, Alex slowly drifted away from the group. He wandered across the exhibit where he stumbled upon a small bronze lamp. 
   "OH. It looks like someone has gotten away from the group," Michael said coming up behind Alex," Even though he was told specifically to not wander off," he said under his breath.
   "What is this?" Alex questioned.
"That is a genie lamp once belonging to the mythological Prince Aladdin. It is said he was a scrappy young boy who caused nothing but trouble, sound familiar?" Michael joked, but Alex was not amused. "Um anyway, according to the legend a genie is said to live in the lamp, and one day a man tricked Aladdin into hunting down the lamp and risking his life to get it. He refused to give it to the man, so he left Aladdin for dead in a cave. However, when Aladdin rubbed the lamp this great genie flew out it and granted Aladdin any wish he desired. He wished to go home where he fell madly in love with a princess. He then wished to be a wealthy prince so he could marry her. But the princess was promised to another the Sultan's right-hand man's son. It angered the Sultan's right-hand man when his daughter ran off with Aladdin, and the vizir didn't trust Aladdin had come from all this wealth. Then the man who tricked him into getting the lamp appeared, so he could take the lamp back," Michael was antsy to get through the tour and rushed this words. "So he stole back the lamp and wished Aladdin's palace and princess away, but through a lot of fighting and trickery Aladdin won her and his palace back and they lived happily ever after. The end," Michael turned ready to wrap up the tour.
  However, Alex excitedly went to rub the lamp for he needed to know if the genie would appear, but Michael was quick and halted him before he could reach it.
"Woah, woah now. Although this is a thrilling legend it is just that a legend. It's not real. The lamp is however very old and should not be touched."
   Then as Michael stood up he knocked the podium and the lamp came crashing to the ground. Alex lept at it, but instead of vigorously rubbing it he handed it back to Michael. Michael took it and carefully placed the lamp back on the podium.
"Whew, that could've ended very dif-"
Before Michael could finish his sentence the ground began to rumble and the museum shook. Smoke poured from the lamp and out came out a large and frightening genie.

"What wouldst thou with me? I am the Slave of the Lamp, and will obey thee in all things."

To be continued...

Caption: Aladdin with the Genie obtained from mythfolklore.blogspot.com

Bibliography: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898)

Author's note: I pulled inspiration from the Aladdin story mixed with kind of a Night at the Museum storyline. I wanted to add some humor to the story, and also kind of recreate another troublesome character like Aladdin was when he was young. 

Reading Part B

   Wow, I am shooketh. I completed the second part of Arabian Nights, and it was a very entertaining story with a lot of twists and turns. I really enjoyed reading the original Aladdin story. I didn't realize how much Disney had altered it from the original, and it felt as if I read a completely different story. I didn't see that evil brother plot twist coming. That definitely took me by surprise. I was definitely taken aback by the amount of cold-blooded murder that took place in this story. Definitely a little more gruesome than the Disney story (but in my opinion, the Disney version was gruesome, too.)

   Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, more so than Part A. I was left on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. I am happy to know the original, as well as the Disney story, had a "happily-ever-after," which is seldom in my opinion. 

   It was interesting how the location was slightly different. I didn't realize the original took place in China, so that was interesting to discover. 

Caption: Aladdin gif obtained from giphy.com

Bibliography: This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Reading Part A

This week I read part A of the Arabian Nights unit. I love Aladdin, so I wanted to explore this story unit a little more closely. It opens with an angry Sultan, who was betrayed by his wife to a terrible degree and he orders her to be put to death. I wish I could've known more about what she did to deserve death, but it must have been pretty extreme because the Sultan believed every woman was secretly evil.  He then orders a new bride every day only to have the grand-vizir kill her the next morning. However, one day the grand-vizir's daughter,  Scheherazade, offers herself as the bride and has a plan to remain alive. She begs for her sister to stay with them in the chambers and allow her to tell her stories. The Sultan becomes so engaged in the stories he allows Scheherazade to do this every night, so he is able to hear the end of these stories. I really enjoyed part A of this unit. I thought the introduction was very interesting, and it actually kept me on edge. I thought some of the stories in the middle were slightly dull, but overall I liked the concept of interlacing the stories. The dialogue was easy to follow as well. 
Bibliography: This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Caption: Arabian Nights obtained from www.anandasacramento.org

