Week 13: Essay

Week 13: Essay

Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose

I read the Grimm (Librivox) unit this week. I noticed a few things about the stories this week. Usually the prince is the one to save the girl in a lot of fairytales and stories about princesses as princes. In this unit there were some of those stories of course such as Briar Rose, but there were also a lot of stories in this unit where the princess saves the prince. Stories where the princess saves the prince were The Frog Prince and Rapunzel. In The Frog Prince, the princess must let the frog sleep in her house three nights in a row in order for him to break the spell of being a frog and become a prince. In Rapunzel, the prince falls into some thorns and blinds himself. Years later the princess finds him and her tears fall into his eyes and give him back his sight. In Briar Rose, the princess falls into a sleep for 100 years because of an evil fairy's spell. A prince comes along and kisses her, and she wakes up from her sleep and is alive and well.

I guess I found this interesting because I never noticed it before. In most stories like this, the prince in shining armor comes in on his horse and saves the damsel in distress. I think it is kind of cool that some of these stories were the other way around especially because today there is more equality in America. I think it is interesting and awesome that there is a few stories like this in this unit.

Week 12: Essay

Week 12: Essay

This week I read the Celtic Fairytale unit and I really enjoyed it. I think I liked it a lot because a lot of these stories were really different from a lot of the other stories I have read for this class. There was one about a leprechaun, one very similar to Snow White, and there was even one about a ghost. One of my favorites was Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. This is the story that is closely related to what we know as Snow White. It was different though because her mother was the one trying to kill her, not her step mother. The mother also tried three times to kill her until the mother eventually died. This actually reminded me of something that someone from class would rewrite. Like if they were to take the Snow White story we all know, and change it up in the way that this story was written.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

  I also really enjoyed Beth Gellert because it really got to me emotionally. I think it is a story that a lot of people know. They at least have heard a story with a similar storyline and message. This is the story I chose to write this week for the storytelling assignment because I thought that it was a really good one and people should read it. This was the best unit I have read in a while. I really enjoyed doing the readings this week. Last week was pretty good too. I am looking forward to next week, though, because it looks like there are going to be a few more familiar stories that we get to read. I am looking forward to that, and also to reading other peoples stories.

Week 11: Essay

Week 11: Essay

Cartoon

This week I chose to do the cartoon essay because I have fun reading all of them. This week the cartoon I chose was one that I actually connect with. The reason I connect with this cartoon is because it is about two coyotes and one asks the other "Wait...Did you just say 'LOL'?" LOL of course means "laugh out loud." I connect with this because I have found myself wanting to say "LOL" out loud in a conversation on a few occasions over the last few years. However, I hope I never do that because that would be so embarrassing and incorrect. I also have lately caught myself saying "JK" out loud a few times in conversations. JK means "just kidding." I have not only done this once, but several times. I think the world is becoming so technology based and we spend so much time on social media sites and writing short hand that we are all going to start saying things such as "LOL" and "JK" in every day conversations. I also have accidentally written things such as "probly" and "gonna" in important papers for class and in homework. It is so bad and I really hate that things such as texting, emails, and Facebook are contributing to these types of writing. I have tried to really work on my shorthand in texting because I feel as I get older it makes me look bad. I feel like things such as "ur" instead of "your" and "r" instead of "are" or "u" instead of "you" are just making me look uneducated and like a child. Also, I do not want to develop such a habit that I do start really adding these things into my writing for school or work. So I have really been working on that and that is why I chose this cartoon for my essay this week!

Week 10: Essay

Week 10: Essay

Master of His Land by James Ayers

    This week I read the British North American Unit and to be honest it was a little bit of a let down. As much as I like reading stories that are short, some of these stories were simply just too short to have a lot of depth and detail to keep the reader interested. I enjoyed that they were quick and to the point, but I would have liked to have had some that were a little more interesting. I think that I read this unit because it said that there were tricksters and heroes which there were, but I guess I was expecting something a little different. I just went back and looked at the list of units for week 9 & 10 and I just noticed the Eskimo Unit and after reading that there were ghosts and supernatural beings, I wish that I had read that unit instead. I guess I somehow overlooked it before. Overall, the Native American unit disappointed me quite a bit. I felt like either the stories spent too much time explaining unnecessary details (Native American Stories) or not enough time explaining details (British North American Stories). 

     I am really looking forward to the next two weeks because we are getting into British Isles which includes stories such as Nursery Rhymes, Alice in Wonderland, and Beowolf. I think that I am really going to spend some time on the stories for the next two weeks and try to make them my best ever. I will also look forward to reading other peoples stories because there will be a lot of familiarity there, but also a lot of rewriting so that will be really fun. This week, in honor of the Native American Unit, I am including a piece of Native American art since it is so beautiful and living in Oklahoma there is a lot of it around. My grandparents have a ton of it in their house so I have always enjoyed it. 

