Reading Notes: Life of Buddha Part B

Victory over mara

The whole idea of Siddhartha as a hero is really unique in the story of the Buddha. From all my previous readings, a hero is someone who has to physically fight the evil, usually with a weapon of some sort. In Buddha, Siddhartha is a hero because of his courage to conquer old age and death. By conquering old age and death, he gives up everything in pursuit of supreme knowledge. That idea of a hero pursuing supreme knowledge to conquer death seems completely different even from the other Indian Epics I've read in class. Overall, I think the story is great, but, it seems that Buddha's attempt to shine light into the world would be overall futile as if nobody gave birth and nobody had a desire to then there would be no humans. Thus it would lead to the end of humankind. This is similar to when Paul the Apostle said that marriage is a concession and although the ideal is to be celibate, most people are not that strong. I would have to look further into Buddhist ideas to understand this.


Bibliography:
The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).

Read Notes: Life of Buddha Part A

This is my first time exploring the story of the Buddha. Although in highschool I had friends that read Siddhartha, I never read it myself. One of the things that really stood out to me throughout college was the Buddhist idea of taking the "I" out of suffering and to think that there is suffering. That idea is really unique as throughout the story, none of the old age, sickness, and death, was present in Siddhartha himself, but rather, he saw it and felt it. This contrasts with his actual environment in which he has everything that he could ever really need. This idea of there IS something in the world became prevalent and is a coming of age moment for Siddhartha as he realized that the world has pain. It's quite beautiful.

Patrick meditating?

Bibliography:

The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).

Wikipedia Trail: From Nostos to Nostoi

For my introduction yesterday, I looked at the etymology for the word nostos which is the "return home" theme of The Odyssey. I pressed around on more of the Wikipedia links and it led me to the Hero's journey, which is a cycle of events that every hero goes through that has a decisive crisis or climax in a story and end with victory. The decisive climax was kind of a dead-end so I went back to my nostos link and found nostoi which also deals with the return. It seems both those words have a similar meaning?

links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax_(narrative)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostoi

A hero's journey

Week 5 Story: Patrick the Sailor

"Once upon a time there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died." - Patrick Star 

the ugly barnacle

Those were the last words I ever heard from the man thought the Captain as he made his way to the bazaar. What I carry and what I bring with me to these merchants are the last of the equipment that he left behind before he died.

It was a terrible accident. Four score and seven years ago, a ship I was in charge of land on what we thought was an island. Our men, tired from the long voyage at sea, sought to build a fire to cook our freshly caught fish and be merry. However, it all changed when the fire nation attacked. Upon lighting a fire, a terrible stirring of the ground occurred. Only a few of my men were able to make it back on board, myself included and as we were yelling for the other men to come aboard, the ground below them began to sink and a large spout of water came spraying out of the ground, piercing a man in half.  Our ship flowed away from the waves and I saw my men no more.

Even amongst those dead, I managed to gather the equipment of my finest sailor, Patrick Star from Bikini Bottom. I thought to myself if perchance I were to run into a family member of his I could give back his belongings and tell of his brave adventures out in the sea.

When I got to the bazaar, a crowd encircled me. I told them my story and the tail of my brave sailor when all of sudden one of the men raised his hand up.

Patrick raises his hand
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"Captain it's me! Patrick!" cried the man.

I could hardly believe it. Here, after years of searching, a man perchance claims to be Patrick?

"The audacity that some men have! And here I thought that men are honest! How could you claim to be a dead man?" I barked at the pretender.

"Captain, I am he! I managed to escape and have sought refuge with a king!"

Lies! I thought to myself, there was no way that this man could be the famed Patrick. I saw him with my own two eyes. The destruction that the whale caused because we mistook it for an island.

"Captain!" yelled one of my men

"Yes?" I said

Turning back, I see my men swell up in tears.  For that man who I thought to be a pretender was indeed the brave Patrick Star who I have been looking for. Falling down to my knees I cry and kiss his feet.

real tears

"How did you survive?" I asked.

End.

