Saturday, August 24

Today is Saturday of Week 1: welcome to the first weekend of the semester! If you didn't finish up the Week 1 assignments yet, you can do that this weekend; here is a link to the Orientation assignments. And for those of you who are working ahead, here is a link to the Week 2 assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

THANK YOU! I want to say a big thank-you to everybody in the class; we now have an awesome blog network full of ideas and images. I know that blogging is new to a lot of you, and I hope you will enjoy all the opportunities to connect and share that a blog network makes possible.

My schedule. On weekends I do not answer emails as quickly because I'm not at my desk like during the week, but as soon as I'm back online, I'll reply to any questions you have. You can also look through this week's announcements where you might find answers to questions that come up.

Favorite Places. I think I left a comment on each "favorite place" post, but if I missed yours, just let me know so that I can make sure to leave a comment next week. I'll be replying to Introduction posts all next week!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Here's another fabulous personal photo from a favorite places post: it's Jacob's photo of Uluru, a sacred place for the Pitjantjatjara Anangu people of central Australia. You can read his post to find out more.

Twitter Stream. You don't have to speak Spanish to enjoy this lovely cartoon of Enriqueta Leyendo by the Argentinian cartoonist Liniers; there's a full-size view here that features more books. This excerpt shows just a few: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, White Fang, and Alice in Wonderland.

Story of the Day. This is an African American folktale about why the crocodile has bumpy skin. Yes, it's Brer Rabbit's fault: Brer Gator in Trouble. It's a story told by a Gullah storyteller; you can find out more about Gullah language at Wikipedia.

Indian Epics Today. The character of the day today is the goddess PARVATI, whom you can see here with her son, the god Ganesha, when he was just a little one. You can find out more about Parvati here (and, yes, this is "Parvati" like the name of the character in Harry Potter).

Storybooks. And speaking of Harry Potter, here is a Hogwarts-inspired Storybook from Myth-Folklore last year: The Mystical Horses of Hogwarts.

Myth-Folklore Video. About horses, here is a Crash Course video: Mythical Horses.

Words. Any Parcheesi players out there? I loved this game when I was little, but I had no idea that the game and its name came from India; you can find out more here about the game "parcheesi" and the Hindi word pachisi:

H.E.A.R.T.. Perhaps you are enjoying a wonderful weekend day of doing nothing... here's a Grant Snider cartoon about that nice weekend option:

Mindset Cats. Today's growth mindset cat is also taking time to recharge.

HEART Video. For you readers out there, here is one of my all-time favorite videos, and it's perfect if you are spending Saturday night in the company of a good book: Bruno Mars Uptown Funk Parody: Unread Book.

Event on Campus. Visit the Fred Jones Museum to see Between the Isms: The Oklahoma Society of Impressionists and Selected Oklahoma Expressionists. Admission is free!

August 24: Vesuvius. On this day in the year 79 C.E., Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Italian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in lava and ashes. You can read the dramatic details in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for the image below showing a computer-generated image of the eruption.

And speaking of Doctor Who, here is a video snippet from the episode of The Fires of Pompeii, in which the Doctor arrives just in time for Volcano Day:

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