Week 7 Reading Diary: Chinese Fairy Tales

Chinese Fairy Tales

I found the tale The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck to be a straightforward tale about practicality and commitment. These days there is such an unrealistic expectation of love, but the princess in this story knew that she had bad luck and chose a man of lower status to marry because she saw that he had good luck. He husband then decides to find his fortune, leaving her alone for eighteen years, where he then become the emperor. When he comes back to get her, she does not recognize him but tells him that she has remained loyal to her husband even though he has been gone and will continue to be loyal to him. That is one thing I love about the Chinese culture, the concepts of loyalty, honor, and responsibility.

I have found that there is somewhat of a pattern among these stories. There is always a dominant father figure who punishes his children severely for their disobedience, yet in the ending there is good fortune to be found. There were similar themes of men as mighty conquerors who always achieved their goals, as well as "ten suns."There is also this concept of tiny warriors, comparable to the size of ants, 2 inches in height, etc.

The Panther was a very familiar story. It is basically the Chinese version of "Little Red Riding Hood," even down to the "how big your eyes are" aspect, with a little bit of the movie "Home Alone" added on to the ending. I found the story to be quiet amusing.

The tale of the Fire-Fox was interesting and very enjoyable. A fox had made a fire-ball which was the elixir of life and a farmer-boy ate it. Since the farmer-boy ate it he possessed many magical gifts and became wealthy because of these. After an extended period of time the fox returned to the boy, patted him on the back, where the fire-ball leapt out of the farmer-boy and was subsequently returned to the fox.

Retribution was a great story as well. Very much about the notion of what goes around comes around. I found the universe being in order to a refreshing and comforting.

Google Docs Dictionary Tech Tip

I chose to look up the word "conscientious" because it is just a word that I use fairly often but rarely spell, so I tend to have problems when it comes to writing the word down. There was actually on instance when I went to use it in a writing assignment during class and I actually had to pull out my phone just so I could type it into a text and have it auto-correct to the correct spelling! 

Google Presence Tech Tip

This was actually the fist time I have every Googled myself, and let me just say that it proved to be as difficult as I had anticipated. Because I have such an incredibly generic name, the only way that I would possibly ever be able to find myself would be if I changed my name on all of my social media (twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google, etc) to include my middle name, which I will not be doing anytime soon. Personally, for people with incredibly generic names like myself I would just say that sticking to networking and get your name out there through email, friends, Facebook, and cell phone.

Week 2 Storytelling: The Magical Mouse

There once was a mouse named Timothy. Timothy was not the biggest mouse, nor was he the strongest mouse; he was just an average-sized grey mouse, with large round ears, thin whiskers, a pink nose, and a nice long tail. But he was not just a regular mouse; he was a magical mouse. While he appeared to be a regular, plain mouse, he was actually filled with magic. He was the greatest mouse ever to have been seen.

A Brave Mouse

Timothy was on a grand magical journey. He had been traveling the woodlands, amongst all the grass and trees, for many weeks in the heat of the summer with his six buddies – other creatures called them his bros – when Timothy decided that they were dwindling under the scorching heat. So he turned to his bros and said, “Come with me and rest a while.” So the seven mice scurried away to an unoccupied shaded area just outside of the crowded fields and towns.

Now many of the forest creatures saw these mice heading toward the secluded shade and recognized them, for Timothy and his bros had been going from town to town, in which forest creatures would reside, revealing Timothy’s magical gift - by healing the sick, turning mud into drinkable water, and other such magical talents - all across the woodland territory for many to see and hear about. The forest creatures began to run and scurry from all the towns in that region to the unfrequented covering the seven mice were gradually walking towards, arriving there before them. It was a shaded, grassy area that was green and cool and covered by large tree branches and leaves, deserted and away from civilization. 

 As he approached them, Timothy looked around realizing that the mass of bodies consisting of chipmunks, snake, bugs, squirrels, bunnies, birds, and more, all hot, tired, and hungry, had come to see him, and he had empathy for them because he knew that their spirits were wounded from within, all wishing to somehow be healed by his magical abilities. They needed a hero, someone to look up to, someone to give them hope, and that someone was Timothy. So he began to tell them of his journey, of his abilities and those he had lent aid to, and he demonstrated his compassion for all of them.

When it grew late, Timothy’s bros come to him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is growing late. Send the creatures away to the surrounding fields and towns to find themselves something to eat.” 

