Tuesday, February 9

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 4, and I've re-arranged the Declarations area in D2L so the new week is on top. If you have not done the first reading for this week yet, you need to do that today. Here is a link to this week's assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. I think I've updated the Stack with all the Storybook and Portfolio emails, and today I'll start working on the assignments in the order they were turned in. You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Extra Credit. Midterms will be starting up in some classes soon, so stacking up some extra credit points is a good idea so that you can give yourself some time off in this class — and remember: you can do extra credit any time during the week if you have a little time to spare; you don't need to wait for the end of the week.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

I Before E Except After C. Here's the Egyptian version:

Mythology Words in English: Today's mythology word in English is AURORA, which is the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn. For details, see this blog post.

Featured Storybook: Tales from the Bayou. Meet Mama Nora, who is full of stories from the backwoods and bayous, and she also has some gumbo and other good Creole cooking to share with you as well. So, be warned: don't read this Storybook on an empty stomach!

Free Book Online: The Cat and the Mouse: A Book of Persian Fairy Tales by Hartwell James. This blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book: it features the story of the cat and the mouse plus other Persian fairy tales as well!

India Featured Book: Sister Nivedita's Ramayana. This blog post provides additional information about this reading option for Indian Epics: it is a one-week version of the Ramayana by Sister Nivedita, one of Swami Vivekananda's followers and an important figure in the transmission of Indian spiritual teachings to the West.

Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is The basket that has two handles can be carried by two (an Egyptian proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. I really like this elegant metaphor for cooperation: two handles are better!

Today's Video: Indian is Not Chaotic. Since this is one of the India weeks in Myth-Folklore, I thought this might be a fun video for everybody this week. Devdutt Pattanaik is one of my favorite writers and speakers on Indian storytelling traditions!

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cats are cooperating: We do things better together. Details at the blog.

Event on Campus: There will be a Francophone World Workshop lecture at noon in Hester Hall 145 by Rokiatou Soumare: "From Senghor to Mabanckou: Parricide and the Ethics of Identity" (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

February 9: Mardi Gras. Today is the Catholic holiday called "Fat Tuesday," or Mardi Gras in French, a traditional time of celebration before the Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday. You can read about the holiday of Mardi Gras in Wikipedia and for a great mixture of Mardi Gras and mythology, I highly recommend the Brazilian film Black Orpheus — this wonderful film is set in Rio during the extravagant Mardi Gras Carnival which is held there every year:


Here's a clip from the movie at YouTube:

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.