Drew Myth & Folk

The Weekend had finally come for the biggest fishing derby of the year. Jack a small-town boy in east Texas was completely prepared for this event and had been practicing on this lake for the past month. He knew exactly what the fish were doing and knew exactly what his plan would be during the tournament. Jack had been competitive bass fishing for seventy five percent of his life now and knew nothing other than it.   He had won many tournaments but never one of this caliber, so he knew this was his time to shine. Jack was only scared of one thing, the stick of east Texas. This man went by the name of Tom Smith, he had won this particular tournament the past 7 of the 10 times he had fished it. Jack believed there was no way he could beat Tom with out a little advantage. Two days before the tournament was supposed to start Jack was contemplating methods, he could use to beat Tom, and some of them were unsportsmanlike and did not represent Jacks character of being a hard worke...

The Story that I this week came from the South African Unit. The story was The Elephant and the Tortoise by James Honey.   In the story the Elephant asked of different birds to make rain and the only one that did was the crow. But then the lagoons dried up except for one, the elephant saw a tortoise near the water and ask him to remain at the water while he went a-hunting. The tortoise turned down many animals from drinking from the lagoon until lion showed up. The tortoise was beat up by the lion and then the animals drink from the lagoon. The elephant got back and saw this then the elephant swallowed him whole. The tortoise then tore off the elephant’s liver, heart and kidneys and the elephant died and the tortoise crawled back out. The story that I got from this was do not bully others into doing your own work. (Image is of an African Elephant, Source: Elephant )

The African Story I have found myself writing about this week comes from South African Folktales. This story is called The Lost Message by James Honey. In the story there in the forests of Africa are may different ant faction, or many different species of ants. All of them had predators that they could seem to not defend from so they held a meeting with all the ant leaders. They wanted a place where all the ants could live and be protected from all of the predators. Through all of the discussion the ants can to no solution and split back up. But going back to normal ways they ran into the same problems with the same predators The insect king saw the ants struggles and send the message of unity to them via a beetle but this beetle never made it to the ant colonies so the ants still live in discord and are still preyed on among other animals. (Picture is of an Ant: Source: Ant )

For week 6 I chose to do a storylab, the article I chose to do it over was What’s the Difference Between An Autobiography and a Memoir . Although both are based on the truth and both require lots of research, there are many differences between each. Starting with autobiographies. They are usually written by someone famous, and they usually make use of documentary records. Autobiographies usually focus on an entire life, starting at brth and chronologically progressing until the current age. It usually has the feeling of a historical document and is filled with facts and specific dates. Now the similar Memoir has its differences as well. Memoirs can be written by anyone, and is a representation of a memory, not of history. Memoirs focus on an event, theme or choice in life. Memoirs can begin anywhere and move backwards or forwards and end whenever. Memoirs are more concerned with the emotional truths of your life. This article had some great insight of the differences betw...

The story that I have chosen for today's reading notes was the Elephants and the Ants . This story comes from the section of the Santal Folklore Unit. In the story there is two ants and an elephant. The ants challenge the elephant to a race to because the elephants says that there is nothing that the ants could beat him at. The Elephant started the race and when he stopped because he got tired, he looked down and saw two ants. He would set off running and kept seeing the two ants. He finally collapsed and died, but little did he know every time he stopped it was two different ants. The plot that I got from this story was that we should never bully nor cheat men happen to be born stupid. (Image is of an Indian Elephant, Source: Elephant )

The story I chose to read for today's reading notes was TheMonkey and the Girl . This story came from the Santal Folklore section. In the story there was a girl that fell for a monkey. But the girls parents did not approve of this so they killed the monkey. The dad decided to burn the monkey like the corpse of a man. The girl was watching and distracted everyone standing around and then blinded them with sand. When they were clearing their eyes the girl jumped in the fire and burned with the monkey. So the plot I took away with this story was that doing a quick fix to a problem will backfire in the end. And this plot if from the perspective of the dad losing the daughter in the end. (Picture is of a monkey, Source: Monkey )

There once lived a hefty lumberjack in the mountains of Utah. He had a great passion for cutting trees that went deeper than just the wood. When he was a young boy his father started teaching him the ways of cutting lumber. He admired his father and had made the decision from a young age that he would be a lumberjack too. Fast forward 30 years and jack was a well-known lumberjack in the tree cutting community. Everyone in the community wanted to gift jack something. So, one day one of the local metal smith gifted jack a priceless golden ax. Jack was shocked and was thinking of endless opportunities that this new addition to his tool box would bring. Jack Rushed home and called up his dad. He told his dad about his newest addition and his dad responded by saying do not do something you will regret with it. He responded by saying he would never miss use this amazing gift. Jack went on with his day and tried out the golden ax. This ax was impeccable, it could cut down the thic...

