Reading Diary A: Alaskan Legends

This week I chose to read stories from the Alaskan Legend Unit. Below are a few of my favorite stories that I read.

(A raven)

The Raven Myths, 2, 3, 4: These four stories were an interesting connotation about how raven created man. It's interesting to see how raven creates things but also mirrors things that other creation stories have. Lots of common tropes in many of these stories: often there are human flaws and they cause problems. I like how he was surprised in a way they humans popped out of a pea pod. It was cool to see polar bears being made. Raven seems really angry in the last story.


The Origins of the Tides: It's interesting to read about how they explain tides without knowing science. How it's a man in charge of a hole is really different than what I have read about before.

Raven's Feast: Is this where we get Groundhog day from? That's pretty awesome if it is!

Week 9: Review

This week's favorite image from announcements came from Saturday, October 24th. Mind you, it is a growth mindset image that Professor Gibbs posted, but it really made me smile so I am including it on my review today. I just love cats. :)

Extra Reading Diary: Eskimo Folk Tales

(An old man and his big dog)

I chose to do an extra reading diary this week. The unit I chose to do is the Eskimo Folk Tales. Below are the stories I enjoyed reading.

The Coming of Men, A Long, Long Time Ago: This story captured my interest because everything fell from the sky. Also, it does not tell you explicitly how men were made. Light and death brought many things to man and explains how when men die, the go up to the sky and shine brightly. I really liked this story because it was short and sweet.

The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man: The saddest part of the story to me: In the evening, his wife began again asking and asking, and, seeing that she would not desist, at last he said: "It was in this way. Once . . . well, I woke up in the evening, and rowed out, and heard a man crying for help, because his kayak had upset. And I rowed up to him and righted him again, and when I looked at him, it was one of the Noseless Ones. 'It was a good thing you were not idling about by the houses,' said the Noseless One to me. 'I had but just got into my kayak,' said I."

And thus he told all that had happened to him that day, and from that time forward he lost his power of hunting, for now his old sleepiness came over him once more, and he lost all.

The Giant Dog: The reason I picked this story is because it was very hypocritical for the inland-dwellers to make the dog the bad guy when the people are not so great themselves. There is more information about the dog, which is something that I really like. We know things such as how the man gave him the amulet, how he killed the three dogs, and much more.

Week 9 Storytelling: When Beaver Shared Fire

(A campfire)

Many ages ago, Beaver stole fire from the Pine Trees. He did it because the winters were so cold that all of the animals and plants almost froze to death. The Council of Animals nominated Beaver because he was silent and swift.

Animals were not the only ones who wanted fire. Only Pine Trees had it, and the other trees wanted it too. The Council advised that Beaver should not share fire with others. They wanted the fire just for themselves because that is what the Pine Trees did. The Council wanted to ensure that Pine Trees would not be able to steal it back. Beaver felt that it was wrong to not share fire after he stole it, so he came up with a plan on his own.

Beaver worked with all of the other trees to trap Pine Trees and share fire with everyone. Beaver thought that it should not be owned exclusively by one party.

So on the day that the Council of Animals picked to steal fire, Beaver stole it, but using his plan.

Beaver hid in the bank, near the fire and when the Pine Tree guards were not looking, he stole fire and ran away. Pine Trees pursued him as he had hoped and whenever they got close, Beaver would run from side to side making the winds slow them down.

Beaver ran for miles and miles until the Pine Trees got tired. Actually, they got so tired that the Pine Trees just stopped on the river banks to live there forever. This is why there are dense forests in the Pacific Northwest.

However, a few trees still went on after Beaver, but he was far too fast and they eventually gave up.

On his way to the hiding spot of the Council where he was planning to meet all of the animals, he would stop along the trees and share a little bit of fire with them. He planned his trip so that he would run ahead of schedule and could share fire with other trees without the Council knowing.

He did not share enough fire that the Council would know it was gone, but he ensured that everyone could have a little of their own.

When he made it to the safe spot, no one had known about Beaver's deviation in the plan and no one ever figured it out. All were happy during winter because all had warmth. Thanks to Beaver, that is why some woods burn better than others.

Author's Note: I chose to write about When Beaver Stole Fire. I found this story to be really cute and quippy. The original story isn't much different from mine, but I thought I would expand in some areas and tell why Beaver shared the fire with other trees.  I made it where the Council of Animals did not want to share fire because of how Pine Trees always wanted to keep the fire to themselves. So I made Beaver a beacon of good moral and let him share the fire with everyone but made it where no one knew. I wanted Beaver to plan with other trees to show that it was a collaborative effort on his part.

Reading Diary B: Pacific Northwest

Here are the few readings I picked to write about from the second half of the Pacific Northwest Unit.

