Essay: Technology of Writing

1.Okay
2. Hard
3 Really freaking hard
4.Okay
5. Really hard
6. Impossible
7. Really easy
8. Really easy
9. No thanks
10. Easy
11. I don't get the joke, but easy
12. Hard

The purpose of this assignment was to analyze what punctuation, capitalization, and other writing elements are the most critical to my reading success. The first difficulty in reading arose whenever the words were written in ALL CAPS without spaces or punctuation. There was one joke written in this fashion that I actually made me surrender. I think the major factor in what made reading the ALL CAPS onslaught was that as a reader I was so used to reading one capital letter per sentence or so. I see lower case letters combined in long strings everyday, and so when the caps are combined it gets crazy.

I'll let you have a try: THISISRIDICULOUSHOWCANANYONEREADTHISIKNOWICOULDNTWHENEVERISTARTEDTHISASSIGNMENTIMSORRY THISWASMEANANDISHOULDNEVERHAVEWISHEDTHISTERRIBLEUPONTHELIKESOFYOU

This brings up my next point, which was the all lower case and punctuated properly, that all lower case is pretty easy to read, especially with normal spacing. I did notice, however, that when I read something in all lower case I read it with an inner voice much younger than mine currently. I have a couple of friends who only post in lower case whenever they are on Facebook because they save their capitalized writing for assignments and proper papers, not online (I'm sorry, friends, but it only makes me think you're a tad pretentious).

I thought it was amazing that the all lower case, bunched into clauses, but properly capitalized text was pretty easy to read. I did notice, however that I read the bunches of text like a stream of consciousness.

In conclusion, I found the parts of writing that most aided my reading were spacing and punctuation.

Storytelling Week 14

"I call to the stand-- Old Blacke"

The once virile calf was now an old bull, and although he once was known for having hair as black as collyrium, it was now peppered with gray patches. The bull's bones creaked all the way to the front of the room. He finally stopped and gave a loud "muff" sound that signaled he was prepared to speak.

The prosecutor began again, "Good morning Old Blacke. I have prepared a list of questions for you regarding the payment of a certain caravan owner on a scorching day years ago. As I understand, you were once shortchanged by this man, and demanded proper pay even though you were an animal working for a man. How do you rationalize asking for such pay? The work must not have been too tumultuous for a bull of your caliber?"

The bull bellowed out a low droning, "Fool, do you not know who I was taking care of at the time?" The bull cleared his throat once more, "At the time of this incidence, I was caring for a lady who once was the only one who would care for me. The late Miriam was one of the bestest women I have ever met in my brief life. She took me in as a personal burden to her, and I felt the only way I could ever repay her would be to make a bull's wage pulling carts."

The prosecutor interjected, "Aha! But why would you attempt to make a wage for her instead of working for her yourself?! Clearly there was another motive."

The bull scoffed, "The loving Miriam made sure I would never have to work for her, and she never wanted to sell me because of the happiness I brought to the children of the town. In fact, I see some of those children today in the jury."

The bull wiped his face, an amazing feat for any quadruped and continued, "I only agreed to work for a wage whenever that scoundrel caravan owner attempted to steal me for his own. I even made a proper negotiation agreement with him that he eventually broke. I can understand one's apprehension in paying an animal for its work, but I believe that once you enter negotiations with an animal, you cede over those beliefs and you therefore must maintain your agreement. Additionally, the carts he needed to move numbered in the hundreds, yet he barely had enough oxen to move ten. This caravan owner was not only sinister in his motives to not pay me a previously agreed sum, he was also negligent in possibly endangering the health of his own herd. It was only once I came along that we were able to move all of the carts, and it was afterward that he attempted to short-change me. Let me ask you: Who is the one who should be on trial here?"

...

The bailiff  called out, "The judge will now read the jury's verdict in this case."

The judge unwrapped the parcel and began to speak with a slight smirk on his face, "The jury has ruled that the defendant in this case, Mr. Blacke, is completely innocent. And just let me tell you, Mr. Prosecutor, I don't think I've ever met a human that seemed as noble as this great bull. This court is dismissed."

Author's note:
This story was in reference to the story from Jataka's Fairy Tales located here. I thought the weakest part of my story was why the case was happening so much later than the original incident. I would like the reader to assume this was likely because of the inherent flaws in expediency of the court in this world.

UnTextbook Reading Diary

Jataka's Tales Shedlock : Link

Note: I had a tough time narrowing down my selections, and although I read the whole unit, my favorites were all from the first half.

Tree spirit
First, I thought it was interesting that Buddha took form as a tree spirit instead of an animal like in Babbitt's tales.I wonder if people worshiping the Sal tree ever thought of the presence of Buddha possibly being there. I know that I would never worship a tree for certain, although the level of decoration around Christmas time at my house might lead you to believe otherwise :) What other deities might be present in all of the trees that mankind has shredded for its own consumption? The world may never know!

