Hey guys, I just finished up my introduction for my Storybook Project. You can check it out here! Let me know if you have any comments about it or if you really liked it or really hated it.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Essay Week 4: The Many Reincarnations of Buddha
For this weeks reading I read the Jataka Tales Unit by Shedlock. I have to say that I really did enjoy reading these stories. Because of how fun the stories were I think I have decided to read another Indian Unit, but I have not chosen yet which one. I obviously had some favorites from the reading that you can see here, but in reality it was very difficult to choose just a couple of readings to pick as my favorite. I think one of the most enjoyable things about this reading unit was the take on the different animals that were the reincarnation of Buddha! It was very fun to find out the moral of the story and see how everything panned out. I also really liked that all of the reading were under 800 words. This made reading a breeze because I was able to take pauses if I need to and the stories did not get too long and boring. They were kept short and pretty understandable for the main point. This is something that I had trouble with in the Odyssey Unit.
I think this reading would go really well with pretty much any other reading about Buddha. In terms of background information that I would have wanted I think some more insight into Buddhism Philosophy in the introduction would have been useful. I think I understood the readings pretty well, but it may have been more enhanced with some more general knowledge about Buddhist Philosophy. I found the readings so interesting that I ended up doing some research on my own anyways!
I was not expecting to do a reading like The Jataka Tales Unit, but I am very happy it has found its way to me. They are simple and straight forward reads and they could be very easily compared to Aesop's Fables. I would highly recommend reading either one of the Jakata Tales Unit Readings!
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| Buddha: Philosophers of the Axial Age |
I was not expecting to do a reading like The Jataka Tales Unit, but I am very happy it has found its way to me. They are simple and straight forward reads and they could be very easily compared to Aesop's Fables. I would highly recommend reading either one of the Jakata Tales Unit Readings!
Week 4 Storytelling: The Virtue of Listening
A long time ago, in a village quite far away lived a simple beggar and his pet parrot. The beggar lived in a humble shack about ten miles outside of the small village and had been blind since his birth. His parrot was his eyes and the two of them had a bond that was stronger than any other force on Earth. The beggar was elderly; his skin sagged on his face and left his forehead with three distinct wrinkles. He had a shiny baldness to his head, but he had a wonderfully long white beard that flowed down to his weak knees. On his shoulder he held his parrot and in his hand he held a short wooden cane. Much like the elderly man the parrot too was growing older. He could no longer fly and spoke in short and sometimes inaudible squawks.
The elderly man knew much wisdom, but his words were not headed by young travelers. Everyday the man would sit on the side of the road that lead straight into town. He sat under a shady tree with a used pale bucket. Leaning against the bucket was a sign that read, “Alms for the poor.” As weary travelers came upon the old man he would try to strike up conversation. Some of the travelers would stop and listen to the elderly man while others would ignore him completely and continue on their path. If the travelers stopped to listen to the beggar, he would give them advice and if they did not stop he would give them no warning.
“I know of the secrets this forest offers.” Said the beggar.
“Secrets... Secrets.” The man’s parrot would squawk.
"If you see a red haired mermaid sitting on the shore of a small lake just before the entrance of the town do not listen to her stories!” He warned the travelers, “she will try to lure you to her cave where she will devour your soul.”
All the travelers who were kind enough to listen to his stories thought he was mad! Why would a mermaid want to eat a persons soul and besides mermaids don’t even exist. Travelers would continue on their way, but none would make it to the village. A humble merchant traveling to the village stopped to listen to the elderly beggar. He gave alms to the man and headed his words. When he came upon the mermaid he ran as fast as he could into town while plugging his ears. As he was running he saw the cave the old man described. There were bones stacked up high and the was a road that ran from the cave to the entrance of town. He also saw three burly men near the cave. Two of the were ripping belts and belongings off dead bodies while the other stood guard. When the merchant arrived at the towns entrance the towns-people were shocked.
"How did you make it past the soul eating mermaid?” The village questioned. They were baffled by the simple merchant for not one person had made it to the village in over seventy-five years! When the merchant told his story of the elderly man and his advice the towns people became fiercely angry.
“You mean there is a man that was telling you to avoid the cat?” The Towns people asked.
“Well... yeah and I’m sure glad he did. He has saved my life and my soul.” The merchant answered.