(Coyote)

Chinook Ghosts: I was a little confused at the end of the story. It was kind of sad that the ghosts bought the blue jay's sister and he spent so much time looking for her because he did not know where to go. I was just generally confused about the story. I think I will read it again tomorrow to try and see if I understand it better.

Coyote and the Dragon: It's interesting how they said that evil was to come of the white people taking the bones of the dragon away. I've also starting wondering why coyotes are strong protagonists of Native American stories. In many of them they seem like saviors or at least positive figures of the stories.

Reading Diary A: Pacific Northwest

I've always been interested in living in the Pacific Northwest, and so this week that is the unit I chose to read. Below are a few of my favorite stories from this unit.

(A North American Beaver)

How Silver-Fox Created the World: I think this was my favorite out of the creation stories. The best part was at the end when coyote was saying that there should be 10 moons for winter so that way he could eat, but silver-fox put his foot down and said that there will only be two moons for winter. All creation stories have common tropes and I've heard a lot of them, but this one was different enough from other creation stories that I was really into it when reading it.

How Beaver Stole Fire: In this story, pine trees has the secret of fire. It was so cold that the animals plotted to steal it so they wouldn't freeze to death at night. This story really captured me because it is not just about how eventually humans got fire, but it tells how the surrounding woods got so dense and why if you use certain trees, you can make fire.

Woodrat and Rabbits: At first I was a little weirded out by this story. Why would a woodrat want to fight and then kill a rabbit? Then I realized that once you got to the end of the story, the message in the story was very clear. To me the message was that the woodrats got what was coming to them because they sought out their end by doing what they did. I felt like this story was don't seek out violence (or anything bad) and not expect to pay the price.

Week 8: Reading Plan

(Aino-Triptych by Akseli Gallen-Kallela)

Oh gosh, picking out stories for the second half of the semester was really hard. There are just so many options, but luckily I was able to choose. Below are the units I plan to read for the rest of the semester:

Week 9: Pacific Northwest Unit
Week 10: Cherokee Unit
Week 11: Beowulf Unit 
Week 12: More Celtic Fairy Tales
Week 13: Kalevala
Week 14: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

As usual, things might change but, I'm feeling good about the rest of the semester right now. I am quite sad that the semester is more than half done, but also happy because the semester was almost done.

Week 8: Reflections: Looking Forward

(Another inspirational quote found on Google images.)

For the second half of the semester, I want to work on trying different writing styles and techniques. I think I've got a great topic with my storybook and I want to really challenge myself to expand into new creative writing styles. Trying out different writing styles will help me distinguish characters from each other in the storybook and I think it will add depth to the character themselves. We shall see how it goes.

In order to accomplish this goal, I will have to rework my scheduling. It clearly did not work out for me the first half. I got most things done, but I always felt behind. So this week, I will be trying to rearrange my life to make it much easier to manage capstone and my other classes.

I would like to finish this class early and I am going to be working my butt off to try and do it. I think I will take homework breaks from other classes by trying to work ahead in this class. I'm going to be honest and admit that I do not know how long that will last, but hopefully I can get into a rhythm where it will work out for me to do that. If I can maintain a schedule like that, I will get an A in this class. Plus all of the extra credit we are given. I am very thankful for that. :P

I look forward to the second half of the semester and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Week 8: Reflections: Looking Back

(I found this quote that is applicable to my life on Google images.)

After a rough beginning to the semester, I am happy to see all the work that I've done with this blog. I think my growth mindset self challenge to work my life around my capstone class hasn't been going all too well. It seems that I've let it take over all my time scheduled for other cases - including this one. So I think I will try a new approach to studying for the second half of the semester. I will schedule time to dedicate only to capstone and then segment times for my other classes. I want to get a 4.0 this semester and I am trying really hard to do so.

As for this class, for the first half of the semester I kind of rushed through some of the readings and i felt bad doing so. I made sure to get them done...sometimes, but when I did, I felt like I did not give myself enough time. I wish I had set aside more time to work on the projects we had and forced myself to try out more writing styles. I have the tendency to default to something I am comfortable with, and I definitely did that with this class so far. I tried out different note taking styles and storytelling techniques the last few weeks and it was hard. I really want to grow as a writer and that takes time. So, I need to set aside more time to work on my projects for this class. Otherwise, how will I learn?!

Learning is something I do focus on, but only in certain areas and that has become painfully obvious based on what I have prioritized the last few weeks. I regret not having my storybook done sooner, but I can only grow from here. So, hopefully I will be able to work on it more in the second half.

Tech Tip: HTML Box

If you look to your right, I've added an HTML box with a quote in it. It's a good way to add some personality to your blog if you do not want to change up your layout. You guys should check it out. It's pretty easy to do.

