Mythology Blogs

 Wikipedia Trail: From Elephant to Action Potential Elephant - Link I spent a lot of time in this class researching elephants and creating stories about them. So, it seemed only fitting to start my wikipedia trail with elephants as well. Elephant Cognition - Link In addition to just writing stories about elephants, I also touched on their social bonds and how intelligent the species is. From this article I learned that elephants are among the most altruistic animals on earth! Neuron - Link I am currently in a physiological psychology class, and have taken several other classes that involve the anatomy of the brain. So, when I saw neuron I had to click it because it goes along too well with topics I have been learning in my other classes this semester. Action Potential - Link Finally, I arrived at action potentials. Although small, action potentials are responsible for so much- including how I form thoughts and how I am able to type on my computer right now. This class has definitel...

What is Myth? Link. This first thing that caught my attention in these videos was what myth is made of. It is a combination of literature, history, anthropology, sociology, relion, and science. I think its amazing how many things are incorporated into mythology. Mike also talked about that there are many interpretations of mythology. I think it is really intriguing that one myth from hundreds of years ago and be told throughout generations and maybe their interpretation can change based on the changing of civilization and languages. Mike also spends time on the actual definition of 'myth'. In present day, we use myth as synonymous to 'not true' or 'lie'. However, the definition of myth can be simplified to mean a story. Many different people have different definitions of what can be classified as a myth- for example some people believe that myths can only relate to the creation of world and universe and therefore myths are under a broader religious background.  ...

 Fairy Ointment I was quick to click on this story because I used to love reading about fairies and other mythical creatures when I was growing up. I was very pleased to see that this story was very intriguing and reminded me of similar stories from my childhood. The story began by introducing a nurse named Dame Goody. One night she awoke from her sleep and went downstairs to see a small, strange looking man asking for help with his sick wife. Although she was suspicious, she decided to help him because that was the nature of her job. So, the two hoped onto the back of a horse and rode fast until they reached a small cottage house. Inside the house, she saw a sick woman with children playing on the floor besides her. The mother gave her a baby boy and asked her to rub ointment on his eyelids, and the nurse did so but was curious as to why. When no one was looking, she rubbed the ointment on her right eye as well and when she opened her eyes the small cottage transformed into a eleg...

 The Old Woman and Her Pig When I read this story, it seemed as if this was written to be more of a riddle than a story. The way the story flowed and the sentences were structured was a bit unusual compared to most stories. However, I really enjoyed reading it because it seemed like something I might have heard in my childhood.  The story began with introducing an old woman. She lived in a little house and she noticed one day that it was dirty and needed to be swept. So, she decided to clean the house and while she was sweeping, she came across a crooked sixpence. After discovering the pen, she decided she wanted to use it, however, she had no animals to put in the pen. To solve this dilemma, she went into town and bought a piglet. On her way back from the market with her piglet, the piglet was hesitant and would not go over a stile on the ground. So, in order to fix the problem she goes and finds a dog and asks the dog to bite at the pig so the pig would go over the stile. Af...

Challenge: Explore Growth Mindset Beyond School Although growth mindset is important in the classes I am currently in, there has been a lot of need for that same mindset outside of school work. I am currently applying to medical schools and waiting for interview invites. During this time it can be hard to not get down on myself and avoid thinking that I am not good enough. I have to remind myself to keep doing my best- whether that is in volunteering, studying for the mcat, writing essays, or simply staying positive in times of silence from schools. Negative thinking will not get me anywhere! [Motivation. Image Information .]

The Hidden Oasis In a poor village, there was a boy that was known for this love for animals. Although not getting enough food to satisfy his own needs, he always would give portions of his own food to his animals in order to keep them alive. He had a three dogs and two cats that he loved more than his own family. During one part of the year, there was a terrible drought that cost the village countless lives. Food was scarce and the boy struggled to gather enough food for his animals. He begged his parents to help him gather enough food for his animals, but the parents did no such thing. In fact, they threatened to kill the animals for a source of food for themselves. Although he didn't like the idea of stealing, he knew that is what he must do to keep them alive. He stole food from his parents, friends, and other villagers. Soon enough, people started to notice that his animals were growing stronger and fatter. The village was aware that someone was stealing, so they concluded it ...

 The Dog Husband This story was very different from others... to say the least. It began with a girl who had a dog. Every night the dog would sleep at the end of her bed. However, in the middle of the night the dog would turn into a human. When morning came, the dog turned back from human to dog so no one was aware of the situation. After some amount of time, the girl became pregnant and the parents concluded that the only possible way was that it was the dog. So in order to punish the girl, the father killed the dog and the girl was left in a burning house to die. The entire village moved away, but little did they know that the girl had received help from Crow and had survived the burning fire. Living alone, the girl eventually gave birth to five pups, four males and one female. As the girl and her children grew up, the boys became more mischievous. The girl would catch them doing mischievous acts that would bring more shame to their people. The girl then guided the boys to a more...

