Monday, January 23

Today is Monday. Week 1 is now over... and Week 2 has begun. The new week's topic in the Myth-Folklore class is Classical and Biblical stories, and in Indian Epics you'll be starting the Ramayana. You can find the week's assignments at the Class Calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Orientation. Make sure you finish up any missing Orientation Week assignments during the grace period this morning. If you did an assignment but are missing the Canvas Declaration, let me know. You need to complete all the Orientation Week assignments so that you will be ready for Week 2!

Introductions. I hope you all enjoyed getting to comment on people's Introductions and stories this weekend, and you'll be getting visitors to your Introduction all semester long with the new blog groups each week. I hope to leave my own comments on everyone's Introductions by the end of this week.

Project Stack. As people turn in project assignments starting with Week 2, I'll be update the stack so you can be sure I got your assignment while you wait for comments back from me: check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Reading. It's another quote from Games of Thrones: A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.

Creativity. I highly recommend this strategy: When life gets complicated, choose to create.

Words from India. You might be surprised to find out this word comes to English from India: SHAMPOO.

Featured Storybook. This project is from the Indian Epics class: Journey of Festivals. Travel and learn! This Storybook will tell you all about Rama Navami, which is the festival of Rama's own birthday, along with the holiday of "Onam" in which King Mahabali returns to Kerala for every new year, and "Gudi Padwa," a celebration of Brahma's creation of the world.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Eve's Diary and Extracts from Adam's Diary by Mark Twain. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. Yes, this is the same Mark Twain who wrote Huckleberry Finn, and he makes great use of the diary style for a new take on Adam and Eve.

Words of Wisdom: Today's saying is It is not good that man should be alone (a Biblical proverb). Find out more at the Proverb Lab. The words come from the Book of Genesis, 2:18. For those of you who have studied Greek: οὐ καλὸν εἶναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον μόνον.

Video: The video for today is Aeneid Book IV. The founding epic of ancient Rome, Vergil's Aeneid, is not on the reading list for class, but this wonderful performance by Wilfrid Stroh can give you a sense of what an ancient Latin poetry performance might have sounded like.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is ready to unlock the new semester: Make things happen. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: Come to 311 Robertson Hall at noon today for a workshop on New Year’s Disillusions: "find out why resolutions do not work and learn how to develop healthy habits for long-term change" (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

January 23: Charles Kingsley. Today marks the anniversary of the death of the scholar, writer, and social activist Charles Kingsley in 1875; you can find out more about his life and career at Wikipedia. One of his best known books is a retelling of ancient Greek mythology, which you can read free online: The Heroes: Or, Greek Fairy Tales; some editions have illustrations by T. H. Robinson:

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.