Showing posts with label week07. Show all posts
Showing posts with label week07. Show all posts

WEEK 7 WEEKEND: March 13-14

HAPPY WEEKEND! Here is link to Week 7 and also to Week 8 (review week; see below). Around the middle of the semester like this, school can feel kind of overwhelming, which makes the weekend even more welcome. So.......... enjoy the weekend!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. Thanks again for all the good work on the projects, and I hope you will enjoy doing the feedback this week, choosing which projects you want to look at. Meanwhile, I'll update the stack periodically over the weekend so you can check the stack to make sure I received your form.

Introductions. I think I have finally left comments on everyone's introduction posts! I lost track of that this semester (argh! I'll blame pandemic chaos), and so I'm not 100% sure I commented on all of them. My apologies to anybody if I missed your post! Please let me know if you did not get a comment from me so I can leave a comment on your introduction post too.

Week 8: Review. Week 8 is a review week, so I would urge you to jump right in when you get to the end of Week 7 and do the Week 8 review posts this weekend if you can. It's a great way to get yourself ahead of the due dates, and you might be able to use that boost as a way to stay ahead of the due dates for the rest of the semester.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. For her Storybook Introduction, Eli created a collage: Devi — The Many Faces of a Goddess. If you want to use multiple images on a page, a collage is a good way to do that! Eli used Adobe Spark for this one, and there are lots of collage tools out there you can use (collage tech tip).


Twitter stream. I learned about a Tantra exhibit at the British Museum on the Indian tradition of Tantra.


Plus "wonderful things" via the British Library: Al-Qazwini’s Wonders of Creation.


I think everybody is having trouble concentrating in these pandemic times... so you can probably relate to this teacher's tweet: my brain feels like this sometimes too!


And here's a fun animated gif: paper dolls that come to life.

For your listening pleasure this weekend, talking drums of Africa:


And something from Crash Course: African Pantheons and the Orishas.


Plus... dragons!


And here's some COVID humor: what it's like to be a fortune-teller in the COVID era, from Dave Coverly... but now with vaccinations, I think even the COVID crystal-ball might be looking better! 



March 13: National Elephant Day. Saturday is a national holiday in Thailand, Chang Thai Day, to honor the elephant. You can find out more at Wikipedia. Both of these images, the stamp and photo, come from this blog post: วันช้างไทย Thai National Elephant Day. 


March 14: Daylight Saving. Yes, it's time to change the clocks again. Here's a fun video about this very weird ritual: Daylight Saving.



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


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Friday, March 12

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; for more about that, see below.

Class Procedures and Reminders

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

Week 8. As mentioned above, Week 8 is a review week, so I would urge you to jump right in when you get to the end of Week 7 and do the Week 8 review posts, which replace the reading and story posts for that week. It's a great way to get yourself ahead of the due dates, and you might be able to use that boost as a way to stay well ahead of the due dates for the rest of the semester.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. Chris found this amazing statue of Bhima for his reading notes post. It's from Bali, in Indonesia, where the Mahabharata is extremely popular (both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are well known beyond the borders of India).


Twitter stream. Some exciting OU news via the OU Daily at Twitter: Native Oral History Revitalization Project.


And there's a great event going on this month, March Mammal Madness, known as #2021MMM at Twitter. It's a great way to learn about all kinds of amazing and beautiful animal species. More about March Mammal Madness here. This is a thread someone did for Team Lemur with art mash-ups:


Some of you may known Prof. Anderson at OU: he's part of Team Mandrill as you can see in this great picture he took in his mandrill mask:


Some great writing advice via Twitter: give yourself time.


And a comic from Grant Snider on writing:


And here's a video that explains one of the most important features of language in general and of storytelling in particular: 1st-2nd-3rd Person.


March 12: Maha Shivaratri. This year, the festival of "The Great Night of Shiva" started yesterday on March 11 and lasted through the night, ending this morning, March 12. You can read more about the Maha Shivratri festival at this Wikipedia article. In particular, the festival marks the occasion of Shiva's great cosmic dance:


Here is a tweet from the ever-awesome Maati Baani in honor of the holiday:


And check out the YouTube page for the lyrics to this famous Shiva song as performed by Manish Vyas:



Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.
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Thursday, March 11

Today is Thursday of Week 7. Here is a link to Week 7. I hope you will have fun getting into the storytelling spirit again this week!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. If you turned in something by 6PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me, and you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I'll get through as much of the stack as I can today, and then finish up on Friday. (The projects are looking so good!)

Storytelling. It's another storytelling week this week, so there will be lots of stories today in the blog stream. You can watch the stories going up if you are curious (that's a blog stream which just shows story posts). I hope you are feeling more confident with all that, story by story. Maybe you will even want to try some totally different kind of style or approach this week! Think back to other people's stories you've read earlier this semester and some new idea might come to mind.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. Some people in Myth-Folklore have been reading about Sun Wukong, the Monkey King of Chinese legend; here's a really cool depiction that Taeam included in his blog post. (This image is by Grafik at DeviantArt.)


