Monday, November 5

Today is Monday of Week 12. Yes, it really is Week 12! Three more weeks plus Dead Week: that's what's left of the semester, although it's hard to believe, isn't it? Here is a link to the Week 12 assignments (and here's Week 11 for those of you using the grace period this morning).

Class Procedures and Reminders

Week 12 Reading. In Myth-Folklore, Week 12 is the first British/Celtic week (details), and in Indian Epics, it's start of the free reading weeks: more epics, more jatakas, more gods and goddesses — whatever inspires you (details). I hope you will enjoy the reading this week!

Project Stack. As always, the stack is huge on Monday! I will start with the projects that were turned in last week on Wednesday and Thursday, and hopefully I'll read as many of the Friday items as I can today. You can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. You can make memes for anything, including your reading notes! Here's an adorable Cheezburger meme that Madi made for her reading notes last week: Native American Marriage Tales.

Featured Storybook. Here's one from the Myth-Folklore class: Hotel California. In this eerie Storybook, Daphne and Felix Cross check into the Hotel California and — just as you would expect — they can check out any time they like, but they can never leave...

As the semester winds down, I am repeating favorite items from earlier announcements; these items come from Week 1:

Myth Item. And here's some mythology on campus: OU has a sphinx.

Myth Video. Are aliens part of modern mythology? Absolutely. Here's an Aeon video about that: Stranger Aliens.

India Video. Here's a video by one of my favorite musicians from India, Bickram Ghosh.

India Item. I am a fan of proverbs, and Indian literature is full of proverbs; this one comes from the ancient story collection called the Hitopadesha: The chariot will not move upon a single wheel.

Writing. In the immortal words of Star Trek, I hope you will boldly write what no one has written before.

And here is some technology humor: The Joy of Tech-Meditation: In your mind's browser, clear your cache... now delete your history... now navigate to a blank web page.

Growth Mindset Cats. One way to grow is by creating your online presence.

Plus one of my favorite videos about readers and books: Unread Book: Just Read... yes, really: it's Bruno Mars's Uptown Funk in a library!

Event on Campus. As part of African Week, it's African Zumba tonight at 9PM at Sarkeys Fitness Center, Studio B (details).

Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

November 5: Dhanteras. Today is the holiday of Dhanteras. The festival celebrates Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, and also Kubera, the treasure-keeper of the gods. You can read more about the holiday and its legends at Wikipedia. Here is a graphic from Devdutt Pattanaik, plus a related article: Daughter of Demons.

Here is Dhanteras wallpaper with Lakshmi's footsteps and the lucky sign of the su-astika:

Here's a rangoli video for Lakshmi's footprints:

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