The Story I have chosen for this weeks reading notes is The Three Fish from the Bidpai Fables.  In this story there were three fish. One Fish was very intelligent and often used his wits. The second Fish was semi smart and sometimes used his wits. The third fish seldomly never used his wits. Two fisherman saw these fish and said they were going co catch them. Without thinking the smart fish swam for the outlet. The second fish played dead so the fishermen would not want him. the third fish sank to the bottom where he was easily caught. The Moral of this story was stay on your toes and always be thinking ahead. (This picture is from the the story of the fish being caught. Fish )

The Story I have chosen to read for todays reading notes is the Poor man and the Flask of oil . This story came from Bidipai. This story had a simple story of greed and thinking too much of what could be. In the story the old man had a kind neighbor that gave him a small flask of oil. He was grateful for the kind gift and put it on the shelf. He began to think of what else he could have if he sold this gift. But he messed up and the oil got knocked over and spilled, so he was back to having nothing and being poor. What I got from this story was that you should be thankful for what you have, and don’t take it for granted. (Oil in a flask, Source: Oil )

Here is the Link to my Portfolio website: Folklore With a Twist Hope y'all enjoy!

For week 4 I decided to do a story lab versus a story. For the story lab i have decided to learn more about writers block. The article I read was Breaking Down Writers Block by and anonymous writer. The article was very open saying that all writers experience writers block in some form or fashion whether it is a writers still creating work but it just nit being quality, or a writer that can not create work at all. The author said some of the things that can cause writers block, and seeing these writers can look at these and try to avoid these 10 things. The author listed fear, distractions, procrastination, anxiety, self-doubt, fatigue, illness, perfectionism, pressure, depression. These are all key components to the onset of writers block. two of the ones that stuck out to me were self-doubt and perfectionism. These stuck out because i believe these would be the leading causes of writer block in my case. Article Source: Breaking Down Writers Block (Thought this image was fitting...

The story I have chosen for today's reading notes was The Fox and the Crow from Aesop (Jacobs). This was a very interesting story in that it has a very true plot to it that I think everyone should read with an open mind. In the story the fox tricks the crow into dropping the cheese in his beak. He does this by saying how the crows voice must surpass the other birds and that he would like to hear one song, when the crow lifter her head and began to caw the cheese fell out, and the fox quickly snatched it up. The Fox told the crow with a smirk I will give you advice, do not trust flatterers. This was a very good story in that I was almost saying don’t be so open to everyone, because not everyone has good intent. And some people may only be out there to hurt you or steal from you. (A crow with cheese, Source: Crow ) Story Source: The Crow and The Fox

The Story I have chosen to write notes over was Lions Part one From Aesop’s Fables. The Part of the story that I was drawn to was when the lion was telling the other animals what his share would be. He started out by telling them to quarter the animal, after that he said the three quarters were for him and for the fourth quarter, he would like to see who would dare lay a paw on it. Pretty much he is bullying the other animals to get his way. As the fox walked away with his tail between his legs he mumbled something under his breathe that kind of foreshadowed the story. The fox said “You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil. This was very interesting to me in that the fox although scared of the lion, believed that because of the lions inconsideration of others, something bad would happen to him. (Picture is of a Lion, Source: lion ) Source: Lions Part One

The two articles I have chosen to review are Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” and The difference between Praise and Feedback . He has five major points that he stops of which follow as Manipulating children, Creating praise junkies, Stealing a child’s pleasure Losing interest and Reducing achievement.   The two points that drew my attention the most were creating praise junkies this hits on the fact that kids are morphed into just going for the praise instead of working towards a good piece of quality work. This was good, because I think that is what is happening in the younger generation today. The second point of reducing achievement had some interesting points talked about how often times it is seen that kids that are awarded after a first task, often stumble on the next one. The Next article had three main points, Process praise, Praise and Personhood, Praise vs. Feedback. The first point talks about praising someone on the process rather than the outcome of wor...

The topic I have chosen to dive further into is OU ghost stories. This topic has many stories that are possibilities to write about, but the three that I have chosen for this post consist of the following. The Boy skating on elm avenue, Hospital Haunting, and Tri Delta Girl. The Boy skating on Elm Ave would be a possibility for writing a story over. The boy was skating on elm ave when he collapsed, some thought he was struck by a car, while others thought he had an asthma attack. He rushed to Ellison hall where the infirmary was located, but this is where he died. But to this day the motion sensor lights turn on without anybody in the room, as well the elevator goes to random floors when no one is in the building. The Hospital Haunting is the second possible story for the story book. The infirmary was originally named Hygeia hall this one was based off the first story, but people claim to hear roller blades from the boy skating through the hall. He is also known to play marbl...