Week 2: Feedback Thoughts

This week, I read two articles that hit home. The first, 5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ, included so much useful information! I especially appreciated Tip #4: Find the positive intentions behind your deficiencies. The article explains that areas in which you might feel like you're lacking can be strengths in some instances. While this is not an excuse not to fix problem behaviors, such a mindset can help us to be easier on ourselves, making feedback a more positive experience.

The second article, 14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out of Control, was a bit too relatable for my comfort. While I did not identify with all fourteen items on the list, I could easily point to several of these tendencies in my own life. Nevertheless, when it comes to perfectionism, I think that self-reflection is invaluable. It's helpful to have moments of clarity in which you're given the opportunity to recognize potential issues, and then adjust accordingly.

Ultimately, I think that's what feedback is about. Like so many, I'm not always the best at receiving criticism, but I want to learn to see criticism as a growth opportunity, rather than a personal attack.

Here's a Growth Mindset Cat that I think sums up my thoughts nicely. 

Week 2: Topic Brainstorm

Underground Civilizations: When I was in early middle school, I discovered one of my favorite book series, Suzanne Collins' The Underland Chronicles. The first book in the series, shown above, tells the story of Gregor, an Overlander who falls into the Underland through a grate in the basement of his apartment. Essentially a modern retelling of Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Underland Chronicles recounts the challenges that Gregor faces upon discovery of an entire civilization living below the foundations of New York. If I were to adopt this topic for Myth and Folklore, there are two possible directions I would take my writing. First, I was frustrated as a child that Gregor never returned to the Underland after the age of 12. I would love to imagine what Gregor would find if he ever chose to go back to the Underland. Alternatively, it could be exciting to create my own equivalent of the Underland or Wonderland, along with new characters and fresh adventures.

Games Brought to Life: Jumanji, and its companion Zathura, were two of the movies I found most entertaining as a child. Since coming to college, I have discovered the books from which they were adapted, and their author, Chris Van Allsburg. In both stories, children discover board games which take unexpected turns when their premises are brought to life in their living room. I think the idea of being fully consumed by a game (or a book or movie) is fascinating, and has exciting possibilities for a story. I think if I were to write about Jumanji or Zathura, I would aim to give the games origins. How were they created? From where did they gain the power to draw people into themselves, or to deposit their characters into reality?

Somebody Has To: Keeping with the theme of beloved literature from my childhood, my next topic inspiration is a Shel Silverstein poem entitled "Somebody Has To." According to the text of the poem, shown above, "somebody has to go polish the stars." This topic has so much potential, and immediately had me imagining retellings or deeper plots. If I choose to move forward with it, I hope to write stories about the boy who has to polish the stars, the man who has to wake up the sun, the woman who has to make the waves, etc. All of these offshoots can parallel creation or explanation stories from various cultures. Essentially, there is a multitude of source material for such a topic, and I am excited by the possibility of exploring and adapting such sources.

The Prodigal Wild Thing Returns: As with Chris Van Allsburg's works, I was in college before I rediscovered my love for Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. During my freshman year, the CAC Sooner Scandals theme was "What If?" Participating student groups were asked develop shows that twisted the plot of familiar stories. Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Tau Omega rewrote Where the Wild Things Are to ask "What would happen if Max returned to the Land of the Wild Things as an adult?" I loved it. While my Storybook would certainly take a different direction than their interpretation, I would love to give new lives to Max and the Wild Things, and carry their stories into adulthood. 

Week 2 Story: After the Hunt

The Fox was frustrated. 

After a week of hunting alongside the Lion, he had eaten only the scraps of their kills.

Worse could be said for the Wolf and the Jackal, who were content to submit to the Lion's idea of sharing, even if it meant they went hungry.

In his bitterness, the Fox began to plan. He wondered how to use the Lion's selfishness to his advantage. "How," he thought, "can I quarter a carcass so that we all get enough to eat? How can I satisfy the Lion's hunger, and feed my own revenge?"

