Class Procedures and Reminders
My schedule today. I'll be out of the office for a morning appointment from around 9AM until around 11AM, which means I won't be able to answer emails during that time. So, please write with any questions you have, and I'll reply when I get back to the office.
Blog Responding. Everybody should have received at least one comment, and hopefully two, on their Introduction and storytelling post from last week, although in the chaos of add/drop during the first week, that may or may not have happened for everybody. Things should settle down this week, and I'll have the new blog groups ready by 5PM on Thursday. Meanwhile, I'm continuing to make my way through the Introductions, leaving comments. I should be able to get to everybody's Introduction by the end of the week!
Reading Diaries. Thanks to everybody for all the great Reading Diary posts from Monday! You can look at the stream of reading diary posts to see what approaches other people are taking and what they are reading: Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics. And all that reading will result in lots of wonderful stories later this week.
The Dog Ate My Homework. And for the people who think there are too many cats in this class, dogs are also important! :-)
Mythology Words in English: Today's mythology word in English is NARCISSIST. For details, see this blog post. Those of you doing the Ovid I unit in Myth-Folklore will meet Narcissus in the readings!
Featured Storybook: Heroes Revealed: The Truth. Charon the boatman has ferried many heroes to the shores of the afterlife. So that you can learn just what it means to be a hero, Charon will take you to meet Heracles, Beowulf, King Arthur and Cleopatra, who will tell you the stories of their own heroic deeds.
Free Book Online: Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book — and yes, this is the same Alfred Church who did the prose version of the Iliad that some of you may be reading in the Myth-Folklore class this week.
India Comic Book: Heroes of Hampi: The Mythology of Kishkindha. This blog post provides a detailed reading guide for this comic book which is on Reserve in Bizzell Library. It is one of my favorites because it is a way to learn about Hampi (a UNESCO World Heritage site), while also learning about the monkeys of Kishkindha.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Bacchus has drowned more people than Neptune (an English proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. This witty proverb plays with the identities of Bacchus (Dionysus) who is the god of wine and Neptune (Poseidon) who is the god of the seas.
Today's Video: The Aeneid in Latin. If you are curious what a Roman epic sounded like in Roman times, Wilfried Stroh is the best Latin reader you will ever hear! You can watch the Latin and/or English text while he performs.
Growth Mindset. Today's growth mindset cat reminds you: Difficult is not impossible. Details at the blog. Sometimes you might be tempted to take the easy way, and sometimes you might even think that difficult IS impossible... but you should try and see what you can do: maybe difficult is not impossible after all!
Event on Campus. This is a message from Ann-Marie in Myth-Folklore: If you want to be part of the big Soonerthon team this year, applications are due September 4 (details). And thanks to everybody who shared suggestions for announcements in the Review blog posts this weekend!
September 1. Today is the holiday of Kajari Teej, a monsoon festival celebrated by girls and women in honor of the goddess Parvati and her consort Shiva. You can read more at Wikipedia. The image below shows women dancing in a Teej celebration (Wikimedia):
Note: You can page back through the 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.
