Friday, November 27, 2015

Back-Up, Check-Up, and Review: Week 13

I have two favorites from this week's daily announcement posts!

My first one is the growth mindset meme.

Growth mindset cat meme. Image Source: Daily Course Announcements

This picture cracked me up and I really like the quote. Sometimes the setbacks make us stronger and we grow. They truly are cha-chas!

The second one is the free waffles! I'm a college student, so of course I enjoy free food. It's awesome that the writing center does this monthly and I think I'll have to start taking advantage of this.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Famous Last Words: Week 14

My, oh my, am I stuffed.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!



This week has been filled with a lot of love and joy.

Although we had class on Monday and Tuesday, I got to spend more time than usual with my roommates. It was great to just be able to relax and hang out with them without too much stress.
I headed back to my hometown of Flower Mound, Texas on Wednesday to spend some time with my parents. Today we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home with my Grandma!

Another cool thing that happened this week was that the band service sorority that I'm in helped to organize a canned food drive for the Norman Food Bank that serves the families in Norman (headed up by our Vice President of Service and my little, Amelia!). Every year, the Pride gathers canned food for a few weeks and ultimately donates it right before Thanksgiving. This year was special because we donated a total of 5,466 items-the largest donation the food bank has ever had! This will help to serve over 500 families in the Norman area. Not only that, but we also turned the canned food drive into a competition against OSU's band and their donations will help to serve families in the Stillwater area.
The best part? My section (the saxophones) brought the most and won our competition within the band...;)
Just kidding, of course...the best part is that more families will be able to celebrate Thanksgiving and have food to eat.
Lots of love and food for a lot of people this Thanksgiving - that sure is something to be thankful for.

And tomorrow I get to finish it out with my second family. The Pride will rehearse tomorrow evening before our departure on Saturday morning. We'll arrive in Stillwater a few hours before the game and hopefully bring home a win for the final regular season game!



Turkey. Image Source: Pixabay

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading...and have a great rest of your year.

Week 15: Reading Evaluation

Week 15 Reading Evaluation

The readings this semester were great. I really liked and appreciated that we had a choice in what we read. That made this class more interesting and made me want to complete the assignments. It allowed me to actually get into what I was doing and to get something out of it. I also liked doing the weekly reading posts. This let me discuss what I liked and maybe disliked and gave me notes to help me with my storytelling each week.

I liked Aesop's Fables the most. The morals at the end always spoke to me and I liked the creative ways the fables told the stories that led up to the morals. Heck, I liked them so much that I decided to base my storybook around one of Aesop's characters!

The overall balance of reading, writing and commenting was decent. I really liked seeing other student's work and how they interpreted the same assignments. It was cool when we picked the same readings for the week.

As far as advice about reading goes, getting it done sooner is better! It's one more thing you don't have to worry about and it is also fun to do, so why not just get it done?

Week 15: Reflections

Week 15 Reflections

I am the most proud of learning to blog in this class. It has definitely been a stress-reliever and it has been enjoyable to learn about the different things you can do with a blog. I truly enjoyed doing the readings and writing each week, as well as doing the extra credit assignments. This has been my favorite online class by far and maybe even my favorite class at OU.

The most valuable take-aways from the class are the things I have learned from the assignments. I really enjoyed being able to challenge myself and know that I can accomplish things outside of my comfort zone. I also enjoyed the extra credit assignments. Being able to look back on the week, learn about blogs and technology, learn about the growth mindset...and the list goes on. It all helped me in areas other than just this class, which has been so valuable to not only my studies, but also my life in general.

Storytelling Week 14: Mother Friday's Revenge

Mother Friday's Revenge

It had been an abnormally long week. Summer was slipping into the past, while Fall was beginning to make an appearance with its cooler temperatures and bright oranges, dull reds and beautiful browns consuming the leaves and covering the town. Each day seemed to be longer than the last, with thoughts of a warm fire and cup of hot chocolate consuming the minds of the working people as it got closer and closer to each day's end.

Thursday was finally coming to a close. Thank goodness it was almost Friday...only one sleep away...

