Improvements

Well, the first option for changing up the class that stands out to me is the one about expanding the story planning option.  I think that it sounds very helpful.  I didn't really take much advantage of the Story Planning option this semester, but when I did I used it to plan for my storybook... whoops.  I might have ended up with more stories in my Storybook if I had done this more often... It sounds very useful to just be able to take some extra time to brainstorm about where you want your story to go.  It can be a lot of work to go through possible stories, and decide what you want!  I don't know that any resources particularly come to mind about helping with the planning process...  There is only one thing, and it may not quite fit in this category, but I don't know where else it would go.  I found it helpful when I was doing extra reading to take my notes on something other than the story itself.  Instead of thinking about the story as something that I was likely to write a tale based off of, I noticed and took notes on different techniques that the author used that I enjoyed.  I wrote about his or her writing style, and I think it helped me to find my own voice.  Can that become a legitimate planning exercise, or something that we're allowed to focus on in reading notes, or something like that?
I also like the idea of thematic reading units.  That's how I tend to group stories in my head.  However, one potential downfall of that is that it wouldn't force students out of their comfort zone.  I know that my favorites are the Celtic, English, and generally European tales.  Hey, it's my cultural heritage!  However, I know that if the reading units had been arranged thematically I may have been tempted to almost always choose the European option, rather than getting to know the folklore of other cultures, which is definitely a valuable result of this class.
The idea of audio recordings or tutorial videos sounds great, but I'm honestly not sure that I would have taken advantage of them at all.  Especially, I think that personally I would have found it difficult to take notes on audio recordings (because I'm a visual learner), but that could be great for an auditory learner!

Laura, thank you for all of your hard work to improve this class.  I have been consistently impressed by the resources you've provided and your knowledge on the subject.  You've been so encouraging, and I've really enjoyed learning from you!

Tech Tip: Blog Profile

I haven't thought too much about my online identity (perhaps I should).  I'm not particularly worried about anything when it comes to future employees.  As far as I know, none of the information available about me is bad; I just need to decide if I want that much information available to just anyone.  I think that I probably need to be more careful about keeping sensitive information (like my number and address) offline, but I also feel a little bit like it's a losing battle, and if anyone wants to creep on me and find out all kinds of things that I don't want them to, they probably can.  Oh well.  I suppose I should try anyway.

Accordingly, I took my last name off of this blog (I think and hope?) and disconnected it from my google account.  I'm planning on leaving the blog up, though.  I may get rid of some posts that pertain to this class but wouldn't be particularly of interest to anyone else (like reading notes) and leave up things like stories.

I would like for my online identity not only to be professional and not a turn off to future employers, but to display my personality.  I think that this blog and my story book can do that in a unique way, so I'm excited for this to be out there, to continue to round out my online presence.

Reading Notes: Robin Hood, Part B

· I wish we knew more about the people that Robin steals from. Are they all corrupt and wicked? Because if so that would make me feel much better. I’m sad that the Bishop was unwilling to show mercy. I also wish I knew more about the laws concerning the king’s deer. I assume they’re unjust? I’ve always assumed that… I hope they are, at any rate, because I want to like Robin and for him to be a hero.

· I want to know if those beggars were actually disabled, or if they were just faking. Also, shoot dang. That’s a lot of money.

· What a horrible response. “We just got a lot of money, so we’ll drink nothing but alcohol until it’s all gone.”

· Ahhh so he’s helped the old woman before? Like the giving to the poor thing?

· Why on earth does the Bishop travel through the Green Wood with large sums of money? It seems to prove itself a dangerous idea over and over.

· I wonder how the Bishop felt this whole time? I could write this story from his perspective. Or I could write a story in which it was a young maid instead of an old woman, and she fell in love with Little John or something. That would be fun.

· I fell like making other people swear an oath not to lie and such while you rob them seems hypocritical, but that’s just me.

· Lol he cast in lines without hooks. Why on earth does Robin want to do this? He has no idea what he’s up to.

· Haha I love the use of the word “lubber”.

· Ohhh yay he’s giving to the poor! That’s the good part about Robin Hood.

· I can’t believe he injured her!

· I don’t quite understand why Robin remains so loyal to the king. Also, he says there was never anything wrong with the Sheriff! I’m indignant!

(Passing Of Robin Hood by N. C. Wyeth)

Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, collected by Francis James Child

Reading Notes: Robin Hood, Part A

· I love that this is a ballad. You can tell that it must be old, and far more true to the original.

· He’s so young. 15 is tiny.

· Wow, the forresters were obnoxious, but this is quite the dark start nonetheless. Was he by rights an outlaw, and not just because Prince John was corrupt?

· I like that the ballad directly addresses the audience. I can just picture a minstrel singing it.

· Guys are weird.

· I really enjoy that Robin isn’t a sore loser.

· So, do they steal from the rich and give to the poor because the rich steal first from the poor, or do they start by just stealing from the rich for the heck of it, and then later it becomes a justice thing?

· Oooh I like the bible reference. Also, why on earth is Robin trying to be a butcher?

· Ahh now I understand. Dang it! I never wanted to favor the Sheriff of Nottingham, but in this case I feel sorry for him. He may be horrid, though…

· I feel like he’s corrupting people… L.

