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Showing posts from March, 2021

Reading Notes: California and the Old Southwest Part A

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 The story tells of a coyote who developed the world from nothing, he had partnerships with other animals during the process. Eagle created the mountains, trees and bushes. Fox helped coyote in the creation of man, who then bickered over whether they should be immortal. Coyotes medicine overpowered fox, so that humans eventually die. He also got fire for his world by stealing it from somewhere. There was a spirit called Earth Doctor, he drifted around the void until he started wishing things into existence. He created the ground from dust on his chest, then he created some black insects. Termites expanded the ground until it was equal to todays. He then created a spider that would spin webs to create supports for the unstable earth. He then created the features of earth like mountains, water, trees, etc. Then he made the sun out of ice, and once more for the moon. Then he created the stars by blowing water out of his mouth. In this world there was only one living thing, a spider named

Week 9 Story: Yokels & Tar-Babies

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     Bart Simpson was skateboarding around Springfield looking for fantastic pranks to pull. He spied Nelson Terrorizing Milhouse on the school yard. Nelson asked Milhouse, "Do you believe you should were a mask to protect others?" Milhouse scared to guess which answer Nelson wanted to hear said, "Uh... Uh... No definitely not, you can do what ever you want!" Nelson punches Milhouse in the stomach and said, "That's for not following CDC guidelines. Ha Ha." Bart rushes up to Milhouse to comfort him and helps him recover his glasses. Milhouse thanks him and ask what Bart plans to do the rest of the day. Bart says, "Today is the day I pull off the greatest prank, but I just don't know who would be stupid enough to fall for it." After brainstorming for a while Milhouse shouted out, "I know, lets prank Cletus! He is the stupidest person in town." In agreement on the victim, Bart clued in Milhouse on the prank. Cletus Spuckler Simpson

Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit Part B

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 The story begins after brer turtle tricked brer fox into letting go of his tail, letting him get away into the pond. Brer turtle is now conversing with brer frog who is on the side of the pond. Brer frog tells fox to look into the water to find his long lost brother, so fox does this. Fox reaches out to shake hands with his reflection and falls in. Brer rabbit and a bunch of brer animals are working in a field, brer rabbit gets tired and goes down to a well with a bucket on it. He for some reason lowers himself down the well in the bucket. Brer fox, who always keeps an eye on rabbit, looks at this scene in amazement. Brer fox crept up to the well, while simultaneously brer rabbit was keeping perfectly still to not tip over the bucket into the water. Brer fox makes himself known with a hello, and rabbit claims he is fishing. Rabbit tells fox that there is lots of fishes down in the water, and persuades him to get in the bucket. The counter weight lifts brer rabbit out and lowers brer f

Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit Part A

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 Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are neighbors of sorts, but they do not get along. One of them is always trying to trick the other for some nefarious reason. Brer rabbit invites over Brer Fox for dinner. While rabbit is waiting on fox to join them for dinner, fox is sneaking around the house. Fox ended up not coming, but notified rabbit to join him for dinner. When Rabbit arrived at fox's house for dinner there was nothing ready but a bowl and carving knife. Noticing what was about to happen. Brer Rabbit made an excuse to leave and escape. Soon after fox was out looking for him, but he never did get him. Brer Fox set up a lookalike small being made of tar, called a Tar-Baby. He planted it on a busy road and layed in wait for Brer Rabbit. Rabbit tried to make conversation with Tar-Baby without realizing it was not alive. He became angry with it and punched it to "knock some sense into it". One fist became stuck inside the Tar-Baby, then he kicked it and his foot became stuck, th

Week 8 Progress

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 I am pretty happy with my progress so far in this class. As far as points go I'm way ahead of the curve, but I am right where I'm supposed to be in terms of class work progress. I wish to increase my progress of work so that I could get done earlier! I am most proud of my storybook. I the first to have a Norse storybook in this class. I have taken my love for the show The Vikings  and intertwined it with the actual history of many of the characters to make a truly unique and fantastic story. I have gotten in a pretty good rhythm for this class, although I still procrastinate unfortunately. I enjoy making a new story each week the most, its a fun way to express the creative side we all have that is usually repressed or pushed to the side. I am using some of the extra credit options. I am graduating in May, so that is reason enough! Source

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

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 The commenting in this class is a mixed bag. Sometimes I get nonsense comments and other times I get detailed comments that help me develop as a writer. I find the comments most useful contain detailed information about what they did or didn't like, and how it specifically made the story better in the readers eyes. As far as comments I leave, I do try to do my best but sometimes with what I'm given I cant do a great job. Whether it is an uninteresting or to short of a story, these things limit my commenting ability so that I am forced to leave almost gibberish. On the stories that have sufficient content the feedback strategies definitely help. They help me focus in on what I specifically like or didn't like in a story and explain why.  As for the sense of community, this is just like social media. The comments I receive on my stories and post do bring a sense of happiness for a quick moment, but these quickly fade leaving you wanting more. I do not get a sense of building

