Reflections: Looking Back

Reflections: Looking Back

 I've really enjoyed this class so far. It has given me the opportunity to have a creative outlet. This class allows me to take something and make it my own. I appreciate being able to read the stories and explore the realms they exist in and then being able to take that and create something brand new.

I have been the most successful in this class when I complete my assignments on Monday. That's easiest to do, since my week gets busier as the days go on. Also, I always seem to have things pop up that I was not expecting - so doing things sooner rather than later is always a safe bet.

I've enjoyed getting to know other students through their introductions. I've found people similar and not similar to myself, and it's really interesting to get to see what parts they share of themselves on their blogs. Following reading their introductions, it's just as fun to see their creative side and how their personality and voice shines through their personal stories.

My project is going well! It has been fun to develop an idea and to see it grow week by week. The progress has been slow but steady. I like being able to expand upon one subject and to write multiple stories and develop the character of the wolf more in depth.

My favorite readings by far have been from Aesop's Fables. I LOVE the morals and that it includes them with each story. I found myself relating them back to how I can improve my own life and attitude with each story. Plus they were entertaining!

I do the work for this class in multiple locations - pretty much wherever I have my laptop and whenever I have time. This ranges from at home to on campus.

I've done a few 'famous last words' posts for extra credit. I really like doing these because it forces me to take a moment a look back at what has happened/what I've accomplished in the past week. A lot can happen in just a few days, and taking it a week at a time and really forcing myself to see my growth (even if it is small) is a good positive thing to have in my life.

 Cat. Source: Wikipedia

How this cat looks is how I have felt most of this semester. Exhausted and a little out of it.

I can't wait to finish out this semester and to learn more about this class subject, others and myself.

Famous Last Words: Week 7

It was sexaT week this past week!



The week was filled with fun and events.
Though stressful, it was a great time and a fantastic last Texas week for me (even though we lost the game).
I got to spend a lot of time with my friends and the entire Pride.
Our trip to Texas always includes a banquet on Friday night. It’s nice to see everyone dressed up and not sweaty and in athletic gear. 

Here’s a picture from the banquet of me and my roommates:















From left to right: Ryan, Hannah, Me and Dylan
Source: Myself

We are all in the saxophone section and have been living together since we moved out of the dorms. We’re all seniors and graduating in May! It’s crazy how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday we all met and were getting ready for our first day of classes. Living with my best friends has given me some of my favorite college memories so far.

After the game we got to go to the fair and eat fried food and people watch.
I got a fried Reese’s and it was delicious.
The lines were ridiculous for some of the food, but so worth it.

Here’s a picture from the fair:

Source: Myself





That’s Dylan - one of my best friends. He’s from Oklahoma and he had never seen Big Tex before, so he was super excited to see him this year. I was excited, too, since I haven’t seen the new Big Tex since he burnt down.

When the rest of the band headed back to Norman, I got to stay in Dallas with my parents. It was awesome getting to spend time with them, since this semester I’ve been consumed by schoolwork, my job and organizations. We got to see the Rangers play! It was disappointing because they lost, too...but we still had a great time.

Storytelling Week 7: The Kind Monkey Turned Wicked

 The Kind Monkey Turned Wicked

There once was a monkey who lived in a tree in the middle of the forest. He was just like any other monkey; he ate his bananas, he went to school and he helped with tree chores.

However, there was something a little different with monkey. He didn't have many friends. In fact, he didn't have a single friend at all.

He would go home each day and cry out to himself, "How can I make friends? I'm so lonely."




There was nothing terribly wrong with the monkey. He was kind, handsome, smart, funny and charming. Yet no one would ever talk to him when he sat alone at school.

He had attempted everything in his power to engage in conversation with anyone. Every time he tried, he was shot down and ignored. Monkey was the loneliest creature on the planet.

One day, something finally snapped within him.

"If they won't be my friends, than they'll be my enemies. They'll learn how it feels to be on the outside," Monkey thought to himself.

And so his wicked ways began. His nice, friendly personality turned cold and bitter. He no longer attempted to make contact with anyone. Monkey decided that he had tried to long and hard and it was time for a drastic change.



He schemed and schemed for hours a day, training his clever mind. His evil plans floated through his mind during school, at home and even in his dreams. He eventually decided that he would trick people when they least expected it.

His trickery started small, by telling people there was no homework when there actually was, by conning people out of their lunch money and even by telling people wrong directions to places.

However, day by day the tricks got bigger and bigger. The monkey had many, many enemies.

"It's so much easier to get enemies than to gain friends," Monkey thought to himself.

One day he decided to trick a turtle and a crocodile. This was the worst one yet. They were starving after a long trek form their home, so he lead them to a farmer's patch of pumpkins to feast, knowing that would get them killed.

The turtle and crocodile met their fate and that's when Monkey knew his transformation was complete. He truly was a wicked being. He surely didn't have to worry about making friend any longer; all he made now were enemies.

(macaque, photo by thinrhino)

Author's Note: The original story is about a monkey, a turtle and crocodile. The monkey was very deceptive and tricked the turtle and crocodile into eating from a farmer's patch of pumpkins. The turtle and crocodile ended up being killed in the process because of the monkey's deceptive ways. My favorite part and why I picked this story was the moral, which was: Never trust a new friend or an old enemy. This made me want to write with this story as the inspiration. I then decided to do the backstory on the monkey and how he turned evil. I also chose this image because the monkey looked wicked.

Bibliography: The original story is part of the Filipino Tales unit. Story source: Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler (1921).

