Class Procedures and Reminders:
Storybook stack. As always on Monday, the first thing I will do when I get to work is to update the list of items in the Storybook stack. So, after 9AM or so on Monday, you will be able to check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in, beginning with the assignments turned in on Friday and Saturday. If you turned your assignment in on Sunday, you will need to wait a bit longer for comments... which is yet another good reason to work ahead instead of waiting until the last day to turn in an assignment.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Education Resource: Failing Superman. I am glad to share this wonderful video by Marc-Andre Lalande, both for its use of mythological superheroes as schoolchildren and also for its sharp critique of conventional education.
Writing Resource: Writing Advice from C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite pieces of advice here is to avoid abstractions: Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”
Words to Watch: Today's words to watch out for are PEDAL and PETAL. So, you put the pedal — not petal — to the metal! For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Luminescent: The Supernatural Creature Laboratory. Have you heard of The Island of Doctor Moreau? In this modern Moreau story, weird creatures — including an Egungun from Africa, the Headless Horseman of American legend — have been collected and caged for scientific study. But what happens if the creatures break out of their cages?
FREE Kindle eBook: The Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. This is the source for the stories of Sindbad in the Week 6 unit coming up for Myth-Folklore!
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is The smaller the lizard, the greater its hope of becoming a crocodile (an Ethiopian proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I can relate to that lizard! :-)
Ramayana Image: Today's Ramayana image shows The Death of Vali. You can see Vali's son kneeling at the feet of his father, while his wife Tara cradles his head; Hanuman also mourns the dying king, while his brother Sugriva speaks with Rama and Lakshmana off to the side.
Monday Event on Campus: The "OM: Find Your Calm" series continues at Huston Huffman, with Guided Relaxation from 3:30PM - 4:30PM today (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
February 17: Loreena McKennit. Today marks the birthday in 1957 of the Canadian musician Loreena McKennit. Happy birthday, Loreena! In the spirit of myth and folklore, Loreena has done wonderful work with traditional ballads and melodies from Celtic and Middle Eastern traditions and has created a distinctive wonderful style all her own. You can read about her work and career in this Wikipedia article, and you can listen to her marvelous rendition of the traditional ballad, The Highwayman, here at YouTube.com.
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