Mother Friday drifted off into a peaceful sleep only to be awaken abruptly at midnight by a startling feeling deep inside of her. If there was one thing that Mother Friday absolutely hated, it was when people took her day to work. It drove her insane and caused an anger to stew in her heart and mind. Furious, she took to the road to find the person who caused her to wake on her day off.

She arrived at a dimly lit cottage and peeked into the window. A woman was sitting inside, calmly spinning her flax and doing work that could wait until next week to do. How dare she! Does this woman know that it is Friday?

Woman spinning flax. Source: Flickr





Mother Friday angrily threw the woman's door open, walked up to her and put dust from the floor into her eyes. She then stomped back to her own cottage, still furious at the woman.

The woman was extremely startled and couldn't see a thing! She ran into town to try to tell others what had happened to her eyes, but couldn't. However, the town-goers knew exactly what had happened.
"You fool, you've brought this upon yourself!" They exclaimed. "Everyone knows not to mess with Mother Friday!"

Aggravated and distressed, the woman ran home. How could she fix this? She begged and begged for forgiveness from Mother Friday, hoping she would eventually hear.
The woman drifted off to sleep that night with the dust still in her eyes.

Luckily, Mother Friday heard her cries and in the night went to clear out the woman's eyes. She knew that the woman would never again dishonor the day that should not be used to complete work, but to relax.

The woman woke, able to see and never again used a Friday to spin her flax. She warned others to do the same and never again heard from Mother Friday.


Author's Note: I've been experimenting with other writing styles and wanted to continue that this week. The original story, Friday, is about Mother Friday and is not told from her perspective. There is a woman who decides to spin and weave flax on Friday instead of resting and Mother Friday does not take to that lightly. Mother Friday punishes the woman until the woman begs for forgiveness. I found inspiration for this story by thinking of ways I could retell this story and ultimately decided that it would be interesting to see this story told from Mother Friday's perspective.

Bibliography: Russia: Friday. This story is part of the Russian Folktales unit. Story source: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

Myth-Folklore Unit: Russian Folktales

Essay: Russian Folktales

Myth-Folklore Unit: Russian Folktales

I loved these stories! I especially liked the second half of the readings. I truly enjoy and appreciate when stories have happy endings and what happy endings these were! I'm glad these were the last stories that I read for this class, because by reading them I definitely went out on a good note.
I also feel as if the writing style closely mimics what I use in my daily writing. This made it almost conversational and easy to read for me. The words flowed nicely together and kept my interest the entire time, making it easy to get caught up and lost in the stories. Although I do appreciate a challenge when reading, it was nice to just sit and enjoy the readings for this week without having to interpret anything or focus too long on the physical aspects of reading the text.

I especially liked the The Fiddler in Hell and The Soldier and the Vampire. Though the middle of the story had some evil tenses, the endings were so happy and wonderful.The stories were all very similar in this way.

The first half of the readings were also great. I liked reading the days of the week stories, especially Wednesday and Friday. Each day being given a different persona and personality was interesting and quite honestly, pretty accurate. I like how Wednesday was wicked and that Mother Friday didn't appreciate when people worked on that day. I wish that all Fridays could be like that! How wonderful and relaxing that would be.

Overall, these stories were probably some of my favorite from the entire class. If not my favorite, they were definitely in the top 5 readings from the semester.

Party. Image Source: Flickr
 
Party time! Done with readings! Though I post this picture, I'm also a little sad. I enjoyed readings, especially this week. I might actually go back and read more in the future!

Reading Diary B: Russian Folktales

Myth-Folklore Unit: Russian Folktales

The Fiddler in Hell 

This story was so great! As I'm sure you've noticed by my other posts, I love stories with happy endings.  The fiddler was incredibly clever with his trickery of the strings and it was great that the bridge could be built and the man sent to Heaven. I'm not so sure how the fiddler just tripped into Hell, though...or why the baby was born. But alas, it was a great story that I truly enjoyed reading. The style was also easy to read, making it even more enjoyable and easy to get caught up in.

