Writing Suggestions Week 15

I LOVE THE WRITING IN THIS CLASS!!! Seriously I have never had a class that I get to be so creative with writing! I love getting to make up stories every week and just be whatever character I want! I think I say this all the time but it's so true! That's exactly why this is the second class I am taking from Professor Gibbs! This semester was very hectic for me because of how challenging my classes were and how crazy my work schedule got but I still had a blast! I chose to do the writing portfolio, mainly because I did not have the time to do a storybook! I was very disappointed though because I would have loved to make a Harry Potter Storybook because I had so much fun making my Shakespeare storybook a couple semesters ago! Nonetheless, I'm happy I chose that because I got to make my storytelling posts even more elaborate. I also liked that I got to have Professor Gibbs look at my favorite storytelling posts and give me such in depth feedback! Something I have ALWAYS been impressed with is how in depth she critiques stories! She has SO MANY that she reads, yet she still pays special attention to everything we write. For commenting posts, I would suggest to just be in depth and say everything you feel! People value honesty and want feedback so don't hold anything back! I really loved when people gave me constructive criticism so I would definitely want to do the same to others! Those are the comments that really made my stories better instead of just saying generic things. This class has DEFINITELY made my writing better. I learned so so much from every email I got from Professor Gibbs. It made me realize where I struggle with writing and how to get better! I know that in my future job, I do not have much writing that can be done but I hope to get some responsibilities that require writing because of how much fun I have writing! I may not be the best writer (I know I am not very good), but I love writing so much! Advice for future students would be to be as creative as you can be! There are seriously no limits with creativity and you learn so much about yourself! Don't hold anything back! I know that even though I won't use writing too much at my future job, I will need to be creative and this class definitely helped with that!

Reading Suggestions Week 15

I really enjoyed the readings for this class! I know that this may not be the case for everyone but I have troubles reading actual books quickly so maybe the only suggestion I can think of would be to make the times for reading longer. I felt myself rushing through the chapters sometimes because it was difficult to allocate time to read on top of my other classes! I really did love learning about those stories though because I did not know anything about Indian Epics! I definitely think reading assignment extra credit assignment would work well! I also really really loved doing the untextbook ones because I was still learning about Indian Epics but with shorter stories that seemed a little easier for me to follow! Advice I have for students is to manage time wisely and know when they are going to get the reading done! Also do not just work on your assignments the day they are due. Get a week or so ahead so you never have to scramble to get things done (like I ALWAYS did). It's funny because all throughout college I told myself I would stop procrastinating and now, 23 days away from graduation, I am FINALLY trying to work ahead in a class. I guess some habits are harder to break than others.

Essay Week 14

I have had lots of different types of experiences with writing. The first thing I can remember is my sophomore year of high school. I had a really great teacher who taught me a lot about writing. That was the year that I felt like being in all Pre-AP classes would be too heavy of a course load so I decided to take a grade level english class. This was my first time in high school to not take an accelerated level class. It was the weirdest thing ever. For the first time I was surrounded by people who really did not care whether or not they did good in their classes. Many of the people in that class did not care about getting into college one day. My teacher could tell from the beginning that I had different passions that the other students in my class. I learned a lot about creativity and writing in his class. He was the one I went to a couple years later to edit my college application essays. He challenged me a lot more because I would often come to him with help on my assignments and he taught me a lot about taking ownership over my writing. We wrote a very lengthy essay over To Kill a Mockingbird in that class. Whenever I think of that book I think of his class because that was the first time I studied it in school. In college I have not had too much experience with writing. This class has honestly been my favorite (which is why I am taking it as a second class with Professor Gibbs) because of all of the freedom to be so creative with writing. I took my college english classes in highschool so I never really had the OU english experience. I will definitely miss this class and getting to write creatively and I hope that when I graduate I will still be able to write. Something I really try to do is write people letters. I love snail mail and will probably try to use it more after I graduate!

Image Information: Cover of To Kill a Mockingbird taken from Wikipedia

Week 14 Storytelling: The Nerd and the Beauty

My name is Lesley Simmons. I have never been the most attractive girl or he most talented or the most popular girl in my school. I have always wanted to climb my way to the top. I never believed it to be possible but one day I thought all of that would change. Apart from my flaws that I feel I possess, I know one thing for sure is that I am an excellent artist. I have been winning art competitions since I was in kindergarten and next year I plan on going to the Savannah College of Art and Design on a full scholarship. Just because I do not have many friends doesn't mean i can't dominate art like I do. Well one day the most popular girl in school found herself in a pickle. I was working on my art project at the workshop when I saw the most popular girl at school crying over her project. She had a lot left to do and I could tell that she did not know how to finish. This was our final art project and if we failed this one we would have to retake the art class in the summer and we would not be able to walk at graduation. I knew what I had to do. I went over to her and asked kindly if she needed my help. She told me she would love that. I told her I would help her if she would just acknowledge me and say hi to me in the hallways. Maybe that way people would talk to me. She agreed and passed her project.

I saw her in the hallway last week and, of course, she said nothing to me. I walked up and said hi to her and asked how her friends liked the art project. She asked me who I was and made all of her friends laugh. That one really hurt. I was completely convinced that she would be changed and realize that it was possible to do something nice for someone else. I guess I should blame myself for thinking that she would change. It was very embarrassing but it ended up working out for good. I sat by myself outside that day at lunch, crying. A boy named Micah came up and asked me what was wrong. I began talking to him and told him what was wrong. When I told him my name, he told me he recognized it from my art on display. Turns out he’s going to SCAD next year as well. Goes to show that you can’t trust anyone but any situation can fool you.

