Storytelling for Week 10: Of Bulls and Bears

Author's note

This story is a retelling of The Buffalo and the Grizzly Bear from the Great Plains unit.  A buffalo is standing around, minding his own business, when a grizzly attacks him claiming that the buffalo has been talking trash.  The buffalo denies this and the bear starts to walk away.  The buffalo wonders why the bear would think such a thing, the bear hears this thought, and comes back and attacks the buffalo again.  The buffalo then starts to back up and the grizzly says "Don't run away!"  And then the buffalo charged and gored the grizzly.

For this storytelling, I added a hockey twist.  This story essentially became an extended metaphor.  So there are descriptions of the players from the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins as their respective mascots.  I featured Jack Eichel, an American player who went 2nd overall in the 2015 draft, and his teammate Evander Kane.  

This also jumps around a bit in the timeline and are divided with "-x-" while sections divided by "-" take place within the same time period.

The Sabres haven't actually played the Bruins yet this season, so we'll see how it goes.  They're a pretty brutal team to play against.  If you have any questions about hockey terminology, just ask!

Evander Kane (#9) and Jack Eichel (#15)

-z-


Jack Eichel snorts and shakes his head.

Let the bears out on the ice roar all they like.

He’s ready for them.


-x-


Jack’s first trip out onto NHL ice had been on unsteady legs – the same as any young bison. And just as the same as any young bison.

Not living up to the hype, he’d heard the old dogs whisper. What a waste.

He stumbled, he slipped and slid as he battled along the boards.

At first.

But then he found his legs – pushing out the roar of the crowd and the bellow of their expectations. He remembered to just play the game; he remembered to deke and dance with the puck – and then the puck was in the back of the net and his herd was surrounding him. They pull him in for a crushing hug as they shout in congratulations.


-x-


The grizzly tries to stare him down.

Jack just smirks.


-x-


His legs are young, but he’s growing into them. Around him, his herd is assured and confident – protective.

They keep him tucked in close until it’s time for him to take to the ice again. And even then, they hardly allow anyone too close.

Highly touted rookies were too often on the receiving end of illegal hits meant to injure. Evander, a bull in the middle of his prime, takes to shadowing Jack’s every move – knocking away any of the opposition he saw getting too close.


-x-


Jack doesn’t see the bear coming up behind him – just feels his head snap first against the glass and then against the ice, the air knocked from his lungs.

There’s a flurry of motion and he turns his head just enough to see that Evander has a bear in a headlock. But the linesmen are quick to separate them and the bear skates away with a smile and a wink at Jack.

Jack snorts and shakes his head, lets Evander pull him back up to his feet.

“See you in two,” Evander says to Jack before he’s skating over to the penalty box.


-


The second hit comes when Jack’s got the puck on his stick. He’s sizing up the goalie, picking his spot, and just when he’s about to release – Jack’s vision suddenly swings wide and he’s staring up the bright rafter lights.

He doesn’t stare long.

Jack’s still sliding along the ice as he rolls over, gets his legs underneath him, and charges. He ignores the coach calling him back to the bench – ignores the way his muscles are screaming at him for taking this extra shift on the ice.

But there’s a young grizzly cub, a fellow rookie, who has the puck and it’s just too easy to strip it from him – and head back down to the other end of the ice.

He pumps his legs, puts his head down, and charges – he dances around the first defenseman and then a second, and then he’s facing down the hulk of their goalie. He fakes Rask out, gets him to drop to a knee – and then with a quick flick of his wrist, the puck is in the back of the net.


-


Jack is on the bench, the bears on the ice circling and snarling. He snorts and shakes his head.

Let them roar all they like.

He’s ready for them.


-z-


End.


-z-


Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913).

Reading Diary B: The Great Plains

Despite Supernatural being my all-time favorite television show in the history of ever – these ghost stories terrified me. In this show, they fight ghosts all the time. They use shot gun shells filled with rock salt in order to dispel spirits and fight them off with anything made of iron. In the Supernatural mythos, the easiest way to get rid of ghosts is to salt and burn the ghost’s bones.

The Ghost and the Traveler

This story reminded me of the Women in White stories – except this ghost was friendlier and simply seemed to want some company. Women in White tend to want to kill you…
 

Woman in White

The Man Who Shot a Ghost

I had to read this one a couple of times before I realized that the wolf digging into the grave was what caused the injury to the ghost.

The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost

I wonder if he was burning sage brush? It’s commonly believed that sage has a lot of healing and purifying powers. If you ever watch shows like A Haunting (an anthology tv show that tells the stories of, well, those that are being haunted), sage will be burned in order to purify the house and chase off angry spirits.

There’s another show called The Haunted, which focuses more around animals sensing spirits; it’s not as good as A Haunting, but it’s still something to watch especially around Halloween. They even have an episode called “Thump in the Night” which shows rabbits reacting to paranormal activity.

However, the show lost a lot of credibility (with me, at least) when they showed another case where the guy kept hearing these awful shrieks behind his house. Those shrieks were clearly the sounds of a fox and I feel like anyone who lives near the woods should know that.

Reading Diary A: Great Plains

I’ve heard the story about The Buffalo and the Grizzly (The Great Plains unit) before in a previous class, but it’s still one of my favorites. I’m already thinking about ways that I could possibly do this for my storytelling post. There are even two hockey teams I could use if I wanted to continue putting hockey twists to things: the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins.

One player I could feature for the Sabres would be Marcus Foligno, and for Boston it would be Matt Bartkowski. Bartkowski currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks, but he and Foligno fought each other last season when he was still on the Bruins.