Sharing is (Not) Caring There once was a village made up entirely of women. Years had gone by without any visitors and the women could barely remember what a man looked like. Once a woman went out of the village to gather food, and saw a flicker of light off in the distance. Curious, she headed that way because she had not seen any other people in this area since she was very young. As she got closer to the light, she saw it was a campsite with a single tent set up. Calling out to the tent, she wanted to meet whoever the outsider was. To her surprise, it was a man. She was speechless. She ran away and went back to her village to share the news with all of the women in the village. Word spread and within hours every woman was wanting to go see the man. Fifteen women took off on their horses and headed to the man's campsite. When they arrived, they called out to the man and he came out of his tent. Overwhelmed by the number of women on horseback, he started to run thinking he was bei...

 The First Woman I really enjoyed reading native american stories because they seem very different from the folklore's I have read previously in this class. This story begins with describing a village that is made up entirely of men. It is known that a ways away there is a woman that lives all by herself. One day, a man decides to travel all the way to go meet the woman. He arrives to her house and he marries her quickly. At the same time, another man gets the same idea to go meet the woman and make her his wife. When that man arrives, he sees the woman with the other man and thinks of a plan. That night, he sneaks into the house and grabs her. He pulls her by her arms and drags her out of the house. The sleeping husband is woken up by the noise and runs out to save his wife. He grabs her by her legs and pulls in order to get her away from the man. Unfortunately, the two men were in a 'tug-of-war' situation and ended up pulling so hard that they ripped the woman into two ha...

Finding Freedom An orphan from birth, Kang always felt like an outcast in his African village. He had no last name, and therefore no title. No girls wanted to marry him and no men wanted to be associated with him. Although he remained polite and respectful to everyone he met, he could feel his resentment towards the village people grow the more they neglected him. As he grew older, he began to have thoughts of leaving his village. A new life surrounded by all new people became more appealing as the days passed by. However, they were the only village within miles of any other human civilization, and in order to go to a new village he would need to venture days through the wilderness. He finally worked up enough nerve and left in the morning.  Running away from the village- he never felt more free. It was as if he could run for hours without any pains or fears. Nightfall came and he found a large rock which to sleep by. He fell asleep peacefully but awoke to the sound of a lioness's ...

 The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated This title of this story caught my attention because it seems as if it is a mystery to what the boys will do. I initially guessed that the boys would be taken for granted and treated wrongly, and they would come back to get revenge on those who wronged them. However, it turns out I was wrong.  The story begins with introducing the two brothers. The elder one tended to the younger one when the mom was working for food. The boy's father had died, and the mother married another man who was very cruel. Over time, he turned her against her sons and began to neglect them. After a long day of waiting for their mother to return with food, the boys were extremely hungry. When the mother and her husband finally returned with rice, the husband refused to let the mother share any with her children. In fact, she kicked them out of the house altogether. The boys ventured until they found a widow who let them sleep, but they were quickly on the move looking...

 A Child of The Woods Usually I prefer to write stories which are based on elephants, or animals in general, as the main character. However, after reading this story I found I really enjoyed it and wanted to write notes so that I could remember and refer back to it again in the future. This story begins with a stranger that visits a large village in the middle of a jungle. There is one elderly woman that is loved by all the people, so he asks her why everyone admires her. She then answers by telling him the story of how she arrived here.  When she was young, she grew up in a typical village surrounded by people with whom she did not like. She describes growing more angry the longer she lived there. So, one day she fled to the forest to escape the feelings of hatred and the men in her village. She ran fast and far, never tiring. Eventually she laid down to go to sleep under a tree- not afraid of the beasts in the forest. She awoke in the middle of the night to a tiger standing ...

 Looking Back I am very happy with the progress I've made so far in this class. I'm most proud of staying on track with this class and not getting behind. I try and knock out the first few assignments on Monday, but my schedule varies each week based on what my other courses have going on. The assignments I enjoyed the most so far are reading my classmate's stories and seeing what cool spins on classic folk tales they were able to come up with. I have not been using any extra credit so far because I am on schedule to finish ahead of time, but if I fall behind a week I will definitely use some to catch up. I have always felt comfortable with technology, but I now feel very confident about my skills in using blogger and google sites.  Looking Forward As of now, there are no major changes I would make for the second half of this semester. However, I will still explore new writing styles and formatting options as the weeks go by.  [Keep Going. Image Information .]