Image Information: Original photo from The Lion and the Crane

Author's Note: I wrote my story based on The Lion and the Crane. In that story, the crane helps the lion and then expects something in return but the lion is selfish and does not do anything for the crane. My story was similar in that a girl needed help like the lion and did not reciprocate the help.

Bibliography Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Week 14 Indian Fairy Tales

Indian Fairy Tales Unit 

The Lion and the Crane

• The crane helps the lion get a bone out of his throat but when the crane wants something in return, the lion does not help. 

The Broken Pot

• This is a story about being greedy. The man is planning out everything he will buy using the rice and eventually is the one that causes there to be no more rice. 

The Magic Fiddle

• The beginning of this story reminds me of Joseph and the dream coat from the bible. The brother's wives try to kill their sister but she takes revenge on them in the end. 

The Cruel Crane Outwitted

• The crane tries to outwit the fish but ends up getting outwitted by the crabs. 

The Tiger, The Brahman and the Jackal

• The tiger tries to kill the Brahman but instead the brahman and jackal trick the tiger to go back into it's cage. 

Harisarman

• The Harisarman starts poor but is eventually given everything he could ever want.

The Charmed Ring

• The story reminded me of a mixture of Lord of the Rings and the prodigal son from the bible.

The Talkative Tortoise

• The tortoise was riding with the ducks but fell because of the fact that he opened his mouth. 

The Gold-Giving Serpent

• The Brahman's son tried to kill the serpent but he turned around and killed him instead.

Pride Goeth Before the Fall

• The robbers learned not to trust everyone

Why the Fish Laughed

• This one was my favorite because it had such a deeper moral than just about a fish. 

Essay Week 13

I absolutely love this photo because it is definitely something that is such a struggle in today’s world. I am definitely victim to this sometimes because I often struggle with correct punctuation when writing. I’ve gotten a lot better, however, with using correct punctuation in texts. Texting has become such a HUGE thing in our generation that it seems people have lost their ability to correctly type. I see people making these common punctuation mistakes so much. I love this cartoon because when I first looked at it, I actually thought it was going to be something clever and have cats and dogs falling from the sky. I thought maybe it would be talking about people taking things literally. I have seen something similar to this that says “let’s eat grandpa” and “let’s eat, grandpa.” Then the caption says “punctuation can save someone’s life.” I thought that was pretty hilarious. I know that one year my grandma visited for a week and made me super paranoid about correcting people about the correct form of me and I when grouped with other people’s names. It made me crazy about it which makes me constantly correct my friends about it. I feel like texting could be a small contributor to why people are so lazy about using correct grammar and forms of words. I think the thing that drives me the craziest about texting is when people use abbreviations like “rn” after typing a long paragraph. I just think that if you can type out every other word in your paragraph, you can definitely type out the words right and now. I will definitely never understand that. All these things are frustrating  but I am definitely not one to talk because I still make the same mistakes over and over in all my stories in this class. I especially use comma splices too much. I think that as long as people know what they need to work on a change can eventually be made.

Image Information: Cats and Dogs taken from Online Course Lady

Storytelling Week 13: The Golden Bird

There was once a group of three pirates named Rusty, Grayson, and Deana. Rusty was next in line under his father, Eduardo Estevan, to be the captain of his ship called The Wolfeburn. Grayson was his best friend and right hand man on the ship. Deana was one of the two women that were allowed to be pirates on their ship. The men ran this ship for twenty years before allowing women aboard. Rusty met her when they were on shore in a small town in the Caribbean. They fell in love instantly so he brought her along, knowing he wouldn’t be able to continue on without her. Eduardo made a promise to a woman named Missy, his old mistress, regarding the future of his ship but the outcome of the promise was to send Rusty to a desert island for four years. Missy hated Rusty and eagerly sent him away at the first chance she got. This broke Eduardo’s heart but he knew it had to be done. Rusty was allowed to bring Grayson and Deana with him to help him survive on the island. Eduardo saw the island of Gllewedwyynd in the distance and knew the time was coming. They said their goodbyes and Rusty reassured his father they he would see him again in just four short years.

While on the island, they found that survival came a lot easier than they thought. One day while she was looking for some food, Deana saw the most beautiful golden bird. She thought that one of the feathers would make the most beautiful necklace that could remind her of home. The lorikeet bird was the national animal from her country, Clank. She woke up to their song every morning. When she saw a golden one, she was instantly in love with it. She came back to Rusty and told him about the bird and that she would be so overjoyed to have one of this bird's feathers.

Rusty went out in search of this bird to get a feather for his love. When he got to the bird, it began to attack him and he realized that instead of taking a feather he would kill it and have all of the feathers. Right before the bird died, a human appeared. It was the righthand man, Tel Edwards, of their biggest enemy named Don Pedro. Don knew where Rusty was being marooned and wanted nothing more than to kill him. Tel was a shapeshifter so he disguised him as a golden lorikeet and had him fly over. He was going to try to bite them in their sleep and get rid of them from the seas for good instead of just four years. As he was dying, he changed his voice and cried out in fear in Rusty’s voice to scare Deana. He then died and Rusty was able to bring the feathers of the bird to her. She was so sad when she realized that the bird was actually a villain, but was happy that she got a feather and felt safer now that he was gone.

Image Information: Photo of Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth on the desert island, inspiration for my story taken from Jack Sparrow Gallery

Author's Note: This was a retelling of The Golden Bird from the Ramayana unit. The original story takes place while Rama and Sita are exiled in the jungle. Ravana's brother Maricha takes the form of a golden deer and runs past Sita. Sita asks Rama to capture it for her. Rama goes after the deer for Sita.When Rama hits the deer, Maricha comes out of the deer and cries out for help in Rama's voice. Sita is alarmed by this and runs to help. Instead of being based in the Indian Epics era, I made the characters pirates. They were marooned on a desert island instead of being in exile in the jungle. The woman in the story sees a golden bird instead of a deer and she wants the feathers from it. The main pirate,Rusty, also has his close friend with him and the girl he loves. Just like in the original story, the bird actually was a bad guy in disguise. I got this idea from thinking about Pirates of the Caribbean when Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth are marooned on the island. I listen to the POTC soundtrack when I study which is how I came up with using them for my story. I wanted to keep my story happier so I did not make Deanna get kidnapped like Sita did in this story.