I think they would work because this folktale kinda resembles what started the fight. Bartowski laid a hard and high hit on Gianta, making him go down to ice hard. In the story, the buffalo is just standing around, minding his own business, when the grizzly bear attacks him.

Unlike the story, Foligno immediately attacks back (technically, that would make him a second buffalo in the story – which isn’t canon – but just go with it), which the buffalo eventually does. Foligno goes on to win the fight (in my opinion, and according to the consensus of voters on the fight on hockeyfights.com) – much like how the buffalo wins the fight against the bear in the story.

Or, I can just treat the whole thing as a metaphor for Jack Eichel – one of the most highly touted American rookies from the 2015 NHL draft – being harassed by a Bruins player for the puck. The buffalo “winning the fight” would be Eichel scoring a game winning goal in overtime.

Jack Eichel (I saved this picture a long time ago from Twitter and now I
can't find the source but it's just too great to not use)

Week 9: Famous Last Words - House Rabbit Primer 1/4

A Primer to the Domestic House Rabbit: The Basics, I

1. Introduction
2. Lagomorphs, not rodents
3. Cages
4. Food & Treats
5. Toys

Introduction

I got a comment on my introduction post asking about whether or not rabbits were easier to take care of than cats or dogs, the answer is both yes and no - it all boils down to the rabbit and what they've been through.  

However, because one of my goals in life is to educate people about the plight of house rabbits - the third most surrendered animal, which doesn't count the hundreds and hundreds of rabbits who are released in neighborhoods and parks to be "free" - I'm going to post some educational tidbits here.

If you, or someone you know, is about to get a rabbit, I strongly urge you to reconsider.  They are NOT great pets for children or for first time pet owners - they are a ten year commitment, they are not toys, they are not disposable.

Sidney Crosbun is the best video game partner. So whoever dumped him is really missing out.

Lagomorphs, not rodents

It's a common misconception that rabbits are rodents.  They are not.  They belong to the taxonomic order lagomorpha - which includes hares, rabbits, and pikas (also called conies).  The main differences between lagomorphs and rodents are found in their teeth.  Rodents only have two incisors in their upper jaw - lagomorphs have four.

There's also a difference between rabbits and hares.  The main one being that hares give birth to young that are already furred and active, while rabbit's give birth to furless young.  Rabbits are also more social than hares and like to live in small colonies.

The sociality of the wild rabbit is something that has been retained in domesticated rabbits.  Which is why I roll my eyes whenever I see a rabbit care website saying that you should put a blanket or a towel over a rabbit's cage.  One, because that rabbit will just chew up and destroy the towel.  And two, because rabbits rely on eyesight almost as much as they rely on their hearing to know what is going on around them.

Rabbits want to be seen, and they want to be a part of the family.  One way to bond with a rabbit is to stay in their line of sight - this is called "gazing."  You don't necessarily have to be petting them, just being in their vicinity and sitting with them goes a long way to helping a rabbit trust you.  (It gets them used to your presence and equates it with the thought "oh, look, they're here and nothing is happening.")

Cages

Only four of my rabbits are in caged - but they're not the cages like what you see in Atwoods or Walmart, they're in large dog crates.  Because those cages at Atwoods and Walmart are horrendous and cramped and rabbits should only be put in them if it's for a few hours - like say, at night, if they have regular run of the house or a room.

The four rabbits who are caged each get ample amounts of time outside of these cages.  Especially at in the mornings and the evenings - when rabbits are more active.  Khan and Sidney each spend about an hour to an hour-and-half outside on a harness and leash (or in the living room when it's too hot outside).  Stella and Jacky take turns being outside of their cages in the rabbit room.  And Ty-ty and Ziggy each have their own rooms - Ty has the laundry room, Ziggy has the dining room.

Ty-ty clonked out.  If you notice, the top of his box is caved in - that's because he liked to sit on top of it.  We eventually had to retire that box and get him something a bit more sturdy.

Dog crates are excellent for rabbits because they're tall enough that if a rabbit wants to stand on their hind legs, they can.  The bottom pan is also good because it can just be pulled out and cleaned.

Each of our rabbits also has a plastic box filled with pine shavings (not cedar - cedar can cause respiratory problems in rabbits - and never, never cat litter) where the rabbits do their business. These boxes are cleaned out every other day.  Ziggy is the only rabbit who doesn't have a plastic box - instead, he has a large cardboard box lined with puppy pads that he uses.

**Rabbits should not kept outside.  They will get lonely and quickly become depressed.  Here in Oklahoma, with the extreme temperatures, rabbits can succumb to heat strokes and seizures and die.  Just think about how miserable you would be in a giant fur coat outside in 100 degree heat.**

Food & Treats

Our rabbits get a cup of pellets (plain pellets, not the bags with the extra "goodies" inside - that's just junk) and unlimited Timothy hay.  In the mornings, they get a scoop of oats, a slice of banana or apple, and, once a week, raw pumpkin seeds.  Each night, they get greens: red leafed lettuce, regular lettuce, Italian and/or curly parsley, and spinach.

Also, whenever there are good strawberries, the rabbits will get strawberry tops (which is the only part they really like, they tend to ignore the rest of it).

While my rabbits like carrots, they don't really go crazy for them - not like bananas or apples.  Especially the yellow apples.

If they don't get their treats in the morning or their veggies at night, they'll often slam their bowls together or start thumping - just generally start making a lot of noise to get my attention.  It's they're way of saying: "Hey!  You forgettin' something?!"  And then I feel guilty.

