Monday, September 2: LABOR DAY

Today is LABOR DAY, and it is a school holiday. Week 3 will start tomorrow, Tuesday, and I'll start replying to your projects then; here's the stack.

Week 2 grace period. If you have not finished the end-of-week assignments from Week 2, you can do that today, or you can do that on Tuesday morning. Normally the grace period would be on Monday morning until noon, but because of the holiday, the grace period for finishing up Week 2 will be Tuesday morning until noon. Here's a link to the previous Week 2 announcements.

ABOUT LABOR DAY

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. (U.S. Department of Labor) 

The state motto of Oklahoma is in Latin: Labor omnia vincit. In English: Work conquers all, i.e. if you work hard, you can overcome all obstacles. I made a Latin LOLCat in honor of the state motto:

This bookplate illustrates the motto with an ant because ants are proverbially hard-working (like in Aesop's fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper).

Here is a U.S. Postage stamp from 1956 in honor of the holiday: Labor is life.

The image below shows a Labor Day poster from 1942, with Labor smashing the Axis powers:

And for a video, here's a special tribute to the hard-working farmers of India: Saccha Mitr (True Friend) - A Salute To Our Farmers.

As always, see the Online Myth India Twitter stream for more stuff, and here's a link to the previous Week 2 announcements.

Final Announcements for Fall 2019

You have reached the end of Week 15... and the end of the class! Below you will find some important information about the end of the class:

Check your blogs for comments. People have been leaving comments on blog posts and blog comment walls up until the last day of class, including Friday morning, so take a look at the comments on your blog to see if you find anything new.

Blogs and Websites. I hope very much that you will want to leave your Storybooks and Portfolios online; more information here: Storybook and Blog Options.

Class Announcements. If you are subscribed to the class announcements by email, you can decide if you want to stay on the list or unsubscribe (there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email). Each semester the announcements is a mix of new and old items, so perhaps you would enjoy staying on the list just for fun. :-)

Grades. You can see your total points in Canvas (410/A, 360/B, 320/C, 301/D), and I'll file the grades in the Banner System on Friday afternoon.

Course Evaluation. If you have not filled out the course evaluation yet at eval.ou.edu, I hope you will take a minute to do that — you might even win an iPad! It's always my personal goal to get the response rate up to around 75% or even better... and I need your help! Here's what the current response rate shows:

Advice Padlet. There is a Padlet to share advice with future students, and some of you may have already added some advice there back in Week 14 (thank you for that!). If you have other thoughts to add, please feel free to do that now: Advice Padlet.

And, last but not least, a big THANK YOU to everybody for all your great work in this class. I had a wonderful time this semester, and I hope you had fun too!

~ ~ ~

Finally, I thought you might enjoy this amazing video of Eric Whitacre's virtual choir, composed of thousands of voices singing together to tell a beautiful story: Fly to Paradise.

With wishes of peace and joy in many languages...

As always, see the

Online Myth India Twitter stream for more...

Fall 2019: Dead Week

It is now Week 15, a.k.a. Dead Week. Here is a link to Week 15.

Class is over this Friday at noon. For those of you who are using Week 15 assignments to complete the class, make sure you finish by Friday at noon!

I'm not posting new daily announcements now, but I will post one final set of announcements here on Friday, the last day of class.

~ ~ ~

Project stack. As of Thursday morning, there are only final revision assignments in the stack. If you are turning in final revisions for Week 15, here is how that works: final revisions.

Finishing up. When you reach the points you need to be done with the class (410=A, 360=B, 320=C), you can fill out the "Finished" form in Canvas to let me know you are done.

Past announcements. I'm not doing new announcements during Dead Week, but if you want to browse the announcements for the previous two weeks (like if you are doing the Backup/Review extra credit option for Week 15), here are links you can use: Week 12 - Week 13 - Week 14.

Videos

And to keep things lively, here are some random videos. Reload the page for more. :-)

Fall 2019: Final Weekend

I hope everybody had a lovely holiday! This weekend is now the last weekend in this class. (There is a Week 15, but it ends on Friday at noon; see the class calendar for details.) So, especially if you do most of your course work over the weekends, try to finish up this weekend if you can!

I'm not posting new daily announcements now, but I will post another update when Week 15 starts on Monday. 

~ ~ ~

Week 14 Project. Week 14 is the last week when you can add a new story to your Portfolio or Storybook, so make sure you get that done this weekend if you are adding one final story. (Yay for stories!)

Project stack. I've been updating the stack over the break, and on Monday, December 2, I'll start replying to the Week 14 and Week 15 projects in the order received, starting with the new stories so that you'll have the comments back you need for Week 15 revisions.

