Monday, February 10

Today is Monday of Week 5. Yes, it really is Week 5 already! Here is a link to Week 5 (and if you're using the grace period this morning, here is a link to Week 4).

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. First of all, THANK YOU to everybody for all the new project websites! You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. Today I'll keep updating the Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics project lists, and then I'll start sending back comments on everyone's projects, starting with projects turned in on Friday, then Saturday, and so on.

Start the week with extra credit. When you put off doing the extra credit until the end of the week, you can easily run out of time, so you might thinking about doing some Week 5 extra credit right now, at the start of the week. For example, there are some new Canvas Tech Tips, including pronouns for your Canvas profile.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. April did a really cool Wikipedia Trail: from Scythia to the Khazars to rabbinic Judaism to the oral Torah, with a beautiful Scythian golden chest plate by way of illustration:

I was excited to see that Khazars were part of her Trail; one of my all-time favorite books is Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars, a book which comes in male and female versions!

Twitter Stream. I found this really cool graphic showing India's 22 languages with official status, and there are over 100 other languages spoken by at least 10,000 people; you can find out more here: Languages of India.

Indian Epics Today. The character of the day is Ahalya, whose story you can find in the opening of the Ramayana; details here. This video narrates Ahalya's story:

Storybooks. For those of you interested in Twine stories, here's a Storybooks that uses Twine: Dungeons and Decisions.

India Video. This is an Epified video about tree worship in India: Why We Worship Trees.

Proverbs. Here's a proverb from China about planting trees: The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second-best time is now.

H.E.A.R.T.. Plus some Advice from a Tree.

100-Word Stories. Today's story is an Aesop's fable: Eagle, Cat, and Sow (click title for more info).

Mindset Cats. This mindset cat has her eye on a tree: Start climbing! That is how you develop your abilities.

Writing Video. And just for fun, here's a video from Mike Rugnetta (back in his PBS days) about emojis: Can You Speak Emoji?

Event on Campus. Visit the Sam Noble Museum to see A New Moon Rises, a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The Sam Noble Museum is open from 10AM-5PM and is free to OU students (details).

February 10: James Mooney. Today marks the birthday of the anthropologist and folklorist James Mooney who was born on this day in 1861. You can read about his life and career at Wikipedia, and his monumental collection of Cherokee legends is available for you to read free online: Myths of the Cherokee.

Here is a video about Mooney's work:

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