Fall 2020

  (Green Goblin from Flickr ) For the Twenty-Two Gobblins Unit , there were so many different aspects of the story that were captivating and gave me different ideas to incorporate into my own stories and writing. This unit had a good introduction that sets up the whole unit and gives the background information to understand why the king was in the cemetery looking for the goblin. I then really enjoyed the way in which the goblin began to tell riddles to the king. These seperate stories in the unit all went together but each had very different aspects. The way in which this was done kept me wanting to continue reading and see what the next riddle would be and if the king would answer correctly. I also found it funny that the goblin character was not compliant with the king and even would run back to where he was found. I think the character set up was strong in that the king was a protagonist to an extent and the goblin the antogonist, yet they did not seem to be completely fighting...

  (Stressed Cat from Pixaby) Hitting the first set of midterms this semester was super stressful but we have now made it. Hopefully this coming week will be one that is a little more laid back and easy. I feel like now at five weeks into the semester I think everything is finally starting to get into a groove and settle in. This time of year I think it is super exciting to be starting to feel like fall and get into the mood. I love the fall leaves that begin to cover the ground and being able to drink hot coffee at all times of the day. In terms of this class, I am enjoying getting to be doing my storybook and growing it. I think that it is going to be really unique and I cannot wait to find more stories that go along with my theme of beauty to add to my collection. I also cannot do a famous last words without talking about my Luka girl. I am excited at the end of this year to go back at the end of the semester and see how much she has changed. In the past two weeks, she has grown ...

 I enjoyed checking this site out. My father is a programmer/web designer and he always has been about using alternative sites to Google. This site is one that I have never seen though. I really liked it and will definitely use it again.

(Genie's Lamp from Wannapik ) A long, long time ago there lived a poor boy named Aladdin. Devestatingly, Aladdin's father passed away tragicly leaving his mother and him to fend for themselves. Aladdin, however, was a lazy boy that would not get his act together and fend for his mother no matter how much she begged him too.  One day as he was running the streets with his friends, a strange man appeared out of nowhere and began questioning him. The man happened to be a famous magician travelling all the way from Africa to meet with Aladdin and his mother. The magician said he was Aladdin's uncle and had come to meet them and bring them many gifts. After showing the mother and Aladdin with gifts, buying Aladdin a place to conduct work and even new wardrobes.  The next day, the magician and Aladdin set out beyind the city walls on a journey into valley and up toward the mountains. It was long and trying and Aladdin was not happy with it and wanted to return home. As the pair r...

 Aladdin One of my all time favorite stories as a kid, and even know, was Aladdin. I have watched this movie more times than I can count, seen the play and even been in a musical production of Aladdin. Interestingly enough, I had never even read the actual thing. I have read the Disney account of course, but never this version.  I enjoyed reading the original version and making note of the differences between the two to see ways in which one could alter a story: Aladdin still had a mother Aladdin wasn't a homeless thief but an idle boy A magacian posing as his uncle came to make him retrieve the lamp There was not Abu, the monkey Aladdin walked down into a corrider with three doors and not into a sand enclosure shaped as a lion Aladdin had a second genie from the ring Aladdin saw the princess's face as she was going to bathe instead of saving her on the streets when she was dressed as a commoner Aladdin went to the Sultan for permission to marry his daughter and did not act li...

 Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out my Portfoli The Beauty and leaving me some feedback. (Lots of love from the Noun Project )

 For this weeks tech tip I was able to learn how to add in a spell check and a word counter into my browser which will both help me in my blog writing. For browser bookmarks, I have been taking advantage of these for a long time now and will continue to use them in this course. 

 I first read some microfictions in the second week of class and found them so cool and unique. I was also suprised I had never heard of them before. Even before I found that this was an assignment option I had gone and looked up some microfictions of my own for fun!  I think microfictions are a great way to get a point across in a simple form because so often in today's world (even in quarantine it seems) people are constantly going as fast as they can and won't read anything if its too long. I also had the opportunity to read a classmates microfictions from the Biblical stories unit and thought they were great.  The Tiny Tales from India were probably my favorite just becuase most of them contained some really interesting and fun animal characters. These microfictions also all reminded me of stories I heard as a kid that had a moral to the story and taught a lesson.  Of course I also really enjoyed the Tiny Love Stories. I am a sucker for romantic stories and often...