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

Reading Diary Week 13

The Birth of Rama

• Brahma commands the story of Rama to be told 
• This version is told by Valmiki
• Dasaratha was sad because he did not have a son
• He gave many gifts to the Brahmans and then Rama was born

Vishwamitra 

• Rama was the most beautiful of the children
• He felt he obtained the moon
• Rama was the most accomplished prince
• Vishwamitra led Rama to his hermitage

Rama and Sita

• Rama and Sita were instantly destined to be married
• They fell in love at first sight
• They spent a lot of time together

Kaikeyi's Plot

• Manthara hated Rama and did not rejoice at his new relationship
• She was very ugly
• Kaikeyi defended Rama

Rama's Exile

• Rama knew he had to be exiled and was not moved by it 
• Dasaratha was heart broken 
• He told Sita the distance would increase his love

The Death of Dasaratha

• He is very very sad that Rama is gone
• He eventually dies of a broken heart

Rama and Bhrata

• Bhrata is determinded to bring his brother out of the jungle
• The shoes represent royal authority

The Rakshasas

• Rama and Sita and Lakshmana go into the jungle
• They come across Ravana's sister

The Golden Deer

• Sita first sees the golden deer
• Ravana develops a gross interest in Sita

Rama's Quest for Sita

• Rama is heartbroken without Sita and is determined to get her back

Hanuman

• Ravana is constantly trying to win the love of Sita
• Rama's has people who will help him get Sita back

Rama's Coronation

• Rama and Sita are reunited
• Sita leaves at the end of the story because of things that happened when she was away

Famous Last Words Week 12

Well this week was definitely sad because of the game on Saturday but at least there are more things to life than just OU football. Some extremely exciting stuff has been going on these past couple weeks for me though. I have officially accepted my position as the Training Director at Chick-fil-A which I will begin working full time after I graduate in just 33 days! So crazy that it is coming up so quickly! I still feel like I am not mature enough to be in college sometimes! All the new responsibility at work have been absolutely crazy! I have worked for Chick-fil-A for about five and half years now but I have been a manger for two. It has been such an incredible feeling to be given so much more responsibility! I also forgot to do a famous last words a couple weeks ago to say that I GOT TO GO TO HARRY POTTER WORLD! I said it in my introduction that I was maybe going to go this semester and it happened! It was the most amazing thing ever! Anyone who is a fan would understand my excitement! Some of the actors from the franchise say that Diagon Alley was even more detailed than the movie set! I definitely want to go back someday with a couple of my best friends because they were pretty jealous that I got to do that! I am really excited because my parents are going to be coming to the Kansas game in two weeks! I am originally from Houston so I don’t get to see my parents very often. They have not been to Norman in a year so it will be really good to have them come to a game! It is especially crazy that it will be the last game they come to with me as me being a student! So insane! It is crazy that this time last year I was concerned about what I would be getting people for Christmas and now I am thinking non stop about how I will decorate my cap for graduation! It’s all so crazy and exciting! Oh, and a song I found this week that rocks is called Jungle by X Ambassadors! Everyone should definitely go have a listen!

Image Information: Personal photo of my mom and I with the dragon on top of Gringott's at Diagon Alley. SO AWESOME. 

Reading Diary B Week 12

Jakata Tales

The Three Fishes- In this story three fish are swimming and see men fishing. Two of them unknowingly swim into a nest and get saved by the third because he tells them to dive into the net and break it! This story reminds me of Finding Nemo!

The Tricky Wolf and the Rats- In this story there is a lot of rats who have a master who is very witty. He out smarts the wolf who is eating all of his men and kills him.

The Golden Goose- In this story there are two geese, one poor and one golden. They golden one is too trustworthy and gives the poor goose all of his feathers.

The Stupid Monkeys- This is about a bunch of monkeys who are extremely dumb. They have to check on the condition of a bunch of trees and the way they do it is by pulling their roots out of the ground and killing the trees.

The Cunning Wolf- This story is pretty simple. A man attempts to kill some animals for food and instead they know what he is doing and get away.

The Woodpecker and the Lion- This is a simple one as well. This is about how the lion and woodpecker's relationship was ruined.

Essay Week 11: First Memories of Reading

My first memories of reading definitely including the two series’ called Junie B. Jones and the Magic Tree House. I still have the opening line to Junie B. Jones memorized. I have a good friend who has a daughter the age of 6 and all I want to do is buy her those books so she can enjoy the same ones that I used to. Another book that I very vividly remember reading is one called How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found. Every time I go to bookstores, I always go to the children’s section looking for this one. I remember it being one of the best book I had ever read but cannot for the life of me remember what it is about. I used to do this program at school where we could read certain books and then take quizzes over them and get points. I remember doing as many as I could because I genuinely loved reading so much! Something I am so excited for after I graduate is being able to read so many more books because of all the time I will have. Another one that is at the front of my reading memory is the book Holes. Gosh, that was my number one favorite book! The fact that Louis Sachar was able to come up with that book amazes me because it is so creative and detailed! A big similarity that I have with my first experiences with reading is that i love to read similar books or series of books. I know it’s super cliche but I really love reading Nicholas Sparks books nowadays. I saw him speak at a convention one time which really made me admire his writing. I also really enjoy inspirational Christian books. My favorite Christian authors are Tim Keller and Beth Moore. After writing this essay, it really makes me want to go and buy a bunch of my favorite books from when I was little to just go back over and read.

