Famous Last Words for Week 14

Well everyone, here it is - my last assignment for this class. It has been so much fun to use this class as my creative outlet this semester. As a science major, most of my papers are research based. This means making a structured paper with an obvious INTRODUCTION title, PURPOSE, METHODS, and - well, you get the point. Yes, this course has been a bit demanding in terms of the workload, but the fact that I could work ahead, could do extra credit, and could miss an assignment here or there without worry completely made up for it! My grammar still may not be the best and I may not always know exactly where my commas and dashes go, but this class has certainly improved those areas of my writing.
Not only has this class been a creative outlet for me, but it has also enhanced my writing in other areas. Over the course of this semester, I have been filling out secondary application letters to various medical schools that include many short essays. I truly believe that my essays would not have been as good as they were without the help of writing stories for this class. I think that my creative spin to those medical school essays helped to make my application stand out. So far, I have received two interviews and one acceptance into medical school and am still expecting more to come!

(Mock lab at Campbell School of Osteopathic Medicine. Web Source: The Sanford Herald)

Reading Diary for Week 14: Italian Tales

The Fair Angiola:  I find it interesting that in many fairy tales, the antagonist always asks for a fist born child in exchange for something they will give (i.e., a pardon or a magical gift). I was very surprised to discover that Angiola is the same character that I have grown up knowing as Rapunzel. I was impressed that this story had a far happier ending in which the witch is forgiving and allows Angiola to marry the prince.
Italian Tales

 Sire Fiorante, Magician: I found this story to be incredibly strange. I guess love won out in the end, but it had to go through a very strange route to get there. I was not expecting drugging someone with opium to have ever been a part of a fairy tale!

The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox: This story reminded me of the song from wicked that goes as, "no good deed goes unpunished." It is sad to think that some people truly believe that there is no point to doing good things for others. I love the ended in that the fox used his trickery to save the man by placing the greedy snake into his original bonds.

The Language of Animals: I think that it is interesting that the teach chose to teach to boy the language of animals versus normal courses that are thought of when you think of school. It could be fun to write a back story on how the teacher herself came to know the language of animals.

The Cock That Wished to Become Pope: Well this was a sad and morbid ending to the unit. I could not find much of a moral lesson or interesting plot line to this tale, which made it almost even more interesting to read. This is the sort of story in which you can let your imagination run wild with why a cock wanted to be a pope, what the witch had to do with anything, and why the sexton would eat something that he had a conversation with!

Famous Last Words for Week 13: As the Semester Gets Closer to an End

Wow. I have to say that each semester of college seems to go by faster and faster! This one has been particularly busy causing time to just slip right past me. This semester I am enrolled in 18 credit hours and work 25 hours a week. Between the two of those things, I spent very little time at home this Fall and many hours in the Bizzel and Second Wind Coffee House with my nose in a textbook or 10 inches away from my laptop!

It is crazy to think that in just two short weeks, this semester will be wrapping up and winter break will be upon us. Until then, I still have five finals, another medical school interview, three midterms, a research project, and six assignments standing in my way (yes, I spent the two hours on D2L procrastinating studying to figure those numbers out)!

I'm almost there and then I will only have one semester left of my undergraduate! Crazy! It's incredible to think that a new chapter of my life is coming so soon and I am terrified and excited to greet it!

(Bizzel Memorial Library. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Essay for Week 12: The Future of Writing

When I think about the future of writing I often thing of it in the form of technology. People are becoming more used to reading their book from a kindle, iPad, laptop, etc., and less from actual physical books. I don't know about any one else, but I guess I am pretty old school when it comes to enjoying feeling the pages of a book as I flip each page. I also love seeing the bookmark travel further and further into the book (until it gets closer to the end and I want to just stop moving so I can enjoy the book longer)! Technology has sort of stolen that aspect of reading away. I will say though, that when I traveled to Haiti this summer and had very little packing space, my parent's kindle came into great use for bringing multiple books with me without having to force them all into a tiny carry on!
Another aspect of writing that I believe will decline because of technology over the years is the ability for students to write professional emails to their professors or to potential employers based on the way we write in text messages. Texts, Facebook statuses, Twitter updates, and Instagram captions can all be so informal by using abbreviations and acronyms. I think that young adults who overuse these social media platforms will have more difficulty with understanding how to write professionally.

(Technology Possessing the World. Image by: Pj93)

Storytelling for Week 12: The Harper

(Harp. Web Source: Wikipedia)

Alawn shouted with glee as his father handed him his first harp. It was beautifully crafted with a strong wooden backbone and perfectly strung tight strings. Alawn's father had been a harper for years in his town and had been teaching Alawn his skill ever since the boy could sit up on his own. Today was the day that Alawn finally received a harp to call his own.

He practiced and practiced for hours each day. Eventually Alawn became not just the town's, but the whole countries most talented musician. His beautiful melodies could calm the hearts of the most troubled souls or be the excitement of a festival.

One day, the wicked prince of the land heard of Alawn's talents and of course wanted to have them for himself.  That very morning, he sent out many of his guards to go to Alawn's home town and bring him to the prince.

Alawn's beautiful wooden harp was torn from his grasp as he entered the palace and was given a solid gold harp in its place. This new harp was strangely shaped and very foreign to Alawn's grasp. The guards dressed the young man in palace appropriate attire and brought him before the prince.

"Ah! So you are the harper my people talk of so highly," said the prince. "I have heard many stories of your talents and decided that I want you to be my personal musician. You shall play for me whenever I call for you and you shall be the sole entertainment at all of my parties. You should count yourself lucky to be given the opportunity to leave your filthy town and live in my palace for the rest of your life!" the prince said with a boastful tone.

"Your highness, I am grateful that you find such favor in my music, but I must decline this offer. Where my family is is my home," Alawn replied.

"Oh dear boy, your presence here is not by request! It is my demand," the prince said viciously.

***

Fifty years later, poor Alawn was no longer the youthful happy boy who loved music. He stood mournfully in the prince's party dreaded the moment that he would be once more commanded to play the cold golden harp for the prince's guests. He crept towards the corner of the room and sunk to the floor with a frown.

Just then a bird fluttered into the room and whispered, "Vengeance, vengeance," and then flew to the door.

Author's Note: My storytelling post this week is based on the tale Bala Lake from the Welsh Fairy Book. In the original story, the harper is nameless and we are not given any sort of back story on him. The tale starts with talking about how cruel and proud the prince is. God warned the prince that "vengeance shall come" if he does not change his ways. Of course the prince ignores this warning and continues on with his evil ways. One day during a party, a bird whispers into a harper's ear, "vengeance, vengeance," and then flies to the door. The bird does this multiple times as a way of beckoning the harper to follow it. The harper follows the bird out into the wilderness where he becomes lost. In the morning when he finds his way back to the castle, he finds the Bala Lake in it's place. His life had been spared and floating on top of the lake was the harper's harp. My tale is about the back story of the harper. I gave him the name Alawn, because it is the Welsh name for harmony.

