Reading Notes: Public Domain Ramayana Part C

Sugriva's Story
Rama and the Monkeys by Geraldine Hodgson

I will be using this for my story this week. I liked the introduction into the two brother's conflict. I like Sugriva so far, he seems like a good guy but we shall see. May include a twist in the plot of my story if he turns out to be good. Rama and Sugriva make a deal to help each other.

Vali's Death

This is the battle between the brothers. The younger brother wins with some help from Rama. I think I will leave Rama in my story but change how he helps in the battle. 

Sampati

Ravana kills his brother while abducting Sita and in this part of the story he tells Sugriva's army that Ravana is across the sea. I'll use this to lead into the second part of their adventure when they try to find and rescue Sita. 

Hanuman

He goes off to find Sita alone. He is the only one strong enough to jump across the sea and I will use the some of the ideas from his stories and incorporate them into my story. I like Hanuman, he is incredibly powerful and is an interesting character to write a story around. 

Image Information- Vali and Sugriva fighting

Source- Brother's conflict

Feedback Thoughts

 Silencing Critical Voices. 

Using Harsh Feedback  

7 Key Characteristics

Feedforward 

         I enjoyed the silencing critical voices article the most. There are times when I get overwhelmed with work and school work and I start to criticize myself for getting behind or not doing well on an assignment. This site helps lay out positive thinking steps that I can utilize for myself and be able to surpass my negative thoughts with positive ones. My boss at work is great at giving feedback to how we are doing. He gives us one comment on where we should improve and then tells us two things we are doing really well. This helps boost our morale at work and should be useful when giving feedback to everyone's stories. 

Image Info- Giving feedback 

Source- Feedback

Week 2 Storytelling: The Mighty Thor

Thor was the son of Odin and was destined to become ruler over all of Asgard. He was loved by his father’s people and he was fully devoted to them and to his father. Thor’s father had gathered his council to ask them if they thought Thor would be a worthy successor and the men discussed this and all agreed that he would make a great ruler. The king asked once more to make sure that this was what was best for the people and again the men knew that Thor should be king. The people knew of his strength because he had the mighty hammer Mjolnir. He received this weapon by showing his strength in front of the king of Midgard. The king had heard the tales of Thor’s strength but wanted to test his abilities. He told Thor that he could marry his daughter Jane, if he could break the legendary shield of Ysgramor. Thor took his hammer, the one he had before Mjolnir, into battle and with his first strike, he shattered the unbreakable shield into pieces. The sound of the shield breaking was as loud as thunder to everyone in the room. Then the god Ysgramor suddenly appeared in front of everyone, angrily demanding to know who had broken his shield. Thor claimed responsibility for the act and because of this show of honesty and strength Ysgramor gifted Thor with the hammer Mjolnir. The hammer could only be wielded by those who it deemed worthy. Ysgramor tasked Thor with picking up the hammer. Thor approached and could feel the power emanating from the hammer. He reached down and grasped the leather bound handle and then with the slightest effort was able to lift the hammer high in the air. This stunned Ysgramor because never before this had the hammer chosen someone worthy enough to wield it. The God then left them without another word. When he returned from his journey, he started going through the coronation process when a witch appeared accompanied by her son Loki. Odin had made a deal with the witch who had saved his life after he had won a duel with the ice giant king but was fatally wounded. For saving his life Odin offered the witch two favors, any request that she had would be fulfilled. She told him that she would claim these favors in the future and in flash of light and smoke, she vanished.  She did not reveal what she wanted until she talked to Odin the night before the coronation of Thor. She demanded that Loki become king and not Thor. Odin struggled with the decision because he knew that he was betraying his son but he could not break his word either. He told the witch that her son would be king and the next day he told Thor of what had transpired all those years ago and what had happened last night. Thor was upset but listened to his father. The witch then came up with the second demand and that was to banish Thor for 10 years so that Loki could take over without rebellion from Thor’s followers. The next week Odin died and Loki was going to be made king, the council members decided to talk to Thor about this. They knew of the deal that Odin had made and tried to convince Thor that since his father had died the debt was paid and the bargain he had made with the witch was no longer valid. Thor was angry with the men for having no duty and said that he needed to preserve his father’s honor by upholding his father’s debt to the witch. Even Loki wanted him to stay but Thor persisted that it was for his and his father's honor. Thor and his wife Jane left Asgard and made their way to Midgard to serve the time that he had been sentenced. 

Image Information: Thor's Hammer

Source Mjolnir

Author's Note:
Parashurama was a part in the story of Rama where Rama snaps the God Shiva's bow. A bull-man creature, Shiva worshiper, appears to him in a rage because of what Rama had done. Rama then calms the priest and is offered the Bow of Vishnu as a test of his heroism. He is able to string and use the bow which causes the priest to praise Rama for his heroism and glory. This story is preceded by Rama wins Sita. The king tells Rama that if he can bend the bow that the king supplied, that he can have his daughter Sita for marriage. Rama broke the bow leading to the bull-man priest to show up. I also used the story of Kaikeyi and Dasharatha to add to my story. The witch in my story is based on Kaikeyi. She saved Rama's father and her granted her two boons, wishes essentially, and she asked that her son be made king and that Rama be banished for 14 years in the forest. 