But Timothy answered, “You give them something to eat.” His bros replied, “Do you want us to go and scavenge enough bread to feed all of these creatures?” And he said to them, “How many loaves of bread do we have? Go and count.” 

Once they counted, his bros returned to him and said, “Five, and two blackberries.” 

Then Timothy instructed all of the animals to sit down in groups on the grassy area underneath the shade, so the forest creatures did so and sat down with whatever creatures were next to them, like and different, in groups of hundreds and fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two blackberries Timothy used his magical powers and broke the loaves and gave them to his bros to set down before the forest creatures. And Timothy separated the two blackberries and divided them among all the animals, and they all ate and were content. Then the bros picked up twelve large sacks still full of broken pieces of bread and of blackberries. And they realized that those who ate the loaves of bread were five thousand animals.

 

Black Butte Berry

Authors Note. The Gospel of Mark from the Bible is made up of a series of stories accounting the life of Jesus. It was difficult to choose just one story since Mark, as a whole, is so powerful. I decided to choose Mark 6:30-44 – the miracle of the loaves and the fish - one of Jesus’ more famous miracles where he fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. It demonstrates that anything is possible through Christ if you believe. I chose to represent Jesus through a tiny mouse because Jesus was not especially big or powerful-looking, but he was certainly an extremely powerful being. By representing Jesus through a mouse, we are able to see that he came from humble beginnings. Jesus could have been born to a king, he could have been born in a bed/hospital, he could have been born to a married couple, but no. Jesus was born in a barn to a couple who were not of great status or wealth but were carpenters, and they had to travel not by horse but by donkey before they had him. It was his humble beginnings that make Jesus so powerful, and that is why I chose a simple mouse that would not have been especially exceptional by birth but was exceptional by the grace of God. The blackberries I substituted for the fish in the original story. Blackberries, like fish, are difficult to separate to feed so many people, but blackberries seemed to fit a woodlands setting better than fish. I was able to mesh the original Bible story with my retelling by keeping the loaves of bread but altering fish to blackberries. The location I had them gather would be very much like a secluded area off in the distance that is generally deserted. It was a place I would imagine someone would go to be alone to meditate or pray, somewhere cool and calming and green.

 The original story was in the third-person style and it is only fitting that it should be written this way even when the story is converted into somewhat of a child’s story. I really enjoyed this writing style because it gives the reader a lot of information without confusing him or her with an excess of details and continuously long sentences. However, I feel as though the flow came more naturally with this Biblical style than with others. I did use verbal echoes from the Bible in this retelling; the majority of it was in the last two sentences of the retelling. I felt as though using echoes allowed the reader to recognize that it was from the Bible.  Being able to tell one of the stories of Jesus, without making it overtly Christian, was the idea that I was going for. A type of blend between an animal fable and the Bible, so to speak.  

Bibliography: King James Bible (1611), Mark 6:30-44

Week 5 Portfolio Styles

One style I found to be interesting is a sort of “storytelling” (or bedtime story might be for better words) style, sort of like the kind used in the stories of Brer Rabbit where there is a dialog between two people at times (this I learned from the audio of the stories, with Uncle Remus talking to the little boy) and then the more adult of the two continues on to tell their story. It also makes me think of the song “Frosty the Snowman” by Jimmy Durante, because he is telling a story but at some places in the song you hear the little boy react to the story and ask Jimmy questions. The closest I have come to using this style was when I wrote the story within a story, but I would not consider it the same. This style could honestly work for any story so long as you include, or create, a storyteller and an audience member. This is strong for showing the reader that it is a verbal story and that there is a back and forth to the story. Weakness could be that the reader does not understand the back and forth to it. The biggest challenge would be making sure that the reader understands that the story is someone telling someone else a story, sort of a story-in-a-story.

The idea of doing a letter or diary is also appealing. The way that it is told from one of the character’s perspectives (usually the main character) makes for an appealing story. I wrote something similar because I made my character tell a memoir. I believe these would be a good style for stories with characters that went through a lot, have a journey, or stories that have a lot of details. It summaries the story for the reader without actually making it a summary since it is from another perspective, however if the reader did not read the original story they can become confused. I would say the biggest challenge would be to not lose the story from a characters perspective.

