Mythical Class

Fishing Along the Shore. Link .  It was around that time that the arrived at the coast. On a long stretch of shoreline there stood a fisherman who had but one hand. The disciples looked around but saw no one else around that might be helping the man. They sat and watched, astounded that the fisherman had enough strength in only one useful arm to cast such a large net. The man kept one arm, the hindered one, behind his back in a sling, while he used the other to set his net against the tide. Each time a collection of light waves would come, the man would slowly walk around the waist-deep water to each of his anchors, unclipping and pulling in the net. It was midday and the sun was high. Because of this, most of the fish had gone away to deeper water and the man’s catch was slim. Still, he continued to slowly make his way around each to each anchor. The disciples watched for a long time and were stunned. They sat cross-legged in the warm sand resting, and among them no words were...

Jesus in the City. Wiki Commons. Jesus  I finished up the Book of Mark this evening and continued my enjoyment of such a masterfully written text. Jesus' transformation is highlighted in the second half after the (appropriately named) Transfiguration. The miracles become a little bolder, along with the encouragement of the receivers to spread the word. Not only does the dialogue become more externally driven, but the message is clear that "this is not the Messiah you were expecting." This further clarification is hinted at the retelling of the miracle of Bethsheda. There, it takes Jesus two attempts to restore sight to a blind man. His eyesight is completely fixed the second time and his vision goes from blurry to crystal clear. This pretty incredibly foreshadows the clarified picture of Jesus that is about to take place in the text. Jesus' messege becomes a little more drastic, now telling people to toss aside their worldly possessions and follow him. When they h...

Seedsower and The Seeds. Wiki Commons   There is a LOT playing into this first half of the Book of Mark. It is one of the Gospels, and as such gives the reader an introduction to Jesus Christ. More than that, however, is the intention behind the text. The book of Mark is one that is written in a way that aims to satisfy the desires of pious Jews that believed Jesus to be the prophecized Messiah. The best way to hone down a thesis of the Book of Mark can be concentrated into a two-part exclamation: First, that Jesus is the Messiah, and two, that he is not the one that is expected. That is, he is not going to rule the Jews as was previously hoped/expected, but suffer under the weight of duty. All of this made widely evident in these first 8 chapters. I was very stoked to pour over this first half with a refreshed mind, so that I could pay closer attention to the textual evidence and how the writing can express such complex notions. Right off the bat, when the Spirit descen...

(Press HERE to try! from flickr ) Why It's So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback from NYTimes I think this one is key. Focusing feedback on material that will actually lead to self-improvement is crucial. The discussions will always be difficult, but the article accurately points out that we are all uncharacteristically ill-suited to receive negative feedback. In actuality, when delivered (and received) constructively and properly, negative feedback can be crucially helpful. It is a lot like self-work; in fact, it makes up a significant portion of it. Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work from John Spencer  John Spencer gives a pretty thoroughpotential to tackle self-doubt both intentionally and without actually noticing. Treating work as an experiment lowers the stress level that we associate with it and allow us to put a more genuine, non-constrained effort towards it. and useful list of ways to improve how we operate creatively. Some of them were obv...

King Arthur:  This would be an obvious choice. Looking through freebookapalooza, specifically, the British and Celtic category , has given me some great ideas. I would love to write some short stories about characters that are set in the same stage as these classic tales. Writing under the influence of Lord Tennyson, for instance, would be a great way to exercise realistic and historical locations but with a mythology angle. Greek Mythology: I have always been interested in Greek and Roman mythology. I am in my fifth semester of Latin here at OU and have read quite a bit about Roman gods and goddesses, and in my personal reading have covered a lot of the Greek side. I think it would be pretty interesting to write some stories through the lens of Greek Mythology but focus on some original Wikipedi a can act as my hub.  origin stories. That is, use characters and even plot themes (the golden fleece, for instance) but in a way that explains various origins creativ...

