Friday, September 15

HAPPY FRIDAY! You have reached the end of Week 4! Here is a link to the class calendar; after you finish this week's assignments, you can start in on Week 5, or maybe do some Week 4 extra credit. There are some fun/useful extra credit options you can find there every week.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. By the end of the day today, I should be able to finish all the assignments that were turned in on or before Thursday; if you turn in something today, I will try to get to it, but if not, then you will be at the top of the stack for Monday. Meanwhile, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Extra Credit. If you're ready for an end-of-the week extra credit option, try the "Famous Last Words" option. It's a good way to celebrate Friday! Find out more in the extra credit section of this week's assignments.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Class Twitter. From yesterday's Twitter @OnlineMythIndia, here are famous novels as pie charts. Check out the article for more.

Words from India. Today's English word from India is AVATAR. Everyone in the Indian Epics class is familiar with this concept now because the hero Rama is an avatar of the god Vishnu! These are the ten avatars, the Dashavatara, of Vishnu:

Storybook Archive. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: Sigurd the Sailor. Instead of a faithful steed, this Sigurd rides a magical ship, sailing forth to do battle with sea-dragons as he seeks adventures worthy of a hero of the Volsungs.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Wonder Tales from the Greek and Roman Myths by Gladys Davidson. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. This is the story of the gods Hermes and Zeus visiting Philemon and Baucis, a story from Ovid that some of you in Myth-Folklore may have read this week:

Story of the Day. Today's story is from the Buddhist jataka tales: The Golden Mallard. This story from India might remind you of the Aesopic fable of the goose that laid the golden egg:

Video: The video for today is Tushar Lall's Game of Thrones with Indian musical styles. Find out more at Tushar Lall's Indian Jam Project at YouTube.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is exploring the power of being different. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: For the last day of Italy week, enjoy donuts on the South Oval from 9AM-11AM and grape taste-testing from 12PM-1PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

September 15: Marco Polo. Today is the birthday of the great Italian explorer Marco Polo, who was born in the year 1254. Marco Polo together with his father and his uncle were among the first Europeans to travel and live in China; Marco spent almost 20 years in Asia. You can read more about Marco Polo in the detailed article at Wikipedia, which is also the source for this image, an illustration from the book that Marco Polo wrote about his travels:

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