Creating a children’s book for the stories would be very enjoyable. It makes the stories fun and easily understandable. I used this style in my second storytelling, and it was something I really enjoyed doing. This could work for a variety of different stories, but mostly those without horribly gruesome endings. It would simplify the original story making it easier to understand for the reader. The reader might not recognize what the original story is, once the characters and settings are drastically changed. The biggest challenge would be finding the perfect story, or group of stories, to make into a children’s book.

Nursery rhymes and poems are a fun and clever way of telling a story. I love the way Shel Silvertein’s books are written because it tells little stories, some deep and some just silly. I have not used this writing style but I think it would be fun. Stories that could be summed up fairly short with only major details used would be best to use. It tells the reader the story while leaving out minor details. It could become complicated without the minor details of the stories because it is challenging to decide what details you deem as important and memorable and what someone else does.

An idea I came up with that has not been used yet was what if it were written as a texting exchange, like in the books “ttyl,” “ttfn,” and “l8r, g8r” where the entire book consists of texting exchange.  This would give a modern edge to stories while also simulating a diary/letter style from the characters perspectives. This could be great for many different stories because it would be like a conversation between two people able what happened. It is a fun and silly way of telling the details of a story, while also removing the complexity that is in some of the stories. People might not fully understand the artisticness of the style. The biggest challenge would be to not get wrapped up in the texting and make sure to stay on point with the story. 

Week 6 Famous Last Words

This week I chose to write about Brer Rabbit, which turned out to be fun and difficult at the same time. I used to hear these stories growing up as a child both in a Disney movie and a few times while visiting family in New Orleans, Louisiana. The hardest part of these stories was definitely the writing and overall “voice” of the narrator. Ebonics on steroids is what I am calling it, basically a type of broken up English. I did enjoy turning one of the stories into a type of petty rivalry, revenge type story, although I only did my storytelling over what could be considered part one of the original story. Since I am writing my Famous Last Words fairly early this week (this is due to the fact that my parents are coming to visit from Houston this weekend and I want as much time as I can with them), I have not fully decided what my reading will be on next week. Currently I am deciding between Chinese Fairy Tales and Nigerian Fairy Tales. I have read a little bit of both groups and I have to say that this is not going to be an easy decision to make. On one hand I really enjoyed reading African Tradition stories this week, they are filled with a little bit of old and a little bit of new along with fun, silliness, and free flowing. On the other hand, I have already done readings from the African Traditions sections so maybe I should do some reading from the Asia/ Pacific region instead. I feel as though the stories from the Chinese Fairy Tales are all about honor and loyalty, since those aspects are a crucial part of the Chinese culture (at least from what I previously know).  I am excited and am looking forward for the week to come.

Loquats and Mountain Bird (Source)

Google Timer Tech Tip

Currently I do not use Google Timer, but I am contemplating doing so on my phone so that I can take breaks to get away from staring at the computer screen for hours on end. Time management is very important. One thing that I find to be the most important is to get a head. I always attempt to get my school work done at least a week a head of schedule. I also find that putting your cell phone away is very important when doing school work. It is so easy for me to be distracted so I just put my phone on airplane mode or leave it in my room for a while.

The most important of my time management is to get up early. I get up at 7am every morning and get to campus by 8am so that I can do some homework before my 10:30am class. This allows me to get work done before I am tired from being in my classes all day. It also frees up my evenings so that I am not stuck doing my homework until midnight.

The biggest thing is to prioritize. If you get your responsibilities done first, you have more time to play later.

Essay Week 6: Brer Story Retold

For this week I wanted to see the African take on an old favorite of mine - Brer Rabbit. Not many people know this but Disney actually made a movie about Brer Rabbit, it’s called “Song of the South.” It was my favorite movie as a child. Unfortunately the movie was banned in the United States for reasons I am not too sure about. Just about everyone knows the song Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, so it was interesting seeing where an old favorite originated. 

What I find to be so interesting about these tales is their slave origin. They are African-American tales that are spoken in a certain dialect and framed by “Uncle Remus” who is an old African-American man, then he his telling the stories to a young white boy in Georgia. While reading the stories it felt as though Uncle Remus was in the room telling the stories to you because he would make references to things in the present at times. It would be as if I were telling you about someone who saw a Native American statue and then said that it was like the one on Oklahoma University’s campus near the clock tower. This allows the reader to feel present in the storytelling.