As the Fox sat at his favorite watering hole, ruminating on his intentions, he was suddenly overtaken by a giant shadow. He looked up, directly into the eyes of his salvation.

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This was certain to be their hardest hunt yet, but the Fox had manipulated his peers masterfully - everyone knew their role.

The Jackal would back the poor beast into a corner, where the Wolf, waiting quietly, would snarl and incite fear. Meanwhile, the Fox would weave between the beast's clumsy legs, causing him to stumble. Finally, the Lion would perform his typical heroics, completing the kill.

His plan had gone off perfectly. When it was time to quarter the slain elephant, the Fox knew he had won. He allowed the Lion to complete the usual speech, assigning himself a quarter for his bravery, another for his strength, the third for his wisdom, and the fourth for his pride.

______________________________________________________________________________

That night, the Lion ate and ate while the Fox looked on. By his last bite of the first quarter, the Lion's roars had become weak groans. Halfway through the second quarter, the Lion's jaw ached with the strain. However, the Lion made it all the way through the third quarter before his stomach burst, ending the Lion's life with a loud belch.

The Fox, pleased with himself, split the remaining quarter into thirds, happily sharing with the Wolf and the Jackal. Yet, while they merrily ate their fill, a watching elephant became frustrated. 

Author's Note: "After the Hunt" serves as a sequel to Aesop's The Lion's Share. As I thought about the debauchery displayed by the Lion, I began to imagine what the Fox must think, and what he might do when he's hungry. 

Image Information: "A Sly Fox," and "A Watchful Elephant"

Reading Notes: Myth-Folklore Anthology

King of the Jungle

In my favorite portion of today's reading assignment, we were presented with four of Aesop's Fables featuring lines, all of which were adapted by Joseph Jacobs. Before reading my notes, I recommend previewing the stories here. 

The Lion's Share

After spending all day hunting in a group with three other animals, the lion and his peers finally slay a stag. Despite their teamwork, the lion claims the whole for himself, proving self-righteous and inconsiderate. 

Androcles and the Lion

Androcles, an escaped slave, pulls a thorn from the lions paw and they become fast friends. Their happiness is short lived, however, when they are captured, and the lion is starved, only o have Androcles thrown to him - to be eaten. Much to the surprise of their captors, the lion is gentle, and pleased to be reunited. 

The Lion and the Statue

While arguing to determine who is strongest and smartest, the man claims victory when he points out a statue of a lion being slain by Hercules. The living lion replies "Nothing is proven, for a man made the statue."

The Lion in Love

The lion approaches a mother and father, requesting their daughter's hand in marriage. The couple, afraid of allowing their daughter to marry a dangerous beast, suggests that he have his claws and teeth removed. When the lion did so without hesitation, the parents simply laughed and mocked him. 

The aspect of these stories that I found most fascinating was the lion's versatility. In one, he is presented as selfish and prideful. Yet, in another, he is compassionate and playful. When writing my own stories, I hope to be able to be present such conflicts as existing in one lion. Those imperfections, the ongoing struggle between competing character traits, are what ultimately humanizes the lion, making for a great story. 

Reading Options

In regards to most of my college textbooks, I often feel the like image below: overloaded.

While reviewing this course's UnTextbook for the first time was certainly overwhelming, I quickly became excited about the content I will be choosing to read! I love the wealth of information and combinations available to us, and compiled a short list of the units I might like to read over the course of the semester. Here are a few I'm most looking forward to: 

The Brothers Grimm - I am excited to explore the translations of more unfamiliar tales!

Adam and Eve - This semester, I am also in a course called Genesis: In the Beginning, in which we discussed how the first book of the Bible came to be. Obviously, these stories will play into our class topics. 

Noah - For the same reasons mentioned above, I am excited to dig into Noah's Ark! 

Beowulf - I remember reading Beowulf in high school, and am eager to see if my understanding and interpretations of the story have changed after four years. 

