Week Nine Storytelling: The Coming Of Men

"Tell us again, mommy! Tell us again!" the children chanted. They were all tucked into bed, ready for sleep and not sleepy at all. So mother sat down and told them again about how the earth was made and stars were put in the sky...

"Long, long ago," she started, folding her hands in her lap. She closed her eyes briefly, as if to remember how the coming of men began.

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"The earth fell from the sky. And from it hills, stones, valleys and lakes formed. The earth was created from the sky, forming the rocks and dirt we stand on today. After the earth was formed, man came from the earth. The ground beneath you and the plants around you made you. Children came as well. Mothers and fathers, boys and girls, all came from the earth," mother looked around at the children, eyes wide and listening intently.

She continued, "I do not know how man and woman found each other, but they did. Women sewed for children's clothing and men worked the earth. Because back then, there was no light or sun, only darkness. So everyone ate what could be grown from the soil." At this some of the children wrinkled their noses at the idea of not eating meat and only vegetables.

"Eventually there were many men and they wished to have dogs. So man went out and stomped on the ground, shaking a dog leash and so there came a dog from the earth. Since there was no death then, the population grew and grew. There was no light either and only inside their homes did they burn water as a source of light."

"Because there were too many men there came a mighty flood that wiped out much of the population.  Stricken with grief, one old, wise woman said, 'Let us be without light and thus without death as well,' but another, more wise woman said, 'Better to have light and also have death.' So with her words came both."

"And with death came the sun, moon and stars. Man could travel and hunt and no longer needed to just live off the earth. Because of light it is said that when men die they become shining stars and brightly light the night's sky."

By the end of her tale the children were asleep, content with the idea of someday becoming a star. Mother smiled to herself, quietly tucking the children in and closing the door.

Author's Note. This story is based on The Coming of Men from Eskimo Folktales. The original is almost exactly like mine except it is just the story being told, there is no storyteller or audience. I made it into like a children's story that one would hear at bedtime, but kept the original plot. I really enjoyed reading this story and loved the ending so I kept that part.

Bibliography. The Coming of Men from Eskimo Folktales by Knud Rasmussen (1921).

Week Nine Essay: First Memories of Reading

My first memories of reading are probably pretty cliche. My mom used to read Harry Potter to me when I was younger, so I grew up loving the series. I fell in love with the storyline and the characters and as I got older, so did they. So naturally, I went to every book and movie premiere, appropriately dressed, and cried every time a character died (Dobby, why).

That wasn't the only series I grew up with though. I also read all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.. And there are a lot. I loved that series. I loved the idea of growing up in the midwest during that time period when there weren't that many people. I got lost in her adventures and sense of excitement whenever they moved. I wanted to live in a log cabin so badly and make my own maple syrup candy poured on snow (which I actually did at home). I wanted to grow up in the town by the Silver Shores and meet Almanzo... The list goes on and on.

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I think through my experiences of my mom reading to me and finally reading by myself, I found I have always loved reading. You can get lost in books and really live in different places, time periods and through the eyes of someone else. I have always read for pleasure, even through school, and enjoy doing that more than watching TV. I want to read all the classics, including all the books you're supposed to read in high school. I loved To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. In high school I read Love In The Time of Cholera and Crime and Punishment among others. I read many Jane Austen novels and am currently reading Anna Karenina.

I also enjoy some of the more recently published books. From the popular series The Hunger Games and Divergent to others like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. As for genres, I don't have a preference. I love historical fiction though, and have enjoyed reading books by Philipa Gregory, who writes about King Henry VIII and his seven wives. Through her books I have a window into history and how events played out there. I love reading about English court and Henry's long tyrannic reign. I also like the post apocalyptic style that many of the popular series feature, because I think they pose interesting questions about the human nature and that of society. I find it fascinating to read into the idea that if everything we knew fell, how would people in power design society next and why.