Finishing up. Hopefully everyone can finish up by using the Week 14 assignments. In addition, there is a full week of assignments for Week 15 that you can use to make up missing points from earlier in the semester. When you reach the points you need (410=A, 360=B, 320=C), you can fill out the "Finished" form in Canvas to let me know you are done.

Past announcements. I'm not doing new announcements, but if you want to browse the announcements for the previous two weeks (like if you are doing the Backup/Review extra credit option), here are links you can use: Week 13 - Week 14.

Videos

And to keep things lively, here are some random videos. Reload the page for more. :-)

Fall 2019: Thanksgiving Break

Welcome to THANKSGIVING BREAK. You have a whole week off in this class, which means the final assignments for Week 14 are due on Sunday, December 1. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday week, and I'm wishing safe travels to all of you who are on the road.

I won't be doing daily announcements now that the class is winding down, but I will post new information here as the calendar progresses. 

~ ~ ~

Finishing up. Hopefully everyone can finish up by using the Week 14 assignments. In addition, there is a full week of assignments for Week 15 that you can use to make up missing points from earlier in the semester. When you reach the points you need (410=A, 360=B, 320=C), you can fill out the "Finished" form in Canvas to let me know you are done.

Project stack. I have read and returned all the Week 13 projects! I'll update the stack periodically over the Thanksgiving week, and then on Monday, December 2, I'll start replying to the Week 14 and Week 15 projects in the order received.

My schedule. I'll be traveling for part of the Thanksgiving week, and I won't always have access to the Internet. So, please email me with any questions that come up, and I'll get back to you when I am next online.

Past announcements. If you want to browse the announcements for the previous two weeks, here are links you can use: Week 13 - Week 14.

Videos

And to keep things lively, here are some random videos. Reload the page for more. :-)

Friday, November 22

Today is Friday of Week 14. Here is a link to Week 14 and also to Week 15. Hopefully the remaining Week 14 assignments will give you everything you need to finish up, but there is a whole week of Week 15 assignments if you need one more week of points to finish up the class.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Week 14 Blog comments. After the grace period is over this morning, I'll update the randomizer with any new stories from Week 14. Plus there's something different this week: you can add to the Advice Padlet as part of this week's blog commenting! Details here: Week 14 Blog Comments.

About the randomizer. By now, all the stories from Weeks 2-11 should have received at least two comments, but I keep track of all that manually, and it's easy for something to slip by me. So, check your stories from earlier in the semester, and if you have a story that did NOT get two comments, send me an email. Let me know which story, and I'll add it to the randomizer now.

Project stack. My goal is to get through the whole stack today before the holiday break next week. At a minimum I will get through all the Week 13 projects by the end of today, and hopefully all the Week 14 projects too! As usual, you can check the stack to make sure I got your project.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Here's another fun meme from Brianna: Einstein Tech Tip. Worry is a waste of your imagination. No, Einstein didn't say it, but he can still look like he's writing it on a chalkboard for you. :-)

Twitter Stream. From the #FolkloreThursday stream yesterday, there was a tweet about Mother Shipton. You can read more about her at Wikipedia!

Indian Epics Today. The character for today is Drona, guru to both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Here's a painting by Nanda Lal Bose that shows Drona training the princes:

Myth-Folklore Video. Here's a fascinating video about Hindu gods in Japan, via Scroll.in.

Words. This word from India in English that may surprise you: the English word TANK; compare Gujarati tankh meaning a cistern or water reservoir, and also Marathi tanka. Details here.

Story of the Day. This is a really cool African American folktale about why bulls are so grumpy: Why Brer Bull Growls and Grumbles. Yes, that's a shape-shifting bull:

H.E.A.R.T.. This infographic is all about the Power of "I Don't Know" (yet).

Writing Video. For those of you who are pondering the mysteries of the comma, this video could be useful: Five Comma Types.

Event on Campus. The Human Library event will be taking place today in Bizzell from 9AM to 4PM; you can find out more in this OU Daily article: OU to hold collaborative 'Human Library' event at Bizzell Memorial Library.

November 22: Warwick Goble. Today marks the birthday in 1862 of one of my favorite book illustrators: Warwick Goble. You can read more about him at Wikipedia. Below is an animated gif with his illustrations fro Folktales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents.

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

Thursday, November 21

Today is Thursday of Week 14. Here is a link to Week 14 and a link to Week 15 (Dead Week) also. That's all that's left of the semester! You have next week off for Thanksgiving as you can see here in the class calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Mix-and-match. You've got the links above to both the Week 14 and Week 15 assignments, and you can mix-and-match as you finish up what you need to reach your goal for the class (410 for an A, 360 for a B, or 320 for a C). Any combination of points you use to finish is good, and when you're done, you can fill out the "Finished!" form that you'll see there in Canvas.

