Monday, January 27

Today is Monday. Week 2 is now over... and Week 3 has begun. The new week's topic in the Myth-Folklore class is Biblical and Classical stories, and in Indian Epics you will be starting the Ramayana. I hope you will enjoy the stories! You can find the week's assignments at the Class Calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. As usual on Monday, the project stack is huge. Providing feedback on all the project assignments usually takes me all week, and I work through the assignments in the order they were turned in. While you are waiting on comments back from me, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment.

Introduction comments. Everybody should have gotten at least a comment or two on their Introductions over the weekend, and I hope you are having fun meeting people in the class. I'm still commenting on the Introductions, and I hope to finish up this week; if not this week, then next week for sure.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. Several people mentioned San Francisco as a favorite place, and here is a very cool picture of Christine at the Golden Gate Bridge:

Twitter Stream. There are some really nice museum streams at Twitter, like this SLAM stream; here's a beautiful mural fragment from ancient Teotihuacan near Mexico City that I saw go by there:

Indian Epics Today. Today's Indian Epics character is one of the old Vedic deities, Indra, the storm-god whose weapon is the thunderbolt, and whose vahana, or vehicle, is the elephant Airavata. More about Indra.

Storybooks. Here's a Storybook which features Indra, plus other Weather Gods.

India Video. In this video, you can learn about the Indian instrument called Sarod.

100-Word Stories. Today's story is about the Middle Eastern "wise fool" named Nasruddin: The Turban of a Scholar (click title for more info).

Words. Here's a word from mythology, CHAOS, Greek χάος: the world originally was "chaos," a void without form or shape, literally the "gap" between heaven and earth at the beginning of creation. Find out more.

H.E.A.R.T.. Are there other Doctor Who fans in the class? Here is the Doctor's TARDIS to inspire your reading this week: Every book is a TARDIS!

Mindset Cats. Today's growth mindset urges you to use your energy to explore.

HEART Video. Here is someone who knows how to explore: it's Matt Harding, who has taken his dance all over the world.

Event on Campus. There will be a lecture today by Alan McPherson, author of Ghosts of Sheridan Circle: How a Washington Assassination Brought Pinochet's Terror State to Justice: 4:30PM in Zarrow Hall, Room 145 (details).

January 27: Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, has been designated by the United Nations and many other countries as a day in remembrance of those who died in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. The person I hold in my special remembrance for this day is Janusz Korczak (Wikipedia), a visionary educator who organized the Jewish orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942, the Nazis raided Korczak's orphanage and sent the children to the death camp at Treblinka. Although Korczak's Polish friends begged him to escape and hide with them for the rest of the war, he would not leave the children, and he died together with them at Treblinka. This image below shows the Yad Vashem Memorial for Korczak and his children:

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