Many of the different stories that are contained in Part B were enlightening and gave me many different ideas on writing styles and different characters that I go change up and use as my own. The beautiful woman is someone that would be great to use in my own storybook as she has such a dominating character with multiple aspects.  However, what I really focused in on in this part of the readings was the final story and how it was wrapped up. The ending was somewhat different than I had imagined as I read along. The end wraps everything up very cleanly and in a suprising way. For one, I think it is perfect how the donkey who had seen his fate coming and the death he was to face chose not to give up. At first I had almost thought the princess was out of luck and then to my imagine the donkey came to the rescue. It was also ironic that a donkey was saving the princess. In the majority of fairytales the princess is saved by a prince or some savior and they ride of to live happily ever ...

 I think cats are so fun, quirky and can easily turn a frown upside down! So naturally I enjoy looking through all the many Growth Mindset Cats. ( Feedback is helpful don't fear it. ) I think it is definitely very important for all people to take a step back and remind themselves that we always need feedback if we are going to grow and get better. Without feedback we will never improve and instead stay complacent in the things that we do. Sometimes it is hard to not fear or worry about the feedback we may recieve but if we take a step back and welcome it we will grow! ( Not sure what to do next? ) This cat meme really relates to me. I am the type of person who constantly thrives (or think I thrive) off of being busy. However, this can often be draining and when I accomplish the tasks on my todo list I'm not sure what to do next. It is healthy mentally and physically to just take a deep breath and think when we aren't exactly sure what to do next.

 Week 3, another week come and gone with the blink of an eye. I watched the Bruno Mars Uptown Funk Parody and thought it was hilarious. I love reading so I thought it was perfect!!

 Be a Mirror This article was very insightful and made me think about feedback in a wat that I had never done before. The article offers up five different strategies to foster a growth mindset including: be specific, focus on what the reader is doing, focus on the process, make sure it can transfer and to take yourself out of the process. Of these I found the strategy of focusing on what is being done and not what isn't as one of the best ones. I think it is important to give constructive critisism on what is there instead of completely going at what is absent. How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk I found this article very applicable to my own life because I always worry that in giving feedback someone may think that I am being mean to them. However, giving feedback doesn't have to be you trying to be nice. Without feedback we would be extremely mediocre and no one would ever get better. I think that the way they article talks about taking yourself off a pedastool ...

For my storybook, I think that using the Frog stories would be really interesting and give me so many different aspects to wrtie about. There are plethora of differnet stories out there that include a frog that fills many different roles. One of my favorites that I found was about the Fairy Frog that is a Jewish proverb. Then a whole site full of exclusive Frog stories ragning from the Frog Prince to the Enchanted Frog. I think that these would make a really good storybook. https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/frog.html Cupid and the Psyche would also be a very fun and eventful story to base my storybook on. There is so many twists and turns and drama contained within this story that would make for a good story book. I also think that there would be many ways in which I could manipulate this story and put my own twist on things.  Monkey See, Monkey Do was one of my favorite short stories to read and put my own twist on so it is definietly one that I am still considering using. One story I f...

 There once was a king who's land had fallen into a tretcherous despair. The land was not producing crops and the people had become poor and famished. The king was unhappy and hated to see his people in suffering so he went to the wise old owl who lived right outside the city gates.  The owl told the king that his land had fallen into despair becuase of their wickedness but that they still had hope for redemption. The owl commanded the king to bring his 3 best soldiers out to the city gates. Once there, the owl instructed them to each take a cistern of water and to head west. Once the men had run out of thier water that was were they would find a solution to the problem. As each man runs out of water he is to return home to the king. At last the king will have a solution.  As they set out, it was a terribly hot time of year and the first soldier drank up his water within a days time. The spot in which he landed was full of mulberry trees. At this discovery he quickly retu...

These stories come from the  Noah  unit. The first story source:  The King James Bible  (1611) Genesis and the the second is Louis Ginzberg  The Legends of the Jews  (1990) The second half, or part B, of the Noah unit was interesting. This section laid out where information came from and was a description of the way things worked. The stories all came from The Legends of the Jews which were adapted from The King James Bible.  The angel that Louis Ginzberg talks of in the first two stories of this section is a character that I may like to draw from. This angel, Samuel, was almost all knowing and had power due to his knowledge. I think a story would be told well and in a unique way if I were to create a character or orchestrates the events and is almost like a narrator for the entirety of the story. It would almost be a character who has previous knowledge of the end or outcome and yet gently nudges along the main characters from the beginning to the end...

