Reading Notes: Grimm: The Robber Bridegroom, Part A

Grimm: The Robber Bridegroom: This story is part of the Brothers Grimm (Crane) unit. Story source: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm

- Daughter of the miller is of marriage age

- "the girl did not seem to love him as a bride should love her bridegroom: she had no confidence in him; as often as she saw him or thought about him, she felt a chill at her heart."

- the suited strewed ashes on the path for her to follow 

- she gets to a house, but cannot find her bridegroom

- "One of them noticed on the little finger of their victim a golden ring, and as he could not draw it off easily, he took an axe and chopped it off, but the finger jumped away and fell behind the cask on the bride's lap. The robber took up a light to look for it, but he could not find it."

- "The wind had carried away the ashes from the path, but the peas and lentils had budded and sprung up, and the moonshine upon them showed the way."

- "The robber, who during the story had grown deadly white, sprang up and would have escaped, but the folks held him fast and delivered him up to justice. And he and his whole gang were, for their evil deeds, condemned and executed."

Source

Reading Notes: Grimm: The Twelve Huntsmen, Part B

Grimm: The Twelve Huntsmen: This story is part of the Brothers Grimm (LibriVox) unit. Story source: Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

- King's son has a bride he loves, but the news of his father forces him to leave the woman with a ring and a promise to return

- King asks the son to marry someone other than whom the young man loved

- The Son marries

- "When they came to the king's daughter, she had twelve suits of huntsmen's clothes made, all alike, and the eleven maidens had to put on the huntsmen's clothes, and she herself put on the twelfth suit"

- these 12 became part of the King's service

- The lion tells the king the huntsmen are actually females

- challenge after challenge is given to prove the huntsmen are females

• first: pea challenge
• second: spinning wheel 

- on the hunt, at the news of the actual wife approaching, the lover in the huntsman disguise fainted and the King then saw the ring when he pulled her glove off

Source

Reading Notes: Grimm: Rapunzel, Part A

Grimm: Rapunzel: This story is part of the Brothers Grimm (LibriVox) unit. Story source: Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

- Man and woman living, want a child

- there's a garden in the back and the woman wants the rampion, so her husband climbs down to get it for her

- The enchantress, who the garden belongs to, questions the husband as to why he was stealing from her

- the enchantress  allows him to take as much rampion, but tells him he must give her his first child

- a baby was born, the enchantress named her Rapunzel and took her away only to lock her up in a tower

- the enchantress would climb up when Rapunzel let down her hair

- King's son is riding through and wants to marry her, they agree to build a ladder for her to get down with

- The enchantress finds out and takes her to the desert

- in the end the king's son finds her and leads her to the kingdom

Source

My Library Tech Tip

Hey! So this week I added a couple of tools such as JStor and Ebsco as my top two tools that I most frequently use right now. I have a couple of papers coming up for my history of science class, so I chose those two. I typically start off my research by searching on google first and then see where the article is found and then type the article into the OU Library database if I can't find the full article online first. JStor has a lot of great articles and has always been the place I go to whenever I start a paper where references are needed.

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part B

Who Stole the Tarts: This story is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

- Alice is at the Court of Justice: King & Queen of Heart are at the head of the court
- Judge = King; has a great wig
- Alice is hungry, eyeing the plate of tarts
- 12 jurors made up of a variety of creatures
- various pieces of conversations all around
- All this time the Queen had never left off staring at the Hatter, and, just as the Dormouse crossed the court, she said to one of the officers of the court, 'Bring me the list of the singers in the last concert!' on which the wretched Hatter trembled so that he shook both his shoes off.'Give your evidence,' the King repeated angrily, 'or I'll have you executed, whether you're nervous or not.'- The list of witnesses is worked through
- Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list, feeling very curious to see what the next witness would be like, ' — for they haven't got much evidence YET,' she said to herself. Imagine her surprise when the White Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the name 'Alice!'