Week Nine: Reading Diary

Part A: I noticed a few things as I read through this unit. First, some of the names are insanely difficult to pronounce. This may be a minor detail, but with names like Nukunguasik and Qalaganguase, it really made me wonder about Alaskan traditions with names. I also noticed there were dog sleds involved in many of the stories. Obviously, as a cultural tradition, this is a mode of transportation. However, it does make an interesting comparison to other stories features horses or wagons. Finally, I noticed that a lot of the stories ended pretty graphically. Evil or bad characters faced gruesome deaths, having their bodies ripped to pieces or eaten by ghosts. Gross.

Along with the other stories I've read (Japanese, Tibetan), the Eskimo Folktales also featured morals and themes of good and evil. It revealed how characters were punished for lying or killing someone, implying good and bad morals. Additionally, some of the folktales sought to explain common phenomena, like why inlanders fear dogs (The Giant Dog) or how when men die they go up and become stars (The Coming Of Men).

Part B: The second set of stories featured more morals and themes of good and evil. In Papik, Who Killed His Wife's Brother, Papik is punished for killing his wife's brother because he was jealous. In the end, the wife comes back as a monster to devour Papik and teaches him a lesson about killing a good fellow. In The Wife Who Lied, a wife lies about being mistreated by her husband and starts a war between the two tribes. As a lesson, the other tribe comes back for revenge and ends up cutting off both of her arms for lying. And finally, in Pâtussorssuaq, Who Killed His Uncle, Patussorssuaq killed his uncle because he wanted his uncle's wife. His uncle's soul came to him in a fox and bit him, punishing him for killing.

Week Seven Storytelling: How The Fox Fell Victim to His Own Deceit

Once upon a time there were three friends. They grew up together and had many happy memories as children. In their eyes, they saw each other as chosen siblings. They hung out every day, shared everything and were constantly at each other's houses.

However, as they grew older, one of the friends, Taylor, grew increasingly jealous of Elizabeth. Sarah was starting to think that her mother liked Elizabeth more and that they were too close. She let this idea fester and grew more and more angry as time went on.

One day, Taylor's mom got very ill. She was dying and as her dying wish, she told the three friends to always treat each other as siblings and to never fight. Each vowed that they would follow that. After she died they were sad, but promised stay friends no matter what. Taylor secretly thought this was her chance. She plotted to end the friendship and bring Elizabeth down for good.

Sarah went to the third friend, Samantha, and filled her ears with lies.

"Elizabeth comes to me and talks bad about you all the time!" Taylor said, "She thinks you're annoying and needy. She told me she's tired of hanging out with you."

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Hurt and sad, Samantha stopped talking to Elizabeth. She grew increasingly angry by her and couldn't believe that one of her closest childhood friends would say something like that about her.

The next day, Taylor went up to Elizabeth and told her all kinds of lies about Samantha as well.

"Samantha won't stop talking about how much she hates you, Elizabeth," she said, "She doesn't want to be your friend anymore."

Elizabeth was confused and angry, why would Samantha say something like that? They had grown up together, did everything together and always treated each other like sisters. Both Elizabeth and Samantha went along believing the other disliked her. They stopped hanging out and didn't speak much. Taylor was happy, hoping they would fight and end the friendship all together. That way Taylor could get rid of Elizabeth without lifting a finger.

One day, Elizabeth went up to Samantha timidly and said, "Why do you hate me? We've always been sisters and I've been nothing but caring and nice."

"I never hated you! Taylor told me you hated me and didn't want to be my friend anymore!" Samantha exclaimed. Having learned the truth, they planned to teach Taylor a lesson.

The next day Samantha found Taylor and set the plan into action. She sat on the couch next to her and as they watched TV, Samantha guided the conversation Elizabeth.

"She is so annoying," Samantha started, "What did Elizabeth say about me again?" Excited that her plan was working, Taylor started in a long list of cruel things that were completely fabricated. At that moment, Elizabeth walked in, hearing everything.

At that moment, Taylor was stuck. She was lying about Elizabeth to Samantha and Elizabeth had just walked in. Trapped in her web of lies, Elizabeth and Samantha told Taylor they knew about her manipulation and plan. They soon stopped hanging out with her and found more honest friends.

