Week 1 Introduction: My Journey

Hey everyone! My name is Jordan Wiebe and I am currently a senior here at OU from Muskogee, Oklahoma. I am a Health and Exercise Science Major with a Minor in Biology. I am currently in the secondary application process for medical school and have been accepted to a school in North Carolina so far! I am beyond ecstatic to have the opportunity to start the next chapter in my life and learn the arts of holistic medicine. I have only applied to osteopathic schools after having read the book, "The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America," by Norman Gevitz. I did not know much about the differences and similarities between osteopathic and allopathic medicine until discovering Gevitz's book and learning about the history and principles of the osteopathic profession. My hope is that one day I will be able to work rural areas to provide medical attention for those who need it most.

In my leisure time (what little I do have), I volunteer at a non-profit coffee shop on Campus Corner called Second Wind Coffeehouse. Working there has given me the chance to learn a really neat skill in creating gourmet espresso drinks and has also allowed me to meet a variety of wonderful people.

For a bit of a deeper look into my personal life, I am the eldest of three kids with a brother in his senior year of high school and a sister in the 8th grade. I also have one adorable dachshund named Buddy who is almost twelve years old and is pretty much my child! I have been to eight countries outside the United States so far and absolutely love traveling and experiencing new cultures and idea. 

Well, that's a little dive into my life and I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better. I look forward to reading everyone's writing assignments throughout the semester!

(Image Information: Personal photo of myself from my apprenticeship in Haiti; Photo from July 2014)

Week 1: My Storybook Favorites

The first storybook that caught my attention was Miss Porcupine's Therapy Show. I clicked on the link to this storybook based on my curiosity of the significance of using a porcupine at the leading character in a mythology and folklore course. After reading the introduction, I thought that the author's idea of presenting each of her stories using a talk show was a very interesting approach. I also thought that it was fun that the author used undergraduates as the talk show audience since her online audience were also undergraduates.
As for the design, I thought that the author did a beautiful job. The title of the storybook looked fantastic and I loved the red theme!

The second storybook that I found an interest in was Goddess Talk, which - to my surprise - was written by a friend of mine! I thought that the authors webpage design was very nice and made me think an old Roman script. Her introduction was also captivating enough to leave me in suspense and wanting to read more to get the whole story. I think that being able to allude to future plots for the stories in the introduction is an important skill as a writer.

The final storybook I picked for this assignment was E! True Hollywood Story: Women of the Bible. I feel like it was a very bold move for the author to mix the very gossip oriented show, E! with women from the Bible! In regards to the page design, I thought that the opening page had a very beautiful picture, but I was expecting something a little more "snappy" since the title had E! in it. This author also utilized a talk show style storybook, which I felt would be a little awkward at first, but after reading the introduction, I thought that it read very nicely.

Week 1: Un-Textbook Rambles

Week 4: Since I took the Indian Epics course over a year ago, I thought it would be really fun to look back at some of the stories from the Ramayana.  So for week 4, I plan to test my memory and utilize the information I already have for my writing assignments.

Week 6: After spending three weeks in Haiti this summer, I learned quite a bit about their beliefs in voodoo as a religion. Voodoo arose from the slaves coming from different parts of Africa and other countries where they were previously slaves and ending up in Haiti where they did not all speak the same language or hold the same religious beliefs. Voodoo became their mixture of belief that was held very dearly as a tool to help them get through their hard lives. I think that some stories from the voodoo culture would be incredibly interesting to read more about. For that reason, I have chosen Western African Folktales as my reading for week 6.

Week 9: For this week I would have liked to read some folktales about the Choctaw culture, since that is the Native American culture I am most familiar with, but I guess branching out of the bubble is not such a bad thing either! So I have chosen to read about the Indian culture I know the least about - the Alaskan (Judson) Indian stories.

Week 11 and 12: I am very excited for these two weeks! I traveled to several counties in the British Isles a few years ago and was fascinated by the land and the culture. Because Scotland and Whales were two of my favorites, I have chosen to read The Celtic Fairy Tales one week and The Welsh Tales (Thomas) for the other. I think that it will be interesting to learn more about the dynamics of their cultures based on these stories.

Week 1 Storytelling: Think Before you Ask

Pavlin soared through the air while dipping and twisting in the refreshing summer breeze. He climbed as high as he could only to let gravity take hold of him in an adrenaline pumping dive. Pavlin loved the time he spent in the air instead of on the ground with the other birds from the farm. He didn't feel alive down there as he did when he was in the sky letting the wind drift between his feathers. The other birds treated him differently. They all had colorful draping tail feathers or a memorizing checkered coat. Palvin just had plain gray feathers. He wanted the other birds to gaze at him in wander as he did towards them. He wanted to be unique.

(Summer Sky: Wikimedia Commons)

 As the sun started to set, Palvin became aware of his exhaustion after hours of soaring through the sky dreaming about beautiful glossy feathers. He started his decent towards the farm and his warm nest in the birdhouse for a well-deserved rest. As Palvin was getting close to landing he heard a gentle voice. "Palvin," Juno cooed. "Palvin, because you are my favorite of all the birds and because you so desperately want others see your external beauty, I will grant you your wish," Juno told him. "When you wake up in the morning, you will have the most extraordinary tail feathers any one has ever seen," she said.

Palvin was overwhelmingly excited! He rushed into the barn and restlessly settled in for the night. The next morning as Palvin stood up an yawned, his back end felt excessively heavy. He jerked his head around and saw the most glorious display of feathers he had ever witnessed and they were HIS! He rushed outside and expanded his tail feathers so that everyone could see his new found beauty. The roosters and chickens gazed with astonishment at the beautiful and colorful array of long feathers before them.

(Pretty Peacock)

Palvin cried out with glee and jumping into the air with the intentions of showing off his new tail to the rest of the world. He made it about ten feet before falling back to the earth. Confused, Palvin tried again and again until it finally hit him - he couldn't soar through the skies anymore. He couldn't fly. Plavin had exchanged the thing he loved most because he wanted to be the most magnificent bird only in terms of looks. He had to live out the rest of his life dragging his mistake behind him and jealously watching the other birds in the sky.


Authors Note: I used the fable, "The Peacock," to write my storytelling post this week. To make the story a little more fun to get into, I gave the peacock in the fable the name Palvin, which translated to peacock. In this fable, the peacock originally did not have the beautiful feathers that we see today. Juno had granted him the feathers after having been begged to do so by the peacock. At first the peacock seemed happy with his new found beauty, but when he realized he had lost his ability to soar through the skies, he was distraught. I kept with that same general theme, but changed the begging to Juno into Juno watching Palvin in the skies dreaming about beautiful feathers and then granting that wish.

Bibliography:
"The Peacock" by Aesop, from Aesop's Fables (2006). Web Source: Aesop's Fables

Week 1; My Favorite Place is Scotland

The Mountains of Scotland, The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I participated in a program called People to People where I was able to go to England, Ireland, Scotland, and Whales all in one trip. Although each of those countries were beautiful, the landscape and culture of Scotland stole my heart. I'm sure you will agree with me that the picture below captures a piece of Scotland's magnificent mountain side!

                                                 
                                             (Cuillin Mountains of Scotland: Wikimedia Commons)