Bibliography
"Bala Lake" by Jenkyn Thomas from the Un-Textbook Unit: Welsh Fairy Book. 1908

Reading Diary for Week 12: Welsh Fairy Book (Thomas)

Welsh Fairy Book


The Red Dragon:  I found it very interesting to have a peak into Merlin's childhood and discover that even there, he was a master of magic and quick with his tongue. I have always been curious about why the Welsh display a Red Dragon as their emblem on their flag, but have never taken the time to look it up. So, it was entertaining to read about it's origins from a mythological stand point.

March's Ears: I thought that it was funny in the introduction that King March had all the physical possessions that man defines as wealth and what constitutes happiness, and yet he was still troubled by his physical features that kept him from true happiness. I also really liked that the secret in the story was given personification that tormented the barber. I very much enjoyed that for once, no one actually died in this myth even though the threat was certainly there!

Bala Lake:  I thought that it was interesting that the harper was sparred from the destruction of the palace with all of its people. I think that it would be interesting to give the harper a back story for why he was in the palace and why the bird chose to save him. Maybe the king heard of the man's talents when he was a young boy and had been forced to be the king's personal performer ever since.

Owen Goes a-Wooing: This was a very interesting story that sort of reminded me of Narnia in that the time Owen spent in this strange underwater land went much faster than time above the lakes surface. It is a very imaginative story!

The Bride form the Red Lake: So the ridiculous ending to this story made me laugh. Imagining the wife with clay on her chest dramatically and hysterically running into the lake is a very humerus image! I wish that I knew more about the significance of why her father said that she could not be hit by her husband with clay.

Hu Gadarn: This was a very interesting tale of how Whales came under the protection of Britain. The story was a little hard to follow and not as easy to understand the flow the author had created.

Famous Last Words for Week 11: The Creative Mind

As the end of this semester draws closer and closer, I have discovered that this course has rekindled my ability to write creatively. As a science major, I often get very caught up with the facts and statistics of my topic that will go into my papers and lose a lot of the creativity. Having the ability to use this course not only as a way to let my imagination run wild, but also as a way to practice putting my imagination on paper (figuratively speaking). I have noticed that doing this each week through this course, my creative writing has spilled over to my other classes in a very rewarding way. I often receive compliments from my professors saying that my writing style is refreshing to read and a nice break from the generic bland scientific papers that normally read. Being able to add my personality to my papers makes them far more interesting for me to write and more enjoyable for those who have to read them. It's been interesting to come to the realization that the learning process is far more important than the letter received for my efforts. When that finally clicked for me, classes became more interesting and I retained more of what was being taught, thus still obtaining the grades that I previously crammed and procrastinated for. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be in a class that pushes me to be creative, but does not grade on her definition of imagination. It's a really amazing way of running the class, that if taken advantage of as a student can be very rewarding.

(Open Mind. Web Source: Openclipart)

Essay for Week 11: Imagination

In the unit that I read for this week, Celtic Fairy Tales, I found that many of the stories lacked a lot of background knowledge. This made that a bit more difficult to follow, which I was not a big fan of. The missing background knowledge did have one advantage, however. It made the storytelling assignment much easier. Without the information for why something was occurring in the story, it was easier for me as a reader and writing to imagine some elaborate story for why someone was placed in a certain position. An example of this is in the story Andrew Coffey. The story seemed to be some weird dream that the main character, Andrew, was having that included a man that everyone thought was dead, the demand that Andrew tell a story, and a wildly random adventure. What we are not given in the story is what Andrew's connection with the man was and why he so desperately wanted to hear a story from Andrew. We also are not told anything about the four men that catch the man everyone thought was dead and hang him up over a fire to be roasted. It was completely random and hard to follow, but since I am always looking for a story to retell for the storytelling post, having these open ended questions allowed me to imagine the crazy background stories for each of these characters.  Another example is in the story Brewery of Eggshells. We are given no information on why the woman in the story has her twin children taken away from her and replaced by goblin twins that do not physically change, but can intellectually grow. We also are not told why the goblin children have this strange physical restriction, but can still show a level of intellect well beyond their years.

Overall, I thought that this unit was much more interesting than the previous unit because it allowed more room for imagination for myself as a reader.

(The Creative Brain. Web Source: Video Documentary)

Storytelling for Week 11: Man's Best Friend

(Greyhound In An Extensive Landscape. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Prince Llewelyn's horn blew signaling that it was time for Gellert to join his master for a hunt. Gellert jumped to his feet from his cozy resting area on the porch and gave a long stretch. Just as he was about to race towards the origin of the horn, Gellert saw a large shadow  in his peripheral vision. With his attention diverted, Gellert trotted over to where he had seen the swift shadow.

Gellert arrived at the corner of the house just in time to see a course brown tail disappearing into his master's home.

Just then, the prince blew the horn again and shouted Gellert's name. Gellert knew that he would be in trouble for not responding to this call, but the creature that had just entered the house was of more importance.

Gellert bravely rushed into the house in pursuit. He searched and searched, but was having no luck until a loud crash came from the second story. Gellert bounded up the stairs frantically. His master's one year old son was in his nursery on the second story and that crash could have been nothing else but the sound of his cradle falling to the floor.

Gellert burst into the infant's room to see the young boy hiding under his over turned crib screaming in fear. Across from the boy was a large snarling wolf gazing hungrily at the child.

Gellert leap on top of the beast with bared fangs and sunk his teeth into the wolf's neck. The battle lasted several minutes with injuries being inflicted upon both four legged animals. Finally, the wolf lay dead and Gellert stood over it's body with a grin. He had saved his master's son. His best friend would be so proud of him.

Moments later, Gellert heard the fast beats of a horse's hooves. The hunt was over and his master was home! Gellert could not wait to show his master what he did! He raced down the stairs, out of the house, and when right up to his master's feet.

Prince Llewelyn leap back from Gellert in fear and the dog coward at his master's feet in utter confusion.

Author's Note: My story is based off of the tale Beth Gellert from the Celtic Fairy Tales Unit. In the original story, we read from the prince's point of view. When the prince arrives home from his unsuccessful hunt, he is mad at Gellert for not joining him. When Gellert comes bounding up to the prince in greeting, he is unaware that he is dripping with the wolf's blood. Since the prince had no idea why Gellert was covered in blood, he is fearful of his favorite greyhound. The prince then follows the trail of blood all the way back to his son's room. In the room, all the prince sees is an over turned crib, a large amount of blood, and a missing child. In a moment of utter panic, the prince places the blame of what he perceives as being his son's murder on Gellert and then kills the dog. Once Gellert is already dead, the prince hears his son cry out and then sees the dead wolf. He realizes that he just killed his best friend and the animal that had actually saved his son's life. My tale gives the story from Gellert's prospective all the way up until he greets his master.