Toys

There is absolutely no point in buying any of the fancy wooden blocks from pet stores.  The rabbits just throw them around a couple of times and then get bored with them.

What they do love is toilet paper and paper towel rolls (I hide bits of banana inside, then stuff it with hay).  Also, little paper cups - they're safe for rabbits to eat, plus they can be thrown around; cardboard bowls and boxes are fun, too.  Anything vaguely papery will also be eaten and enjoyed.  This includes everything from junk mail to homework (I wish I was joking about that last one, but really).

Ziggy catching up on his couponing.

Coming Up

1. Week 10: The Basics, II
1. The importance of spaying and neutering
2. Personality: rabbits have a lot of it
3. Body Language: ears, flops and binkies, and "getting the butt"
2. Week 11: The Hazards
1. I killed that snake for you: rabbits vs. power cords
2. Everything must go: rabbits vs. your furniture
3. I don't like that: rabbits vs. you, biting/scratching
3.  Week 12: My Best Success Story and the Whole Point of Doing a Four Week Long Rabbit Primer
1. Cadbury, the Church Rabbit
2. What has been done: the "Make Mine Chocolate" campaign and the house rabbit memes
3. What needs to be done:  education, education, education

Extra Reading Diary: Myths of the Cherokee

For my extra reading, I looked at the Myths of the Cherokee unit.  My two favorite stories are in the "The Deer and the Rabbit" chapter.

Jackalope

How The Deer Got His Horns

This story is great because it reminds me about the cryptid the jackalope.  Because what if Rabbit hadn't gotten caught cheating?  Then we'd have jacklopes!  My great-aunt, who lives in Topeka, KS, had a mounted jackalope hanging above her fireplace (typically, these mounts are stuffed jackrabbits with deer antlers).

In reality, the inspiration for jacklopes was more than likely found in wild rabbits suffering from infections of the Shope papilloma virus, which causes weird growths and tumors to grow from the rabbits face and body.  So be careful googling the images - they can get gross.

Fun fact: the study of the Shope papilloma virus helped to lead the development of the HPV vaccine.

Why The Deer's Teeth Are Blunt

I liked this story because, frankly, a deer with fangs isn't something that the world needs.  Sure, there's the water deer, who looks like a little saber-toothed deer (and certain biologists out there need to answer for not taking the opportunity to name it that), but that guy's a little cutie.  Now, imagine a white tail buck with big ol' wolf's teeth...

With all the stories of bucks going crazy during rutting season, adding fangs to the picture would just up the death toll of any unfortunate enough to get in their way.  So frankly I think we all owe Rabbit a bag of yellow apples and our never-ending gratitude.

Deer with a coyote (maybe wolf) mouth.

Storytelling for Week 9: Siri, my captain's been turned into a coyote - please send help!

Author's Notes
This one kinda got away from me.  Again.  This is another folktale with a hockey spin, but instead of coming up with new names, I just used the players' actual names because I used more characters this time around.

This storytelling is a revamp of "Coyote and the Mesquite Beans" from the California and the Old Southwest unit.  In the story, Coyote knows that it is bad luck to eat anything that survived the flood - this includes Mesquite beans and black bugs.  Well, he eats both and then dies.

Since this legend is one from the Pima people of Arizona, and Arizona has a hockey team called the Coyotes - I couldn't resist.  I tried.  I failed.  I'm so (kinda) sorry.  What I changed is that Shane Doan eats some mesquite beans and then turns into a coyote.  Three of his teammates then scramble to try to find out what's going on and how to fix Doan by using the NHL phone tree.  Pictures of those featured on the phone tree are at the bottom.

Shane Doan, captain of the Arizona Coyotes, and a coyote

Siri, my captain's been turned into a coyote - please send help!


“This isn’t normal, right?” Mikkel Boedker asks, his eyes immediately darting to Oliver Ekman-Larsson – who was staring wide-eyed at Shane.

“What makes you think I know?” Oliver snaps, finally looking away from Shane to glare at Mikkel. Then he turns to Steve Downie and asks, “Is this normal?”

Steve shifts in his stall, looking around the rest of the locker room and obviously wishing that he hadn’t decided to stay behind after practice. It was just Steve, the two Scandinavians, and their captain.

Who was currently a coyote. A very angry looking coyote.

“My, what big teeth you have,” Steve says, the words coming out before he could stop them.

Coyote Shane’s ears flattened against the back of his skull and he lowered his head closer to the floor – looking about ready to lunge at Steve.

“Personally, I’ve never seen this,” Steve says, ignoring Shane with faked nonchalance, “but I can make some calls.”

“Who can you even call about this?” Mikkel asks.

“The one person who has connections to every single player in the League,” Steve answers easily, putting his phone to his ear. He listens for a beat, before he smiles and says, “Hey, Sidney. You’re not going to believe this shit.”


-


“He’s what?” Sidney Crosby, captain of the Penguins, asks, eyebrows furrowing as he stops in his tracks, making Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury collide into his back. Fleury, also called Flower, began to protest – but Sidney quickly shushed him. “Say that again, Downs, because—just, what?”

Flower leans in closer, trying to listen to what was being said – it must be interesting if Steve Downie had reached out for the first time since his signing with Arizona. He hears Steve’s voice, lisp worsened slightly by his excitement: “Shane Doan just turned into a fuckin’ coyote and I’ve got two rookies panicking over here.”