Image Information: This was one of my favorite books growing up taken from Amazon

Storytelling Week 11: Wanting to Be Famous

There once was a red-headed boy named Willard who loved to write music. He was very passionate about his lyrics and felt it was the perfect way to express himself. He was slowly becoming famous for his lyrics and passion for singing. He had been trying for very many years and it was finally paying off. Big artists were coming to him for his incredible songwriting ability.His first album was going to include a song called Cardboard House, which was a terribly complex song about his life before becoming famous. 
Before he brought this song to his producers, he ran into a man named Deacon at a park. When they ran into each other, he dropped all his things, including a paper with the lyrics of Cardboard House. He was in a hurry, so he managed to get all his things and go to the meeting. When he got there he realized that he had dropped the lyrics and they were probably still back at the park. What he didn't realize was that Deacon was a loyal fan of his. Maybe more than a fan, he was obsessed with him. See, Deacon looked just like him and always wished that he could just BE him. They could have been long lost twins due to the strong resemblance.  Now that he had a copy of Willard’s lyrics in his hands he was going to try to be him like he had always planned.

Willard left the studio, desperately trying to find these amazing lyrics that would make his album number one. Deacon left a note for him at the park because he figured Willard would soon be back to find his lyrics. The note read, "If you ever want your lyrics back, you can find them at the old soda warehouse twenty minutes north of town." He led him to this warehouse to distract him for a long period of time. Deacon went to the studio and was shocked to find that the producers did not even think twice about whether or not he was Willard. The producers sat with him and collaborated on how to make the song better. They decided that they would release this song as a single by making a music video out of it. They were very impressed in the newfound passion that “Willard” had.

As they began talking about the ideas, a man named Brandon on the team began noticing weird mannerisms that Willard now had. He decided he would test him by texting him an inside joke and seeing whether or not he read it and laughed. After twenty minutes had gone by and "Willard” did not check his phone, he knew this guy was a phony. He called him out and Deacon immediately broke down, saying all he ever wanted was to be Willard. They had him taken away by security and called the real Willard and went forward with their normal business. Cardboard House ended up being the most sold song on iTunes, no thanks to the acts of Deacon.  

Image Information: Picture of Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint which are the two that inspired my story taken from The Daily Telegraph 

Video Information: Here is the video that I got the idea for the story from.
Author's Note: I made this story based roughly on the story of A Ghostly Wife. In the original story, there is a husband and wife. What happens is that the wife goes off into the forest and makes a ghost angry. The ghost beats her and leaves her for dead and goes back and impersonates her to the husband. She is very believable for a while until the husband's mother realizes that she is not the wife. I've been watching Ed Sheeran videos like crazy this past week so I made it based on his video for Lego House where Rupert Grint pretends to be Ed Sheeran throughout the course of the video. I think this made it pretty funny and works well in comparison to the Ghostly Wife. It is very unrealistic because I'm sure Willard would soon come back to the production studio but I wanted to make it a lot like the story so had him get lost. Instead of using a wife and a husband, I used a famous boy named Willard and his producer. Instead of using a ghost, I used a crazy obsessed fan of Willard named Deacon. Willard walks towards the production studio after writing a new song when Deacon swapped spots with him, which is supposed to represent the wife from the story getting beat up by the ghost. In the story the ghost leaves her for almost dead but I did not want to go that far so I just had Deacon distract him. In the original story the mother-in-law figures out that the ghostly wife is an imposter and in this story I had the producer realize the same by sending a text that he would normally send to Willard. In the original story, when the husband and wife are reunited, they have lots of babies and a great marriage. To parallel this, I had Willard get a number one hit when he was back to the studio.

Bibliography
Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day (1912)

Reading Diary Week 11 Part B

Ghostly Wife: This story was about a woman who was nearly beaten to death and then a ghost goes home in her in her place. The husband and mother in law don't realize for a while. When they finally realize, they set a trap and then find out she is fake. They go and rescue his real wife.

The Story of the Brahmadaitya: In this story a poor Brahman goes into the forest and comes across some memorable characters. He eventually gets supplied with all the things he needs and is overjoyed with his wife.

Part B

Storytelling Week 10: The Blob Raid

On the beaches of Oregon is a camp called Camp Purple Field. This is a wonderful summer camp that is constantly being used for its adventures and activities. It is for people of all ages, surprisingly, which is very uncommon for summer camps. They have groups ranging from 5-55. There are three people who were in charge of running it named Donny Travis, Asher Donald, and Jaiden Bartlet. They are all from extremely different backgrounds. Donny Travis comes from Texas and knows a lot about summer camps because there is usually one in each town in Texas. Asher came from Maine, the complete opposite side of the USA than Oregon. He knew a lot about beach activities but not so much about camps. Jaiden is from England where there were not very many overnight summer camps to be found in her area. She had taken this job as a way to remain in the USA and fell completely in love with camping. They are all extremely passionate about this job and will let nothing come in the way of providing people with an excellent camping experience. This was a highly successful because of an asset they possessed for almost 20 years. It was the biggest blob in the continental United States. People traveled from all over the country to come jump on this blob. Donny, Asher, and Jaiden were insanely protective over their blob. There is a neighboring camp that was mediocre in comparison to Camp Purple Field. This camp is called Camp Housecake. There is only one man in charge of this camp and his name is Trevor Lovefield. All he ever wanted in life was the steal the blob from Camp Purple Field.