 

Fiddler. Source: Wikimedia

The Soldier and the Vampire

I love this story's ending as well. Even though the middle wasn't great and the Warlock was creepy, it turned out well because everything that went wrong was made right in the end. The style was once again easy and wonderful to read.

Reading Diary A: Russian Folktales

Myth-Folklore Unit: Russian Folktales

Friday 

This story made me laugh. I kind of wish that Mother Friday would not allow work on Fridays in the life I'm living. Alas, I must complete work and contribute to society every day of the week. This would be an interesting story to expand upon for storytelling this week. 

Woman spinning flax. Source: Flickr

Wednesday

This is how I feel that Wednesdays would be if they were a person. Cruel. This story also made me laugh. I thought about how I feel on Wednesdays...mid-week...cruel ways. I enjoyed the days of the week and their personality matches. Putting personalities to inanimate objects and subject matters is interesting and creative.

Growth Mindset: Week 15

For this week I looked at memes again. Last week's meme really got me thinking and so I wanted to do some more exploring.
This one really stuck out.
  
Cat Meme. Source: Growth Mindset Memes

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about where I'd like to go post-graduation. I'm not exactly sure of what I want to do and I've been struggling with that. With the growth mindset I know that I just need to learn from what I'm doing and how I'm feeling and set up goals and a path to understand where I want to be in a few months. 

I need to think about the big picture and how I'm going to get there. This helps me in school and in life. I'd like to have a successful semester and I will do so by learning from my mistakes of this past semester and keep growing from there. I want to have a job post-graduation and will make goals and a plan to accomplish this.

Growth Mindset: Week 14

For this growth mindset challenge, I looked through the growhth mindset memes. This meme really stuck out to me.


Cat Meme. Source: Growth Mindset Memes

Looking for opportunity is something that I've begun to do the past month or so. As I look for internships and/or jobs, it's easy to just let things slip by. I've never been one to actively seek out opportunity Rather, I just let it come to me. By seeking opportunities I've recognized a more rapid growth in myself and in the opportunities I've been able to capture. Without actively seeking opportunities, I now know that I could possibly miss a great one and just let it slip by.
This was useful because it made me actively think about seeking and looking for opportunities. I've been trying to, but this meme and thinking about the growth mindset made me realize that I need to do it even more.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Growth Mindset: Week 13

My Other Classes

For this growth mindset, I wanted to focus on my other classes and the challenges I face in those.
This semester I over-committed myself. Way over-committed myself. At the beginning of the semester I was averaging 4 hours of sleep - on a good night. After awhile I realized that this wasn't working for me and had to realign my priorities. I was doing a lot for the organizations I'm involved in and my for classes and it was getting to me.

I realized that I had to take time for myself and de-stress and in the future, plan out my schedule so that I am able to commit myself 100% and not lose my health and sanity in the process.

This challenge allowed me to focus on the most challenging aspects of my semester and what I have learned from them. I learned to take time to focus on myself, because if you don't take time for yourself and rejuvenate what you have, how can you expect to give any of yourself out at your maximum potential? My challenges in my classes and over this semester have helped me to grow and be successful now and in the future.

Cat hanging on. Source: Pinterest

In the future, I will plan out my schedule as to not spread myself too thin. This will allow time for myself and time to give 100% to everything I involve myself in.

Side note...this class is awesome and has helped me so much in many other areas in life other than just mythology. Doing assignments for this class actually helps me to de-stress.

Tech Tip: Pinterest Board & Pinterest Embedded (Pin and Board)

I have used Pinterest before (and am an avid user) and boy, do I love it. It's so convenient and filled with so many ideas and recipes. I love organizing different pins and ideas and having boards dedicated to specific categories.

I also enjoyed looking through Laura's Pinterest! I love the cat photos - they're so adorable and some cracked me up.

This was definitely my favorite pin.



Here's the board I created for my tech tip!


Famous Last Words: Week 13

It's finally Thanksgiving break!

Who am I kidding...finally? Time has definitely flown by. It seems like just yesterday that this semester was beginning and now we only have a few weeks left. And it's my last fall semester! So many 'lasts' have been occurring lately.

