Z's Myth-folklore Blog

 The first encounter: The season had begun to change to winter and the prince wanted to leave the grass in the woods had become a tender green and the birds in the trees were singing of the spring, and how, in the ponds, the great lotuses were unfolding. Nature had broken the chains that winter had forged, and, around the city, those gardens so dear to young maidens were now gaily carpeted with flowers. Then, like an elephant too long confined in his stable, the prince had an irresistible desire to leave the palace. Maya's dream: THE same hour that spring was born, a dream came to Maya as she slept. She saw a young elephant descending from the sky. It had six great tusks; it was as white as the snow on mountain-tops. Maya saw it enter her womb, and thousands of Gods suddenly appeared before her. They praised her with immortal songs, and Maya understood that nevermore would she know disquietude or hatred or anger. Then she awoke. She was happy; it was a happiness she had never felt ...

There were once three students at the University of Oklahoma that went by the names Study, Studying, and Studied. They were all engineering majors who struggled with their majors. That is, except for, Studied. He had studied long and hard for his degree and had made it to graduate school and was commissioned as a teacher's assistant.  The other two, Study and Studying had their final year as Seniors left before they would be able to join their friend Studied. The only thing stopping them was the final exam in Calculus V. Study and Studying could only think about how close they were to finishing. They knew about the exam coming up, but were blinded with joy that they were about to finally about to graduate. Studied begged and begged them to study hard for their final exam, and even offered to help them study with his studying tricks to make sure that they would be able to pass. Alas, Study and Studying ignored him and continued to plan parties and celebrate early for their graduatio...

  Jataka Tales: The Three Fishes   Once upon a time three Fishes lived in a far-away river. They were named Thoughtful, Very-Thoughtful, and Thoughtless. One day they left the wild country where no men lived, and came down the river to live near a town. Very-Thoughtful said to the other two: "There is danger all about us here. Fishermen come to the river here to catch fish with all sorts of nets and lines. Let us go back again to the wild country where we used to live." But the other two Fishes were so lazy and so greedy that they kept putting off their going from day to day. But one day Thoughtful and Thoughtless went swimming on ahead of Very-Thoughtful and they did not see the fisherman's net and rushed into it. Very-Thoughtful saw them rush into the net. "I must save them," said Very-Thoughtful. So swimming around the net, he splashed in the water in front of it, like a Fish that had broken through the net and gone up the river. Then he swam back of the net ...

The Turtle and the Geese:  Two geese told a turtle that they wanted to show him their home very far away. Knowing the turtle could not fly, they offered to carry him by having him hold on to a stick with his mouth that they carried. They asked him to promise to never talk, and he said he would abide by that promise. When flying over some children, they made fun of the situation of the turtle being carried by the geese; the turtle was upset by that, and he retaliated by speaking back to him, which meant he lost his grip on the stick and he fell. The Ox Who Won the Forfeit: A man had an ox that normally was very strong. One day, while proving to others how strong he was, scolded and whipped him trying to be strong, but the ox did not budge. This was because he yelled at him. When he did not yell at him, he moved. Ellen Babbit. Jataka Tales . Source . The Turtle and the Geese

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 I really enjoyed these spelling and grammar videos as it gave me a lot of insight to the language I am native in, as well as how it can be compared to my second language, Urdu, which I learned from my parents growing up. The videos gave you information on how to better your language and grammar. This was done by telling you what exactly, for example, a semicolon did, how it was used, and when it can be applied. The video also gave background as to how it was developed, which allowed for more insight as to why we use certain punctuation in the first place. I enjoyed the video on how languages evolved, as well. This helped me understand more about my native language, English, and made me curious as to how my home language became a part of the mix. The video on why grammar matters was also informative on the topic of language. I always believed grammar was important, as it is, in general, the building blocks to getting your point across in any scenario. Whether you are writing a lett...

Although Venus (Aphrodite) is the lovely goddess of love, her husband is Vulcan (Hephaestus), the god of the forge and metalworking, a lame god whom Venus did not love at all. Among her lovers was the god of war, Mars (Ares). There is a famous incident recorded already in the ancient poem, Homer's  Odyssey , which tells how Vulcan used his skill as a craftsman to fashion a net which trapped the unsuspected lovers in bed, exposing their adulterous love for all the gods and goddesses of Olympus to see.  Psyche, seeking protection from the goddess Venus, appeals to the two other great goddesses:   Demeter and Hera  There are many gods and goddesses in the Greek and Roman traditions who are personifications of abstract concepts. The most famous is Fortuna, the goddess who is "Luck" personified. Here your will meet a goddess who is named Consuetudo in Latin, which Kline translates as "Familiarity," and this goddess is in turn a servant of the goddess Venus. Tony Klin...

  As the story begins the hero of Apuleius's novel, a man named Lucius, has been turned into a donkey. He is now in the possession of a band of robbers who are using him as a pack animal; they also have a horse in their possession (he is a normal horse, unlike our magical donkey-hero who does indeed regain his human form at the end of the novel). There is also an old woman who is part of the band; this old woman is going to be our storyteller for the "Cupid and Psyche" fairy tale. The young woman explains to the old woman that the robbers kidnapped her on her wedding day. Even worse, she has a dream about the kidnapping which has made her even more upset than she was to begin with. It is at this moment that the old woman decides to tell the story of "Cupid and Psyche" to cheer the poor girl up n this part of the story you will see a standard fairytale plot element: the prohibition, which will be followed by a transgression of that prohibition. Cupid gives Psyche...