A couple months ago, Trevor had enough of them stealing all of the camping grounds he set out a scheme to steal the blob. He decided he would have his kitchen staff go over to their camp pretending to need to borrow some supplies. After this he would go steal the key that was kept in a not so secret box in their office. There was a girl who worked in their office who had a small crush on him. He would use this to his advantage by distracting her. After he retrieved the key he would take his staff late at night and unlock the blob and float it away from the camp to his camp. He would next deflate the blob, give it a new paint job and say it was a gift to him and it had nothing to do with Camp Purple Field.

The plan is successful for the most part. One of the kitchen ladies was very scared and took a lot of convincing to go distract Donny, Jaiden, and Asher. He managed to bring the blob to his camp, only to not know how to take care of a blob this size. He ended up popping the blob and being left wasting time and not having the blob. Luckily for the staff at Camp Purple Lake, their anonymous blob maker was in the process of making a new one. Even though they had theirs stolen, they were able to get a new and improved one. A month after this happened Trevor’s camp went out of business.

Image Information: A picture of a blob which is what they fight over in my story taken from Snyder's Alaska Blog

Author's Note: I got the idea for this retelling from the cattle raid. It is based very loosely off of that story. Instead of stealing cattle, they are obviously trying to steal a blob from a neighboring camp. When I was brainstorming story ideas, I thought of the book Holes which is why I chose to do a camp setting. 

Bibliography: 

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Reading Diary A Week 10

I have definitely enjoyed reading this book a lot because of the differences yet similarities to the last two. I have, however, struggled a little bit with all of the difficult names. My favorite part of this section of the reading this week was the cattle raid. I think my favorite part of Indian Epics has been reading of animals and their perceptions of those animals. Susharman is happy about the death of Kichaka but is quickly captured by Bhima. I just thought it was funny to read about the way of getting even or revenge was by stealing cattle. I also enjoyed reading about everyone disguising themselves.

Storytelling Week 2: Mel's Story

"Have you ever heard the story about the secluded whale of the Pacific Ocean?" Avril the sea tortoise asked her friend.

"No, I don't think I recall that story," her friend Livvy the seahorse responded.

"Well, we have a bit of time before our next expedition so let me enlighten you. There once was a beautiful blue whale named Mel. Even though blue whales normally live to be 40 years old she was well beyond 70 and still looked as if she was 20. She had scales unlike any other creature in the sea. When she would swim, they would radiate all of the colors in the rainbow. She had a wildly stunning mate named Norris. He was the leader of the clan of creatures in the Pacific Ocean, the biggest army of fish anyone has ever seen. He was unlike any other blue whale because he had black stripes on him, which helped him to demand authority in the water. They were the most beloved mates in the ocean. They had two babies who Mel loved with all of her heart, Arie and Simon. Norris loved these males because he was able to act himself around them and not be trying to impress them like he had to do with Mel. They often would leave their home and explore the huge ocean, usually getting into lots of trouble. Since Norris was the most feared creature in that ocean, they acted very carefree about their actions. Without Mel knowing, they began tearing up reefs because they enjoyed all the colors that would show when the whales destroyed the reefs. One day they made the worst mistake of all. They tore up the Great Barrier Reef which was home to a great seahorse goddess named Kinley. Even though she was very tiny, especially compared to the whales, she still contained much more power than they. When she saw these careless whales ruining her home, she knew she had to let them know of the wrong they were doing to her home. How in the world could they tear up the place where she and so many of her friends has resided for so long? With a flick of her tail she killed the great Norris because of his severely reckless actions. It was a harsh punishment but she knew that it had to be done. Arie and Simon hurried home to tell their mother of the tragedy that occured. Mel was so upset with her babies. How could they continue on acting like this? How could they let her soulmate die? Something had to be done about this. They yelled and roared their great roars but Kinley responded to their screams with a curse. She had no time for their complaints when she was busy recovering her home from all of the mess that they had caused. They were transformed from blue whales to deep sea viper fish, which are the ugliest fish in all of the ocean. They now resided at the deepest depths of the ocean, trying to kill any creatures that were dumb enough to swim into the Challenger Deep where they now lived. The only food that they now ate were the fish that died and fell from the shallow water above.”

Image Information: photo of a blue whale like the characters in the story taken from Discovery Education 

Image Information: photo of a viper fish, which is what Kinley turned Mel, Arie, and Simon into taken from Fish Index 

Author Note: I decided to retell the story of Thataka that Viswamithra told to the boys.  I used whales as the main characters instead of demigods. I think that these worked because they are also feared creatures of the sea just like the demigods in the story. I kept the story pretty much the same except changing destruction of forests to destruction of reefs. It seemed to be the most appropriate way to transfer the same idea into a story of them under the sea. Just the way the dad and boys in the story would do things that the mother did not approve of, that's what the whales would do here. Instead of Agasthya, I used Kinley the seahorse goddess, my favorite part. I really liked that she was a small creature who could still do so much damage to such large ones. I think that it definitely showed how powerful she was just like Agasthya from the story. I made them shape-shift into the ugliest fish in the sea which seemed appropriate because it made them look terrible compared to the beautiful whales that they once were. I also added isolation to them because they now had to live at the bottom of the sea away from any other fish that they could associate with. 

Bibliography: 

• Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Reading Diary Assessment

When I was going back over the instructions for the reading diaries I really I like when it said that they are more for our benefit than for an actual assignment if that makes sense. When I went back and read stuff I could easily recall other facts that I had not included merely because I had written down the facts that I felt were the most important. It's completely true that our schedules get so busy so this is a perfect assignment. I actually feel like I need to go and making reading diaries for other books I read because often times I will be reading a book and then not be able to pick it up for a couple weeks which causes me to forget a lot of the information I was reading. I think I did a pretty good job on my assignments because they definitely serve their purpose of allowing me to remember what I read. I actually never included any images in my diary posts but I guess that idea never really crossed my mind. I definitely think that's something that will help me remember the stories more in the future. As I'm reading my posts I can definitely tell what a hopeless romantic I am because more of the things that I find the most memorable are things about the love story that went on in the books. As far as advice for other students goes I would say to definitely focus on the fact that this assignment is for us and our benefit. It should compliment our learning styles. It's hard to compare other peoples reading diaries because things that are important to one person might not be important to another and/or the learning styles between people may be completely different.

