Week 2 Story: The Lion and the Man

A sneaky tiger had been stuck in his cage for days and there seemed to be no escape. He was starving but no one dared to approach him out of fear, until one foolish man arrived him. The tiger spotted him and immediately started plotting ways to get him close enough to the cage to eat, or even better, to release him.

"Hello good sir, would you be kind enough to free me? I would owe you my life!" exclaimed the tiger.

"I hate to see any animal suffer! I shall let you out at once!" He hurried towards the beast. "My name is Jack, by the way." Said the man as he forced the gate open.

The tiger smiled and replied, "Jack sounds like a tasty name!' He jumped towards the man, but was knocked back. He lifted his head to see what had happened and noticed Jack holding a shotgun.

"I knew you were faking that nice act! I wanted to give you a shot to be good, but I am a hunter. Now I need to do my job properly." said Jack with a grin.

"Wait!" exclaimed the tiger, "Give me a chance to prove that I do not deserve to die! There is a village nearby, if I can bring you three people that will say I have a good heart, will you spare my life?"

Jack thought this proposition over for a few minutes. "You have until sundown to come through with your deal. If you hurt anyone or cannot provide three people, your life is mine." promised Jack.

The tiger ran towards the village. He was spotted by three young girls who started shouting and ran back towards their families. He tried to ask people to listen to him, but everyone was in a panic and just ran away from him. For hours the tiger wandered around the village before he realized no one would come back with him. With his head hung low, he returned to the Hunter.

"Everyone was afraid of me. They wouldn't give me the time of day to show them I meant no harm." said the tiger sadly.

"Well I have an alternative option for you, get back in the cage and I will leave." requested Jack.

The tiger looked at Jack, and without much of a choice, slowly walked into the cage.

"Maybe next time someone frees you, you will not try and eat them." said Jack.

Jack returned one week later to check on the tiger. The village people had brought him food as an apology for not listening to his story. Jack, once again, let the tiger out and now he lives happily amongst the villagers.

Author's Notes: Jacob's story included a man who freed the tiger and then had to make a deal to save his life. I reversed this situation in my version. I made changes to the ending of the original story and added the village setting. The tiger's character was the same, but the man's character was a bit different in my tale.

Bibliography: "The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.

Image Information: Lion Walking out of Woods. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Reading Notes: Myth-Folklore Anthology

I really liked the setting in The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost. An overnight stay in the woods by afire can set the mood for any ghost story. The author described what the ghosts were wearing in detail and helped the reader imagine the distrust and fear felt by the main character. It surprised me to read that he allowed the ghost to touch his foot multiple times. Owls have been associated with ghost stories many times, so I liked that she included that in her tale.
The character from Pygamlion really grabbed my attention  because he was so afraid to love women who lived around him, he created a sculpture and fell in love with his masterpiece. He wanted his creation to be real and would not admit to himself that she was an inanimate object. The character quite literally created the woman of his dreams. 

Bibliography:
Katharine Berry Judson. Myths and Legends of the Great Plains.
Tony Kline. Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Image Information: Owl Sitting on Stump in Woods. Web Source: pxhere
 

Reading Options

The first unit that caught my eye was the Europa's Fairy Book. I love stories that take a traditional fairy tale and put a modern day spin on it. The unit also contains some fairytales that I am not familiar with, so it will be interesting to ready the modern version first and then search for the traditional story. The next unit that interested  me was the Women Saints. The saints that stood out most to me were the ones that spent their lives pretending to be men. I am curious to figure out why they had to live in disguise. I have heard of Dante's Inferno in the past, but I haven't had the chance to experience the story! I was not aware it was a comedy, which makes the story more appealing because comedies and horrors are my favorite genres. There is a lot of diversity in the units available this semester, and I am excited to read through the stories of stories!

Image Information: Image from Europa's Fairy book, three trolls trying to help a woman, web source: Wikimedia Commons

Time Strategies

I have always considered myself to be good with time management. I don't really keep a planner or set reminders. I have one or two hour breaks in between classes which I use to study or do homework. I think getting a planner and writing down when to study, work or even go to the gym would be beneficial because I would be able to see when I have free time to go out with friends and become more familiar with how much time I need to study and prepare for classes. I chose to read Why Time Management is Ruining Our Lives and How to Build a Realistic Study Plan that You'll Actually Stick To. I found the articles very useful, especially the suggestions from the study plan article. I think the biggest challenge I'll face this semester will be setting aside extra time for this class because we do not have a class meeting time. Having a planner will help with this because I can add in an extra three hours to dedicate as much time to this course as I do for the others.

Image Information: Woman with multiple arms trying to multitask, web source: Wikimedia Commons

Technology Tools

The only tool I recognized was google docs, which I am a huge fan of. When I was taking German we would have group projects and that is what we would use to write scripts for plays or whatever the assignment was that week. I love that multiple people can work on the paper simultaneously. I have taken two other online classes, but we did not utilize many outside tools. The online intersession course I took only used canvas for assignments. I need to work on graphic creations and editing pictures. I think creating your own image really adds a personal touch to the blog so I hope to create images for at least a few assignments!