· This is making me really want to go for a hike in a green wood.

· “Gamble Gold of the gay green woods”… I love that.

· Does Robin ever win fights?

· I love this Shepherd. There’s so much bravery in all of these stories, and so much refusing to yield. (Which maybe is dumb, but makes for a good story).

· The shepherd-swain is my favorite so far for sure. He was only defending his lunch and his honor, but he fought for hours, and I’m glad that he didn’t join them (or at least hasn’t yet).

· I want it to get to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

· It seems to be a common refrain, “We will fight before we will fly.”

(Nottingham Castle Statue)

Bibliography:  The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, collected by Francis James Child

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part B

· I could write about the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, and have it continue telling of the minotaur’s descent into hell. That sounds horrid, though. I’m not sure I want to write anything about hell, actually, so perhaps this was a poor choice of reading.

· I want to know why Chiron had his head bowed to his chest. Could I write a backstory about that?

· I didn’t know the thing about Alexander and his troops encountering raining fire.

· It stands out to me that Capaneus is proud and spiteful even in death, so that I doubt he would accept paradise were he offered it.

· He talks about spirits purifying themselves by absolving their guilt with penance. What if there was a world where that was accurate, and you really had to be penitent enough to be absolved of guilt? What a horrifying thought. What if I wrote about that? Any mess up would have to be paid for, and there would be no grace.

· I love that thought: shame that makes the servant brave in the presence of a worthy master.

· I want to know why it’s called Malebolge.

· I could write about Jason. I feel like him abandoning Medea is well known, but I know next to nothing about Hypsipyle, and I could invent.

· Ouch Alessio was a contemporary of his? So, was he alive when Dante wrote this? Cause if so, that’s rough, man.

· Wow, I want to weep for evil.

· I don’t even really know how to talk about what stands out to me, because the things that stand out to me are not things I want to write about. Caiaphas stood out to me.

· Oooh it could be really cool to write about the last journey of Ulysses, and when they sailed through the strait of Hercules.

(Illustration by di Fruosino)

Bibliography:  Dante's Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, translated by Tony Kline.

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part A

· So is the narrator dead, or is there some other weird thing going on? It’s really interesting how he’s mixing Christian themes with Greek mythology. I like how Virgil described the paradise, “the origin and cause of all joy.” It’s compelling, isn’t it? Also, I wonder what or whom the she-wolf is meant to be.

· So he’s “a living spirit.” I wonder how he got there.

· I just realized how depressing this is going to be. It’s interesting that those in the in-between are said to have lived without blame (in addition to being without praise), but they are clearly guilty and treated as such.

· The language is intense: “the weeping earth gave vent”

· This misunderstanding of guilt, innocence, and justice makes me sad.

· It seems to me that an eternity of hopelessness and nothing would be hell enough, even if there was no explicit torment.

· That’s so backwards. They have heaven’s grace because they were famous in life? Uhh, no.

· I wonder which famous people of our age would have been chosen for this favored section of Hell? Perhaps it would surprise us. It seems to me that history picks different heroes than those we exalt in the moment, and that sometimes great evil is overlooked when it is far removed from the present.

· Why are some sins considered worse than others? How would it be if it was flipped, and I was to write of a Hell where cold indifference to God was the worst crime of all?

· Wow, it’s strange how polite all of the people in Hell are. I wouldn’t be gracious for very long in there.

· The place with angry men sounds horrible.

· I could write about the conversation between Virgil and the fallen angels, when he tries to get them to let Dante enter deeper into hell.

· Wow, that would be scary. “If you see her, you’re stuck in this deep pit of Hell.”

(Illustration by William Blake)

Bibliography:  Dante's Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, translated by Tony Kline.

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Crane), Part B

· Hmmm this story starts off so sad:(. What if the king had refused the old woman? What if his wife wasn’t dead? Also, how on earth did he conceal from his wife that he had children? That can’t exactly have been a secret beforehand? What if I tweaked this story so that she turned them into a different type of animal?

· I fell like there are rather a lot of tales that involve evil stepmothers turning some or all of their stepchildren into swans.

· How do they already know how the swan curse works when they’ve been under it for like a day?

· I hate that she gets absolutely no say in marrying the king. Also, why can’t she write to people? Isn’t that an easy way to communicate without breaking the deal?

· Wow, it’s really gross that she smeared blood on her mouth.

· I don’t understand why she didn’t somehow mess things up when she cried out in excitement when she saw her brothers flying towards her when she was about to be killed. What if that had ruined everything? I could write about that.

· Although I suppose that if crying out was against the rules, giving birth would have been particularly difficult.

· I enjoy the fact that this was written with some rhyming. That would be a fun thing to incorporate.

· I feel bad for the beggar man. What if he didn’t want to marry her? She doesn’t seem like a pleasant person to be married to.

· Wait why on earth did he still want to marry her? Literally her only good quality was that she was beautiful. I’m annoyed. What if I changed this story so that she learned her lesson, and then lived happily ever after as a beggar, content? She still didn’t seem content, even if she was humbled.

· Why would he say that she would never again touch a spinning wheel if one of the things that he liked about her was her industry?

(Illustration by Walter Crane)

Bibliography:  Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, by Lucy and Walter Crane