Reading Notes: Hiawatha Part B

The animal usage in the second part of the Hiawatha readings stood out to me. "Called the Mama, the woodpecker," and "The Keneu, the great war-eagle," are some examples of the titles. It's amazing how these stories continue to incorporate animals into their tales. I have more reverence now for the Native American epics.

Story source: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855).

Reading Notes: Hiawatha Read Part A

The readings this week are unique. It is interesting reading a more poem-style epic similar to the inferno. I typically never thought about or considered native American epics before and it never occurred to me that such epics would exist. However, it makes sense that they would because these people have been around for as long as their western cousins. Anyways, the unit over Hiawatha was really pretty. It combined both stories of people and supernatural forces similar to other epics and was really enjoyable to read. I focused mainly on the style and flow and it was very easy to read.

Little Hiawatha 1937

Bibliography:
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855).

Week 10 Lab

I watched the crash course videos over mythology. Those videos are so good and entertaining. My favorite section was the discussion of Joseph Campbell's "Hero's journey." My storybook is on the nostos of The Odyssey so it's really neat learning about the end of the hero's journey. It is also interesting to note how he synthesized Freud and other psychologist's views on myths and the subconscious to interpret what myths mean to us. I never realized that so much of how I view these influential texts are influenced by Campbell's idea of the hero's journey. I often find myself relating to so many stories and it's because I can see myself in them or learning some type of lesson from them. It never occurred to me that the psychological viewing of oneself in those myths is a relatively new idea in the myth world.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXcigjUCnKKR86F5zrcQqfiP-

hero's journey

Reading Notes: Alaskan stories part B

The things that I focused on for these readings were the anthropomorphism of the animals. One thing a lot of these Native American stories have in common is they seem equally to equate humans to being like a certain animal and then turning them into that animal itself. This includes sometimes adding those animal's flaws as well. My favorite story was the one about the foc who tricked the eagle into dropping two of its eggs for him. It was really cunning of the fox to do that and as a result he got punished for it. 

fox

bibliography:

Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Reading Notes: Alaskan Stories Part A

The use of anthropomorphism in these stories is really interesting. Each animal has its own human-like quality with some animals at some point even turning into humans. I focused on the story-telling in these stories and there were almost some Biblical references such as when the crossing of the sea could not happen because of the tide. It almost sounded like Moses splitting the river. Also, it's pretty neat as Raven is somewhat a creation story but also a trickster story.

raven

Bibliography:

Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Week 9 Patrick's Chinese Fairy Tale

There once was a man named Patrick Gui Fe who was full of splendor and wonder. He was the best looking man around. One day, he fell in love with the Empress who was in charge of Egypt as well as the Bikini Bottom Dynasty. Upon the Empress's first interaction with Patrick, she fell in love immediately.

"Oh Patrick, my strong and brave and curious sea star of a man, I love you so much." said the Empress.

Every day it seems, the sea star of a man would drop by the Empress's palace and she would wait patiently outside her balcony singing like a baby bird chirping for her mother to bring her the fresh worms for the day. And like a mother bird answering the calls of her baby, Patrick would swing by like a condor landing upon his nest, and feed his caller.

Quoting from a verse in Auden, Patrick whispers in her ear,


"'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,"

and with that, the lovers went to bed.

As time went on though, the Empress began to neglect her duties. First, the sun stopped shining and then the water stopped moving. Eventually, the grass grew so long that people could not find the path to the road anymore and the citizens of the country began to revolt.

"The Empress is a joke! She has fallen in love with an alien and we cannot have that!" rioted the people.

The started to burn down the palace of the kingdom forcing the Empress and her family to flee.

"This is all your fault, Empress! How could you neglect your duties and the traditions that your family has held for so many generations! It is that sea star's fault! We must kill him!" barked the relatives.

The Empress pleaded for his life, but it seems there was no other way, the people and the relatives have made up their mind.

Racing towards her beloved, she was too late. The Imperial guards snatched Patrick up like a runaway toddler fleeing from his mother for breaking a vase and hung him on a sycamore tree.

Grieving, the Empress prayed for her beloved but to no avail. He was dead.

Slowly, the Empress stopped eating, and she got skinnier and thinner. Her face started to look like a cubone and she cried. Upon seeing this, her most loyal servant, Stinky Guang Ling came up to her and asked if he could be of any assistance. Remembering, that Stinky used to be a member of the Imperial Magicians Court, she told Stinky to make contact with Patrick in the afterlife. Whether it is in Heaven or Hell, if Stinky could bring back her beloved, perhaps she could survive her grief.
And with that Stinky went on his journey to find Patrick.

