Story: The Life of Joseph

The Governor of Oklahoma and his wife had a son named Joseph. They always knew that Joseph would do great things in his life and help the people of Oklahoma in so many ways. Growing up, Joseph was very sheltered. His parents tried to keep him in the governors mansion for most of his life. They did not want him to see the streets of downtown with many homeless people, for they were scared it would ruin his innocence.

One day, Joseph decided he wanted to go on a bike ride outside the mansion. His father told his body guards to go with him and to keep him away from the homeless. They tried the best they could, but when Joseph was crossing the bridge on his way back to the mansion he saw a man, cold and sleeping under the bridge. He asked the body guard, "Is that man sick? Why do his clothes look like that and why is he sleeping down there?" The body guard, knowing he should not say anything, told Joseph, "No, that man is not sick. He is homeless. He has not had the good fortune that you have had throughout your life." Joseph, sad for the man under the bridge, went back home.

His father saw him sulking around the mansion and asked what was wrong. He told his father that he saw the homeless man outside of the mansion and is sad for his misfortune. He told his father that he felt bad that he had so much and others had so little. This was the first time Joseph thought about leaving his family and wealth to help other people. He told his father that he was thinking about becoming a priest and living a life of service. His father was sad and tried everything he could to make him stay.

Authors note: My story is based on the story First Encounter from The Life of Buddha. In this story Siddhartha sees a beggar for the first time after his father, the King, has been sheltering him in the palace. Siddhartha becomes very sad and his father is upset that this happened to him.

Oklahoma Capital

Reading Notes B: Life of Buddha

The first reading of reading B is Siddhartha Leaves. In this Siddhartha gets his horse and leaves Kapila. In Siddharta the Hermit Siddhartha rides his horse to the woods. He tells Chandaka they must depart and Siddhartha must live as a hermit in the woods. In the reading Gopa and Suddhodana Grieve, the King and the others find out about the departure of Siddhartha. The King orders the gates to be closed and to search for his son. In Arata Kalama Siddhartha begins to think whether the other monks and the teachings of Arata are actually virtuous since they only come with suffering. In Siddhartha and King Vimbasara, King Vimbasara finds Siddhartha as a begger and tells him to come live in the castle because he is young and beautiful and should not live a life as a begger. Siddhartha tells him that he had riches in the past and he left them to live a life as a hermit and the King asks him to teach him once he gains enlightenment. In Siddhartha Deserted by His First Followers, the gods see Siddhartha meditating under a tree and think that he is dying. He takes nourishment and because of this his followers do not believe he will ever get true knowledge and leave him. The last two stories talk about the end of evil and Siddhartha becoming the buddha.

Buddha

Reading Notes: Life of Buddha

The reading of Maya's Dream tells us about the King and Queen learning that there soon to be son will be a Buddha. The next reading, Birth of Siddhartha, talks about the preparation and the birth of their son. Asita's Prediction talks about the hermit Asita who is weeping. Asita's weeping worries the the king that something is wrong with his son, but Asita tells him that he is weeping for the other people that will not listen to his son one day even though he will help them. In Siddhartha at the Temple Maya dies and her sister is to take care of the seven kids and the king. Maya's sister realizes how bright and joyful Siddhartha is. Siddhartha's First Meditation is the story that shows that Siddhartha will be the buddha because of the way he meditates. First Encounter talks about how Siddharta was being shielded from the old and the beggers but one day saw an old, sick man for the first time and did not understand. In Two More Encounters Siddhartha goes back into town only to see more illness and death. The Great Truths is the story where Siddhartha decides to leave the castle and become a monk after being visited by a god in the form of a monk.

Buddha

Week 5 Story: Three Daughters

20 years ago, in Dallas, Texas, three daughters were born to a wealthy man named Paul Parker. James had one of the largest commercial real-estate companies in the U.S. This company was very important to Paul, but as he was getting older he wanted to pass his company on to one of his daughters, but which one?

Paul had an old building in downtown Dallas that if it sold would bring in a great amount of money for the company, but the building had been listed for years. His wife thought that the best way to decide which daughter should take over the company was to have each of them try to sell the building and the winner is clearly the best saleswoman.

Other employees of the company have tried to sell the building and none have been successful. They doubted that any of the daughters would be able to do it, but their mother demanded that they let them try. "Give my daughters the key to the building, or my husband will have something to say about it," she said. Scared of losing their jobs, the employees immediately brought them the keys and went back to the office to wait and see if the sale would be made.