Author's Note. This story is based on How The Fox Fell Victim To His Own Deceit. In the original, basically the same thing happened except with a fox, a wolf and a cow. I changed it to people and altered the ending slightly because in the original they kill the fox in the end… And I thought that was a bit graphic for three girls. I made the girls' names those of my roommates, which was fun to do. But other than that the moral and plot stayed the same.

Bibliography. How The Fox Fell Victim To His Own Deceit from Tibetan Folktales by A.L. Shelton (1925).

Week Seven: Comparisons Essay

This week I read Japanese Fairy Tales and because I'm trying to get ahead (I have some crazy upcoming weeks), I already did next week's over Tibetan Folktales. Since I read them so close to together, I noticed many similarities and differences between them that I wanted to discuss here. They are both cultural fairytales, featuring magic powers, talking animals and lessons learned.

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In Japanese Fairy Tales, many of the stories featured good and evil characters, each punished or rewarded for their good or bad deeds. The Envious Neighbor is punished for his devilish ways and using his neighbor's good fortune to further his own riches. And many stories featured the Japanese racoon dog, a Tanuki, and his pack of tricks and manipulations. These stories gave insight into this Japanese animal and parts of their culture that seeped into the stories.

In the The Tibetan Folktales, the stories also had similar themes and characters. Animals and humans existed together, talking and being friends or enemies. Characters were also punished for their bad intentions and rewarded for their honesty. In The Ingratitude of Man, a man helped another man, fox, rat and snake from a cliff and in return they all helped him except the man. In the end, the ingratitude of man got him arrested and imprisoned.

While all of the stories had obvious similarities among them: themes and morals of good and evil and actions punishment and reward. What differed is what interested me. While all of the Tibetan Folktales had proverbs at the beginning, they also featured a prominent sense of god or higher spiritual being. In The Violinist they open the door to hell and push the wicked king in themselves. Also in The Man and the Monkeys, after the man betrays the monkeys that helped him, the Monkey god interfered and kills the man. These signs of god and religious beliefs are present in the Tibetan Folktales, while they don't exist in the Japanese Fairy Tales. The Japanese Fairy Tales may have the same morals, but don't mention once the existence of a god that is pulling the strings above. The concept of good and evil is punished and focused on man and the earthly world, instead of guided by another being. I think this is really interesting to see within the stories. It makes me wonder about the religious views that Japan has culturally and historically had, and if these views affect their customs or traditions. Just from these stories, I would conclude that they don't, at least not as much as they do in the Tibetan tradition.

I think it's also intriguing to note that, even without these religious concepts and aspects, the Japanese fairy tales are still very similar to the Tibetan ones. Both have the same concept of good and evil, bad and good, and punishment and reward. Does that lead to the notion that these are inherently human (or animal) feelings and not originating from a religious base? Maybe some morals begin there, but it argues that even those without religious aren't without moral code. Just a few thoughts.

Overall, I enjoyed both units and thought they had a lot of interesting things to say about their respective cultures.

Week Seven: Reading Diary

Part A: This Tibetan Folktales unit was very interesting and entertaining to read. At the top of each story was a Tibetan proverb, but that sometimes didn't make as much sense by itself, but aided in the stories overall theme and moral. These morals were of truth, honesty and friendship. Constant themes throughout these stories included good and evil, punishing tricksters and rewarding honest people. These stories reminded me a lot of the Japanese fairytales and Aesop's fables. All had similar ideas and concepts of how truth and good intentions were at the core of all good people or animals. In The Cony Who Got Into Bad Company, the Cony and the Rat stole from an honest Lama and in the end, they were punished and made to be a fool. The overall moral was that you are who you hang out with and your reputation can be stained because of their actions. I enjoyed reading How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit, which told the story of a fox who tried to pit a cow and a tiger against each other, only to have them both find out and attack him instead. This idea of dishonesty and evil intentions is present in many of the stories. It was rather funny in Covetousness, as three robbers plotted to poison four other robbers with food and the four other robbers plotted to poison the three with water. In the end they all died because of their plots.