Week 7: Review

Time to post my favorite post of the week: review! This week, my favorite of this weeks announcements came from Wednesday, October 7.  I saw the picture below and it made me laugh so much. Often, things never go as planned so I think this is applicable to everyones life. According to the image, it comes from a Facebook page called Joy of Dad.

Week 7: Growth Mindset

(A growth mindset meme made by Laura Gibbs and Magistra Susan)

This week I tried the Growth Mindset Writing Challenge. I normally write from the perspective of a less focused on character, this week I decided to write it as a story told by a character. I saw that some students were writing stories within stories and I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could do that too. I think it went pretty well. I would probably change some formatting stuff and expand on character details, but overall i'm really happy with my first try. I will probably keep up with this style for a few more storytelling posts.

Week 7 Storytelling: Tar-Baby Revenge

(Brer Bear and Brer Fox walking as depicted in Disney's movie Song of the South.)

As Sandy was tucking her daughter, Rose, into bed, Rose asked about the Brer Rabbit story they read the night before.

"Hey Mom, did Brer Rabbit ever get back at Brer Fox for getting him stuck in the Tar-Baby?" said Rose.

"Well, there isn't a story saying if he did, but you can make one up if you'd like," said Sandy.

So Rose made up her own Brer Rabbit story. She called it The Tar-Baby Revenge.

Brer Rabbit was huffing and puffing about how Brer Fox got him really good the other day with his Tar-Baby trick. He wanted to get back at him by making him just as scared.

So, Brer Rabbit tried to plot something just as good but he couldn't think of anything at all. He thought maybe he should use tar too, but then decided that Brer Fox would already know it was happening. Then he thought he could trick him into falling into a lake, but that was predictable too.

Brer Rabbit almost gave up on his revenge plan, that is until he talked to Brer Bear. Brer Bear told Brer Rabbit to make a sand pit.

Brer Rabbit thought this was brilliant. For days Brer Rabbit sneakily worked on making a bunny that looked just like him to trick Brer Fox into stepping into the sand pit. He was so proud of himself for creating such a plan that he even shared the entire plan with Brer Bear. Beer Bear happily agreed to lure Brer Fox to the location of the pit because Brer Fox was mean to him too.

So on the day that they planned, Brer Bear walked Brer Fox down to the location of the sand pit. Brer Fox fell for the trick and got stuck into the sand pit. Both Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox looked into the pit and told Brer Fox that he needed to learn a lesson and get tricked himself.  Brer Fox agreed.

Despite his compliance with their demands to be more friendly, they still made Brer Fox sit in the pit and think about all of the mean things that he has done.

After making him sit in the pit for a while, Brer Bear got Brer Fox out. Brer Fox apologized to both Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit and went on his way back home.

Life was pretty good for a few days after that, but as usual, Brer Fox could not resist the urge and was back up to his tricks again.

I guess Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear will have to come up with a new plan of revenge.

Rose smiled proudly as she told her mom the story.

"Well sweetie, why did you let Brer Fox go back to being the bad guy if he was supposed to learn from this lesson?" said Sandy.

Rose exclaimed, "Because Mom, if Brer Fox wasn't mischievous... We wouldn't even have Brer Rabbit stories! And I love them! Duh!"


Author's Note: This story is based loosely off of The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story. In the original story, Brer Rabbit gets stuck on to this baby made of tar. It was made by Brer Fox and he was trying to figure out what to do with Brer Rabbit as he trapped him. As one might predict, Brer Rabbit escapes and his escapades continue in other Brer Rabbit stories.

I made this story more of a spin off to the original. My mom used to read me these stories when i was younger and I thought it would be fun to explore a kid telling their own Brer Rabbit story. It has a reversed role kind of feel to it. Where Brer Fox is the one in trouble but manages to escape.

I originally wanted to write a slightly altered Brer Rabbit story, but this idea got stuck in my head and I went for it.

Reading Diary B: Brer Rabbit

(This is a picture of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox from the Disney film Song of the South)

With this second section of Brer Rabbit, I tried to go about reading it a different way. Last time, I started with reading the stories first and then listing to the audio. This time, I switched that. It made understanding the stories much easier. I listened and read along and then I read it without the audio. Much easier understanding.

My favorite stories in this section are Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear and A Story about the Little Rabbits.

The first story was funny to me because Brer Rabbit tricked Brer Bear into hanging from a tree and then ran away. A story about the little rabbits I really liked that the rabbits kept avoiding the Fox so they wouldn't get eaten. I really don't like Brer Fox. That may just be because he is always trying to harm Brer Rabbit.

I want to use the Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear for my storytelling post this week.

