Monday, March 26

Today is Monday. Week 9 is now over... and Week 10 has begun. The new week's topic in the Myth-Folklore class is Native American traditions, and in Indian Epics it's Krishna or a return to the jatakas. You can find the week's assignments at the Class Calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Success Tip: Read the OU Daily. You will find all kinds of important and useful information in the pages of the OU Daily! I read the Daily via their very active Twitter stream @OUDaily. You know there will be good coverage there about the OU presidential search announcement today.

Project Stack. I'll start working on the stack this morning, starting with items in the stack from the beginning of Spring Break, and while you are waiting on comments back from me about your Project assignment, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. To get you in a storytelling mood, I wanted to share this story that Cheyenne wrote for Week 9; it's about one of my favorite "dharma crises" in the Mahabharata, involving the elephant named Ashwatthaman: Trusting Yourself.

India Item. In the Twitter stream for Rama Navami yesterday, I found so many useful items, including this lovely video with a Rama Navami Rangoli; it says Shri Ram inside.

Myth Video: As you get into the Native American weeks of Myth-Folklore, I thought you might enjoy this Crash Course video: Coyote and Raven, American Tricksters.

India Comic Book: Today's comic book is about Krishna: Krishna and Narakasura. See the Amar Chitra Katha blog for the Bizzell Reserve call number and more information.

Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb is from the ancient Indian Hitopadesha: The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the woodcutter. Find out more at the Proverb Laboratory.

Writing: Here's an item about the power of the storyteller: This is not how the story is going to end.

Reading: And here are some thoughts about the power of reading: Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from a Book.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is learning new things: I do things I do not know how to do to learn how to do them. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Video: Here's another video that I thought you might enjoy, from master storyteller Kurt Vonnegut: The Shapes of Stories.

Event on Campus: Come enjoy a Taste of Africa in the Adams Residence Hall at 7PM tonight (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

March 26: Leonard Nimoy. Today marks the birthday of the actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in the Star Trek franchise; he was born in 1931, and he left this world in 2015. You can read more about his life and career at Wikipedia, and I highly recommend this documentary, made by his son, which you can watch streaming at Netflix: For the Love of Spock.

And yes, Spock was a Vulcan... so I made this Spock Cat meme: Be a Vulcan! Not a Vulcan't.

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