Flower immediately pulls back and shares a look with Sidney. “He should call Carey Price,” Flower suggests.

Sidney raises an eyebrow even as Steve’s loud guffaw comes through the phone’s speaker. It was well known that Steve Downie and the goalies of the NHL were not on good terms. Not because he had done anything to them, but because he was prone to taking out their defensemen – opening the way up for his own forwards to score.

“Okay,” Flower amends, “then you can call Carey Price.”

“I’ll call you back, Steve,” Sidney says, then after goodbyes are shared, he hangs up and goes to his contacts list.


-


Carey Price, goalie extraordinaire for the Montreal Canadiens, absolutely does not laugh Sidney Crosby off the phone.

But that's only because PK Subban, defensemen extraordinaire for the Canadiens, takes the phone away from Carey. “Steve Downie turned who into a what?” he asks.

(In Pittsburgh, Sidney rolls his eyes.)

“No,” Sidney says, his voice suddenly booming as PK puts him on speaker phone, setting the phone between himself and Carey on Carey’s dining room table where they had been eating their post-practice meal. “Shane Doan has somehow been turned into a coyote. Downs is the one who called me.”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Carey says, taking a swig of water. “But you should call Lu – he got turned into an orca once because he violated one of the First Nation’s laws. I’m not sure which one, though.”

“How does that even happen?” Sidney asks, dumbfounded.

“He did some shit he wasn’t supposed to, obviously,” Carey answers.

“Okay, but what—” Sidney voice is abruptly cut off when Carey disconnects the call.


-


“I don’t what Price is talking about,” Roberto Luongo snarls in a way that Sidney knows means that he’s lying. “Talk to Eddie.”

And then Luongo disconnects the call.


-


“Clearly this is magic,” Eddie Lack says after he’s listened to Sidney’s entire story. “Just like Carey has said.”

“We know that,” Sidney says. “What we don’t know is how to fix it.”

“It will probably fix itself,” Eddie says. “Lu swam around in the ocean for a few hours before he turned back into himself. Luckily, he stayed close to shore, so he didn’t have to swim very far.”

“So they should just keep an eye on him?”

“Yes,” Eddie says, sounding exasperated.


-


“I don’t know if I’d trust anything Eddie Lack says, he’s always had a few screws loose,” Steve says. He and the two rookies had managed to secret their transformed captain out of the arena and into Steve’s truck (Shane had claimed the front seat and bared his fangs at Oliver and Mikkel until they had climbed into the backseats).

“Well, he’s the best lead you have right now,” Sidney says.


-


Later that night, after they’ve all settled in at Oliver and Mikkel’s house, it’s Oliver who puts everything together.

“Hey, Shane,” Oliver starts, waiting until he has Shane’s attention. “Have you eaten any mesquite beans recently?” After getting looks from his teammates, he elaborates: “According to the Pima people, eating mesquite beans is bad luck. Actually, eating anything that survived the great flood is bad luck and can kill you. There’s a legend that Coyote did it once and he died.”

Coyote Shane’s ears swivel from being forward, to being flat – his features tinged with panic.

Oliver is quick to backtrack. “I’m not saying you’ll die,” he says.

“Okay, but how do we fix him?” Steve asks.

Before Oliver could answer, there was a yelp and a ripping sound – and then Shane is standing there – fully human.

“That answers that question,” Shane says.

Mikkel and Oliver whoop, while Steve picks up his phone and shoots Sidney a text: He’s back :)


-z-


End.

Mikkel Boedker and Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Steve Downie

Marc-Andre "Flower" Fluery and Sidney Crosby

Carey Price and PK Subban

Eddie Lack and Roberto Luongo

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912).

Reading Diary B: California and the Old Southwest

This reading diary is over the second half of the California and Old Southwest unit and I want to talk about crows for a bit here.  In the tale “The Boy Who Became a God,” crows are seen returning to their flock to talk about the narrator’s brothers’ kill.  This is a thing that crows do in real life.

The Nature documentary did an episode titled “A Murder of Crows” which features the farming town of Chatham, Ontario – where a murder of approximately 300,000 crows had come to roost.  The problems with these crows got so bad, that the mayor held a shooting competition. 

However, it only took only one crow to get shot before the others realized how high they had to fly in order to avoid the pellets.  This information was spread throughout the murder by the crows talking to each other.  (While scientists still argue over whether or not crows have an actual language, it is agreed that crows do have distinct regional dialects.)

Since shooting didn’t work, the mayor of Chatham brought in a man who uses his trained hawk to harass and chase the crows.  The crows then go back to the roost and “talk” about what had just happened to them. 

So basically the crows in the tale “The Boy Who Became a God” exhibit actual crow behavior.

Here’s also a super fun cracked.com article called “6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Smarter Than You Think” that helped me to procrastinate my way through this assignment.

Crows, among other corvids, are infamous tail-pullers

Reading Diary A: California and the Old Southwest

This reading diary is over the first half of the California and Old Southwest unit and there are three things that I want to talk about.

The Darkness

So my all-time favorite television show, Supernatural, has just started its 11th season and the big bad is called The Darkness. It was released when stuff and things happen (plot stuff that I won’t reveal in case someone is reading this who hasn’t seen the show and may eventually watch it) and is shown as a roiling black mass – much like how it was described in “The Creation of the World”: “…the darkness gathered until it became a great mass.”

The Darkness Returns

Supernatural has it as the Darkness existing before God and everything else, but when God decided to create the world, He locked away the Darkness so that it wouldn’t hurt His creations.