The Hare Don't Care!
I'm not sure how I feel about these creatures being in charge of keeping moral law. Two of them clearly stole someone else's catch. Now tell me, Otter. How do you think those fish got buried in the sand while being properly preserved? Last time I checked, fish use water as their mode of transport and not sand. It's cool that the hare was willing to give himself up like that as a test of his moral compass, but I think a smarter option in the future would be to try to catch something whenever grass isn't a viable offering.

The Man who Worked to Give Alms
Alms - giving oneself to another as an act of virtue, like providing someone education willfully,
I'm not sure why Sakka chose to teach him this lesson, or maybe he wasn't. The way I read the story was that the riches were taken by some greater power and then restored. But this man was clearly pure in his reason for alm-giving. I want to write about the man doing something unnecessarily in order to teach Sakka a stinkin' lesson.

The Bull that Proved his Gratitude
This is honestly one of the most beautiful super-short stories I've ever read. Something about seeing that cast iron Bodisat really made the ending great, too. Thought: If you are crazy enough to agree to pay an animal for its work, I don't think you should be attempting to short-change it, especially a bull. And the way that the caravan owner reacted, it sounded like he was literally just trying to test the bull's persistence. Caravan owners, man.

The Monkey that Saved the Hero
Shrek is a jerk in this tale, and he is also patriotic with his blue belly, white face, and red hands. What I found funny about this story was that the ogre was so nonchalant about inviting them down to the shore. It sounded like a nice sit down where he's just inviting them over for some warm stew. He even readily admits he plans to eat them and that they won't get away. It's all business for this relative of Shrek.

That Ripened Pachyderm
I had never heard leagues used as a measurement outside of nautical terms. Am I supposed to believe that this elephant can traverse the oceans and lakes? Because that sounds awesome. I'm pretty sure that this story is an allegory about how you should treat your elders, and was probably written by an old person! That's not to say I don't agree with it, but I think someone was looking out for themselves when it was contrived.

Step Up: Ravana's Time - Storytelling Wk. 7

Ravana stepped out onto the dance floor. He had millions of chains and bangles attached to each hand, elbow, and shoulder. Watching him sway to the beat of a distant drum was like peering out onto a vibrantly violent sea. The moon had perched itself on a nearby mountain for a better view of the strutting and spinning that was certain to occur.

From Flickr

Out of the edge of the clearing, Rama appeared. He wore what resembled a bright orange tracksuit, except this suit could never aid a runner; it included giant, billowing parachute pants. Rama's posse assisted him in putting on his dancing boots, which were sequined all the way to the top. The glimmer of these boots was so intense that it blinded Ravana as he swung, spun, and stepped rhythmically across the floor. He nearly crashed into a tree nearby before recovering into a full-on frolic of limbs in excitement.

He called out to Rama, "You silly people nearly ruined my groove!" Rama scoffed at this remark and replied, "Is that what you call a groove?" Ravana immediately stopped his dance, but that's not to say his jewelry and sweeping clothing did not continue his last few lines for him. Ravana then turned away and crossed his arms. Years passed before he shattered the silence, "I challenge you... TO A DANCE OFF!"

Rama looked down at his own feet purposefully and back up again,"Let's do it."

It was very obvious early on that Rama was outmatched by the incredible dancer that was Ravana. For every spin, flip, and bow that Ravana had to offer Rama, Rama managed to either trip himself or knock down a bystander at the floor's edge. The dance would have ended after only a few seconds if Rama hadn't lost his sparkling boots while attempting to click his heels together between his drunken stumbles. The boots were quite beautiful, but their maker had clearly mistaken Rama's feet for those of the great Vali because they merely dangled at the ends of his legs whenever he picked up his feet.

The music finally began to carry off, leaving Ravana to revel in the beauty of his victory. What Rama was doing could no longer be classified as dancing. He had fallen down so many times that every joint in his body began to ache, and so he had begun to resort to only bobbing his head up and down while appreciating Ravana's final jaunt across the floor. Rama then collapsed and was only able to escape the clearing once some of his crew carried him away in their arms. Just as Ravana thought he would never have to deal with the atrocious dancer ever again, he heard Rama yelp out in the distance, "I'm going to take you down with my own bow and arrow tomorrow!"

Ravana was taken aback by this comment. "Do people actually resort to violence to resolve their issues?" he asked himself. That thought lasted about as long as it took for the beat of the drum to make its way once again over the mountain, and Ravana's dazzling dance carried him off into the night.



Author's Note:
While Rama did not ever participate in a dance with Ravana, I thought it might be entertaining to let Ravana win something over him. I felt a bit of sympathy for him. While he was a very powerful king of the Rakshasas, he deserved to be really good at something he clearly enjoyed. I'm not sure if Buck ever alludes to Rama's dancing skill, but I'm going to have to give it up to Ravana on this one.

I quickly discovered while writing this that I had no clue how to describe dancing. I originally meant for this to be funny, and it was to some extent, but I ended up liking the Ravana vs. Rama reversal even more. The part at the end is supposed to be describing the lack of preparation of Ravana for the upcoming final battle.