Bibliography: "Beth Gellert," by Joseph Jacobs from Celtic Fairy Tales

Reading Diary for Week 11: Celtic Tales

Celtic Tales

Beth Gellert: This was an incredibly sad tale of the love a dog can have for his master. It is also a tale of man's weakness of jumping to conclusions and mistrust. The prince was so quick to ignore all that he had been through with Gellert and place blame out of fear and need for an answer.

Andrew Coffey: I could not really figure out the moral lesson behind this story if there was one. It was a bit twisted and awkward to follow. I think Andrew had drempt it all, but we were not given a back story as to why he would dream about this man that everyone thought was dead. Maybe I could write a preface to this story so that it given more reasoning behind what happened.

Brewery of Eggshells: Again I had a little trouble understanding why the goblins switched out their twins for the woman in the stories twins because of a lack of background knowledge. I could create a story about the goblins being angry at the wife and her husband for some misdeed and using that as a reason for exchanging the children.

Reading Diary for Week 11: Celtic Tales

Celtic Tales

Beth Gellert: This was an incredibly sad tale of the love a dog can have for his master. It is also a tale of man's weakness of jumping to conclusions and mistrust. The prince was so quick to ignore all that he had been through with Gellert and place blame out of fear and need for an answer.

Andrew Coffey: I could not really figure out the moral lesson behind this story if there was one. It was a bit twisted and awkward to follow. I think Andrew had drempt it all, but we were not given a back story as to why he would dream about this man that everyone thought was dead. Maybe I could write a preface to this story so that it given more reasoning behind what happened.

Brewery of Eggshells: Again I had a little trouble understanding why the goblins switched out their twins for the woman in the stories twins because of a lack of background knowledge. I could create a story about the goblins being angry at the wife and her husband for some misdeed and using that as a reason for exchanging the children.

Essay Week 10: aixelsyD

For this week's essay blog post, I am choosing to write about my first experience as a reader. I can remember when I was in pre-school at St. Joesph's elementary school where I was given my first school based book. I opened the large colorful front cover that depicted an image of a teddy bear sitting in a rocking chair with a book on it's lap and began to look at the words on the page.

As my peers began to read their books aloud, I sat in shame. The words on my book were unfairly scrambling themselves into incomprehensible inscriptions. When I looked really closely and slowly. they would occasionally return themselves to their proper orientation. I felt dumb.

My teacher had each of us kids line up across the rug and read the first page of our books out loud. One by one, my peers proudly read their lines and my anxiety grew. When my turn came, I shakily read my first page aloud and was met with laughter. I read what I saw and what I saw was jumbled words that formed a sentence that sounded something like Yoda.

(Dyslexia. Web Source: Wikipedia)

This fear of reading, books, talking out loud, and even math continued on until I was eight years old. My third grade teacher noticed my language handicap and recommended that I participate in a special reading program at Northeastern State. My parents enrolled me in the program and my life was forever transformed.

The psychology professors at the college told me that I have a disability called dyslexia that causes me to mix up my letters, numbers, and speech. They created a plan that was specific to my needs and had me meet with them three times a week for a couple of hours a day.

Now, I don't remember much of what we did, but somehow they taught me how to work with my dyslexia. Within a couple of months, I went from being a very shy mediocre student to the top of my class. It was as if something snapped inside of my and released me from my language bonds.

Of course, I still struggle with certain aspects of my dyslexia, but I have learned how to slow down and really try to understand what I am reading. Any mistakes that I make, I laugh off and move forward.

Storytelling for Week 10: The Little Captive

Elki peaked over the bank of the river and stared at the dozens of darting fish weaving their way through the rocks. Elki was mesmerized by their sparkly scales that reflected the sunlight in different directions each time they moved. He leaned further and further over the bank to get a better look until SPLASH - Elki tumbled into the icy cold water!

Elki waved his arms frantically as he tried to keep his head above water.

"Mo..m! He...l....p! Dad! ....Plea...se!" Elki chocked out as the river water viciously filled his lungs and impeded his speech.

It was no use. Elki had wondered too far away from his family. They could not hear his cries for help.

Suddenly something took hold of the young boy's ankle and ripped him beneath the surface. Elki's wide fearful eyes watched the outline of the sun shrink before him as his was pulled deeper and deeper into the depths of the river. Out of fear and lack of air, Elki slipped into unconsciousness.

(Sun Under Water. Web Source: pixabay)

When he awoke, Elki reached his palm towards his sleepy eyes to rub off his slumber. The young boy was startled when his arm moved much slower than he was used to and when he touched his face, it was wet! Elki sat up and looked around frantically! He was still under water!

Elki's eyes settled on an older looking woman who was calmly staring at him from a chair in the corner of the room. She was unlike anything he had ever seen before! The woman's hair looked like green moss as it floated around her face. Her skin was a very pale - almost white - shade of blue. Around her eyes and down her arms and legs were tiny opaque scales that reflected every color in the room. Finally, sitting on her lap was a tray of food.

When the woman noticed that Elki had finished studying her and his eyes had found the tray, she lifted it up and offered it to the boy.

"My dear Elki, you will feel much better once you eat. Here, take some food," the woman said gently.

It was not her voice that made Elki feel uncomfortable, but rather her large greedy eyes. Elki took the tray and slowly took a bite of food. With that bite, his fate was sealed. He could never again leave this river and return to his family without losing his life. He was forever with the wakanda's wife.

Author's Note: My story this week is based on the Native American story, The Wakanda, or Water God. In the original, there is a young boy who falls into the water while he is playing. His parent's, who of course are very distraught over this, mourn the loss of their son and hire two men to go into the water to retrieve their boy. The two men find the boy still alive, but in the care of the Wakanda's wife. She tells the two men that they boy can never again leave the river without dying because he as eaten the food of the water god. So for my retelling of this tale, I gave the boy the name Elki, which means "hanging over the top," and told a portion of the story from his prospective. I wanted to end with him still being in the water versus taken out of the river and dying as he did in the original story to leave room for the imagination to create a new ending of the boy discovering a new life beneath the surface.

Bibliography:
"The Wakanda, or Water God," by Judson from the Unit: The Great Plains

Reading Diary Week 10: Great Plains

Wakanda, or Water God: I had a bit of trouble finding the moral lesson behind this story. It was a little difficult to read because of all of the "they say" phrases. I thought that it was interesting that the family would rather risk their child's life to have them back home than allow the child to live in the river without them. It could be interesting to retell this story from the child's prospective.

