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.