These stories come from the Noah  unit. The first story source: The King James Bible (1611) Genesis and the the second is Louis Ginzberg The Legends of the Jews I chose this weeks readings because most of these are stories I have grown up reading and learning but never ones that I stopped and looked at the literature elements they contained. For the most part, the way that The King James Bible is written is somewhat confusing due to the language they use in it that we do not. I do like how the book of Genesis describes in great detail the events that are occuring without using to many words. Many descriptions are consice yet very specific. I am not sure that these are the particular stories that I would want to redo. However those written by Louis Ginzberg were slightly easier to read and follow along with as he himself has rewritten many of the stories one could find in The King James Bible in a way that is easier for the average person to read without the need for previous know...

This would definitely fall into the category of outside of class; however, it is very exciting to me so I thought it would be fun to write about. For a long time now I have been casually looking to get a dog and slowly working to convince my parents t o let me. Luckily for me a little over a week ago an opportunity to get a golden doodle puppy fell into my lap and I jumped at it. So now I am that annoying obsessed dog mom that I told myself I would never become. My sweet pup Luka is 8 weeks old with lots of energy but is already so well behaved. One of her favorite things to do is go on walks, ride in the car or play with her favorite rabbit toy. I hope to have her trained well enough that she will go on walks and run with me without having to use a leash. So far she does this pretty well but I think it may just be because she’s so little she’s scared to run too far from me. Between me, my two roommates and my parents she sure is a spoiled puppy and she knows it. I have a good feeling ...

 Why Rejection Hurts So Much No body likes rejection but it is an opportunity to grow and learn. I found it super interesting to learn that when someone recalls rejection the same part of the brain that feels physical pain is activated. It is important to learn what to do in the wake of rejection. One should not chastize themselves to harshly and instead acknowledge their shortcomings. Then you must remember your self worth and boost our feelings of connection with those around us who will lift us back up. How to Tame Your Inner Critic:A Simple Habit to Rewire Your Brain This simple article title is eye catching to me. I am often the type of person who is way too hard on myself for no reason at all. This does not lead me to doing better and instead just leads to an added plethora of stress. In this article it shows that "Instead of brooding over setbacks, you begin treating each setback as a springboard for small helpful steps, accompanied by self-congratulation." By learning...

 Monkey See, Monkey Do While this particular story is one that is quite short, I think it is one that would be easily expanded upon. I feel like we so often her the saying growing up and are told not to always do what we see. There are endless possibilities for a story such as this one. I think changing this story up and making it my own would be a fun task. (Monkey Hears from Creazilla ) Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche I have always loved fairytales and love stories so reading and adapting this particular one would be so fun! Unlike the first idea, this story is quite long and may make it easier to change and mess around with. I think it would be cool to change around the characters and even make Cupid's character a girl and the Psyche character a boy. The Frog Prince This is another fairytale love story that I have always loved and think would be another fun one to change up. A story like this could easily be elaborated on and contain character reversals. Changing the frog prince...

 Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a farmer and his three daughters. The farmer loved his daughters grately and did everything he could to provide them with the best life possible. One Spring, he had great success with his milking cows and decided to take this milk to the nearby city to sell. As he was preparing to go, he asked his daughters if there was anything that they would like him to bring back for them. The oldest and youngest daughters each asked for things like clothing, jewlery and beauty products, while the middle child only asked her father to bring her back something beautiful. When he ased what this entailed all she replied was that she wanted something beautiful reminding her of her mother who passed away when she was  a child. So the father set off for town to sell his milk. While in the city he found all kinds of things the oldest and youngest daughter would love but there was nothing beautiful to bring the middle child to remind her of her mother. ...

Fairy Tale: Beauty and the Basilisk Story Source :  The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922). This story is one that is full of multiple different twists that I would have never imagined before reading it. This is the type of story that I want to display, full of twists and turns that will keep a reader on edge. When I read, I am constantly trying to figure out what the end is going to look like. My favorite stories are those where I think I have figured it out and then am completely shocked when I reach the end and it is completely different than anything I could have imaginied. This story is very unique in the way that the daughter is used as payment for the roses and ends up married in an elegant wedding. Image Information: Basilisk by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (1747-1822).

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: ___Noah______ Week 4: ___Adam & Eve______ Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: ___Sinbad______ Week 6: ___Santal______ Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: ___Ozaki______ Week 9: ___Congo______ Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: ___Cherokee______ Week 11: ___Blackfoot______ Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: ___Celtic Tales______ Week 13: ___Alice in Wonderland______ Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: ___Crane______ Week 15: ___Infero______ I am really excited for all the different weeks and the stories that are available in them. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and it was hard to just pick two from every topic. I will most definitly be reading more of the stories that we could choose from just for fun. ( Reading Girl )