Wednesday, September 6

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 3. It's time for the second part of this week's reading, and I hope you are getting some good ideas for a story you want to tell! Here is a link to this week's assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. I'm working my way through the Stack, and if you turned in your assignment before Saturday at 7PM you should have comments back from me. I'll finish the Saturday assignments today and then I'll get to work on the assignments turned in on Sunday. While you are waiting on comments back from me, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

Extra Credit. Every week there is an extra credit reading option, so if you had fun with the reading, keep on reading! Find out more in the extra credit section of this week's assignments. There is always more to read, and there are always more things you can learn by reading more.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Class Twitter. From yesterday's Twitter @OnlineMythIndia, here is an article about Sister Nivedita, one of the main authors I rely on in the Indian Epics class: The Scientist and the Nun: How Sister Nivedita Made Sure J.C. Bose Never Gave Up.

Cartoons. Some of you in Myth-Folklore are reading about Odysseus and the Sirens this week, so I thought this would be fun to share: Ancient Greek Mythology: Then and Now.

Storybook Archive. This project is from the Indian Epics class: 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: Today's free book is Legends of Old Testament Characters From the Talmud and Other Sources by Sabine Baring-Gould. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. This is a great source for stories about Bible characters that go beyond the Bible.

Story of the Day. Today's story is from the Santal people of India: The King and his Inquisitive Queen. It's a story about what happens when a human king learns to understand the language of animals.

Video: The video for today is Grammar Lessons with Food. It's important to know the difference between a man eating chicken and a man-eating chicken: your life could depend on it! :-)

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset kittens are excited by new ideas. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: One of OU's great professors, David Levy, will be giving a lunch-time talk today, "Mark Twain and the Jews," at noon in the OMU Heritage Room (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

September 6: Robert Pirsig. September 6, marks the birthday of Robert Pirsig, who was born in 1928; his birthday has a special meaning today as he died just a few months ago, in April 2017. Pirsig is the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I first read this book in 1980 when I was 16 years old, and I've read it again pretty much every year or every other year since then — so, yep, that's about thirty times by now. Every time I come back to it, I learn something new. The novel is about a motorcycle journey that Pirsig took across the country in 1968 together with his young son, Chris. Below is a picture from the trip showing the two of them on the bike; you can learn more about Pirsig in this Wikipedia article.

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