Week 8 Progress

(Christmas; Image from Pexels)

To begin, I used this Christmas photo as my motivation to finish the semester strong because Christmas is my most favorite part of the year!! I cannot wait for Christmas break.  I am very happy with my progress so far and am very proud of what I have accomplished.  My weekly routine is usually to do a weeks worth of assignments on Sunday and Monday, and to always stay at least a week ahead of schedule, which has made this online class one of the most manageable classes I have ever taken online. The flexibility allows for so much freedom in scheduling and time management. I also have greatly enjoyed the blog writing process. As for looking forward, I just want to avoid the pitfall of giving up when it gets closer, and, instead, pushing through to finish strong!!

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

(Feedback Cat; Image from Growth Mindset & Feedback)

To begin, when discussing feedback in, I believe I am receiving very helpful comments from my classmates.  The ones that seem to be most helpful are those that include a compliment sandwich, in my opinion.  This is where my classmate will tell me something they liked about my post, then suggest a change or something they didn't understand, and then finish up again with something they liked about my post.  This helps me to realize that they aren't criticizing me, but that they are only trying to help me better my writing as a whole.

Next, at first my feedback comments were a little too "nice" I would say because I just continuously complemented them on everything they did in their story, and none of the feedback was very constructive.  After reading some of my own comments I have received, I realize the WWW strategy has been the most helpful in creating my feedback comments now.

I'm looking forward to making my blog comments on peoples' introduction posts more personal. I say this because rather than saying what I have in common with the person, I hope to highlight and appreciate our differences. A way I could accomplish this would be if on each blog comment I wrote, I asked a question that that person could respond to, so I could further get to know them!!

Week 8 Reading and Writing

(Apple; Photo from Pexels)

Hello everyone!! It's time for a reflection on the first half of this semester:

First off, I chose this apple picture from one of my very first story tellings because it is the story that helped give rise to my whole portfolio. This story was so much fun to write, and gave me the first idea to use the Gossip Girl point of view, which has been such a fun addition to every retelling of the stories I have done since. Without it, I'm not sure where my storybook or portfolio would have taken me.

Overall, these assignments are working very well for me and my schedule. The biggest thing I try to do is to stay at least a week ahead in all my assignments, so that if something comes up I will have leeway to relax and focus on something else for a bit.  My project website is something I am very proud of considering I have never taking any design platform classes or creative writing classes, so this is all new to me, and I am absolutely loving it. I have loved being able to use this class as a getaway from the everyday struggles of my other courses and have fun with this one.  My biggest accomplishment in my writing for this class is that I have learned to tap into my creative side. I have always been a very direct and analytical writer, so it has been interesting to watch the other side of me come out and actually enjoy it. My reading notes are what help me the most in my success I believe.  At first, I didn't think the bullet points would be all that helpful, but now, I realize they are the most helpful. Since they are so short and concise, I never have to worry about plagiarism, abdn I know that as long as I get the main plot down, I have a lot of room for creativity, which I highly enjoy.

Thanks for reading!!

Week 7 Story: Jealousy Brings Out the Worst

The Jealous Wife; This story is part of the Congo unit. Story source: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898)

(Heartbreak; Image from Pixabay)

Hello all! Gossip girl here, and boy do I have a story for you!! 

How many of you have ever gotten jealous over something that your friends have? Maybe it was a new cell phone? A new pair of shoes? Maybe your friends' parents bought them a new car for their 16th birthday? Or, how about this, maybe your friend got into the college of your dreams and you didn't? Well, let me tell you, that jealousy will get you nowhere... Read this story and you will see why! This is a good one, so grab some popcorn and get ready for an intense read!

Once upon a time there were two friends: Stella and Anna.  Stella and Anna were seen as friends forever; they wanted to do everything at the same time such as have their weddings together, get pregnant together, go on double dates all the time, etc.  

Well, after they had each had a kid, Anna finds out that Stella had gotten pregnant again.  This didn't originally upset Anna because she figured she could also just have another kid so their lives would be equal again.

