Class Procedures and Reminders:
Storybook Stack. I don't update the Storybook stack as often on the weekends, but I'll update it at least once or twice. If you want comments back on your assignment sooner rather than later, turn in your work earlier on Sunday rather than waiting until later. If you wait until Sunday evening, you will be farther down in the stack and will have to wait longer for my comments back to you.
New Responding groups. (repeat announcement) The blog responding groups have been shuffled around again this week so you should see one or even two new people in your group. There is also a "getting to know you" extra credit assignment where you can read additional posts from the people in your new group. Details about the extra credit assignment are included in the regular assignment instructions!
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Nina Paley: Sita Sings the Blues. (repeat announcement from Saturday) The people in Indian Epics have now finished two versions of the Ramayana ... so I wanted to share a third version: a feature-length animated film version of the Ramayana by Nina Paley entitled Sita Sings the Blues. People in Indian Epics might enjoy seeing this Sita-oriented take on the epic story, and those of you in Myth-Folklore could use this wonderful film as a way to get to know one of the world's great epics. You can view the movie for free since Nina Paley has made the film available online to everyone. As she explains at the website: From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes.
Featured Storybook: The Vintner's Tale: How Chaucer Ruined The Canterbury Tales. Whether you have read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales or not, you would surely enjoy Lauren Davis's project this semester, in which we find out the real story behind the Tales.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is If I laugh not, how can I live? (a Kashmiri proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I thought this was a lovely proverb from India!
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image is Sita's Departure, when she leaves Rama behind and returns into the Earth, her mother. You can see the Earth Goddess, Bhumi, embracing her as she vanishes.
Sunday Event on Campus: There will be a showing of the Mexican film The Violin (dir. by Francisco Vargas) in the Fred Jones Auditorium at the Art Museum at 4PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
October 6: William Tyndale. On this day in the year 1536, the religious scholar William Tyndale was executed. His crime was translating the Bible into English. He was strangled in a public execution, and his body was then burnt at the stake. His last words were reportedly, "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes!" (the King of England at the time was the notorious Henry VIII). You can read about Willian Tyndale's remarkable life and scholarly career in this Wikipedia article. For a sample of Tyndale's beautiful but very archaic English prose, you can read his rendering of the story of Noah and the Ark. The image below shows Tyndale at the stake:
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
