Reading Notes: California and Old Southwest, Part B

For Part B of my readings this week, I continued with the California and Old Southwest unit. Like Part A of the unit, Part B focuses on nature and explains the origins of some notable occurrences in nature. Things like El Capitan (which I just learned was a rock formation and is the reason why Apple's OS El Capitan gives users the default wallpaper of the rock formation), mescal, lightning and thunder are told as why and how they were created. From the readings, I have to say that the origin of lighting/thunder and why mescal are so big is my favorite stories. At first, you don't really know where the story is going to take you, but in the end the story tells you that the children's adventures signify the notion that "lightning does not strike twice". 

For my writings, like I said for Part A, I wish to write my own origin story for something very common. As of right now, I think I might write about the origins of earthquakes and how they are caused by bears falling down! 

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

(El Capitan:

Wikipedia)

Reading Notes: California and Old Southwest, Part A

For this week's reading, I have decided to read the "California and Old Southwest" unit. Last semester, I was lucky enough to take a Native American Studies course here at OU, so I was exposed to a few of these stories in that course. I really liked the theme that all of the stories had, which was the subject of creationism. In last week's reading, it was the Inuit, if I recall correctly, whose legends stated that the raven was the one who created most of life. In this week's reading, it was the Navajo's, a prominent Native American tribe at the time, stories we are focusing on. Based on the readings, it looks like they believed nature and it's animals were existent beforehand, and that they were the ones who contributed to create life. Animals like the fox, the coyote, and the spider all created life and explain things about life today, like light, fire and other things from nature.

The aspect that I would like to take out of these readings and to incorporate into my writings is idea of taking something that we already know and changing the back story of it. In this weeks readings, for example, fire was stolen by the fox to distributed to the humans suffering from the cold.  In Greek mythology, we know that fire was stolen by Prometheus was the one who did that. In my writing, I don't see why I can't take a known, beloved story and just simply changing one aspect. This shows that everywhere in the world, the stories are all the same, the characters are just different.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

(The Fox and Prometheus are one in the same:

Year Here)

Week 10 Storytelling: Dog Almighty

Bruce was walking home from work one day. Bruce is far from a fan of his job, believing that he is overworked and underpaid. Bruce was cursing himself, his job, and overall, his life. He was miserable. That was until a small, hyperactive Corgi ran in front of him and began jumping with joy around him.

"Hey little buddy," said Bruce. Bruce knelt down to check for a collar or a tag on the Corgi. "Who's your owner?"

The dog simply wagged his tail and started running into a nearby alley. Bruce began to walk away, that is until the Corgi barked at him as if to signal Bruce to follow him. For a reason unbeknownst to him, Bruce decided to follow the Corgi into the alley.

"Okay, girl, what are we doing here?" asked Bruce, in the same tone as a parent who is playfully speaking to a baby who cannot yet talk. Almost instantaneously, the giant smile that the Corgi had on its face disappeared.

"First of all," started the Corgi in a smooth, deep voice, "I am a male." Bruce looked at the adorable Corgi in horror.

"W-w-what the hell?" stammered Bruce as he was backing away from the alley.

"Don't be afraid Bruce." said the Corgi. He began circling Bruce to keep him from leaving, corralling him back towards the alley. "I'd prefer if we spoke in private. By your own reaction, you can see that others will most likely be scared as well."

"You're a talking dog?!?" exclaimed Bruce. "How is this possible?!?"

"Why is the sky blue?" responded the Corgi. On a normal day, Bruce may have answered that question with scientific facts, but after meeting a talking Corgi with the voice of a Jazz singer, everything Bruce knew about science was thrown out the window.

"What's going on?" asked Bruce, now a little more calmly, or as calmly as a man can be for someone who just met a talking dog.

"I saw that you've been a bit down as of late. What's wrong?" asked the Corgi. Thinking that he was hallucinating, Bruce thought that it couldn't hurt to divulge his true feelings to the Corgi.

"I don't know. I hate my job and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere in life," admitted Bruce.

"You shouldn't become so mopey than! If you don't like an aspect of your life, change it!" responded the Corgi. One could even argue that it came out like a command.

"And why should I take orders from a five pound dog?" questioned Bruce, now aggravated. The Corgi rolled his eyes and walked towards a nearby dumpster. "Because life is too beautiful to hate it." Upon saying that, the Corgi began licking an empty can next to the dumpster. Bruce just stared in horror and disgust, a shrewd look forming in his face.

"Don't look at me like that!" snapped the Corgi. After he was done licking the can all over, the can seemed to magically transform into a baby bluebird. The bluebird hopped next to Bruce, pecking at crumbs next to him before it flew away into the blue sky. He then went to a nearby, abandoned shoe and licked at it until it morphed into rabbit. The rabbit looked at both Bruce and the Corgi before scurrying out of the alley.