Coyote

I have a particular affinity for all trickster tales – especially Loki, even before the Thor and Avengers movies. Which could arguably retitled “Loki Did a Thing and Thor Was Banished” and “Loki Did a Thing and Now New York Is under Attack.” This could actually work for a lot of the Norse mythology – see the flow chart below.

Norse Crisis Flowchart

Loki and Coyote both disturb the status quo – often just for the sheer pleasure of it. Their independence and anti-authority antics makes identifying with them easy and allows people to embrace their inner rebels.

Great Floods

Just about every religion and culture has a great flood story and that fascinates me. Is it just that huge floods are typical around the world? What exactly constitutes a ‘great flood’ worthy of its own legend? Would the recent flooding in South Carolina be substantial enough? Perhaps it’s the flash flooding that can happen along mountain ranges – when spring storms are coupled with the melting snowcaps that sweep through, causing mudslides and washing away crops and homes and people.

People are just so fascinated by natural disasters that we have to some way to reason them out.

Reading Plan

Week 9: California/Old Southwest

I chose this because a friend of mine, Christina, just told me a super freaky story yesterday and I want to see what kind of folklore I can match it against (if I can).  I'll share it here before I forget it.

So, Christina was out visiting an old museum/preserve out in Tuscon when she felt a chill - she felt something just wrong - come over her.  Now, this is a lady who doesn't believe in ghosts or God or goblins, anything - but when she turned around, she saw "an old Indian man - the dark skin, the leathery face, he was Indian - with shoulder length grey hair, and the palest blue eyes I have ever seen."  She immediately started fast walking out of the park and every time she looked behind her - that man was there, and he was keeping pace.

She stopped in the gift shop, but the man was still there.  The whole time, he's never looking her in the eye - he's looking at some point just over her head.  She said that she wasn't sure why she didn't ask anyone whether or not they saw this guy, instead, she just kept walking - going out to her car.

And there, beside her car - a coyote.  She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the man had finally stopped walking - and he was looking directly at the coyote.

Christina immediately jumped into her car and got out of there.  She said that just as she was reaching the gate - she saw a coyote, she doesn't know if it was the same one or if it was a different one, but it gave her a little headjerk - "As if it was saying, 'go on, git.'  And I did."

Week 10: Great Plains
Because Oklahoma.

Week 11: King Arthur
Because one of my favorite shows is BBC's Merlin and what's in the show is about as much as I know about Arthurian legends.

Week 12: Celtic Fairy Tales
I chose this because my paternal grandmother was Irish.  My grandfather, whose parents were from Sicily, always called her his "wild Irish rose"; they were married for 50 years before she passed away.

Week 13: Kalevala
I remember talking about singing Finnish bards in my folklore class with Dr. Marshall and these bards were just so fantastic!  I love that the power of words can be controlled by just tone and inflection.

Week 14: Russian Folktales
Because I'm taking a Russian history class this semester and because one of my favorite hockey players is a Russian.  Czech Folktales may be thrown in here somewhere between weeks 13 and 14.

Evgeni "Geno" Malkin (#71) in full on angry Russian bear mode.

Reflections: Looking Forward

What I would like for my writing is for it to get better.  I'm always looking for different ways to flex my writing muscles and taking this class was one of them.  I want to be able to tell a story that makes my reader feel something.

Right now, my points in this class are sitting at a B and I am planning on doing the extra credit assignments in order to get an A.  This is probably the only class I can get an A in, so I need to take full advantage of it.

Below is a picture I had in a "demotivational posters" folder on my Facebook.  Demotivational posters are my favorite meme!  In the Navy, we would take our favorites and hang them around the armory (where I worked) - they were little laughs to get us through our day.  So I find demotivational posters more motivational than, well, motivational posters.

I've had this photo on my Facebook for years and years, and it never fails to make me laugh.

Reflections: Looking Back

Writings
Some of my favorite writings are the storytellings from week 7 (Nigerian Unit), week 6 (Japanese Unit), and week 2 (Aesop).

I liked week 2 because that's when I was able to sort of settle into a groove of what I wanted to write for this class.

Week 6 is probably my favorite storytelling that I've done so far!  I just thought that it was a lot of fun to write.  I liked writing the relationship between Nicky and Sasha.  Originally I was going to have them get together, just like what happens at the end of the fairy tale, but I don't know how conservative some of my classmates may be.  So I just left it as strongly implied.

Week 7 was also fun.  I wanted to be careful writing two black male characters when I am myself a white female, but I didn't want to just white-wash the characters - especially since this was an African folktales unit.

My reading diaries for the Brer Rabbit unit were fun to write.  Mostly because it is my goal to turn as many school assignments as I can into responsible rabbit ownership PSAs.


Interactions
So far everything has been wonderful!  I've loved getting to know my fellow students through an online medium.  I find people tend to be more open online, where they can control exactly what they put out or receive; there's no awkwardness of sitting in a quiet classroom where no one talks.  The freedom of this aids in that.


Time & Space
I do have a set time block for this class, but it never seems like there enough time.  I have two/three hours set aside on Monday and Wednesday, and then I'm working on stuff throughout Friday, Saturday, and if I'm still behind, on Sunday, too.

Since my house has a little breakfast nook set off of the kitchen and I use it as a little mini-office.  It's nice to sit at a desk and work.  If I feel too cramped in the office, I go and sit at the dining room table, which gives me room to spread my stuff out.  Sometimes, it gets distracting though because there's a rabbit we're fostering( Ziggy, he's mean) who likes to chew on pantlegs and just being a general nuisance.  He's terrified of the hardwood floors, so he stays on the rug underneath the table.