Reading Diary B: Filipino Popular Tales

Myth-Folklore Unit: Filipino Popular Tales

Why Mosquitoes Hum and Try to get into the Holes of our Ears

(land crab)

I love that the story has nothing to do with the title until the very end. It kept me engaged the entire time and wondering how it related to the title. Though it was frustrating to not know, it was a great and interesting storytelling technique.

The Lost Necklace

The thought of a crow with a necklace cracked me up. Probably because of my lack of sleep, but my imagination found it hilarious. How rude of the crow, though...and a tattletale. I'm sure the hen didn't mean to lose it and she had been looking all day for it. If the crow was so worried about it, the crow shouldn't let anyone borrow it. Also how weird. To eat someone's children because you lost a necklace. Like...what...the crow is an odd and disgusting character.

Why the Ocean is Salty

An ocean of tears - how depressing. Most of this story was really sad. I don't like sad stories. However, I did think that the picture chosen for this was really cool. I've never seen mounds of salt.

Reading Diary A: Filipino Popular Tales

Myth-Folklore Unit: Filipino Popular Tales

The Three Friends: the Monkey, the Dog, and the Carabao

(macaque, photo by thinrhino)

My first thought was that them taking those items was strange for hunting purposes. What good would kitchen utensils do? The monkey was very clever, but it's unfortunate that his friends were killed. The monkey always seems to be the clever character in many of the stories I have read this semester, which is a cool similarity.

The Wicked Woman’s Reward

How unfortunate and sad for the baby girl - to not be wanted by her own mother or father simply because she was a girl. So much that her mother planned on stealing the boy and was killed. Also why would she replace the baby with a cat? Also why would he kill the woman when he didn't even know if it was her fault? And what if the baby were to be found? It was also really creepy that the river smelled good from the dead woman's body. I didn't really like this story, but I do admit that it was quite creative. Why would he be remorseful and then do the same thing by killing someone else?

The Monkey, the Turtle, and the Crocodile 

What a rude monkey. Also I love this moral. Never trust a new friend or an old enemy. This speaks to me because I am way too trusting of new friends and sometimes I trust old enemies. I forget and forgive and believe in change, which sometimes doesn't work out for me in the end. It's a good moral to remember - always be cautious.

Extra Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang) - Reading A

Myth-Folklore Unit: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang) 

 

The Two Frogs

Two frogs. Source: Wikimedia

How often we trust ourselves when we might not know all of the facts. These frogs are silly. I think it was wonderful that they wanted to help each other out and I love the story of how they met. I always find how people meet interesting. There always has to be the right circumstances, but everything always falls into place. It's interesting that the frogs didn't complete their journey after traveling so far already. Why not keep going if you're already halfway there? These frogs were so alike and it was interesting to learn about these characters.

 

The Stonecutter

I appreciate the conversational tone this story is written in. It made it easy and interesting to read. The story itself was also great. I like the lesson that the man learned in the end. If you're greedy, you'll always want more, no matter how much you have, when you might've had all you truly needed to begin with.

 

The Cat's Elopement

I love how happy this ending is! Stories with happy endings are my favorite to read because they leave me with a happy feeling in my heart. I don't like reading stories with sad endings. The cats ending up together in the end was great. It was also wonderful that the princess promised to never separate them and kept that promise. And the fact that she married someone who shared those feelings brought much happiness all around.

Storytelling Week 6: The Squirrel's Happy Ending

The Squirrel's Happy Ending

Squirrel. Source: Wikipedia

Gone.

Gone, gone, gone.

His crops, his income, his money, his future, his hopes, his dreams. All gone.

"That stupid spider," he thought to himself. "I can't believe he got away with taking my farm. How could everyone believe him?! I worked so hard for so long to get that farm to where is was. And now it's gone."

The spider, who managed to manipulate the entire town into believing that the squirrel's land was his own, was already halfway to riches. He not only stole the squirrel's farm, but also harvested all of the crops to sell.

All the squirrel had left was his family, whom he couldn't provide for anymore.

"It'll all work out, I promise," Mrs. Squirrel said.

"How could you know that for sure?" Squirrel replied.

"I don't, but we always make it work," sighed Mrs. Squirrel.

The next day, Squirrel made his way to town to look for work. On his way, he passed a large patch of land with many crops. This piqued his interest.

How had he never seen this before? He could've sworn that land to be empty just a few weeks ago.

Circling the magnificent display of crops was a crow. Squirrel waved him down to ask about the land.

"Yes, this is my field," the crow said.
"But how did you get the crops to grow so quickly?" inquired the squirrel.

"I'm not sure...it was quite odd, actually. One stormy night I found some crops on the side of the road. Once the rain passed, a strange spider came by and INSISTED they were his. But who would leave their crops out in the rain?! So I claimed them as my own and planted their seeds here," the crow explained. "It didn't take long until they were healthy and plentiful."

"WAIT...A SPIDER?!" The squirrel screeched. "Those were my crops that he stole! And I'll tell you what..he'll get these too if you're not careful...let me tell you how he got mine and show you how to prevent that from happening to you."

The squirrel explained everything to the crow and helped him to fight off the spider's attempts at his crops. Sure enough, the spider tried and tried, but the crow was prepared from the squirrel's advice.

The crow was so incredibly thankful that he let the squirrel have half of his crops, which actually made him richer than he was before. In the end, the squirrel won.

Author's Note: In the original story, the squirrel's fields get taken by the spider. The spider was a thief and stole the squirrel's hard-earned crops and went to sell them. In the end, the crops were taken by the crow because the spider left them out in the rain. This story frustrated me and made me want to tell the squirrel's story and for him to have a happy ending with wealth instead of a depressing ending with debt. The squirrel did nothing to harm or hurt the spider. The spider was just rude.

Bibliography: This story is part of the West African Folktales unit. Story source: West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).