One of my favorite and most emotional ones yet happened last weekend at the final home football game of the season. With this came the last time I, along with 50 other seniors, would march on the field that has given us so many memories over the past four seasons.

 The Senior 'O' during our halftime performance on Saturday. Source: Myself

This was special to me because I got to experience it with my roommates and best friends. We will all be graduating in the Spring and got to share our last moments doing something that brought us all together our freshman year. Not knowing each other before the Pride and finishing it out side by side on Saturday night made everything that much more special to each of us.

One of my roommates is moving out over winter break because he will be student teaching in Tulsa next semester. Everything seems to be changing so quickly. It seems like yesterday that we were auditioning for Pride, complete strangers to each other, not knowing that we would make so many memories together. From staying up late in the apartment complex's hot tub, to random McDonald's runs, to watching SVU re-runs...time sure has flown.

 Me and my roommates in the stands during our last home game. Source: Myself
 
I'll definitely be forever grateful for the people, experiences and opportunities that the Pride has given me. Words cannot express how much I've learned and grown simply from being a part of this organization. But it's not completely over yet! This Saturday will be exciting as well, as it's Bedlam! Time to beat those Cowboys!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! And stay warm!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Storytelling Week 13: The Golden Trick

The Golden Trick
There once was an old man that lived in a far off village.
Every morning he would wake and tend to his hens.

However, this man was not normal by any means. He was the grumpiest, most greedy man in the village. In fact, he was known as the meanest of men by his fellow villagers.

This did not bother the old man in the slightest. Every morning he would wake, sip his warm cup of freshly brewed coffee, watch the beautiful and bright rays of sunshine dance off of his land and tend to his hens.

The hens did not like him much, either. They were always running from him, trying to get away.
One hen in particular was particularly not fond of the man.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." the hen complained to her fellow friends one night, "I don't know what to do...I have laid a golden egg!"

The hens, frightened that the old man would show his greedy self and harm them to try to get more precious eggs knew that they had to do something.

They schemed all night long...thinking about how to alter the situation to benefit themselves. The old man would see the egg for sure. He's so greedy that he searches the entire place multiple to make sure he doesn't miss a single egg.

Instead of trying to hide the egg, they came up with the grand scheme to hopefully end their suffering for good.

The next morning, the man woke, completed his daily routine in his house and headed for the hens. He unlocked the door, entered their home and began placing the eggs in his basket. As he reached the end of the hens, he noticed something gold right outside of the back door. He walked outside and as he bent down to pick it up, he realized that he had come across a golden egg!

"A GOLDEN EGG!" He exclaimed. He would be rich! But only one?! How dare the hen only give him one to treasure...he would have more for sure. They must be inside the hen. Now only to find her and slay her for her golden eggs...

But it was too late. While the man was outside, the hens ran off through the opened front door and off as far as they could go. While the man was busy admiring his new found egg, they had escaped out of sight and by the time he came looking for them, they were all gone. The man never had another hen again and was left lonely to finish out his days.

As for the hen that laid the golden egg, she went and lived happily ever after at a farm that cared for her and her friends and used the eggs for good.

Hen. Source: The Untextbook


Author's Note: I chose to write this story when reading Foolish People in the first half of the readings for this week. The original story, the Hen With the Golden Egg, is about a hen that lays golden eggs. There is a man ("the meanest of men") who takes an egg the hen lays, ends up getting too greedy and ultimately ends the hen's life. I always appreciate happier endings for stories, so I created this tale in order to make that a reality.

Bibliography:
Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks by W. T. Larned and illustrated by John Rae (1918).

Essay: Fables of La Fontaine

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine

I really enjoyed this week's readings. They were fun and entertaining and definitely kept my attention. There were only a few stories I did not like, and those were ones in the second half of the readings. 

An example of some of the stories I did not like can be found here: Frogs
Although I appreciate and usually enjoy reading stories that rhyme, these kind of threw me off. The rhyming pattern tended to be a little inconsistent from line to line and from paragraph to paragraph. This made it a little more difficult for me to follow, as I would get in the habit of reading a certain way and then have to change to compensate for the difference in verses. This took away from me getting truly engaged in the story. This taught me to focus on writing in a single style with stories that I write and maybe not switch back and forth unless it is my purpose to engage the reader and make a change in a metaphorical sense as well.