Looking at that image, those of you in Indian Epics can see how the Monkey-King of China and Hanuman, the Monkey-God of India, are depicted in very similar ways. More about that: Hanuman and Sun Wukong: How Indian and Chinese literary images integrate.

Twitter stream. For those of you who are going to campus, I would strongly urge you to go see the new exhibit at the Sam Noble Museum: Sam Noble Museum honors late photographer in 'Places of Power' exhibit.


Something very cool and weird from the British Library: an art form called nari-kunjara, an elephant (kunjara) made of women (nari):


And more Indian art via Twitter:


Plus a very inspiring video from Smithsonian Folkways at Twitter:


And a fun tweet from Indian writer Sharanya Manivannan: 


And here is some advice about writing, and about life in general: Don't give up in the middle.


Any day when you are writing is a good writing day!


This Crash Course video might give you some writing ideas, looking for heroes and their journeys: 


March 11: Douglas Adams. Today marks the birthday of Douglas Adams, the creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (he died in 2001). Happy birthday to you, Douglas Adams, wherever in the galaxy you may be! Here is a YouTube video interview where Douglas Adams talks about his career, life, the universe, and everything:


And here is the hitchhiker's motto, Don't Panic, translated into many different languages, including Esperanto: Ne Paniku. This is good advice these days especially:



Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.
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Wednesday, March 10

Today is Wednesday of Week 7. Here is a link to Week 7, and I hope you are finding some good story material you can use from the reading this week to use in your own story! It's a storytelling week again this week (and then a review week next week).

Class Procedures and Reminders

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

Feedback randomizer. I did a big update to the feedback randomizer thanks to all the Storybook Introductions that people have published, so the Week 7 Feedback assignment has lots of projects. In addition, those of you who are working ahead will find the feedback assignment is ready to go now for Week 8 and Week 9 and so on. Especially now as the projects are just taking shape, your feedback is really valuable, and I hope you will also get good ideas for your own writing as you read and respond to other people's stories.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. David was doing some research for his Storybook, and shared this gorgeous ancient mosaic showing Phorcys and Dynamene; find out more at his post.


Twitter stream. Via the Smithsonian, some more ancient Greco-Roman art: Colossal Statue of Atlas Will Rise Again.


And inspired by that giant Atlas statue, I wanted to share this video about a giant statue honoring Jatayu in India, the great bird-hero of the Ramayana, now familiar to everyone in the Indian Epics class:


And at the New Inquiry, a fascinating article about the Ramayana in modern India: All The Factory’s A Stage.


And a traditional dance from India: The Bamboo Dance.


Plus urban monkeys in India via Twitter:


And another fun very-short-story from OU's Jeff Provine at Twitter:


From Grant Snider, a comic about Chatter... and the birds in your brain (larger view).


March 10: Bulgakov. Today marks the anniversary of the death in 1940 of the great Russian writer, Mikhail Bulgakov. Bulgakov is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita (here's a synopsis); some of the characters include the Devil himself, a black cat named Behemoth, various and sundry witches, as well as Pontius Pilate and Jesus Christ. Below is a statue of the cat Behemoth in the city of Kiev (now the capital of Ukraine), where Bulgakov was born in 1891.


Here's a TED-Ed video about The Master and Margarita:


Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.
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Tuesday, March 9

Today is Tuesday of Week 7, and here is a link to the Week 7. It's African and Asian stories in Myth-Folklore this week, and finishing up the Mahabharata in Indian Epics. I hope you will enjoy this week's reading!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. If you turned in something on Friday, you should have comments back from me, and I'll be working on the Saturday assignments today; hopefully I will get on to Sunday too!

Midterm grade reports. The university has sent the usual email to instructors reminding us that we are supposed to submit midterm grade reports next week. If you have questions about your progress in this class, let me know. To be passing the class now at the end of Week 6, you should have around 125 points; at the end of Week 7, around 150. You can use this Progress Chart to see how that works from week to week.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. From Dalton's blog post, a growth mindset motto that he made! Focus on the present.


And this is from the Padlet: I laughed out loud at this one! Thanks to everyone making all the great contributions to this space.


Twitter stream. From the British Library, it's a game of Sudoku, but not with the numbers you are used to. More about Lepcha.


And there was so much great stuff shared at Twitter yesterday for International Women's day, like this tweet from Google Arts about Nampewo, a Hopi potter; find out more.


Plus this very cool photograph the Hanuman temple in Shimla, circa the year 1900: with Hanuman langur monkeys!


And something from one of my favorite singers from Africa: Angelique Kidjo.


This is the video itself:


From Tom Gauld, here are two great takes on what your cat and your dog think about your writing. (Click on those links for larger views of each cartoon.)



March 6. Shashi Tharoor. Today marks the birthday of the Indian politician and author, Shashi Tharoor; he was born in 1956. You can read about his life and career at Wikipedia, and he is a great person to follow at Twitter. He is also the author of a fascinating book, The Great Indian Novel, which retells the Mahabharata using characters from modern Indian politics.


Here is one of Shashi Tharoor's most-watched videos at YouTube: Dr Shashi Tharoor MP - Britain Does Owe Reparations.



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

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