Famous Last Words: Last Week of Class

This week is my last week of undergraduate classes, so it feels only fitting to cap off four years of hard work with a final post. I have deeply enjoyed Myth and Folklore this semester, and wish that I had given more time and attention to it throughout the past fifteen weeks. Regardless of my time management in relation to this class, I have loved learning so much more about mythological traditions, and how those myths express world cultures. I have grown in my creative writing abilities, and have learned the value of meaningful feedback.

Senior Photos - kaitmaddox photography

It feels surreal that I will no longer be taking college courses, but I am so thankful for the classes I went out on. Along with Myth and Folklore, some of my favorite courses this semester have been Genesis: In the Beginning and African American Religious Traditions. In some ways, I think the three classes are connected: that catalogue a few of the most important ways that people make sense of the world around them.

As I complete all of my finals in the coming weeks, I am growing more and more excited to graduate and pursue my career with Teach For America. I am eager to see new places and grow through new experiences, and am especially looking forward to sharing stories with the children in my class! I know that my time in Idaho with TFA will be a tremendous challenge, but I am ready to face that challenge and see how it changes me.

I have plenty to do before I leave Norman for Idaho, in order to give a fitting goodbye to the people and places that have been integral to my four years here. However, before I can do any of that, I want to finish my academic semester well, giving my classes my best effort!

Wikipedia Trail: Brothers Grimm to

The Brothers Grimm

1. The Brothers Grimm: This week, I read some of the Grimm' fairy tales, and was interested to learn more about their lives and background. 
2. The Frog Prince: In this story, a princess finds her prince by kisses a cursed frog. 
3. Robin McKinley: This author wrote multiple;le adaptations of fairy tales, including an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast called Beauty, which I wrote about in several of my comments this week. 
4. Newberry Medal: This award is given to the author of the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." 

Reading Notes: The Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Extra Credit

This week, I read from Dan Ashliman's adaptation of The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales. I loved the reading, as it introduced me to original (or closer to original) versions of some of my favorite fairy tales, while also presenting new tales that I had not heard of before this week.

In previous posts, I have written about Rumpelstiltskin and The Peasant and the Devil, both stories from this unit. After reading posts from other people I class however, I have been thinking about another story from the unit, called The Little Lamb and the Little Fish, and I felt compelled to share my thoughts on the story.

A Brother and Sister Playing Together

The Little Lamb and the Little Fish
In this story, a brother and sister are very close, and love playing in their fields together, especially near the pond. Their mother is dead, and they have a stepmother who is unkind and bitter. She is said to know the ways of witchcraft, and one day turns the girl into a lamb, and the boy into a fish. Both were sad about their transformations, but lived their lives that way for some time.
One day, the stepmother was hosting special guests, and commanded her cook to kill the little lamb as their meal. The cook had captured the girl in her lamb form, and was preparing to kill her while the fish looked on from the gutter. Suddenly, the girl cried out to her brother, the fish. The cook, suspecting that the lamb was a person bewitch by the evil stepmother, cooked another meal instead, and delivered the lamb and fish to the wet nurse. The nurse blessed the animals, returning them to their human form. She then took them to live in a hut in the woods, freed from their stepmother forever.

After reading a classmates' project about a wicked stepmother, I have many frustrations and questions about this story. Where is the children's father?? Why didn't anyone notice that two children had gone missing? When the children were returned to their human form, why wasn't their stepmother brought to justice??

If I were to rewrite this story, I certainly couldn't ignore these plot holes, and would work to better develop a storyline that accounts for my questions.

Reading Notes: The Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Part B

Today, I finished my reading in our European unit with a few more stories from Dan Ashliman's adaptation of the Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales. Unlike yesterday's reading, this section featured many more unfamiliar stories, at least by their titles. However, in reading The Hare and the Hedgehog and The Peasant and the Devil, I found they mirrored tales like The Tortoise and the Hare and Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens. 

Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens 

The Peasant and the Devil
In this story, a peasant comes across a devil as he is working the fields. The peasant suspects that the devil holds great riches, and seeks to make a deal with him. The devil wants "fruits of the earth" and promises the peasant his treasures in exchange for half of the growth of the field for two years.
In the first year, the peasant plants turnips, giving the devil only the top leafy half. The devil is angry that he has been outsmarted, and demands the bottom half of the crop in the next year. Thus, the peasant plants wheat, leaving the devil only roots. Ultimately, the peasant inherits the devil's treasure, and the devil is thwarted.

In Tops and Bottoms, the peasant is represented by a poor by clever hare, and the devil by a lazy bear. The bear agrees to let the hare have a portion of his crops, but only if the hare and his family do all of the work of planting and harvesting. In the first harvest, the hare plants carrots, giving the bear the tops. This trickery goes on until the bear is poor and hungry and the rabbit has stockpiled enough food that his family can survive.

If I were to rewrite the story of The Peasant and the Devil, I would love to put an animal twist on it like the one above, or possible make it a more realistic tale of human dishonesty.

Reading Notes: The Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Part A

Once again, we are reading from the European unit in Myth and Folklore. This week, I have chosen to read Dan Ashliman's adaptation of the Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales. I enjoyed reading from this unit, as it includes fairy tales that are both familiar and new to me.

A Statue of the Grimm Brothers

Rumpelstiltskin
In this story, a thoughtless miller brags to the king that his daughter can spin gold out of straw. The kind requests the opportunity to see the girl's skills in action, and locks her in a room in his castle, with instructions to spin all night. The girl immediately begins to cry, because she cannot spin straw into gold, and will be killed if she fails the king's task. Eventually, a little man enters through the locked door, and offers to spin the straw into gold, so the girl offers her necklace in return.
The next night, the king locks the girl away again, this time with the expectation to spin more straw into gold. Th small man again comes to the girl's rescue, this time in exchange for her ring. On the third night, the king has left more straw than other before, but the miller's daughter has nothing left to offer the small man in return for his spinning the straw into gold. Thus, the little man suggests that the girl give up her first child as payment. The girl, with nothing else left to do, agrees.
A year later, the girl has had the king's child, and the mysterious man has returned to claim his payment. When the girl is obviously distraught at the idea of giving up her baby, the small man agrees that she can keep the child, but only if she can guess his name in the next few days.
The girl, who is now queen, sends messengers across the kingdom to learn his name. It takes the entirety of the three days to discover the man's identity, but eventually, the queen identifies him as Rumpelstiltskin.

Wikipedia Trail: From The Little Mermaid to Hamilton

An Illustration of The Little Mermaid by Edmund Dulac

1. The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale was a significant part of my reading this week. I sought out this article because I was curious as to how the Walt Disney version arose from the original fairy tale, which is incredibly different from the animated film. 
2. P.L. Travers - The Mary Poppins author criticized Hans Christian Andersen for the ending of The Little Mermaid, claiming that it blackmailed children into the belief that if they were good, they could extend their lives. 
3. Broadway - A musical adaptation of Travers' Mary Poppins opened on Broadway in 2006. This article also featured a list of shows currently playing on Broadway. 
4. Hamilton - My favorite Broadway musical, Hamilton tells the story of Found Father Alexander Hamilton. In 2016, Hamilton was nominated for 16 Tony awards, of which it won 11. 

Learning Challenge: Watch for Empathy

A Quote from Brian Andreas

This is easily my favorite phrase and image that I have come across in class this semester. (I've even put it on my letter board at home!) I recently had the opportunity to share the quote with one of the most empathetic people I know. A. is kind and warm; she is constantly laughing and a great listener. Just this week, she bought a hurting friend a milkshake, and never hesitates to share a kind word.

I would love to develop the bravery referred to in this image, and the kindness that I think A. emulates!