There were many stories I liked, especially in the first half of the readings. I liked Foolish People, especially the Hen With the Golden Egg. It reminded me of Willy Wonka and the part with the Golden Geese. However, I don't like how the hen died in the end. I'm excited to rewrite this story this week and have the hen escape death.

Hen. Source: The Untextbook

I also enjoyed reading Foxes and Wolves because of the wolves. Ever since I began writing about wolves in my storybook, it has become of great interest to me every time I see or read about a wolf in this class. It's so interesting and neat to see how the wolf character develops from story to story, even with different authors. The character of the wolf usually stays about the same between cultures and over time, which is an awesome thing to compare.

Reading Diary B: Fables of La Fontaine

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine

Frogs 

The rhymes in this confused me, mostly because of the inconsistent rhyming pattern. I like how it rhymes, but I like a more stable and predictable pattern when I'm reading. The first story was quite theatrical, which I enjoyed. However, I'm not too fond of frogs in general.

The God Mercury; Hercules  

 I enjoy reading stories that rhyme! It makes them flow a certain way in my head and it makes them more fun to read. They also keep my attention longer than other stories. However, I'm not too fond of the violent end. I always enjoy happier stories with more uplifting endings, which is reflected in my own storytelling.

 

Reading Diary A: Fables of La Fontaine

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine

Foolish People

I liked the Hen With the Golden Egg. It reminded me of Willy Wonka and the part with the Golden Geese. However, I don't like how the hen died in the end. I think I'll rewrite this story this week and have the hen escape death but the 'meanest of men' may not have such a great fate...

Hen. Source: The Untextbook


Foxes and Wolves 

I love reading about wolves since I started my storybook about a wolf. I like seeing the different character development between stories. It's so interesting to see that in most of them, the wolf is a trickster and/or cunning and maybe not in the best of ways...and maybe not always the brightest. This story is no exception.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Essay: Aesop's Fables (English)

Myth-Folklore Unit: Aesop's Fables (English)

The readings this week were particularly enjoyable. I truly enjoy reading Aesop's Fables, no matter where or what time period they are from. The morals throughout the story that are reiterated at the end are good to read and remind me about what I need to change in my own life. 
The creativity of how the morals are told astounds me. To take a single concept and develop an entire story is something in such a way is something that I strive for in my own writing for this class.

I also liked this week's readings because I got to read more about Aesop's wolves. My storybook is about the wolves from Aesop, and it was neat getting to read more about them. The character development of the wolf in the fables is very strong, because even though each story may be about a different wolf, the wolf as a character is extremely similar throughout. There's not exception in the Wolves (Smart) story that I read this week.

I also really enjoyed reading the A Lion and a Man (L'Estrange) story, so much so that I was inspired to write my story this week about it. 

 
The way the story started about made it clear that something bad was going to happen to the lion, which it did. I appreciated that the lion could walk away from his injury and learn a lesson, though. I feel as if I read a lot of stories in this class that end with much worse fates for the characters. Although they're also just as entertaining, taking a break from those types of stories and getting to read happier endings was nice for this week.

Overall, I really appreciate Aesop's Fables. I will probably seek out and read more before (and after) the end of the semester because they're short and easy and enjoyable to read.

Storytelling Week 12: The Swing

 The Swing

 Swing. Image source: Pixabay

There once was a mischievous little boy named Tommy who always seemed to get himself into trouble.

One day Tommy decided to go play in the woods. It was a particularly hot day in the middle of the scorching summer they had been having and he knew of a little pond he could go to that would be the perfect way to cool down.

Before leaving, his mother told him not to jump from the swing by the water.

"For if you do...you'll fall and get all scratched up," she warned him.

Tommy brushed it off. This summer was the first that he was tall enough to even reach the swing, so of course he was going to jump from it. All of his friends were already tall enough and doing it and that's all they ever talked about. He couldn't stand being left out any longer.

