Friday, February 1

HAPPY FRIDAY! Today is Friday of Week 3. Here is a link to the Week 3 assignments, and if you're ready to get a head start, the Week 4 assignments are available now too!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Other people's stories. For the regular Week 3 blog comments, you will be reading people's stories from Week 2 and Week 3. Plus, if you are curious and want to read more stories, you can always do the extra credit commenting option that's available each week. Reading other people's stories can be a great way to ignite your own creativity!

Project Stack. If you turned in something before Thursday, you should have gotten comments back from me by now. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email. I reply to the items in the stack in the order that they are turned in, so the sooner you turn in your next project assignment, the sooner you will get comments back from me next week.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Story Stream. And speaking of stories, take a look at the first story in Spencer's Portfolio: it is the story of the three little pigs, but in verse... and very elegant verse it is: The Three Little Pigs.

Free Book Online. Today's free book is Strange Ways and Sweet Dreams: Afro-American folklore from the Hampton Institute edited by Donald J. Waters. You can find out more about Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, at Wikipedia.

(Hampton Institute, 1899)

Free Audiobook. Today's free audiobook is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Hesse's German novel has even been translated into Sanskrit! This is the book cover of the Sanskrit edition:

Featured Storybook. The Ramayana is an ancient epic, but this Storybook shows that it can be a modern story too: Paranormal: The Ayodhya Files. Right here, right now, the brothers Rama and Lakshmana are battling demons in Boston and New York, unaware that they are caught up in an ancient battle being fought all over again.

India Video. And if you are curious to hear the Ramayana recited, here is a reading by one of my professors at Berkeley, Robert Goldman: Mourning for the Death of Ravana.

Myth Video. And here's a wonderfully creative adaptation of classical mythology: the modern musical Hadestown.

Myth Item. If you look carefully, you might see the ancient hero Hercules in this popular modern meme: Hercules and the Distracted Boyfriend.

Writing. And here's some ancient writing humor: Ancient Grammar Police.

Growth Mindset Cats. I also hope you have learned new things this week.

And here's a fun growth mindset video... with Muppets! Plus Janelle Monae! The Power of Yet.

Event on Campus. There will be free showings of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald at 6PM, 9PM, and midnight in Meacham (details).

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

February 1: Langston Hughes. Today, February 1, marks the birthday of the African-American poet, Langston Hughes, who was born in 1902. He was one of the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, and you can read about his remarkable life and career in this Wikipedia article.

(cover of Weary Blues, 1926)

Here's a video interpretation of "Weary Blues" that I found at YouTube.

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