The Spirit Land:  This story sounded a lot like the biblical story of creation only this version used the crow as the vessel for how the earth came to be.

Coyote and Snake:  This is another classic case of pride and it's consequences. If the coyote had heeded the snakes warning and stepped two feet lateral to the snake, he would not had suffered. I do not like the ending of this story though. Yes, the coyote learned a lesson, but he did not live long enough to grow from it.

Ictinike and the Turtle: The very end of this story made me giggle. Ictinike was not mad that the turtle meat was gone, but rather that he did not remember having eating it although he assumed that had to have been the case!

Essay Week 9: The Origins

I have always been someone who enjoys learning the origins of anything really. I find that it helps me to better understand whatever subject that it may be more fully. Because of this, I really enjoyed reading the Un-Textbook unit on Tejas Legands. I found the stories in this unit to be very creative and fun to read. Some of my favorite stories were about the origins of the orchid flowers, how the mistletoe came to be in the trees, and the reason why the woodpecker pecks. All of the stories gave explanations of how all of these things came to be as well as a giving an additional lesson. For instance, in the case of the Indian shoes turning into orchids, there was a lesson about how life can throw curve balls at you, but if you trust in God (or in this case, the spirits) than your path home will be made straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 is proof of this. Now in the situation where the woodpeckers are created, there is a lesson on greed and addiction. When you give up your life to a harmful external substance, you may lose the things that you used to value more. For the Indians that were transformed into woodpeckers, their loss came in the form of having their children taken away from them and hidden in the trees. These woodpeckers would now spend the rest of their lives searching for what they once had. Finally, in the case of how the mistletoe came to be in the trees, there is a lesson on symbiotic relationships. The bird needed food and the poor grounded mistletoe was the only one available to give the bird what little he had left. So, the bird took it up into the trees so that the mistletoe would be safe from other predators in exchange for allowing the birds to enjoys it's berries. It is a very "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" situation that almost everyone can relate to in some form or another.

(Indian Moccasins. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Storytelling for Week 9: The Trail Back Home

Igasho stretched and let out an excited and youthful whoop as he welcomed the morning his entire tribe had been waiting for. The Tejas Indians had been living in the wilderness for the past twenty years and today was the day the medicine man was told by the spirits that it was time to return to their once beautiful home.

You see, the Tejas Indians had to leave their island many years ago when their homes were destroyed by a vicious volcanic eruption. Since that time, they had lived as nomads - refusing to stay anywhere for too long in fear that they may make that place their false new home.

When the tribe had only been nomads for a few years, the chief came to the medicine man with a concerned face and asked, "My friend, so many of the elders of the tribe have already passed on or are close to doing so. How is my tribe supposed to make its way back to the island?"

"Chief, do not plague yourself with unnecessary doubts. The spirits know what good people we are and they had appointed your grandson, Igasho, to lead the tribe home when the time is right," the medicine man answered.

Igasho threw on his pack containing every bit of his scarce belongings and then jogged to the start of the trail. He knew that this is where they could start their journey because of the beautiful orchid that marked it.

(Orchid. Web Source: Wikipedia)

These orchids used to be the shoes of the tribe that were left on the ground has they traveled to serve as a guide to get them back home when the spirits told them that it was time. The center of the first orchid faced the south as did Igasho's eager face.

When Igasho turned back around to face the tribe, he saw every one of them - young and old alike - patiently staring back him. They were ready to start their journey home.

(Indian Tribe. Web Source: Dreaming in Daylight)

Author's Note: The original story from which my storytelling post is based on is called A Tribe That Left Its Shoes. As I mentioned above, the Indians in this story were forced to leave their home due to its destruction from a volcanic eruption. Also in the origianl story, the tribe did leave behind their shoes, which turned into orchids, as their way of marking the trail back home. The story leaves off with the medicine man showing the chief the flowers as an assurance from the spirits that they would not lose their way. For my story, I picked up the tale twenty years later and gave the chief a grandson named Igasho, which is a Native American name that means "wanders." I wanted to place my focus on the moment they had all been waiting for - the time that they were able to finally go back home!

Bibliography: "A Tribe That Left Its Shoes," from the Myth-Folklore Unit: Tejas Legends

Famous Last Words: Week 8

So since my last famous last words post was about my medical school interview with North Carolina, I thought that I would follow that up this week with some information about how it actually went! First off, the interview was this past Tuesday and I flew out to the school on Monday. When I went to Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City to prepare for my 1:10p.m. departure, I was completely unaware of the chaos that was coming. After three changed flight times, my first flight of the day was almost four hours delayed as I finally left for my layover in Dallas at 5:00 p.m.. When I arrived in Dallas, I rushed to my next gate only to have the door closed in my face and a airline worked tell me that I was a minute too late. So, I was placed on the next flight of the day scheduled to leave at 8:20 p.m.. Of course that would be to easy for that one to work out too. Naturally, that flight was also delayed until 10:00 p.m. causing me to lose the rental car that I had booked weeks in advance. Awesome right? I finally arrived in North Carolina at 1:30 in the morning, exhausted and without a way of transporting myself to my hotel that was an hour away. So I sat on my phone for the following thirty minutes desperately trying to find ANY rental car business that was still open this late - or early. Luckily, Alamo was still open and got me into a car quickly and painlessly, which was very uplifting after such a stressful day. By 2:45 a.m. I finally arrived at my hotel just in time to get three short hours of restless sleep before having to wake up for my interview that started at 7 a.m.! The school was beautiful and the staff and students were incredibly kind and welcoming, but by 2 p.m. when the interview was finally finishing up, I was ready to fall asleep right there in the middle of campus. Unfortunately, my flight home was almost immediately after the interview and I still had a car to return! After running through the airport barefoot and in a suit with my heels dangling from my hands, I made it just in time to catch my flight home. It was a frantic and stressful two days, but hopefully it will all pay off when I find out if I got in or not next week!

(American Airlines. Web Source: Wikipedia)

Reading Diary for Week 9: Tejas Legands

Tejas Legands

The Plant That Grows in Trees: I thought that this was a very cute explanation of how the mistletoe became a plant that thrived in the trees where only the birds could enjoy its berries. It is very nice symbiotic relationship that allows both species to thrive.

Why the Woodpecker Pecks: This was a very strange story that made me think of drug addicts and the power a substance can have over ones life. Because that substance has such a hold on you, more important things in your life may slip away. Even when you quit, you will spend your entire live searching for what you once had.