"You can't tell me that wasn't beautiful," said the Corgi matter-of-factly. "Life is hard, but it is also short. You can't just sit around at a job that you hate for the rest of your life. Go out! Go to art school!"

Bruce remained quiet, partly because he was a bit freaked-out that the Corgi knew he wanted to try his hand at art school. The Corgi merely stared at Bruce, waiting for his response. After a few minutes of contemplation, Bruce opened his mouth to speak to the Corgi, but before he could, he awoke to find himself lying in his bed at his apartment. Despite having been a dream, Bruce couldn't help but feel affected by it. The next morning, Bruce placed his two-weeks notice at his job and began filling out an application for a local art class in a nearby college.

Weeks later, now happily in art school and currently a prospect for a graphic design job, Bruce wanted to mark the start of his new life with the introduction of a new four-legged friend in his life. Bruce went to the local dog pound to find a dog to adopt and call a friend. To his surprise, at the very back of the building, there was a Corgi wagging its tail in anticipation for a new owner. Bruce couldn't help but smile.

"Hey little buddy," said Bruce, as if greeting an old friend.

The End

(A Corgi! Just like the one in my story:

Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

Author's Note: For this week's story, I decided to take an idea from the Native Americans of Alaska and merge it with the beloved story of Bruce Almighty. In the stories that are linked above, the Inuits have a legend where the raven is the creator of most life. In many of the stories, we see what the raven creates and why they are created. The idea that I really loved from the story was that the raven acted as a God-figure, an animal that seems just so random. I wanted to keep this idea in my story, but instead of a raven, which I always associate with death (and mediocre football), I could make my animal be a Corgi. I thought it'd be funny to have the creator of all life be a Corgi, and even funnier by making his voice similar to that of Morgan Freeman's. Speaking of Morgan Freeman, I chose this voice since he is who I associated most with Bruce Almighty. I am guessing that you guys can start to see why I decided to name my main character Bruce. Overall, I wanted to write a nice little story that shows a man who is disappointed with his life eventually make changes so that he can be happier. I hope you guys like it!

Tech Tip: Canvas Profile

Hey guys, for this week's Tech Tip, I decided to alter my Canvas profile to make it a bit for personable. Looking at a few of my classmates' and friends' profiles, some of theme have yet to update theirs yet, and I didn't want to leave mine so empty! So for my profile, I decided to add a pic of Oklahoma City's beautiful Skydance Bridge, since I am an OKC native and a big fan of the landmark. I also added a short introduction to myself in my Biography section so that others can see what I am like!

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends, Part B

For my Reading Part B this week, I wanted to shift away from the Native American Marriage Tales to read some Alaskan Legends, most notably, the first half. It is not because I did not enjoy the Native American Marriage Tales, but that these Alaskan Legends just seemed really fun and interesting reads.

The first half of this unit focuses on the Raven, who is shown to be the creator of Earth's numerous life forms. I think it is a really interesting take on creationism, especially since growing up in a Western society, the belief that God is the one creator is the dominating belief. I think it is especially interesting that these stories made the Raven the creator, just because it seems so random and the fact that many other cultures associate the Raven with death as oppose to life.

While reading this unit, I felt that I could transfer these themes into one of my writings by writing something that is close to Bruce Almighty. In Bruce Almighty, we are surprised when we see Morgan Freeman playing as God. I feel that I can do something like that, but make the creator some other unsuspecting animal, like a Corgi.

(A raven, just like in the stories:

Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska. Katherine Berry Judson. Link.

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales, Part A

Reading these stories, the one that popped out to me was the story of The Piqued Buffalo-Wife. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Studio Ghibli films, but that was the vibe I got from the story. The story follows a man who tries to get his son back who had transformed into a calf. In order to get him back from the Buffalo Chief, he was tasked with spotting him from a group of other calves. In one Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away, the protagonist is faced with the same test. I am thinking that I can rewrite this story, but have it end just like Spirited Away. I have always been a fan of the Studio Ghibli films, so I think it would be really fun to revisit them by incorporating that style and their stories into my own writing. It also gives me the excuse to just binge on all the movies!

(Spirited Away:

Daily Dot)

Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians. Stith Thompson. Link.

Tech Tips: Browser Bookmarks

Surprisingly, my reliance on bookmarks did not develop until my first year of college. Before then, I mostly relied on my browser's history to keep track of all the sites and readings that I wanted to revisit later on. However, since entering college and being forced to remember dozens of logins and passwords, it is really good to have a site just one click away. I think bookmarks are even a great way to keep track of courses. At the beginning of every semester, I like to clear my bookmark bar on Chrome and refill with all my new, more relevant links. As a college student, I also like to use browsers on my phone that I also use on my computer. There have been numerous occasions where I've discovered some article on my phone and saved it so that I may review it later on using my computer. It's been a true lifesaver these bookmark functions!