Reading Diary A: Brer Rabbit

(Disney's depiction of Brer Rabbit in the film Song of the South)

This week I read stories from the Brer Rabbit unit. I am also using this reading diary as a challenge to switch up my note taking style to a more reflective style.

I chose this unit because I remember my mom reading me a few Brer Rabbit tales when I was younger. Brer Rabbit is so mischievous and a trickster. I think that is why I have always liked him so much.

My favorite story when I was little was the Tar-Baby story and I still gravitate toward it the most today. I thought it was funny that he got trapped by this tar baby and the more he fought with it, the more he got caught in it. Now as an adult, I realize it's kind of reflecting any time you get stuck in a situation. The more you try to escape something inevitable, the more you get tangled in.

I will admit, reading the dialect can be pretty hard. I felt that I was struggling to understand what some of the sentences were saying. Dialects are interesting because it is as if you're reading another language that is similar to your own but trying hard to understand it. I wanted to see if I could get through the stories without listening to the audio. It took me a while. The second time, I read while listening to the audio and it made the stories much more enjoyable.

Week 6: Famous Last Words

(A personal picture of my cat napping, taken by me)

This week has been insanely hectic. Who am I kidding... this semester has been hectic.
I am really happy that this weekend is OU/TX weekend. I am not going to the game, but I am going home all the way to Virginia to hang out with my boyfriend. Very much needed time away from school. Especially because this week is full of papers due..yikes. One in philosophy, one in religion and then I have to declare a topic for a big research paper in another class. This is also the week of the mid-semester check in with my capstone class.  I CAN DO THIS! It's truly a struggle though. After these next two weeks, I think the rest of my semester will be much easier to handle. (I say that now...) I just keep myself motivated by reminding myself that I get to fly home Friday.

This means that when I go home I get to have some comfort food and snuggle my cat! Woo! We have these yummy cookies in Richmond called rainbow cookies. They make any day better. When you bite into them, they melt in your mouth like butter. They are so delicious. Also, they come in many different colors for the holidays. I am so excited.

Luckily, the hurricane that was supposed to hit the coast veered off toward Europe. I am so happy that everyone I know is safe. We only live about an hour and a half from Virginia Beach, so sometimes if the storm is really strong, we get hit pretty bad in Richmond. I was quite worried this week about my pets. My boyfriend's cat stays inside so I knew he was alright, but my cat (pictured above) prefers to be outside all the time. But, once again, luck was on my side this week. I think the hurricane added to my stress.

Hope everyone else is having a good semester!

Week 6: Review

Another week has passed, I feel like I am still behind BUT I feel the need to continue my review posts. This week, I was really into this video from Saturday, October 3. Watch if you want to learn some fun facts about secrets from the Hindu Calendar Art.

Week 6 Storytelling: The King of Jokes

(A tiger confronts a frog illustration by Mildred Bryant, 1925.)

I am the King of Frogs, but no one takes me seriously. Even though I am a small king, I am extremely powerful. One day I hope to show my power to a large animal and befriend them. The powerful animals must want to be friends with a powerful king.

Waiting and watching is something I had been doing for a very long time. A tiger was wandering in the woods a few weeks ago, and I thought he will be here for a while. He shall be the one I show my power and authority to! The poor tiger looks so weak and hungry, I felt mighty bad doing this, but I had to.

One day, while he was looking for food... I approached him. I was really nervous, but I hopped over to him and asked him where he was going. He responded that he was going to the forest to hunt for something to eat. According to him, he hasn't eaten in ages.

AND then...

He threatened to eat ME!!

I felt two things: alarmed and angry.

I am a king. I cannot be eaten, I am too powerful.

So, I challenged him.

First, he had to jump farther than me across the river. He failed because he does not have as strong jumping skills as I. Secondly, he had to throw up... here is where I got really clever... while the tiger threw up a bit of water, I "threw up" tiger fur.

How did I throw up tiger fur? I stole some off his tail right before we jumped!

He was so scared when he thought I had eaten a tiger that he ran away. I was shocked... So I waited for him to come back. And he did. He timidly walked up behind a fox and their tails were tied. After seeing that, a hilarious joke came to my mind... I would ask the fox if he were paying me with meat for dinner.

I told the joke and the tiger ran away so fast that his colors were blurred together. I never saw the tiger again.

I forgot to tell you, I am powerful because of my jokes.

Author's note: I decided to write about the story of The Tiger and The Frog. The original story is about how the Tiger helps the Frog go farther. I took this as making the Frog king have a really strong reputation. The picture is the picture that was provided with the original story. I thought it was really cute so I wanted to keep it.

I love big cats, but I thought it would be funny to make the Frog the king of frog because of his jokes. So I wrote in the perspective of the frog and say how he was able to scare the tiger off.