I really enjoyed writing the smaller stories for the weekly assignments. Most of the time, I had a good time just coming up with the weird things to write. I have not written anything other than a lab report for three years and I hadn't written a story since middle school. The whole writing experience was like a break from engineering work, and I am glad I took this class.
I decided to write a storybook with The Doctor (the main character from Doctor Who) as the narrator. This was used as an example in the notes talking about first person and third person storytelling types, so I thought there would have been a lot of them done before. Apparently, I was the only one who decided to use this example, or maybe I was the only one who actually read the notes. Anyway, I was really surprised how many people read the stories just because they knew The Doctor was in them. I really had to change some things around to put him in some stories, but Alice in Wonderland required almost no changes. I am pretty surprised he has never dealt with the cheshire cat or a jabbawockee before.
I hated having to leave such long comments on storybooks, but I actually used all the comments that were left on mine to improve the stories. I understand the importance. Also, it's nice to know that people have actually read the story.
As for writing in my future, it will not be anything like this class. There may be small instances where I make up stories for my nephew and niece, but they will not get written down. Unfortunately, my writing will be less about magic and more about science and law, but I think they tend to have more meaning when you get paid to do it. I had fun, so maybe I will take a class like this again, or just read up on the untextbook for fun.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Week 15 Reading Suggestion Post
For future students taking this class, I would say that the best way to choose a reading is to make sure it holds your interest. If you are entertained while you read the unit, then the assignments will also be entertaining. This learning experience will be more like a break from your other classes rather than work you forgot you had to do. When choosing a unit to read, I picked ones that seemed as if they would have the most drama. The only units I regret reading were ones that I just picked at random instead of browsing their stories a bit. I cannot handle the ones with poetry, but one week I had so much poetry that I did not even understand half the stories.
As far as what I actually enjoyed in the class, I would say doing the readings and retelling my own versions of the story were my favorite. The storybook was fun, but so much work went into those. The storytelling for each week was just short and random, and I just tried to make something that would be fun for the other students to read. When you have to make comments on someone's stories that are just flat out boring, it's the worst. It is not hard to just pick a book or tv show or movie or song and incorporate it into the story. I used Spongebob, pumpkin spice latte, James Bond, Disney, and Doctor Who. Don't be the person who everyone hates to read.
The most difficult thing about this class is that stuff is do every day. During the week, I would always be on top of things, and then I would wait to do all the weekend assignments at once really late, and I did not get to enjoy the other stories as much as I would have liked to.
As far as new units go, I would say that the UnTextbook is working great, but I would like to see more themed units. I picked some that were grouped together from different sources, but all had a relating theme, and those were always entertaining and easy.
As far as what I actually enjoyed in the class, I would say doing the readings and retelling my own versions of the story were my favorite. The storybook was fun, but so much work went into those. The storytelling for each week was just short and random, and I just tried to make something that would be fun for the other students to read. When you have to make comments on someone's stories that are just flat out boring, it's the worst. It is not hard to just pick a book or tv show or movie or song and incorporate it into the story. I used Spongebob, pumpkin spice latte, James Bond, Disney, and Doctor Who. Don't be the person who everyone hates to read.
The most difficult thing about this class is that stuff is do every day. During the week, I would always be on top of things, and then I would wait to do all the weekend assignments at once really late, and I did not get to enjoy the other stories as much as I would have liked to.
As far as new units go, I would say that the UnTextbook is working great, but I would like to see more themed units. I picked some that were grouped together from different sources, but all had a relating theme, and those were always entertaining and easy.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Essay for Week 14
Different Kind of Magic
In these Russian Folk Tales, there is still lots of magic and talking animals and transformations of people into geographical elements, but there all of these things are done because of or with permission of God. It almost feels like the stories were all taken and remade to be able to fit into a corrected version that is actually suitable for children.
A lot of the stories read like parables or a bad TV show that throws in a corny message somewhere in the end. In particular, "The Treasure," is a story about a poor man who finds a treasure and a horrible reverend who tries to steal the money from the man. The reverend dresses in goat skin posing as the devil and scares the old man into giving up the money. When he returns home and attempts to take off the goat skin costume, it has become his flesh. He is not a goat but some sort of horrible creature, and all this doing was accredited to God punishing him for his evil ways.