Ziggy, a foster, has PTSD and is generally pretty angry. Which is why he is with us instead of at the shelter - he needs a lot of one-on-one attention. [personal photo]

Ziggy likes to get on the table and eat homework.  He's a menace. [personal photo]

Week 7: Famous Last Words

So, Jacky, my English Lop, has been underweight since we rescued him a year ago.  It seemed like no matter how much we fed him, he never put on weight.  In the morning, each of the rabbits get bananas, one cup of pellets with a scoop of dry oatmeal; in the evening they get greens - cilantro, parsley, red-headed lettuce, green lettuce, and strawberry tops (if they're in season); and all day they have unlimited access to timothy hay; they also get raw pumpkin seeds once a week.

So all of this, and Jacky's never put on weight.  We thought it was just because he was an older rabbit (we have no idea how old he is since he was found wandering a neighborhood) since his head is so big and blocky - which is typical of mature and older male rabbits, but a rabbit-savvy friend of ours said it was possible he wouldn't put on weight until he was neutered.

The only reason we weren't able to get Jacky neutered sooner was because we had another rabbit, Sammy, who was older, come down with cancer.  He made it through the surgery to remove the cancer, but the vet said that if she missed even a little bit of it - it would come back.  Unfortunately, the cancer did come back and he passed away.  We believe he was around 9 (Sammy was also a rescue and we weren't sure how old he was when we got him) and he had been with me for 8 years.

So we were finally able to set up an appointment for his surgery this past August.  And now, two months later, Jack has finally started to put more weight on.  Going into surgery, Jack weighed 10.2 pounds, and he's now at 11.6.  That pound may not seem like a lot, but it is on a rabbit!

Jack Bunny, personal photo

But Jack isn't the only one reaching important milestones.  Khan and Sid both had their first ventures on a harness.  Khan was only a little wary of the traffic (I live on a busy corner), but he wasn't bothered much.  Sidney, who was found by the railroad tracks, didn't even blink at the three motorcycles that went by.  They were both just happy to be allowed to dig wherever they wanted and for the time to stretch their legs.

Khan Noonien Singh, personal photo 

Sidney Crosbun, personal photo

Because they are both still so young (Sid's probably about 7 months, and Khan is about 6 months), they have a lot of energy.  Once the weather cools down (and stays cooled down), they'll be getting outside just about every day.  I can't wait to see how they deal with snow!

Tech Tip: Creating Fake Tweets

Hello!  I'm here to tell you about how you can create fake tweets.  I used the Twitter Tweet Generator to create tweets for my storybook project.  All of these pictures are screencaps of the process that I'll be walking you through.

Step 1: Go to the website.  This is what the blank slate looks like.  As you update the fields on the left, they'll be reflected in the tweet on the right.

Step 2: Upload the picture you want to use for the profile picture.  Since this was for my storybook, I uploaded an image of the character I was using - the Doctor - who is watching the goings on of the story, and livetweeting it.  After you've first uploaded a picture, you can lick on "select an image" to use the same picture for each subsequent tweet you're creating.

These are images that I have uploaded previously to be used as profiles pictures.

After selecting a picture, the preview is immediately updated.

Step 3: Fill in the username information.  For those familiar with Doctor Who, this is an inside joke.  For those unfamiliar, I'll let you in: the Doctor, a space- and time traveling alien, often uses the alias "Dr. Smith" because of how common it is.  The "Not That Dr. Smith" comes from that, because for the purpose of my Storybook, he's really just an ordinary Dr. Smith, and not the time traveler.

Step 4: Fill in the message field with the tweet!

Step 5: Tweak the tweet's little details such as changing the date and time of the tweet, and whether or not you are following the user.

Step 6: Save the image.  You can either screencap the image or click on the button that says "download tweet" - which will lead you to a new screen (below) where you can just right click and "save as."

The result:

Final note: I don't know why the images have been coming out fuzzy today.  The generator was giving me clear images just a few days ago.

Extra Reading Diary: Nigerian Folk Stories

For this extra reading diary, I’m looking at the Nigerian unit’s “Why the Bat Flies by Night” because it was my favorite story.  Because Batman.

There’s a sort of parallel that can be drawn here between Bruce Wayne (Batman) as the bat of the story, and Jason Todd, as the bush rat.  For those not familiar with Jason Todd: he was the second Robin after Dick Grayson moves on to become Nightwing, relocating to Blüdhaven, a city close to Gotham.

“Why the Bat Flies by Night” describes how the bat, jealous of the bush rat, tricks him into boiling himself alive.  The bush rat was always complimenting bat’s super delicious stew and bat would always reply with: “I always boil myself in the water, and my flesh is so sweet that the soup is good.”  The bat even goes on to “demonstrate” just how he does this – it’s all a trick, just sleight of hand.

But the bush rat believes it.  And, when he gets home and tries it out himself – the bush rat dies after jumping into a pot of boiling water.  After the bush rat’s wife reports to the king, the king issues a warrant for the bat’s arrest.  To avoid being caught, the bat hides himself by day… and flies only by night.

Basically, this story breaks down into three parts: 1) the Bat realizing his jealousy, 2) acting on that jealousy, and 3) the consequences.  Remember these for later.