Hans Christian Andersen - I have always heard that Andersen's original The Little Mermaid is drastically different from Walt Disney's, and I look forward to discovering those differences for myself!

Myth and Folklore - Time Strategies

This meme is too relatable for comfort. In college, it's so easy to feel like there's not enough time to the things you have to do, much less the things you want to do.

In general, I am confident in my time management strategies, but I appreciate that we have allocated a portion of class to discussing what strategies do and do not work. Personally, I could not survive with Apple's Calendar, Reminders, and Notes apps! Beginning with Calendar, I color code my class and work schedules for each semester. In the same frame, I include my extracurricular and social commitments.

Then, I move to Reminders, where I set reminders for the class assignments that repeat regularly. My preferred schedule for this class involves working on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Thus, my reminders are set for those days, and alert me at times that I know I won't be busy with work or meetings.

Finally, Notes houses my regular to-do list. It currently includes items for this class, such as "Post weekend blogs," and for other classes, like "Finish WGS discussion." Without these apps, I would definitely struggle to be academically successful.

Overall, I think my practices fit well with the ideas presented in the articles 4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination and 11 Ways Unsuccessful People Mismanage Their Time. I don't struggle with extreme procrastination, but we all tend to put off the activities that don't excite us. I especially appreciated the question "What's what thing I can do to get started?" and the advice "Schedule your weekend." I hope to be more proactive this semester about just getting started, so that my weekends can be filled with more fun!

Myth and Folklore - Technology

This course employees technology in so many new and interesting ways! While I have blogged for a class before, I have never done so to this extent, and am excited to become more familiar with blogging platforms. The use of technology in this class, and the recent explanation of why, also makes me thankful for the mindfulness with which the course was designed. Like other students, I was initially confused as to why Myth and Folklore is not presented through Canvas. However, the explanation of Canvas's futility after graduation, along with the value of the applications we will learn in this class, is great justification for the untraditional approach.

And of course, what class isn't improved by a multitude of cat memes, like the Lolcat here?

Myth and Folklore - Assignments

After reading the assignments overview for Myth and Folklore, I am even more excited about the class! I look forward to creating a Storybook or Portfolio, especially. When I enrolled in the course, I expected it to be reading-intensive, but was surprised by the extensive focused on creative writing and blogging. However, I think such assignments make the class interesting and fun!

Moreover, the extra credit assignments add another touch of liveliness to the class! I look forward to completing activities like extra commenting and Famous Last Words, and am particularly eager to try Wikipedia Trails, reflected in the image above. When I was in high school, my friends and I used to play "Random Article," in which we requested a random article, and competed to see who could get to topics like Walt Disney, Netflix, or Taylor Swift first. So far, I love the diversity and light-heartedness of this course!

Growth Mindset

The image above displays the differences between holding a fixed or growth mindset - believing that your current knowledge or ability level is static, or believing that with hard work over time, you are capable of improvement.

I have had the good fortune of learning about growth mindset from multiple professors since beginning college. I love that at OU, so many educators are teaching their students that their potential is not fixed, but rather, with hard work, they can continuously improve. Such teaching has positively impacted my class performance. In relation to academics, I have a growth mindset, and feel that given enough time, I can develop an understanding of any subject. However, there are areas of my life in which a fixed mindset is present. For example, I am not a particularly athletic person, and struggle to believe that my skills will grow with practice.

This semester, I am excited to put a growth mindset to use in my classes, especially those that pertain to religious issues. I also want to challenge myself to move out of a fixed mindset and into a growth mindset as it relates to athleticism, and hope to develop a more active lifestyle.

