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.