Anna was wrong.

Anna was visited by a spirit who assured her she was only allowed to have one kid in her lifetime; this is where the jealousy that took over Anna's life began.  Anna began to envy the second son of Stella.  One day Stella went out to go grocery shopping and while she was gone, Anna's jealousy got the best of her.  

Anna snuck in to Stella's house and ended up killing her second son... or so she thought...

The next morning Anna got a phone call from Stella, crying hysterically.  Anna immediately started to apologize for how sorry she was for Stella's loss, and then Stella stopped her and said, "My loss?? What are you talking about? I just found your son dead in my house!!" 

Anna immediately went over and realized she had made the biggest mistake of her life: She accidentally killed her OWN son.

Anna took her son and went into the forest where she hid for several weeks.  Eventually, her husband found her and asked if what she had done was true.  Anna admitted to it and said the jealousy had taken over her, and she didn't even recognize herself.  Her husband then explained that he was visited by a spirit who said their son could come back to life if Anna gave up her life instead.  Anna agreed that this would be best, since she made the mistake and hurt her friends, family, and herself.

So, in the end, Anna passed away and her son came back to life....

I told you it was going to be an intense one, I contemplated on sending out this blast, but I figured everyone should know how evil jealously can be; I mean, haven't you heard? Jealousy is truly the thief of all joy!!!

Author's Note: For this story, I followed much of the original plot except I made one bigger change.  In the original story, the wife was jealous of the more intelligent son and how he was so good at what he did; in my story, I decided to make the wife jealous at the fact that her friend had the ability to have two sons when she could only have one. This brings out more themes such as betrayal of friendship, jealousy being the thief of joy, and not appreciating what we have in the first place. Also, at the end of the original story, the mother is burned to ashes and the son remains dead; I added the part where if the mom dies the son comes back to life, showing a circle of life thing how she had to sacrifice herself in order to give her son a chance at life again!

Reading Notes: Congo, Part B

Notes on The Three Brothers; This story is part of the Congo unit. Story source: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

(Three Brothers; Image from Pixabay)

• The intro is a little vague; I feel like it could use a bigger attention-grabber to help people become more interested in the story, but I do like the detail oriented style of the story
• A mother gave birth to three children
• The mother did not want the three children, so she left them alone, and they were hungry and went to look for food
• These three boys ended up finding sweet fruit they ate, and in return they grew big and healthy
• They created their own homes
• The river provided them with wives
• They ended up having their own little city based off of what they created/started
• A man wandered near the town and was surprised when he heard voices
• Turns out, the three little boys were his kids
• The husband went back to tell his wife he had finally found their children
• She then went with him to search for them in the town
• She stopped by the river to rest
• One of the boys had a son, who crossed by their mother, and ran back to tell his father
• They went to go kill the intruder, but the river told them it was their mother and instead of killing her they should take care of her
• So, they took her back home and did that
• This is a very interesting story of growth and forgiveness; that is why it was one of my favorites from this unit

Reading Notes: Congo, Part A

Reading Notes on The Jealous Wife; This story is part of the Congo unit. Story source: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898)

(Fishing; Image from Pixabay)

• Two wives were preparing native bread for their husbands while they went to trade for six months
• The husbands instructed them to protect the children
• Wives wanted to get fish for their husbands when they returned (one stayed with kids while the other went)
• One of the wives was jealous of the other son, so while his mom was out fishing, she went and killed him with a razor blade, and the other child woke up and ran out of the house in horror from what he had seen/heard.  
• When the wife woke up to go look at the son she was jealous of again, she realized she killed her OWN son (this is a great example how jealousy is the thief of joy, a great lesson all should learn).
• The wife took her dead son and disappeared into the woods, leaving her husband dazed and confused and he sent a search party out to the woods to look for her
• One of the men finds a women rocking a child asking him why he keeps sleeping this way and why he can't recognize that it is his mom holding him at that moment
• The man tells the husband and they both go back to look at the wife
• When they found out that she really did kill the son, the wife was killed and burned to ashes 
• This is a very morbid story, but I think a good plot twist at the end would be if the mother committed suicide and in turn this let her child come back to life because giving up her own life is the price she would have to pay to get her son's life back