Each of the daughters had their fair share of connections in the Dallas area but two of the daughters had failed at their shot to sell the building. The third daughter, Samantha, had no trouble selling the building. Within a day of getting her chance she was able to find the perfect buyer and rake in a large commission for her father.

Due to Samantha's great selling skills, her father rewarded her with the company. He even gave her the company car and the corner office.

Authors Notes:
My story was based on the story of Rama and Sita. In this story, the princes are all challenged to bend the bow that has never been bent. The brother Rama was the only one able to bend the bow and for that he was able to marry Sita. Rama was also the brother that was in line for the thrown. I decided to do a modern version of the story and change the sons to daughters.

Source: For sale sign

Reading A: Ramayana

For this weeks reading I decided to read Ramayana.

The first reading was The Birth of Rama. The story begins by talking about the happy place of Ayodhya. In Ayodhya, the king Dasaratha was upset due to the fact that he had not yet had a son. He sacrifices a horse to the gods in the hopes he will receive a son from one of his three wives. At the end of the story each of his wives bear a son.

Vishwamitra is the second reading. This story focuses on the upbringing of Rama. Starting as a weeping infant and going from there.

The next story was Rama and Sita. The story demonstrates Rama's strength due to his ability to bend the bow that many have not been able to bend before him. Rama then marries a women named Sita.

The next story is Kaikeyi's Plot. Kaikeyi is one of the three wives of Dasaratha. This story talks about how she hates Rama because his mother was once a slave to her.

The next story is Rama's Exile. Kaikeyi forces Rama to leave. Rama's mother is heart broken

The next story is The Death of Dasaratha. Dasaratha dies due to the grief of Rama leaving.

The last story is Rama and Bharata. Bharata returns and learns that Dasaratha has died. His mother tries to give him the throne but he does not want it and searched for Rama.

Bharata and Rama

Reading Notes B: Ovid's Metamorphosis

The first reading for reading B was Echo. This story explains the meaning of the word echo. Jupiter takes away the ability of echo to freely speak. Echo can only repeat the last things said

The next reading was Narcissus. This story talks about Narcissus and his obsession with himself. They are trying to teach him a lesson and to learn to care about things other than himself.

The next reading was Pyramus and Thisbe. This is a love story between Pyramus and Thisbe. They want to get married but their parents forbid it. Thisbe and Pyramus decide to sneak off from their families and meet each other in the forest. Pyramus sees Thisbe's blood soaked veil and believes she has been killed by lions and he kills himself out of guilt. Thisbe find him and kills herself as well.

The next reading was Mars and Venus. Venus and Mars are having an affair and Vulcan is told about his wife's actions. Vulcan creates a web that catches the two.

The next reading was Perseus and Andromena. This story talks about the many acts of Perseus. Such as when he kills medusa and when he rescues Andromena.

Painting from Perseu and Andromena

Comment Wall

Here is my comment wall for my storybook!

Feedback

link to my project

Story Lab

This week I decided to do my first story lab instead of writing another story. I watched two TED talk videos. The first video was The Danger of a Single Sided Story. I really liked this story because it discusses things that people often don't realize. It talks about how single stories created stereotypes. People hear one story about someone or some place and assume that defines it. People need to keep in mind that there are multiple characteristics and things to consider when reading a story and to not just assume the one story relates to everyone.

The second video I watched was Imaginary Friends and Real World Consequences. This video was even more relatable and I am definitely guilty of what it talks about. It talks about how much time and effort people put into relating to fictional characters or famous people. People believe they know how these people are and will act in situations when in reality they know nothing about them but what they have seen on social media or read in a book or seen on tv. This can be very unhealthy to pour your life into something that is not real.

Imaginary Friends

Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphosis Part A

I chose to read and take notes over Ovid's Metamorphosis.

The first story was Deculion and Pyrrha. This story was mainly to introduce the flood. Neptune struck the ground with his trident and the land and sea were not distinct. The flood left only one man and one woman and the sea was no longer angry

The next story was lo. This story talks about Jupiter falling in love with a woman named lo. The story can be kind of confusing because there are multiple names by which the characters can go by.

The next story was Phaeton and the Sun. The story begins by talking about the history of Phaeton as the child of the sun. It continues by talking about his journey to the Palace of the Sun.

The next story was Phaeton's Ride. This story talks about Phaeton obtaining the chariot. Phaeton releases the reigns of the chariot when encountering a monster.

The next story was The Death of Phaeton.  This is the part of the story where metamorphosis comes into play. Phaeton has died and his relatives begin to transform into many things, like trees.