Introduction to Jessie

Hello! Now that I've posted to my blog a few times, I ought to take a moment to introduce myself! My name is Jessie Hearn; I'm a senior Communication major at the University of Oklahoma. I'm from a small town in southeast Oklahoma, near the border of Arkansas. Here's a photo of me with one of my favorite pieces of street art at home:

As a senior, I'll soon be leaving OU to pursue a career. After graduation this May, I will be moving to southwest Idaho, where I'll teach elementary Special Education as a 2018 Teach For America Corps Member. I have been working with elementary children since my freshman year at OU, and am so excited for the opportunity to chase my passion and work with kids full-time! During my two year commitment to TFA Idaho, I hope to spend as much free time as I can exploring Yellowstone National Park, which I visited for the first time this summer. 

While in Yellowstone, I took this photo from our car in the opposite lane. I love that the National Park Services afford us the opportunity to get close to nature and enjoy some of the best places our country has to offer!

Before leaving for Idaho, however, I am working hard to celebrate my last year at the University of Oklahoma. In my time at OU, I have enjoyed serving as an Orientation Guide for Camp Crimson, and the Associate Chair for The Big Event. I love working with people, especially in capacities that allow me to serve. I have been a resident advisor in Cate Center for the past three years, and have also been involved in Antioch Norman, a local church. Such involvement on and off campus has led me to some of my closest friends, and has helped me to develop my interests and passions. I am so excited to see how I continue to change and grow during the next steps of my life! 

Storybook Favorites

Today in Myth and Folklore, we were asked to read Storybooks from past classes, and choose some of our favorites to be highlighted on our own blogs. While I was initially wary of this assignment, I was pleasantly surprised by the posts I read. The Storybooks I enjoyed most are listed below.

Toto's Adventures in Oz 
This delightful Storybook is a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, written from Toto's perspective. I have always loved new interpretations of familiar stories, and I especially appreciated that this iteration of L. Frank Baum's classic was delivered from the point-of-view of a dog. This blog was full of pictures, and did a phenomenal job of incorporating aspects from both the book series and the 1939 film, including original illustrations and video clips. For example, the blogger introduced the Storybook with the image below, originally captioned "Toto, ready for an adventure."

When writing my own Storybook, I hope to rival this blog with intriguing subject matter, and creative use of media! 

Back to the Inferno

Like Toto's Adventures in Oz, this Storybook is another adaptation of a classic, Dante's Inferno. In this blog, Death takes Charley, a character invented by the author, to the hell of the future, where he encounters both sinful people and characters, such as Hitler and Darth Vader. I remember reading Inferno in high school, and admiring Dante's bravery for naming public figures he believed would be in hell. True to Dante's form, this blogger did the same, with slights directed towards Kevin Durant and Hugh Hefner. 

While this Storybook featured far fewer photos than Toto's Adventures in Oz, I was drawn to its first-person narration, and its derivation from Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," along with Dante's work. My goal is to curate a Storybook that, like this one, respects a renowned piece of literature, while including pieces of my own thoughts and feelings. 

Love Stories from Biblical Times

Keeping with the theme of favorite tales reinvented, the final Storybook I chose to highlight takes couples from the Bible, and attempts to add context to their love stories. While I was initially fascinated by this concept, I was also hesitant that in the search for "context" sacrilege might occur. While I did not find backing for my initial concerns, there were some other issues with the blog. For example, the "Story Collection" in the sidebar lists five separate postings. However, only three of the five included text; the other two were blank. Furthermore, the posts are written only from the point-of-view of the females, ignoring a whole half of each couple! 

This Storybook remains a favorite, simply because I think its blogger took a risk with the subject matter, and did a sufficient job overall. Nevertheless, I hope to avoid issues like missing posts and one-sidedness in my stories. 

My Favorite Place

This summer, I had the joy of traveling to Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. During our family trip, we visited Gardiner, Montana, where I was enchanted by the local attractions.

Gardiner is home to the main entrance to Yellowstone National Park, called the Roosevelt Arch. The arch, pictured below, is engraved with the words "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people."

Before entering Yellowstone, we stopped at an ice cream shop, where I snapped this photo: 

Ice cream is one of my favorite things; it is only fitting that one of my favorite places features fresh, coffee-flavored scoops!