Week 6 Lab: Ted Talk Videos on Language

(Grammar; Photo from Pixabay)

My favorite video from this series was the video "Where do New Words Come From", by Marcel Danesi.  I found this so interesting because I was shocked when it said there are currently 170,000 words used in the English language. I mean, that is so many words; I currently am studying for the GRE and have been doing vocabulary, but hearing that statistic made me realize there is no way I will be able to know all of the words!! Also, it was cool to see that new words are created sometimes to fill gaps in our language that we don't yet have. One of the ways to derive these words is to borrow form another language, the video said, and it also mentioned that half of the English language is derived from other languages or cultures.  I think the making of new words is intriguing because who knows what new ideas or inventions those words will give rise to?? Such a cool thought!!

Reading Notes: Indian Fairy Tales, Part B

Notes on How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner

This story is part of the Indian Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).

(Wind chime; Photo from Pixabay)

• Sun, Moon, and Wind went out to dine with their uncle and aunt Thunder and Lightning
• I think an interesting addition to the intro would be to explain how each element got the name it was given
• They left their mom at home alone
• Sun and wind were selfish, and did not think of their mom while Moon thought of their mom
• Moon kept some of each meal to give to their mom
• Sun and moon both told their mom when they returned that their reasoning for going out to dinner was for their own pleasure, not for getting food for their mom
• I wonder why they were so selfish and greedy...
• The moon then gave their mom all the food she brought home
• Star, the mom, then cursed the sun for not bringing any food home
• She made her rays incredibly hot (a plot twist could be to make these rays incredibly cold, then there would be no heat)
• Star then cursed Wind and said she would always blow in the dry weather
• A plot twist could be that the wind will cause tornados all the time instead of just light gusts of wind
• Star then blessed moon with a calm, cool, and bright light and that is why the moon is still loved and beautiful today
• This story could change point of views, such as from the Sun or Wind's point of view instead

Reading Notes: Indian Fairy Tales, Part A

Notes on The Lion and the Crane

This story is part of the Indian Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).

(Lion; Photo from Pixabay)

• The opening of the story jumps right into dialogue; I believe this helps get the story moving and gives a very realistic view from the beginning
• The sentences in the intro are very short and straight to the point
• The Crane asks the lion what is wrong when he sees him get the bone stuck in his mouth, but is scared to help for fear of being eaten
• The crane then freed the bone from the lion's mouth, and went back on the tree
• This part of the story lacks a lot of details; I think more details would be appropriate such as the process of the crane getting in the lion's mouth and the conversation they have during this moment
• A cool addition would be the lion's thoughts while the crane is in his mouth, such as, "don't eat him, don't eat him, don't eat him"
• The crane then had asked the lion what his repayment was; the lion simply responded by telling him how lucky he was to be alive right now, and the crane flew away, realizing there was no hope for a friendship there

Learning Challenge: Schedule Review

For this challenge, I am discussing my current work schedule for this class and how it works for me. My approach to time scheduling with this class has been simply this: work one week ahead always.  I have found that when I try to stay on course and turn things in on the day that they are assigned, I feel as though I am overwhelmed and drowning in things to do.  On the other hand, when I keep myself one week ahead in the work, I feel like I have it all together and will be okay if something suddenly comes up and I need to take a few days off.  This is why I love the flexibility of this course.  Also, each week in my free time, I try to do at least 2-3 of the extra credit assignments, so that I can finish this course earlier than expected. Plus, the extra credit assignments are usually some of the most entertaining assignments.  My favorite ones are the learning by HEART.  For next week, I might try working two weeks in advance since I will be taking the GRE the following week, but other than that, my biggest success strategy has been to always work ahead!!

