Class Procedures and Reminders
Portfolios/Storybooks. You can check the contents of the stack here, and I'll update the listing at least once or twice over the weekend. If your Storybook/Portfolio assignment will give you the points that allow you to finish up the class, send me a separate email so that I will know to put your assignment at the top of the stack on Monday!
Week 12 UnTextbook Report. Thanks as always to the people who filled out the Google Form with your comments and feedback about the British Isles, second week. I've written up the results here: Week 12 UnTextbook Report. I am so glad people enjoyed the stories from the British Isles. Starting next week, you have two weeks to spend in Europe, and I hope you will enjoy those reading selections also. :-)
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Learning Resource: The 12 Must-Have Skills Of Modern Learners. This great graphic is by Jackie Gerstein, who writes the User-Generated Education blog. Hopefully you have practiced some of these skills as part of your work in this class.
Words to Watch: Today's words to watch out for are DOSE and DOZE. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Shadows of the Ishvara: A Search for the Truth. Where are the gods in the modern world? A young man in possession of a sword inscribed with the word "TRUTH" has decided to go on a quest for the gods Brahma, Vishnu, Yama and, finally, Shiva.
FREE Kindle eBook: Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks from La Fontaine by W. T. Larned. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book which is one of the sources for the La Fontaine unit coming up in Myth-Folklore next week. The verse fables of La Fontaine are probably the most well known literary version of Aesop's fables in the world. So, if you are a fan of Aesop, consider giving La Fontaine a try!
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is A clever bird builds its nest with other birds’ feathers (a proverb from Zimbabwe). Details at the Proverb Lab. This proverb is a great metaphor for what you are doing when you re-tell stories in this class!
Mahabharata Image: Today's Mahabharata image is Shiva and Parvati. If you look closely, you can see that Shiva is wearing a garland of skulls.
Saturday Event on Campus: The College of Arts and Sciences BBQ bash starts at 8:30 AM with breakfast tacos from Rudy's at the Arts and Sciences Plaza, located behind Ellison Hall (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Saturday, November 8: Bram Stoker. November 8 marks the birthday in 1847 of the Irish novelist Bram Stoker who is, of course, most famous for his invention of the modern literary figure of Count Dracula, published in 1897. Stoker's Count Dracula along with other vampire traditions has in turn given rise to a whole genre of modern vampire fiction including the recent Twilight series of novels by Stephanie Meyer. You can read more about Stoker's life and career in this Wikipedia article. Stoker's Dracula has inspired many later novels, films and even comic books, but I will confess that my favorite Dracula is Count von Count of the Muppets!
Here is a YouTube of Patrick Stewart and the Count:Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed, and you can check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day.