Project Stack. If you turned in something before 6PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me, and I'll keep working on the Sunday items today. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your project.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I noticed this map of Chennai that Akansha embedded in a blog post for a Tech Tip; you can zoom in and out to learn more about the city! Here's her post: Tech Tip Google Map.

Twitter Stream. I loved this cartoon about libraries that I saw at Nathan Pyle's Twitter today: aliens discover the LIBRARY.

Myth-Folklore. Just for fun, some myth and science from cartoonist Tom Gauld: Mythical Scientific Creatures.

Story of the Day. And here's a climate aetiology from African American folklore: Where the Hurricane Comes From. Plus there's a Native American "why" story about the hurricane in Maci's Storybook: The Storm God Who Saved the Birds.

Myth-Folklore Video. And here are some flood stories from Crash Course: Yu the Engineer and Flood Stories from China.

Indian Epics Today. The epic character for today is the extraordinary Amba, later reborn as Shikhandi, the woman whose actions are one of the most dramatic threads of the Mahabharata's plot. More about Amba, and here is a video about Shikhandi:

Indian Music Video. And for your listening and viewing pleasure, here is a song by Maati Baani with a Bharatnatyam dance  by Mubina Bandukwala; see the YouTube page for English lyrics: Jao Priya.

Writing Video. Here are some fun thoughts on grammar and spelling: Grammar Lessons with Food. Beware the man-eating chicken!

H.E.A.R.T.. And here's a fun one from cartoonist Reza Farazmand: what if ghosts procrastinated?

Event on Campus. Here's an announcement via Caitlin in Myth-Folklore: it's a benefit night for College Bowl tonight at the campus Qdoba on south side of Headington (details).

November 21: Detmold. Today marks the birthday in 1883 of the Victorian book illustrator Edward Julius Detmold. You can read more about his career at Wikipedia. Here is one of his illustrations for Kipling's Jungle Book, with the tiger, Shere Khan, lying in wait:

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

Wednesday, November 20

Today is Wednesday of Week 14. Here is a link to Week 14, plus a link to Week 15. More information about the schedule here: class calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Advice for future students. Remember the Advice Padlet? Some people already added their suggestions, which is so cool to see: thank you! That is an option for the Week 14 Blog Comments as you'll see when you get to that this week.

Project Stack. If you turned in an assignment before Sunday noon, you should have comments back from me, and I'll keep working on the Sunday assignments today. Meanwhile, you can check the stack to make sure I received your project.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I know there are some SpongeBob fans in class, and I noticed this SpongeBob-style story in Charley's blog: Check your checking.

Twitter Stream. A wonderful new cartoon from Grant Snider:

Myth-Folklore Video. Here's a Mike Rugnetta video from his days at PBS Studios: Is Doctor Who a Religion?

Myth-Folklore Video. And here's Mike Rugnetta in a Crash Course video: Mythical Language and Idiom.

Indian Epics Today. The character for today is Karna, son of Kunti, and one of the heroes on the Kaurava side of the Mahabharata war. More about Karna, and here's an Epified video:

Story of the Day. Here's a fun "why" story about Brer Rabbit and Brer Dog and, yes, it involves Brer Dog's nice new shoes: Why Brer Dog Runs Brer Rabbit.

H.E.A.R.T.. Plus some more upbeat advice from Molly Hahn of Buddha Doodles.

Writing Video. If you are curious about words, here is a fun song about people who became nouns: Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun.

Event on Campus. There will be a performance of Lucy and the Conquest at 7:30PM in Old Science Hall's Studio Theatre (details).

November 20: World Children's Day. The United Nations has declared this to be World Children's Day; you can find out more at the United Nations website.

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

Tuesday, November 19

Today is Tuesday of Week 14. Here is a link to Week 14 and also Week 15... which are all the assignments that are left. The semester is now zooming along to the end. To see how that works with Thanksgiving, here's the calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

My schedule today. I'll be out of the office for part of the day today (wish me luck: I'm going to find out if my weird eye problem is officially fixed!), but I should be back in the office sometime in the afternoon, so I'll be sure to reply to any email questions then.

Project Stack. If you turned in a project before Sunday, you should have comments back from me, and today I'll start working on the assignments that were turned in on Saturday. As always you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Shivani created this graphic with Canva, and it's one of my favorite mottoes too. Here's her blog post: Just keep swimming!

Twitter Stream. Another item from Liniers at Twitter (a.k.a. Ricardo Siri), one of my favorite cartoonists; larger view.

Story of the Day. The "why" story for today is a Cherokee legend about a trickster turtle: Why Turtle's Shell Is Cracked.

Indian Epics Today. Today's epic character is ARJUNA, the great archer of the Mahabharata. You can learn more about Arjuna here, and also in this Epified video:

Myth-Folklore Video. And here's a Crash Course video on Serpents and Dragons.