Part B: These stories followed the same ideas and plots as the first party. All had magical animals or gods that helped the honest win and the evil lose. In The Golden Squash, a good neighbor rescued a hurt bird and in return received a magical seed that grew a gold squash. The jealous neighbor injured another bird in hopes of receiving the same treatment, instead his seed grew an evil pumpkin with a man inside and he ended up dying for his dishonesty. Additionally, in The Man and the Monkeys, a monkey saved the man from drowning and in return the man got annoyed by the monkeys' noise and shook the trees killing all the monkeys. The Monkey god was unhappy and turned himself into a snake, killing the man.

All of these stories featured heavy themes of right and wrong, ending in a lot of deaths and killings to bring justice to the situation. Aside from the beginning proverb that set the setting of the story, most of the stories started with "Long, long ago..." or "Once upon a time…" which I thought was really interesting. It's a classic start and every single one followed that pattern. I think these folktales are close to a lot of Aesop's fables and stories.

Week Six: Storytelling

There once were two travelers, one from Chicago and one from Austin.

Both loved to travel the country and take pictures. Each had an extensive collection of photos, ranging from historic landmarks to beautiful landscapes. They were both very proud of their collection, showing anyone who would stop the beautiful prints. Although these two travelers had a lot in common they didn't know about each other.

One day, the traveler from Chicago, named John, decided he would go to Austin. He wanted to see what everyone loved about the city and went on his way down to Texas. The other traveler, Adam, that day decided he wanted to see Chicago. He wanted to see the Windy City and all of the great landmarks he'd seen on TV. He set out heading north for Illinois.

Now the trip from Chicago to Austin is very long and both travelers grew tired from their journey. Both stopped about halfway, which happened to be in Tulsa, OK. John rented a hotel room and headed downtown to relax at a local pub, called McNellies. He ordered a burger and a beer and looked forward to not traveling through the night. While Adam, also stopped in Tulsa and headed to McNellies for a late dinner. Having nowhere else to sit, he asked to join John at the table. After they introduced themselves, they found they had a lot in common. Both talked of the splendors of their respective city and spoke excitedly of visiting the new city.

They ended up spending a few days in Tulsa getting to know each other: going out to eat pizza at Andolini's, see a Driller's baseball game and exploring some of Tulsa's little dessert shops on Brookside. After a few days of just relaxing and exploring, John and Adam had become good friends.

"I wish I could just see what Chicago was like so I'd know if I should continue on my journey!" exclaimed John on the third day. He was missing home and liked not having to constantly travel. Adam agreed, saying surely there must be a way to know if it was worth all his trouble. All of a sudden, Adam had an idea.

"Well you have pictures of Chicago and I have pictures of Austin, why don't we just switch and see?" Adam said. John, delighted, said that was a great idea and reached for his precious packet of polaroids. At the moment, as both John and Adam had pulled out their pictures, a giant Oklahoma wind gust blew and pushed all of the pictures out of their hands.

Frantically, both travelers ran after the pictures as they fluttered away. John grabbed whatever he saw and Adam did the same, so in the end both ended up with each other's pictures by accident. After they recovered the photos they made their trade.

But Adam, seeing what he thought were John's pictures of Chicago, but were really his own of Austin, declared, "Well Chicago looks exactly like Austin! It is not worth it for me to travel all that way to see the same things."

While John, looking at what he thought were Adam's photos of Austin, but were really his own of Chicago, agreed, "You're right. Austin looks exactly like my home in Chicago. I will just head home then."

They parted ways as friends and each headed to their perspective home, holding each other's pictures.

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Author's Note. This story is based on The Two Frogs in the Japanese Fairy Tales unit. The original story is about two frogs that want to travel to each other's city and meet in the middle. They want to know whether they should continue on their journey or just go home, so they stand on each other's backs and look for the city they want to see. However, frog's eyes are on the back of their head, so when they did that they ended up only seeing their own city. Thinking that their destination was the same as their home they both returned home and didn't continue. I changed it to humans who carry pictures and with the wind they accidentally pick up each other's photos. It makes them think that their destination looks exactly like their home. A little unrealistic, I know, but I wanted to interpret in a different way but keep the original moral and plot. Plus, I'm from Tulsa so I incorporated actual places they could have visited.