Parashurama- The Divine Archer by F. J. Gould  
Rama wins Sita
Kaikeyi and Dasharatha

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana Part 2

Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

Rama and Bharata

I liked how noble Rama is here. They inform him that he can go home and become ruler because his father had died. His father had made a deal and a part of it was that his son would not rule and would be banished four 14 years. Rama decided to uphold his father's word instead of returning back to the palace. 

He also shows an extreme devotion to Sita. He loves her very much and same the other way around too. Their relationship takes on many challenges as well as both take on challenges of loyalty. 

Sita

Viradha takes sita captive and Rama goes to save her and slays beast. I liked how they figured out how to slay the almost unkillable beast. 

Image info- Viradha and Rita

Source Viradha

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana

I like Rama right now. I want to focus my story around him. I liked when he broke the bow and brought the wrath of a bull-like man and then made the bull man praise his might and heroism. I know how I want to make a story out of this as well. I am excited to start writing it.

Rama the Heir Apparent
I like this story because the ruler made sure that his council of leaders and important people approve of his son taking over. He does not declare that his son will be ruler but wants to be sure that people approve of his son before letting him rule.

Manthara and Kaikeyi
I like this one because it explains why the antagonists of the story dislikes Rama and why she does not want him to lead. I can see these two betraying or killing Rama so that they can have Bharata become ruler.

Rama is banished- Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie
I liked how Rama kept his word and his father's word by leaving when he was sentenced to be banished for 14 years.

Image Info- Manthara

Source Manthara

Growth Mindset

I had not heard of Carol Dweck before this class but I am glad that I did. She is very motivational in her talks. I especially liked the talk about the power of yet. How it helps students understand that they are not failing but are just a bit behind in what they should know. Which that can be discouraging as well but it is much better than failing a course. A grade of not yet feels better than a failing grade. Also they had programs around math that instead of rewarding for correct answers, it rewarded the students for completing the process of the math itself correctly. Which can lead to more confidence gained when getting a small step correct and moving on to the next. At least those things would help me, I usually get super discouraged when having done something wrong or when receiving a bad grade. I look forward to learning more about the growth and mindset and applying to my last semester at OU.

Image info- Motivational quote from twitter

Source Twitter

Time Strategies

I read the article The Important habit of just starting. I am a huge procrastinator and this article has helped me focus on what I am doing wrong and how I can correct those mistakes. I am a full time student and work full time so I am constantly doing something. Making a schedule will help me plan my semester out accordingly and help make sure that I stay on track and not get behind.

Image info- Stop Procrastinating

Source-Procrastination

Reading options

I am going to read Narayan's Ramayana because it is easily accessible at the library and it seemed to be put together better than the other option. I do like epics like Game of Thrones and other similar titles. I have not had much experience with Indian culture so this is all new to me. Have not had classes on mythology so this is also a new experience for me. I chose the picture below because I thought it could be expanded to more than just one religion. That the gods or god of someone;s religion is with them at all times inside them.

Image info- Hanuma

source: Hanuma

Storybook Favorites

Brother’s in the Animal Kingdom is about two brothers who are vultures. One of them gets hurt really badly while savings his brother’s life. They write a letter to their old counselor who reads it to his family. He is reading to his sons to teach them a lesson about the bond brothers should have. He also reads a letter from two monkeys. In this one the monkey is describing his brotherly relationship to his best friend and how his friend and his brother do not get along. He even goes on to try and save his best friend’s wife from the evil brother. The title does a good job of letting the reader know what the story will be about and the introduction leads into the stories very well. The layout was very easy to follow, there was a single click link to each story on the side of the page. Making it very simple to find each one. 

Animal Kingdom Brothers

Image info- Turkey vultures

Source- Vultures

Animal tales From India to Oklahoma is about an immortal squirrel telling Indian epics to anyone who would listen in the state of Oklahoma. He received his immortality because he saved his parents from a fire but he died in the process. Brahma gave him immortality in exchange for his good deed and the promise that the squirrel would tell Indian epics to the people of Oklahoma. He settled down on a university and tells his stories to students who pass by him each day. The introduction caught my attention because the squirrel tells his backstory and leads into him telling Indian stories to the reader. The backstory itself was interesting enough to make me want more. The layout was very similar to the first group of stories I read and it was very simple to follow. 

