Thursday, November 16

Today is Thursday of Week 13. If you have not done your story yet for this week, that means today is Storytelling Day... and then Thanksgiving break can begin! Here is a link to all of this week's assignments. You can finish up Week 13 now, or you can do the end-of-week assignments after Thanksgiving, based on what best suits your schedule.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Storytelling style: Second Person. Each week I suggest a storytelling style you might try (previous suggestions: social media, rap, animals, sci-fi, ballads, OU/Norman, gender-flip, screenwriting), and this week I wanted to suggest second person style: the "you" style. For a fantastic example, see Connor's Storybook: Hell on Earth. In this 21st-century version of Dante's Inferno, Vergil does not just show you hell; you live it: The first thing you hear is a whisper, "Wake up." he first thing you notice is the unbearable headache.  Your head throbs to your heartbeat. 

Project Stack. I have just a few Sunday emails left in the stack, and then I'll move on to the assignments turned in during the Monday morning grace period. While you are waiting on comments back from me about your Project assignment, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

My schedule today. I'll get through as much of the stack today as I can, and then I'll finish the Week 12 assignments next Friday (after Thanksgiving), along with any Week 13 assignments I have time for. Meanwhile, don't let my schedule hold you back: you can keep on working ahead on Week 13, Week 14, and even Week 15 assignments: those are all available in Canvas right now, no need to wait!

Extra Credit. There are so many tech tips to try; maybe you can find one that will help deal with the busy end-of-semester, like setting up Canvas notifications or synching the Canvas calendar with your Google or Outlook calendar! 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 is a lovely Latin bookmark. It says "lege lege lege relege labora et invenies," which means: "read read read re-read work and you will find it" ... a motto from the alchemical book, Mutus Liber.

Proverbs. Here is a proverb to warn you about the dangers of multitasking: He that hunts two hares will catch neither.

Storybook Archive. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: The God Hephaestus. The god Hephaestus needs you to understand what the gods of Olympus are really like, and he would know.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Mother Goose: The Old Nursery Rhymes. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. The illustrations are by the wonderful Arthur Rackham:

Story of the Day. Today's story is from the Indian jataka tales: The Woodpecker, The Turtle, and The Deer. This one is a story of animal friendship.

Video: The video for today is The History of English. You can find more great videos at the Open University YouTube channel.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat keeps on practicing: With practice, you can develop new abilities. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: It's Late Night at the Fred Jones Museum tonight until 9PM, with free admission to all (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

November 16: Alan Watts. Today marks the death in the year 1973 of Alan Watts, a Buddhist teacher, speaker, and writer who was a tremendous influence in the spread of Buddhist ideas in the West. You can read more at Wikipedia, and in his memory, I am glad to share this lovely video: Life From Above, and Beyond.

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