Week 8 Reading and Writing

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I am pretty happy overall with how my story writings have turned out both in my project and weekly assignments. I think I have developed as a writer throughout the semester, with each one of my stories using more unique writing techniques. I am most proud of my project stories, as this is where I really tried my hardest to develop a unique story that excites and draws the reader in. My favorite reading so far has probably been the three roses story, as a story it is a really simple concept. But as I have read classmates rewritings of this I'm amazed at how different and unique each one can become, while still maintaining the same plot and story devices as the original. As far as reading notes go, I do not usually reread them as I write my stories. This is because with writing reading notes, I am able to retain the stories/plots better than if you just read them. Horus, Osiris, and Isis Source I chose this photo because I admire it in many ways. I like it as an artist because it has

Week 7 Story: The Eyes Deceive

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There once was a great hero of the village that lived in solitude named Batman. He was a handsome and wealthy man that lived in a sprawling mansion. Next door lived Joker who was Batman's best friend. Joker lived in a small shack and had very little in means of possessions. Joker called Batman on the morning of the village farmers market to ask if he would accompany him. Batman obliged and met joker at the intersection to their two houses. Batman appeared in a purple Lamborghini Aventador dressed in a matching purple suit. Joker got in the Lamborghini wearing clothes that resembled Kanye's clothing line with holes and stains all around them, although they were free. As they departed Joker expressed sorrow in his life and his wish for a life as grand as Batman's. Batman sympathized with Joker and told him he would fulfill his wish for a day. They proceeded to switch clothes and Joker now drove them. As they arrived at the farmers market all the women came out to meet this ri

Reading Notes: West Africa Part B

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Anansi and his son were in a land that was scarce in food. The son found and killed a deer and brought it back to the rendezvous. Anansi went off to find a basket to carry the kill back home. While Anansi was away the son cried out for him and a dragon appeared in attempts to eat him. Anansi appears and they are both captured by the dragon and taken back to his palace. In order to escape, the son spread forty bags of rice to distract the chicken. he then fashioned a ladder that he tossed tot he heavens. As everyone climbed to the heavens, the dragon noticed and also began to climb. The son threw down bones to distract the dragon, and cut the ladder at his feat securing his place in heaven. The son became the sun, and Anansi became the moon, and his fellow escapes became stars. The chief was having a feast, and invited all the other chiefs and their people. He sent out messengers to buy supplies. The tortoise was sent to buy palm wine from the palm field of the chicken. But the chicken

Reading Notes: West Africa Part A

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 A spider wanted to have stories told about him by the local chief. The chief agreed on condition that the spider bring him three things. A jar full of live bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. He found some bees and tricked them into the jar, completing his first task. The spider then found a snake and proceeded to measure him with a stick. The spider quickly tied the snake to the stick tricking yet another. The spider then found the home of a tiger and tricked him into sewing his eyes shut so that he became helpless. Completing all three task the old tales came to be known as Anansi Tales. A man with all the knowledge of the world became offended by the very people he helped. To punish them he collected all the knowledge that he had given out and put it in a jar. He proceeded to hang the pot in a tree far away from man's touch. His son watching him struggle to climb the tree with the jar hung on the front of his body gave a smart remark. He told his father to hang the pot on the

Week 6 Story: The Thief

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 There was once a great king on the planet Nimbus Nine, his riches were so vast that the banks could not hold them. He sought for an idea to keep his riches safe and polled his closest advisors. The chief architect presented him with a grand vault that touched the clouds and went as far as the eye could see. The king liked this plan and proceeded with it. He forced all his people to work on the vault, even the architect was forced into manual labor! The architect was angered by this and installed a secret passage right to the heart of the vault. The key was a retinal scan that opened a door from the sewers underneath the city. Before he could use this to avenge deeds done against him he was diagnosed with stage four cancer. He died one week later with his two sons and wife by his side. He said, "To my wife I love you and will miss you dearly. To my sons I love you even more! Before I die I must tell you of the secret passage to the kings vault. Go down into the sewers and go to wh

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part B

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Two brothers lived together, Anpu was the eldest and Bata was the younger. Anpu was a full fledged adult with a house and wife. The other brother worked hard upon his brothers land, tending to cattle and the fields. After a display of strength, Anpu's Wife threw herself upon him. He rejected her advances, remarking that he was disgusted with her actions. The wife told Anpu a tastefully edited story in her favor, sparking his rage against his brother. So much so that Anpu wished to kill him. Bata fled his brother, and Anpu came to know his wife's treachery. Bata came to have a wife from the sun god Ra, who was sought after by many men. A King wished to have her and sent many men and soldiers to bring her back. The men killed Bata and took the woman away. His brother came and revived him, Bata took the form of a bull, and they set off after his wife. After finding his wife with the king, she commanded the king to sacrifice the bull so that she may eat his liver. The king with gre

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part A

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The story start as a simple creation story similar to that of the bible or other creation stories. Ra, god of the sun, was the first and greatest among the gods to be created. He then later created all living things, including humans. The mysteries Ra's power is said to come from a secret name which is never spoken by word, but held deeply inside him. The goddess Isis had great ambitions to be as powerful as Ra, so she set out to learn his secret name. she created a snake from his saliva and the earth that bit him. This snake made him deathly ill, and Isis coerced the secret name out of Ra so that she might heal him while also fulfilling her own wishes. Ra after ruling for many ages came to know of treachery by man against him. He gathered all the gods to his side in secret as to not cause a panic in the people. The gods decided that mankind must be punished, so the gods began slaughtering them. Soon after much bloodshed, Ra's anger had past and he wished to save what remained