Week 3 Reading Diary B: Ramayana

Since I missed all of last week, I am just now beginning the book. My organizational skills will be much better in the weeks to come.


This begins by Rama needing to save his brother and essentially asking others for advise on the matter. What really stood out to me was, what were Rama and Vibishana thinking during this time? It is interesting to me the way wisdom plays through this story. There is an expression I like to use: We have two ears and one mouth, which means we should listen twice as much and twice as hard. When you are one to listen more than you speak your words become more important. This is definitely the case with Hanuman.

The battle with Ravana was very interesting, yet familiar. I thought it was really fascinating that they faked their deaths. Trickery at its finest.

When I think of these stories, I imagine them being read to young children. Since it is one of India's epic tales, I would imagine that it would have been read to children hundreds of years ago. A story of a hero who over comes odds, has a great adventure, and a battle is one of great imagination.

Siege of Lanka (Source)

Week 1 Overview

The Indian section of the UnTextbook gave me quiet a lot of ideas. I really like the idea of doing a series of bedtime stories. I am able to follow a certain structure while altering the majority of the story. I also like the idea of doing a letter, or memoir. I am not all that familiar with Indian subjects except for the fact that I read Indian Fairytales last semester. I really enjoyed that and the story I read. I thought that maybe I could do a variation off of that, like a compilation of peoples stories. I very much enjoyed rewriting a story from one of the characters perspectives. So here I am, stuck wanting to write a memoir or a bedtime story. 

The Mahabharata sounds as though it would be interesting. Although it might be a little bit more confusing. The difficult part of the Mahabharata is that I am not familiar with many of the Indian terms that are used in the book. I think that this book would be best to used for bedtime stories.

I have to say that I am very interested in how much I am going to learn about the Indian culture. There are a lot of cultural, spiritual, and cosmic elements to this and I am curious to see how it will translate into the stories as we go throughout the semester. 

The Magic Fiddle (Source)

Storybook Favorites

How I Met Your Mother

I always really liked this concept of basing stories off of this television show. It makes it sound really fun. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the layout. The stories were not very long but they were long enough to be enjoyable. Also, the way she included pictures that were relevant to Mahabharata, as well as How I Met Your Mother, really made the interwinding of the two come together. A great idea would maybe be to do the TV show "Friends."

Friends (Source)

Goodnight, Naga

Last semester I wrote a goodnight story and I really enjoyed being able to do that. With goodnight stories you are able to be as creative as you would like. You can turn a story about a genie into a cowboys and Indians tale. It really allows you to open up and come up with some really creative thoughts that complement your readings, yet turn it into something all your own. Since I grew up watching westerns with my father, a John Wayne approach might be easier and more authentic for me to use instead of "Goodnight Moon," which was used here.

Zoo Animal History

Focusing on the animals in the stories is always a lot of fun. Bringing the animals to life is even better. Each animal has a history and is often a focal point for the stories. Playing off of that could be exciting and interesting.

Introduction: It's Jess!

It seems as though every time I introduce myself to people find the need to quote the television show "New Girl," so for all intense in purposes I am Jess.

I am into my final semester here at OU and will, hopefully, be graduating in May. For those of you not getting ready to graduate, here is the only way I know how to describe what it feels like: it feels as though I am standing on the edge of a cliff just waiting for a swift breeze to push me over. Definitely more scary than exciting. Kind of like waiting for my inevitable demise. I am a Communication major from Houston, Texas.  What else is there really? I could tell you about my not so great summer internship or what my favorite color is (it’s blue, by the way) or I could tell you more about who I actually am and the things I want to accomplish.

I am a person who likes to make lists, whether it is of the groceries I need, the reading and assignments I have to do, the places I want to eat, or the places I want to see before I kick the bucket (or graduate). So here I have decided to tell you some of my lists.

Travel. It has always been my dream, nay goal, to travel all around the world. I always said that I want to go to at least every continent, and yes that includes Antarctica. But there are so many other countries I want to visit than just one per continent, so here is my list of countries I would like to one day visit: Canada, Peru, Russia, Italy (again), Greece, Spain, England, Germany, Ireland, France, Egypt, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Antarctica, Australia, Costa Rica, and New Zealand. 

