The Myths/Folklore Blog

The first article that I read was, " Why It's So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback " by Tim Herrera. All of the points he made about why we go out of our way to avoid people who give negative critiques about our work - it seems personal in the way that we tell it nowadays, like we're almost attacking the intelligence/ability of whoever is being critiqued. It's natural for a person to defend themselves/their work, and I agree that if we want to change this mindset, we need to learn how to give feedback in a positively framed manner. For me to place feedback in a manner that is self-reflective, realizing that whoever is giving that info is doing it for a good reason, not just to insult. Overall, I've never had a huge problem when it comes to negative feedback relating to academics - there's always new to learn, and I love hearing different opinions/viewpoints over what I previously thought I was doing well in. The next article that I read was over the speech ...

The first topic that I looked into was the mythological creature called a changeling . I first heard about this type of creature through the kids book series, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" which sparked my interest in all things related to fairies/ogres/trolls. Changelings in particular always fascinated me - swapping out a human child for some older looking fairy is crazy. Thinking how the parents would react, seeing it in action within the comic book, "Hellboy" when the main hero is called upon to check out an "unusual" child that the parents had been dealing with for the past few weeks. Overall, I think this would be one of the better topics that one could choose for the storybook project - there are tons of different ways that this could be told in modern/historical contexts. The next topic that I looked into was on the Wikipedia page over the vengeful Japanese ghosts called "Onryo". I've never heard this name before, but I've had a t...

The man tore across the dark street and they followed. As he briefly looked behind him, he could see the many darkened faces of the creature (creatures? he couldn’t tell) strolling towards him in such a way that they came after him with little movement. The creature itself was not large by our standards, but its presence was known to drive men insane, its face (faces?) would look into men and they would care not for the torment that it would cause. The man had angered the wrong people in his life and now the creature was after him. He felt like he was running through water, as if he was in a dream. When he got to the other side of the road, he knew that unless he did something soon, he was doomed. Je couldn’t keep up the pace any longer. As he moved from the road, there was only one place to go – an alley that ran between two skyscrapers that pierced the sky and loomed over him. The crowds that he pushed through to get there seemed not to notice what was happening. They hadn’t bro...

Out of all the stories that I just read, I quite liked Aesop's Fables stories. I've always had a soft spot for animal-related stories, but when you throw in bits of wisdom that are still relevant today, the short stories take on a life of their own. By this I mean that the stories have their own "flavor", that by how they each choose their words, how the story progresses, and what the final theme is, they can be distinct from one another, even when using the same type of animal character.  Each of the stories revolves around a lion - one where he is an arrogant master, one where he repays kindness with kindness, one where he is the wiser, and finally one where he is tricked. Each of these stories are told in a "matter-of-fact" way, with the final lines saying directly what the purpose of the story was. Was it to elucidate some human factor? Was it to show the folly of man? The stories move at a fast pace, no words are wasted on the page - it all pushes...

Choose from  CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units  for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Ovid's Metamorphoses  Week 4: Homer's Odyssey Choose from  MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units  for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Arabian Nights Choose from  ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units  for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Lang  Week 9: China Choose from  NATIVE AMERICAN units  for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Apache  Week 11: Cherokee Choose from  BRITISH and/or CELTIC units  for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Beowulf  Week 13: Aesop's Fables Choose from  EUROPEAN units  for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Crane  Week 15: Hunt Overall, each of the units that I put down I have some interest in. However, within the ones that I picked, I have special interest in the Asian and European Units. The Brother's Grimm stories are highly interesting to me since their original forms of the...

Time management is one of the most important things that a college student can learn/know going into college. Without it, assignments pile up and make your life a living hell. It's best to simply " eat the frog  first" and get most of it over with during the early parts of the day. For me, that strategy has worked tremendously. I like getting up early and getting my studying done during the earlier parts of the day, since I usually don't want to do anything past 6:00pm.  The schedule that I had set up for this class is definitely one that I can use during this semester. On MWF, my schedule is somewhat cleared up, so I'll be doing the majority of work during those days. I'll just need to set reminders to remind myself about what assignments I need to be doing during the day. Other time management strategies that I have learned/used these past 3 years are: try and get all of your work for the day done early, try and do at least 3 hours of work a day, and fina...