Another story, "The Three Copecks," features an orphan who is continually rewarded by trusting that God will lead him happiness if he is done what he is told. In the end, he ends up with a lovely life and a very comfortable living. This one, along with many others, does not overtly mention God, but it always throws in some "thank you, Lord" phrases and "praise be to God!" shouts and such. It is just interesting to see the difference in the origins of the people telling the stories. All the european folk tales talk about witches and evil, but the good magic all comes from pagan origins like the spirits of the forest or fairies, never religion. Even though the stories are identical to other folk tales, the small changes point out the differences in the people groups at the time of the story telling. Clearly, Russia has had many people groups and religions, but these stories seem to have come from only one of those groups.
Read the stories.
Russia still has an odd mixture of religion. Image Info.
In these Russian Folk Tales, there is still lots of magic and talking animals and transformations of people into geographical elements, but there all of these things are done because of or with permission of God. It almost feels like the stories were all taken and remade to be able to fit into a corrected version that is actually suitable for children.
A lot of the stories read like parables or a bad TV show that throws in a corny message somewhere in the end. In particular, "The Treasure," is a story about a poor man who finds a treasure and a horrible reverend who tries to steal the money from the man. The reverend dresses in goat skin posing as the devil and scares the old man into giving up the money. When he returns home and attempts to take off the goat skin costume, it has become his flesh. He is not a goat but some sort of horrible creature, and all this doing was accredited to God punishing him for his evil ways.
Another story, "The Three Copecks," features an orphan who is continually rewarded by trusting that God will lead him happiness if he is done what he is told. In the end, he ends up with a lovely life and a very comfortable living. This one, along with many others, does not overtly mention God, but it always throws in some "thank you, Lord" phrases and "praise be to God!" shouts and such. It is just interesting to see the difference in the origins of the people telling the stories. All the european folk tales talk about witches and evil, but the good magic all comes from pagan origins like the spirits of the forest or fairies, never religion. Even though the stories are identical to other folk tales, the small changes point out the differences in the people groups at the time of the story telling. Clearly, Russia has had many people groups and religions, but these stories seem to have come from only one of those groups.
Read the stories.
Storytelling Week 14
Emilian The Wicked
There once lived a man named Emilian who was quite wicked indeed. He was lazy and never did anything he was asked. He was very odd and had very violent tendencies. He had three older brothers who were all married, and he would often go to their houses for dinner. It is not that he particularly enjoyed the company of his family, but he did enjoy the free food. His brothers' wives were all afraid of him and hated him.
On a holiday, the wicked man and his family were all to eat together. The older brothers left for town to get more supplies and told the wicked man to do what their wives asked. Though the wives gave him simple tasks, he refused to help any at all. He yelled at them and called them useless whores. By this time, they were used to the laziness, but the name calling became too much. One of the wives repeatedly hit him on the head with a bucket and screamed at him until he agreed to fill the the bucket with water.
The wicked man planned on taking his time filling the bucket, and when he arrived at the stream, he began to fish. Almost immediately, he caught a pike. This particular pike happened to possess great magical power, and promised to give the man all he wished if he would set the fish free. He could have anything that he wished for aloud. The wicked man agreed, and with the freeing of the fish, came into a power which only increased his evil ways.
The first thing he wished for was his brothers' wives would all do a terrible job preparing the meal and therefore cause a quarrel among them. When he returned, he found all the women blaming each other for ruining the holiday. Next, the wicked man's brothers came in and he wished that they also join the quarrel. With each brother physically attacking another, the wicked man left their home and went into town.
On his walk to town, he grew lazy and wished for an axe to cut down the trees and make a grand carriage for him. The black carriage quickly appeared and headed into town without any horses. This caused quite a raucous in town, the peasants all claiming that the devil must be inside that carriage so evil-looking and driving without horses. Being compared to the devil only made the wicked man laugh with delight and hunger for more power.
At the edge of town, the people created a road block with men and women holding torches and pitchforks. The carriage picked up speed and drove straight through the mob. No one was killed, but many were greatly injured. As the wicked man continued his journey, word made it to the king what was happening. The king was a just man, and he decided that this wickedness must be immediately ended.
When Emilian arrived at the king's castle, he planned on wishing himself king and taking over the entire country. The magic pike had sensed that his power was being used in horrible ways and he appeared in the drinking fountain of the king's palace. Together, the fish and the king decided how to end this madness. When the wicked man arrived, he wished for the guards of the palace to be beaten by their own armor, and he walked right through the gate. As soon as he stepped foot through the door, he was captured by the king who then put cloth in his mouth. The wicked man tried and tried again to wish himself free, but since the wish was not audible, the magic would not work.