Music. I love almost every type of music out there, all except for screamo. I like my traditional hip-hops and pops, as well as my Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin classics. Queen, Billy Joel, and Led Zeppelin are all great too. I even love classical music by Bach and Beethoven. However, several of my friends say that I have a very unique type of music as well, so here is my list of great bands/artists that are not up there with the rest: High Highs, Youngblood Hawke, Iron and Wine, Marble Sounds, Noah and the Whale, Fiest, Middle East, Freelance Whales, Bahamas, The Lumineers, Great Lake Swimmers, The Perishers, Two Door Cinema Club, The Civil Wars, and The Weepies.

That’s just a little bit about me. I’m funny and smart but I don’t always fit into the conventional box of what one would think based on their first appearance of me. I am who I am, and I is who I is.

Shel Silverstein Poem

InflatableHeart on Tumblr

Week 1 Storytelling: Falling, Falling, Falling

“Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.”

UGH! I have been haunted by this incessant rhyme since I was ten years old. Ever since my twin brother and I fell down that god-forsaken hill, everybody thinks it is sooo funny to tease us with that song. Constantly people are saying, “Ooh, be careful. We all know how clumsy Jill is,” like it's my nonexistent clumsiness that caused my brother to fall down that hill and crack his skull open! Well, here is the real story of what happened that day, and trust me… it was not my fault.

It was a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. Mother had sent Jack and me to go outside and play at the playground, which just happened to be at the bottom of a rather large hill with a wishing-well at the top of it. My brother and I were enjoying ourselves, just innocently playing, when all of a sudden who comes running up to me but Little Miss Muffet. With a look of sheer terror on her face, she swiftly grabbed me by my shoulders and began to shake my entire body uncontrollably. She then grabbed at her throat and, to the best of her abilities, struggled to softly say the word “water.”

Immediately I yelled to my brother, “Jack, run up to the top of that hill and fetch some water out of the well! Little Miss Muffet is choking!”

Jack’s eyes drastically became wide. He hastily turned towards the hill and began to sprint up to the top. I, unfortunately, was stuck with the overly frantic Little Miss Muffet, my left arm around her shoulders to steady and comfort her as we briskly walked up to that wretched pail of water. 

It took us few minutes to reach the top, but once there Little Miss Muffet seemed to be in less of a tizzy. Jack had just finished pulling up the pail filled with water when we arrived. He gently handed it to the now sweaty and trembling Little Miss Muffet, who quickly received the pail with her quivering fingers and began drinking down the water in gargantuan gulps. My brother and I stood there in front of her, watching, as she panted between her large sips. 

“Muffet, will you tell us what happened?” I asked her, as her breathing began to shallow.

“I…I…I can’t,” she uttered just before taking another large swallow of water.

“Well, try for us, would you? I bet you will feel much better once you do.” Jack nodded in agreement to my attempt to console her with my words.

Her shaking had ceased. With a deep sigh she set the, now virtually empty, pail on the stone edge of the wishing-well. She looked at Jack and me and said, “Alright, I’ll tell you. But let me start by saying that today has been the worst day of my life.”

Oh Muffet! She always did have a flair for the overly dramatic.

“Well, I had been having a horrible morning, so I decided to go get my favorite chocolate muffin from the bakery to hopefully cheer me up. I found a little bench in a grassy area to peacefully sit and enjoy my beloved muffin. I was on my second bite when suddenly a gigantic spider appeared next to me! As you know I have severe arachnophobia, that's the fear of spiders by the way, and so, with a mouth full of muffin, I just took off running. That’s when I ran into you, Jill. The worst part is, not only did the whole incident cause me to choke on the fluffy chocolate morsel, but I didn’t even get to finish my muffin!” A look of despair creeped over Little Miss Muffet’s face as she finished her story.

Jack and I just stood there looking at each other, neither of us knowing what to say to her. With her expression now a dramatic look of despair, Little Miss Muffet solemnly turned away from us to look out at the little town below. I followed behind her and gently placed my hand on her shoulder, while Jack placed his chin on my shoulder. It's his umm "special" little way of telling me that he's bored *eye roll*.

