Week 1 Introduction

Hi everyone!

    I'm a senior here at the University of Oklahoma and I am HES Pre-Med major.  I am currently in Human Anatomy, Wellness in Native Communities, Human Sexuality II, and of course this class, Mythology and Folklore.  I'm unfortunately not much of a go-getter so I am not involved much on campus, but I still do a lot of work with my church back in my hometown.  I play the banjo, too many video games unfortunately, tennis, table tennis, and volleyball.  My favorite movies are Star Wars, just about anything Marvel, and Tropic Thunder.  I really enjoy bluegrass (hence why I play banjo), alternative, and indie rock.  Several of my favorite bands/artists are Mumford and Sons, Trampled by Turtles, and Old Crow Medicine Show.  I burnt myself out of reading while in High School so I don't read much anymore other than what is assigned.  One of my favorite things are LEGO, which even though I am much older than the suggested age, I still enjoy building.  If they weren't so expensive and hard to come by I would probably still buy them.

(Personal photo of me and my Lego obsession; photo from January 2012)

   I have a cat named Skippyjon Jones, or just Skippy for short, who is a goofball.  He got that name titular character from the story, Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner, due to his resemblance and how he generally gets into mischief.

 (Personal photo of my cat Skippy; photo from June 2014)

    This summer, I worked for my dad in the oil patch and also took Human Physiology here at OU, so I didn't get much of a break.  Its been nice for a change though because I felt like when I came into this semester, I was already in the swing of things and not lulled into a false sense of security that usually comes from having a summer off.

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

Beowulf: King of the Geats
        This was the first storybook that I read and I enjoyed the content and the deeper elaboration with perspective that was not previously included in the original telling.  While I have an understanding of Beowulf, I have never personally read it but the title was direct.  The introduction was also direct in telling the topic and adding to interest.  My main complaint, which was my own fault, was that the page loaded where you could not tell there would be more to the introduction so I began reading this storybook confused since I thought it would be a journal of just Beowulf's.  Secondly, the font style was difficult to read, so while it looked like cursive writing, it also was difficult to read.

Blackbeard the Wretched Pirate
           The second storybook that I read was a little lackluster in my opinion.  While it definitely was a good storybook, I personally was bored while reading it.  Topically, I know who Edward Teach was and several of his escapades, but not really in much detail, so while this storybook was informative, it read more like a history book with some pirate catchphrases thrown in instead of a mythology or an old story.

Tales of Grimm
             This was my favorite storybook due to the author's captivating writing style and very smooth, in fact unnoticeable transitions.  The author used very familiar titles but for some reason they seemed presented very freshly.  The introduction also was engaging albeit I am not a young lass as mentioned by the author but I nevertheless it was smoothly written.  The design of the page was crisp and easy to read unlike a couple of others I read, but it was a little too plain, something more fairy tale like would have been nice.  Lastly her use of tying all of the stories together was nice and made the whole storybook feel more cohesive.

Week 1: Un-Textbook

Un-Textbook

Izanagi and Izanami

            I chose this selection because I am a anime nerd so I figured I would enjoy reading something else of Japanese origin.  I specifically chose this selection because many of the names and terms in "Izanagi and Izanami" are used frequently in an anime I watch.  Having a Christian background, it is neat to see several parallels between my faith and what was written in this story, such as there being chaos before creation and the imagery of a uncontrolled sea or watery expanse.  The ending was a bit more morose than I expected though but all in all was an interesting read, albeit a little hard to follow.

Infancy Gospels:  Jesus the Exorcist

              I chose this selection because honestly, I found the title to be amusing.  What I found to be most interesting about this story is the divinity given to Mary.  However my only note of the story would the title is kind of misleading, as Jesus has little to do with the story and Mary is the one who uses articles of clothing that Jesus was wrapped in.

Jataka Tales:  The Stupid Monkeys

               I chose this story because I wanted to do a random story and this one caught my eye.  It reminded me a lot of an Aesop fable or even a parable of Jesus.  

Cherokee:  How the Terrapin Beat the Rabbit

               For this last selection, I chose "How the Terrapin Beat the Rabbit" because I tried to make a fairly diverse list and this one caught my eye since it has a similar title as the story we all grow up hearing.  After reading it, I realized, due to my childhood of watching cartoons, that Looney Tunes copied this telling of this story with a synopsis here:  Tortoise beats Hare.

Week 1 Storytelling: The Skank and the Neighbor

THE SKANK AND THE NEIGHBOR

The skank always sleeps during the day since she is always hung over from the previous night's escapades.  When the sun goes down and the bars open up however, she puts on her shiniest, most revealing outfit and puts on her makeup warpaint. Soon, her obnoxiously loud "Oh My God's" and "Literally's" can be heard all around campus corner, and she begins her hunt for the athletes and older fraternity members with whom she loves to hook up.

metro.co.uk 

Now there was a certain older skank who had become very cranky after failing so many classes and lost her father's financial support, and she would explode with anger if anyone interrupted her beauty sleep. One fall semester afternoon as she was crashing in her apartment suffering from a major hangover, her next door neighbor started watching a movie loudly on his new surround sound system. She made her way outside and traveled to her neighbor's door.
"Hey turn that crap down," she said to her neighbor. "What's your problem? You are literally so loud right now, just saying!"
But her neighbor said that he could do whatever he wanted in his own apartment and it wasn't passed quiet hours yet. After that, he turned the volume up on his surround sound even louder to the point it would reverberate the thin walls.
The skank knew that she wouldn't get anywhere trying to convince her neighbor to turn down the tv. She also wasn't all the way sober from the night before and all of the free drinks she had accumulated through the night. So she changed her attitude quickly and said to him with a flirty tone.
"Well," she said, "do you mind if I watch it with you, I literally love this movie. Actually, I've got some pop and sour patch kids that I've been saving up and we can snuggle up and watch it in my apartment on my comfy bed and eat snacks and maybe do some more stuff."
The one tracked minded guy was taken in by the skank's advances. So he grabbed his movie and bolted over to her apartment, where upon entering he was pelted with the previous nights beer bottles and left with a concussion and glass shard cuts.

Why can't girls travel in groups of 2 or 4?

Because they can't even. 

Author's Note:  I used the Aesop fable "The Owl and the Grasshopper" as inspiration for this story, which can be found at Gutenburg.  I used the idea of a morally ambiguous girl for this retelling mainly because I couldn't think of anything else and the stereotypical college girl is always funny to me, so sorry if this is offensive to anyone, I was having a brain fart so this had to do.

Bibliography:  "The Owl and the Grasshopper" by ÆSOP, from The ÆSOP for Children

(1919). Web Source: Gutenburg

Week 1: Favorite Place... My hometown

   Well, I am a bit of a homebody so my favorite place is my hometown, Bristow, OK. While it definitely isn't the best town around and in fact sometimes stinks, I still love the place and specifically the people there.  My favorite place there, my grandparents' house, is where I love spending time. 

(Image Information: picture taken by my sister of our grandparents' driveway, Nov. 2013)

My grandma makes fantastic desserts, such as cherry pie, and plays piano amazingly.  My grandpa hunts and fishes, and I've spent many days out on a boat frailing the waters hoping to find enough bass for a fish fry.