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Story Lab: Creative Style

I chose to do a Story Lab over creative style. 
The power of creative constraints- This video truly spoke to me. I work at Lindsey+Asp as an art director, and I loathe being handed a loose creative brief with no guidance. For my creative process to develop properly, I need some form of guidance to achieve what a client wants. I have come to love copywriters because their copy will give me some constraints to produce good work.  
What makes a hero?- This particular Ted Talk started off being a little over-dramatic to me, but in the end, I found it helpful. I am constantly doubting myself and running away from adventures, even though I've been offered several fun opportunities recently. Maybe I'll take this as a sign to face those head-on. 
How to build a fictional world- This video reminded me I really need to watch the Matrix. This one is slightly over-dramatic as well. Of course, imagination is vital to developing a good story and an alternate universe.

  

Caption: Spongebob summarizing how to be creative. Obtained from tenor.com

What Orwellian Really means- I've never read 1984 but I remember Animal Farm was kind of trippy. This entire video is trippy. 
What makes something "Kafkaeque"- This video was very dull, in my opinion. 
How to write descriptively- There are several books that frustrate me because they are only visual engagment. They don't involve all my senses, and they never dig deep with any of the characters emotions. A lot of stories leave me asking for more. It's funny too. Before I was an advertising major I started in journalism. I've take numerous journalism classes where we are trained to write at an eighth-grade level. They trained us to not write too descriptively, unless it was a feature piece, as we would not want to come off as bias. I was always nixed on my descriptive writing. 
Beware of Nominalizations (AKA zombie nouns)- I like the graphics in this one very engaging. This video reminds me of two phrases K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) and omit needless words. Both I think can improve writing without drying it out. 
The poetic pattern- I'm not really into poetry. I always feel they try too hard in a weird sense. My friend I a have this joke where something lowkey sappy and cinematic happens we turn to each other and say "POETIC MOMENT." This video just covers the basic of poetry structure. 

Reading B Notes

I finished up Women Saints today. The stories followed along with the stories from part A. Each story was dedicated to a certain female saint, who deserves a little more notoriety. The language was archaic, and still hard to follow, but I pushed through and found a couple stories I liked. 
The first being Saint Cecilia. 

Caption: Saint Cecilia obtained from deviantart.com

Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music. As stated in my introduction, I am obsessed with music, so this story immediately jumped out to me. However, maybe I misinterpreted the story because her plotline dealt with her virginity and remaining celibate. I like her story, but it was not what I expected to read. There was a lot of detail in this particular one, too.
The next one I found intriguing was Saint Eugenia. She basically pulled a Mulan and dressed as a man to join a monastery. Surprisingly this one had a bit of a happier than most. She was able to convert her father and avoid death until she was killed by a sword. I thought the plot was entertaining, but the story could've been longer.
Bibliography: The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis (1900).

Week 4 Reading Notes

This week I decided to read about the Women Saints. Although raised Catholic I feel I do not consider myself devout. I wish I knew the less well known biblical stories and not the most popular ones I remember from Bible Study. Thus, this week I chose to divulge into the religious saints, who are lesser known. I noticed a rather consistent pattern of these women being tortured and in arguably gruesome fashions. Of these poor women's stories I read these were the few that stuck out to me:
Saint Juliana
Saint Juliana was a devout Christian. She refused to marry a man who didn't recognize her God and Jesus Christ, even if it meant she had to be tortured. She has a run-in with the devil disguised as an angel, where her strength is tested once again. She suffered martyrdom for the Lord and is now celebrated on the 14th of March. 
I liked her story, but I feel it would've resonated with me more if I was more religious. I am not a fan of the way it was written, overall. Maybe if I do my story this week over it I will reimagine it in more of a modern setting. 
Saint Juliet:
Saint Juliet's story is a true testament to a mother's love. She refused to sacrifice her child and was tortured by the city officials. Her child was then taken from her and killed.

Caption: Saint Juliet obtained from mythfolklore.blogspot.com

I really enjoyed Saint Juliet's story. I think it would be interesting to maybe write another version of this, or maybe relate it back to my own life. 
Overall, I enjoyed learning about all these martyred women who felt so compelled by the word of God they were willing to sacrifice everything for it.