Week 9: Essay

Week 9: Essay: Cartoons about Language

Cartoon

I don't know why, but for some reason I actually laughed out loud when I read the last sentence of this cartoon. And I never laugh out loud at anything! So I figured that it must be the one to talk about today. I probably thought it was funny because first of all, it is men. Men are usually, at least from my experience, the gender that is more likely to curse. I also have never been one to curse so that probably makes it a little more funny to me too.
To me, when I look at this cartoon two totally different things going on. The man on the left is happy and smiling, and the man on the left does not look happy. He actually looks annoyed or bored with the man on the left. They really gave the man on the left a lot of gender characteristics such as a hat, a button up shirt, a beard, and a hammer. The man on the right has no gender telling characteristics except for he has short hair. Now that I think of it, its as if he has no gender. That is really interest to me.
I think another thing that makes this cartoon funny is the use of beverages. The man on the left uses beverages such as gin and tonic, tang, and pepsi. He could have said water, milk, and tea. The guy on the right said frappuccino which is actually what made me laugh. It is such a fancy name for a beverage, and I am assuming they used that word because it started with an F. I definitely think it is the language that makes this cartoon comical because if they had just used normal beverages, I would not have found it funny at all.

Week 7: Essay

Week 7: Essay

The Mountain

This week I read the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. One of the stories that stood out to me was a story about a man and his seven daughters. This story was called The Cave of the Beasts. What I found really interesting in this story was the relationship between the man and his daughters, and also the daughters' relationships. When the mans wife lets his daughters eat all of his duck eggs, the man gets very angry. He decides he wants to trick his daughters into traveling over the mountain to see their grandmother. Then, he would leave them to be eaten by wild animals. I thought this was so ridiculous. He was going to kill them over a few eggs. The older daughters knew what he was trying to do, so they did not go. What was the worst part was that the older sisters did not warn the younger sisters, so they went with their father. Then the father decided he missed the girls so he went to go find them. They forgave him automatically and they all lived happily ever after. I thought this was a really weird and different way to portray a father daughter relationship. It was a lot different than most of the stories I have read for this class. 

A story that was totally different from this was The Maiden who was Stolen Away. This story was about a woman being taken away by a flying ogre, and her brother has to come rescue her. This story is what one intends to read when it comes to a story about family. Compared to the first story, this story was happier and the brother saved the day!

Week 6: Essay

Week 6: Essay

This week I read the Nigerian Folktales unit. I thought that it was going to be different than it was. It was one of my least favorite units thus far. I thought it would be interesting because the preview said it was about animals. I also was really looking forward to the stories that explain why things are they way they are. For example why we bury dead people or why elephants have small eyes. I guess the reasons from theses stories were not that interesting or entertaining to me like some others I have read for this class. Some of the stories were really short too and I think that creates a lack of depth and detail which creates less interesting and enticing stories.

 I thought it would be nice for something different this week to read about animals, but I think I am really more into the fairy tales like the previous ones I have read. So I think this week I am learning what kinds of stories I like and which ones I do not like which is important for the rest of the semester. This will also help me with my portfolio because it will not be fun to write stories that I do not like or am not interested in. 

My favorite story this week was probably Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King. I liked this one because it was kind of tragic and twisted. It was different than the typical fairytale or story. So that is why I decided to do that story for my retelling this week.

The Frog Prince

  Next week I will look for more stories like this or stories that are more centered around people and magic instead of animals and elements. I am really looking forward to the brothers Grimm unit and the British/European units later on in the semester because I feel like those are the kinds of stories I really like to read.

Week 5: Essay

Week 5: My Writing Experiences

When I was in high school I remember I did not like to write much. I never felt like I was good at writing, but I usually got As and Bs on all of my papers. Everyone in my family told me that I should major in something to do with writing, but I never believed in myself. Freshman year I had this awful English teacher that for some reason HATED me. I had people in the class even ask me "Why does our teacher hate you?" I honestly did not know because I had never done anything wrong to her. I got a D on my first paper for her class and I was mortified. That was the first time I ever went to a teacher's office hours and it was completely awful. She made me feel so small and stupid. She basically told me I had no idea what I was doing and that I did everything completely wrong, but she let me redo the paper. The experiences I had in her class made me feel awful about myself and I was not confident in my writing at all. 

An "A" Paper

The next semester I was taking my second and last semester of English, and I could not happier that I would not have to take it again. After having my confidence crushed, this class really changed me in the best way possible. My teacher was so great and worlds different than my first teacher. He is still one of my favorite teachers I ever had at OU. Thinking I was a horrible writer, I was so nervous to get my first paper back. I ended up getting a 95%. I was so shocked and confused, but so happy. After we turned the third paper in, he asked me to talk to him after class. Naturally I was super nervous because I had no idea what he was about to talk to me about! It ends up he told me that I should really consider majoring in professional writing or something similar. He thought that I was and excellent writer, and that I had a really different and captivating way of writing. This was one of my favorite moments from college, ever. I was so shocked and surprised that he thought I was a good enough writer to major in professional writing. I ended up getting As on all of my papers, and getting an A in the class.

