Week 8 Progress

Overall, I think I'm most proud of the stories on my Project website--"The Making og Galatea," which is based on Ovid's Classical Mythology, and "Till Death Do Us Part," which is based on Egyptian mythology. I've only got two on my site so far, but I'm happy with them both for different reasons. Both of these mythological traditions are cool for different reasons, and I had long-standing interest in both since I was kid, which made it even cooler that I get to explore these myths in more detail for class.

'The Making of Galatea' was fun to write. I got the finished form in one draft, and then went back a few times to fix grammatical errors. As a Letters major, I get to read lots of philosophy and think about what it means to be alive, to relate to other people and to relate to the world around us. That made 'The Making of Galatea' that much more personally intriguing for me. 'Till Death Do Us Part' was harder to write. Not the prologue--'The Death of Osiris'--but the continuation. The 'Death of Osiris' was another one that I was able to knock out in one draft, but the 'Rebirth of Isis' was tricky. I went through several drafts before I decided it was good and finished. In fact, I'm proud of the fact that I kept rewriting and editing until it was all good--because I'm so used to being able to just write once and be satisfied, I'm glad that I've grown enough to keep trying and admit to myself when I haven't written my best.

I have mostly worked out a schedule for this class, but since I have a lot of other things going on, including another online class which is reading heavy, I don't always stick to the schedule. I try to do the bulk of my work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but sometimes I get ahead, working on Mondays. I think it would be cool to be a few weeks ahead, but honestly, I'm just content to keep up and finish on time instead of early. 

symphony of love via Flickr

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Most of the feedback that I have received has been nice. I get complements and questions mostly, which I guess is better than mostly receiving criticism--not that I think anyone in this class would comment just to be rude. I've gotten some constructive criticism, but it's not very prevalent. 

I don't know if I don't get more suggestions because people like my stories the way they are, or if it's because, like me, people are nervous to point out the things they didn't like about my stories. I try to only point something out if I was genuinely confused, or if I think that a person can improve one aspect of their story without changing the overall tone. It's hard to remember to give people positive critiques without stealing their voice or tone and making it more like yours. 

I do appreciate the feedback and comments that I get because I have such a weird relationship with the things I write/make. I want to be proud of them, but I'm never entirely sure that they're god until someone else tells me they like it. On the one hand, I know it's good to be secure in your own creations. On the other hand, you can never be fully objective about your own writing, so it's good to have someone else tell you what is good and what can be better, someone who isn't so close to it. 

I hope that the feedback I give other people is constructive. I can think of a few people's stories where I did more than just point out what I liked about their writing, and actually made suggestions for improvement. I hope that they didn't feel like I was trying to diminish their own personal writing style, or replace it with my own. I really want to make sure that any suggestions that I make are actually helpful. Of course, people don't have to do anything they way that I suggest to do it, but I just want them to pay attention to why I point something out so that they can find a way to improve it their own way. 

Max Pixel

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I'm pretty happy with the way my blog looks. I know it's not the showiest or flashiest but I think that it's simple and straightforward. Anyone who visits it can find anything they're looking for. If I knew how to make it showier and flashier, maybe I would. But I'd rather put more effort into my writing, and as long as my stories are easy to find and come across clearly on the page, I'm a happy camper. My project website is more aesthetically pleasing to me, but I found that making the Google sites was easier to customize and had more options. It's really user-friendly, and I feel like a tech genius for putting in my comment wall buttons and the links to the original stories. I'm very please with my website.

I think that the tone of my Reading Notes varies from subject to subject, but when I reread my notes, I can hear my own voice in each post. In some, I'm more serious and I use a sophisticated vocabulary to describe my reactions to the readings; in others, I've written my thoughts and opinions in a very casual way, almost like transcribing a conversation I'd have with a friend if I were telling them about this course. I don't really know which way is best, and it all depends on how I feel, the subject matter, the way in which the subject matter was presented to me. But I think that, overall, each Reading Notes post has information and personality, and they've helped me focus on what to write and how.