1.   Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" 2. How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk I found these resources very interesting individually, but more particularly I enjoyed how they went hand-in-hand with one another. The first source covers much of its content in the title of avoiding the phrase "good job!" because it simplifies an achievement that can receive more than just a reduced phrase. Interestingly, the author also mentions about how in certain groups, like children, it draws a type of attention to them that makes them want to not repeat the behavior when told "good job" because it becomes lackluster, which is an interesting psychology. The second source then helps to divert to another method of praise from just "good job." It is more detailed than just giving feedback, but rather structures why and how you should give feedback, and its methods of doing so. These include relating yourself to the person receiving feedback, as ...

1. Ghost Story of the Flute's Tomb Source 2. Ghost of the Violet Well Source 3. The Snow Ghost Source Extra links/references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABrei https://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm The Snow Ghost

What Do You Want to be When You Grow up? It was Senior year for Ben. The most exciting year in high school for any student getting through the hell that was high school. For Ben, it was another year in hell.  He was excited to graduate, most definitely, but this was just another year in high school, nothing special. When people asked him why, it was because he was constantly asked the infamous line to anyone in their final years of high school: "what do you want to be when you grow up?" or the student version: "what are you going to major in???" He didn't know. More importantly, he didn't care. He was just going to going to following his father's footsteps of being an accountant. The most straightforward, bland, version of what anyone could do for the rest of their life as a career, at least to him. And so the months sailed by, month after month, week after week, and day after day, the same question echoed both within him in his mind, and in his surround...

 Creation elaborates on how the Heavens were formed with  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. there is a large emphasis on the LORD and his working particularly , the creation of man as well And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." there was an emphasis on Paradise in which they were cast in Paradise being such as it was, it was, naturally, not necessary for Adam to work the land. True, ...

Here Odysseus and his men, on their way back to Ithaca, have reached an island that belongs to wild, uncivilized creatures called Cyclopses (or Cyclopes, using the Latin plural form). Prior to reaching the land of the Cyclopses, Odysseus and his men had raided the land of the Ciconians, and the wine they have brought with them from the land of the Ciconians will play an important part in this story Odysseus has with him, wine that he obtained in Ismarus, the city of the Ciconians which he and his men visited prior to arriving at the land of the Cyclopses. Earlier on their journey, Odysseus and his men had the misfortune to visit the land of the Laestrygonians, giant cannibals who ate some of Odysseus's men and destroyed eleven of his twelve ships; it was because the Laestrygonians that Odysseus and his men now have only a single ship. Tony Kline. The Odyssey . Source . The Odyssey

I have generally always had a problem with both topics of receiving any type of feedback, as well as having my own personal self-doubt. These two topics, receiving feedback and self-doubt, go very well hand-in-hand. I intrinsically (used to) associate any type of feedback with increasing my self-doubt; even when I would receive constructive criticism, I would feel like I made silly mistakes and it would increase my self-doubt, which was generally counterproductive toward my own improvement. I have learned grow from this, and do it much less. I liked TimHerrera's way of mentioning that you should 'crave' negative feedback to help us learn and grow more, as well as to better expect and deal with any type of feedback that could better us, even if it were not constructively put, as per the first article. John Spencer's article, Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt helped me learn to mitigate any type of criticism that was given negatively, and transform it in a way that makes it ...

1.  Japanese Ghost Stories I absolutely love ghost stories, and although I enjoy them very much, and have read very many I have been very limited to western stories. So, this being a topic on Japanese ghost stories specifically, it really drew my interest as I really would like to know and appreciate how other cultures tell their ghost stories. It combines one of my favorite topics (spooky stories) and adds a bit of curiosity of learning about other ways to tell and read about them. There are not a lot of past projects in the UNtextbook, but I will try to look around wikipedias also linked, as well as do my own research on the topic! 2.  OU Ghost Stories Another ghost story topic (I know, I know, I'll try not to pick another and learn about other topics!) I chose this in particular to contrast it with my previous choice of Japanese ghost stories. I feel like I would be able to better and directly compare and contrast the types of ghost stories told on or about my university ca...

The leaves on the trees had began to fall, the wind began to feel like daggers piercing the skin, and most important of all, the final exams approached. It was nearing the end of the Fall semester at The University of Oklahoma. Not a student was in sight, as many were nestled away in their dorms from the outside cold preparing for the final exams. Winter break was right around the corner! They had sailed their journey for as long as they could remember, and soon they would reap the fruits of their labor: no homework, no studying, and even Christmas! But one thing stood in their way from all this happiness: final exams. Thus, the students began relentlessly studying. Although they were so close to being free, they needed to go out with a bang, which was a spot on the President's honor roll; and so they studied. Everyone was in it together. Close friends helped one another. People made new friends and study-buddies and doubled up on their methods of studying. It was one for all, and ...

 The story in under Origin Stories: The Moon , The Man in the Moon  caught my attention in particular because of the layout of the story. The dialogue was short and punctuated, as the lines were separated often, almost feeling like it was a calm dialogue, while also being assertive, as the story was. The theme matched this well, as the wise man sounded soft and slow. I began to read faster as these dialogues became blockier (in terms of format) and the dialogue got more intense and critical. Therefore, with the spacing in the just the formatting itself, it caught my attention throughout the reading. I would want to try this type of writing style, whether it was intended or not, to incorporate a type of "slow-read" that would match my theme of story if I had one of the sort. Bibliography: Katherine Neville Fleeson. The Man in the Moon . Source . The Man in the Moon

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Homer's Odyssey Week 4: Adam & Eve Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Jataka Tales Week 6: Life of Buddha Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7:  Philippines Week 9: South Africa Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Apache Week 11: Cherokee Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Beowulf Week 13: Robin Hood Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Czech Week 15: La Fontaine I enjoy reading anything based of mythology. I enjoyed reading about The Odyssey back in highschool, so I feel like I will explore that again as a review. I was interested in other countries in Europe as well, so I hope to explore areas there that I have not yet covered. I would want to write about my own stories via the storybook as done in the Indian Epics class, ...