Switching back to Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd.* 

Bruce first meets a young Jason when Jason is trying to steal the rims off of the Batmobile.  Now, at this point in his career, Batman is not a young man anymore – he’s envious of Jason’s youth.  But that’s all he’s jealous of.  Among other things, Jason is angry.  His tragic past is constantly on his mind and it’s difficult for him to find any peace – often feeling a compulsory need to be training or to be out patrolling Gotham.

Much like how Bruce had been in his younger days.

So Bruce takes Jason’s anger and points it at a target: the criminals of Gotham.  And like how war dogs of old were simply pointed at the enemy when they were unleashed, Jason went where he was pointed.  But there were risks…

Jason Todd was brutally murdered by the Joker, Batman’s archnemesis (and one of the few supervillains who has remained consistently terrifying throughout each of his incarnations).

Now, calling back to the three parts of “Why the Bat Flies by Night.”

Number one: the bat realizing his jealousy.  Batman finds Jason and recognizes almost immediately the talent, the anger, and the youth that Jason has.

Number two: acting on that jealousy.  While Bruce can’t trick Jason into killing himself like what happened in the story, he instead adopts Jason.  He trains Jason and directs Jason’s anger away from any self-destructing tendencies and away from innocent people, and towards the criminal populace of Gotham City.

Number three: the consequences.  Jason Todd dies after being beaten bloody by the Joker with a tire iron.  But it doesn’t end there (because comic books) and he’s resurrected in a Lazarus Pit – effectively restoring him to life.  However, he doesn’t come back whole – he comes back worse.  He comes back and, after learning that Batman didn’t seek retribution against the Joker for his death, takes on the mantle of the Red Hood.

Jensen Ackles portrayed Jason Todd/Red Hood in the animated film "Under the Red Hood" [x]

*For the purposes of this piece, I’m only going to talk about post-Crisis Jason Todd.  I’m also grossly generalizing a lot of what happened in the comics.  To my fellow comic nerds who find their way here: I’m so sorry.  As it is, I’m way over word count.

Storytelling for Week 7: when we are the last (these are the days)

Author's Note
Hey, so I did my storytelling based on two animals from the Nigeria Unit: Dog and Leopard.  It was mostly inspired by "Why Dead People Are Buried" where the Creator sends Dog to tell people that, because it saddens Him whenever humans die, that if they sprinkle wood ashes on their dead loved ones, they will live again.  Dog gets distracted and fails to deliver the message.

I love to play with different storytelling styles, so this story is told in a non-linear narrative.  There are two timelines that are being told at the same time here, and each "-x-" marks the switch between the timelines; a "-" is a scene break within the same time period.

I also changed the setting: modern times and Dog and Leopard are now playing hockey.  I based them off of Seth Jones, an American defenseman for the Nashville Predators, and Evander Kane, a Canadian winger for the Winnipeg Jets.

Dog (Seth Jones) [x]

Leopard (Evander Kane)  [x]

-z-

Dog and Leopard were the last remnants of the Creator’s First Spirits, His first Messengers; they had had been created long before the humans in the luscious forests of Nigeria.  The other First Spirits had died – casualties of wars fought amongst themselves, and of the first waves of European armies.

The Creator had created other spirits to replace His lost ones, but His sadness in their had been imbued in them and they were weaker than their predecessors.  Dog and Leopard, frustrated by this weakness, would leave Nigeria for long periods of time – venturing to surrounding countries before leaving Africa.

-x-

“Hey,” Leopard starts, skating up to Dog, “remember that time you forgot to tell everyone that the Creator would bring their loved ones back?”

"Make one mistake," Dog grumbles to himself, rolling his eyes before he turns and snarls at Leopard.  Leopard only ever brought up what happened hundreds of years ago when he knew that his team was going to lose.

(Which is exactly what happens – the Predators win the game easily and the Jets are chased off the ice of the booing of their home crowd.)

-x-

Europe held nothing but bitter memories for them.  So they traveled east – to Russia, and then to China and then down to Thailand and Vietnam.  Then they headed still further east, eventually finding themselves in California, which was caught in the chaos of the gold rush.

-x-

After the game, Dog is walking out of the locker room when he sees Leopard standing there, waiting for him.

“What do you want?” Dog asks with an exasperated sigh.

“Come on, old friend,” Leopard says, pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against and jerking his head towards the entrance, “let me show you around town.  It’s been ages since we’ve had a chance to catch up.”

“Everything okay out here?” asks Shea Weber, the captain of Dog’s team, as he narrows his eyes at Leopard. 

Shea doesn’t know what they are, doesn’t know their long history of fighting to outdo each other; he doesn’t know how, despite their differences, they could never really venture too far from each other. 

“Fine,” Dog says, looking from Leopard to Shea, “I’ll meet you guys back at the hotel.”

Shea’s lips purse, but he doesn’t say anything else, just nods and hesitantly walks away.

-x-

But California during the 1840s and 50s wasn’t the safest place for two young (or least, young looking) black men.  And Dog and Leopard soon learned that it was safest in northern California, to avoid the southern areas where people from the Deep South states had moved to mine for gold.

So they moved north – and then kept going until they found themselves in Canada.

-x-

“How are you liking Winnipeg?” Dog asks, taking a sip of beer.

“Cold,” Leopard answers with a huff of laughter, “but nothing I can't handle.  When the team isn’t losing and the fans like us, I enjoy it here.”

Dog smiles and nods.  “I feel the same about Nashville.  And it's warmer, which is always a plus.”

A moment of quiet passes between them – it’s a hesitant quiet.  As if there was a question that they both felt needed to be asked; but neither of them can quite bring themselves to ask it.

