Week 3 Storytelling: Trevor and Tyler

As the president of a large Fortune 500 company Trevor was very used to getting what he wanted. In fact, there was only one instance in his life that involved him being denied what he wanted and that was a boy that he had fallen in love with during high school; You see, Trevor came from a family that frowned upon being gay, and so it was not meant to be. Years later, after college and working his way up the corporate later, Trevor met a beautiful women name Nikki. They became best of friends and to them it seemed only logical to complete the next step and get engaged. Stepping forward again a few years Trevor now had two children, a wife, A large house and was CEO of his company! 

All was going well in Trevor’s life and for years he lived happily. But, like many men in positions of power Trevor soon became uninterested in the life he had built. Some would call this time in his life a “midlife” crisis, but Trevor recognized that he wasn’t just unhappy with his life, but he was missing something. He soon turned to alcohol and drugs trying to dull the thoughts away. Unfortunately it didn’t work. Trevor’s lust grew and grew until he was no longer able to control it. 

One day walking from his limousine to his hotel room in the Grand Hotel of New York. He saw a young man doing the Ice Bucket Challenge. Interested in what was happening Trevor decided to strike up a conversation with the guy. His name was Tyler and he was a student at the University of New York City. Trevor invited Tyler to stay the night with him in his hotel room. Tyler agreed and Trevor’s emptiness he had felt was dissipating. Later that night, while things were getting heated in the bedroom, Trevor’s wife was trying to enter the bedroom, but the door was locked. She left to get a key. Alarmed at his wife’s presence Trevor decides that he will dress up both himself and Tyler in slacks and a pressed shirt. Trevor had successfully transformed Tyler into a business partner. When she returned she found no incriminating evidence of her husbands betrayal, but instead a business meeting that had gone well. Trevor went to the grave with his secret and continued to live a happy life with his wife and kids. 

Authors Notes: Greek Myths: Ovid’s Metamorphosis: Io
For this story I tried to retell it in a contemporary setting. I included details such as a gay relationship and my favorite the Ice bucket Challenge. The story if Io was very gruesome, but also interesting. The story was about Jupiter raping a young women name Io. When Jupiter’s wife came to find Jupiter, he quickly turned Io into female cow. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was unsuspecting but eventually she finds out about Jupiter raping this women. 

Illustration of Io as a Heifer

Week 2: Famous Last Words

As I look back on this, Week 2, week of the course I feel like I am finally beginning to get the hang of this new online format. I sometimes wish that all of the online course at OU were offered this way, but of course I understand that this class is unique and not all classes can be taught this way. This week, Week 2, I feel like my best writing came from the storytelling post. I was very happy with my ability to come up with a story this week. While reading Homer’s The Iliad, I was pretty concerned about how I was going to do a retelling of the story in the storytelling post. Unlike Aesop’s Fables I found the Iliad to actually be way more difficult to retell. I think this is due to the way the story is told. instead of just retelling a portion of the story I ended up somewhat retelling the whole thing. The pieces of the Iliad went together really well, so it was difficult to separate it out and just write a single story. I just finished reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses. I can already tell that I am going to have a much easier time writing a storytelling post for this section. The readings were much more individualized and this is going to make it easier, in my mind, to be more creative with the stories. I feel like I am going to have some more creative liberties and I am not as tied down to a storyline as I was with the Iliad.

All of the above being said, I still think the best writing I was able to do this week was my storytelling post! I was very proud of the work I created with the storytelling post. I feel like I was about to overcome a challenge, and I succeeded! 

Connections in other classes are becoming more and more apparent. This week I started working on my Storybook. One of the topics I have chosen was about how Native American Stories regarded dogs as the protectors of humanity. I found this topic to be really interesting, and even though we only covered it briefly in my other class I thought it would be perfect to cover it in this course too!

Dog Protector of the Human Race: Ready for Battle

Week 3 Reading Diary: Ovid's Metamorphoses

For this weeks reading I chose Ovid's Metamorphoses; listed below are my favorite sections from this epic poem.

Reading A:

Deucalion and Pyrrha - Jupiter has ordered all rivers and streams to overflow.  Eventually the water swept away all life including animals and human until the world had no land and was only sea. The whole world drowned swallowing towns and countries. Animals had no use to try to survive because their adaptation could not help them. Those who did survive had no food and were defeated by slow starvation. There was however, land that rose above the clouds that is where Deucalion and his wife survived. They prayed to the gods. When jupiter saw that only one man and one women was left and that they were good and worshipped he calmed the sea and allowed for their survival. Deucalion pleads for the human race to be “repaired” to a temple goddess. She take pity on them and tells him how the human race could continue. Oh this part is weird... The two surviving people are told by the temple goddess to cover their faces and throw stones behind them. When they threw the stones onto the ground the stones began to soften and start to take human form! Thus new humans were made... That is a really weird way to make new humans.

