Ancient Greek Classics

 Once upon a time there were two brothers.  They would work hard together during the days and shared a room to sleep in during the nights.  They lived in a small house just outside of a small village.  They didn't earn much, but it was honest work.  They had come to rely on one another and trust each other tremendously.  After all, they were all each other had.  One day, the older brother fell in love with a local village girl.  They were wed soon after.  After the bride moved into their small house, the atmosphere in the house was different.  Eventually, the wife came onto the younger brother.  Furious, the younger brother stormed out.   That night, the wife lied to the older brother, telling him that the younger brother had intended to kiss her, and attacked her when she didn't comply.  The older brother saw right through this.  After hearing the truth from his younger brother, the older brother divorced his wi...

     I enjoyed reading the story of the two brothers.  It reminded me of a story from the bible, in which Joseph was working in the house of a high ranking Egyptian.  Then the official's wife falls for Joseph, and lies about him saying that he came onto her once she was rejected.  This story happened in Egypt as well, so I wonder if the stories could be associated! It's nice that Ra listened to Bata's pleadings, but it's unfortunate that Anpu believes the lies that he has heard from his wife.  I don't think it is in Bata's character (clearly not after seeing his reaction to his brother's wife) to hurt someone like how she has pretended.  I was surprised with how casually Anpu killed his wife after he found out the truth.  I mean it's good he believed his brother, but was that really necessary? It was pretty neat that Anpu was able to salvage Bata's soul.  I think this would be a fun story to take on! There are so many twists and turns, a...

I enjoyed getting to read some creation stories from some different cultures.  I have heard of Ra before, but besides that I didn't have very much previous knowledge on this topic.  I found it interesting that in The Secret of Ra, is is described as an oldened god.  I haven't really seen this concept of aged gods.  It makes them seem mortal.  Some of these stories of Ra reminded me of stories from the Old Testament that I remember.  For instance, some of the stories like the flood where God punished humans because they had become evil.  Ra also seemed to punish humans for similar reasons.  It was interesting to see Ra repent; I liked seeing his empathetic side to humans.  I liked getting to learn about Osiris' role as king.  This name sounded familiar but I didn't know really anything about it.  One of the stories I liked was called the Death of Osiris.  Set was a cool character; the usurper.  I think that when someone has...

 My portfolio is here ! The twelve labors of Hercules. source: commons

  Austin was taken aback initially by Polyphemus. He had never seen a cyclops before until him and his men had been ship-wrecked on this God-forsaken island.  The cyclops had already eaten six of Austin's  best men.  He knew that if he was complacent any longer, they would all be goners.  Summoning his remaining courage, Austin called out to Polyphemus as he rolled back the stone to come into the cave for the day, "hey man, would you wanna have a guitar battle sometime?"  As the cyclops turned to Austin, Austin's men gorged its eye out with a cyclops' sized guitar.   "Polyphemus, who has hurt you so?" Polyphemus screamed back in anguish, "JOOO, it was Nobody!" Author's Note: The original story from which I based these microfictions off of is called "The Cyclops Defeated." In that story, Odysseus tricks the cyclops after him and his men are trapped in his cave.  Odysseus and his men eventually escape by gouging the cyclops' eye...

      Circe's part in Odysseus' journey was very interesting to me.  Her story reminded me of a story I wrote last semester called "Witches' Island." That story was based off of Goblin City, in which lost sailors would get seduced by seemingly beautiful women before they were eaten by them.  Spoilers: the beautiful women are goblins.  My story seems even more similar--Circe is a witch herself.   Also, I thought it was pretty neat that one of the stories from this week was called "On Circe's Island." :) Odysseus' story is so neat in general--the gods seem to take particular interest with him that they do not with most other mortals. It was really cool for Odysseus to see the ghost of his mother and also Erebus in Hades' House. This trip would feel crazy if I was Odysseus! He just got out of a war, too.  He's gonna have a lot of stories when he gets home ;)   I was a bit surprised and confused to see the ghosts of the famous women....

 I am happy that I was able to go straight from the Iliad to the Odyssey.  I have't heard this story in a very long time, so this has almost been like reading it again for the first time.  Odysseus is easily my favorite character.  I like the qualities he has: he's brave, witty and he has leadership abilities.  These are great qualities for a hero :) I definitely would love to write an adventure based off of Odysseus.  The story from this section called The Cyclops Defeated was probably my favorite.  It was packed with action, and it also showcases some of the admirable qualities of Odysseus.  For starters though, I was a bit surprised that Odysseus didn't want to listen to his men and simply retrieve (steal) some of the cyclops supplies before heading back to the ship.  I wouldn't think he would want to leave meeting an alleged "lawless" cyclops up to chance.  Did he think he would be offered a cup of tea?  He does a great job of n...

  I decided to do more research on OU ghost stories for this assignment! I'm looking forward to discovering more about the supernatural side of the university :) While I was doing my research, I noticed that many of the stories were supernatural incidents that may be happening in the same building or part of campus.  Some occurrences, such as hearing voices from seemingly no one, seem like they would be hard to base stories around.  I think it would be cool addition to a story about ghosts, though I'd like something more exciting :) some of the other stories I have been finding are more exciting to me.  I think they could be used to draw inspiration for writing ghost stories of my own! The first story I really liked was about a music professor that haunts an auditorium.  It was from an article called  Haunted Norman: ghost hunting on the OU campus.  The article didn't  initially outright say the names of some of the buildings, but the author drop ...

