Sunday, April 12

Today is Sunday of Week 12, and it's Easter Sunday; I've included an Easter legend about the dogwood tree below. Here is a link to Week 12, plus a link for Week 11 (that grace period still goes through this weekend); you can find all the weeks on the class calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. I'll update the stack periodically today so that you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. Everybody's on their own schedule with the project, even more so in this weird semester, so if you are not sure what you have coming up for the project or if you need me to send you the last project email again, just let me know!

Extra credit surveys. Most of the extra credit items include some kind of blog post, but there are two extra options that don't need a blog post: they are surveys by some OU education graduate students. Cat Jackson is doing a survey on self-confidence in online courses, and Murat Turk is doing a survey on asynchronous online courses (where students get to set their own schedules). You can find both surveys on the Growth Mindset list... and here's a graphic that Murat made for his survey. :-)


The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I am such a fan of all the Krishna legends, so of course I noticed Christian's Krishna microfictions!


Twitter Stream. I thought this was a lovely painting of Shiva, which I found at Twitter yesterday:


For a Covid-related item today, here's important news from the prime minister of New Zeland:


Writing. Some great advice from Neil Gaiman; let your imagination run wild!


Writing Video. Here's a question that can help you in storytelling: What Makes a Hero?


Indian Epics Today. The character of the day is MANDODARI, who was Ravana's chief wife. More about Mandodari here, and you can also learn more in this Epified video:


Myth-Folklore. One of my favorite memes is "distracted boyfriend," which is very similar to the ancient Choice of Heracles, as you can see below, where Heracles must choose between Virtue and Vice. Someone last year made this distracted boyfriend meme for this class ha ha:



Myth-Folklore. Some myth on campus: this is OU's very own Sphinx, a sculpture by Fernando Botero:


H.E.A.R.T.. For those of you who are doing some reading today, maybe you will want to do that in the library (see below). This is a Library. And remember: there are so many great resources available online at Bizzell even while campus is closed. Log on at Libraries.ou.edu to see what you can find there!


April 12: Easter Sunday. Do you know the Eastern legend of the dogwood? This is the time of year when the dogwoods bloom. Here's the legend:
The dogwood tree was once as tall and strong as an oak, and the wood of the mighty dogwood tree was used for the cross of Jesus. The dogwood grieved to be used for such a purpose, so Jesus took pity on the dogwood. From then on, the dogwood tree became short and twisted so that its wood could never again be used to make a cross, and the dogwood flowers represent the Crucifixion, with the four white petals in the shape of a cross.
You can read more about this Easter legend at Wikipedia, which is also the source for this image:



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