Syd's Thoughts

 Syd's Stories  Here is the link to my portfolio for all of my stories!  Photo from European Wilderness Society

Yet, why was the Beast so mangled? Savvy looked upon his face and tried to understand. She thought, what could be so awful that happened to him to make him so cruel as to take my from my family? Sadly, the Beast was not offering any answers any time soon.  Over the next few weeks Savvy would sneak out into the castle halls while the Beast was out hunting. She knew better than to try and escape for she had numerous failed attempts at sneaking home. Once, she tied up the sheets from her bed and tried to shimmy down them to the ground from her room, but the sheets came apart and she fell several stories to what she could only assume would be her death when the Beast heard her scream and caught her before she reached the ground.  A couple days later Savvy tried again to flee the castle, this time by foot at night. She started down through the thicket of trees that guarded the castle, but just as she made her way through the trees a pack of wolves began tracking her every move. The...

 I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the TED talk videos: The danger of a single story  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Imaginary friends and real-world consequences by Jennifer Barnes.  The danger of a single story was very eye-opening for me. I can see now how stories appear one-sided and we begin to think only in this way. I think the story of Chimamanda's roommate was a very accurate representation of how most American's would view Nigerian people. We have read stories and articles about all of the horrible things in Nigeria, but we have read very little of the good things. Oftentimes we do unintentionally formulate a very narrow viewpoint, and it is sad quite frankly. Our world has never been a simple place, so our thinking must reflect that. We should read stories that are out of our element. We should explore other sides of stories. We should expand our thinking. One thing that stuck out to me in this video was the fact that Chimamanda kept saying "what i...

I loved the Czech readings that I did so much yesterday that I decided to continue reading part B for this second reading assignment!  The biggest difference I noticed in these stories is that there seems to be some on the side notes left by the author to further help the reader understand the story. For example, the first story read  "s o our Francis — that was his name, though really it doesn't matter very much what his name was — took everything he wanted and started off on his travels". I forgot the literary term for what this is called, but I really like the way it is used and will probably do something similar in my semester project. I feel like it adds a little character and makes the author involved in the story.  Anyways, again these stories have quite a bit of dialogue. It also has lots of adjectives which seem to bring the story to life (which I love). I've come to realize that I do not like stories that begin with "once upon a time". I think it i...

Sleep John was fun to read. There were many mythical creatures like dragons and kings and queens. There was also some humor in the story as well when John fell asleep in the cart with wolves. I definitely think this one was my favorite short story out of this entire collection of stories. I think it would be fairly easy to manipulate and make into my own story and I have several ideas started already. I would like to turn the cart from the story into a train. For example John would come across a parked train and hop in and fall asleep. In the train I would put snakes instead of wolves, and then I would change the type of forests that the Queen goes through. I think this story appealed to me so much because it is a spin off of the 12 dancing princesses which I grew up hearing from my grandmother. I even watched the movie that Barbie had some out about it.  I noticed that most of the folktales have lots of dialogue between characters, and they have almost magical qualities like the s...

 I did struggle with the readings for this week. I did not have time to do the first reading, but I did do the second one. I probably need to get a better jump start on the week starting on Monday. I will try to do that starting tomorrow. My best writing was done on The Enchanted Roses I think. I really got into that writing assignment and I think that it will be the topic of my project for this semester.  Tony's writing really impressed me when I read it today. He set the plot in 2120 which I thought was really neat and was very sci-fi with all of it which was a nice change from everyone else's stories. DKNK actually did his story from a version of the Beauty and the Basilisk like I did, but it was interesting to see how our stories were so different even though they came from the same source!  My other classes are very stressful and I think that is why I did not get to the first reading for this class in time. My biology class did not start out well and I ended up missi...

I think that good feedback is essential for writing. Even if the feedback is telling you what you should change, I think it is important for us to hear. I want to be challenged and I want others to tell me their point of view even if I do not completely agree with it. People have different perspectives, and I think that is something we all should learn. Not everyone is going to agree with what you have to say, but that is okay. If I have grammatical issues in my story I would want to know. If you think I need to add more details to a scene I want to know. The story is for the readers, not just for myself so I value what they have to say. One of the articles I read was The Difference Between Praise and Feedback . The biggest thing that stuck out to me was that we should praise the effort put into the work and not praise traits. This will allow us to grow as people because we will not create that fixed mindset. The other article I read was Be a Mirror . The most value lesson I took from...

3 Possible Stories:  Cupid and the Psyche - I liked the romantic aspects of this story, but it is a little more Roman than I like, so I would definitely change that area. The Enchanted Roses could really use a little more of a magic aspect though because I have already put the idea that the roses are tied to Savvy's life. I was thinking about maybe putting a fairy or a guardian angel in the story to help aid Savvy, much like the Cupid aspect of this story.  Beauty and the Basilisk - Most of my story's plot line will come from this story. I really like the concept of the roses and the girl asking her mother to bring home the roses for her. The beast will definitely be featured in my story but I am thinking that he will appear more along the lines of a werewolf (part man and part wolf).  The Magical Palace - My ideas for what the palace/castle that the woman stumbles upon will come from this story. I just briefly touched on it in my original post, so I will definitely inc...

