Class Procedures and Reminders:
Storybook Stack. (repeat announcement) I don't update the Storybook stack as often on the weekends, but you can check there to make sure I received your assignment; I'll update it at least once or twice over the weekend. If you want comments back on your assignment sooner rather than later, don't wait until Sunday evening. If you wait until Sunday evening or the Monday grace period, you will be farther down in the stack and will have to wait longer for my comments back to you - especially next week, since it will be a busy week with a lot of new stories coming in!
Alternate Storybook Schedule. (repeat announcement) There are all kinds of reasons why people might miss a week for the Storybook, and it is not a problem. You can even miss two or three weeks and still end up with a total of three stories in your Storybook, which is just fine! For those of you out of town this weekend who might not have time to finish your second story for Week 8, don't worry - you can turn in the second story for Week 9 (and the third story in Week 11 and a fourth story in Week 13). For more information about how the alternate schedules work, see this page: Storybook Schedule FAQ.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Featured Tech Tip: Speech Bubbles. Here's an easy way to customize an image and make it your own, adding a speech bubble (or speech bubbles) to an existing image.
Featured Storybook: Paranormal: The Ayodhya Files. In Lyndsey's Indian Epics Storybook for this semester, you see the current generation of demon hunters, modern-day sons of Dasaratha, doing battle with supernatural forces in our own world.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Be encouraged, O pilgrim, though your destination is far off (a proverb from India). Details at the Proverb Lab. The image shows a pilgrim on the way to Mount Kailash.
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image is Rama Leaving the Earth. Rama's ascent took place on the banks of the Sarayu river.
October 13: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Today marks the birthday in 1948 of the great Pakistani qawwali singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Sadly, he died in 1997, but he left behind an amazing musical career with many beautiful recordings. You can read more about his career and legacy in this Wikipedia article. I was lucky enough to hear him perform in 1994, and it was one of the most marvelous concerts I have ever attended. Qawwali is a musical style traditionally associated with Sufism (that should mean something to those of you in Myth-Folklore who read about Rumi back in Week 6). There are some wonderful concert recordings at YouTube (this particular video has had over two million views - wow!) - and here is a picture that give you a sense of what his ecstatic concert performances looked like:
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