Source

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

Wonderland: Down the Rabbit-Hole. This story is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

- Alice is sitting at the bank with her sister who is reading a book without any pictures, getting bored

- She sees a rabbit, who pulled out a pocket watch, made Alice interested and she followed him

- Alice fell down the rabbit hole without realizing where she was following the rabbit to 

- The fall was long and she found a jar of Orange Marmalade

- "There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked, and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again."

- "It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them"

- first a bottle that says "drink me" 

- next a cake that says "eat me"

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Learning Challenge Follow Up

Previous post related to this follow up post: Link

Last time I had mentioned that I was going to start  start incorporating the twisted arms, reverses prayer pose, and open chest stretch into my deskercizes. I have been adding these into my daily routine and let me tell you my body feels so much better. It is amazing how small exercises while studying make a world of a difference. My only regret is that I did not know about these small deskercizes earlier, but now that I do, I know I am definitely helping my back and neck. My family has even started doing these! Reverse Prayer Pose was difficult initially, but it is so easy to do now!

Reverse Prayer Pose

Growth Mindset: Beyond School

Beyond school I experience my strongest growth mindset in CrossFit, through focusing on improving my overall health, endurance, and strength. I work hard and focus on the the little aspects as well, because working on those smaller muscles is what work to build the bigger muscles. Focusing on learning how to be a better athlete is important and understanding the nutritional aspect as well. I believe I can improve through hard work in CrossFit, and that is useful in my school life as well, because the commitment to improve myself and gain knowledge is important in the academic field as well.

Here' my favorite meme: 

Source

Tech Tip: Chrome Art

I didn't think I would actually like this extension, because I tend to keep the number of extensions to a minimum and only download what I think will be useful. I am very much an image oriented person, so this image tool was a great addition. On my MacBook, I was always shown my favorites page immediately when a new tab opened up, but when I had a Windows computer before I really enjoyed the different backgrounds each day. I enjoy going to real museums as well, because I am not very crafty so I like to go appreciate the art and talent of others. I actually don't have browse museums online, because I like the physical feeling of being in a museum. Art comes in a variety of forms, my form of art is cooking. I can't draw much besides stick figures and the sun, so art classes were always a struggle. Regardless, I am so glad to have come across this add-on! Definitely a game changer!

Reading Notes: Coyote's Eyes, Part B

Coyote's Eyes, This story is part of the Southwestern and California Legends unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson.

- Coyote sees the bird take our its eyes and put them back, they are much brighter

- Coyote asks the bird to do it to his eyes, after doing it once Coyote asks to do it a second time

- the bird is smart and tells the coyote no

- the bird finally takes them out, but the eyes never return....coyote's black eyes are now yellow since the bird rolled gum from the piñon tree. 

(Coyote, by Larry1732)

Reading Notes: Spider's Creation, Part A

Spider's Creation, This story is part of the Southwestern and California Legends unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson

Quotes: 

"The spider drew a line of meal from north to south and then crossed it with another line running east and west."

"So the two mothers created the moon from a slightly black stone, many kinds of yellow stone, turkis, and a red stone, that the world might be lighted at night. But the moon travelled slowly and did not always give light."


"Then the two mothers created the Star People and made their eyes of sparkling white crystal that they might twinkle and brighten the world at night."

(Zia Pueblo, New Mexico)

Tech Tip: Google Data

Hey all!

It's been a while, with quarantine and getting caught up on all things related to school.

Thoughts on google?

I actually use google a lot, when I think about it. If I don't know something I turn to google to have the answer. Sometimes it doesn't have everything, but that's where school resources become useful. I honestly don't think about Googles data collection and re-use when I utilize Google. It is kind of scary how much information they are able to collect from our browsing history, but it does make like easier to have hundreds of thousands of answers at your fingertips. I actually have been thinking about Google's data analytics and the reports they have been publishing daily on what is being searched the most during this quarantine period. I took a management information systems class about two years ago where we learned about how Google developed the ability to collect mass data and share it with companies who pay them for it. There is a lot of brain power that has gone into the development of the servers and the data analytics software. I know some aspects of Google's data collection, but not a lot. When I want to learn about topics like online privacy I turn to cybersecurity firms who are reputed.

Learning Challenge: Review your schedule

Hey All!

Definitely getting a better handle on my schedule now that we are into the 7th week of classes. I have definitely been taking advantage of the extra credit opportunities more this time around than when I had taken Indian Epics. I have looked back a couple of times on how I had originally planned out my schedule for this class, but as I have figured out how to do my assignments for other courses, I have revised my schedule for this class. I typically work on my blog comments throughout the week and then complete the quizzes once I have completed all the feedback comments and blog comments. Majority of the assignments I complete over the weekend and start partially working on the next week's assignments.

Starting this week actually, I want to try to complete my project assignment before the weekend, but sometimes by quizzes and homework assignments during the week always have me pushing the project assignment to be completed on Friday or Saturday night.

Here's a picture of Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, whom I sometimes imagine is my clock in my house:)

Cogsworth

Reading Notes: South Africa, Part B

South Africa: Jackal, Dove, and Heron by James Honey

- Jackal wants one of the dove's young's: dove gave one

- Jackal back again: gives another one

- Heron sees the dove crying...Heron explains how can a Jackal who can't fly, come up to her nest. 

- Jackal comes again, this time dove says no...Jackal moves to encounter Heron at banks of water

- Jackal breaks Heron's neck and since that day, its neck is bent

African Heron

Reading Notes: South Africa, Part A

South Africa: The Monkey's Fiddle by James Honey

- Hunger and want force the monkey to move...finds shelter with uncle

- worked and wanted to return home..received: fiddle and a bow and arrow and told him that with the bow and arrow he could hit and kill anything he desired, and with the fiddle he could force anything to dance.

- encountered Brer Wolf and killed a deer for meal

- wolf becomes jealous and wants the bow..monkey says no

- Jackal comes and wolf spins a story saying that the monkey stole his bow and arrow

- "The fiddle was still at Monkey's side, and he received as a last favor from the court the right to play a tune on it. He was a master player of his time, and in addition to this came the wonderful power of his charmed fiddle. Thus, when he struck the first note of "Cockcrow" upon it, the court began at once to show an unusual and spontaneous liveliness, and before he came to the first waltzing turn of the old tune the whole court was dancing like a whirlwind."

- "I do not want it," answered Monkey, "but withdraw the sentence and give me my bow and arrow, and you, Wolf, acknowledge that you stole it from me."

- everyone is now afraid and disperses

The Monkey

 

Week 5 Review

This week's video I watched a Mindset Video. She shared some thoughts from the perspective of evolutionary biology: mental 'deficits' are hidden strengths.

- There is not a perfect definition, there is variation that exists in so many aspects. She used students who are very high on the Autism spectrum as an example to show that these students are able to see things that an average person might not be able to. They are able to pick on trends that others may not able to pick up on as well as there ability to process data. 

My favorite picture on the 7 day feed way this one. Oh it brings back so many memories. Nowadays many of the bangris are actually metal, rather than glass because on easy to put them on without the extra caution. Also, love the detail of the henna, this past winter I had also got henna done. I am a big fan of bangels, they really do make your outfit look so much better! 

Learning Challenge: YOGA!!

The article I read for the Learning my H.E.A.R.T assignment was 6 Yoga Exercises You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk by Linda Steinberg

Some of the exercises I already do are the neck stretch, shoulder rolls, and chair twist..I am going to start incorporating the twisted arms, reverses prayer pose, and open chest stretch into my deskercizes. It really can be taxing on my neck and shoulder when I am studying or working on schoolwork on my laptop. Sometimes I really wish there was something created would hold a paper version of a textbook in front of me rather than me having to be bent over all the time to read a textbook so I can highlight easily. 

Reverse Prayer Pose
Seems a bit tough but definitely think I can do it...