A Tribe that Left Its Shoes: Sometimes even when everything seems to be going well and happy in your life, a fresh start is forced upon you. What you once knew is gone forever or for now and life forces you to chose a new path. It is also occasionally needed to burn down the bridges to your previous lifestyle to avoid the pain that comes with thinking of its destruction. But, with grief and sorrow comes new life and new experiences. These experiences may lead you to something new or lead you back home when the time is right.

The Cloud That Was Lost: I really liked that personification this story gives to the clouds. It makes me think of a lazy cat. The ending of the story was a little morbid for my taste. The author had given the cloud such an innocent animalistic character that ended up being consumed by flowers lusting after the clouds color.

Grandmother's River Trick: I again really liked the personification given to the characters in the stories. It made me think of the river person and the tree spirits from the movie Narnia. I was able to imagine each the river and the cloud as females holding both the shapes of women and of water.

How Sickness Entered the World: Ignorance, fear, and distrust caused the two young Indians to not recognize that the snake who came up to them contained the important message they were supposed to receive. And because no one was willing the take the blame for the snake, it was passed from door to door giving birth to a new sickness each time man tried to punish another.

When the Rainbow was Torn: I did not really like the idea that the cactus saw something that it wanted and then took it from the unwilling rainbow. I think that it would be nice to change this story around into the rainbow giving some of its color away rather than having it stolen.

Why the Dog's Ears Flop: This was such a sad way to explain the floppy ears of the common domestic dog! The story also contained a good lesson about knowing who your true friends are. Sometimes putting your guard down around those who are familiar isn't always the best decision!

Reading Diary Assessment Post

Overall, I think that these reading diary posts have been far more beneficial to my learning style than what was in place in this class beforehand in the form of quizzes. I believe that classes like this one that are so reading intensive benefit people in different ways. What you get out of a story may not be the same lesson that I learn from it. That makes the reading diary a lot more relaxes of an assignment. It makes me concentrate more on what the story is telling me rather than what information bits I think that I should memorize in order to do well on your quiz and then forgetting about the rest of the information. When I write my diary posts, I try to concentrate on the specific aspects of the stories that stick out to me such as what the more lesson was or how I felt after reading a particular story. I think that this gives more a better idea of the writing style of each particular country. Another thing that I like to do while reading, it start to visualize what I would change about the story in order to transform it into my own storytelling post. When I come up with a good idea, I add it to my reading diary so that the next day when I write the storytelling post, I do not forget what I wanted to write about. When I make my notes I based the reading writing order on the length of the story. If I think that it is going to be something long, then I will write my comments while I read. If it is short, than I prefer to read the entire story and then use my diary to express my reflections. I honestly could have done a bit better of a job of this the past couple of weeks, but I had five exams within ten days, so I got a little distracted from putting my whole effort into this course.

Essay Week 7: Tricksters and Fools

For this weeks reading unit, I chose to read about the Stories from the Congo. Having only had time to read half of the unit this week, I do not know if I got the complete feel for how the people from the Congo tell stories or their way of thinking, but what I did read I did not particularly like. Yes, the stories were very similar in terms of having tricksters and fools as other countries stories that I have read thus far in the semester, but the ones from the Congo were particularly gruesome. They had a very wild and literally animalistic  way of describing their forms of trickery and what consequences follow those forms incur. For example, in the story of The Antelope and the Leopard, the fool was the prideful leopard and the trickster was the metamorphic antelope. The antelope knew that they only way to beat the leopard was in a game of intellect, not strength. The antelope ending up slowly killing the leopard by the leopards own hands until he was just a legless, eyeless, toothless, and worthless body consumed by blind love. It was a very grotesque and not particularly enjoyable story. Then there was also The Turtle and the Man that was not exactly my favorite story either. In the story, the ox, who was good hearted and willing to help the turtle until he was blindsided and murdered by the greedy turtle. Even when the turtle met his consequence for his trickery, it was still through the means of murder.

(Leopard Attack. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I guess that I am a sucker for things like happy endings and fairness that this unit really rubbed me the wrong way. Hopefully my next pick will either be something that is happier or has a more playful version of trickery and foolishness.

Storytelling for Week 7: The Selfish Turtle

There once was a turtle named Larry and a man named Matthew who worked hard together to build a town for them to share. During the time that they made their home, the labor made them close friends. However, this was not to last for very long.

"Larry, did you think to plant any food?" Matthew questioned.

"Not yet, but I'm starving too," Larry answered.

This went on for a few days until the pair were quite short of temper and extremely ravenous.

"Why don't we build a few traps and see if we can catch anything to eat. I will set one on this side of the town and you set one on that side," Larry told Matthew.

The next morning, Matthew's trap was empty, but Larry's trap had caught an antelope!

"I cannot lift this antelope out of the trap all alone and if I allow Matthew to help me do it then I will have to share my catch with him" Larry thought to himself. "I know! I will throw a party and have everyone except Matthew come to dance around the antelope and let them think that they will be receiving a piece. Then I can lure one of the big dumb animals out of the group to carry the antelope to my house by telling it that is where I will cook the meat for everyone!" Larry thought with a sly smile.

An hour later, almost fifty animals were dancing around the pit with glee. They were finally to get a little food in their bellies! Larry scanned the crowd carefully for an animal to carry the antelope and finally spotted a large ox that would be perfect for the job.

(Robert, the Ox. Web Source: Wikipedia)

"Rob!" Larry called to the great ox. "Would you come over here for a second, please?"

"Sure, Larry. What do you need?" Rob answered.

"I need for you to help me carry the antelope to my house so that I may cook the meat for everyone. I will give you a larger portion for your help!" Larry asked.

"Of course," Rob answered gleefully.

Once the meat was safely tucked away in Larry's home, Larry turned to Rob and said, "Will you please go an fetch some leaves to wrap everyone's meat in?"

"Of course," Rob answered.

When Rob returned, Larry's doors were all locked and he was not responding to any of Rob's calls.

Now Rob, being an ox, is very quick to anger and was not pleased with being tricked. So he charged back down the hill to the celebrating animals and told them of Larry's treachery. Together, the enraged group stormed Larry's home, crushing it to pieces. Larry fled the scene in fear without a bite to eat and all of the animals got their fair share of food.

Author's Note: For this story, I transformed the tale of the Turtle and the Man from the Congo Unit into something with a bit less gruesome and happier of an ending. In almost all of the Congo tales that I read, any character that did something wrong was murdered in the story. So for my story, I gave the turtle, man, and ox names so that a better connection could be built with them. I also used the ox to call all of the animals to the turtles house to take back the meat instead of having the turtle trick the ox and kill him as it was in the original story. I also had the turtle flee the scene alive instead of meeting his doom by the teeth of the leopard he had also tricked. Overall, I wanted to make the story a little more digestible by letting the "good guy" win and the "bad guy" fail. I guess you can call me a sucker for happy endings!