Most of the tech that was talked about in the post I have used before in certain classes. The image editor is extremely helpful, along with the spell check that you can add on to this Blogger website. I haven't used this website to publish a blog before, but I have used other blogging areas on the internet to write up some assignments for other online classes. This format is extremely familiar to me, though. I really can't think of any technology "skills" that I would need to use in this class that I don't already know at the moment - I guess as we go along throughout the semester, I might learn some interesting and useful skills that I previously knew nothing about. Technology picture provided by Adobe Stock Image made by "monsitj"

The way that this class is set up is interesting, especially with the multitude of extra credit opportunities. As of right now, nothing seems like it will give me any trouble - most of it I expected. The reading, commenting, and blogging I have done for other online classes at OU. In this class, the "oddest" thing is that we grade ourselves, showing if we have done the assignment to the best of our abilities. I'm excited to be able to try and get extra credit opportunities, which will definitely help in case I forget about an assignment (as one is apt to do in online classes). Alongside the extra credit, I'm looking forward to working on my project throughout the semester. Homework Clipart

I've never heard of Carol Dweck or the idea of a growth mindset. However, the idea that focusing on the harder, more challenging aspects of your life is not one that is new to me. My mom, who is a middle-school teacher in OK, has definitely used this type of teaching with her class and with me. Her and my dad would focus on the effort that I put forth - if I wound up not doing so well on an assignment or a test, they would ask me, "Do you think you tried hard enough?". If I truly tried as hard as I could have, focusing on the harder aspects, they would be content with the score I got. Over time this developed further with the greater challenges that emerged with higher education. The effort that I put forward, the time that I put into a task, and how I did were all things that they considered when talking to me about certain subjects. While here at OU, I realized the type of person that I am. I, like most people, am more content when things are "easy". There i...

Hi! My name is Andrew Barton and I am currently a senior here at OU. My major is pre-medicine/biochemistry, so obviously this class is a little out of range from what I normally am taking during the semester. Right now, being a senior, I am applying to medical school. This is definitely not an easy process, but I am almost done with the application aspects of it. If I had to choose as to what medical school I could attend, it would be OU, since this is my home and I would be absolutely privileged to serve the community, especially where help is needed most. This summer, I went on one vacation to Seacrest Beach in Florida. For the remainder of the summer, I took Quantitative Analysis here at OU. The class wasn’t too terrible – the only “bad” part of the class was that lab was four times a week from 10:30-1:20. Other than those two things, my summer was pretty relaxing. I’m involved in a few student-led organizations at OU, with the primary one being Soonerthon. I have served o...

The first Storybook that I looked into was written by an Italian-American named Marco. He grew up in the city of Arezzo, where his “Nonna” would tell him and his siblings certain Italian fairy tales, which he cites are mainly about l’amore, the Italian word for love. His reasoning for re-writing these stories are so he can tell them to his daughter, Bella, who he wants to teach/immerse in his Italian heritage. Overall, the layout of this website is fairly decent, with the buttons/page format being cohesive and easy to navigate around. I would say that the color scheme leaves something to be desired, with a tan background alongside orange/black text. The introduction gives a good idea of not only why Marco has an interest in Italian love-stories, but also explains the heritage/meaning behind them which piqued my interest heavily. The next Storybook project that I looked at was called “ The Greatest Trickster ” which had 4 short stories that involved a fox, a rabbit, and a tanuki,...

One of my favorite places to go and spend time is Seacrest, Florida. We have family friends who own a beach house that is around a 5 minute walk to the ocean. The part of the beach we go to is relatively secluded from the hordes of tourists like us who show up to the beach every year. Walking up, the first thing you notice is the dull roar of the waves crashing along the shoreline, next your nose begins to tingle with the faint smell of salt, and finally, going around the last corner of the walkway, you see the light, crystal blue of the ocean. The sand is powdery, white like fine china, with it almost being an exercise trying to walk push yourself it. Some of my favorite things to do here are swimming (obviously), throwing the frisbee/football around, and reading. Something about reading next to the ocean appeals to many. I'm not sure if it's the calming sound of the waves lulling you into the slowness of reading, if its the heat under the umbrella making everyone want to rela...

Hopefully this blog is working for the class.