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]