He looked everywhere, from the deepest circle of hell to the highest parts in paradise and could not find him. He returned to the Empress with the news that Patrick could not be found anywhere, and with that, the Empress cried even harder and threatened to end her own life. Fearing of this, the Magician tried again. He went down to Hell with a flyer of the man's face on it and hassled and rustled every demon he could find and one of the demons mentioned that he heard news of a beautiful sea star in heaven. With that news, the Magician went straight into heaven again and started to harass all the angels until one of them spilled the beans.

*Patrick punches and angel and is curb-stomping him while another angel with a torn wing and bloody nose shows up*

"Where is he, Punk!" yelled the Magician as he struck another blow.

"STOP!!! WE KNOW WHERE HE IS! HE IS HIDING UNDERNEATH A ROCK IN HEAVEN. HE IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SEA STAR! STOP HARASSING US!." cried the other angel.

The magician took his leave and went immediately to the rock. Upon finding it, Patrick was underneath it sleeping like a newborn baby who cried itself to sleep.

Upon entering the abode, Patrick opened his eyes and the strength of ten Hawaiin Breeze fans blew over his the magician's skin.

"Patrick, I have come to take you home! The Empress longs for you and has threatened to end her life unless you come home!" harked the Magician.

"Oh Stinky, I cannot leave this place. For Heaven has declared me their most beautiful and precious sea star and I must stay here and be King of the Stars. Tell my beloved that I have not forgotten her and that I still have the ring that she left me when we first met. Bring this to her and tell her that our love is eternal and I shall never die." said the divine entity.

And with that Patrick's rock closed and the Magician woke up on earth again.

He told the Empress of the news and gave her the ring. The Empress was so impressed and happy that her beloved is still alive and she showered gifts on Stinky.


The Goddess Patrick underneath his rock. source

Author's Notes:
The story is taken from the Chinese fairy tale about Yang Gui Fe, who was the most beautiful lady around. An Emperor fell in love with her and as a result, the kingdom fell to ruin. Eventually, the people wanted her killed and the emperor gave in. Afterward, however, the Emperor was so grieved that one of his assistants had to go up into the afterlife to find Yang Gui Fe again. It turns out she became a goddess.
I wanted to do the same with my story, but I replaced the emperor with an Empress and the beautiful Yang Gui Fe with Patrick Star "Gui Fe." I also made the Empress the owner of Africa.

Bibliography:
Story source: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

"As I walked out One Evening" W.H. Auden

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy tales Part B

Today I focused on the story progressions of these Chinese fairy tales. I'm always quite surprised by how abruptly a lot of them end. For example, the story of retribution made no sense to me. I still do not understand why the story ended or started the way it did. Could it be that the moral is something along the lines of Karma? And you get what you give? However, there were also story lines that really broke my heart like the story with the emperor and the hanging of his wife and he was so grieved afterward that he tried to find her in the otherworlds.

Yang Gui Fe

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Reading notes: Chinese fairytales Part A

Today I focused on the description of the characters in the fairy tales. Specifically, I really enjoyed the story about the panther. The idea of the kids telling the panther that he has big eyes and big feet remind me of the story of little red ridng hood.  The other story with great descriptors was the story about the God of War. The way that they described his eyes and eyebrows and face were great and had amazing imagery.

the panther

Bibliography:

The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Week 8 Progress

I am very happy with my progress! I have not been using as much of the extra credit this semester, but I did enjoy the assignment of the growth mindset ones. Looking forward, I am excited about reading over the other stories in The Odyssey and finishing up my storybook! 

Motivational Quote by Patrick Star

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

The feedback I have been getting from my classmates has been pretty useful! So far, I only have a few comments on my comment wall but those comments have definitely revolutionized the way that I do my comments. I feel like the comments that I am giving could be better. One thing that I could focus on is specific parts of a person's story when I am reading it and give more detailed feedback instead of just general feedback. Looking forward, I think I will be more specific with my feedback.

cat looking for the light

Week 8 Reading and Writing

So far I am very happy with the reading and my progress! I use this class as an opportunity to explore creative writing techniques. My favorite story so far has probably been "Patrick the Sailor" because that's my first time using a first-person narrative from a different person's perspective. Next, the chance to write about something that I just came up with and have other people read it is super positive as well! I like hearing about what people think about my writing and it encourages me to write better stuff! Perhaps one thing that I will try out is focusing on different strategies for my reading notes. Then I can type a story that I have never tried before!


Patrick praying. Captures from my person photos.

I really like that photo because I saw it on a meme. I use it all the time in text conversations and I just love that it looks like he's praying to some divinity. So really, I chose that photo because I think it's the funniest photo.

Looking forward, I need to get better at my reading notes. They're not as good as useful to me as because i never refer to them when I write my story. I'm going to focus on "beautiful sentences" nice week!

Week 7 Story: A skater's retelling of the MONKEY KING BRAWLLL!!