Reading Diary Week 7: Congo

The Antelope and the Leopard: In a very twisted and grotesque way, the antelope used the leopards emotions to intellectually out due him. The antelope knew that she was inferior to the leopard in a test against strength, but that she would win a the test against wits.

The Turtle and the Man: When kindness is met with greed, the one who uses trickery to fulfill his greed will fail. This story is an excellent representation of karma.

The Gazelle and the Leopard: This story is starting to give me the impression that the Congo isn't exactly the safest place. It seems like many of their stories involve murder as the main form of revenge.

The Fight between Two Fetishes: It was interesting to discover how the people of the Congo explain how something came to be. A wish from one man made a physical being disappear forever from one place purely because it caused him a moment of irritation.

Essay for Week 6: The Tricksters

(The Tricky Tortoise: Web Source: Wikipedia)

The week I read The Filipino Popular Tales and found a very common theme of trickery. In the tale of The Iguana and the Turtle, the iguana was continuously envious of the position that the turtle was in purely because the turtle made each position seem valuable. The turtle used the Iguana's quickness to greed to remove himself from bad situations. Another story that included a form of trickery was The Hummingbird and the Caraboa. In this story the hummingbird exploited and testing the caraboas pride by challenging him to a water drinking contest. The hummingbird knew when the tided would rise and fall and used that knowledge to trick the caraboa into thinking that he could drink more water than a giant water-buffalo! The third story that included trickery was the Hawk and the Coiling. This was very similar to the story of the humming bird and the caraboa in that a challenge was involved. The coiling knew that when the hawk challenged him to a flying contest, that his best chance of winning was to carry something on his back. The hawk fell for this and chose cotton to carry thinking that it would be light and easy, whereas, the coiling chose salt knowing that it would rain. When it did rain, the cotton became very heavy and the salt dissolved allowing the coiling to fly higher than the hawk and be victorious. I thought that this weeks reading was the most enjoyable because of the short mini stories that got straight to the point about their plots. It was also fun to see the physical underdog utilize their brain to be the intellectual victor by tricking their competitors. I think that the stories would have been even better if these underdogs had more of a reason for their trickery though. It seemed like many of them only did it because they knew that they could.

Storytelling for Week 6: The Unbeatable Hummingbird

(The Hummingbird: Photo by Daniel Borman)

Little Hum flew off with a smug grin as he left the very bewildered caraboa behind him.

***

Word began to spread to those who frequented the watering hole of Little Hum's victory. The tortoise and the hawk gasped in disbelieve when the fox told them of this curious feat.

"I do not understand how someone so small could drink more water than the water-buffalo himself!" the hawk said while shaking his head.

"I saaaaaay weeee maaaake Littttttle Huuuum doooo it agaaaaaain, sooooo thaaaaat I caaaaan seeee thiiiis wiiiiith myyyy owwwwwn eyyyyyes," the tortoise mumbled.

"Yes! Great idea! But, who should do it?" the fox questioned?

"I will," said the hippopotamus proudly. "Who could ever drink more water than someone who lives most of his life in the water and has a belly far larger than even the water buffalo. There is no possible way Little Hum could beat me!"

When Hippo's challenge reached the ears of Little Hum, he immediately accepted. Little Hum waited until just before the tide would rise and then made his grand arrival at the watering hole.

"So, my Dear Hippo, I hear that you would like to challenge me to a water drinking contest! Even with your enormous belly, I will still be the winner here," Little Hum said boastfully. "Go on. You first!"

Hippo wattled over to the water and stuck in his snout and then started draining the water at an alarming rate! The water level was actually really going down! Little Hum started to get nervous.

"Come on high tide. Come on high tide," Little Hum thoughtfully pleaded.

"Yes!" He thought! The tide started coming in and the water started to rise!

"Dear Hippo, I thought that the challenge was to drink as much water as you could! Not drink and then spit it out!" Little Hum laughed at him!

"My turn!" Little Hum said. He once more stuck his bill into the water just in time for the low tide. The water began to recede and his audience was astounded!

Authors Note: This is a story of what happened after The Humming Bird and the Caraboa. In the original story, the hummingbird used the high and low tide of the watering hole to trick the caraboa into thinking that he can drink more water than him. I wanted to tell the story of this happening again, only this time with an audience to watch!

Google Timer Tech Tip

To manage my time efficiently, I like to set aside certain blocks of my day where I will only focus on one particular subject during that time. If I finish before that time is up and I use the remainder of that block to relax or find something entertaining to do. If I  do not finish in time, I either reschedule a new time to finish it, or see if I can push into my next block concerning another activity. To know what I need to get done each day, I always make a list of what subjects I need to hit on the night before so that it's all planned out for me in the morning and I can't make up excuses in my sleepy non-morning person phase.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Filipino Popular Tales

Filipino Tales

The Iguana and the Turtle: The iguana was so envious of what the turtle had or was going through that he feel prey to the turtles simple trickery.

The Greedy Crow: You should be happy with what you have and not lust after what you do not. For if you do, you risk losing what you had. I could tell this tale in the form of toddlers playing with toys.

The Hummingbird and the Carabao: I love the trickery that can be played on those who hold too much pride. The hummingbird was clever and attacked the carabao's pride in such a perfect way.

The Hawk and the Coiling: This story was very similar to the Hummingbird and the Carabao in that trickery was used for the underdog to be victorious in a challenge by being the one who was more clever. However, in this particular story, the underdog also faced a little harm showing that once should be be too prideful after a win.

The Lost Necklace: This was just a story that I found to be a very cute and creative way of explaining why hens and chicks are always scratching at the ground. 

The Story of Our Fingers: This story was also quite fun to read. I think that it's funny that the thumb is what helps us hold on the items, which makes it easier to steal. I also think that it's funny that the pointer finger was the first to object and "point" out the immorality of the thumbs suggestions since it is our pointer finger that we use to place blame on others.

Week 5 Essay: Recurirng Motifs Turkish Fairy Tales

The two stories that shared a common motif were The Fish-Peri and The Crow-Peri. As you can already tell, both stories involve some sort of Turkish peri - meaning fairy. In both narratives, a beautiful animal is captured by some human who is ignorant of the animals true form. In the Fish-Peri, the animal is a lovely fish that the young man can neither eat nor sell because of the joy he finds in gazing upon this beautiful fish. The fish helped the young man during the day by transforming into a maiden and cleaning his house while he was out. In The Crow-Peri, the crow is caught in a trap by a boy. The crow tells the boy that if he releases it, it will help the boy catch an even better bird. The fish and the crow continue to help the young man and the boy through their various tasks throughout the stories by having the males make very strange requests. I'm not sure how the authors decided that things like "forty wagons of wine" or a "bolster" would transform into ivory or feasts, but in the stories that is what happened! Another thing that the two stories had in common was that they both ended with a happily ever after via the marriage of the youth to the fish-peri and the boy to the crow-peri. A final and more broad motif that I have noticed throughout a majority of the Turkish fairy tales is the very common time frame of forty days and forty nights. Either the subject is given only forty days to complete some task or the subject celebrates for forty days and nice - how nice would that be? I'm not positive on the origin of this idea, but I think that it would be an interesting thing for Professor Gibbs to add to the introductory notes of the unit. Overall, I thought that this unit was one of the more enjoyable and easy flowing units I have read thus far.