Obviously I did not take that route, but I still do a lot of writing in my major. When I was still a business major I took a writing for business class, and it really helped me a lot. I learned so much from that class that I can use in my career some day. This mythology class is very writing based and I think it is really helping me with my creative writing skills which is something I definitely (and always) can improve! For Sociology, I am in a methods of social research class right now and there will be a ton of writing. For my major most of the writing is social research which I am not as familiar with, but my methods class is about to tell me all about that so I like to think I am a well rounded writer when it comes down to all of the different writing classes I have taken.

Week 4: Essay

Week 4: Essay Option 2

Twenty-Two Goblins

This week I read Twenty-Two Goblins. I really enjoyed this unit! This was probably my favorite one that I have read so far. I think it was fun because it was a bunch of puzzles that made me think. The stories were very interesting because even though the riddle was was at the beginning of the story and you already knew what was going to happen, you had no idea how it was going to get there. There were some that were more surprising than others, and some that were more predictable. I found myself wanting to keep reading even past the halfway mark. I finished it all in one day and also did the storytelling that day. I think these stories were nice because they were shorter than some, and also very easy to understand. I used the audio book to read along with and that really helped. I tend to start thinking and daydreaming when I read and so it takes me forever to read something. The audio book helped me keep focused and pay attention a lot more so I got done a lot quicker and finished faster. A few of my favorite stories included: "Brave, Wise, Clever," "Food, Women, Cotton," "The Three Delicate Wives," and "The Three Lovers." My least favorite stories (based on the endings) "The General's Wife," "The Old Hermit," "The Snake's Poison," and "The Girl and the Thief." I did not like some of the endings on these because the people die at the end, or something strange happened. I thought it was neat how this story was made up of little stories, but was overall one giant story altogether. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and thought that it was a very nice read. It did not need any notes or anything and everything was pretty straight forward. The description was dead on, and that was what made me choose this unit. 

Week 3: Essay

Week 3: Essay Option 2

The Giant of the Flood

For this week I read the Jewish Fairytales and Legends unit. Overall, I liked this unit way better than the one I chose last week (Homer's Iliad). I thought it was really easy to understand because the way it was written was more clear. I also liked how this unit was made up of a few different stories because you could read a few and come back to it later and not have to try and remember what was going on before you stopped reading. I did not think that any of the stories needed notes or anything because it was easy to understand. I kind of wished that it was a little bit more "fairytale" like, but the stories definitely had some fairytale features in them. The first story, The Giant of the Flood, was very interesting because there was a fairytale spin on the story of Noah's Ark which was pretty fun to read. I think these stories were nice because there was always a little surprise at the end, I did not always figure out the end before I got to it. I think that makes for a great story! My favorite stories were probably The Beggar King, The Quarrel  of the Cat and Dog, and The Water Babe. My least favorite were The Magic Palace, King for Three Days, and From Shepherd-Boy to King. I think this reading was nice because it was what I expected it to be. When I read Homer's Iliad, it was nothing like I expected which I did not like. This story was nice because it was called Jewish Fairytales and Legends and that is exactly what it was. This reading was great and interesting and I really enjoyed this weeks unit. I think in the future I will look for more units with stories like these and hopefully that will result in me really enjoying all of the work for this class!

Week 2: Essay

Essay Option 3: First Memories of Writing

I remember when I was going into third grade and I was so excited because we were going to learn how to write in cursive that year. I was so excited because I felt like knowing cursive made me a grown up or something. We would learn one letter at a time, and we had little workbooks to write everything in. Cursive was definitely more difficult than I had thought initially, but it was really fun. I always thought as a little girl that I could not read cursive until I could write cursive! So once I learned I thought I was so cool and of course wanted to use cursive all the tine! I still love to write in cursive today because it is fun to play with, and I can always get creative with it. 

Cursive Alphabet

I also remember learning how to type in school. I already had developed my own typing style at home, but we had to take classes in elementary school. I liked typing so I did not think it would be that bad. Little did I know, typing class was so much different and more difficult. We had to use certain fingers for certain buttons. I was not used to this so it was good to take a class to learn a more proper way of typing. 

Keyboard

I remember when I was in grade school, middle school, and sometimes high school when we wrote poems or short stories. I always thought it would be really hard, but I always usually ended up with something pretty good. We almost always had to share our stories in front of the class. I am very shy with my writing so I always was so terrified to do this. It was very, very hard for me. We had to write an "About Me" paper for our senior year of high school and it was not only something I had written, but something that was extremely personal. I was so scared to read it out loud at the podium, but I faced my fears and did it. Surprisingly enough, it up being a really fun experience. Throughout middle and high school I realized I liked English class the best, and it was also my best subject!