Telling Stories at Hogwarts

I had the most interesting conversation about the statue of Sita the other day with my dear friend Dean Thomas. We are both currently fourth-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is a discussion that became uncommon in my home due to the sensitivity behind the story. We were not forbidden from talking about it but it was frowned upon to share our own opinions. People have criticized my father and his father because of their take on the story. Many Indian people believe the classic story behind the statue but I have a great ancestor who was there who know the real story…

“So, Padma, tell me more about this so-called story behind the statue, since you say you know more than the stories and professor say. It's hard to believe anything different than what Professor Tialleur was saying in our Wizards Through History class,” said Dean one day while we were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“I do not appreciate the unbelieving tone behind that statement but I will tell you nonetheless,” I reluctantly answered because I knew he would challenge any response I gave. He was notorious for being overly critical of people's opinions. This is one of my dearest friends but he can be somewhat self-obsessed sometimes, thinking that no one is right but himself. “Well, here is how the traditional stories went. Rama had to send Sita away because of the so-called bad reputation that she was bestowing upon his name after his exile. He told people he wanted the statue so that he could stop missing her and kept it in her room at his palace. Although creepy, this was his way of having her as company without actually dealing with the criticism of people who did not approve of her. My family, however, believes something totally different. Even though it was only her body in the room, he still felt comfort from her. We believe that Rama had Sita killed. I know people to claim to have known the whereabouts of Sita after she left Rama. However, my ancestor Vasu Roshan told people that he was there the day the statue was made. Vasu was the top of the line of many ancestors who worked for the royal palace. They have been sharing this story with their children all the way until my father shared it with Parvati and myself. Vasu knows that it was not just gold inside of the statue but it was Sita. Rama turned her into a statue because he did not want anyone else to have her but he also did not want to kill her and have her buried in the ground.”

“That is probably one of the coolest stories I have ever heard,” replied Dean. This was not the reaction I expected from him. “Do you know what happened to the statue after Rama was gone? Did he want to take it with him so no one would ever know his secret? How many other people saw this happen?”

“Slow down with all the questions! According to Vasu, a theory passed down for many generations, the statue still remains in the exact location Rama made it. My father says he also saw it. He told us that Sita still stands in the same place. See, he did not make the statue by himself. The only people who were present in the room were Rama, Sita, Vasu, another servant and Suman the magic lion. Suman is the one who had the power to turn Sita into a statue without harming her but I guess the requirement was that she would never move from that place due to the amount of magic that went into making her. When he made her into a statue, he essentially froze and then killed her. They knew she probably would have been killed out in exile but this was Rama's way of having her close. It is a pretty disgusting thing to do, if you ask me. Even though the palace has been destroyed and many natural disasters have hit the area, the statue still stands, looking over India.” I was very happy that he did not criticize me for this story and was shocked that Dean did not challenge me at all!

Image Information: Taken from Superior Pics. Padma and Dean are on the left and they are the characters communicating in my story. Picture from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Author's Note: For this story I made Padma Patil the storyteller. She is an Indian student from the Harry Potter novels. I had her telling the story of what happened to Sita's statue to another student named Dean Thomas, who is also from Harry Potter. I chose Dean and Padma because they are both minor characters from Harry Potter and are both in the same house in the books. I also wanted to do this to add a little bit of character to a less known character from the books. While somewhat gross, I made up an ending that the statue was actually Sita. The reason I am calling it gross is because I am having Rama keep a technically dead body in his room and keep him company, even though she is a dead body. I think of it as a creepy idea instead of romantic or sweet. He is not keeping her to save her from exile but killing her his way and keeping her perfectly frozen body for his own benefit. I was inspired to do this while thinking of the movie House of Wax because in that movie actual people are turned into wax figures. I thought this would be a funny change in the story and somewhat different from the epics. I included a magic lion because while reading the Ramayana, I always find the most random magical characters. I figured that a magical lion would not be far-fetched at all and would be a good addition to the story. Before I told her made-up story I included what is actually from the books regarding Rama’s decision to make a statue of Sita.

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Reading Diary B Week 7

The final reading assignment of this awesome book. I was very skeptical of these books before reading them because they would not normally be something that I would choose at a book store. I have loved seeing all of the personalities of the characters in this book and also being able to read more about these characters from other stories from Indian epics.

Lots of love is shown for Rama from Bharata, especially now that he is back and taking over the title. I love the relationship between the two.

People talk about Sita and her actions. This really goes to show how many things don't actually change over time because this is something that would definitely happen again in today's time.

Sumantra blames the result on karma. Lakshmana must obey Rama's wishes to leave Sita at the Ganges.

I love when she comes back to Rama. It shows her humility even though it doesn't work out the way she was hoping.

I really loved this book and can't wait to do more research about it in the future!

Reading Diary A Week 7

The part of this reading that stands out the most to me is at the beginning of the reading when Jambavan is fighting the demons. Jambavan has quickly become my favorite character in this book. I liked when it said that he "hugged them to death."

After the battle between Rama and Ravana, Ravana dies and Maya takes it very hard.

I actually lied about the part of the reading that stood out to me. I think the best part was when Hanuman finds Sita. She is definitely one of my favorite parts of this book so when they were reunited I felt very emotionally attached to her character.

It was also exciting to read about Rama's coronation and to realize that the end of the exile is in sight!