"Sick Ollie Bro!" I yelled when Sun Wu Kung, the KING of skaters, showed me his trick.

"Patrick, I know you're not an ape or anything, but dude, you're pretty cool for a starfish. Wait, watch this!" said Sun Wu Kung as he turned one of his hairs into a Razor scooter and did some kickflips.

"WICKED BROOOO!!!!" I yelled back!

"That's nothing man. Now man watch Thi-"

Suddenly, the skies blackened and some kid walks out from the heavens.

"What the FLIP?" Gasped Sun Wu Kung as he walks toward the shadows.

"BE CAREFUL DUDE!!!" I cried.

But it was too late. Everything changed in an instant when the grandson of the Lord of Heavens came.

"Who are you?" questioned the mighty ape.

"I am Yang Oerlang, the grandson of the Lord of Heavens!" replied the valiant god.

"Lame. Get out of here man, or do I have to school you too?" beckoned the ape.

"Bring it!" yelled the young Lord.

They both summoned their wheeled boards and commenced a showdown. Up from the skies, the Lord of Heavens sent down literally the biggest skating rink I've ever seen in my life. It was like the size of three NFL football stadiums combined!

"Be careful dude!" I yelled

"No worries man. I got this!" replied the cocky Ape.

Sun Wu Kung transformed his scooter back into a skateboard and went into the rink. He started off with doing some casual kickflips when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he got some air and did a kickflip superman and wowed the crowd.

kickflip superman from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3

Wowing the crowd he got back to his post and held his board in the air.

"Your turn." whispered the ape to the prince.

The earth rumbled and the skies grumbled when the prince got on his board. Riding down the rink like a lightning cheetah the young prince did a few flips and then all of a sudden he pulls out of these out of nowhere.

Slamma Jamma off of Pro Skater 3

The Slamma Jamma trick was brutal and ten mountains crumbled.

Fearing, the ensuing onslaught, all the other apes hid and withdrew from the crowd. All of a sudden, the two warriors clashed like clashing warriors. The sky thundered like thundery skies and it rained wet drops of water.

As the two warriors fought, the skating rink started to fall apart. I grab my ripstick and start riding towards the warriors to stop the madness.

"I'm about to end this man's career," said Sun Wu Kung as he saw me.

Then I knew what was going to happen. Sun Wu Kung was about to show me the coolest trick ever that would certainly get end the young prince's career. I got down on my knees and started to pray.

Patrick Praying. Uploaded from my personal photos

He grabbed his skateboard and I knew what was about to go down.
Sun Wu Kung pushed the Lord of Heaven's grandson aside and performed the trick that would be the end of the world.

Hiding my eyes from the terror, I see the Monkey King riding up the walls of the rink and then all it was all over.

Christ Air on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3

The young prince had been defeated. He let out a giant roar of defeat and teleported back into the heavens.

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Authors Notes:
The original story is about the Monkey King, Sun Wu Kung, who clashed against the Yang Oerlang, the grandson of the Lord of Heavens. The Monkey King prior to this had committed many crimes against heaven such as eating the sacred peaches and taking all of the pills of life and the forces that heaven sent down to stop him were not enough. In a final effort, they sent down the Lord of Heaven's grandson, and upon heading to the cave of the monkey king, fought. The two were in a battle of shape-shifting with each time one out doing the other. In the end, the Monkey King had to run away and hide in heaven, disguised as the young lord.
For the purposes of my story, however, I replaced the shape-shifting battles with skateboarding tricks. I also changed the plot a little bit by having the Monkey King winning the battle. I also replaced the third person narrative with first-person storytelling. 

Reading Notes: Monkey King Part B

The story of the rebellion of Sun Wu Kung against heaven really reminds me of Paradise Lost by John Milton. In some ways, despite all the treachery and rule-breaking, I find myself relating and when he lost against Buddha I felt really sad for him. I guess the Monkey King appeals to all our vices and sense of pride eventually is his own downfall. The Synopsis ata the end is pretty neat and I am glad that Sun Wu Kung was able to become a Buddha. The redemption story and in the end where his helmet disappeared was touching. I think I want to read more Asian stories now. They're pretty cool!

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

escaping Buddha's Palm

Reading Notes Week 7: Monkey King Part A

The story of the Monkey King, Sun Wu Kung, is really unique because I find myself relating to the monkey king. The desire to escape death and the anxiety of death is something that affects humans and the quest to defeat it is very similar to the story of the Buddha. In some ways it seems like Sun Wu Kungs desire to defeat death seems almost futile as nothing in the human world can escape death, however, at least to Siddhartha, we can escape death by pursuing enlightenment and virtue? It's very similar to most religious values and I can see where those lines intersect with these stories. I'm excited to read what is going to happen next.

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Sun Wu Kung surfing the clouds