Image Information: Children painting birds on trees, web source: Wikimedia Commons

Assignments

I have never been much of a writer so I am really excited for the storytelling assignments! I think reading stories as a base for our writing will be helpful to get ideas flowing. Any feedback will be much appreciated because I want to grow in terms of creativity and these blogs will be a great opportunity to do that. The 'famous last words' extra credit assignment really stood out to me. It will be interesting to go back and read how every week went at the end of the semester. I have taken classes that required weekly discussion posts and you normally had to comment on at least two other student's submission. I have never taken a course that involved creating a blog or so much interaction with others in the class, but I am excited to read my classmates stories!

            Image Information: Someone typing with encouraging messages around the keyboard, web source: Pixabay

Growth Mindset: A New Concept of Thinking

This is the first time I have heard of Carol Dweck and the growth mindset. It really hit me in the video when she said "are we raising a generation obsessed with getting the next A?" because I am really competitive in school and making straight A's has always been very important to me. I have always been good at studying for tests and quizzes, but writing papers has always been a struggle for me. I usually try to find a friend to proof read my work before turning anything in. Taking certain classes at OU has forced me to write multiple papers throughout the course and really helped my writing abilities. I am really interested in learning about the Growth Mindset this semester and hearing about people's success with Dweck's motivation. This is my first time having a blog so I am already stepping out of my comfort zone with this class. I hope to come back to my first few posts at the end of the semester and see an improvement!

          Image Information: A Brain with the Growth Mindset and a Brain with a Fixed Mindset, Web source: flickr
 

Introduction

Hello all! My name is Jessica Patton and I'm from Elgin, Oklahoma. I am a Biology major with a Chemistry minor. I want to attend medical school and become an ophthalmologist. I spend a lot of time studying to achieve this goal, but I also work at CSL Plasma and volunteer at Crossings Community Eye Clinic.

My favorite class taken last semester was genetics. I was lucky enough to be exposed to genetics in high school and have loved dabbling with punnet squares & pedigree charts every since. If I am not able to attend medical school, I would look into becoming a genetic therapist. The biggest accomplishment with my classes from my previous semester would have to be the paper I wrote for genetics. It covered how a change in circadian rhythms can in turn affect metabolic processes in the body.

Outside of the classroom, the most interesting part of my semester was visiting Ireland over spring break. I was able to visit the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney stone. I have wanted to do this since I was in middle school. My friend and I stayed in Cork and Dublin while we were in Ireland. We were able to get a very cheap flight by flying out on St. Patrick's Day, ironically.

I have a huge place in my heart for animals, especially dogs. I have two dogs of my own, Jake and Jasmine. They live with my parents so I do not get to see them as often as I would like. However, nothing makes my day better than having two dogs run up to me when I walk in the room. My roommate and I have been discussing adopting a dog or cat, Hopefully there will be another pet to add to the list soon!

Image Information: The Blarney Castle located in Cork, Ireland. Web Source: Geograph

Storybook Favorites

OU's Haunted Halls: The first example I chose was titled OU's Haunted Halls. This story really grabbed my attention because I love ghost stories or anything scary really. I thought the introduction page was very well written. The author gives enough information about the ghost stories to make you want to read more, but not too much to where you feel like you already know how the entire story will play out. I enjoyed reading the story from a first person point-of-view and then reading more information about the haunting at the bottom of the page. The pictures of OU's buildings and rooms help the reader to picture what is happening in the story.

Ghost Stories: The next storybook favorite I picked was called Ghost Stories. The title is very general, but like I said above I cannot scroll past something with the word ghost in it. The introduction is what held my attention because it starts as a personal experience that occurred in this haunted house and explains that the rest of the story will come from the previous residents of the house. The images the author used for the story were very frightening and fit the layout really well. Some pictures were of the family members in the story. That gives a more realistic touch for the reader if they know what the people in the story look like.

Alice's Journey through Social Media: 
The final favorite puts a new age spin on Alice in Wonderland. I use to watch this movie religiously when I was younger. I think the author really hit the nail on the head with their story. The introduction shows how the original movie would have played out if cell phones had been invented at the time. The pictures included with the story reminded me of the film from my childhood. The section titles gave off a confused feeling when reading them. This was a good choice from the author because Alice is supposed to be surprised because all of these weird things keep happening to her.

              Image Information: Alice at the Tea Party, web source: Wikimedia Commons.

Favorite Place: Australia

I love traveling and going to Australia has always been at the top of my list! I want to visit the Sydney Opera House and go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. Seeing a few kangaroos would also make for a fantastic vacation.

Picture Information:
The Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Sydney Opera House. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons
A Kangaroo Carrying Her Joey. Web Source: flickr

Blog Testing

Hi everyone! Just testing things out.