Proverbs. This is a Latin proverb, a modern Latin proverb, about dragons (from J.K. Rowling): Never tickle a sleeping dragon. Draco dormiens numquam titillandus.

And here's another proverb; this one comes from Zanzibar: When two elephants struggle, it is the grass that suffers.

Writing. For those of you who are into fonts, here is a John Atkinson cartoon about Elefonts.

Event on Campus. As part of the Judaic Studies Film Festival, there will be a screening onf Conspiracy at 7PM in Dale Hall Tower Community Room on the ninth floor (details)

November 19: Jami. Today marks the death of the Persian poet Jami in the year 1492. One of Jami's greatest works was a novel-in-verse about Yusuf and Zulaikha, that is, about Joseph and Potiphar's wife, who goes by the name of Zulaikha in the Islamic tradition. You can read more about Jami in this Wikipedia article; this image shows Yusuf fleeing from Zulaikha:

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

Monday, November 18

Today is Monday of Week 14. I hope everybody had a great weekend! Here is a link to Week 14, plus a link to Week 13 if you are using the grace period this morning to finish up last week's work.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Last week of class! Yes, this is it: Week 14 is the last full week of class. Hopefully you'll be able to finish up this week. If you need to make up some missing assignments from earlier in the semester, there's also a week's worth of assignments available during Dead Week. You can find out how that works here at the class calendar. (As you'll see there, Week 14 also extends over Thanksgiving break.)

Project Stack. The stack is huge right now, and I'll be working through the assignments in the order that they were turned in, starting with assignments turned in last week. Meanwhile, you can check the stack to make sure I received your project.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Hannah did the typing test tech tip, and she also found another typing test online that rates you with different animals based on your speed; more at Hannah's blog post.

Twitter Stream. Fascinating article about pronouns via Twitter; here's the New York Times article: What Quakers Can Teach Us About the Politics of Pronouns. (As an OU student you have free access to the NY Times.)

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

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.

Words. 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.

Story of the Day. The origin story for today is a Cherokee legend about the origin of The Milky Way.

Writing. As you're writing, you might want to make use of this fantastic punctuation resource: 69 Rules of Punctuation.

Yep, that's the comma with the most rules of all:

HEART Video. Philosopher Jesse Prinz has some thoughts on what it means to wonder about the world: WONDER.

Event on Campus. There will be a Peace Corps Info Workshop today at 11AM-1:30PM in Farzaneh Hall... with pizza too (details).

November 18: Caxton. On this day 1477, William Caxton produced the first printed book in England! You can read more about William Caxton's life and career in this Wikipedia article. The image below shows an image of Aesop from the Caxton edition of the fables; each of the objects around Aesop suggests an incident from Aesop's life:

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

Sunday, November 17

Today is Sunday of Week 13... the end of Week 13 has arrived! Here is a link to the Week 13 assignments and also Week 14 for those of you who want to get a head start on the coming week. There's just Week 14 plus Dead Week (Week 15) left after today.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Finishing up. Now is a good time to finalize your plan for finishing up. The class is over on Friday, December 6, at noon, so you need to complete any coursework by then. Any extra credit you can do now will get you that much closer to finishing; check out the Week 13 extra credit if you have some time for that this weekend.

Project Stack. I'll start working through the stack on Monday based on the order that the assignments were turned in. Like always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your project.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. If you need a boost today, check out Camille's Jar of Smiles.

Twitter Stream. I saw this very cool Pecos Bill image in the Twitter stream, and if you want to learn more about Pecos Bill, check out the story in Samantha's Storybook: Pecos Bill.

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:

Story of the Day. Today's "why" story for today is about the spider-trickster Anansi and why spiders run up high on the roof where you can't reach them: Why Spiders Live on Rooftops. It's a story about Anansi and "Tiger," but don't be fooled by the name tiger. Just as mountain "lion" refers to the cougar or panther, the same is true of "tiger" in African storytelling traditions, referring not to Asian tigers but instead to leopards and panthers as found in Africa, like this African leopard:

Proverbs. Here's a proverb from Mali about the leopard: Goats cannot live in a herd of leopards.

Myth-Folklore Video. And here's another Anansi story: Anansi and the Snake.

Writing. If you are writing a story this weekend, ponder these words from J.K. Rowling: There's always room for a story that can transport people to another place.

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

xxx

Event on Campus. This afternoon is the final performance of The Trial at 3PM in the Gilson Lab Theatre at 640 Parrington Oval. You can read more about the play in this OU Daily article: OU drama students to perform 'The Trial' to illustrate privacy in modern era.

November 17: Agnolo Bronzino. Today marks the birth of the artist Agnolo Bronzino in the year 1503. You can read more about his life and career at Wikipedia. He is famous for his paintings on both religious and mythological scenes, like this beautiful scene of the resurrected Jesus, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not).

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