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!