(Success; Image from Pixabay)

Learning Challenge: Empathy Observation

(Empathy; Photo from Pixabay)

When it comes to observing empathy, one person stuck out to me the most in my observations: my dad.  My dad truly knows how to be empathetic to every person he comes in contact with.  For example, this past weekend, my dad was talking with me while I was home about some struggles he was going through financially and in his relationship.  I was helping him out with his issues, when my brother came in and started to talk about how he's having a hard time adjusting in college.  My dad instantly stopped talking about his own life and began to empathize with my brother.  This showed me that my dad will consistently put others before himself, one of the key parts of being empathetic. I could definitely learn from my dad in this case!!

Week 5 Story: Parrot Tales

Story can be found on my portfolio: Four Best Friends

Retelling of the story, Tales of a Parrot: Four Rich Persons who Became Poor. The Story source was The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Die Nakhshabi (1801). 

(Group of Girl Friends; Photo from Pexels)

Gossip Gal here, your one and only source for anything and everything scandalous having to do with the most wonderful readings of mythology! This week I will be telling you about how four young ladies in our town had to painfully learn the power of friendship.

Here is how it all started: A group of young ladies was walking around town one night when they realized they did not have enough money to buy all of the new clothes, shoes, and bags that had just been released. They all sat and sulked about how they couldn't buy the new best thing (something we are all guilty of doing at some point in our lives).  Well, after sitting in their sorrows, they decided to go see a fortune-teller, who would hopefully tell them they were about to get rich!! 

Upon meeting the fortune-teller, the girls were asked to remain silent.  The teller said she had seen them coming for some time now, and knew they were going to ask for help.  

The teller then instructed the girls to each take one of the four diamonds she had laying out on the table and place it on each of their heads.  She instructed them that wherever their respective diamonds fell off their heads, they were to stop there and start singing.  Once they started singing, they would see their destiny that lies ahead.  

The group of four girls started off on their journey.  About 15 minutes in, the diamond fell off the first girl's head.  At once the girl started to sing, just like the teller had instructed her to do.  Immediately a pair of shoes made of copper popped up in front of her.  She asked her friends if they were satisfied with this, and they responded no and continued on their way.  Next, the second diamond fell off a girl's head.  The girl started singing and immediately shoes made of silver popped up.  The two remaining friends decided not to stay there either, and continued on their way.  Finally, the third diamond fell off. After singing, a pair of gold shoes popped up, some of the most fabulous shoes anyone could ever dream of! The girl begged her friend to stay, for she believed this was the greatest treasure they could have come upon.  But, unfortunately, the remaining girl refused to stay and continued on her way by herself.  

Once the last girl had the diamond fall off her head, she reached a dead in.  At this dead in was a pile of old, thrown-out shoes from people in the city.  The teller popped up on top of the shoe pile and told her this is what she deserved for not sticking with/listening to her friends.  Immediately, all the other friends popped up right next to the girl who strayed off by herself.  The fortune-teller then explained that since she wandered off alone, and did not appreciate the true friendships she had around her, she has now caused all her friends to suffer and lose their riches.

The teller explained how she hopes the girls can go back to the city and work on the quality of their friendship before asking for material possessions they do not need.

Wow!! What a story.  The minute I got this gossip tip, I couldn't help but share with you guys! Remember to keep your friends close; besides, without your friends, who would help give me the gossip intel each day??

See you next time!!

XOXO,

Gossip Gal

Author's Note: In the original story, the parrot tells a tale about four poor men who are given the chance to find their destiny, but one friend doesn't listen to the other friends, and ends up making his life even worse.  I thought it would be fun to continue with my Gossip Gal theme, and make the characters four women, since typically women suffer from more friendship issues anyways.  Another thing I did in this story as add in more dialogue between the friends, asking why they had not trusted each other in the end.  The original story ends with the friend who didn't listen all on his own; I changed this to being the friend who was on her own winding back up with her other friends back where they started.  This idea helps portray the lesson that sometimes if we are selfish in our ways, we can ruin the good things going for other people as well as the good things going for ourselves.  I also changed the philosopher to a fortune-teller to make some more modern changes to the story. Some other slight changes I made to fit the girls as main characters was diamonds instead of balls, and singing instead of digging. 

