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Showing posts from August, 2017

Week 2 Story: A retelling of Aesop's "The Lion and the Statue"

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Image source:  Wikipedia A friendship formed between a Man and a Lion. This was almost unheard of, and the kinship was met with animosity. The Man and the Lion were unbothered by the glares they received, and they met daily to discuss many things. They played word games, talked of hunting, and laughed often. There were a number of things in which the Man excelled compared to his friend. He could read and write and discuss politics. Although the Lion could not perform the same tasks, he was King of the animals and proved to have great strength. Once in their regular conversation, the Man began speaking of human strength. He made extravagant claims that Man could overpower any animal. “Do you think that Man is stronger than Lion?”, the Lion asked. “Well, of course. Man has wrestled many great beasts and always prevails”, his friend replied. The Lion wondered why the Man would believe something so foolish. “How can you believe that Man is stronger than Lion, than Cro

Reading Notes: Moon Origin Stories, Japanese Divinity, and Fairy Tales

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Basilisk by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch (1747-1822) I enjoyed reading the range of stories for this assignment. I always take notes the same way, whether typing them into a computer or writing them out. I wrote these first, then transferred them to my blog. In this post, I have decided to share my notes on the two Moon origin stories, the Japanese divinity story, and the fairy tale. After the notes, I've provided an explanation. Moon Origin Stories #1 The Man in the Moon - quickly moving plot - no substantial paragraphs - not much context - not much insight into main character's thoughts or feelings - man who needs help from others - lesson to be learned - writing is not superfluous - the end is a punishment #2 The Hare that was not Afraid to Die - Buddhist - more context given than other Moon origin story - larger scale than other story (more characters and action) - the end is a reward The Divine The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi - important fi

UnTextbook Reading Options

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"Pilgrims leaving Canterbury", source:  Telegraph I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of readings available on the UnTextbook website for Mythology and Folklore. It is efficient that the stories are divided into their geographic locations. I have included these particular links because of their geographic location or because the content interested me. Having such a wide range of reading possibilities insures that no two posts or projects will be the same throughout the course, and also that the students are available to choose their own reading material in a way that keeps them interested. Alaska I had never considered Alaskan mythology and may refer to this link for my own storytelling later in this course. Canterbury Tales I am sure we are all somewhat familiar with Chaucer’s Canterbury tales. As for myself, this is a link I will definitely be referring back to. My interest was peaked as the tales are something I realized I had heard about many times

Time Strategies

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Image source:  Pinterest For the Time Strategies readings, I read Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination by Peter Banerjea and 11 Ways Unsuccessful People Mismanage Their Time by Aine Cain. I chose these articles for two reasons. First of all, they are both set up as lists. For some reason I really love lists. It’s easier to find the things that relate to you personally than reading a winded article that might be hit and miss. Also, both of these articles deal with procrastination. This is something I’ve dealt with a lot, especially in my first three semesters at OU. There was a point that I got so stressed out that I wouldn’t even begin assignments. So, Banerjea’s article resonated with me more. In Four Questions , Banerjea states that sometimes the hardest part of any project is simply beginning. I have found this to be true, and for the last couple of years have tried to not wait until the last minute to get things done. For example, a lot of people

New Online Tools Technology

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Image source:  Wikipedia I have to be honest and say that I’m a bit overwhelmed by all of the content for Mythology and Folklore and Epics of India. However, I am getting used to where everything is. I’m glad I took the opportunity to start these classes a week early! I have two other online classes and need to get used to those, as well. Creating bookmark folders in my browser for all of my classes was a great idea. I have so many links for each course, I didn’t even realize how many there were until I grouped them all together. Now they sit nicely at the top of my screen and I am feeling a little less all over the place. :’-D I had not heard of a lot of these tools before, but it will be interesting attempting to use them. I do use Google Docs all the time, though, and I highly encourage everyone check it out. It’s great for taking class notes, making a resume, writing essays, etc. I used to use Word for all of my writing assignments, but Google will aut