Growth Mindset: Challenge: Make a Mindset Motto or Mantra

Take a deep breath, because slow and steady win the race is something I started saying to myself when I was preparing for my first college exam. I was studying constantly and afraid that I would forget everything once I got to the exam and was constantly stressed. My parents would tell me form time to time that stress will have an effect on my health. The weird thing is that I tend to feel more stressed and bundled in tension for all my science exams and I always repeat to myself take a deep breath, you've got this, slow and steady....

Tech Tip: Canvas Calendar

Hey all!

So as we're getting further into the semester I definitely have a better idea of how my schedule is working. I hate that I always struggle to figure out a schedule I can stick to right from the beginning, but hey you know you learn as you progress right? Now that we are in week 5, I have such a better understanding of my schedule and time management. Time management is so crucial to maintain a balance between physical and mental health as well as personal care. As you all can tell I tend to be the overachiever by nature and sometimes that can carve into my personal time that I have set aside, but having a calendar to keep me accountable and remind me of due dates helps me tremendously. I imported the Canvas Calendar for this class into my Mac calendar and I love that I get due date reminders the day before and the day of. For example, for this class buckle down and do majority of the work Friday and Saturday mornings and do the blog comments throughout the week. Additionally, I work ahead on the reading notes, so definitely winning in that aspect. Okay, back to time management, the calendar on my desktop definitely keeps accountable on for my time. I definitely plan my personal care hours into my calendar and then schedule anything fun I would like to do with friends.

Prioritizing is a Game Changer!

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part B

Ramayana: The Birth of Rama by Donald A. Mackenzie

• Mareech has taken on the form of the golden deer, Sita sees it and wants it
• Laksh is skeptical for it may be an illusion 
• Ram goes on the hunt, he figures out he's being duped, but before he could finish off Mareech, Mareech cries for help as Ram causing Sita to panic and insist on Laksh going into the forest, making him break his brother's direct order leaving Sita alone and unguarded

• The devil in disguise:
• Lakshman is runs off in search of Ram
• Ravan arrives at the cottage dressed as a poor old hermit 
• Sita receives him with respect 
• Ravan transforms to his actual self 
• Sita is telling Ravan to flee before Ram comes back 
• Apparently Ravan was cursed that if he touched a woman without her consent that he would die that instant...thus he pulls the ground under Sita and places it in his chariot and speeds off. 
• Jatayu tries to stop Ravan, Jatayu was successful in stirring a storm and bringing the chariot down..
• Unfortunately Ravan uses his master weapon gifted by Shiv called Chandrahasa and finished Jatayu
• Jatayu fights to stay alive until Ram comes
• Ravan carries Sita to Lanka

Jatayu and Ravana's Fight 

Reading Notes: Ramayana, Part A

Ramayana: The Birth of Rama by Donald A. Mackenzie

Valmiki invented poetry and through that and the order of Brahma he wrote the Ramayana. 

- Now the capital of Kosala was Ayodhya, which shone in splendour like to Indra's celestial city; it had wide streets with large dwellings, richly decorated temples, towering like mountains, and grand and noble palaces.<-- lots of imagery to envision the city and the people
- The city of Ayodhya was full of prosperous and happy people.
- King Dasharatha
Ruler of the kingdom of Koshala
strong and powerful, loved by his people
life of sorrow, no sons from any of the three wives
King of Solar dynasty
resolved to perform the Aswamedha (horse sacrifice)
An oblation was afterwards offered to the gods, who came to the place of sacrifice with the music-loving Gandharvas, the Celestial saints, the Siddhas, and seven Deva-rishis....the gods promise that 4 sons will be born
- Brief mention on Ravana and his boon...Vishnu divides himself among the 4 sons to combat Ravana.

Horse Sacrifice

Extra Credit Reading

Jataka Tales: The Elephant and the Dog by Ellen C. Babbitt

This story reminded of a film I watched a couple of years ago, maybe y'all remember it, but it is about a horse and a dog that become best friends and share every meal together as well. When the horse becomes sick the dog is there to comfort him. 

Quick notes about the story: 

- Love how the story encompasses two best friends not based on size, type of creature, or anything else. 