And so he set off on his journey to the woods. It took him longer than he thought to make it to the pond and by the time he got there, he was exhausted. But of course, that wouldn't detour him from making the jump from the swing.

His eyes darted around, excitedly searching for his adventure waiting to happen...and then he spotted it. The swing. He rushed over and climbed up to the swing, barely making it on.

Despite his exhaustion, he swung. He swung for what seemed like hours. He was absolutely giddy, finally getting to do what he had been dreaming of for years. Back and forth, back and forth, slowly forgetting his tiredness and the heat of the day.

And then the time came...the jump.
He swung up to the highest of heights and let go, free falling to the pond below.

But right away, he realized that he didn't swing out quite far enough to make the cool water. Instead of hitting the pond, he hit the branches sticking up out of the ground.

Blood immediately began to seep out of the scratches on his leg. His mother was right...he should've listened to her advice. Scared and hurt, Tommy hobbled all of the way back home.

Once there, his mother took him in her arms, patching him up and caring to his wounds.

"I knew you would get scratched up," his mother sighed.

"Now I know to always listen to your advice...I'm sorry," Tommy replied.

Author's Note: This story was inspired by A Lion and a Man. It is about a little lion who does not take his father's advice to not fight a man. Instead of listening to his father, he goes to find and fight a man, and of course it does not turn out well. He ends up wounded, but understands that he needs to listen to his father's advice. The moral of the story was "Disobedience to Parents is against the Laws of Nature and of Nations, Common Justice, Prudence and Good Manners; and the Vengeance of Heaven, Sooner or Later, Treads upon the Heels on't." Instead of a lion I decided to make the story about a little boy and bring it into more modern day times.

Bibliography:
This fable is part of the Aesop's Fables (English) unit. Story source: Story source: Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists by Roger L'Estrange (1692).

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Essay: Nursery Rhymes

Myth-Folklore Unit: Nursery Rhymes

This week's reading was an incredible amount of fun. It was a treat to go back into my childhood simply by reading these short nursery rhymes. I had seen a lot of these rhymes before and reading them again as a twenty-one year old was a completely different and interesting experience. The imagination is still there, but with an older and more experienced voice. The fun still existed within the creative words from the author, which was a joy to realize.

(Wikipedia: Hey Diddle Diddle)
I also really enjoyed rewriting Hey Diddle Diddle for my story this week. I heard this rhyme over and over again as a child and being able to create a simple story behind a short nursery rhyme from my childhood. There are so many stories that could be behind or written from such few words, which takes an incredibly level of creativity. I am inspired and aspire to have such creativity in my writing as some of these authors do.

The words used for these rhymes are so fun. The way they're written and the way words that wouldn't normally be in stories are used make these creative rhymes fun to read. I didn't tire of reading any of these. Sometimes I have to push through to finish the week's readings but this week was different and I appreciated that. The writing style was also fun and creative.

Each rhyme was so different, yet each had that playful and joyful quality. The riddles were also a blast - I tried to guess the answer each time, but it was difficult for some of them. Well...mostly all of them.

At first glance since they are so short, there isn't much substance to these rhymes, but when you dive into them you can find a lot of substance and creativity that fills the imagination.

Storytelling Week 11: The Moon Jump

The Moon Jump

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there lived a cat and a cow.
They were a harmonious two, always following each other and getting along in everything they did.

However, they weren't your ordinary cat and cow.
In fact, the cat knew how to play the fiddle!
Oh, how she would play that thing for hours. And the cow, being the gracious friend he was, would sit and listen to every second of it.

Not only was the cat talented, but the cow also had a few tricks he was proud of. One in particular was the height of his jumps. No cow had EVER reached the height he could reach. He trained day in and day out to reach his height goals and had much to show for it.

One day, the cow got really ambitious.

"I think I'll jump over the moon," he announced to his cat friend.
"You can absolutely do it! I've seen you jump high, and if you go a little further, there's absolutely no stopping you," the cat replied.
The cow truly appreciated his friend's support.