 

Caption: Nike Ad obtained from reuters.com
Bibliography: The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis (1900).

Topic Research

I plan on continuing with the astrology/astronomy topic using Greek Constellations. I mainly used William Tyler Olcott's book Star Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths, Legends, and Facts Concerning the Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. 

1. Zodiac High
I'm a little iffy of this idea because it feels a little cliché, however, it is sort of an easy jump. I was thinking about using the constellations and zodiacs and placing them in a high school. I think based on the research I've done I could modernize their stories, and make them like a high school drama rather than a sitcom. I could possibly make it like Pretty Little Liars or along the lines of darker t.v. series.

2. War of the Stars (not to be confused with Star Wars)
My second idea comes from something I gathered during my research...the Greek Constellations have a lot of conflict in their backstories. I was thinking about writing a story about a mythological place where all the constellations meet and discuss what has happened while they've become legends and myths. Then, a disagreement arises and escalates quickly resulting in a deeply divided battle between the constellations. It could cause catastrophic events to happen on Earth or just throughout our solar system in general. 


3. The Missing Constellation
My final idea would be for a constellation to go missing, and possibly be humanized. He/she/it would be placed on Earth in a modern time period, and they stumble into a group of college students, who now have to help return this constellation to the sky. I would probably throw in a love interest, too. 

Caption: Constellation Map obtained from tumblr.com

Feedback strategies

Caption: Salem the Sassiest Cat always gives the best feedback obtained from icanhas.cheezburger.com

   As someone who thrives on feedback (my code for saying I am a total people pleaser to a fault), I enjoyed reading the articles over productive feedback. The first article I read was What Kinds of Messages Help Kids Grow? which discussed how using growth-mindset strategies for feedback/praise can benefit a child during the developmental stages of their lives. It touched on the words they use when providing feedback can alter how a kid responds to good feedback and how using the word "yet" will motivate them to keep working hard. This is something I am trying to implement in my life. For example, I was studying for French and I just wasn't getting it, but I kept telling myself "I'm not understanding it yet?" It keeps me a little more motivated to continue studying. 

   The other article I read was The Trouble with “Amazing”: Giving Praise that Matters. I really enjoyed this post. The reasons were sound and made sense, especially the second one. Amazing is unspecific. I really relate to her college friend asking "why am I pretty?" because that is something I totally do when people give me a vague compliment. I like specific compliments, so if I do receive one that feels sort of generic it usually makes me wonder:

 "Do they really think I'm amazing or are they just being polite?"

Receiving specific feedback like

 "Oh your shoes are amazing!" or "I really enjoyed your poster. The colors you chose were amazing." 

are more helpful and rewarding. 

Week 3 Story

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There once was a young boy named Dru. He was a quiet boy who always liked to watch the sky. His mother, who raised him alone, always believed the Gods blessed him with special abilities. There was a glimmer in his eye the night he was born that told her he holds powers no one else has. She watched him very carefully as he grew up. She noticed he always knew when to step out of the way, when something was about to fall or when someone was coming. Everyone believed he just had amazing reflexes, but when she asked him about how he quick he was he would simply say "the sky warned me." He claimed the wind would whisper to him to gaze up at the sky and it would show him a picture. He would just see something others did not. Sometimes it was a clear constellation, and sometimes he would just see long lines connecting the stars. Some connected to the same star and some ran along the sky from east to west not touching anything. Dru saw the sky speaking a foreign language and felt he could easily translate the sky. 
As he got older, he found the sky had started to talk to him less and he feared he might be losing his abilities. However, the sky actually began giving him more challenging puzzles, which would lead him to bigger realizations about the future. They took more of his energy and more time to solve. Dru would spend many sleepless nights charting the stars and constellations and attempting to decode the messages. He spent many years charting the stars and constellations. 
The other villagers called him crazy. He called himself an Astrologer.

Caption: A web of stars obtained from unawe.org

Author's note: This story is the origin tale to Aesop's Fables (Winter): The Astrologer. I wanted to give the Astrologer more of a backstory, and allow him a moment to explain why he believed he could see the future in the stars. I really wanted to try to go in a completely different direction than my story from last week, so I decided to keep in the same era and genre as the original story. I used the name Dru because it meant "vision" in ancient Greece, so I thought it was fitting. 

Bibliography" Author unknown, The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).