 

Some of my favorite quotes with powerful meanings:

- Day after day the Dog went to the stable, waiting around for bits to eat. But by and by the Elephant and the Dog came to be great friends. Then the Elephant began to share his food with the Dog, and they ate together. When the Elephant slept, his friend the Dog slept beside him. When the Elephant felt like playing, he would catch the Dog in his trunk and swing him to and fro. Neither the Dog nor the Elephant was quite happy unless the other was nearby.
- The king's Elephant missed the Dog and did not care to eat when his friend was not there to share the food. When the time came for the Elephant to bathe, he would not bathe. The next day again the Elephant would not eat, and he would not bathe. The third day, when the Elephant would neither eat nor bathe, the king was told about it.
- When the farmer who had bought the Dog heard this, he turned him loose. The Dog ran back as fast as ever he could go to the Elephant's stable. The Elephant was so glad to see the Dog that he picked him up with his trunk and put him on his head. Then he put him down again.
- When the Elephant-keeper brought food, the Elephant watched the Dog as he ate, and then took his own food. <-- This quote is so powerful in the sense that it shows how much the Elephant cares about the Dog, reminded me so much of how my mom looks at me after I come home from a long day.

Best Friends Reunited: The Elephant and the Dog

Reading Notes: Jakarta Tales, Part A

Hey All!

The King's White Elephant from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

- One day while they were at work an Elephant came limping on three feet to them. He held up one foot and the carpenters saw that it was swollen and sore. Then the Elephant lay down and the men saw that there was a great splinter in the sore foot. They pulled it out and washed the sore carefully so that in a short time it would be well again.
- Now this Elephant had a son who was white all over — a beautiful, strong young one. Said the old Elephant to himself, "I will take my son to the place in the forest where I go to work each day so that he may learn to help the carpenters, for I am no longer young and strong."
- The white Elephant did as his father told him to do and helped the carpenters and they fed him well.
- One day the king came down the river and saw this beautiful white Elephant working for the carpenters. The king at once wanted the Elephant for his own and paid the carpenters a great price for him. Then with a last look at his playmates, the children, the beautiful white Elephant went on with the king.

Elephant and the Son

Storybook Plan

Hello there!

When I was reading through the last part of this week's project assignment, I realized I had actually answered majority of the bulleted items in my last week's project research post.

Just to recap:
- I decided to do a Storybook!
- I think the storybook will be a great way for me to bring the the Greek Heroines and let my readers know of their importance, origins, and what all they did and stood for
- I will be referring to theoi.com
- I think the overarching theme will be displaying the female strength in various forms.
- I want to almost make it in the form of bedtime stories, imagining that these are stories I might tell my niece or nephew
- I don't want to limit myself on the story style, but I am leaning more towards bedtime story style rather than stories geared for adults...

So this is easier for me I hope you don't mind I took your email from week 3 and added this week 4 material on, so that I have all my comments on one page. The comments in red are for this week.


I would like to know what their origins were (i.e. parents, the city they were born in, who they married, any children) and focus the stories on what made them the heroines rather than just another average Greek. I would like to have the stories in a first-person view and be descriptive of the challenges they faced and connect two or three heroines in some way. For example, I might do a first-person narrative of Penelope and her struggles during her wait for Odysseus.

==> first-person perspective sounds great! you might be interested in this ancient experiment by the poet Ovid, where he imagined some famous Greek heroes writing letters to the heroes; it's called the Heroides (which is Greek for "heroines"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroides ... and here is an English translation online: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Heroideshome.php#highlightheroides

I looked into the Heroides and could not find ones that related to the heroines I am thinking of writing stories about. 

I want to focus my stories on:

Atalanta:
Atalanta was an Arkadian heroine--a huntress and a favourite of the goddess Artemis.
Atalanta swore to defend her virginity and when two Kentauroi (Centaurs) burst into her grove, she slew them with arrows. She later took part in the voyage of the Argonauts and defeated the hero Peleus in wrestling at the funeral games of King Pelias.
The heroine reluctantly agreed insisting that a suitor must defeat her in a race and that the losers be put to death. Melanion--or Hippomenes--however, sought the help of the goddess Aphrodite who provided him with three golden apples to cast before the girl in the race.
neglected to pay Aphrodite her dues. She cursed him and he was compelled to lie with his wife in the sacred precinct of Zeus, Rhea or Artemis where an offended deity transformed them into lions.

==> Atalanta is AWESOME, and as you can see there are so many different dimensions to her story; you can choose the episode(s) from her life to include in your story based on what you think are the most important aspects of her character.

I found this story of how Atalanta came to be and how her husband came into the picture. There are so many aspects of her that all play a key role in developing who she is, I am kind of struggling on what aspect to capitalize on.. I am leaning more towards how she became a huntress. Source 1: https://www.greek-gods.org/greek-heroes/atalanta.php. Source 2 has an ode at the bottom: http://atalantaandhippomenes.weebly.com

Leda:
Leda was a queen of Sparta, the wife of King Tyndareus, who was seduced by Zeus in the guise of the swan.
In the chronology of myth Leda was a contemporary of Herakles who placed her husband Tyndareus on the throne of Sparta.
Leda was usually described as a daughter of Thestios, king of Pleuron.
not really sure I like Leda's character so much at the moment

==> although with these characters you can imagine them in any way that you like! that's why people keep coming back to Greek myth over and over again: there are so many different ways to imagine each character... and with all those famous children, it makes you wonder what she thoughts about her children, and what they might have thought about their mother! but if you are not happy with Leda, you had mentioned Penelope, who would be another great character to include

I did not find as much information on Leda as I had originally hoped so I am trading her out for Penelope. There's is a Heroide of Penelope to Ulysses. For this I am going to talk about Penelope is the daughter of Icarius of Sparta, and how she ended up marrying Ulysses...since there is so much significance about Penelope and Ulysses, I am thinking maybe I should do one story that introduces her and one that she tells about her time awaiting for Ulysses. What are your thoughts? Or should I combine the two? There are various resources embedded within this one site: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Penelope/penelope.html

Penthesilea:
Penthesilea was an Amazon queen who led her troops to Troy in support of King Priamos during the Trojan War.
In the battles which ensued Penthesileia slew the Greek Makhaon (Machaon) but was in turn felled by Akhilleus (Achilles).
Penthesileia's name means "mourned by the people"

==> Penthesilea is such a great character; I am really excited you want to include her! there are ancient authors who wrote about her, and modern authors too; here is a book (poem) about Penthesilea: http://bit.ly/37Y4Qpn ... if you like poetry, you might enjoy reading that as an extra credit reading thing!

There's a story that talks about how she killed Achilles first and Zeus brought him back to life and then Achilles proceeded to kill Penthesilea. I think the readers will really like that story and tie into the story why her name holds significance as well. I am going to mention her origins at the beginning of the story. 

Tyro:
Tyro was a Thessalian princess who fell in love with the river Enipeus. As she was sitting on the banks of the river, Poseidon seduced her in the guise of the river-god.
There were several alternate versions of her story. In one, after Tyro revealed she was pregnant by the god, her father Salmoneus refused to believe her, suspecting that his wicked brother Sisyphos was involved. He commanded her to expose the children as soon as they were born.
Stories will focus on bringing the importance of the heroines into the stories and making the readers knowledgable about the origins of the goddesses. Picked some that overlapped. Any suggestions and comments are appreciated!

==> oh wow, this is so cool: no one has ever done a Tyro story for this class before; I think that sounds great, and you have picked out such an unusual set of heroines, all with such different stories and different ways for you to imagine their personalities! that sounds wonderful! you can see all the ancient testimony about Tyro here at theoi.com: https://www.theoi.com/Heroine/Tyro.html

I think for Tyro I plan to introduce her origins/family and then dive into how she fell in love with the river god, Enipeus, who ignored her. She married someone she didn't love and was a mother to five children (not all from her husband). Mentioning Poseidon is important because she bears his twins.