(Yellow-edged Lyretail: My idea of the fish-peri: Image by: Derek Keats)

Storytelling for Week 5: You Do What You Can For the Ones You Love

(William Randolph Hearst Castle: photo by Matthew Hodges)

"Mark, darling!" Julie called to her husband. "I got invited to go to the country club with Marie this afternoon, so I'll be back in a few hours!"

"Alright sounds good," Mark said as he gave his wife a kiss goodbye.

Mark and Julie have been happily married and lived a somewhat comfortable life for the past twenty years. Julie was a secretary at a company down the road and Mark worked at a small industry the next town over. They made just enough money each month to keep up with their rent and buy groceries. Although Julie tried her best to be content with her lifestyle, she couldn't help but always be jealous of her best friend, Marie's, life.

Marie's husband was the CEO of his industry, so they lived the life of endless luxury with gourmet dinners each night and frequent trips to the country club.

This was Julie's first time going to a fancy country club and what she experienced finally made the envy she held concerning her friend's life surface.

When Julie got home that evening she confronted Mark and said,"darling, you know that I love you, but I cannot live this way anymore. This may seem harsh, but I cannot stay with a man who is unwilling or incapable of climbing up the work ladder and securing a more respectable position with a much larger paycheck. If you cannot obtain this than I'll have no choice but to leave you."

Mark was heartbroken. He had never missed a day of work and has always been the employee his boss could count on. He had no idea how to climb up the work ladder, but he had to try. He loved his beautiful wife and had no intentions on letting her go. Mark needed some time to think, so he walked to the local coffee shop to sip on a cortada.

As Mark was sitting at the table becoming more and more depressed as nothing was coming to mind on how to appease his wife,  Mark's best friend, Jeff walked into the coffee shop.

Upon seeing Mark unsettled, Jeff questioned him as to why he was in despair. Mark told Jeff what had occurred between Julie and himself.

"Man...I'm so sorry! That is an awful predicament to be in, but hey I tell you what. I know Marie and her husband, and maybe I can talk her into giving you some pointers," Jeff said soothingly.

The next day, Marie called with a list of instructions for Mark to do at work that would insure his promotion. Within the next two months, Mark was working as the industry's floor manager. Six months after that, Mark was the supervisor and was finally making enough money to apply for a membership for he and Julie at the country club.

(Rooftop Pool: photo by Charlie Anzman)

Author's Note: I based this story off of The Soothsayer from the Turkish Fairy Tales. In the story, a nameless married woman falls prey to envy when she visits the bath and discovers a soothsayer's wife is there being gazed upon by all of the other women. The married woman returns home and threatens to leave her husband if he too does not become a soothsayer. I decided to make this story more modern and have the bath be a country club and the desired job be a high position at an industry. I made the rich bath woman be the rich country club woman, Marie, and the poor envious woman a low paid secretary, Julie.Luckily for the poor husband (Mark in my story) ends up succeeding at obtaining the higher paid job and keeping his now happy wife.

Bibliography: "The Soothsayer" from Turkish Fairy tales by Ignacz Kunos. Web Source: Un-Textbook

Reading Diary Week 5: Turkish Fairy Tales

Turkish Fairy Tales

Fear:  It's interesting that this boy is so determined to find what many of us face on a daily basis. He seeks something that is solid in form and not an emotional state, which is why he cannot discover it. I found it funny that the one thing that did scare him was only a slight moment of shock as a pigeon flew out at him.

The Fish-Peri: It made me think of a college student trying to figure out what their skill sets were and how they could apply them to a particular future job. The progression of the story, however, made it to where it could be difficult to formulate a storytelling project from it. It is interesting that in most fairy tales there is always some sort of task(s) that the protagonist must accomplish.

Patience-Stone and Patience Knife: The Persians certainly like to tie "forty day" or "forty nights" into their stories, which is interesting. I could maybe use this story for the storytelling assignment and have the young girl tell it from her point of view. This story certainly had a much nicer ending than I had anticipated.

The Imp of the Well: The poor woodcutter has an absolutely awful wife who did nothing but bring him misery. It's funny how she ended up being the one to help the woodcutter in the end even though she was not there in physical form. The idea of her alone was enough to scare off the Imp!

The Soothsayer: A man and his wife were living a comfortable life until the woman saw what she did not have and envy took hold of her. She threatened to leave her husband if he did not obtain the profession that would give her the life of the woman that she saw. I could make this into a modern day story.

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Week 4 Essay: The Story Retold

Since this week's reading options were between the Middle East and India, I chose to go with the subject I surprisingly knew less about - Arabian Nights. I took Epics of India a year and a half ago and still remembered those stories pretty well, so I wanted to see what the Arabian take on an old favorite of mine - Aladdin - would be. When I started reading the story (starting with Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp) I was extremely disappointed to see in your notes that Abu and Iago were not a part of this story! How could they not include the stories most entertaining characters? I was also very surprised that Jasmine's name (or at least her name in the Disney movie) was never a part of this story either. She was always referred to as "the princess." It's very interesting that Aladdin was the only person in the story given an actual name. There was the "sultan," the "vizir," Aladdin's "mother," the "magician," and the "magician's brother." It would be interesting to know if this is common in Arabian storytelling or if it is just the writing style of this particular author. Maybe it is a way to avoid distraction from the main plot of the story. Who knows? Another aspect of the story that was very different was the idea of two genies versus one goofy blue guy and that the magicians were the two truly evil antagonists. Yes, the vizir slipped his son into the mix of marrying the princess before the three months were up and Aladdin would be given her hand, but I had anticipated for the vizir to something especially evil like take hold of the lamp/ring or thwart another one of Aladdin's pursuits towards a happy life while reading the story. All in all, I thought that it was a fun and interesting twist on the story that I was so accustomed to.

(Aladdin: Illustration by Michael Sporn)

Storytelling for Week 4:

Jasmine wondered through her father's marble palace disgusted with the day's events. She had been told that she would be marrying a man who had presented jewels beyond compare to her father for her hand. Of course she would want to marry someone who thought that she was worth such precious stones. What turned her day so sour, however, was when her father told her that the plan had changed and that she was to marry the vizir's son, Iago.