-x-

In Canada, they lope through the expansive forests and flat, seemingly unending prairie, allowing the decades to slowly pass them by, avoiding the humans when they can.  That all changes when they stumble across a game of pond hockey and fall in love with the sport. 


-

Once the sounds of war have faded from the United States, Dog finds himself compelled to travel south once again.  Leopard stays behind in Canada, no matter how much Dog tries to persuade him.

-

“I’m thinking of trying out for a team,” Dog tells Leopard in a letter.  There are better ways of communication these days, but the feeling of sitting down and putting his thoughts to paper – with the sweet smell of ink in the air – is something that Dog never tires of.

“Tell me which one it is,” Leopards sends back, “and I’ll make sure to be on another.”

-x-

“Do you miss home?” Dog asks Leopard, just before he’s about to climb out of Leopard’s car to go into the hotel.

“All the time,” Leopard answers without hesitation.  He tells Dog that he still dreams of the old days, when all the First Spirits squabbled over things that seem so petty now, when humans were only just discovering fire and just learning how to build huts.

“Me, too,” Dog says, looking down at his hands.  “This summer, after this season, I think it’ll be time to go back.”

“Yeah,” Leopard says, shoving at Dog’s shoulder, “I think it’ll do us some good.”

-z-

End.


-z-


P.S. - as far as I know, the Jets have never booed their own team.  However, it happened to the Oilers last season.  It was very sad.

P.P.S. - During the Civil War, northern California was pro-Union, while southern California contained a lot of transplants from Confederate states and were loudly advocating secession from the Union. [source]

Bibliography: Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

Reading Diary B: Brer Rabbit

The second half of this unit was a bit more fun because it showcased a few instances where Brer Rabbit isn’t always at the top of his game.  In the story “Old Mr.Rabbit, He’s a Good Fisherman,” when he gets stuck in the well, is pretty funny.  It reminds me of the time that Ty got stuck in the clothes hamper.

Ty-ty got stuck. [personal photo]

“A Story about the Little Rabbits” reminds me about the general chaos that usually surrounds young bunnies.  In the story, the young rabbits are scooped up by Mr. Fox who makes them perform various impossible tasks so that if they fail, he has an excuse to eat them (a previous story had shown Brer Rabbit killing and essentially torturing Mr. Wolf for trying to eat Brer Rabbit’s children).  Real life young rabbits, though, will get into this kind of trouble and the kind of tasks Mr. Fox has them preform aren’t that much different than the ones they do all on their own.

They’re constantly getting out of their play pens to chew on everything (breaking the stick up for Mr. Fox in the story), purposefully tipping over water and food bowls (collecting water for Mr. Fox), and if something is in their way they move it or tear it up (moving the wood for Mr. Fox).

Ty-ty attempting to decimate the cork population. The lesson: no matter how big the rabbit, if they want to get at something - they WILL.

Many savvy rabbit people will find these antics annoyingly endearing.  However, many people do not and young rabbits are quickly gotten rid of by their new owners – who may have purchased them on a whim or for their child for Easter. 

Khan and Sid were both approximately 4-5 months old when they were abandoned.  Ty-ty was only a little older - probably around 6 months old. Young buns can be separated from their mothers at 8 weeks and those bound for the pet trade are usually shipped off at this point.  So, between the ages of 8 weeks to 4/5/6 months, Khan, Sid, and Ty had gone through significant upheaval in their lives.

Sidney, the day we brought him home.  A friend had called us and said she spotted him by the railroad tracks - he was nothing but fluff, dirt, and bones.

Sidney, a month later, now clean and at a good weight.

Usually, and this is from my own observation with the rabbits I take in and the rabbits surrendered to Heartland, it seems like it only takes two or three months for owners to grow tired of a young rabbit's destructive behavior, the constant monitoring they require, and cleaning out a cage.  Rabbits also start entering sexual maturity around four months old, and males can get very aggressive and will even spray urine to mark their territory.  Females entering maturity can become very territorial and will guard their area aggressively.

This is why neutering and spaying rabbits is so important.  Once the surgery is over, it takes around 40 days for hormones to level out.  As a result of the surgery, rabbits will live much longer and happier lives.

This has been a PSA.

Reading Diary A: Brer Rabbit

One of the first books I owned was a Brer Rabbit book.  I vaguely remember the story about Brer Rabbit telling Brer Fox not to throw him into the briar patch, but I can't remember if it was a tar baby that Brer Rabbit had gotten stuck to or if it was something else.

I found reading the dialect of this unit difficult, so I listened to the audio books and it was much easier.  The stories are much more enjoyable when you can understand what is happening.

I think I love Brer Rabbit because I see a lot of that mischievousness and cunning in my own rabbits.  And I plan on shamelessly using this unit to show off more pictures of my rabbits.

When Ty-ty was still pretty young, he realized that he can jump over just about everything.  He had the run of the kitchen and the laundry room, which are attached, and we had to essentially blockade him inside the kitchen.  At one point we had wired together two baby gates so that they were stacked on top of each other and he still managed to jump over them.  We finally got a break when he started growing into his body and gaining his adult weight.

Khan on his harness for the first time just this past Saturday. [personal photo]

We let Khan out of his cage – a large dog crate with a bedding box and a cardboard “fort” he can sleep in – every day and he always makes it a point to climb to the highest points in the living room (so the back of the couch and a stool near the gate that separate the dining room and living room) and he “periscopes” – he stands on his hind legs and looks around.  

Stella periscoping - she's trying to judge whether or not jumping the gate will be worth the effort. [personal photo]