Bibliography. The Two Frogs in the Japanese Fairy Tales unit by Andrew Lang (1901).

Week Six Essay: Assessing The Unit

I really enjoyed the Japanese Fairytales unit! I had so much fun reading and learning through these stories. They were entertaining and interesting, plus none were so extensively long that I got bogged down in the length. The morals and themes of good and evil were very prevalent, but like I mentioned in my reading diary, none of the stories referenced a God or higher being as the justice-maker. Magical powers, talking animals and underwater worlds were just completely normal and not due to any type of established religion or religious views. Evil characters were punished just because they were evil and mean, not because some higher power punished them. I thought was interesting, especially after reading Bible Women and reading other fairytales that focused a lot on that religious aspect.

Additionally, I liked learning more about how the Japanese culture was worked into the stories. I learned about a Tanuki, which is a Japanese raccoon dog (picture below). The character was usually a trickster and greedy, he was always making bad things happen to good people. In most of the stories the Tanuki was punished for his actions.

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I also noticed how graphic some of the stories got. In The Slaying Of The Tanuki, he tricks a husband into eating his own wife! And in The Crab And The Monkey, the monkey beats the crab almost to death. The evil characters are pretty brutal with their jokes and many sell out their own family or spouses, like in How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished and The Sparrow With The Split Tongue. In many of the other culture fairytales the evil characters aren't always direct family or spouses, so it's interesting that the bad characters come from so close.

I really enjoyed reading this unit and had the opportunity to see the Japanese culture through the lens of the stories. I learned about a new animal and got to see how the evil and good themes are represented in the stories.

Week Six Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales

Part A: I really enjoyed reading these fairy tales. They were entertaining and fun to read. Like many fairy tales I've read, many "good" characters are rewarded for their loyalty, kindness and generosity. While "evil" characters are usually punished, which leads to the morals and overall general themes of good, bad and justice. For example, in The Envious Neighbour, the owners of the magical dog are rewarded for their actions, while the jealous neighbor ends up dying because of his evil habits. Additionally, The Sparrow With The Split Tongue features an evil, greedy wife that is mean to her husband eventually pays for her greediness with her life. Along with the themes of good and evil, there were many magical and animated characters. Many of the animals weren't really animals, but what I thought was interesting after reading other culture fairy tales, was that none of the fairy tales referenced God or a higher being for their magical properties. Many of the ones I've read previously, site a spirit or being related to a God. There characters are simply magical because they have that power. It definitely shows some differences in the cultures and their views.

Part B: I noticed many of the stories featured evil characters that were Tanukis. I wasn't sure what kind of animal this was, I had to look it up. It's a Japanese raccoon dog, which is about as weird as it sounds. Apparently, the Tanuki is supposed to be mischievous and a master of disguise. This is revealed in all of the stories in the second part of the Japanese Fairy Tales. In How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished and The Slaying Of The Tanuki, the Tanuki tricks many of the characters. It was pretty graphic one of the stories (leading a husband to accidentally eat his own wife!), and each time the Tanuki died or was punished because of his actions.

Week Five Storytelling: The Liver

There was a young girl, named Alex, who wanted a pair of shoes very badly. She knew they would look perfect with her new dress and every day asked her mother for money to buy them. Her mother, not having a ton of money, and wanting to make sure her daughter worked for it, told her she would give her money for the shoes if she first got her a dozen apples to eat. Satisfied, Alex went to the local market to buy apples.

"Please, let me have a dozen apples for my mother so she can give me money to buy some shoes," she pleaded to the apple farmer.

"Fair enough, you can have a dozen apples if you give me a large basket to put my apples in." So Alex set off to a basket weaver to ask for a basket.