To investigate the merchant’s claim a handful of towns people followed the road back to the elderly man, but instead they found nothing but a note. It read:
Authors Notes: For this weeks Storytelling post I chose to retell the story of The Poisonous Trees from the reading unit Jataka Tales. TO start I will say that I was inspired in part by some Harry Potter Scenes. This story was about Buddha who was reincarnated as a merchant. He led a caravan of 500 into a forest. Before they entered the forest he warn the people traveling with him that there are fruit in the forest that are deadly if eaten. Before they eat any fruit they promised to first ask the merchant leader if it was safe to eat. Some of the caravan traveled ahead of the others and soon came upon a village. Before the entrance of the village there was a tree that appeared to be a mango tree. Before getting approval from the Buddha about weather or not the fruit was safe to eat some people ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha arrived he explain how the fruit was from the what-fruit tree. This tree’s fruit looked exactly like the fruit of a mango tree. The Buddha gave the men who ate the fruit a remedy to cure them. The villagers were outraged! They expected to find dead men and take their belongings. Instead they found the caravan of people. When they asked the merchant how he knew
Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).
The elderly man knew much wisdom, but his words were not headed by young travelers. Everyday the man would sit on the side of the road that lead straight into town. He sat under a shady tree with a used pale bucket. Leaning against the bucket was a sign that read, “Alms for the poor.” As weary travelers came upon the old man he would try to strike up conversation. Some of the travelers would stop and listen to the elderly man while others would ignore him completely and continue on their path. If the travelers stopped to listen to the beggar, he would give them advice and if they did not stop he would give them no warning.
“I know of the secrets this forest offers.” Said the beggar.
“Secrets... Secrets.” The man’s parrot would squawk.
"If you see a red haired mermaid sitting on the shore of a small lake just before the entrance of the town do not listen to her stories!” He warned the travelers, “she will try to lure you to her cave where she will devour your soul.”
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| The knight and the mermaid, by Isobel Lilian Gloag, c. 1890 |
"How did you make it past the soul eating mermaid?” The village questioned. They were baffled by the simple merchant for not one person had made it to the village in over seventy-five years! When the merchant told his story of the elderly man and his advice the towns people became fiercely angry.
“You mean there is a man that was telling you to avoid the cat?” The Towns people asked.
“Well... yeah and I’m sure glad he did. He has saved my life and my soul.” The merchant answered.
To investigate the merchant’s claim a handful of towns people followed the road back to the elderly man, but instead they found nothing but a note. It read:
Dear Towns People. I know what you have been up to.
I have finally found a man that is willing to listen.
You will no longer be able to take the belonging of these murdered people,
just like my brother from seventy-five years ago.
I have sent out my parrot to alert the emperor of your wrong doing
and I now have someone who will believe me.
Sincerely, The one who lived
Authors Notes: For this weeks Storytelling post I chose to retell the story of The Poisonous Trees from the reading unit Jataka Tales. TO start I will say that I was inspired in part by some Harry Potter Scenes. This story was about Buddha who was reincarnated as a merchant. He led a caravan of 500 into a forest. Before they entered the forest he warn the people traveling with him that there are fruit in the forest that are deadly if eaten. Before they eat any fruit they promised to first ask the merchant leader if it was safe to eat. Some of the caravan traveled ahead of the others and soon came upon a village. Before the entrance of the village there was a tree that appeared to be a mango tree. Before getting approval from the Buddha about weather or not the fruit was safe to eat some people ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha arrived he explain how the fruit was from the what-fruit tree. This tree’s fruit looked exactly like the fruit of a mango tree. The Buddha gave the men who ate the fruit a remedy to cure them. The villagers were outraged! They expected to find dead men and take their belongings. Instead they found the caravan of people. When they asked the merchant how he knew
Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Week 4 Reading Diary: Jataka (Shedlock)
For this weeks reading I choose to read Jataka Tales Unit by Shedlock. Below is a brief description of the stories that I found the most enjoyable from the Jataka Tales Unit.
Reading Part A:
The Parrot that Fed His Parents: I found this story to be especially beautiful. It was about a Parrot flock who would fly to a rice field everyday to eat and take their fill. One parrot, the parrot king and also the reincarnation of Buddha, would take his fill and then also take more back to his home with him. The farmer began to take notice and set a trap for the parrot king. When the farmers caught the parrot king they questioned him about why he would take more than he needed. They asked him if he was just greedy storing the food away? He answered I am not greedy. I take food to my parents who are no longer able to fly to get their food and I also take food to the young who are not able to get food either. Moved by the parrot-kind’s story the farmers let the parrot go and told him they could have all the rice they would like.