The next story was Callisto. This story continues the metamorphosis but through Callisto. It talks about Callisto transforming into constellations.

source

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read was Seven Characteristics That Support Meaningful Feedback. The seven characteristics listed were constructive, specific, measurable, sensitive, balanced, applicable, not grade focused. The main point of these seven characteristics was to get your point across in a way that the receiver knows what needs to be changed and what they did right, but in a nice way. I think these are all important because just giving vague praise or dancing around the problems won't help a person improve. In contrast, too harsh of criticism and not praising for things will make the person hostile and want to avoid improvement.

The second article I read was How Praise Became a Consolation Prize. What stood out to me in this article was a false growth mindset. This is where instead of helping the student to improve by praising them and giving them criticism, they only praise them, resulting in no improvement. The theory of growth mindset is not just about encouraging students to work hard and keep going, it is about showing them they have the ability to improve but challenging them and strengthening their skills.

Encouragement 

Topic Research: Noah and the Ark

I think out of the topics I researched, my favorite would be a spin off of Noah and the Ark. I don't know what the name of the story would be or the character's names.

My first story would be introducing the main character. Instead of him receiving a message from God about the natural disaster I would have him be a scientist that was studying space and the movement of meteors.

The main character would warn people of a deadly meteor shower that will wipe out all of man kind but many would not believe him. He would search for the smart and strong people to save from the natural disaster, he would still gather the animals as well.

Instead of the ark, I would have the main character build an underground protection area. The purpose would be to rid the earth of disease, pollution and corruption, a spin from the original story of ridding the earth of evil.

meteor shower

Week 3 Story: The Forbidden Cookie

Gabriella is the first daughter of Elena. Gabriella is 12 years old and loves learning from her mom. One day Elena is making peanut butter cookies for Gabriella's bake sale. She tells Gabriella she cannot eat the cookies because they are for the bake sale and she is allergic to peanut butter. Elena makes Gabriella separate chocolate chip cookies so she won't be tempted to eat the peanut butter cookies.

Gabriella was sitting in the kitchen eating her chocolate chip cookies when her little brother Hayden walks into the room and grabs a peanut butter cookie. "You're not supposed to eat those," Gabriella says. "Says who, they're way better than those and mom won't even notice," Says Hayden. Feeling like she is missing out, Gabriella gets up and takes a big bite out of the peanut butter cookie.

Twenty minutes later, Gabriella began to feel an itch in her throat. She yells to her mom in a panic and Elena comes rushing in. "Why are you feeling like this, did you eat one of the cookies?" Gabriella apologizes to her mom. Her mom takes her to the hospital and she is okay.

"Gabriella, you cannot disobey me like that. It will have serious consequences, like today. I'm taking away all of your cookies and you won't be able to participate in the bake sale," says Elena

Gabriella is very upset and tells her brother its all his fault, but her brother gets punished too. They are both not allowed to have any cookies until they can prove they can follow their moms rules.

My story is based on the story of Adam and Eve. I think most people are familiar with the story but I focused on the fall of man. In the original story, Adam and Eve are told to not eat from the forbidden fruit. Eve is convinced to eat the fruit by a serpent and after that she convinces Adam to eat it. Adam and Eve are banned from the Garden of Eden for disobeying God. I decided to do a spin off of this and use the basic concepts of the story to create my own.

Adam and Eve: The Fall from the book of Genesis

Peanut butter cookies

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve Part B

The first reading for part B is Leaving the Garden. The main concept of this reading is God deciding where to place Adam after forbidding him from the Garden of Eden. Since God is merciful, he decides to put Adam in the western corner. He put him there to keep him from smelling the sweet smell of the fruit of the garden.

The second reading for part B is Entering the Cave of Treasures. This story describes the cave in which Adam and Eve are sent to be punished. Adam hates going to the cave but knows he will not be fully relieved of his sins if he does not go. He also must stay there until God comes to save him.

The third reading is They Die a First Time. In the beginning of the story Adam and Eve are praying to God and Adam falls to his death. Eve begins to beg God for mercy and to raise up Adam's soul. She says that his sins were committed because of her and to not punish his soul for these sins. She also pleads that she can not live without Adam, for they are united as one. God raised him up and told them of their sins and his disapproval.

The fourth reading is The Beast of the Creation. This story talks about Adam and Eve sobbing over being forbidden to enter the garden. They find the stream that leads to the garden and nourishes the Tree of Life. In their sorrow they decide to end themselves in the river due to their misfortunate circumstances.

