Mythology and Folklore

There once was a man and his wife that lived on the coast of Canada. They spent their days fishing and drying out what they caught for food. One day while they were out on the pier, they caught an unusual fish that they had never seen before. Assuming it was comparable to the fish they usually catch, they decided to keep it and the wife began to clean it as she normally does. After it was hanging with the other fish, the woman walked to the end of the pier where she bent down to clean her hands from the remains of the strange fish. Just then, she was pulled underwater by an unknown force. Her husband immediately jumped in the water after her and found the Fish Chief to ask for help. He said that he had seen it happen and that the killer whales took her as a slave as revenge for catching and killing their friend. Deep in the ocean was the killer whales’ home. It was here that they took the woman to be their servant. For the next three days, she waited on the w...

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson Part B of this unit contained a few stories that carried on as a series in the unit. This section of the unit seemed to have more stories of human marriages as opposed to part A which was mostly made up of tales of animal marriages. One story I liked in this unit was The Youth Who Joined the Deer. It was a strange story but what I liked was the use of dialogue between the hunter and the strange woman in the woods. I think that this helped with the progression of the story and made it not feel like it was drawn out unnecessarily. Deer: maxpixel

Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson This unit caught my eye because of the title, Native American Marriage Tales. It is interesting because they are not only tales of human marriage, but animal brides and grooms, along with fairy tale type of stories. One story that I enjoyed was The Woman Stolen by Killer Wales. I liked how the author personified the different fish and even allowed them to communicate with the human husband. The use of imagery throughout the story aided in painting a picture for the audience.  Killer Wales: Wikimedia Commons

Copyright is Brain Damage by Nina Paley The idea that copyright protects your intellectual property if what Nina Paley focused on in this video. However, she claims that the copyright was not bringing any benefits to the artists or public. She asks the question of is it worth it? She uses her talk to educate the public on copyright and promote her views of copyright abolishment. A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman Kaufman uses his talk to express his views on human intelligence. He does this by providing two examples of evaluating intelligence done by the school system. He follows the idea of how challenges can actually be strengths to kids in school. In this new theory of human intelligence, he wants to focus on humans passions as well as personal goals and ability level. Intelligence: flickr

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by  Katharine Berry Judson (1912). Part B of the this unit of stories focused a lot of the origin of different places and animals. I thought that this was an interesting way to tell the stories of the beginnings of things. These stories were told more traditionally, with little dialogue. My favorite story from this part of the unit is How the Bluebird and the Coyote Got Their Colors. I enjoyed this tale because it reminded me of a children's story, very innocent and sweet. Bluebird: maxpixel

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by  Katharine Berry Judson (1912). I enjoyed these stories in this unit because they were tales that took place in places that I personally have seen and experienced. I believe that being able to tie these stories to my own experiences while in these areas made the stories much more fun to read and immerse myself in. I especially enjoyed the tale of The Creation of the World. I liked how the man who was responsible for creating the world was called the Earth Doctor. I really thought that these stories in part A used imagery to it's advantage in portraying the story it was supposed to. Universe: WIkipedia

Out in the desolate plains of Mutsu, Japan lives a dangerous goblin. This goblin preys on humans who get lost in the plains and seek shelter in its small, decrepit cottage. In order to lure these humans to it, it disguises itself as an elderly woman and makes itself seem welcoming, inviting the humans to spend the night under its roof. What these humans do not see is my secret room in the back of my cottage. It is here that I take these humans once I gain their trust and can finally devour them. This creature is me. I am the goblin of Adachigahara. It has been weeks since a human has come through these parts of the plains and I am growing weak and desperate. Word must be going around town of hunters and gatherers not returning home from the plains. I fear that this is the last night that I will be able to survive without finding another human to feed on. In my weakened state, I am beginning to take on the mannerisms of the old woman that I am using as my disguise...

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki Part B of Ozaki's tales followed the same structure as part A in that the stories were centered around the tales of three separate characters. These characters include the Goblin of Adachigahara, The Ogre of Rashomon, and The Princess Hase. Of these series of stories, my favorite one was The Ogre of Rashomon. I thought that this story used dialogue to it's advantage and really illustrated the feelings that the characters were displaying. I liked the style of the language that was used throughout the stories and thought that this aided in getting the story across. Ozaki Illustration: flickr

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki In this reading, many of the stories included the tales of warrior Kintaro. I enjoyed following his journey and adventures throughout part A of these stories. There were also stories about Lord Bag of Rice and how he came to get his name and Sentaro who's name I recognized from last week's reading of the tales of Yamato. Part A was divided in section by the tales of these characters. My favorite of these were those of Kintaro's tales. I thought that the use of the animals as Kintaro's friends and playmates followed many other mythological tales and made the series of stories fun to read and easy to follow. Ozaki Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

So far, so good! I have been keeping up with all of the assignments to this point in the semester. My schedule that I planned at the beginning of the semester is working great! Most weeks, I a able to complete all of the assignments by Wednesday, that way I have the rest of the week to work on other assignments. I am on track to receive the grade that I want, so I can't complain. Moving forward, my goal is to stay on track and maybe even work ahead to finish a little bit early. Motivation: flickr

The comments from my classmates on my blogs have been extremely in depth and very helpful. I think that everyone in the class is really trying to help each other better their stories. When I give feedback to my classmates, I try to give as many helpful comments as possible. I use the same format for a lot of my comments and tailor them to each individual story I read. I enjoy reading and commenting on the other students' introductions because I think it is fun to get to know them even though we are in an online class. Feedback: Cheezburger I chose this image because I think feedback is important to the growth of a person both individually and academically.

Overall, I have been doing well with all of the reading and writing assignments thus far. For the most part I have been able to stick to my schedule and get my work done on time. I am happy with my blog so far and my project website is coming along week by week. Creative writing like what we have been doing in this class has never been my favorite thing to do, so sometimes I find it difficult to think of a storyline for my project and the weekly stories. That being said, I consider it an accomplishment that I am completing the required stories to the best of my ability. When writing the weekly stories, my reading notes help tremendously as I can figure out what I liked and disliked about the reading and create my own stories. Aladdin's Lamp: PublicDomainPictures I chose this picture from my week 5 story because I felt as though this week I was able to thing outside the box more when creating it. Instead of telling the same story I translated it into a letter that showed the ...