Next, for his heinous crimes (and because the king liked to be dramatic), the wicked man was placed in a bath tub filled with tar which was thrown in the ocean in front of all the people of the land. However, the man did not die, but he turned into a pike, though now without any magic.
Author's Note: The original story here is called "The Foolish Man," but he did a lot of the same mean things. He still hurts the townspeople with large pieces of wood. That story has it set up where the fool marries the king's daughter, but the king throws them both in the ocean (because they are fools). He wishes himself free and into a new, giant palace with lots of wealth. The king accepts them now as part of the family since he has money. I just really didn't like the fool character, so I made him more evil.
Bibliography: Ralston. "The Foolish Man." Russian Fairy Tales. 1887.
Original Story
Unmagical pike. Luc Viatour. Image information.
On a holiday, the wicked man and his family were all to eat together. The older brothers left for town to get more supplies and told the wicked man to do what their wives asked. Though the wives gave him simple tasks, he refused to help any at all. He yelled at them and called them useless whores. By this time, they were used to the laziness, but the name calling became too much. One of the wives repeatedly hit him on the head with a bucket and screamed at him until he agreed to fill the the bucket with water.
The wicked man planned on taking his time filling the bucket, and when he arrived at the stream, he began to fish. Almost immediately, he caught a pike. This particular pike happened to possess great magical power, and promised to give the man all he wished if he would set the fish free. He could have anything that he wished for aloud. The wicked man agreed, and with the freeing of the fish, came into a power which only increased his evil ways.
The first thing he wished for was his brothers' wives would all do a terrible job preparing the meal and therefore cause a quarrel among them. When he returned, he found all the women blaming each other for ruining the holiday. Next, the wicked man's brothers came in and he wished that they also join the quarrel. With each brother physically attacking another, the wicked man left their home and went into town.
On his walk to town, he grew lazy and wished for an axe to cut down the trees and make a grand carriage for him. The black carriage quickly appeared and headed into town without any horses. This caused quite a raucous in town, the peasants all claiming that the devil must be inside that carriage so evil-looking and driving without horses. Being compared to the devil only made the wicked man laugh with delight and hunger for more power.
At the edge of town, the people created a road block with men and women holding torches and pitchforks. The carriage picked up speed and drove straight through the mob. No one was killed, but many were greatly injured. As the wicked man continued his journey, word made it to the king what was happening. The king was a just man, and he decided that this wickedness must be immediately ended.
When Emilian arrived at the king's castle, he planned on wishing himself king and taking over the entire country. The magic pike had sensed that his power was being used in horrible ways and he appeared in the drinking fountain of the king's palace. Together, the fish and the king decided how to end this madness. When the wicked man arrived, he wished for the guards of the palace to be beaten by their own armor, and he walked right through the gate. As soon as he stepped foot through the door, he was captured by the king who then put cloth in his mouth. The wicked man tried and tried again to wish himself free, but since the wish was not audible, the magic would not work.
Next, for his heinous crimes (and because the king liked to be dramatic), the wicked man was placed in a bath tub filled with tar which was thrown in the ocean in front of all the people of the land. However, the man did not die, but he turned into a pike, though now without any magic.
Author's Note: The original story here is called "The Foolish Man," but he did a lot of the same mean things. He still hurts the townspeople with large pieces of wood. That story has it set up where the fool marries the king's daughter, but the king throws them both in the ocean (because they are fools). He wishes himself free and into a new, giant palace with lots of wealth. The king accepts them now as part of the family since he has money. I just really didn't like the fool character, so I made him more evil.
Bibliography: Ralston. "The Foolish Man." Russian Fairy Tales. 1887.