The Bull that Proved His Gratitude: This was another story that I found very beautiful from the Jataka Tales Unit. The story started off with a young bull, the reincarnation of Buddha, and and older women who took care of the bull like her son. The bull was very grateful for her care that she had given him began to notice that she was struggling with money. He set out to find a job to help her. He came upon a merchant who was trying to pull 500 carts. The merchant could not do it and offered the bull 1000 Pences to pull the carts. When the bull received the money and gave it to his “mother” she saw that he was tired and run down from pulling all the carts. She gave him a bath and oil and a drink. He had shown his gratitude and she was gracious for his work.
Reading Part B:
The Dreamer in the Wood: This story was a lot like Aladdin. The King of Gods, Sakka, wanted to test the Buddha to make sure he was good of heart. The Buddha was ask to wish for three things and those things the King of Gods would grant. Because the Buddha lived a peaceful life he asked for
1. To be free of three bad things (Malice, Hatred and Greed). Sakka asked why these things were bad and after Buddha explain Sakka asked for the his next wish.
2. Buddha asked that no disease come to this place (a forest)
3. “Let no creature ever be harmed for me in body or in mind”.
Sakka had failed to exploit Buddha as not good of heart.
The Poisonous Tree: This was a fantastic story about a tree called a what-fruit tree. Its fruit is deadly poisonous, but it looks exactly like a mango tree. The Buddha, leading the group, warned the caravan that in this forrest grows fruit that is deadly “do not eat these fruits.” Some in the caravan raced forward and did not listen to the Buddha. They ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha reached the tree on the outskirts of a village he explained that it was poisonous. He gave the men whom had at the fruit a remedy to help them recover. The villagers were perplexed that no one in the caravan had died and they questioned how the Buddha knew the fruit was poisonous. Buddha stated -
Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).
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Buddha Statue, Mihintale, Sri Lanka |
The Parrot that Fed His Parents: I found this story to be especially beautiful. It was about a Parrot flock who would fly to a rice field everyday to eat and take their fill. One parrot, the parrot king and also the reincarnation of Buddha, would take his fill and then also take more back to his home with him. The farmer began to take notice and set a trap for the parrot king. When the farmers caught the parrot king they questioned him about why he would take more than he needed. They asked him if he was just greedy storing the food away? He answered I am not greedy. I take food to my parents who are no longer able to fly to get their food and I also take food to the young who are not able to get food either. Moved by the parrot-kind’s story the farmers let the parrot go and told him they could have all the rice they would like.
The Bull that Proved His Gratitude: This was another story that I found very beautiful from the Jataka Tales Unit. The story started off with a young bull, the reincarnation of Buddha, and and older women who took care of the bull like her son. The bull was very grateful for her care that she had given him began to notice that she was struggling with money. He set out to find a job to help her. He came upon a merchant who was trying to pull 500 carts. The merchant could not do it and offered the bull 1000 Pences to pull the carts. When the bull received the money and gave it to his “mother” she saw that he was tired and run down from pulling all the carts. She gave him a bath and oil and a drink. He had shown his gratitude and she was gracious for his work.
Reading Part B:
The Dreamer in the Wood: This story was a lot like Aladdin. The King of Gods, Sakka, wanted to test the Buddha to make sure he was good of heart. The Buddha was ask to wish for three things and those things the King of Gods would grant. Because the Buddha lived a peaceful life he asked for
1. To be free of three bad things (Malice, Hatred and Greed). Sakka asked why these things were bad and after Buddha explain Sakka asked for the his next wish.
2. Buddha asked that no disease come to this place (a forest)
3. “Let no creature ever be harmed for me in body or in mind”.
Sakka had failed to exploit Buddha as not good of heart.
The Poisonous Tree: This was a fantastic story about a tree called a what-fruit tree. Its fruit is deadly poisonous, but it looks exactly like a mango tree. The Buddha, leading the group, warned the caravan that in this forrest grows fruit that is deadly “do not eat these fruits.” Some in the caravan raced forward and did not listen to the Buddha. They ate the fruit while others waited. When the Buddha reached the tree on the outskirts of a village he explained that it was poisonous. He gave the men whom had at the fruit a remedy to help them recover. The villagers were perplexed that no one in the caravan had died and they questioned how the Buddha knew the fruit was poisonous. Buddha stated -
"When near a village grows a tree
Not hard to climb, 'tis plain to me,
Nor need I further proof to know,
Not hard to climb, 'tis plain to me,
Nor need I further proof to know,
No wholesome fruit thereon can grow!"
