Tech Tip: Browser Tune-Up

Tuned up my browser today! I did not realize that google chrome had a feature where you could install a spell check and word counter. Let me tell you this has been a game changer!

Well, Let's Get Crackin'...Topic Brainstorm

Hey all! There are so many interesting topics out there that it is getting really hard to narrow, which ones I really am more interested in. I love learning more about the Greeks, which makes this class more enjoyable! As I had mentioned in my intro I love learning, I truly believe no matter how old you get or how many years in school you spend there is always more to learn. As you'll see I am a big greek mythology fan and so the theme for this post is greek mythology! I am truly so excited for this project!!

The Greek Titans: This is an area that I am not particularly familiar with because most of my readings concentrated on the time involving Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. This does focus on the time before Zeus and the Olympians came to power and the ruling deities of Greece were the Titans. I would like to learn who was included in this group of Titan, how they were formed, what role did they play in the society, and how were they perceived by the Greeks. I love to learn the backgrounds first and then create fully detailed stories. I don't think I would want to model off of a sample story for this specific category. There is so much to learn about the Titans and I want the others to learn about Titans by retelling the original stories about them in a shorter form. More on the liens of taking a long story and revising it a bit and retelling it in my own words. I am not sure if I am making sense, but it would essentially be like a short synopsis. Although, I do know that I would like to focus on Cronus and Rhea.

The Greek Underworld: Through my readings of Greek mythology I know that Hades is the god of the underworld. Hades is known to have a fierce wrath and show no mercy. He has a gatekeeper and sends people out to bring those who have died down into the underworld. He is also one of three brothers, his other two bothers control the sky and sea. I would like to learn what led to Hades ruling the underworld domain and not one of the other two and if he had any children. I would like to tell stories that are set in modern times that still encompass and display Hades importance and role in the underworld functionings. I want to write short stories about an occurrence and tie that back to Hades role in what happens with that person. I am not very clear as to how I would start this, but I think even a few short stories from Hades perspective might be interesting.

Greek Heroines: This is not an area that I am particularly familiar with, so I thought it would be interesting to explore this area of the Greeks. I really do not have any previous knowledge in the area of Greek Heroines, so it will truly be a learning experience. If I pursue this topic 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. 

Gods and Goddesses of Olympus: Ask me what I do not know about the Greek gods and goddesses! I started first reading about them in 6th grade and to this day they are still my favorite summer reads. I love how there are so many of them and each plays a crucial role on earth. They remind of the Hindu gods and goddesses, there are so many of them it gets confusing to remember which role(s) each one plays. I want to specifically focus on Aphrodite, Athena, and Zeus for this project. They all serve different roles, but a human embodies all three typically. I would like this project to be more of like a storybook where the gods and goddesses are introduced through bedtime stories. There is something that happens/an event that occurs that would lead to gods/goddesses to come into the story and the reader through the story learns the power the god/goddesses yield. 

Athena Parthenos Reconstruction

Feedback Thoughts

In "Why rejection hurts so much — and what to do about it," Guy Winch does a phenomenal job on explaining ways that can help prevent people from hurting their psychology. I have personally seen how detrimental rejection can be, and I know that I never what to go through what some of my friends have had to go through. The causes varied, but when you think of the end result, all of them were the same. Sometimes the confidence a person has in themselves is lost and they are afraid to try something new in the future. I hope that we all understand the difference between hurting someone emotionally and providing someone constructive feedback. Growing up I have had numerous teachers who would take two or three class periods to make sure we knew and understood that there was a difference between constructive feedback and feedback that does nothing, but hurt a person. Winch makes a great point on the fact that even though we may face a rejection whether it be minor or major, we should not go and do something to make that feeling worse, but human nature says otherwise. Rejection from people can hurt, but we I have found that if I think of the better things I have in life that rejection seems minute in comparison. Growing up cliques existed everywhere, which let me tell you was the most annoying thing ever, but instead of feeling like I was being left out, I choose to look at the friends I already had. Like, Winch had said we should focus on what we have and think about those who we make happy, and that is exactly what my 8 year old self had learned of from her parents. I have to say though had that not have been the case I know that I would never have been as close to my group of elementary school friends. 

In "A fixed mindset could be holding you back — here's how to change it," by Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold. In this article, the authors talk about how the words of contant praise are actually causing children to develop a fixed mindset. These children who develop the fixed mindset aren't as open to feedback and believe that their amount of intelligence and abilities will not be able to change. Comparatively, people with the growth mindset will understand that knowledge and abilities can be improved upon and will be able to bounce back from a possible negative feedback. They then talk about the individuals who have a growth mindset advance and adapt to changes in their worklife better than those with a fixed mindset. The example about the doctors is what stood out the most to me, because it is true, that we are not perfect. We will make mistakes, but what matters is that we learn from those mistakes. The article was short, but conveyed some very powerful messages. When I think of fixed mindset and growth mindset, I think in terms of people who will lead the way to new discoveries and opportunities compared to the followers. With the pace that the world is moving at being able to adapt and learn from mistakes is crucial to move forward otherwise you will be left behind. You may have read this article and might even think that there isn't a big correlation between a fixed mindset and being held back, but there is. Why do we hesitate to make career moves sometimes or change degree tracks? Sometimes it is because we are so wired to one thing that we do not want to expose ourselves to the possibility of failure by making such a transition. 

I look forward to getting many comments. Happy Saturday y'all!

No Other Words are Needed

Microfiction: The Unknown Hotel Resident

The doorbell rang, but nobody came.

She walks the halls at night and sometimes during the day, eats breakfast with everyone and patiently waits for them to return home. She sees everyone and feels their emotions, but why do you roam the halls ask the others. 

Author's Note: So, in writing these two microfictions I imagined a girl who had died in a room of some unknown hotel. Even though, they carted her body away and buried her, her spirit still roams the hotel. She longs to have a conversation with the people and have them ask her questions. I want the reader to imagine and feel her loneliness and longing to have people with her. I immediately thought of this kind of microfiction, because growing up it was my worst nightmare. As you probably know from my introduction my parents own hotels and growing up we actually stayed in the manager's apartment for quite a while. So back then I was very easily spooked out by ghosts and living in the hotel at the time, I put the two together and the product was my microfiction. 

The Spirit of the Girl 

Reading Notes: Metamorphosis: Pygmalion

Metamorphosis: Pygmalion

Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000).

What I liked: - The overview at the beginning is key to having the reader understand what they are about to portray to the reader
- The intro is short, but provides the reader with a foundation
      - Have in the intro key items that pertain to the story that may not be familiar to the reader
      - Brief history lesson, but not to in depth
- This is a short read but captures many elements
       - Capture the audience immediately with the introduction/background information
       - I like the slight comparisons throughout the story
       - Reasons are stated before the action, for example look at paragraph one where he talks about the daughter of Propoetus and then that serves as his reason to create the girl of Ivory
       - The Venus festival was a good way to bring Venus into the story
             - When writing the story: bring elements in, such that the reader is not confused by the sudden information
                   - Make sure there is a logical flow in the story
- Lots and lots of descriptive imagery - big fan, helps the readers visualize what is going on and actually feel as if they are right in the story seeing everything from their own eyes.
- Need to add links to words that may not be common to most readers
- There are details, but not as many to overpower the story in one area
      - Make sure to be careful when including details that they are spread out in the story


Things I did not like as much:
- If there is a god/goddess, don't just have them grant the wish/prayer of the main character
      - There needs to be some kind of explanation as to what were his/her actions that made them so fond of the main character

Otherwise the story was short but captured a range of topics... I tend to add much more fluff/unnecessary content in my stories, so a goal with this story assignment coming up is to keep the story short but meaningful.

City of Paphos Mentioned in the Story

Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Homer's Iliad

Week 4: Homer's Odyssey

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Jataka Tales

Week 6: Ramayana

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: South Africa

Week 9: The Monkey King

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: California/Southwest

Week 11: British North America

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Alice in Wonderland

Week 13: Nursery Rhymes

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Librivox

Week 15: Crane


I am honestly very excited about the units of week 12 through 15, both weeks are related. I am a very big fan of Greek mythology. I have to credit Rick Riordan for getting me attached to that kind of reading. I have always been a murder/mystery type of person, but once I discovered Rick Riordan's books I was hooked. I was actually surprised by the variety of readings within each unit. I was not expecting as many different options, so that is definitely a plus and exciting. I wanted to mention that before this class I haven't actually taken the time to read content similar to that found in the Native American Unit or the Asian units. I should expand my reading selections, but often it is very easy to stick to the type of reading that you're the most familiar with. I don't think there is any topic I can think of at this moment that I would like to read that's not in the UNTextbook.

The Elephant and Dog

I chose this image, because when I came across it while browsing through the stories I instantly loved the black and white of the image. There really isn't much in the image, but you use your imagination to envision and fill in the blackness with color. 

Happy Tuesday All!