Original Story
Week 14 Reading Diary
The Dead Mother
-Zombie mom feeds the baby at night and baby also dies
The Treasure
-Poor old man finds a treasure, seems more like a Biblical parable at first
-Turns to a tale involving evil "pope" which I guess is meaning reverend or bishop
-God cursed the evil reverend by turning his devil costume to flesh
The Bad Wife
-Same one as before with the annoying wife in a pit with the imp who wants out and grants a wish
The Three Copecks
-Orphan is smart and ends up with lots of money and a good wife
-These are not the same kind of magic, it is like Russian Orthodox fairy tales
The Miser
-Fun with money and pranks and no one is smites after all
-But not really a moral
The Water Snake
-Marries a snake, carried into underwater kingdom of people
-While the daughter was asleep at her mom's, the mom summons the husband out of the water and CHOPS OFF HIS HEAD WITH AN AXE
-her and her kids turn to birds
-first one without God or Lord in it
Friday
-I can't tell if this is about a sabbath day or what
Wednesday
-Wednesday is apparently evil
The Leshy
-A hunter and his dog go after a demon in the forest
-Much more up front than normal characters
-He aslo saves a kidnapped girl with amnesia, pretty good
-Marriage again
Dnieper, Volga, and Dvina
-Poor orphans decide to become great rivers
-This is seen as easy back in the day
-The brother's river is better
Emilian the Fool
-Real weird
-magic is from the pike
-unlimited wishes
-king marries his daughter to fool and kinda tries to kill them
-get out with magic and just live with the king happily
Read the full stories
-Zombie mom feeds the baby at night and baby also dies
The Treasure
-Poor old man finds a treasure, seems more like a Biblical parable at first
-Turns to a tale involving evil "pope" which I guess is meaning reverend or bishop
-God cursed the evil reverend by turning his devil costume to flesh
The Bad Wife
-Same one as before with the annoying wife in a pit with the imp who wants out and grants a wish
The Three Copecks
-Orphan is smart and ends up with lots of money and a good wife
-These are not the same kind of magic, it is like Russian Orthodox fairy tales
The Miser
-Fun with money and pranks and no one is smites after all
-But not really a moral
The Water Snake
-Marries a snake, carried into underwater kingdom of people
-While the daughter was asleep at her mom's, the mom summons the husband out of the water and CHOPS OFF HIS HEAD WITH AN AXE
-her and her kids turn to birds
-first one without God or Lord in it
Friday
-I can't tell if this is about a sabbath day or what
Wednesday
-Wednesday is apparently evil
The Leshy
-A hunter and his dog go after a demon in the forest
-Much more up front than normal characters
-He aslo saves a kidnapped girl with amnesia, pretty good
-Marriage again
Dnieper, Volga, and Dvina
-Poor orphans decide to become great rivers
-This is seen as easy back in the day
-The brother's river is better
Emilian the Fool
-Real weird
-magic is from the pike
-unlimited wishes
-king marries his daughter to fool and kinda tries to kill them
-get out with magic and just live with the king happily
Read the full stories
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Famous Last Words Week 13
The Week Where I Actually Look At The Grades
I have actually been kind of slacking in the assignments. At this moment, I am writing this because I had planned on doing the extra credit that was available to me for the next couple of weeks to guarantee an A. I just did the grade check one, and actually I am still on par to get an A even with my multiple skippings of writing comments on other's stories. Some of the stories are really fun to read, and doing the assignment for those is super easy. However, sometimes you just get that person who clearly had a busy week, so they just retold the story in modern english without changing any part of the story. Those weeks make me want to quit the assignment early. Anyway, this week has not been a week where I will quit early. I still have to do a storybook assignment (I think), and I promised myself I would do the rest of the assignments until I got enough points to get an A.
Anything other than an A on an online class where I get to make up stories is unacceptable. I have actually really enjoyed getting to write silly stories, and I think I have not been able to do anything like this in so long that stuff just pours out really easily. The only times I have had trouble while writing is making sure that my storybook pages actually somewhat fit the theme and intro that I have. At this point, I am probably going to have to rewrite a lot of the intro. Also, since I have The Doctor as a narrator, there are a lot of people who keep looking back on mine to see what more I have written. Everyone has in their own mind how The Doctor would react in these situations, and I do not want to disappoint them. I really do not let him make any decisions because that is probable the hardest part of a character to reproduce. By just having him narrate, I can repeat his mannerisms and vocabulary easily without having to psychologically dissect the character to find out his actions in a new storyline.
On the other hand, I do not really care if other people think he would react differently because I am the only one doing it. I really was surprised that no one had done it since it was an example in the notes for a narrator.
I have actually been kind of slacking in the assignments. At this moment, I am writing this because I had planned on doing the extra credit that was available to me for the next couple of weeks to guarantee an A. I just did the grade check one, and actually I am still on par to get an A even with my multiple skippings of writing comments on other's stories. Some of the stories are really fun to read, and doing the assignment for those is super easy. However, sometimes you just get that person who clearly had a busy week, so they just retold the story in modern english without changing any part of the story. Those weeks make me want to quit the assignment early. Anyway, this week has not been a week where I will quit early. I still have to do a storybook assignment (I think), and I promised myself I would do the rest of the assignments until I got enough points to get an A.