Jataka Tales Unit. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920).
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Week 3: Famous Last Words
To start off this weeks Famous Last Words I want to give you all this amazing website called Zombiepedia. It is really going to help me with making this storybook project go more smoothly. I have decided that I am going focus on historical text from around the world. I think the text from Zombiepedia are going to really intensify the website and make it very personal to myself.
Talking about the Website. I have just finished creating it and if you’re interested you can check it out here.
Now for the formal write-up:
This week I read a folklore called Ovid’s Metamorphosis. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. I had forgotten how crazy the greek and roman gods and goddesses are! The stories from this section are super easy to read, which I enjoyed, but they are also interesting. These stories do not only captivate the reader... They almost seem to enchant you. While reading I was questioning the whole time. Why in the world would a god do this? What is the meaning of the story (Never reviled until the last second). I think my best writing this week came from my storytelling post this week. For this weeks storytelling post I decided to retell the story of Io. It was my favorite story from the tells of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. When I was retelling this story I want to give it a modern twist. The story of Io was a very powerful one, and to me it contained all the necessities to a good story (all powerful gods, helpless women and a jealous wife. One of the things I liked best about retelling this story was the style I used of retelling the story in a modern or contemporary aspect. I used factors that are recognizable today that were not necessarily relevant in the culture this story was written in, such as homosexuality and the oh so clever, Ice Bucket Challenge.
As for this week, I would say classes are continuing to go well. Today something strange happened. I had three courses and every single one of them today discussed culture as a social construct and how it shapes our lives. The idea of a culture as a social construct is very interesting to me and it made me think about how people were affected by their culture and how that affected their writings. It is interesting to think that the writing of people can be so affected by culture.
Oh and BTW the game on Saturday was awesome! Hope you all had a good weekend!
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| Zombie Walk (2006) |
Now for the formal write-up:
This week I read a folklore called Ovid’s Metamorphosis. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. I had forgotten how crazy the greek and roman gods and goddesses are! The stories from this section are super easy to read, which I enjoyed, but they are also interesting. These stories do not only captivate the reader... They almost seem to enchant you. While reading I was questioning the whole time. Why in the world would a god do this? What is the meaning of the story (Never reviled until the last second). I think my best writing this week came from my storytelling post this week. For this weeks storytelling post I decided to retell the story of Io. It was my favorite story from the tells of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. When I was retelling this story I want to give it a modern twist. The story of Io was a very powerful one, and to me it contained all the necessities to a good story (all powerful gods, helpless women and a jealous wife. One of the things I liked best about retelling this story was the style I used of retelling the story in a modern or contemporary aspect. I used factors that are recognizable today that were not necessarily relevant in the culture this story was written in, such as homosexuality and the oh so clever, Ice Bucket Challenge.
As for this week, I would say classes are continuing to go well. Today something strange happened. I had three courses and every single one of them today discussed culture as a social construct and how it shapes our lives. The idea of a culture as a social construct is very interesting to me and it made me think about how people were affected by their culture and how that affected their writings. It is interesting to think that the writing of people can be so affected by culture.
Oh and BTW the game on Saturday was awesome! Hope you all had a good weekend!
Brainstorming Storybook Styles
Part I - Identify Your Topic:
My Storybook Project will be about Zombie Myths. I will be focusing on a story from the African Congo as one of my stories; Found in the Un-Textbook. I am planning on finding at least three more Myths or Folklores about Zombies or Zombie Culture that I can Retell; I think I may have some trouble finding stories I really like to Retell, but I am up for that Challenge. I have found many stories online so hopefully this aspect of of the assignment will not be as bad as I am thinking.
Bibliography: “Tales of the Zombie War,” from Apocalypse fiction and stories, by Crown Publishing Groups (2007). Web Address: http://www.talesofworldwarz.com
Part III - Storytelling Styles
1. First Person Storyteller in the form of a Diary, letter or Social Media Updates. I have chosen this style because it will allow me to look at the emotions of my characters easily and I definitely want my characters to have a strong connection to the readers. Using the Diary method I will be able to look at the life of multiple individuals throughout their individual lives at different times in history, such as the 1800’s or 2140. I would like to include a futuristic aspect to this assignment.