Which brings me to my Storytelling posts. I'm pretty proud of a lot of my stories, I hope that doesn't seem arrogant. I really liked writing The Making of Galatea, which was the story of Pygmalion's statue from her perspective. It was so fun thinking about all the things that make us alive, and all the sense with which we get to know the world around us. I love how it turned out. I'm also pretty proud of my Moon story, I liked that I alluded to vitiligo, that the girl is empowered and that the boy who loves her supports her rather than exerts power over her, and that it is an etiological myth--meaning that it explains the origins of a natural phenomenon. I also like my story about Isis and Osiris, and I really like how the continuation of that story played out on my project site. It was really difficult to narrow down the story, to fix her tone, and to describe the events with detail and emotion (since the original myth just kind of lists events). I went through about five different drafts, longer and shorter, more or less detail, and finally I am satisfied with teh result. 

Pxhere

This class has really been an exercise in personal examination, because I have to learn when to stop, when to change, when to start over. And I'm a really stubborn person, I want to believe that I've done everything right the first time. But when I've written something that isn't quite right, and I admit it to myself and fix it, it always turns out better. It's a good lesson to learn.

Extra Credit - Reading Crash Course Mythology (More Pantheons)

First off let me say that the Indian, Norse, and African pantheons are highly underrated. I got really different impressions from all three of them and I appreciated each one equally. 

The Indian pantheon is cool for a lot of reasons. First, it's still 'alive' today, unlike the Egyptian and Classical gods and goddesses. Secondly, there is a more palpable spiritual aspect to it. I think I just personally really dig the symbolism, and it's shared characteristics with lots of other traditions make it that much more interesting. There is Brahman, the soul of the world. It's separate and greater than any one person, but every person is connected to it. It's also represented by three personifications--Brahmin (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer). Sounds kind of like another Trinity. The goddesses are amazing too, specifically Kali, a warrior goddess who is unbeatable in battle and too busy being a badass to date. The story of her victory over the Buffalo God was literally amazing. I really want to look up more Hindu/Indian mythology stories after hearing just that one. 

"Shiva"
siobanhill via Pixabay

The Norse pantheon obviously has gotten more attention than the Indian and African pantheons because of the Thor comics/movies, but you really can't beat the original. I have never read Norse mythology, outside of what you can kind of pick up from Neil Gaiman's American Gods (great book, highly recommend it). But in the video, the descriptions taken from an old Scandinavian author named Snorely have a really distinct tone, and I'm into it. For example, Heimdal (Idris Elba's character in the movie, with the cool gold eyes) can "see far in the night and in the day," and "hear the grass growing and a wolf walking and everything that makes sound" or something...cool stuff. The Norse myths in general seem less symbolic and more relatable and simply entertaining. The video describes the theft of Thor's hammer by a giant, and his and Loki's harebrained scheme to dress Thor in a wedding dress to get it back. They get away with it thanks to Loki's lies, even though Thor eats all the food and it should have been incredibly obvious that he was not, in fact, a woman. Then he gets his hammer back, kills every giant, including the women and children, and the story ends: "and so Thor won his hammer back." You gotta love the Norse pantheon.

"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!"
Elmer Boyd Smith via Wikimedia

The African pantheon was also really cool, but I can kind of understand why it isn't as well-known as some other traditions. For one, Africa is really big, with hundreds of individual cultures, languages and ethnic traditions and stories. They're also really big on oral tradition, so it's harder to have a one uniform source, unlike Classical mythology which has poets like Ovid and Homer. Also, the Orishas, which the video highlights because the tradition is easier to track, are very different in nature to the gods we're more familiar with. In almost every culture, gods and goddesses are just born with their domains. They don't earn them, generally. But in the African tradition, the Orishas had to get their own powers from their leader Olorun or his son Orunmila. They asked for powers to help Orunmila, so that he wouldn't need to fix all their problems for them. But he valued them all equally, so he didn't know how to distribute them. After speaking with a wise chameleon, he decided to give all the Orishas notice and just rain down the powers on them. He gave each of them a fair chance, and gave them powers when he didn't have to. I think that says a lot of the culture. 

"Changó"
Paul K via Flickr

I really enjoyed the videos, I always do. I originally needed to catch up on some points to maintain my desired grade, but I think I could honestly just kick back and watch these Crash Course videos.