Anything other than an A on an online class where I get to make up stories is unacceptable. I have actually really enjoyed getting to write silly stories, and I think I have not been able to do anything like this in so long that stuff just pours out really easily. The only times I have had trouble while writing is making sure that my storybook pages actually somewhat fit the theme and intro that I have. At this point, I am probably going to have to rewrite a lot of the intro. Also, since I have The Doctor as a narrator, there are a lot of people who keep looking back on mine to see what more I have written. Everyone has in their own mind how The Doctor would react in these situations, and I do not want to disappoint them. I really do not let him make any decisions because that is probable the hardest part of a character to reproduce. By just having him narrate, I can repeat his mannerisms and vocabulary easily without having to psychologically dissect the character to find out his actions in a new storyline.
On the other hand, I do not really care if other people think he would react differently because I am the only one doing it. I really was surprised that no one had done it since it was an example in the notes for a narrator.
The Doctor Who Title from the BBC. Image Info
Essay Post Week 13
Grimm Fairy Tales Are Basically YouTube
I am sure you have all heard how dark and horrible the original fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm are when compared to the magical, watered down versions of today. I would agree that they are dark and can be scary for little kids, but that was partially their purpose. Making kids afraid to go alone in the dark or to take candy from strangers is a good thing. However, there are points in the story where people get pregnant out of wedlock, like in Rapunzel, or where characters die in pretty horrible ways. But, if you were to look at some of the cartoons of today, I feel like you would be just as surprised at the weird things that you find. And if you were to go on YouTube, there is no limit to the odd, offensive, and inappropriate things you could find.
I think that if you compare the stories from The Brothers Grimm to modern day stories that are intended for a younger audience, then you will find that they are basically at the same level. One of the stories in particular that I read this week struck me as what would make a hilarious YouTube video. In "The Straw, The Coal, and The Bean," the titular characters survive a long, scary night of cooking and decide to run away together to increase their chances of staying alive. The bean, coal, and straw all talk to one another and they say a lot of nonsense. When they come to a small stream, they decide that it is a good idea for the coal to walk across on the straw. The coal freaks out, catches the straw on fire, and then they both fall into the stream. The bean is watching on the bank and laughs so hard that he splits open. This story is basically pointless, but I thought it was hilarious. If it was on YouTube, I would share it and watch it and tweet it and force my friends to watch it.
The ability for such a weird, humorous story to be in the middle of these dark stories, made me think that the dark parts were not actually meant to be taken that seriously. Apparently, people who write stories for children have always been really weird. When people look back at Adventure Time, I am sure they will wonder why anyone would watch such a weird, nonsensical show. But, they are forgetting that we know how weird it is and we like it anyway. Everyone has always seen how violent and odd these fairy tales are, but that will never stop people from sharing their magic and entertainment.
I am sure you have all heard how dark and horrible the original fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm are when compared to the magical, watered down versions of today. I would agree that they are dark and can be scary for little kids, but that was partially their purpose. Making kids afraid to go alone in the dark or to take candy from strangers is a good thing. However, there are points in the story where people get pregnant out of wedlock, like in Rapunzel, or where characters die in pretty horrible ways. But, if you were to look at some of the cartoons of today, I feel like you would be just as surprised at the weird things that you find. And if you were to go on YouTube, there is no limit to the odd, offensive, and inappropriate things you could find.
I think that if you compare the stories from The Brothers Grimm to modern day stories that are intended for a younger audience, then you will find that they are basically at the same level. One of the stories in particular that I read this week struck me as what would make a hilarious YouTube video. In "The Straw, The Coal, and The Bean," the titular characters survive a long, scary night of cooking and decide to run away together to increase their chances of staying alive. The bean, coal, and straw all talk to one another and they say a lot of nonsense. When they come to a small stream, they decide that it is a good idea for the coal to walk across on the straw. The coal freaks out, catches the straw on fire, and then they both fall into the stream. The bean is watching on the bank and laughs so hard that he splits open. This story is basically pointless, but I thought it was hilarious. If it was on YouTube, I would share it and watch it and tweet it and force my friends to watch it.
The ability for such a weird, humorous story to be in the middle of these dark stories, made me think that the dark parts were not actually meant to be taken that seriously. Apparently, people who write stories for children have always been really weird. When people look back at Adventure Time, I am sure they will wonder why anyone would watch such a weird, nonsensical show. But, they are forgetting that we know how weird it is and we like it anyway. Everyone has always seen how violent and odd these fairy tales are, but that will never stop people from sharing their magic and entertainment.
Adventure Time poster. Image Info.
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