Wow! The canvas calendar was a world of usefulness that I had no idea about. I am a big hard-copy notes guy, and this includes my planning. I really only use digitcal calenders for my appointments, that way I have alerts on my computer/phone for upcoming doctors appointments and such. For school and work, I prefer to keep a running physical calender. Every month I print out a blank month and fill it out as the month progresses. Tests, reading, quizzes, due dates, and many other deadlines go onto this. However, there are often situations where something is just too voluminous to add to the month calender. The weekly activity schedule for this class is a great example. However, when I saw that I could print my canvas calender (with my class assignments already listed) I about jumped out of my seat. This will definitely help me keep track of assignments that otherwise would have not been worth copying down.

I set up the recommended word count tool  . I used it throughout my story writing exercise today and I have some mixed thoughts on it. The bad, first- I wish (and was expecting) the tool to have a status box in the toolbar that listed the word count for whatever text box in which the cursor was active. It does make sense to me that people would need to check the word count on other groups of text, so I do see the point of the selection-right click function. However, this should be an attribute included WITH the toolbar. The positive: I really do like the widget and I wish that I had heard of this earlier! I have been in so many discussion classes where this was needed, as well as general writing edits. Most of the wiritng that I do is with a word processor, so I do not do too much personal writing online. But this widget would have been (and still will be!) very helpful in my classes.

("Tibi" fruit preserves, from  stock )  See the Moon, tibi  I am currently with my daughter Zoe on a stroll after she got upset because of a situation with her brother. Allow me to explain how we got here. My son Bo had gotten a package in the mail from his pen pal that lives up North. They had been trading jellies and jams for a few years now, all made from the local. This was a special package, however, because Bo's birthday was last week and he had asked his pen pal for a jar of tibi fruit preserves. If you didn't know, tibi fruit does not grow down here. You can only find them in the North, where the abundance of lucifer flies pollinate the low-lying plants. Not too many people have tasted tibi, but everyone has heard of it. With juices that run a deep, regal purple, the look of jelly made from tibi is astoundingly memorable. The first time I came across it, I was not impressed by the taste. But the look? The look I w...

Origin of the Moon. Wired .  Origins Note the difference in how The Hare that Was not Afraid To Die begins as opposed to The Man in the Moon. For fairytales and origin stories like these, I think that starting a story "in media res" adds to the sentiments of the same genre. The problem with The Hare is the ending- there does not seem to be very much about the origin of anything. There is a short explanation about the spots on the moon, but it does not seem to be substantial enough in contrast to the rest of the story. Make sure that the story's theme is clear and followed throughout the writing.  Aesop's Fables: The Lion  What a fantastic way of formatting and keeping a section of writing together. These four stories all differ entirely, except for the key continuous concept of the Lion. The congruence between these allows familiarities to be felt by the reader and therefore keeping them engaged, while still keeping open the possibility of surprise and var...

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Gospel of Mark Week 4: Ovid's Metamorphoses Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Tales of a Parrot Week 6: Raja Rasalu Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Lang Week 9: Tibet OR The Monkey King Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Great Plains OR Sioux Week 11: Apache OR Cherokee Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: King Arthur Week 13: Nursery Rhymes Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Ashliman Week 15: Inferno I am particularly excited for Weeks 12 and 13. I am a longtime fan of all stories surrounding King Arthur. Once I caught the roundtable bug, it became my go-to literature world in which to explore and immerse myself in.  ( King Arthur dominated a large portion of my childhood interest in folklore) There are s...

Time management will be crucial in my success for this class. Over the alst few years I have learned that by far the biggest piece of time management with my courses is allotting enough time to thoroughly read the assigned material. Reading is a static time category, in that it will always take me (at minimum) a set amount of time to read something. Unlike studying flashcards or other rote memorization, reading is something that will always come at a fixed rate. There is no way around it. Peter Banerjea's  Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination  and Thomas Oppong's  Eat The Frogs First Thing in The Morning (And Other Better Work Habits)  shed some supporting light on this for me. Banerjea's helps me with the "addrenaline" issue of working. That is, a lot of times the hardest part of getting work done is the part about getting started. Once I begin and find a groove, work gets a lot easier to complete. So Peter's idea of picking what to start with ...