There once was a man named Ezekiel who was cursed with a blind eye. People would stare and point whenever they saw him because his eye was as white as the snow that spread across the tundra. His mother told him not to worry and that some lady would come along and love him for who he was. However, Ezekiel was impatient and longed to find this lovely lady instead of waiting for her to come to him. He traveled for days at a time, looking for the one woman who would love him the way he is; but he had no success.  Just when Ezekiel began to give up all hope of finding his love, an angel came down from the heavens and proclaimed "Ezekiel you have been blessed, for the Lord has heard your cries for a lovely lady of your own and has decided to grant you with your wish". Ezekiel fell to his knees and wept tears of joy. His days of searching were behind him. The angel then said "go to the town of Ishmiel and find the most beautiful suitor, for she is waiting for you".  Ezekie...

 The first part of Noah and the Ark is basically an overview of the story. It does not go into great detail, but introduces the backstory and the most important information to the story like when Noah was born. The second part of the story is when it begins to go in depth. This part describes the Flood very vividly, and includes some dialogue between Noah and God. The third part describes after the Flood. We predominantly focus on Noah and his actions during this part. The forth part of the story then talks about Noah's family. It quite literally breaks down his family tree and talks about each descendent. Then the Tower of Babel begins talking about life after the Flood, once Noah's children bore more children. However, the Lord was not happy with the men and decided to make them speak different languages so they could no longer communicate. Then the story takes a rather weird turn; it goes back to the beginning of the story about the birth of Noah. As of this moment the story...

 I really appreciate this assignment. I have absolutely struggled with feedback my whole life, positive or negative. The first article that I read was Silence the critical voices in your head . Hearing how a very successful business man has also struggled with this has really helped me. I take negative feedback to heart, even if it is said with the best intentions. My parents have always pushed me way too hard with school and I think that it has honestly caused me to struggle with feedback from others. I have made myself into a perfectionist which is horrible because when I am not perfect it really hurts me. The second article I read was Why it's so hard to hear negative feedback . I really liked the part when it called this a vicious circle of delivering bad negative feedback and receiving bad negative feedback. I honestly thought the author was crazy at first when he said we should crave the negative feedback from others, but after reading through the article I couldn't agree...

 I definitely think I want to do more of a storybook than a portfolio for this class. These are my 4 ideas for what my storybook will be about. 1) I really liked the little story that I created in my last blog post which stemmed from a version of Beauty and the Beast called Beauty and the Basilisk . I left the readers on a bit of a cliff-hanger and I think it might be interesting to put my spin on the old fairy tale. I really like the idea that I can change the ending of this story to however I want. I grew up hearing the story of Beauty and the Beast, so I think this would be a very interesting topic for me to do my semester project over. I changed the story already so that the rose indicated the daughter's life. Honestly I think I just want to use this topic and extend my story that I created on my last blog post.  2) The second story that really caught my attention is Homer's Odyssey . I read the Odyssey while I was in high school and I loved the part about the Cyclopes. I ...

Here is the link to my new version in my portfolio Once upon a time there was a young maiden girl named Savvy. She lived in the valley of Swallows Bend right past the big, white church. Her home was a little grey house on the edge of town with her mother and her younger brother Joshua. It wasn't much, but it was home. Each day Savvy would walk her brother to school and then go do chores for her mother. She had just turned twenty and began to catch the eyes of the single men in town. She was beautiful; golden hair as long as her back, blue eyes as clear as the river that ran through town, and the biggest smile you have ever seen.  Savvy's mother needed to go out of town to care for their sick grandmother. Savvy was not aware of the true meaning of her mother's trip however because she was told it was to settle some business. Her mother told her and Joshua to pick 1 thing that they wanted her to bring back for them. Joshua chose a new hunting knife and Savvy chose a bouquet o...

Title: Beauty and the Basilisk Author: Josef Baudis (1922) Link:  https://sites.google.com/view/mythfolkloreanthology/fairy-tales?authuser=0 -start story with something to captivate audience -add enough details that the reader feels that they are involved in the story -give brief backstory if needed -add colorful pictures to better illustrate story -add dialogue between characters -maybe leave audience on a cliff hanger The basilisk and the weasel, by  Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder . The cockatrice (pictured) became seen as synonymous with the basilisk when the "basiliscus" in Bartholomeus Anglicus' De proprietatibus rerum (ca 1260) was translated by John Trevisa as "cockatrice" (1397).

This will be my tentative reading schedule for the rest of this semester, and I have included the links to all of the stories so that they will be easier to find later.    Choose from  CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units  for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3:  Myth-Folklore Unit: Noah and the Ark Week 4:  Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche Choose from  MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units  for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Week 6:  Tutinameh, or Tales of a Parrot   Choose from  ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units  for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Nigerian Folk Stories Week 9:  Japanese Mythology Choose from  NATIVE AMERICAN units  for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10:  Apache Tales Week 11:  Myths of the Cherokee Choose from  BRITISH and/or CELTIC units  for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Ballads of Robin Hood Week 13:  Nursery Rhymes Choose from  EUROPEAN units  for Weeks 14 a...