The dialect was what I found to be most difficult when reading these. Sometimes it seemed impossible to understand what it was talking about. It was like slang on steroids! However, I understand that these are classic tales and are written this way due to the culture of the time. That was how these stories were originally told and spoken. For one, after each character would talk it would say “sez” then the characters name then “sezee.” I found that to be incredibly interesting because that would be the equivalent to saying, “said Jessica, said she.” It was difficult but all very interesting and fun in the end. 

deviantART
by NarnMindWalker

Week 6 Storytelling: The Manikin

It was half way through her high school career and Sally was still being bullied by the queen-bee, Candace. Candace was always putting Sally into situations where everyone in the school would laugh and make fun of her. You see, Candace found joy in her cruelty toward other girls. Sally was tired of it and so she devised a plan to get back at Candace.

Sally knew everyday Candace got bored during her fifth period science class and would take the bathroom pass and roam the halls of the high school to make sure she was still the queen-bee. So one day, after the bell rang to start fifth period, Sally took a manikin, dressed it in a skirt, blouse, sunglasses, and a hat, covered it in extra sticky super glue, and sat it on a bench in the main hallway. Sally then hid in a dark empty classroom with a tiny window on the door so that she could watch.

As she predicted, Candace became increasingly board in class and decided to take the bathroom pass so that she could roam the hallways for the last ten minutes of class. “Miss Walters,” Candace said interrupting, “may I use the restroom?” Miss Walters turned from the chalkboard, grabbed the bathroom pass from her desk, and held it out saying, “Very well, Candace. But hurry up.” Candace leapt from her seat and strutted to the front of the classroom. She ripped the pass from her teacher’s hand and stormed out of the classroom grinning from ear to ear.

Candace was walking along when she noticed someone sitting on a bench down the main hallway. She did not recognize the person and walked strait towards them, not knowing that it was really the manikin.

“Hey, I’m Candace,” she said, “Are you new here?”

But the manikin said nothing, and Sally lay low, quietly looking through the tiny window in the distance.

“Where are you from?” said Candace.

Sally continued to watch, and the manikin said nothing.

“Well you could at least introduce yourself. Cute bracelet by the way, can I try it on?” Candace said, determined to take the bracelet.

Still the manikin said nothing, and Sally continued to lay low.

“It is rude to ignore people!” said Candace, becoming enraged. “Give me the bracelet!”

Sally tried not to giggle, while the manikin still continued to sit there.

“I cannot believe this! If you don’t say something then I am going to rip that bracelet off your wrist!” Candace said, angrily.

The manikin stayed still, and Sally watched excitedly.

“That’s it!” Candace said as she violently grabbed for the bracelet, but she could not remove her hand from the manikin’s wrist, no matter how hard she pulled. But the manikin stayed still, and Sally continued to watch from the window.

“Let go of me, crazy!” Candace yelled. “I will seriously slap you if you don’t let go of me this instance!”

The manikin did nothing, and Sally watched with anticipation.

“That’s it!” and Candace slapped the manikin on the face only to have her other hand glued on as well. “Get off of me you freak! What’s wrong with you?”

Still the manikin said nothing, and Sally tried to hold in her laughter.

As Candace was standing there glued to the manikin, the bell ending fifth period rang and the students began to fill the hallway. They began surrounding Candace, all of them pointing and laughing at her. Sally came out of her hiding spot and joined in the crowd’s laughter. She walked over to the stuck, thrashing Candace and said, “Well, well, well. Looks like you’re in a bit of a pickle there, huh Candace.” Candace immediately whipped around and glared at Sally. Grinning from ear-to-ear, Sally turned from Candace and the continuously laughing crowd and walked to her next class, satisfied with her pay back.  

Super Glue (Wikipedia Commons)

Authors Note. One of the wonderful things about Brer Rabbit is that they are somewhat continuous stories about Brer Fox coming up with elaborate schemes to catch Brer Rabbit and eat him. In The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story Brer Fox makes a person out of tar and then leaves it out on the side of the road where Brer Rabbit finds it and gets stuck in the tar. I kept to the story of getting stuck in something but I changed it so that it would be more of a prank/revenge concept. I also decided that I would not use the incredibly indecipherable language used in the original story.

Bibliography. Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris (1881).

Week 6 Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

The stories of Brer Rabbit were fairly difficult to understand because of the dialect. These took me far longer to read simply because I had to basically dissect the stories. It was similar to attempting to read another language. The stories of Brer Rabbit very much made me think of the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. Tom (the cat) will stop at nothing to catch Jerry (the mouse), much like Brer Fox would stop a nothing to catch Brer Rabbit and would even resort to elaborate schemes, but Brer Rabbit would out whit him every time.

One thing I noticed was that the narrator would break from the story and make referenced to things in the present. Such as in The Calamus Root story when the narrator is describing Brer Rabbit's garden and say that his garden's "like Miss Sally's out dar." You can really see that he is telling the story to someone. 

The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story is one of my favorites. I found it to be much more easily understandable than many of the others, probably because it was familiar. It made me think of those pranks in cartoons when someone finds a dollar bill on the ground and just when they are about to pick it up the dollar is pulled away by someone hiding and holding onto a string attached to the dollar.

How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox is another favorite of mine. I just find it to be oh too funny. It is the continuation of The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story. Brer Fox continuously attempts to catch Brer Rabbit so he can eat him. Finally he was able to catch Brer Rabbit using tar. Well Brer Rabbit out whits Brer Fox by telling him that he can do whatever he wants to him, just don't throw him in the Brer Patch. Well of course Brer Fox believes that this is a fate worse than death and throws Brer Rabbit into it, all to see Brer Rabbit escape from the Brer Patch because he was born and raised in it.

I believe that the stories that I enjoy the most are the stories with Brer Rabbit. I find his whit and cleverness to be enjoyable and hilarious. 

Google Search Tech Tip

For this tech tip, I decided to search in the Africa section of Sacred Texts for the word "elephant" because I was curious about what would pop up. I ended up finding a pretty cute and interesting about an elephant and a tortoise.

Elephant and Tortoise

It is actually a pretty gruesome story about a selfish elephant. The Elephant got into a fight with the Rain and so the Rain left, causing the elephant to have to find water elsewhere. A Crow was able to provide the Elephant with a lagoon, to which the Elephant left a little Tortoise in the lagoon to watch it for him while he hunter. While the Elephant was gone several animals came to the lagoon asking to drink the water but the Tortoise told them it belonged to the Elephant, but the animals drank the water anyway. Finally the Elephant returned to find that his water was all gone so he ate the Tortoise. "After Elephant had swallowed Little Tortoise, and he had entered his body, he tore off his liver, heart, and kidneys," essentially killing the Elephant. Now the Tortoise could go wherever he wanted.

Desert Tortoise (Source)

Week 5 Famous Last Words

What I found especially interesting about this weeks reading was the story of The Talkative Tortoise because it was almost exactly the same story that I did my Week 1 Storytelling over. It was the same story about a turtle holding on to the middle of a stick with its mouth while two ducks held either end of the stick, they then flew up in the air where the turtle then opened his mouth to talk causing him to fall to his death. There were so many stories I enjoyed in this past week's writings. It just makes the week so much fun that all the stories were great. This is probably why I am so excited about the upcoming week because I get to read the stories that one of my favorite movies growing up was about – Brer Rabbit. Who can forget the Magic Kingdom water ride “Splash Mountain” where you ride around in a log and then go down a gigantic drop into the brer patch? If that doesn’t sound familiar, how about zip-a-dee-doo-dah. Sound familiar yet? It should be a good week to come indeed. 

Every week I talk about how stressful classes are and how it is difficult to keep up with all of the readings for all of the classes - but not this week. I have been busting my gluteus maximus off this past week and weekend to get a head of the game (especially so for mythology and folklore) so that I do not fall behind in any classes. I do wish more of my classes were arranged and run like this one. With relevant and interesting readings and assignments that are important but not necessarily looking for an exact, one hundred percent perfect answer. It gives creativity a chance, which many classes try to take away. So getting a head of my classes is the goal for these next few weeks, either by doing half of the assignments the week before or all of the assignments. 

Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain
Wikipedia Commons

Week 5 Reading Diary: Indian Fairy Tales

Indian Fairy Tales

One story I found particularly enjoyable from this unit is called The Magic Fiddle. It tells the story of a woman who is turned into a Bonga girl because her sisters-in-law were all jealous of her and plotted against her. The woman then reappears as bamboo where she was then cut down by a Yogi and turned into a fiddle. The village chief then took the fiddle from the Yogi for his son. Everyday the Bonga girl would emerge from the fiddle until the chief caught her. He realized she was both woman and Bonga. Shortly after her brothers all visited and did not recognize her, so she told them about what their wives had done to her saying that her brothers must have known all along, which was all the revenge she took.