Out of nowhere Little Miss Muffet began screaming at the top of her lungs. Still shrieking, she pointed to the brick wall out in the distance. I squinted my eyes as I strained to see what the commotion was all about. Then my eyes grew wide… Humpty Dumpty had fallen off of his wall and had broken into a million pieces!!! As her shrill screaming continued to pierce the once quiet air around us, Little Miss Muffet forcefully pushed me backwards as she sprinted down the hill. 

Well, this is how the horrific incident occurred. When Little Miss Muffet shoved me, it caused me to lose my balance and fall backwards onto my brother, causing him to fall down the hill.

Still plopped on the grass where I had fallen, I turned around to laugh with my brother about our crazy encounter with our overly eccentric friend, when I saw that he was missing. I crawled on my tummy to the edge of the hill to look down below. That’s when I saw it… the blood oozing from my brother's skull while he lay on the ground motionless. I was so terrified and shocked that I accidentally fell down the hill as well. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt, but I don’t remember anything else from that day. 

Jack’s okay now, in case you were wondering. I can’t say the same for Humpty Dumpty though. But now do you understand why I hate that awful rhyme?! It reminds me of the day I almost lost my brother. 

Jack and Jill (Source)

Author's Note.  While my main focus was on the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme, I chose to intertwine several of the popular Nursery Rhymes to create one large, elaborate story. By combining several of the Nursery Rhymes together I was able to create and cause-and-effect chain of events that would emphasize the plausibility of the breaking of Jack's 'crown' to be more than just a random occurrence. Each nursery rhyme causes another nursery rhyme to occur, leading to the Jack and Jill situation. It is a massive cause and effect situation. If Little Miss Muffet had not been having a bad day, then she would not have gone to the bakery to get a muffin and been frightened by the spider, causing her to need to get water from Jack and Jill at the top of the hill, where she saw Humpty Dumpty die, causing her to push Jill who collided with Jack, thus causing Jack to break open his skull and almost die. 
In my storytelling I chose my main story to be focused on Jack and Jill. Writing it from Jill’s perspective gave the story another dimension to it and allowed me to incorporate other nursery rhymes while demonstrating that nursery rhyme characters have a personality all their own. I chose to keep Jack as a quiet type for two reasons. Firstly, because Jill is telling the story and she wants the main focus to be on her and how the rhyme hurts her. Jill is an attention snob in that way, so having Jack speak would take away from Jill’s spotlight. Secondly, as Jack is a ten-year-old boy, I felt as though he would potentially be shy around other girls, and his close relationship with his sister might causing him to only be openly vocal with her or people who he believes to have a close relationship with. Besides, at this point Jack is used to dealing with his sister's constant need to be the center of attention that he just sits back and enjoys the entertainment unfold before him. 

Bibliography.  

Jack and Jill - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Little Miss Muffet - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Humpty Dumpty - The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897)

Foreign Wikipedia Tech Tip

For this tech tip I decided to look up la Fontana di Trevi in Italian.  

Favorite Places: Where To Go

Instead of discussing my favorite places that I have been I have decided to talk about three places that I would like to go in the future. Greece, Russia, and Peru.

1. Greece

Navagio (Source)

There is a place in Greece called Navagio Beach on one of the Islands that I would just love to visit. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous but I think that I would be such an awesome place to go base jumping! As strange as it may sound, base jumping off of this particular spot in Greece is on my bucket list.

2. Russia

Moscow (Source) 

Russian is somewhere that I have always wanted to visit. It is the largest country in the entire world, by surface area of course. Who wouldn't want to say that they have been to the largest country in the world that spans over fifteen time zones!!! Plus it is just beautiful in its simplicity. 

3. Peru

Machu Pichu (Source)

My bucket list consists of going to every continent in the world, and what better place to go in South America than Peru. I would absolutely love to be in this tropical environment and see some absolutely incredible history.

Well This Is It

So this is my first post for this class. Not very creative, I know.