Iago had always gazed at Jasmine longingly every time they were together. He was the type of boy who had trouble holding a normal conversation and - needless to say - had a way of making Jasmine feel uneasy.

The next day, the wedding bells were chiming and Jasmine was dressed in a flowing white dress standing hand in hand at the alter with a crooked grinning Iago.

Later that night, as the newly wedded couple slipped into bed, a strange sensation overcame them as their surroundings suddenly changed. Jasmine now found herself sitting upright in her bed with another man!

"Who are you? Where is my husband? What do you want with me?" Jasmine yelled at the strange man.

"Calm down Jasmine whose beauty is beyond compare. I am the man your father promised you to," Aladdin said calmly as he slid under the covers. Before Jasmine could say another word, Aladdin was softly snoring.

***

Well as you can probably guess, Aladdin removed Iago from the equation and took Jasmine as his wife. Jasmine was far happier with her kindhearted and handsome new husband and she was even more elated to be residing the the most beautiful palace she - or anyone else - had ever laid eyes on. Hers and Aladdin's bedroom alone was larger than the grand hall in her father's palace. This one even went to the extremes of having precious jewels dispersed about the walls so that when they early morning son hit them, her bedroom glowed with vibrant reds and piercing blues.

(Woman that I imagine to look like Jasmine: Photo by Frank Kovalchek)

Author's Note: I based this storytelling assignment off of the story Aladdin from Arabian Nights. In the beginning of the story, Aladdin falls in love with the princess and has his genie provide him with jewels to present to the sultan for Jasmine's hand in marriage (by the way, the name Jasmine was not used in the story, so I added it into mine). The sultan's vizir had always wanted his son to marry the princess, so I gave his son the name Iago, since the Disney parrot, Iago, was not a part of the original story. I decided to retell this marriage fiasco through Jasmine's eyes instead of Aladdin's.
Bibliography: "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" from Arabian Nights by Scheherazade. Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 4: Arabian Nights

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 1: It's funny how easily the human race falls prey to greed. Even in the midst of fear, Aladdin heard the word treasure and instantly became interested in what his "uncle" had to say. The uncle was both the tempted and the tempter in this story. In this version of Aladdin, he rubs the ring to expel the genie versus the lamp.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 2: Aladdin is freed from the cave via wish granted from one of the genies and goes home to his mother. It was his mother that rubbed the lamp to expel that genie. Aladdin falls in the love with the Sultan's daughter. It is Aladdin's mother who goes to the Sultan to ask for his daughters hand in marriage to her simple son. I love that the Sultan was so pleased by the mother's gift for the princess's hand and that he was was not immediately appalled at the idea.

*Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 3: The vizir's son and the princess divorce and Aladdin's mother returns to remind the sultan of his promise. He tells her that he requires a gift of far more value for his daughter's hand. Aladdin met this demand and married the princess. This is the part of the story where the vizir begins to question whether or not magic is involved.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 4: Uh-oh. Big-bad bad guy discovers Aladdin's fortunes and is not so okay with that idea. The sly magician was very cunning to offer new lamps for old ones in order to obtain the magical lamp. With it's power, he sent the palace and princess to a deserted area in Africa.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 5: "'Alas!' she said 'I am the innocent cause of our sorrows.'"Aladdin discovers the fate of his lamp and the magician's desire to steal his wife. Aladdin must finally rely on his own wits to save them versus magic.

Arabian Nights: Aladdin 6: No happily ever after just yet! The magician had a vengeful and even more wicked brother. The magician disguises himself as a holy woman, but is outed by the genie of the lamp upon Aladdin's wish for a roc's egg. NOW it's happily ever after time.

(Aladdin in the Garden: Wikipedia)

Famous Last Words Week 3

So this past week has been quite exciting and eventful - well at least from Friday to today has been! On Friday morning I received a call from Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine inviting me to an interview! For those of you who are not going the medical route, this is HUGE news! Campbell is one of my top choices because of their dedication to community service and mission trips, so I am beyond excited that they are considering me as a possible future student at their school! Later that same day, I was able to share my news with some pretty incredible friends at the Second Wind potluck dinner for all of Second Wind's baristas and student group members to come together for the first time since last semester to share delicious food, catch up with old friends, and meet excited new faces. It turned into a very enjoyable evening of Apples to Apples and Mario Cart on the Wii. It's amazing to be a part of such a family-like group in college and I am so thankful for the relationships that I have made during my time there. If any of you are looking for a great place to find a delicious cup of coffee, a place to study, or some exciting new friends to meet, you should certainly check out Second Wind Coffee House on campus corner! Back to the medical school application process, yesterday I received a letter from Midwestern University College of Osteopathic Medicine telling me that my application is currently in the running for obtaining a possible interview at that school! Man, growing up is exciting, stressful, and terrifying all at once! Getting closer to my dream is both incredible and nerve wracking, but I trust that God has a beautiful path planned for me and I am ready to follow it!

(Bountiful Potluck Yummies: Web Source: Wikipedia)

Week 3 Essay: Some Lessons are Learned the Hard Way

A common theme that I have noticed in mythology is the idea that lessons are almost always learned the hard way. Advice is rarely heeded and the consequences are quite drastic! One example of this is when Phaethon learned that the Sun was his father so he went to visit him in his temple. Upon arriving, Phaethon asked the Sun to prove that he was indeed his father, so the Sun said that he would grant Phaethon any wish. Of course, Phaethon's wish was greedy, reckless, and dangerous - not too different from modern day teens, ha ha! When the Sun tried to warn his son that his wish would only bring harm, Phaethon would not budge from his demand. Well, Phaethon did indeed learn his lesson the hard way when he lost control of the chariot of fire and then was struck by a lightening bolt sent by Jupiter, which led to his death. Another example is in the story of Narcissus. Narcissus learned his lesson the hard way when he foolishly fell in love with his own reflection. He learned the perils of eternally seeking something that he will never have. As a consequence, he lost out on real love with Echo and was transformed into a flower hanging over the water in an eternal gaze upon it's own beauty. A final example that I will give regards Mars and Venus. This couple chose to commit an act of unfaithfulness and in return, they were caught in the act and put on display by Venus's husband to be mocked by all of the other gods. It is very interesting to read these stories and know that something bad is going to happen to the characters even though the characters themselves are ignorant of their impending doom. It makes you almost want to jump into the story and warn them that what they are doing will only lead to their ridicule or death. In life we all make mistakes and learn from hard lessons, but it's important to also recognize that not all lessons need to be learned from personal experience. Sometimes it works out much better to just listen to you friends or elders who generally know a thing or two about what they are talking about!

(Echo and Narcissus: Web Source: Wikipedia)