Another story that I liked was Pride Goeth Before a Fall because of how incredibly true it is. So many of us are wrapped up in pride that we often succumb to our own demise. It tells of three robbers who steal from and capture ten traders. They let their pride get a head of themselves by making the traders do a dance. The traders signal to each other during the dance, over power the robbers and leave to go home.

The story of How the Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner had a fabulous moral to it, seeing as the one who thought of others was rewarded. I believe it teaches selflessness while also telling a fun story of how the sun, moon, and wind became the way we know them now: the sun is hot, the wind is vicious, and the moon is calm and cool.

Essay Week 5: Stories from India

Since I read stories from the Middle East last week, this week I chose to read from India. Knowing very little about Indian culture, I thought this to be a good choice in readings to teach me more about the historical and social rather than the religious. I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the length of these stories because they fed me a great deal of information even though they were fairly short. It’s very interesting that the stories end on somewhat of a vague note. There is a lesson to be told from each of these stories but they were not blatantly spelled out for you. In a way these stories reminded me of Aesop’s Fables, mostly because of that moral compass and the lessons that you take away from each story. Something I noticed about these stories was that no one has a name. They are only referred to by what they are, such as “brother,” “man,” “son,” “lion,” “Yogi,” “Bonga girl” and others. I am curious if this has something to do with Indian culture, with these labels representing some type of status. What also caught my eye was the use of versus in many of the stories. These versus appeared as if they were some type of common saying, like “Good things come to those who wait,” and then a story was built around that saying. I found it to be interesting and I am wondering if my theory of this is correct on stories built around a common saying. It would certainly be an easier way for children to understand them and see and example of how the sayings could potentially be played out in life. Although there might have been some confusion from time-to-time, in the end I found these stories to be quite enjoyable.  

Taj Mahal (Source)

Week 4 Famous Last Words

I have realized that my best writing comes from a sudden spark; one idea that just pops into my head and takes on a mind of its own. I’m not really quite sure how to think about it but it just flows out of me. For some reason whenever I think too much about what I want to write about, the story is never any good really. As far as writing style is concerned, third-person omniscient is definitely where my strength lies. Personally I just enjoy this writing style because it makes the reader feel as though he or she was there at the event, whether the story is fiction or non-fiction. It allows the reader to feel as though they were invited to participate and therefore feel included on what is occurring.

As the semester continues and we write more and more, I am realizing that my writing will improve as well as my ideas for stories. The main objective is to make sure and not think too hard on what I want to convey. Over thinking blocks the mind, keeping the creativity and ideas from naturally flowing. One thing I have noticed about is that I tend to think backwards, and I have absolutely no idea why. It’s as if I already have an idea for a story, then I think of a style, then I do my assignment. I always knew I did things a little differently, but backwards is hilarious. So I am going to try and start at the beginning, instead of going backwards as my mind wants.

Reading classmates blog’s is probably one of the most helpful things we do in this class. There are so many new ideas that are discovered every time I read someone else’s storytelling, or essay, or last words. Everyone has such great ideas and concepts, which pushes me to do better and be more creative. One thing I really liked was that someone use *** to separate their story so that it perpetuated it forward without adding in more and making the story too long.  

For this up coming week I have chosen to do my readings over Indian Fairy Tales, since the readings I chose this past week were from the Middle East section. There are some very interesting stories in this grouping, yet they are very enjoyable. One thing I have noticed is that the style used for the characters dialogue is quite different from the style used in the actually writing. However, thus far I am enjoying the tales and how direct they are. It should definitely be an adventure.

Beautiful Nature in Afganistan (Source)

Einstein Tech Tip

Poster Tech Tip

Maybe some food for thought?

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Google Define Tech Tip

I decided that I would look up the word funny, just because I thought it would be humorous. I use google definitions all of the time when I read books for enjoyment. Many times I get stuck on a work so I have to look it up to continue reading. Often, I will write down the word and definition on a sticky note and then place that on the inside of the cover so that I can reference it later and expand my vocabulary.  Personally, I think that thesaurus is very helpful and important. I probably use that more than the definition because, more often than not, the synonym is usually easier to comprehend than the actual definition of the word. Using the Thesaurus is also incredibly useful when writing since it aids us in finding a different way to say the same word.