Bibliography:
Andrew Land The Arabian Nights

Authors Notes:
This is the first of Sindbad's voyages. The story takes place after Sindbad escapes a near-death experience of having mistaken an island for a whale. He drifts back on a piece of wood somewhere and manages to survive until one day he finds his captain trying to sell Sindbad's belongings. For this story, I told the story from the perspective of the captain.

Reading Notes: Sindbad Part B

I really enjoyed the story of Sindbad and it encourages me to read the Arabian Nights. One thing that stood out to me about this story is the way that strangers treat him with hospitality. Perhaps my favorite is when he encounters the King of Serndib and the slaves that meet him first feed him. This hospitality reminded me of Xenia or the theme of hospitality that strangers greet people in Greek epics like The Odyssey. Anyways, other favorable mentions are that old guy who rides on Sindbad's shoulder and the elephants who show him the ivory.

Bibliography: Andrew Lang The Arabian Nights

elephant who picks up sindbad

Reading notes Sindbad Part A

This is my first time reading Sindbad. I really enjoyed all the adventures of the first four voyages! It really makes me think about that poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson called "Ulysses." It seems like Sindbad no matter what terrible adventure he had before always wants to go back for more! My favorite one is the fourth voyage where he has to die with his wife, and he then kills some lady that was going into the hole and took her food and later escaped. lol

Bibliography
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang

Popeye meets Sindbad

Storybook Plan

A resource that I think might be helpful is:
the myth of return by Douglas Frame and The Odyssey translations by Tony Kline and Robert Fagles.

Next, the stories that I'll use for my story project are

Calypso's Island
Circe's Island
Achille's in the underworld
Odysseus on Ithaka.

For my story, I'm putting Patrick in place of Odysseus. I may or may not change some of the villains.
I want to explore the theme of nostos and the idea of longing in the stories.

Comment Wall

the picture is photoshopped by my friend Scottie

the journey home

Tech Tip: Twine

I really enjoyed making my Twine. I think I might make my storybook with Twine. The idea of having an interactive game sounds really fun!
Here is my test: file:///C:/Users/alber/Documents/College%20stuff/Albert%20Created%20Game.html

feel free to try it out!

Reading Notes: Infancy Gospels Part B

The second parts of the infancy gospels revealed miracles regarding Christ as his holy baby water as well as Christ killing people. I am shocked by some of these stories but I also think it is kind of funny. It's interesting how a lot of these miracles did not make it into the canon as I think some more stories of kid Jesus getting mad at a kid that bumped into him and killing him or resurrecting a kid that fell off the roof just to let his parents know that he did not kill this kid would really add to the personality of Jesus.  One thing that I did notice overall is how human-like Jesus was like at certain moments and the author stated that he gets mad at some points.

baby Jesus

Bibliography:

The Lost Books of the Bible, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926): The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ.

Reading Notes: infancy gospels part A

This is my first time reading the infancy gospels and I am quite entertained by the stories. I had not idea that there were other stories of Christ that were not included in the Bible. I really liked the miracle stories of the Baby Jesus and especially how that little devil kid put the towel on his head and crows and serpents came out of him. The way that all these people interacted with each other are really interesting and they all had the same conclusion that it was God doing the workd.



Bibliography:
The Bible King James Version
The Lost Books of the Bible, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926).

was baby Jesus a Holy Terror?
the daily beast

Feedback strategies

The articles I read were five reasons to stop saying good job and the trouble with amazing.
One thing that really stood out to me about the first article were the different ways to give effective feedback instead of just saying "good job." I have a one year old nephew now and I think these are great ideas to instill in kids when they're young and to train myself on how to properly talk to myself and making my praise specific. Next, the second article was great with the anecdote on the Samba class. I think that the phrases we use for praise have gotten watered down and lose their meaning if EVERYTHING we do is AMAZING...

nancy pelosi saying good job. good job nancy

Topic Research: Longing in the Odyssey

I'm interested in the theme of nostos in the story of the Odyssey. Odysseus's longing to come home to Ithaca is very touching and relatable, and I want to explore what that means to long in the Odyssey. The translation I read previously is by Robert Fagles, but I'll reference both Fagles and Kline for my project. Also, there is a poem I read by C.P. Cavafy called "Ithaka" that represents the idea of the "journey" really well and I might use that in the intro.
For the project, I will focus on different scenes that portray this longing:

1. Calypso's island
2. Circe
3. Achilles in the underworld?
4. Odysseus on Ithaka.

sources:
1. Robert Fagles The Odyssey
2. Tony Kline The Odyssey 

http://freebookapalooza.blogspot.com/2016/07/kline-homers-odyssey.html

https://socialecologies.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/the-odyssey-robert-fitzgeralds-voyage-to-ithaca/
Ithaka

Week 3: Story - Patrick passing in between Scylla and Charybdis

After passing the Sirens, complex Patrick realized that there were more terrors ahead.