(from flickr ) Online Teaching  The technology aspect of this class will be one more way that I find it useful. Learning how to better create and maneuver literature information on the internet is something that will always be in demand. Plus, seeing the different ways that education, in general, can be provided across an online platform could be useful if I plan on teaching at some point. I have a little bit of experience with online classes, but it seems that this one will be the most advanced in terms of the availability of online content material.

This will be a wildly productive class. I love to write and thie structure of the class will keep me accountable and get me to keep writing. I think that that is the key to becoming a better writer- writing. The storybook option stuck out to me initially, but I now think the idea of writing a portfolio may be more helpful. That way I can work on editing and having some polished work. Although, there are definitely pros to each idea and I will have to think about this in the next week. Course wise, I do not think I will have too much trouble. I will just have to make sure I stay up to date with my scheduled assignments. Plus, I already am looking forward to some extra credit assignments, namely ones that involve the growth mindset concept.   Web Design 

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset. I am a huge believer in stretching comfort zones and that any difficulty that is faced will bring growth. I always picture a snake molting, constantly shaking out of its new skin. If kids (or people of all ages) do not participate in this, they remain the "same size." The entire initial idea of the Not Yet makes perfect sense to me. The system of Pass/Fail would be much less likely to encourage kids to continue trying at something, because it is harder to wrap our minds around the idea that once you "fail," it is possible to "pass" by continuing the same process. Using a "not yet" approach allows people to understand that a lot of the growth is in the process itself and that there is no finite end-all goal. I always like to say that "any experience is a good experience," because there are elements of learning and growth in every experience, even if it has "unsati...

My name is Carl and I have come to OU all the way from Alpharetta, Georgia. This is my fifth year here in Norman and I plan on walking across the graduation stage this upcoming May. I am a Letters major and have furthered my love of reading, writing and history here in the past few years. One thing that has really developed in me here as a result of my studies is an interest in philosophy and the history of it. While the amount of history someone can learn is, of course, infinite, it seems that in my college education there has been a lot of overlap. I am in my fifth semester of Latin and, as a result, have gathered a hefty amount of information surrounding the history of Rome. This semester, as I take classes such as Dr. Harper's Origins of Christianity, I have been shocked at the amount of relevance this Roman information has alongside other courses. Already this semester we have learned about Herod and his Roman installation as a client-king. It is wildly interesting to me to be...

Browsing other students' story blogs has been incredibly helpful. I was a little lost as to what this project was supposed to be made up of, but now I see a little bit more about what is going on. Right off the back, I was struck by the aesthetics of Jennifer Nygren's  Queen of the Underworld . The Persephone cover reminded me of a book cover. However, the page is able to immediately set up a mood for the reader and immerse them into the tone for the following story. The photo was actually going to be included in this post, but the link provided was dead. I am assuming that this is simply because the blog was published some time ago and the photo root access has been changed.  The introduction for  Queen  was unique to me in that it began with a quote. Again, I see this as a great idea for a way to really immediately immerse whoever is reading it.  Exploring the work of others. Max Pixel The second one that really stood out to me was Secre...

Somewhere in Florida there is an Island. I have been retreating there for my whole life, as it is only a six-hour drive from my hometown in Georgia. Well, a six-hour drive and an hour-long boat ride. In order to get onto the Island, you must- park your car, move everything you will need for the weekend (or week or month!) into a boat, drive that boat towards the south-southeast (a bearing of just over 92 degrees) moor the boat, unload and then reload everything you brought. Then load it all one more time. The reason I refer to it as the "Island," is because part of its appeal is that it lies almost untouched by commercialization are really technology past the 90's. Those who are familiar with it jokingly refrain from using its name online; it is one place that won't be tagged on any Instagram. There are no grocery stores, bars, golf courses, or gas stations on the island. In fact, the only structures at all on the few-mile-long bit of sand are 35 homes. There is...

Got that, pardner?