"Basket weaver, please weave me a basket so I can give it to the apple farmer so he will give me a dozen apples for my mother and she will give me money for the shoes." The basket weaver thought for a minute and replied, "You can have your basket when you bring me some twine."

Alex went next to a yarn maker, in search of twine. "Can I have some twine to give to the basket weaver, who will give me a basket to give to the apple farmer, who will give me a dozen apples to give to my mother, who will give me money to buy some shoes?"

"I will give you twine, if you will give me a handmade blanket made of yarn." So next, Alex went to the sewing shop down the street and asked for their finest made blanket to give to the yarn maker, who would give her some twine to give to the basket weaver, who would give her a basket to give to the apple farmer, who would give her a dozen apples to give to her mother.

The sewing shop owner said, "I will give you this blanket when you return with a belt of fabric." Alex now went to a fabric store and asked for a belt of fabric to give to the sewing shop owner, who would give her a blanket to give to the yarn maker, who would give her twine to give to the basket weaver, who would give her a basket to give to the apple farmer, who would give her a dozen apples to give to her mother.

The fabric store owner heard her plea and replied, "You can have the fabric, if you bring me back some buttons." So Alex, now tired, set off to find some buttons. She met a small child in the street carrying a small bag of buttons he found from his travels. She pleaded, "Please can I have that bag of buttons to give to the fabric store, who will give me some fabric to give to the sewing shop, who will give me a blanket to give to the yarn maker, who will give me some twine to give to the basket weaver, who will give me a basket to give to the apple farmer, who will give me a dozen apples for my mother, who will buy me some shoes."

The young boy agreed, "I will give you these buttons for some ice cream." Alex, who had a few dollars agreed and bought the boy an ice cream cone. She then gave the buttons to the fabric store, the fabric to the sewing shop, the blanket to the yarn maker, the twine to the basket weaver, the basket to the apple farmer and the apples to her mother. The next day Alex's mother gave her some money and she went out and bought her the shoes.

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Author's Note. This story is based off of The Liver, which tells a similar story of a young girl trying to get liver back for her mother to eat. It gets really long and complicated towards the end, which is something I wanted to maintain in my story. I changed it to a pair of shoes and made the other people she encountered anything I could think of, but the original theme and plot remains the same.

Bibliography. "The Liver" from Turkish Fairytales by Ignacz Kunos (1913).

Week Five Essay: Role of Women in The Turkish Fairytales

I think what's most interesting to me is how similar the plots in the stories are. Even though there were around 17 different tales, many had similar plots and characters. Most started with a son, or poor man, who runs across a beautiful fish, bird or other animal. The animal then turns into a beautiful maiden (either immediately or eventually) and the King wishes to marry or take the maiden for himself. The King then puts impossible tasks before the young man, who finds help from his magical animal-maiden and completes them. In The Fish-Peri, he has to build a beautiful palace, a crystal bridge, hold a huge feast and find a talking infant. All of these he finds and helps him win back his beautiful maiden, who he promptly marries. In The Crown-Peri, the young man must win back his fish-maiden by bringing in ivory trunks and the bird's fairy-Queen owner. After satisfying the King he gets to marry the bid, who has turned into a woman. The Wizard-Dervish details the story of a young man who finds himself captured by a Dervish and three doves (who, naturally, are women). One dove-woman in particular helps him choose a wife (her) and escape the Dervish's beatings.

These themes are present in many of the stories in this unit and give insight into how the Turkish cultural values and history. The female always acts as an advice-giver. helping the man through his troubles. I'm not exactly sure why she doesn't start in human form, always as an animal, but maybe it contributes to the magical theme of the tales. Maybe, the male characters need to get to know the female characters (as animals) first to get the help they need, before they marry them. I found these stories interesting and entertaining to read. The magical and mythical aspects made the stories more dynamic, however, I noticed that many did not have an overall theme or moral at the end, like some fairytales do.

