Friday, October 4

HAPPY FRIDAY! You have reached the end of Week 7! Here is a link to the class calendar where you can find the link for Week 7 and also Week 8, which is a review week. It's the middle of the semester now... hard to believe, but it's true!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. Yesterday, I replied to the assignments turned in on Sunday, and I'll finish the rest of the Week 6 assignments in the stack today, plus as many of the Week 7 assignments as I can get to also. While you are waiting on comments back from me, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Power of Revision! I want to thank everybody who did revision assignments this past week: I really enjoy getting to see the stories get better as a result of that extra attention. There is still half of the semester to go, and the projects are going to keep growing and getting better. Revision is really the most important part of the writing process, and I hope this class will give you a chance to do a lot of revising so that you can see what a big difference it makes.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I am such a fan of Anansi stories, and so of course I noticed this image from Donovan's reading notes; it's Anansi puppet theater:

Twitter Stream. The #FolkloreThursday Twitter event yesterday was a good one: Bold Girls, Courageous Women and Powerful Goddesses. You can poke around in the hashtag stream and see what you find. There's a new theme every week!

Indian Epics Today. The epic character of the day today is Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandava brothers. You can learn more about Yudhishthira here; this painting shows a critical moment at the end of his life: Yudhishthira and the dog. The dog is really Yudhishthira's father, the god Yama (Dharma), testing him.

Story of the Day. Today's "why" story is about Why the Goat Has a Short Tail. This story also features a dog who is both loyal and very quick-witted too.

Storybooks. Here's a fun Storybook from last year: it takes place in a magical arts and crafts store! Spin Me a Yarn.

Myth-Folklore Video. Here's a Crash Course video about an African hero cycle: The Mwindo Epic.

Words. And here's a word origin that might surprise you: CALICO is a word that comes to English from India, specifically, from the city of Kozhikode (Malayalam Kolikodu) in Kerala, India. Originally it referred to patterned cloth from that city, and then to cats with a calico color pattern; details here.

H.E.A.R.T.. And here's a happy thought for Friday, or any day: This is a wonderful day; I have never seen this one before.

HEART Video. And here's a different way to look at days going by: The Time You Have (In JellyBeans)

Mindset Cats. And the mindset cat is ready for whatever surprises the day might bring: Confront the unknown with curiosity.

Event on Campus. Flu shots are available today at Couch Tower today, 10AM-4PM; see the schedule for other days and locations. Get your flu shot, people!

October 4: Saint Francis - World Animal Day. Today is the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. Because of the special love that Francis had for every creature in the animal kingdom, October 4 is also World Animal Day. You can learn more about Saint Francis at Wikipedia, and the image below is from the World Animal Day website. And Derek is writing a Saint Francis Storybook for the Myth-Folklore class this semester: Visions of Francis: Storybook of a Saint.

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