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!

Growth Mindset: Four Ways We Learn

Drawn by Tanya Vora

Today, I did a Growth Mindset Challenge using the above graphic. This graphic reminded me of the importance of practice for learning and growth, and I appreciated the reminder that practice is not always an act, but can sometimes be a conversation. I love the phrase "Most of the learning is under the waterline." This week, I will take the time to research that statement, ad find more information about subconscious learning!

Tech Tip: Canvas Dashboard

This week, I completed a Tech Tip about the best ways to use your Canvas Dashboard. I use my Dashboard frequently, and find it incredibly user friendly. Although some part of me will always miss D2L (I had just figured it all out before OU changed platforms), Canvas is undoubtedly the better option. The dashboard better allows me to visualize all of my classes, and lets me access them easily. I especially appreciate when professors use class images, as that helps distinguish one class from another!

Week 14 Story: Emmett's New Clothes

Emmett was surfing the internet at work again, as he so frequently did. Because he was the owner of his company, New Clothes, he never worried about getting caught or criticized for his lazy behavior. Emmett simply hired smarter and more driven people to handle business functions for him, while he chose how to spend the profits. Emmett considered it an excellent set-up.

Each year, New Clothes hosted a fashion and lifestyle fair in their offices. They invited several up-and-coming designers to promote their creations to Emmett, in the hopes that they would be sold as a part of New Clothes' newest fashion line. New creative talent registered each year, so Emmett and his staff thought nothing of the group named Swindler and Swindler, but were eager to see what they would bring to the fair.

The Swindler and Swindler Logo

As the fair began the next week, Emmett was quickly swept into the flurry of beautiful fabrics, luxury accessories, and skilled young salesmen. However, there was one group at this year's fair that greatly surprised the New Clothes team. Swindler and Swindler were not designers at all - they were bartenders. The brother and sister team wore matching suits, and sold a still, clear liquid that they promised tasted like the nicest champagne, but only if its drinker was smart, savvy, and destined to be successful.

Emmett, who was always seeking to prove himself in the fashion industry, downed his first glass in one gulp. He tasted nothing. Refusing to acknowledge this to anyone around him, Emmett began raving about how delicious the beverage was; he had never tasted anything like it. He immediately ordered fifty cases for the whole office, and in his excitement, missed the sly glances exchanged by the Swindler and Swindler siblings.


Author's Note: This story was inspired by Han Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Suit. In the fairy tale, a proud and vain emperor spends extravagant amounts of money on a new suit that is supposedly invisible to anyone who is stupid or unworthy of their position. No one in the kingdom can see the suit, because it does not exist, but they go on pretending, because no on wishes to be known as stupid. I worked to give this story a more modern twist by making the emperor a naive businessman, who is still obsessed with clothing.

Reading Notes: Hans Christian Andersen, Part A

Tonight, I finished my first reading from our European unit, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and Stories. While section B was entirely The Little Mermaid, Part A was five different stories: The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Suit, The Brave Tin Soldier, The Wicked Prince, and The Little Match-Seller. Much like The Little Mermaid, the themes of this stories were fairly dark. In my opinion, only The Princess and the Pea ended on a light-hearted note.

Hans Christian Andersen 

Overall, I enjoyed reading his stories, and can appreciate that at one point in history, children's stories and fairy tales were not what we would consider child-friendly by today's standards. Whichever of Andersen's tales I adapt this week, I feel that it is important to maintain his dark tones.

The Emperor's New Suit
In this story, a prideful emperor commissions new clothes from traveling merchants. The merchants claim that their products hold great power, such that stupid people cannot see them. In reality, the clothes do not exist. However, the merchants had spread the news of their fabrics so well that everyone played along with their lie, refusing to admit that they cannot see the clothes. Eventually, the emperor walks in a parade, entirely nude, because the entire kingdom pretends that they can see the beautiful garment, too scared to be revealed as stupid. It is not until a child points out the emperor's impropriety that the plot of the merchants is revealed.

Reading Notes: Hans Christian Andersen, Part B

This week, we are reading from the European unit, and I was immediately attracted to the option to read Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, adapted from his Fairy Tales and Stories. I have always heard that his original Little Mermaid is nothing like the Disney version with which I grew up, and was eager to discover those differences for myself. As such, I made the unconventional choice to read Part B of the unit first, which included the entirety of The Little Mermaid. Tomorrow, I will start again at the beginning and read Part A.

The Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen, Denmark

While Andersen's Mermaid certainly has darker themes than Disney's retelling, the hype surrounding the story had me expecting something particularly heinous. While I would argue that the fairy tale is not the most suitable for children, the story is not a miserable as I had anticipated. If I were to write my own story from the original Little Mermaid, I would definitely work to create something dark, yet meaningful and moving.

The Little Mermaid
The little mermaid is a princess, the youngest of the widowed king's daughters. She has been raised primarily by her grandmother, and spends her days tending to her garden and waiting her turn to travel to the surface. On her fifteenth birthday, the little mermaid is finally allowed to journey above the waves, and witnesses a shipwreck that results in her meeting the prince. The mermaid saves him from drowning, delivers him to shore, and then returns home, only to dream of how she might see him again. The mermaid's grandmother tells her that she may obtain a human's afterlife, but only if the prince loves her completely and shares a part of his human soul. The princess eventually visits the sea witch, who promises to grant the mermaid human legs, so that she may visit the prince in his world. In exchange for these legs, the mermaid agrees to a lifetime of pain in her feet, and allows the witch to cut out her tongue as payment.
As a human, the princess is cherished by the prince, but he does not love her romantically. This poses a significant problem - if the prince marries another, the little mermaid will be turned to sea foam immediately. After years of considering the mermaid his closest friend, the prince meets a bride. The mermaid's sisters attempt to rescue the mermaid from her fate, trading their hair for a knife from the sea witch. With this knife, the little mermaid is to kill the prince, thus sparing her own life. Instead, the mermaid tosses the knife back into the sea. For her kindness as a human, the mermaid is transformed into a daughter of the air, where she must serve another 300 years before entering the kingdom of heaven.