Wednesday, February 14

Today is Wednesday of Week 5. The second part of the reading is due today, and I hope you are finding some ideas for your own story this week! Here is a link to the Week 5 assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Success Tip: Use the Suggestion Box. If there is something I can be doing that would help make this class a success for you, you can let me know, either by email or via the (anonymous) Suggestion Box; you can see the Suggestion Box in the blog sidebar too. I have gotten so many good ideas for improving this class from the suggestions of past students. We all need feedback. :-)

Project Stack. If you turned in an assignment by noon on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already; I'll be working on the Sunday afternoon assignments today. 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.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I really enjoy the Tech Tips where people use online tools to create things, so I wanted to share this motto from Jake M.'s blog that he made into a Canva graphic:


Myth Item. Here's an Egyptian item I found at Twitter: King Tut's Blade, Made from a Meteor. Making blades out of meteors definitely sounds mythological... and magical too!


India Video: I shared this video way back at the start of the semester, and now everybody in Indian Epics will understand all the characters mentioned in the lyrics: MC Yogi's Hanuman, with some great kirtan from Krishna Das too:


Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb comes from India and is inspired by the Ramayana: The birth of a golden deer is impossible; nevertheless, Rama longed for the chase. Find out more at the Proverb Laboratory.


Myth Book Online: Here's a lovely book of stories from the Middle East that is free online: The Cat and the Mouse: A Book of Persian Fairy Tales by Hartwell James. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents.


Writing: I'm sure you are all experiencing the ups and downs of the Stages of Writing... my advice: enjoy the ups while they last, and remember that downs are part of the process too.


Reading: Here's a graphic to inspire your reading today: Reading is dreaming with open eyes.


Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat knows that everyone learns differently: Find your own path! You can learn more at the Growth Mindset blog.


Video: As you all know by now, I am not a fan of grades, which means I am also interested in the history of this bad business, and I thought you might enjoy this PBS video: Why do we get grades in school?


Event on Campus: Come hear poet Steve Langan talk about "the writing life" in this World Literature Today event at 4PM in Monnet Hall 110 (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online. Here's the cover of one of Langan's books:


Valentine's Day: Green M-and-M Legend. In honor of Valentine's Day, here is a Valentine's Day Legend from Snopes.com. Ten years ago, in 2008, the Mars Candy Company promoted the distribution of packages of all-green M-and-M candies because the green candies are supposedly an aphrodisiac — true or false??? Well, Snopes.com tells us that is true that Mars promoted the green candies for Valentine's Day, but as to whether the green M-and-Ms really are an aphrodisiac, Snopes.com is not saying! Other legends about the candy colors are as follows: orange ones are good luck, brown ones are bad luck, and if you get a red one last out of the bag, you should make a wish and it will come true. As for the green M-and-Ms being an aphrodisiac, no one is quite sure how this rumor got started, but it has been circulating since the 1970s! Happy Valentine's Day!


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