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part B

Notes from Of the Merchant, and the Barber's Heating the Brahmins, by Ziya'al-Die Nakhshabi

(Parrot; Picture from Pexels)

• At the beginning of this story, Khojisteh asked for a short story so that she could go see her lover at midnight
• The parrot told a story about a merchant who didn't have any children to take over his place when he passes away
• He then thought it would be smart to give the money to the poor and charity instead, since that would be the people who would appreciate it the most
• The merchant had a dream that night where a vision appeared and said he would show up as a Brahmin the next day and provide him with the necessary gold he needs, since he gave everything away to the poor that day and left nothing for himself to have
• The Brahmin instructed the merchant to hit him on the head when he saw him in order to get the gold
• The next day, the merchant did as he was told, and the Brahmin was turned into gold
• The merchant told the barber, who watched the whole thing, to keep it to himself
• The next night, the barber had some Brahmins over for dinner
• He started hitting them on the head with a stick
• They began to bleed and complain of this outrageous event
• The barber was brought before the magistrate who asked why he did what he did
• The story ends on a cliff hanger
• The merchant stuck up for the barber though, and the magistrate believed the merchant about what he had said

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part A

Notes on Four Rich Persons who Became Poor, by Ziya'al-Die Nakhshabi

• The opener of this story begins with her saying "the sorrows of love overwhelm me"; I feel like this is a very strong opener for this story
• Then the story proceeds to the parrot's part of the intro, where he discusses how important it is to listen to friends
• I like how the introduction gives a vague message about wisdom and what we all can apply in our everyday lives
• Four men were united in friendship, and they were all poor
• They went to ask a philosopher for help and explain their positions
• The philosopher gave them balls and said wherever it drops off your head, dig there to find your destiny
• It would be cool to do a character switch and make it a group of girls instead of guys
• Also, instead of a ball, it could be a pearl or diamond ring, to better fit the likings of women these days
• One of the men continued to search further and further on the path to find something better than the rest, despite all of his friends telling him to stay put and enjoy what they had found
• The man who wandered off ended up with nothing in the end because he tried to control his own destiny and didn't listen to his friends
• This story truly shows the power of true and genuine friendship

(Friendship Squad; Picture from Pixabay)

Comment Wall

(Comment Bubbles; Image from Pixabay)

Here is my Portfolio Project!

XOXO, Gossip Gal

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part B

Notes from Psyche's Prayer by Tony Kline

(Praying Hands; Image by Pixabay)

• I liked the author's use of dialogue in the beginning of the story to discuss what Psyche was thinking at the time; I feel like this gives a better insight to each character and helps the audience feel more connected to them
• Psyche is portrayed as a very thoughtful, humble, and kind person who wants to cause no drama with anyone
• A plot twist to this could be that Psyche instead of praying, goes directly to argue with Venus and sort out their problems face-to-face quicker
• This article uses several personifications and simile like comparisons
• Another plot twist would be if Ceres actually helped Psyche instead of sending her away and saying that her and Venus had a lasting friendship
• Instead of the friendship, the plot twist could be changed where Ceres has anger towards Venus for stealing a boyfriend or something (this would make it more modernized)
• Juno also turns Venus away
• Instead, another idea would be if Ceres and Juno teamed up to help Psyche go against Venus' little scheme and form their own friendship between the three of them
• This article uses a lot of insight in Psyche's character; I would add in more dialogue, I typically seem to think dialogue helps make the read go faster and easier; it is more succinct