Week Five: Reading Diary Turkish Fairytales

Part A: This unit was really interesting and entertaining to read. It was full of mythical talking creatures, changing shape and magical events. In Fear, a young boy is looking for what it's like to feel fear. Through his journey, he encounters three pigeons, who transform into maidens and help him  become a Shah and finally feel fear. The The Fish-Peri, a fisherman caught a beautiful fish, who turned out to be a maiden and helped him complete impossible tasks assigned by Pardishah like building a palace, a crystal bridge, a talking infant and a huge feast. The Crown-Peri is similar in that a woman helps him complete impossible tasks and ends with him getting married and being rewarded. In the end of most of these stories, the male main character marries a princess and lives happily ever after. The female characters usually start out as animals and the male characters think they are beautiful, they usually transform and help the main character and in reward they get to marry each other. This timeline is constant through most of the stories.

Part B: Some of these stories had similar plots as the ones in Part A. However, some got even more strange. Kunterbunt seemed be to the most random set of events and circumstances, it was hard to follow and then at the end it was actually just a dream. Other complicated plot lines included The Wizard and his Pupil, where towards the end each transformed into many things and tried to catch each other, changing so many times resulting in the pupil killing his teacher. The Liver was another that grew more and more complicated as the story went on. In an effort to get back the liver a stork stole from her, the maiden had to get barely from a farmer for the stork, incense from a merchant for the farmer, shoes from a shoemaker for the merchant, leather from a tanner for the shoemaker, an ox for the tanner, straw for the ox and a kiss from a peasant for the ox. Whew, what a long set of tasks for just a liver!

URL Shortener Tech Tip

This tool is very handy when an article has a lot of links. It makes it a lot easier to include all my sources and resources. Sometimes links are just incredible long and include random symbols. This link wasn't too long but it looks a lot better when it is shortened.


Shortened link: goo.gl/jUr2CW


Original link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#Abduction_myth

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Week Four Storytelling: How Sun, Moon and Wind Went Out To Dinner

There once were three brothers, who grew up as all boys do; running outside, playing tricks and tracking mud in the house. They grew up with a loving mom who always served their favorite meals and sometimes, if they were good, ice cream for dessert. The boys' names from oldest to youngest were Charles, Adam and Tyler, respectively. Charles, being born first, was confident and brave, holding much of the family responsibility. He was serious and calm. Adam, the middle child, was the opposite. Reckless, loud and sometimes a bit crazy, he disliked chores and rules. However, being only two years a part, Charles and Adam were pretty close. Even with their differences they agreed on most things and grew up playing together often.

Tyler was the youngest. Four years younger than Adam, he was shy and quiet. He stayed close to his mom and was always obeying her rules and requests. As the three grew up, they became more selfish as young people often are. They thought less of home and their mother and more of their own futures, hopes and dreams. Charles met a girl and moved away to school, Adam wanted to join the military, but Tyler, unsure of his future stayed at home. He grew worried about their mother, as her health deteriorated and she had trouble going up and down stairs. He called on his brothers to help, but they never came home to see her. As she grew older she called upon a dinner with her three sons to divide her belongings in a will.

That same night, however, the brothers were all invited to a fancy dinner. Tyler wanted to stay and eat with their mother, but Charles and Adam convinced him to come along. The dinner included many important public figures, had a live band and a wonderful caterer. Charles and Adam ate plenty at dinner, drinking lots of beer and having a good time. They completely forgot about their mother's will and her failing health. Tyler, on the other hand, felt guilty about leaving his mother and ate less, saving part of the meal to take home. He hid some in a tupperware container in his jacket and barely talked to anyone all night. When the night was over they all headed back to see their mother.

When they returned, they found their mother in bed and very sick. Tyler, quickly heated up the food and fed her dinner in bed. She revealed that she had been sick for a while and would probably die soon. After this news, the brothers felt guilty about blowing off that night's dinner. Their mother realized that only Tyler thought of her during dinner, and was there for her during her recent sickness.

For their selfish actions, the mother turned Charles into a sun, making him unbearable hot and bright during the days. She said people would curse him for his heat and not look straight at him. She turned Adam into the Wind, a blistering hot wind that killed plants and swirled sand around, making people miserable and unhappy. She then turned to Tyler, who had graciously brought her dinner, and she tuned him into the moon. He would be calm, cool and beautiful, and everyone would be grateful for his presence at night.