Week 5: Styles

Since I have already completed the style section for the storybook project as opposed to the portfolio one, I am going to be using a lot of the styles that I also used for that one.

Outside Sources: For this style of storytelling I want to incorporate characters from other stories and mix them in with the Indian Epics world. For my storybook project I originally wanted to use the twins from Harry Potter so for an upcoming storytelling assignment I want to use them since I am choosing to do the portfolio instead. I think it would also be fun to somehow use Shakespeare of even the main character from the book The Little Princess because I know there are a lot of references to the Indian culture in that story.

Animal Stories: I really love being able to retell Indian Epics stories with animals instead of the characters. That’s what I am using for my first story on my portfolio and it is my favorite one that I have written so far. I think it is a lot of fun to manipulate the characters and showcase their stories the way they would pan out in the animal world. I like this style a lot because there are so so so many different animals I can use.

Focusing on Lessons: For this one I could retell stories focusing on the important Indian Epics lessons. Karma is the number one topic that I am referring to with this idea but the possibilities are endless because they have so many recurring themes in the stories.

Changing Perspectives: I really enjoy telling stories like this because I can manipulate the story by telling it from another character's perspective and explain the way I think the situation would be like for that other character. The best part about this is when the reader’s do not actually know what the other characters think about a situation so there are so many thoughts you can put in their head.

TV Shows: This is a recurring theme that I see in lots of storytellings that I think would be fun to use. Sort of similar to my first idea, I could tell the story coming from a TV show or a game show in which characters need to know about the stories in order to advance.

Storytelling Week 5: Sita's Capture

I do not know why this idiot thinks it is a bad idea for me to take Sita with me. All I have ever wanted is for her to love me and I know that she is completely under the spell of that stupid Rama. There is no way she can really love him. She has to know after spending time with me that she will eventually fall for me. I am one of the greatest looking men in the land so how on earth could this beautiful woman not fall for me?! She is, after all, more beautiful than any wife I have ever owned. I will somehow convince Maricha to give into the idea of me having Sita. It will happened for my good.

I have done it. Maricha has finally given in to my request and he will help me in my plan to make Sita mine. I am going to have him disguise himself as a deer and appear to Rama. Knowing Rama he will try to be the hero and find the deer, leaving his sweet bride alone. I would never leave her alone if I could just call her mine. I will then come to her while she is frightened and I will also be disguised but I will be an old innocent man that she has no choice but to trust. I will sweep her off of her feet and take her away with me. Then I know she will eventually profess her love for me. There is no way my plan may fail.

The planned WORKED. Sita is now in my care and I am so happy. It was a fight to get her to come with me but I think she was still shocked about Rama being captured. I bet she thought he could somehow still see her so she wanted to seem scared even though I know she wanted to come with me. That stupid vulture Jatayu tried to fight me as I was taking her away so I had no choice but to chop off his wings to get him away. I probably looked so brace in the eyes of Sita. I know she was impressed and that action will help her to confess her love for me.

Now it is just about persuading her to fall for me. All I want is for her to say I love you. Once I hear those words I know she will be mine. I know I cannot tell her first. It has to be her choice and I know it will be coming soon.

Authors Note: I decided to tell the story of Ravana capturing Sita from his perspective. Instead of getting her to sleep with him I made his mission just to tell him she loves him to lighten it up a little bit.

Bibliography: Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way

Image Information: Picture of a statue of Ravana taken from Wikipedia  

Reading Diary B

I really liked the quote at the beginning of this reading that Maricha says to Ravana when he says, "let the Sun and Moon stand in fear of you but let Sita be!" It kind of reminds me of the reading from last week where someone is talking someone out of being bad. I felt like I was rooting for Lakshmana so much where he was skeptical about the deer, I wish that people would have listened to him. I felt like I do while watching a scary movie when the person is doing something stupid and you can't help but get angry that they're doing. I always feel some weird emotional attachment to Sita during these readings so I was getting really upset when Ravana finally kidnapped her. I was especially annoyed when Ravana was fighting Jatayu. It significantly creeped me out when Ravana calls Sita "Mine."

I thought this was the most entertaining reading with the most interesting little stories. It is definitely going to be easy to figure out a storytelling for this week's reading.

Storytelling Week 4: The Unfair Promotion

“I have officially decided that I am going to have Miranda take my place as general manager as soon as I move to Australia,” Celia announced. Celia Hawkins was the general manager of Three Chickens. She was planning on moving to Australia because she was getting married to a lifeguard she met one summer. It was her job to hand over the job of general manager. She knew that Miranda would be the perfect candidate because for the past 6 months she had pretty much been performing as such. Miranda was a single mom of three because her husband had recently lost his battle to cancer. She was a very selfless woman, who never asked for anything from anyone. Everyone at work saw the potential in her and now she was finally going to have her chance to shine. Another girl named Caroline heard the news and was so excited for Miranda!

She went to her best friend at work and told her the great news. When she told Lola about it, Lola freaked out. She went on and on to Carolina about how this was one of the worst ideas she had ever heard. Lola told Caroline that she should not be so happy for her and that their friend Matthew was actually the one who deserved it! She said that he had been working there so much longer and was the actual one who should be next in line. Matthew was a very selfish man. Practically the polar opposite of Miranda. He was a 25 year old who still lived at home with his parents and got everything he ever wanted from them despite his age. After much convincing she convinced Caroline to go to Celia and have her rethink her offer. She not only convinced Celia to promote Matthew to the general manager but she also convinced her to make Miranda the janitor and decrease her pay. She was to tell Miranda that the decrease needed to happen because the store was struggling to give money to the people who had been there longer than she.

