I'm back! It's Monday evening, and I'll respond to any urgent emails tonight, and then I'll reply to other email and get to work on the Project Stack on Tuesday morning. Thanks for your patience with my slow email replies this weekend!
Today is Monday. Week 3 is now over... and Week 4 has begun. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you did not finish the final Week 3 assignments. This week's topic in the Myth-Folklore class is now stories from the Middle East or India, and in Indian Epics, you will be looking at the Ramayana from a new angle.
Class Procedures and Reminders
My Schedule. I'll be in transit for most of the day today, but if you have any questions, send me an email. If it's something urgent, I'll answer on Monday night when I get home; otherwise, I will get back to you on Tuesday morning.
Project Stack. When I get back home late on Monday, I'll update the stack so that you will know I received your assignment, and then on Tuesday, I'll start replying to the projects in the order that they were turned in. I'll be sure to get comments back to everybody by the end of the week!
Starting Week 4. Many of you have your first day of the week as Monday! I won't be home to send around the usual reminder email, but do get started on the reading today, and I hope you will enjoy moving on to something new (new region in Myth-Folklore, new Ramayana in Indian Epics).
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Show Your Thinking. The next time a test question tells you to "show your thinking," you might do what Bobby did here:
Indian Words in English: Today's word from India in English is BANGLE from the Hindi word bangri. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Hanuman and the Naked Philosophers. Mark and his friends are in possession of an ancient Greek manuscript bearing the name Χάνουμαν — could this be a Greek account of Hanuman, the flying monkey god and most devoted follower of Rama?
Free Book Online: Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers by Laura Valentine. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book, which includes one of my personal favorites: the legend of The Seven Sleepers.
India Featured Book: Ideal Indian Women: Sita, Promila, and Shakuntala by Sunity Devee. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics which is one of the choices for Week 4.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Every man has in his heart a lion that sleeps (an Armenian proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. Things can get exciting when the lion wakes up!
Today's Video: Dhaai Aaakhar Naam. This Maati Baani video features a Khasi folksinger... and some of you may be reading Khasi folktales in Myth-Folklore this week as part of the India options.
Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat knows the power of yet: What is this? I don't know ... yet. Details at the blog.
Event on Campus: Drop by the UPB table in the first floor of the Union to enjoy some Chinese New Year treats (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
Chinese New Year. Today is the lunar New Year, the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac. You can read more about the Chinese New Year tradition in this Wikipedia article. In the Chinese zodiac, the different animal years are also associated with different elements, creating a sixty-year cycle, and this is the year of the monkey whose element is fire, the Fire-Monkey (wallpaper):
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.