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Author's Note. This story is based on "How Sun, Moon and Wind Went Out To Dinner." The original story is much like this one, but they started out as the sun, moon and the wind. After the sun and wind didn't think of their mother at dinner, they were cursed with these characteristics, while the moon became cool and beautiful at night. I turned the original into a story about three brothers, but kept the same lesson throughout.

Bibliography. "How Sun, Moon and Wind Went Out To Dinner" from Indian Fairy Tales (1912). Source.

Week Four Essay: Future of Written Media

I'm excited about what's coming next for media. Since I'm in public relations, I see a lot of where the industry is going and how people will communicate in the future. What amazes, interests and intrigues me specifically, is social media. Aside from normal daily use, I've had experience using many platforms for business purposes. Learning about target audience, reach and how to attract visitors has been exciting and interesting for me as a student and young professional. Using social media for personal reasons is much different from business use, and it has made me more aware of how businesses are implementing social media plans to reach their marketing goals.

What I think is most exciting is the platforms themselves. I've seen so much creativity and innovation from brands on Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram. Who knew brands like Taco Bell and Urban Outfitters had Snapchats, and successfully reach their target audience through detailed stories and audience engagement on this platform? I think what is so cool about social media is the parameters that confine each post. If you only had 140 characters to reach your audience, foster engagement and get your message across, what would you say? It forces PR professionals and creatives to get to the point, be selective with language and really understand their audience. It's exciting to be challenged like this, and I'm really interested in the direction that social media is taking public relations.

(Source. Just a sample of the types of things they promote on Snapchat. They also have voting competitions and other engagement opportunities.)

I always feel so nerdy, but I love when brands interact with each other on Snapchat, especially some of my favorite brands. Behind each Twitter account is some creative team, working to carve out a personality online. They have to be engaging, funny and original, and this really shines through when they interact with each other. I think it's exciting to see -- almost like two of your good friends becoming friends.

I don't know if social media will always be around, but I think that communication and media is going in this direction. We can't go back from it now, and even if Facebook isn't here in 20 years, something will replace it and it will be shorter, more interactive and more engaging. These platforms are hard, because there's so much clutter to fight through, but also an excellent opportunity to directly reach readers. I think the future of media is going towards digital, and I hope to be there helping businesses connect with their audiences.

Reading Diary Week Four: Indian Fairy Tales

Part A: I really enjoyed reading these fairy tales, they were entertaining, easy to read and sometimes humorous. Each had its own moral or ending theme that either taught the characters a lesson or served justice to those who were wrongly treated. The Broken Pot reminded me a lot of The Girl and Her Bucket, both characters dreamed of all the riches they would have soon and got so excited about the future that they spilled their goods now. They "counted their chickens before they hatched" as the saying goes and ruined any chance of getting their wishes.

The Tiger, The Brahman and The Jackal was an interesting story of how stubbornnes and being gullible. The Jackal pretended to not understand the situation, and the lion was so desperate to be right, that he caged himself and lost the prospect of eating the Brahman. He was foolish and stubborn in his ways, costing him dinner.

Part B: My favorite fairy tale in this part was Why The Fish Laughed. It reminded me of the generational gap that is present even today. The young man uses sayings that the older man doesn't understand, and while the older man thinks he's crazy, his daughter understands perfectly what he's trying to say. I think it's funny how this is something that we can see today, we are used to slang and jargon that maybe our grandparents don't understand.

I also enjoyed How Sun, Moon and Wind Went Out To Dinner, which was a story about three siblings and only the moon thought of the mother. The sun and the wind only went to enjoy themselves and were therefore punished by their mom, as star. The sun was cursed with being hot all the time and the wind with being hot and killing plant life. The moon, on the other hand, brought food back to mom and was favored, always being cool and beautiful at night. Many of these stories had lessons like these, which made them enjoyable to read.