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.