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