Assignment Impressions

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Image source:  Pxhere   Mythology and Folklore and Epics of India are two courses unlike any that I have taken before. I have never run a blog and had never even read any blogs before this past week. Online classes can be a bit overwhelming for me simply because it takes me forever to find things. I definitely prefer having notebooks and textbooks, and I usually stay away from technology when I can. By the end of these two classes, I expect to feel a lot more comfortable using computers for coursework. I can tell Ms. Gibbs has put a lot of time and effort into these two classes and is a very interactive professor. I usually have professors who delay putting grades in online and give very minimal feedback. This is another big change for me. While looking at the extra credit opportunities, I was surprised to find that there are so many. This reminds me of my favorite professor, Dr. Logan Whalen. I had him for four classes at OU, and he is always looking out for his students. He c

Growth Mindset

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Image source:  AZQuotes I had never heard of Carol Dweck before this assignment, but found her to be a compelling woman. I agree that our outlooks on life greatly affect our success and happiness, and I have personally experienced the struggles relevant to her work. There were a lot of things for me to overcome in my first three semesters at OU. I had a lot of family problems and was working in a job that should not have been stressful, but was, due to incompetent employees and management. Eventually, I realized that I had let anger and stress control me for a long time, and that it was having a horrible impact on my success in college and my relationships. I took steps to eliminate unnecessary stress from my life, as college is stressful enough on its own. I got a job at the OU Union Starbucks, changed my major to an area that I was doing better in, and decided to have a good time. These big changes happened two summer ago, and I was taking two summer courses at the time. On

Introductory Post

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Personal image, Carlie and me Personal image, Yat Fan and me        Hello! My name is Bridget Clayton and I am a French major and Music minor at the University of Oklahoma. I am currently taking my last semester completely online, as I have already finished my French courses and gone through Capstone. I’m just finishing up some upper-division credits.        I was originally a Music major because I love playing clarinet. Throughout high school, clarinet was the most important part of my life. However, I went through a lot of personal and familial issues during my first two years at OU, and I was struggling in some key music courses, like music theory. French had been my minor, but I realized that I was doing exceptionally well in my language classes, and as I did not want to teach music, I switched my major and minor. My last semester was a big success. I was taking four French courses, including Capstone, and was in one of the bands at OU, and I got my first 4.0. I also wo

Storybook Favorites

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The Story of Golden Apples Fruit on Table by Lucas Luce. Wiki Commons .        I had heard of certain aspects from The Story of Golden Apples before. I recognized the story of Aphrodite, Paris, and the war they caused because I read La Guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) for my Capstone, which dealt with mythology. I had also heard of King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold. I think the title for this short story went along well with the plot. Although I had never heard of the golden apples in Greek mythology before, I thought the concept of giving inanimate objects the ability to think, feel, and communicate with one another an interesting concept.        The design of the page was well-organized and separated into appropriate chapters. There were a few pictures of apples, but it would have been nice to see paintings about the Greek mythology, too.        There are a couple qualities from this piece that I could apply to my own storyboo

My Favorite Places - The Pacific Northwest

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My father lives in Vancouver, Washington, which is directly across a bridge from Portland, Oregon. He has lived there for about three years, and I have visited him three times. Two times were with my little sister, Amanda, and once was with my boyfriend, Yat Fan. The images in this post are a mix of my own images, and images of places I have gone, but found online for better quality. The Pacific Northwest is absolutely beautiful. Once on a walk in the morning, it felt like a crisp fall day in Oklahoma standards! I've been jealous ever since. There are three mountain peaks that you can see from various parts of Portland, along with Powell's Books that is so big that it has it's own block, Japanese Gardens, Rose Gardens, hipsters, and tiny walk/drive up coffee shops. A drive of a couple hours will get you to the ocean, and sticking to Highway 101 will keep you mainly along the coast. Washington is also home to Olympic National Park, which I had the pleasure of driving around

Test Post

BEGINNING my studies, the first step pleas’d me so much, The mere fact, consciousness—these forms—the power of motion, The least insect or animal—the senses—eyesight—love; The first step, I say, aw’d me and pleas’d me so much, I have hardly gone, and hardly wish’d to go, any farther,           But stop and loiter all the time, to sing it in extatic songs. Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman