Syd's Thoughts

The Congo unit I read today had a couple patterns that were odd to me. The first was that the Congo unit had several fetishes mentioned in several of the stories. I did learn that these fetishes are representations of the different kinds of wind. There is the "boomba" which is the east wind, and the "lembe" which is the southwest wind. This is very different from most of the stories that you would read in the western hemisphere.  This unit was similar to the Nigerian unit because the Congo unit had lots of animals as the characters in the stories. These stories seem to explain the nature of things. Like the first story explained why leopards eat antelopes as soon as they meet one. Even though this story is a folktale, it helps to explain everyday experiences. These stories were also pretty short in length approximately 300-1000 words much like the Nigerian unit. I think this length is ideal to keep the audience engaged in the story. I know I typically get bored afte...

For this week's reading I chose to do the Nigerian Unit .  Most of the stories under this unit involve animals that engage in "foolish imitation" to trick another animal. These stories involve clever thinking and cunning actions. I think this is very similar to my story I created on my portfolio because I made the mouse trick the snake so he would not be eaten. My story did not combine both humans and animals thought. I think the eastern side of the world loves to tell folktales with animals. These folktales are short in length (about 300-1000 words) and sometimes have some humor in them. My favorite story from Part A was The King who Married the Cock's Daughter . The king married an animal which is not something we would typically see in our world today, but it was interesting to me that the king died from a broken heart. This folktale could be used to explain why it is that people do not marry animals (whether this be right or wrong).  I definitely enjoyed doing one...

 So far I am on track to earn an A for this course which is exactly where I want to be. I did miss a couple assignments (like readings) but I did take advantage of some of the extra credit this past weekend to help catch me back up to where I need to be. I definitely should make a better habit of actually doing the extra credit so that I can finish this class early, but I always end up putting this class after my other big science ones. Maybe investing more time on Monday's when I don't have work or school would be smart. I tend to try and do homework for my other classes on that day so I just need to include this one. Other than that I think I am making good progress on everything and look forward to the rest of this semester! Great quote to keep me moving the rest of this semester! 

 Part 1: I think that the other student in this class are leaving great comments and ideas on my work. They gave me some good ways to branch out my stories and a new perspective on some of my own stories simply because they read it in a different way. I think the comments that ask me thinking questions about my own work are the best for me. Part 2: I try to leave the same type of comments on other students' posts because I found them most helpful to me. I try to leave at least one question for them to think about on their projects. Part 3: I do think that I have a good sense of my classmates because they really took the time to introduce themselves and I feel like I know them through their writing styles! Part 4: I think that I need to give more style writing tips. I kind of forget to do that for my comments so I need to be better at that. I think more of the overview instead of going a little deeper into their writings.  Part 5: I chose this image because it took me a while t...

Part 1: I am happy with how my blog page and my project website pages look. I am very technologically challenged so honestly the fact that they are functioning properly and look decent is enough of an achievement for me! I did try to figure out the whole banner thing for my portfolio, but even with the directions I still cannot seem to get it to work.  Part 2: All of my labels for reading and stories are working properly and I think they all look nice. I have struggled with actually completing all of the readings because I get very overwhelmed and sometimes just skip them, but other than that I think they look good.  Part 3: I have really enjoyed doing the writings for this class and honestly I would much rather do those than do the readings. I think my portfolio is the biggest accomplishment for me this far. I really put a lot of time and effort into that story and my classmates seemed to like it too! I don't think the readings have a great impact on my writing. I mean, I tak...

 Image from Course Week Calendar  This was my favorite image because elephants are my favorite animals and I had no idea March 13th was designated to them! I learned something new!  The video I watched was over daylight savings and I thought it was really funny. I love "falling back" but then "springing forward" really hurts my soul knowing I lose an hour of sleep. The concept itself is interesting in why we do it because of the Earth's tilt so that the amount of daylight we have stays somewhat constant. I really liked the video even though it was cheesy!

This week has honestly been rough for me. I did not complete either reading assignment just because I have been so overwhelmed. I have been working more than normal because people have been quitting my job. I feel really bad because this class sometimes gets moved to the back burner and it is not intentional but by the time I have time to sit down and do my work for this class, it is past midnight. I just really wish OU would have given us at least a day or two to have a mental health day because I could really use one. I have not been eating or sleeping regularly and I think that is also affecting my mental focus. I am trying to stay positive for this upcoming week but honestly, I think I will be even more overwhelmed because I have 3 midterms. I have not even begun to study for one of them and I don't think I will even get the chance to. I am going to try my best to do the readings for this week because I think it will lead to a more structured and successful week overall. I took...

Here is the link to this story on my portfolio!  Once upon a time, deep in the Jungle of Asia there was a snake who ruled the jungle. He was big and strong, and could eat anything he wanted. One day the snake was slithering along the jungle floor to the river to find something to eat. A mouse was bathing near the river and saw the snake come slithering his direction. The mouse was frightened and thought to himself "what can I do to defend myself against the snake? I am very small and not strong."  The mouse decided to approach the snake instead of letting the snake come to him.  "Hello" said the mouse.  "Why hello there you delicious looking mouse" smirked the snake. "Is there anything you wish to say before I swallow you up?" "Why yes there is. Little do you know that I am in fact the most powerful mouse in the jungle." said the mouse as he fluffed out his fur and made himself as big as he could. "I can jump from tree to tree and...

I decided to watch the  Crash Course Myth Videos since this is my first ever mythology course. One thing that really stuck out to me was when the video said that "myths can be read and understood in different ways". This is why we hear so many versions of the same story. This makes me think of the game telephone. The more people you have playing the game, the more likely that the message will be messed up. This explains how over hundreds of years we have various myths being told that originated from the same one. What makes a myth different than just a story is the significance and staying power . Another big thing I took away from these videos were that just because something is labeled as a myth, does not mean that it is untrue.  I was actually fascinated with the Persephone Myth which explains why we have seasons because I had never heard it before. I also liked how the video talked about how intertwined religion and mythology are. When I was younger I had many issues di...

Each of these readings were very short which I really liked (around 300-700 words each). They had fun endings and lots of dialogue between characters. Most of these characters were animals I noticed. I think I get caught up in thinking that characters in stories have to be human which is definitely not true. My favorite story from these short stories has to be Ramai and the Animals. This story reminded me of some of the stories I heard when I was younger although I cannot remember the specific title. The sentences were structured using lots of semicolons which I really liked. I also noticed that these stories are broken up into small paragraphs. I think I should do more of this style in my portfolio so that it adds some structure to my stories.  Some of the stories were left on cliff hangers which I think just leaves the reading wanting more. As much as some readers don't like cliff hangers, I really like writing them. Most of these stories also started with the typical "once ...