And so he started training more and more to get higher and higher.
However, not everyone was a fan of the cow's jumping skills. The cat and cow's next door neighbor was especially skeptical.
The little dog had only lived there about a year and had watched the cow training the entire time. When he heard about the cow's newest goals, he couldn't even believe his own ears. And everyone knows how much dogs trust their own hearing.

"Ha! There's no way that'll happen. Keep trying," the dog scoffed.
"Oh, I plan on it," replied the cow. He wasn't going to let some little dog get to him or interfere with his heart's desires.

The day finally came. The cow was as prepared as he was going to get.

"Wait! I'll grab my fiddle," the cat said right before the jump. She wanted to give the cow a send-off tune that she had been practicing since he announced the moon jump.

And so the cat started to play.
And then, WOOSH! The cow jumped right over the moon!

Of course the dog was watching and just chuckled to himself.
"He did it...to see such sport!"
He was actually impressed.

When the cow returned, all three celebrated the momentous occasion with a good meal and good company.


(Wikipedia: Hey Diddle Diddle)

Author's Note: I decided to write this story when doing the second half of the readings for this week. I was reading through the nursery rhymes and came across ones that I remembered from my childhood. I was inspired to rewrite one of the ones most familiar to me to see how far my creativity would take me.
"The original rhyme is Hey, Diddle Diddle:
HEY! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laugh'd
To see the sport,
While the dish ran after the spoon."
I left out the dish running away with the spoon, but kept to and expanded upon the rest of the rhyme.
I chose this image because it accurately depicts the story.

Bibliography: This story is part of the Nursery Rhymes unit. Story source: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).

Monday, November 2, 2015

Reading Diary B: Aesop's Fables (English)

Myth-Folklore Unit: Aesop's Fables (English)

Wolves (Smart)  

My storybook is about wolves, so of course I chose this one to write about in my reading diary! I find it really cool and interesting that all of the wolves (at least 98 percent of them) are pretty much similar from fable to fable. It makes the wolf's character development really strong. Even though there are multiple wolves, they're all extremely similar and their personalities transfer from story to story. There is no exception here!

Birds (Smart)

These were fun to read and the image here really got into my imagination when I was reading the first story. Vain is definitely what I see when I look at this image and it's definitely what I saw when reading through the first story. 
 

 

 

 

Reading Diary A: Aesop's Fables (English)

Myth-Folklore Unit: Aesop's Fables (English)

Fables about People (Boothby) 

It's really cool how the fables that are so popular are told through this way. I really liked reading them and seeing how others depicted the stories that I have heard time and time again ever since I can remember. I also appreciated the little notes that described the story so I could get the point and understand which one it was depicting.

 A Lion and a Man (L'Estrange)

 I love Aesop's Fables because of the moral they include at the end. I like to read those first and then read the story to understand more about what the author is trying to accomplish. It's fun to see the creative paths taken to end up at the moral, especially in this one. 

 

 

Reading Diary B: Nursery Rhymes

Myth-Folklore Unit: Nursery Rhymes

 

Nursery Rhymes: Jingles 

The words used for these rhymes are so fun. The way they're written and the way words that wouldn't normally be in stories are used make these creative rhymes fun to read. I especially liked hey, diddle diddle because I knew this particular rhyme from when I was younger. It'd be fun to re-write something I have known for almost my entire life for my story this week.

Nursery Rhymes: Relics

It was fun to see the rhyme What are Little Boys Made of? I had seen and heard this growing up and it cracked me up to read it again. The Rain, Rain Go Away was fun to read again as well. These are fun and quirky little rhymes that I enjoyed reading again.

Reading Diary A: Nursery Rhymes

Myth-Folklore Unit: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes: Riddles

These were so fun to read! Each one was different, yet each had that playful and joyful quality. I tried to know the answer each time, but it was difficult for some of them. Mostly all of them.

Nursery Rhymes: Games   

I knew some of these, which was neat! It was also fun to read the new ones I haven't seen before. There isn't much substance at first, but when you dive into these rhymes you can find a lot.

(Wikipedia: How Many Miles to Babylon?)