Essay Week 4: Reoccurring Motifs

 One of the obvious reoccurring motifs in Arabian Nights was definitely the story within a story concept. Each grouping of stories had the same theme of the character telling a story and a character within that story telling a different story.  This is a very different approach to storytelling and gives it a complexity that is rarely seen. It allows the reader to stay engaged in what is happening in one story while reading another. This is also very parallel to our lives if you view our lives as stories. Our life is the main story and the experiences we tell others are the stories within a story; when we tell other peoples experiences, that is a story within a story within another story.

The characters that were the man were also reoccurring motifs because they were not exceptional, they both had a family, and they were both innocent. They were both doing something for the jobs or to support their families and their encounter with the genius occurs when they were away from their family and when they were isolated. There was also the presence of the “genius” in both stories. A gigantic and powerful genius would appear out of nowhere in a huge cloud of smoke commanding the man he was going to kill him. The genius is basically evil and is killing an innocent man. Basically they had the same reoccurring plot in addition to the story within a story.

Since Scheherazade was the one who was telling the stories so she would not be killed I felt as thought the stories she was telling to the Sultan was about her and him. When you think about it, she is an innocent person not very high in social standing whom the Sultan is holding captive and planning on killing. She is telling him these stories to, hopefully, out wit him and to keep her alive. So her whole continuous experience with the Sultan is the plot of all of her stories. 

Benjamin Constant - Arabian Nights (Source)

Week 4 Reading Diary: Arabian Nights

Indecisiveness has been the theme for this weeks reading selection. After careful consideration, I have chosen Arabian Nights since it is morbid in its own little way. Since I already know the story of Aladdin and the lamp (thank you Disney), I have decided that I am only going to do half of the readings for this week so I can read about new topics and find new interests. 

One aspect I found rather interesting about Arabian Nights is that it is a series of stories being told within stories being told: it is a story Inception! Scheherazade is telling the Sultan stories because he has decided that he is going to kill her and his interest in her stories are the only things keeping her alive. So Scheherazade tells stories about a person who then tells a lengthy story about one or two more people. It's a story within a story. 

This makes things difficult for this week because I am not sure whether I should do an inception story or just one of the stories individually. I think that a story within a story is very clever and takes a lot of work and creativity to accomplish. I really enjoyed the Scheherazade's stories from when it was her talking to the Sultan to her actual telling of the stories. The complexity was amazing and very interesting. 

The Story of the Fisherman

This was definitely one of my favorites because it was so good all by itself. I believe this story is all about how people want to lash out towards innocent people after they have been wronged by one really mean person. One idea I really loved after reading other student's Storytellings this past week was how someone took a somewhat complex story and turned it into a story about a child's birthday. I was thinking about making this one into something similar, or possibly making it from the fisherman's wife's perspective. 

The Story of the Merchant and the Genius
I really enjoyed the overall flow of this story, not because it was particularly my favorite but because it originated from one story and branched off into two other stories. The way that Scheherazade used the story to manipulate the Sultan to keep her alive (fulfilling her ultimate goal) was very intelligent.

Week 3 Famous Last Words

Well this week has come with a lot of experimentation for this class. Different writing styles, different way of doing things, different format, just really different overall. Every time we comment on each other’s blogs I always have some sort of new idea or validation for myself. For example, I was worried all week about my storytelling and whether or not it was too long or choppy, but after reading other peoples stories I realize that I am somewhat in sync with everyone else. I also really enjoyed how some people centered their entire blog post, which is something that I believe I will be doing every now and again.

While I am going to miss my readings from this past week, I am somewhat excited about the readings for the week to come. I have always been incredibly fascinated by Egyptians and how they do things – from the story of Moses to Egyptian burials – so I am curious to see how their stories play out.

However, I now have new goals for the weeks to come. First off, I am going to try and get really far a head this week so incase and incident is to occur that leaves me unable to post for a few days (like this week cough, cough) I will at the very least have a little bit of wiggle room and not be so stressed out. I am starting to realize that there is more time in the day, and week, than I think there is. The only problem is attempting not to be burnt out with everything.

So for now I have decided to work ahead and look ahead. Attempting not to procrastinate is probably one of the hardest things us poor college kids have to deal with, but it is now time to tame that wild beast to jump through the flaming hoop and get it done (without catching on fire of course). 

Lion Tamer (Source)