2. Another style I would like to consider in my storybook project is a tour guide as a storytelling style. I was inspired by another storybook project to use this style as a possible style for my project. I would like to use this style as a very easy way to transition from story to story. I think using this as a transition style would make it comfortable for the readers. For my storybook project I would transition from containment unit to containment unit that holds zombified people, or scientist working on research.
3. My next style I choose is a Television News station. I think this would be a really interesting way to broadcast the myths about zombie culture and to get a first hand review of zombie actions. I could see this storybook project style being a lot of fun to work with. I think I would actually like to do this style as a mix with the diary. I would want to use the Television Report as the introduction page and the Dairy as the other pages. For the idea of a zombie or the undead I think this style would be very well used if I used a modern day approach to the storybook project.
4. Player 1 style. When I saw this style I kinda fell in love I think. Player1vs Maya gave me a lot of inspiration for this project and I am very excited to explore more of this style. I really like this dynamic of this presentation. As an aspect of the undead, I think this would be a very neat style to do. I can definitely envision a project with a video game storytelling base.
My Storybook Project will be about Zombie Myths. I will be focusing on a story from the African Congo as one of my stories; Found in the Un-Textbook. I am planning on finding at least three more Myths or Folklores about Zombies or Zombie Culture that I can Retell; I think I may have some trouble finding stories I really like to Retell, but I am up for that Challenge. I have found many stories online so hopefully this aspect of of the assignment will not be as bad as I am thinking.
Bibliography: “Tales of the Zombie War,” from Apocalypse fiction and stories, by Crown Publishing Groups (2007). Web Address: http://www.talesofworldwarz.com
Part III - Storytelling Styles
1. First Person Storyteller in the form of a Diary, letter or Social Media Updates. I have chosen this style because it will allow me to look at the emotions of my characters easily and I definitely want my characters to have a strong connection to the readers. Using the Diary method I will be able to look at the life of multiple individuals throughout their individual lives at different times in history, such as the 1800’s or 2140. I would like to include a futuristic aspect to this assignment.
2. Another style I would like to consider in my storybook project is a tour guide as a storytelling style. I was inspired by another storybook project to use this style as a possible style for my project. I would like to use this style as a very easy way to transition from story to story. I think using this as a transition style would make it comfortable for the readers. For my storybook project I would transition from containment unit to containment unit that holds zombified people, or scientist working on research.
3. My next style I choose is a Television News station. I think this would be a really interesting way to broadcast the myths about zombie culture and to get a first hand review of zombie actions. I could see this storybook project style being a lot of fun to work with. I think I would actually like to do this style as a mix with the diary. I would want to use the Television Report as the introduction page and the Dairy as the other pages. For the idea of a zombie or the undead I think this style would be very well used if I used a modern day approach to the storybook project.
4. Player 1 style. When I saw this style I kinda fell in love I think. Player1vs Maya gave me a lot of inspiration for this project and I am very excited to explore more of this style. I really like this dynamic of this presentation. As an aspect of the undead, I think this would be a very neat style to do. I can definitely envision a project with a video game storytelling base.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Essay Week 3: The Gods Who Were NOT Godly
This weeks myths and folktales have included many characters that were gods and goddesses. Before reading some of this material I had a pretty good attitude towards the gods and thought of them as having goodness within them, but this weeks stories have changed this outlook somewhat. While in these myths and folktales there have been some instances of gods and goddesses being nice toward the human race, there have also been some horrific details that I would find it hard to overlook and still call godly as we know it today.
One of the first stories I read this week was the story of Io. This was one of the many stories about the Sun god, Jupiter, raping human women. I was at first shocked by the acts of Jupiter and as the stories went on I became less and less surprised by his actions. I believe in the section alone Jupiter raped three different women. Obviously this is not a act of a god that we would think of today. Instead I think we can read into the religion of people at the time these myths and folktales were created. Jupiter is one of the most powerful gods, but instead of him being kind he is feared, or should be feared, by all. He is reckless and seems to be uncaring about human life. He is filled with human qualities that he is unable to control, such as lust. I think it is interesting to see this type of behavior in a god. Another example of gods and goddess being unable to control emotions comes from Jupiter wife, Juno. She was very upset by Jupiter raping these women... I think you could go as far as to say she was intimidated by these mortal women. Juno would call them sluts, which seems to me that she is jealous of their receive attention from Jupiter, even though they may not have wanted it. I think the reading for this week have made some very great interpretations for the cultural aspects of the people who developed these stories!
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| Day of Action Against Rape |
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