Stephanie's Blog

In the second half of the reading, I noticed some more stories about the characteristics of the coyote as well as some other stories that signified the important things within the Native American southwestern culture. The story of the Children of the Cloud  demonstrates features such as the wind, clouds, thunder and lightning. This is important because it shows that the found a way to create a reason for why thunder happens, when the children are looking for their father, they prove they are his son by creating thunder. This story also focuses on some other key animals in the culture such as the raven, the hawk, the eagle, and the roadrunner. Again, the coyote appears at the end of this story. The whole point of this story, though, was to explain why   it rains when they gather mescal, which is a type of plant used to make alcoholic beverages. The story of the Boy who Became a God  shows the curiosity that comes from parts of the country that are far from them. I'm su...

This week I chose to read the California and the Old Southwest unit. These stories told of creation and a trickster coyote.  Both the creation stories and trickster stories explain how the world came to be, following the same trend seen in most of the stories thus far, where the stars come from and why the sun is brighter than the moon, and why frogs have no tails and why the bluebird is blue, etc. Since these stories come from a variety of origins, there  are many styles of writing going on within this first part of the readings. Most of the writing is simple and easy to read, which reflects the culture that these stories come from. Coyotes are often made out  to  be trickster characters in stories, but I admire them for their wit and beauty. I think that in this week's storytelling I will create a coyote character that is made out to be a bad guy, but once you get to know him, he is actually a nice guy. The most interesting story in the first part of this rea...

Once a girl died, and when she awoke all she could see was white. It was such a bright white that at first she couldn't move because she was stunned by it. When her eyes were adjusted she realized that it was a beautiful place with lots of pleasant sounds about, and lots of bright and peaceful colors. It appeared as if she was high in the sky, but just above the cloud lining, where there was a pleasant temperature. She realized that there were many people around her. It appeared as if as far as her eye could see there was villages and each one had a different, yet distinct look. As she tried to move, she realized that she couldn't and a sense of panic started to arise in her. She looked around but no one had seemed to notice her. Just then someone approached her; it was her mother who had passed long before her. They walked along a path, seemingly made of clouds, and as they walked they entered into what looked like small villages. Suddenly, the girl realized she was cold...

For the second half of the reading, I noticed similar trends with the origin story of the winds. I think about how this must have related to the northern lights and phenomenon like that. Overall, while the language in these stories is easy to read, the bluntness of it was not my favorite. I thought that the story of the first woman was a really interesting story. The language of this story is very blunt and not romantic in the slightest. It was brutal to picture the image of the only woman being pulled into two halves. But, the creativity of the men to complete the woman out of wood was very innovative and resourceful. However, the ending seems indicate that the women in this culture did not play as significant of parts as they actually did. Here, their only real roles were being a good dancer and sewing. Additionally, these stories got into the land of the dead. I thought it was interesting that when the girl awoke in her death she was led by her grandfather, who I presumed was a...

This week I chose to read the Alaskan legends unit . This unit was unique from some of the others that I have read. The style of writing was mostly easy to follow, but it was  written in a variety of styles. Some of the stories were told in a more traditional style, while other stories appeared in a style more like literary prose. This is due to the fact that this collection of stories was from many different  storytellers.  Ultimately, it was cool knowing this culture is what we know as eskimos. The significance of the raven was very intriguing. While I hate birds, almost more than half of these stories involved the raven. It was notable that in each of these stories, Raven was capitalized, which signified even further the respect this culture has for the raven. All of the origin stories in this are more unique and specific than the origin stories I've read previously in this class. These are more specific to the region where the Alaskans preside such as the tide and...

Once, there was a town with many animals that lived among each other in peace. There was a watering hole that they all shared and there were minimal issues. The town provided many benefits to the animals and they were all grateful. However, there was a cheetah who was always looking for ways to be better than the others and he wanted to prove that he could beat every animal in the town at something. He did not realize everything that the town offered him and he often thought he deserved better. During the week, each animal worked hard to get his or her garden looking great so as when the town got visitors they would like the way it looked. The cheetah however thought this was pointless and never did anything beneficial to the town despite all that it offered him. One day, the cheetah was walking along the trail in the woods that led to the watering hole. As usual, he tried his best to beat the others there so he could be the first one and have the freshest water. Along the way, he ...

For the second half of this weeks reading, I continued with the Nigerian unit. I really enjoyed the first story of the lightning and the thunder. This story personified lightning and thunder and told about their encounters. I think this is such a great story because again it gives a reasoning for why certain phenomenon happens in the world, but the actual science behind this is something I find fascinating. So, I think its cool that they obviously thought this scientific phenomenon was also of interest enough to create a story behind its explanation. I wondered what a bush cow was in the second reading and if it was different than a normal cow that we are familiar with so I did some research. So not what I was expecting! This is what it looks like: Image Info: Bush-Cow I also really enjoyed the story of the two brothers and the pet cock. It seems to me as if this story was presented in order to teach a lesson that no one should own a pet cock. I am unsure if this is actually ...