When Celia brought this news to Miranda she took it willingly. She said that she completely understood that they needed to demote her and said that this would just make her work even harder to bring money home for her family. Even though she was in such a terrible situation she still did what was required of her without anger or asking questions because that’s just the kind of woman she was.

Author's Note: I wrote about the story of Rama getting exiled and instead of getting exiled I wrote about someone getting demoted from their job.

Bibliography:

• Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

Image Information: picture of a waitress like Miranda in the story taken from Career Stair

Reading Diary B Week 4

 I thought it was crazy that Dasaratha forced his own son into exile on the request of someone else. I feel like he gave into the request of Kaikeyi way too fast. It was pretty frustrating for me while I was reading it. I also thought it was crazy how peacefully Rama responded. I really liked the line that Lakshmana said when he said "a wrong thrown at Rama seems to bring out no anger in him; it is like a seed thrown on stone" (71). I really don't like the character of Kaikeyi, it bugged me reading about how she tried so hard to get Dasaratha to teach her the language of the animals. I got super sad (once again) when I read about the death of Dasaratha. That's sad that he dies because of the departure of Rama which I completely blame on Kaikeyi, which makes me not like her even more.

Reading Diary A Week 4

Sauti and Sanuaka set up the story by saying that they are going to talk about the story of Ramayana. Narada wants Valmiki to rescue Sita from exile and to teach her sons about Rama. Rama has twin sons named Kusa and Lava who are named by Valmiki. My favorite part of this reading was learning about the story of Pulastya and Vaishravana. It just really caught my attention because of the detail of the characters and the way the author introduces them. Besides that story I also really got a lot of out the story of Ravana and Shiva. I loved rereading about Rama and Vishwamitra. I think it is very interesting reading the same story from two different translations. This reading ends with my favorite story of Rama and Sita. I definitely plan on including them in my storybook because I am such a big fan of this story!

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Reading Diary B Week 3

The part that I was focused on in this reading chunk was the story about Ravana and the monkeys. I think it’s funny/interesting that the source of annoyance here is monkeys. Ravana is angry and wants the worst for Rama. He wants to kill Rama and the monkeys. He tries to convince Sita that Rama was dead by bringing her a fake head of Rama but is not fooled. I think my favorite part about this book so far has been the story behind Rama and Sita. During their battle, the author sets up perfect descriptions of the fight and includes lots of details about the scenery and surroundings. The part that was most interesting was about Ravana’s head constantly growing back. Rama ends up defeating Ravana. The book ends with Rama FINALLY going back to Ayodhya and becoming king like he deserved. I’m very interested to see how different the other versions of the book are.

Reading Diary A Week 3

The characters are now in Kiskinda where they meet the new character named Hanuman who actually takes on the form of a giant monkey. Hanuman tells the story of Sugreeva, his chief. Vali was the brother of Sugreeva and the king of Kiskinda and had unlimited power. My favorite line about him was where it said that no lance could pierce his chest. Vali got in a big quarrel with Mayavi and ended up getting very angry with Surgeeva when it was over. In turn Vali forcibly stole Surgeeva’s wife. Rama feels bad for Surgeeva and wants to help him kill Vali. It showed a lot of compassion in Rama since he was so eager to help Surgeeva defeat his brother. I also really liked the way Rama stuck up for Surgeeva to Vali as he was dying. This shows his allegiance to Surgeeva even though they had just met. At the end of the reading we meet the character of Sampathi which is actually one of the only Indian Epics characters I had heard of before this class.

Reading Diary B Week 2

I am really loving this story a lot more than I thought I would! I think that the cover alone of the book really intimidated me and the length of all of the character names! For this reading diary I'm going to talk about my favorite parts of this section.

First off, I loved how much everyone shows their love for Rama. It seems he is such a great man and the fact that so many people are willing to serve his exile for him really shows that. I can't believe that Dasaratha. I felt pretty emotionally attached to that man so that was definitely a disappointment. I was very sad for Bharatha when he found out about the death. I was very shocked by all of the harsh words that he had to say to his mother. He tells her the only reason he will not kill her is because he does not want Rama to be angry, which is a pretty intense statement to tell someone. He decides to rule for 14 years while Rama finishes his exile. Soorpanka made me mad because of her persistence to make Rama fall for her. I very much love the character of Sita so I was hoping nothing would come of it. I was very happy when she ended up running off in the end.

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I choose the blog within the picture for my blog template. I also got to chose the picture so I choose one of a library of books. I really love reading so I figured this was perfect for me.

Reading Diary A Week 2

Setting: The story begins in the country of Kosala. The author goes into great imagery about the country.

King Dasaratha

• great ruler of Kosala
• he is very respected by his people
• Has a lot of compassion for his son

Viswamithra

• wise man who was once a king.
• He is coming to ask a favor of Dasaratha involving his son Rama to go and kill creatures in Sidhasrama which is far away from their residence. Dasaratha finally agrees only if his other son Lakshmana can come
• He seems bitter about his past

Rama

• son of Dasaratha
• Kills Thataka and her two sons because of the wishes of Viswamithra
• Kills her sons when they are seeking revenge for her death
• Falls in love with Sita after he first sees her
• wins the competition put on by King Janaku

Vasishtha

• Dasaratha’s priest and guide
• The king seems pretty quick to listen to whatever advice he has to give

Lakshmana

• Son of Dasaratha
• Brother of Rama

Thataka

• used to be a yaksha or demigod but was changed along with her whole family to demihood
• used to be very beautiful and full of life but is now bitter and hateful of the whole world
• Killed by Rama with the three pronged spear

Mahabali

• Viswamithra tells a story about him to Rama
• once a great conqueror

Sita

• Princess and daughter of King Janaka
• Falls in love with Rama after the first time she sees him on the balcony

King Janaka

• Creates a test in order to find a suitor for his daughter