Immortal Squirrel

Image Information- Jambavan 

Source-Jambavan

             Enchanted Museum is a story about the God's of India and the museum they are in. The museum care taker invites people to come the the museum at night because all the statues and artifacts come to life. They statues themselves tell their stories to the visitors. This was well put together and the introduction got my attention because it reminded me of a movie that I had seen a long time ago. The format could use some work it was difficult to read the purple font color in one of the stories but the the layout was done very well. Everything was easy to access and just on click to go to the next story.
Museum

Image info- Ganesha

Web source- Total Bahki

Introduction to Soonerman

I am Ryan and am a super senior here at OU. The almost five years I have been here have been amazing. I grew up in Claremore, Oklahoma, the town is about twenty miles north-east of Tulsa.  I will be graduating in May. I am very excited to start my career in Cardiac Rehabilitation. I am also a huge nerd. I love Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokémon and pretty much anything Nintendo, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and much more. Star Wars is my favorite out of all of them though. I have seen Rogue One twice already, I recommend seeing it if you haven’t already. My favorite Star Wars movie is either Episode three or four. Both are excellent in my opinion. I love reading as well. I’ve read a lot of books but my favorite series of books is either the Harry Potter collection or the Eragon books. My favorite television show on right now is The Flash but my all-time favorite is Friends. I have Friends on in a constant loop on Netflix. Whenever I finish all ten seasons, I just start them over again. I also love football, especially OU football. I have never missed a home game and been to many away games as well. This past season I dressed up for all the games in my OU morph suit. I am Soonerman. I went to the Sugar Bowl too and that game was awesome! I also love playing video games in my spare time. I love playing Pokémon and my favorite Pokémon game would have to be either Emerald or Soul Silver. Some of my favorite types of food are Mexican and Italian but my two favorite foods are cheeseburgers and steaks. I could eat a cheeseburger every day and not get tired of them but I don’t do that because I would have a heart attack by the age of thirty, might be worth it though. I am also a cat person, I love dogs too but I cats are my favorite pet out of the two. Favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate chip cookie dough. 

                                                               BOOMER SOONER

Image information: personal photo of me from January 2017

Week 1 Story: The Studious Girl and the Lazy Boy.

        There were two friends in their freshmen year at a college in Oklahoma and they both had a big exam coming within the next week. Lauren had started studying already and was preparing for the exam in her free time. Grayson however had planned on studying only a couple days before the exam. It was going to be on a Monday so he figured that he would have enough time to study during the weekend. Well as the week went on Lauren kept studying and reviewing while Grayson played video games and watched Netflix in his spare time. Lauren tried talking to Grayson about studying more for his exam but he just ignored her and kept goofing off. The weekend before the test arrived and Grayson decided that it was time to start studying but on Saturday afternoon his friends, including Lauren, were going out to see the new Star Wars movie. He knew he needed to stay home and study more than he already had been but he went to the movie anyway. He figured if Lauren could go he could too. After the movie the group wanted to go out to dinner as well. Again Grayson thought about going back home to study but decided to go with them to dinner anyway. After dinner he went home and was not feeling well but decided to study for an hour before going to bed. He woke up at about three in the morning that night because he had gotten food poisoning from the restaurant. He was up for a few hours, he felt awful and had to throw up every 30 minutes or so. He eventually got back to sleep and woke up the next day around noon to study. He was extremely tired the next day and still didn’t feel very good but he tried to study the best he could for the upcoming exam. The morning of the exam arrived and Grayson was not as prepared as he needed to be but he thought he could manage. Lauren and Grayson took their exams and received their scores the following Monday. Lauren had made an A while Grayson made a C. Grayson knew the next time he would have to prepare in advance like Lauren did to get the grade he wanted.

Flickr posted by collegedegrees360- Confused flickr

Author's note: I started with the fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. This story is about an ant who is working hard for his colony to supply food for the winter. The grasshopper questions the ant about this and the ant tells him that he too should be stocking up for winter. The grasshopper does not listen and thinks since there is plenty of food now and that winter is far away he will be fine. Well as winter came the grasshopper had no food and the ant did. I took this story and applied to my own life relating it to the problem of procrastination. Many students, including myself, like to put things off until the very last minute and as we can see from this story, that is not a good idea. 

Bibliography: "The Ant and the Grasshopper" From Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs  Link to Story

Favorite Place- Palace on the Prairie

(Image information: Sunset over Oklahoma's football stadium, photo from September 2016)

This is my favorite place to be. I am a senior and have never missed a home game during my time as a student. My favorite game in this stadium was from my freshmen year at OU, I will never forget winning Bedlam in that overtime thriller. I recently went to the Sugar Bowl where we beat Auburn and that was my last football game to watch as a student. I have made many memories that will last a lifetime in Oklahoma's Stadium and I plan on returning to watch as many games as I can.

Game vs Notre Dame 2012 Source- Sooonersports.com

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=211169586

Comment Wall

I am Ryan and it will be fun to get to chat and learn with everyone this semester.

Link to my page

Photo information: Avengers

Source

My first post

HI Everyone. First time blogging, looking forward to starting something new this year.