Wednesday, September 16

Today is Wednesday of Week 4. And hey, we made it to the second half of September... and in the weirdness of the pandemic semester, I am going to call that a real victory! Here is a link to Week 4. I hope you are enjoying the reading this week, and there's also a new Story Lab option coming up this week also.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. If you turned in your project before 2PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me. I'll keep working on the Sunday items today; meanwhile, you can check the stack to make sure I received your project.

Introduction comments. Just a reminder: I think I have left a comment on everyone's Introduction and also everyone's Favorite Place post, but if I missed yours, please let me know! There's no easy way for me to check that I commented on each one, so it's easy for me to miss someone by accident. If I missed commenting on your Intro, just let me know. Meanwhile, I'll keep updating the story randomizer as people add new story posts this week, and also any new microfiction too! Week 4 Comments.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog stream. Soriyana is thinking about doing a Storybook on Cambodian folklore, and here's a picture of Angkor Wat, the amazing temple complex in Cambodia: it is one of the places I would so much love to visit in person someday, so I was excited to see it in Soriyana's post. Doesn't that look amazing?


And here is an Angkor Wat video:


Twitter stream. Some brilliant humor from the OU Daily Twitter: OU's independent student voice since the last pandemic.


Amitav Ghosh is one of my favorite Indian authors, and here's a new piece he has written about climate change and storytelling: Writing the Unimaginable.


Ghosh's book The Calcutta Chromosome is one of my favorite scifi books of all time, and his latest book is absolutely wonderful: Gun Island.


And I know some of you are reading the Iliad this week in Myth-Folklore, so I wanted to share this hilarious American Chopper meme from Sententiae Antiquae; they have a Greek version too. It's Achilles arguing with Agamemnon:


And in that spirit, I have to share this Epic Rap Battle: Zeus vs. Thor (be warned: it's hilarious but NSFW):


100-Word Stories. Have you ever heard the English proverb about Mohammad and the mountain? You'll see a great parallel in this story about Nasruddin and the tree: Nasruddin Commands the Tree.


Storybook. In honor of the Vishvakarma Puja today (see below), I wanted to share this Storybook from Indian Epics last year: Vishvakarma's Engineering Feats. It is a really cool project showing Vishvakarma's involvement with the Ramayana:


Vishvakarma Puja. Today, September 16, is a festival in honor of Vishvakarman, the divine architect of the gods in the Hindu tradition. You can find out more at Wikipedia: Vishvakarma. The Vishvakarma Puja holiday is celebrated by architects and also by engineers.  


In honor of the holiday, here's a Vishvakarma Puja rangoli design:



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