This week I chose to read the Nigerian Folk Stories unit. For the first half, I got to read about stories that explain why certain things are the way they are in the world. For example, why the bat flies at night  and why the cat kills rats. I really enjoy reading stories such as this because I find it really interesting that so many old cultures were so creative in their thinking that they came up with a reasoning behind why everything is the way it is. I think this week for my storytelling I will come up with a story, like the bat, that provides a creative explanation for why something in the world is the way it is. I was really excited to read the story of the elephant and the tortoise because the elephant is one of my favorite animals. However, this story was very violent and made the elephant out to be greedy and selfish. I wonder what the elephant does in the Nigerian culture to be made out to be this character. Also the tortoise character is cunning and quick-thinkning, wh...

Reflecting on my progress thus far into the semester, I feel like I have a pretty good routine down for getting the things I need to get done for this class done. Some weeks can be a little bit hectic with my other classes, on top of random things like interviews and work. But overall, I really feel like this is a great way to break from some of my hard classes and just let my creativity flow. It is also a great way to relieve stress by typing and reading. Looking forward, I am excited to see the new readings that we will read each week. Additionally, I am excited to read more people's storybooks and portfolios. Finally, I am excited to continue on with my own project and see how it turns out. Here is a little motivation to get everyone through the rest of the semester! Image Info: Inspirational Hedgehog

I really feel like the comments and feedback are a great addition to this class. First, it is cool to be able to get to know some of the other kids in this class especially since it is an online class. Second, because of all the resources out there about feedback, both positive and negative, I really feel like the feedback I get is helpful and encouraging. Adding to that, I feel like with all the resources available and the fact that we get to go through so many different people's stories, I get to give useful feedback to others. I think the most useful kinds of comments can be the ones that quote an exact part of your story and say what they thought about it, or the ones that really give constructive criticism. However, the ones that give positive feedback and state specifically what they liked about the story is helpful too. Looking forward, I am looking forward to going back through people's stories that I have already read and seeing how they have improved. I think that b...

Overall the reading and writing assignments are really helpful to my overall understanding and comprehension of the materials in this class. I like how they encourage you to read like a writer, and think about the writing themes and character development in the progression of the stories. It also has made me an even better story teller now that I am more familiar with what I am looking for in the readings. I am better at adding dialogue to my stories and I am better at adding more descriptive wording, as well as being able to recreate a storyline in the same themes as the stories I read each week. It has also been fun to be able to explore in more depth, the stories that I may think I know, but actually only know a small part of the whole story. I am really excited to be able to keep up with the readings and also letting my creativity shine in the writings! My favorite image from a pervious post is this one: Image Info:  Sloth This image just makes me smile and it is fun to ...

Once, there was a sloth and a panther. While the sloth lived among the highest tops of the trees and the panther lived on the ground, the panther often thought about how he could trick the sloth into becoming dinner for his family. He knew the only way to accomplish this was to convince the sloth to come down from the tree tops. He also knew that the sloth would come down from the tree tops to gather food for his family. One day he was hiding in the brush of the forest, and he saw the sloth begin to make his way down from the treetops. He had set a trap for the sloth, which was a sticky tree sap trap. As the sloth stepped into the sappy trap, he realized the problem and tried to escape. But he was too slow, and when the panther got there it was too late. He began to drag the sloth back to his family. "Ah, whatever you do, don't throw me into the river!" cried the sloth. The panther continued to pull the sloth along across the riverbank, but the sloth kept pushing th...

For the second half of this week's reading, the adventures of Brer Rabbit continued. In this part more Brer animals were introduced and the storyline continued following their lives and the situations they got themselves into. After reading this section, it made me think about the representation of the trickster, or the character that outsmarts the others, within the African-American culture. Basically, Brer Rabbit just plays upon the gullibility of Brer Fox, and uses this to his advantage. I think Brer Rabbit is representative of how the African-Americans believed they could outsmart the larger, and though to be more powerful white people, represented by Brer Fox. I think by telling these stories and by passing them down by word of mouth it gave hope and joy to the children and gave them the mindset of wanting to be powerful even though they were oppressed. I really enjoyed the story where Brer Rabbit tricks Brer Fox into getting him out of the well. Beer Rabbit finds himself...

This week I chose to read the Brer Rabbit tales from African-American folklore. My favorite ride at Disney World is Splash Mountain, which encompasses various characters and plots from this story throughout the ride. This was ultimately the reason for me picking to read these tales this week, and I was nonetheless very pleased with how these stories brought me back to stories my uncle would tell me about Brer Rabbit, the Disney version obviously that was easier to understand. The writing style of these stories was almost really hard to read because of the grammar and spelling. I think it would have been easier to interpret and analyze if there had been a translation presented instead of this format. I think the back and forth banter between the fox and the rabbit makes for a great source of entertainment, and even a possible story inspiration for this week. I liked how each time they go back and forth always trying to get back at each other. I also liked the addition of other animals...