The fifth reading is Want of Water and Life.  In this story Adam and Eve are raised up by God and begin begging God to let them return to the garden. God says that he made Adam a promise and once the promise was fulfilled he could then return. Adam and Eve now learn the importance of water, which was not of any importance when they were in the garden. Adam and Eve then go back to the cave, where they are in complete darkness. Adam falls upon the ground and dies once again and Eve is silenced out of fear.

The sixth reading is The Darkness. God is telling Adam about the darkness in this story. He explain that when an angel fell he casted the darkness and this darkness was also casted on Adam. He tells him that it will only last 12 days.

The seventh reading is The Sunrise and the Serpent. This story talks about the return of the light. Adam is scared of the Sun because he thinks it is God sending a plague. Adam and Eve encounter the serpent once again. The serpent attempts to restrain and kill them but God saves them.

The eight reading is Suicide and Salvation. Adam and Eve go in search of the garden and are hurting from the heat of the sun. Adam and Eve decide to throw themselves off of a mountain and kill themselves. God raises them up again and talks to them about how he will always protect them.

The last reading is Worship and Blessing. This story talks about the first offering of Adam and Eve to God. They offer their blood to God and he accepts it. God also tells Adam to stop killing himself as an offering and blesses Adam.

Adam and Eve

The Forgotten Book of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-adam-and-eve.html

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve

I chose to read the topic over Adam and Eve for this weeks reading because it is a story that I have grown up hearing through catholic school and wanted to see the different variations. The first two stories, The Creation and The Fall are from the Old Testament and are the traditional stories of Adam and Eve that I have learned growing up. The stories written by Grinzberg were different than anything I have ever read, but were quite interesting to me. Many of the stories seem to focus on perfecting a woman for Adam and the differences between man and woman. One story that really stood out to me was Lilith. Lilith was a woman whom God constructed to be a companion to Adam, yet she was more trouble than Eve was in the past stories. Lilith was created from dirt like Adam, instead of being constructed out of one of his ribs. This made Lilith believe that Adam was no better than she was and made her abandon him. Lilith ended up becoming a harmful character. This is why we learn in Eve that the woman must be constructed out of one of Adams ribs in order to have a deeper connection and need for one another. The story about Eve also discusses the differences between men and women and compares the two in many ways. Both of the versions of the story of Adam and Eve discuss the fall of man and the serpent causing temptation. Adam and Eve both gained knowledge from eating the forbidden fruit and were punished by God. The serpent was also punished but removing its hands and feet, forcing it to crawl on the dirt.

Adam and Eve 

Adam and Eve Unit: The Legend of the Jews by Louis Grinzberg and King James Bible, Genesis 1-2.

Feedback Thoughts

I liked reading the article A Fixed Mindset Could Be Holding You Back. I completely agree that everyone need to be both praised and critiqued to become a strong and motivated individual. From my understanding having a growth mindset means being able to except criticism and using it to improve. A person with a growth mindset is willing to improve and work hard to constantly learn more and do better. I am glad I will be getting feedback because otherwise I wouldn’t know what I was doing wrong and how I could do better.


The second article I read was Why It’s So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback. I liked this article because I definitely think it’s hard to give and receive negative feedback. Usually when you receive negative feedback you take it as if someone is purposely trying to hurt you when usually it’s just something you need to hear. At the same time, there is a difference between gently giving negative feedback and actually hurting someone. Feedback should be used to help someone improve, not to tear them down.

negative feedback

Topic Brainstorm

One of the topics I am interested in, which I’m sure is a popular one, is Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is a very well known story due to the popular movie depiction of the story. I would like to learn more about the book version and how they compare or contrast, and from that I would write my story. I would maybe swap the roles of the main characters or maybe change the genders, such as a mad king instead of a mad queen.

Another topic I would be interested in is Robin Hood. Robin Hood would be interesting to me because the name of the story and the overall story line is familiar but the details within the story are something I'm not as familiar with. This would make it easy to write about because I could use what I know already for the general topic but change it up however I want.

The Wizard of Oz stood out to me as well due to the fact that it says that the story in the books are much different than the movie. This sparked some curiosity in me and makes me very excited to read how different they are. I could write the story from the perspective of multiple characters for a fun twist.

The last topic that interested me was Noah and the Ark. I feel like this is a very commonly told story at a young age. I have always heard the story in the same way but I am sure there are many different variations based on culture. I could really change up the story and make it based on the animals that are present in the ark.

Alice in Wonderland