Io - Okay, so right off the bat we learn the Jupiter (Zeus) sees a pretty lady and deems her worthy of being with him. So he rapes her as she tries to run off. Yay gods?! Oh, BTW Jupiter is married to the Queen of Gods (I wouldn’t want to mess with her). This part was confusing, but it seems like Juno, Jupiter’s wife, was looking for Jupiter. He did not want her to see him raping another women so he transformed into Io into a Heifer. Juno then claimed this women as a gift...? Whatever that may mean. Io could not speak now and so she could not tell her story. Okay, these stories are ending weird, but I like them. So Juno is pissssssed at this women that Zeus raped. Juno calls this girl a slut... which is obviously no true in todays understanding of the word. Jupiter calms Juno and Lo begins to take back her natural human form from the Heifer. The End?

Phaethon and the Sun - So, Lo had a child from Jupiter and her child was friends with this guy named Phaethon. Phaethon is trying to prove he is the son of the Sun god. People do not belied him so he decides to ask his mother for proof. She send him to meet the sun god himself, and so he does. When Phaethon meets his father in his temple he ask his father to give him proof that he is his offspring. The sun god confirms that Phaethon os his offspring and lets him ask something of him to prove he is his child. Phaethon ask for the ability to control the Sun god chariot for the day. The Sun god regrets his decision to let Phaethon ask whatever he likes. He tell Phaethon that controlling the chariot is difficult for even Jupiter and Phaethon is only mortal. He warns him many times about the consequences. Cool story, again they leave it without a ending. It was left off with a warning from the Sun god about what might happen.

Phaethon’s Ride - In this part of the story Phaethon has decided that he realllllllyyyy wants to ride in the chariot... in fact, he is determined. His father tried and tried to warn him not to ride in the chariot. The sun god pleaded and said he could have anything, but this is an exception! “Please make a wiser choice”. Phaethon is still insistent so his father directs him on how to use the Chariot. Now Phaethon takes off and is soon finding himself in a pickle when he cannot control the Chariot. Now Phaethon is regretting his decision. He is facing horrible mythical creatures that are trying to kill him. Phaethon lost control of the chariot and crashed sending the earth into flames!

Callisto - Callisto is a virgin women who is devoted to serving Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt. Jupiter set his sights on Callisto and decides he want to “get with her”. He transforms into the goddess Diana and meets with Callisto. Jupiter then rapes Callisto. After the rape, Diana, the real one,  and Callisto met again and it turns out that Callisto was impregnated by Jupiter. Because Diana is the virgin goddess Callisto was expelled as a follower of Diana for no longer being a virgin. Callistos son is born. Juno, Jupiter's Jealous wife, transforms Callisto into a bear! Years later Callisto’s son, a hunter, meets his mother in the woods and is about to kill her when Jupiter tosses them both into the air. They then became the Great bear and Little Bear!

Reading B:

Narcissus - As Narcissus becomes tired he rest in a very beautiful spot covered by tress and untouched by others. Since he is tired he goes to take a drink of water from the pond, but as he leans over the water to take a drink he find another beauty. Himself... He tries to catch his reflection in the pool, but he cannot. He is so fixated on his own reflection that he does not eat or sleep. He finds himself so attractive that he can only look at himself. Narcissus is confused by the reflection. He seems to think his reflection is for some reason evading him. Eventually Narcissus dies from I believe starvation. Sad.

Narcissus Looking at His Reflection

Pyramus and Thisbe - This is a very cute story about a boy and a girl who could not be together because of their families. They decided to run off in the night together. The girl, Thisbe, gets out first and goes to their meeting location, but she leaves because she sees a lioness that has just killed a cow coming toward the meeting place. While running away Thisbe drops a piece of her clothing. When Pyramus gets to the meeting location he sees the piece of clothing stained in blood and he notices the tracks of the lioness. he assumes the lioness has killed Thisbe. Upset of the thought of losing his lover, Pyramus kills himself with his sword. Thisbe returns to the meeting place to see her dead lover. Now a distraught Thisbe picks up Pyramus’s sword and kills herself out of love!

Mythology and Folklore Storybook Topic Brainstorm

Topic: Native American Creation Stories

Comments: I am very interested in creation stories among Native Americans. The ones I have heard are both beautiful and mysterious. I think one of the most important aspects of culture is where people believe they come from. I think this topic would give me the opportunity to finally investigate Native American creation stories and learn more about some of the cultures that live in this world. 

Possible Stories: I know the Un-textbook provides a lot of creation stories. I am much less interested in Christian creation stories, but I think the un-textbook will be a great start for Native American stories. I have also found many sites on the internet for Native American creation stories.

