Tuesday, February 26

Today is Tuesday of Week 7. Here is a link to the Week 7 assignments. 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 email. If you turned in something before noon on Saturday, you should have comments back from me, and I'll keep working on the Saturday assignments today, and hopefully I'll get started on the Sunday assignments too.

Writing Center. I'm sure some of you have visited the Writing Center, and I just wanted to remind you that the consultants there can be a big help: getting to read stories with people is a nice change of pace for them compared to the usual essays and research papers. So if you want another reader for any of your stories for this class, give the Writing Center a try!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I thought this was so cool; Elyse included a photo she took in Arezzo in her reading notes, and it's a beautiful picture: Reading Notes: China, Part A.

Comic Book On Reserve. Today's comic book is Tales of Arjuna: The Exploits of an Exceptional Warrior. Yes, that's Hanuman with Arjuna on the cover; it's one of my favorite Hanuman legends in fact.

Free Audiobook. Today's free audiobook is Zanzibar Tales Told by Natives of the East Coast of Africa by George W. Bateman.

Featured Storybook. Since we are in the Asia weeks of Myth-Folklore, here's a Japanese Storybook: Tokyo Underworld. Orimi works for the Urban Legend Department of the Tokyo police force, and she has a gruesome murder to solve. You'll have to pay close attention while she interrogates Teke-Teke, Tanuki, Kuchisake-Onna, Jinmenken, and The Professor if you want to find the murderer!

Myth Video. And here's a video about the Japanese raccoon-dog, or Tanuki.

India Video. For India, here's a TED talk by Shabaz Hussain The Art of Playing Tabla.

India Item. Did you ever play the game "Chutes and Ladders" when you were a kid? It's originally a game from India: Moksha Patam. Here's an example from around the year 1800:

Writing. As if normal punctuation were not weird enough, here are some Little Known Punctuation Marks.

And here are some thoughts about what you can learn from books.

Growth Mindset Cats. This cat knows knows that the process of discovery is often messy and non-linear.

And speaking of messy, here is a video about the weird mess that is English spelling.

Event near Campus. Poet and OU alumnus Quraysh Ali Lansana will host a reading and discussion of his work at 7PM at the Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery, 122 East Main Street. The reading will be followed by a discussion, wine, and snacks (details).

Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

February 26: Johnny Cash. Today marks the birthday of the immortal Johnny Cash (even if he did depart this earth in 2003). You can read more about his life and career in this Wikipedia article. Here's a YouTube video of a 1959 performance of Folsom Prison Blues, a song which also has its own Wikipedia article too.

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