Class Procedures and Reminders:
Week 2 Read and Respond (blog comment) assignment. People have been busy posting in their blogs, so you can now complete the Read and Respond assignment for Week 2. You can do that today, or on Saturday or Sunday if you prefer (the usual Monday morning grace period applies if for some unexpected reason you do not finish over the weekend). There is also an extra credit responding option if you want to read and comment on some more blog posts; you will find information about that in the regular assignment instructions.
Storybook assignments. As of the end of the day on Thursday, I had just a few Storybooks in the stack, although I am sure some more will come in on Friday. I will read and reply to as many Storybook assignments as I can on Friday, and the ones that are left will be at the top of the stack on Monday morning. As always, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Writing Humor: Grammar Lessons with Food. This video is a fun way to think about some of the weird rules of English writing. My favorite part is about the "man eating chicken" versus the "man-eating chicken" - yes, a hyphen can be a matter of life or death!
Foreign Words in English: Today's foreign word in English is swastika. You might be surprised to find out that this word comes to English from Sanskrit. For details, see this blog post. The Sanskrit word is a compound: su-astika, meaning well-being, having good luck, fortunate, and it was originally a good luck symbol.
Featured Storybook: Project Humanity. AXKZ-1029 has been put in charge of the "Human Research Program," seeking to understand these strange creatures who had once inhabited the Earth, the "humans" as they called themselves, by reading their ancient myths and legends. What AXKZ learns from those stories will change him, and the Earth itself, forever.
FREE Kindle eBook: Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by Donald A. MacKenzie. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book, which is by the author of the book that was the source for the Egypt readings in Myth-Folklore this week, Donald MacKenzie.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Dawn does not come twice to wake us (a South African proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I have to confess, however, that I am not the kind of person who gets up at dawn! Luckily, though, the proverb works both literally and metaphorically. :-)
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image is the wedding of Rama and Sita. Notice also the bow of Shiva lying on the ground in pieces, a reminder of how Rama won the contest to become Sita's husband.
Story Idea: Some wonderful tips from Kurt Vonnegut on How to Write a Great Story.
Friday Event on Campus: There will be free Laser Tag in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom of the Union from 7PM to 9Pm (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Friday 8PM: Ramayana Reading. (repeat announcement) I was very excited to learn from Julie in Indian Epics that there will be a Ramayana reading series, starting this Friday at 8PM, at the Ashtanga Yoga Studio in Norman. Details at the Facebook page or at the Ashtanga Yoga website. If any of you are able to attend, I am sure that you would enjoy it very much!
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