Sample Story Comments: I read a story from the Tuskegee Tribe about the origin of Earth. It was a very fascinating story about how there earth was once all water. The was a council held by birds to decided if they should have a world of all water or all land. They decided on land an the leader, the Eagle, made a small island. eventually the island grew and grew into what is not earth. The tribe believes they were chosen by the Great Sprit and placed on the Earth first a long, long time ago. This was a great story, an it really makes me realize the different world views that are found throughout the world!

Bibliography:

Story Title: The Origin of Earth Book Title: Indigenous Peoples’ Literature Index
Book Author: Glenn Walker
Year: 1995

Topic: Zombie Culture
Comments: To be completely honest, Zombies are a passion of mine. I love the television shows and there is just something about the “undead” culture that draws me in. I would have a lot of fun doing a storybook project on this topic. 
Possible Stories: The un-textbook had a couple of stories from the African section in Nigeria about zombies. After doing some research I have also found stories from Haiti and Cuba, where French ideology and African culture have mixed during the slave trade. This has led to voodoo myths.
Sample Story Comments: I read some stories from Haiti about reports of people becoming zombified. The stories about zombies are very intriguing because it is hard to understand who these stories come about. I am very interested in this topic, but I am not exactly sure how to intersect this topic with this course. If I were to choose this topic I would definitely need more information. 
Bibliography:
Story Title: Haiti and the Truth about Zombies
Book Title: Passages of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie
Book Author: Wade Davis
Year: 1988

Topic: Dogs: Are they really your BF?
Comments: For this project I would like to look at the roles dogs play in cultures around the world. i have learned that some Native Cultures regarded them highly as protectors of humanity and I would like to explore what other cultures ideas about dogs are.  
Possible Stories: The Un-textbook has some animal stories, but none that I could find that relate entirely to dogs in particular. However, I have found some interesting text online about dogs seen as protectors in Native American Tribes. 
Sample Stories Comments: This story comes from the Hupa tribe in Northern California. This tribe sees dogs as the “Protector” of humans. They took a vow of science and will only speak when the world is coming to an end. I loved this story and this is exactly what I was looking for. 
Bibliography: 
Story Title: The Hupa
Book Title: The North American Indian: Volume 13
Book Author: Edward S. Curtis
Year: Unknown

Topic: Norse Culture Myths
Comments: For this topic I would like to explore Nordic culture and their mythological stories. I have been very interested in Nordic culture since I was a kid. 
Possible Stories: The Un-textbook has many stories for me to use on this subject! 
Sample Story Comments: This website was very interesting, and it describe what Valhalla is. If I was really interested in this topic I might change it to the Heavens and the Hells of different cultures.
Bibliography: 
Story Title: Valhalla
Book Title: Norse Mythology for Smart People
Book Author: Dan McCoy
Year: 2012

Week 2: Essay Homer’s The Iliad

For this week I read Homer’s The Iliad. I really enjoyed reading this story even though I have read the story before. It has been quite a while, sometime in high school, since I last read the Iliad. I was quite surprised at just how much I had forgotten about the tale, but when I finished the reading I was very happy that I took the time to re-read, or listen to, the story. Since I have read the story before I already knew the background story, but if I was reading this story for the first time I might have been confused about the beginning and how the whole war was started. It went by pretty fast in the chapters.

Something else I would consider telling perspective reader in Mythology and Folklore course might be that it was a little difficult for me to try to write my storytelling post. Personally, it was much easier for me to write a storytelling post from the Aesop’s Fables. This, of course, is in part because Aesop made his fables so easily understood; and perhaps The Iliad just needs a person with a little bit more of a... creative imagination. I chose this reading because I thought having read it before I might be able to better grasp Mythology and Folklore, as opposed to jumping head first into the deep pool of Mythology. I hope this tale of the Iliad is a good icebreaker into the course of Mythology and Folklore. 

This unit was a superb one. I was very glad to see it on the reading list. I think the most rewarding thing I learned from this unit may be a new writing style. As I mentioned above, one of the hardest things for me this week was writing the Storytelling Blog Post. While I had a difficult time writing the post, I think I also made tremendous headway in terms of developing a new writing style. 

Achilles Warrior

Google Presence Tech Tip

This was a fun Tech Tip. Unfortunately for me I have a very common name. Christian Allen is pretty unordinary. Nevertheless, it was still fun to see who had a name like mine. As of right now, I do not have much of an online presence. With their being so many Christian Allen’s in the world it is a little hard to compete for number one spot, which at this moment goes to a video game artist  I have googled myself before, but like I said it was difficult to find anything about myself in particular. Even when I tried googling my First Middle and Last Name I did not come up with anything about myself. I was not very surprised by these results. In high school I shared, with many people, my last name. 

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