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part A

Notes over Psyche's Beauty and the Anger of Venus by Tony Kline

(Cupid with Arrows; Image from Pixabay)

• The intro draws you in immediately because you want to know why one daughter is so much more beautiful than the other two daughters
• Also, the intro does a good job of using descriptive language when talking about the third daughter's beauty
• The text is from a 3rd person point of view
• It contains very little dialogue
• The author does a great job of describing actions of the people in specific detail, which helps you be able to feel the story and really see it come to life
• Many descriptive words and action words are used, with a LOT of detail, when the author explains how the third daughter is now being praised as if she were the new goddess Venus, and how everyone now looks to her instead of looking at Venus
• I think it would be a cool plot twist if instead of Venus getting angry, she could end up becoming best friends with the third daughter
• Another plot twist that could add more to the story would be if Cupid declined his mothers wishes, and the story ended with Cupid staying on the mainland while his mother went back
• In my story, I would want to eliminate some of the descriptive language because I feel like it bogs down th entirety of the story; instead, in place of all the descriptive language, I would like to add in more dialogue in order to make the characters interact more.
• Another thing that could be done is to have the story told from Psyche's point of view as wel. Sort of like a compare and contrast story.

Week 4 Lab

(Writing notebook & coffee; Photo from Public Domain Pictures)

Notes from "Advice to Writers" by Jon Winokur:

First of all, the most important piece of advice I found from this website overall was the advice from Rainer Maria Rilke, where she talked about how patience is everything.  I feel like this is a such a huge thing when it comes to writing, especially in this class.  If we try and rush through all the assignments, we won't get all the benefits we should get as compared to if we slowly took our time and assured we were only publishing our best works.  This task would require lots of time, proofreading, and even more proofreading! The other piece of advice I wanted to mention was "Perfectionism is the enemy of the people" by Anne Lamott.  This brings me back to when we discussed different feedback strategies and how we need to be able to accept criticism most of the times in order to improve our work; we can't always be perfect all of the time.

Week 3 Story: The Fall of Adam and Eve

Check out my Portfolio for more information on this story! 

(Apple; Photo from Pexels)

Gossip Gal here, your one and only source for anything and everything scandalous having to do with the most popular couple on the block: Adam and Eve!  This week was one of the most eventful and challenging weeks of Adam and Eve's lives; they did the unthinkable, they let down the one person they swore they would never let down: God. Let me back this up so you can understand the story from the beginning.  It was a clear hot day when God had a conversation with Adam; he specifically told Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit from a specific tree.  Once Adam started to wander off (like he tends to do, as we all know), he ran into a black widow spider who started to persuade Adam into eating the forbidden fruit.  I know what you are all thinking, Adam would never do that, he has much more willpower than that, etc., but, I am here to tell you all that willpower went out the window and Adam did in fact eat the forbidden fruit.  Not only did he eat the fruit, he then persuaded Eve into eating it to; what a couple, persuading each other to do the one thing God asked them not to do.  I bet you are all wondering how God reacted to this, well, let me tell you, he was the opposite of happy and impressed.  In fact, God banished them from our so loved Garden of Life.  He explained to them how they went against everything he had asked them to do, even after he had provided them with everything they would need.  Adam and Eve have been off the radar since, so I don't have anything else to update you guys on, but when I do, you know where to find me!

Xoxo,
Gossip Gal

Author's Note: I did a storytelling of The Fall, by Michelangelo.  The original story had very outdated language, so I wanted to make it more modernized.  The original story tells how Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, as I discussed in my story, but I made a few changes.  First, Michelangelo's version, and every other version I have read, depicts Eve as the one who eats the forbidden fruit first and then persuades Adam to as well; I changed this and had Adam be the one who first ate the fruit. Also, in the original, a serpent was the one who persuaded them into eating the fruit, and I changed it to be a black widow.  The original also had a lot more dialogue, but I thought using a spin off version of Gossip Girl would be a fun way to modernize this piece and bring a bit of a reporting sense to it.