"Barnacles! Circe was right!" barked Patrick.
He turned back and looked at his horrified men, who were wetting their pants from fear of the unknown.

"Uhhh! Boss! There's a giant tornado inside the water!" said one of the men.
"It's Charybdis!" cried another man.

Patrick, realizing that his men knew nothing of the terrors ahead, chose to give his men confidence.

"Men! We have been through horrors far worse than what lies ahead. Day in and day out we have fought and conquered! Remember Polyphemus? We defeated him! Remember Circe? We defeated her! Do not forget the strength we have! Now stay close to the oars and row!" yelled the cunning Patrick.

"Barnacles! Elpenor truly went out easy" cried one of the men.

As the crew steered away from the whirlpool monster, the cunning starfish sighs the biggest sigh of relief. Forgetting Circe's warnings, Patrick arms himself with sharp spears to prepare for spooky Scylla with creepy snakeheads.

Suddenly, Patrick hears a loud yelp similar to a small animal crying.

"Help!" yelled a man as he is smashed against a rock.

Brains and guts shoot out of the man's head like a toddler dropping a watermelon from a counter.
The juices lightly sprinkle Patrick's face.

Horrified, Patrick yells to his other men when suddenly six more were picked up by the tentacle heads of Scylla. Weapons drop everywhere.

"Help! Patrick!" cried one of his men.

With all his strength, Patrick throws his spear at Scylla and completely misses. The spear instead bounces off a boulder and falls on a man knocking the man unconscious. 

"Please help us!" cried the ones that were still conscious.

In vain Patrick throws spears and swords and shields and large pieces of wood at Scylla and misses. Each time, everything thrown bounces or completely misses the intended target and hits his men instead. Meanwhile Scylla, like a joyful baby encountering water for the first time, smashes the men against the rocks and water. Human juices and remains of men that were once alive scatter the boat as a man is slowly dragged into a cave.

Bibliography:
Tony Kline The Odyssey http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/odyssey-sirens-scylla-and-charybdis.html

Author's Notes:

This a story from The Odyssey regarding the death of Odysseus's men against the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. The story focuses on how Scylla kills all of Odysseus's men and how Odysseus forgets the warning from Circe to not arm himself against Scylla. I thought it was very sad how Odysseus could not do anything at all and how every one of his guys cried out for help when Scylla grabbed them. It was also a particularly gory scene.

scylla and charybdis

Reading Notes: The Odyssey Part B

Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla and Charybdis

Today I read the rest of the Odyssey. One thing that stuck out to me was reading the death of Odysseus's crew members in-between Scylla and Charybdis. How terrible fate it must be to go between Scylla and Charybdis. One thing that stood out to me that I did not recognize the first time was how Odysseus's men cried out for help and their last actions were reaching out toward Odysseus before Scylla consumed them. I can only imagine the grief Odysseus felt as his men, who harkened their captain's words, died crying out to their leader. For Odysseus was in charge of bringing everyone home and he failed and that is very sad.

Bibliography:
Tony Kline The Odyssey 
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/odyssey-sirens-scylla-and-charybdis.html

Reading Notes: The Odyssey Part A

Today I read part A of the Odyssey readings. The stories covered the encounter and escape from Polyphemus, through Circe, and the death of Elpenor, the youngest crew member who fell off the roof of Circe's house. One thing that really stood out to me were the adjectives they used to describe Dawn such as "rosey fingered." I'm going to incorporate some more of those descriptors to my story telling this week.

I think maybe a story about Elpenor would be a good retelling this week.

Rosey Fingered Dawn

Bibliography:
The Odyssey translated by Tony Kline
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-odyssey.html