Wednesday, October 2

Today is Wednesday of Week 7. Here is a link to this week's assignments. I hope you are finding some good story material you can use from the reading this week for writing your own story!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Week 2 and Week 3 Stories. With the randomizer, I try to make sure every story gets at least two comments, but it's easy for me to miss something. Any stories you wrote back in Week 2 or Week 3 should have gotten those two comments by now, but if you have a story from one of those weeks in your blog that didn't get two comments, let me know, and I'll put it back in the randomizer. (Right now, the randomizer has stories from Weeks 4-7.)

Project Stack. If you turned something in before 3PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now, and I'll keep working on the Sunday assignments today. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I shared Kaitlyn's favicon last week, and now Brooke has added a favicon to her blog too: a growing plant! You can find out more at Brooke's blog, and here's how you can add a favicon to your blog if you want.

Twitter Stream. Yesterday was October 1, which means it was the first day of the #InkTober challenge at Twitter, with a new prompt for drawing every day. Yesterday, the prompt was "ring" and there were so many great drawings that people shared; I've included two below. I know some of you are artists, so if you do an Inktober drawing at Twitter, let me know and I will share it in the announcements!

Story of the Day. Not only does this story from Jamaica explain why goats are stinky, it also features a shirt that can talk! Why Brer Goat Stinks:

Indian Epics Today. The character of the day is Kunti, wife of King Pandu and mother of the Pandava heroes Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. More about Kunti here, and also in this Epified video:

Storybooks. Some of you in Myth-Folklore are reading Japanese stories this week, so here's a Storybook based on Japanese urban legends: Tokyo Underworld.

Myth-Folklore Video. And here's a video about a famous animal from Japanese folklore, the tanuki, or raccoon-dog.

Proverbs. Plus, a proverb from Japan: Someone who stands behind a wall can see nothing else.

Writing. And as you are reading stories this week and writing your own, ponder these words from J.K. Rowling: There's always room for a story that can transport people to another place.

Mindset Cats. Today's mindset cat reminds you to keep asking questions. That's a great way to come up with your own story; just ask yourself, "What if...?"

HEART Video. Plus some advice from Alan Alda about empathy and perception: Grow Your Empathy Through Better Visual Perception.

xxx

Event near Campus. There will be a poetry reading by Sarah McKinstry-Brown, 6:30PM - 8:30PM at the MAINSITE Gallery on 112 E. Main St. You can find out more at the OU Daily: Nebraska poet brings feminist, Greek myth poetry to Norman.

October 2: Gandhi Jayanti. Today is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti; he was born on this day in 1869, 150 years ago. You can read more about this holiday at Wikipedia. Below is some sand-art from Sudarsan Pattnaik to celebrate, using his nickname Bapu ("papa") / Bapu-Ji... there's even an emoji:

And you can follow the Gandhi Jayanti holiday at Twitter. For Gandhi Jayanti, people often sing the devotional song called Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram in his memory. You can read the lyrics here, and you can listen to the song in this video; you can also read about Gandhi's devotion to Rama in a book that he wrote entitled Ramanama, "The Name of Rama."

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