 The first article I chose is called How to give Bad Feedback Without Being A Jerk . This article was pretty neat.  I feel like it will be especially useful for this class.  Last year I found that it was at times hard to criticize the work of others.  I nearly always found it entertaining and fun to read! I understand, though, that it would be useful to help give them feedback so that they can have progress in their writing.  The first thing that this article pointed out was saying that positive results were found by explaining why you are giving feedback.  It helped to say: I'm telling you this because I have high expectations and I know you are capable of reaching them.   I think this would help me too! Another easy thing it mentioned is simply asking if the person wants feedback.  This is an easy way to avoid confrontation or any miscommunication.  I think it makes it clear that you are just trying to help.  I found this guy's ti...

 Austin was enraged.  He hadn't fought most of the war (which had been going on for nearly 30 years now) due to political reasons.  However, Austin had incentive to join the battle after hearing the news of his best friend's passing.  Cameron and Austin had grown up together and fought together.  The passing of Cameron lit a fire somewhere in Austin.  This is what the Greeks needed though--in truth, they had been struggling up until this point.  But Austin's skills were legendary in the field of battle.  Most people simply ran away as soon as they saw him.  He had never lost, and didn't plan to anytime soon.   Jack stood behind the walls of Troy.  He knew he should be happy; he had just taken out a general from the opposition's army.  However he was more concerned with who he might have riled up.  Though Jack was the best soldier on the Trojan army, even he was terrified of facing Austin in single combat.  But he...

 The story I chose for notes in this reading was The Slaying of Hector (end).  Part B of this story definitely seems like it's starting to climax.  The key players are getting more and more involved--specifically Achilles and Hector.  I was actually pretty surprised about the pursuit that went on between Achilles and Hector! It is funny to imagine them chasing each other around the outskirts of the city with everyone watching haha.  But Hector is a fearsome warrior, I am surprised he didn't want to fight Achilles out right.  If he won, it surely would mean victory for the Trojans.  I guess Achilles must have been extra fearsome after he was riled from his tent after the death of Patroclus.  The fight scene between Hector and Achilles is not what I was really expecting.  It seemed pretty anticlimactic! As soon as Achilles blocks the spear thrown by Hector and Hector realizes that his brother isn't with him, he is resolved to dying.  I wan...

 I enjoyed getting to read this story.  I think I read it, but that might have been back in middle school.  There is so much drama in this story! Even people on the same side are going at one another.  I don't think I'd trust Agamemnon as my king.  One of my favorite stories from part a was the Embassy to Achilles.  I thought it was pretty cool how the Greeks had to send the A team in order to swoon Achilles into fighting again.  I guess his mom really knew what she was doing.  I thought it was pretty interesting in the scene between Thetis and Zeus.  He seemed to really know that he was in a bind.  I wonder why he decided to side with Thetis over Hera.  I understand honoring a past debt, but you could be setting yourself up for bigger problems in the future by going behind your wife.  Achilles seems like a fascinating character to me.  He is one that I would definitely like to write about.  I'm glad to be able to rea...

 The first article I chose to express my thoughts about feedback is called Seven ways to crush self-doubt .  I like the way that this author explained how self-doubt is relevant in his own life.  I think this would help his own audience realize that maybe everyone is insecure to some degree.  I appreciate that he was able to open up about the personal stuff going on for him! The list was helpful as well.  I like how there are seven definitive points that each have more details.  Some of them are pretty broad, so they are easy to apply.  The first two are classics: comparing yourself to others and abandon perfectionism.  I think it's so easy to compare yourself to others--we see other people on TV or on social media.  But a lot of times we aren't seeing the real version of that person.  Seeing a filtered picture or clip of an interview does not give insight into how others are living their day-to-day lives.  Everyone has their own is...

 The first project topic that appealed to me was OU ghost stories! I have always loved ghost stories.  They seem to capture my attention in a specific kind of way.  I can get really into them when I listen to them.  That being said, I'm not sure if I completely believe in the ghosts.  But at the same time, I feel like some things have supernatural energy that can be felt.  Maybe I should consider myself fortunate that I haven't encountered anything supernatural! I think I liked this topic also because my old high school was supposedly haunted.  People always said the top floor, the fourth, was haunted at the school because a nun had apparently killed herself up there (it was a private school that used to be a boarding school).  The fourth floor was pretty creepy though.  There were beds and dormitories up there even when we used to go up there.  Nowadays it's mostly used for storage.  It is made a bit creepier by the fact that it's ...

  Panda had always been mature for his age--but there was more than just that.  He wasn’t just more mature, he was different from his friends.  Not different in a bad sense, but there was a clear distinction from Panda and his best friends Monkey and Viper.  Panda was wise beyond his years.  Even when his friends would throw tantrums or get upset as children, Panda was always able to see the bigger picture.  Apart from this, Panda was always physically different as well.  While the rest of his family was the typical mixture of black and white, Panda had been grey/white from birth.  While being different would have been a cause for insecurity for most children, Panda was always content with who he was.  As a young adult, Panda was seen as one of the wisest and most respected in his village.   One day, people from Panda’s village reported mysterious happenings down by the beach.  The tides and weather were all out of sorts....

 The first couple of stories that I really enjoyed reading from was Origins Stories: The Moon.  I thought it was pretty cool that people from completely different backgrounds could still point to the same source for their original stories.  Thinking about it now, I'm sure that the moon played a big role in many different civilizations up until this point.  It's cool to see everyone's differing perspectives on the same object which they all look at with reverence :)  The Man in the Moon story is one that displays a common saying--the grass is always greener on the other side.  I like how in these old folk-tales there are often animals or people that have to learn a lesson the hard way--they learn it the hard way in order to educate readers such as us.  I have always been fascinated with origin stories as well.  It's awesome to think that many of these were potentially passed along orally until there were written down.  I like thinking about th...