 Feedback In I would rate the quality of my classmate's feedback as very good. They have been very supportive and positive in their comments, but also have some helpful criticism. The most useful comments are when they point out areas in my story that didn't make sense to them, or areas they think I can improve. This gives me a basis on which I can easily enhance my writing. Feedback Out I have very much enjoyed reading other's stories and leaving feedback as well. I use the same format most of the times I leave feedback, pointing out a lot of good aspects and then some areas I thought could improve. Reading others has given me a lot of inspiration in my own stories. So many of my classmates are very talented writers! Blog Comments My favorite comments to give are based on people's introductions! I love getting to know people finding similarities between us. Overall, I am very happy with how my introduction post and blog in general gives people a way to know a bit about...

Looking Back  Previewing my past blogs and website, I am very pleased with how everything is turning out. I have gotten to read a lot of interesting stories, and focus my notes on my main interests. I seem to have a theme of animals, especially elephants, that I acquired through my different posts. One of my favorite readings would have to be 'Why the Elephant has Small Eyes' or 'The Bush Cow and the Elephant'. I especially enjoy reading, and recreating stories, to fit my own unique narrative.  Looking Forward Moving forward, I am excited to read more mythology/folklore stories and build on my website. I feel like this class has helped improve my creativity and I hope to keep challenging myself to become a better writer in this course.  [Blogging. Image Information. ]

A Teenage Disaster Sarah and Rachel had known, and hated, each other their entire life. As mean, popular girls- they were always comparing looks and competing for guys and attention. They each spent an absurd amount of money on clothes and plastic surgery in order to be the most beautiful girl in their high school. One day, a popular football player asked out Rachel on a date in front of the entire school. Sarah, enraged that she was not the one asked out, felt ashamed and embarrassed. She began to question how attractive she was and went looking for confirmation. After some thought, she decided to have a modeling competition with Sarah to prove who was prettier. Sarah readily agreed because she had no doubt that she would win. The news of the competition spread around the entire school, and soon even the teachers and administration were involved. The principle decided to set up a time and place where the girls would walk down runways and compete for their classmates votes in a pageant...

 Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are Bad Friends I was drawn to this story because of how it mentions elephants. Since I have decided to do my storybook website on elephants, I am always excited to read and take notes on stories that involve elephants. In this story, an elephant and a bush cow never got along. The elephant always boasted about his size and strength. With the elephant talking on and on about his greatness, it made the bushcow ashamed because he too believed he was strong and to be feared by animals and man. The situation was then taken to the chief, and the chief recommended that the two animals fight it out to determine who the toughest, strongest one would be. As the fight neared, the bush cow went towards the market and started tearing up the ground and making a scene. He asked animals that passed by if they knew where the elephant was. After some time, the elephant was heard trumpeting down the streets and soon came into the sightline of the bushcow. Once they...

 The Elephant and the Tortoise The story begins with a greedy elephant that has a reputation of devouring everything at feasts-even leaving similar sized animals, such as hippos, with a very small amount of food. A tortoise decided that he would be the one to put a stop to this behavior, and came up with a plan in which to do so. One day he arrived at the elephant's house and ate a delicious snack right in front of him. Predictably, the elephant asked for some of his food, but the tortoise said that the elephant must give up an eye in order to eat it. Agreeing, the elephant allowed his eyes to be painfully slashed out. The elephant ate the snack and was not satisfied, so he asked for more. The same deal took place- more snacks for his other eye. The tortoise then left, leaving the elephant blind and feeling deceived. The elephant went around town asking for other animals to lend him their eyes, but everyone said no except for the worms. The worms were glad to have been noticed and ...

 Writers Write For this weeks laboratory, I wanted to continue with tips that will help enhance my writing. For that reason, I decided to pick 'Writers Write' for the chosen activity. My initial thoughts of the website was that it had an overwhelming amount of advice to choose from. I navigated through its tabs and pages and read different articles. Many different writers contributed to the site's variety of tips. Reading through many of these short tidbits of advice were very interesting and I constantly examined how I could apply these tips to my writing in this class. One of my favorite articles I read was called '10 Editing Error Writers Should Avoid At All Costs'. The title immediately struck my attention and I found a lot of helpful tips. The first piece of advice was not to care so much about "house" styling and grammar. This is referring to how the typical method of writing is perceived. In order to become your own writer with a unique story, you m...

 The Elephant and the Ants I immediately knew I would like this story due to the fact that it had elephants in it. However, due to my past experiences reading stories about elephants, I guessed that this one would be no different in the way it portrayed the elephants. It seems as all stories leading up to this portray elephants and the largest beasts that are unruly and unkind to others. When I began reading, it was no surprise to me that this is how the elephant was once again displayed.  The story begins with an elephant walking up on two ants burrowing and tells them he will trample their work. The ants take a stand for themselves and tells the elephant to not be rude to them just because they are small, and there are surely other things that the ants are better at than the elephant. The elephant says that this is nonsense and ends up accepting a challenge from the ants to have a race. They end up starting the race right then and there and the elephant storms off. After spr...