Source:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Tech Tip - Firefox RSS

Hey there! I've used RSS feeds before, so I thought I would try out this tech tip. I think I will find it useful for any of the review assignments we have as the end of the semester approaches. I use Firefox on my transformer tablet because it interacts better with the touch-screen capabilities. I use Chrome on my desktop computer at home, mainly for its speed and performance. I would recommend either of these browsers as they are both solid.

Famous Last Words - Week 13

I could tell you all about how well I've felt this class is going for me, and I'm sure you'd all love to hear it. Instead, I have an exciting announcement to make...

I received my call from the Northeastern State Oklahoma College of Optometry and got accepted this week! I cannot express my feelings appropriately right now. All the hard work of the past 3+ years has culminated into this beautiful moment. I will be studying in Tahlequah, OK next Fall. It's actually going to be pretty tough to stay focused since all I have to do to make it in now is just complete my degree by May 2015 -- which I'm on track to do, thankfully.

The interview was fine, and I've always thought of myself as a solid interviewer, but I had my doubts. Most of this apprehension stems from some of the job interviews I've had in the past that seemingly went well, but to only end up with no call-back from the prospective employer.  I determined this Summer what I think was the source of this disinterest in my application by employers. I had used a past employer as a reference on nearly every single application I had filled out, but they evidently had written me down as a "No Call, No Show" on my last day of work there. When I confronted some of the supervisors about this, they even remembered me and thought that I fully worked my last two weeks there. The issue was that it had been so long since I worked there (over four years) that they could not change the database and thus when prospective employers called, they likely told them that I was listed as "No rehire". Needless to say, I don't include them on my reference list unless I specifically have to.

A New Punctutation Mark - The wiggin ♎

How to use this punctuation mark: ♎

The wiggin is to be used in those awkward statement-questions when you are unsure whether to use a period or a question mark. Sometimes it can be something simple as: "I was wondering if you could take me to school ♎" Usually you would end this in a period as it is a statement, but since there is some sort of interrogatory element to the sentence, the wiggin was used. 

The wiggin is also therefore used as a way to signify a tone of uncertainty in the author's statement. For example: "We think that the capital of Oklahoma is Norman ♎" This usage of the wiggin is useful because now the reader knows you are not attempting to make an accurate statement as much as you are guessing.

One of the disadvantages I foresee in the usage of this punctuation mark is its incorporation into cursive script. It is clearly separated into two entities, so a free-flowing writer will once again have to let the pen off the page or make a modification of the original mark. I chose the symbol of the wiggin because I liked how it looked like an underlined Omega-- which can be used to signify the end of a passage with some other emphasis (like uncertainty).

I think more succinctly, this punctuation should be used to signify the presence of indirect questions.

Examples:
I'm asking whether you like blue or green ♎
I'm not sure which shirt to pick ♎
I'm inquiring about where to sign up ♎

Reading Diary: Indian Fairy Tales

Link to Indian Fairy Tales
Link to untextbook options


The Lion and the Crane
I know how they expect me to feel about this. Stupid ungrateful lion! I'll tell you why I feel exactly the opposite! This is how the food chain works. The greatest beast of the land, king of the animals, is supposed to thank a crane? Haha. Sounds like something a crane would say. That being said, the lion is probably pretty grateful, but that doesn't mean he should tell anyone or thank the crane.

Magic Fiddle
I thought this story was super interesting. I read through most of it before realizing the girl actually drowned there. The whole idea of the water source drying up and then filling and trapping her sounds horrific. I thought it was odd that no recourse was sought out by the original Yogi, and that it was never mentioned that she came out of the fiddle during the Yogi. Maybe he was a gross old yogi who she found creepy. I thought it was nice that everything worked out for her and that she didn't seek much revenge, even though her family caused her death.

Tiger, Brahman, and the Jackal
What a beautiful story. I knew as soon as the jackal (which is usually depicted as sly like a fox) was acting confused that someone would be ousted. I think all of the whining by the roads and the tree made me want to go out and cut a few down while trampling on the road. If they can't appreciate what a service they provide and understand they will never be appreciated, then they must be ignored! I found it interesting that the Brahman in this story was not the wittiest, and in some ways it seemed like he might have been the dumbest... or at least in a close second.

The Talkative Tortoise
I remember reading someone's adaptation of this story for the blog commenting assignment last week. I wish there had been more of a buildup to the tortoise's flight instead of the wild ducks inviting him to fly and then him falling to his death. My favorite phrase in the passage involves the tortoise "talking overmuch", which sounds a lot like something Hank Moody would say in the TV show Californication -- a newly discovered Netflix favorite for me. But I digress...

Pride Goeth Before a Fall
I must have read this passage over a undredhy times! Just kidding. I think it was really interesting how the traders used their code language to fool the robbers. One other image that came to my head was really funny -- whenever the merchants finally pounced on the robbers, there was a moment where a bunch of loin-cloth-clad men tackling each other. It would have looked much like the great Spartan wrestling of many years ago! I will probably write my storytelling assignment about this story and it will be written entirely in merchant-speak, so you have been warned!

Demon with Matted Hair
I wish my dad would give me a full thousand pieces of money for my education... Dad, do you read my blog? Does this demon have a crazy weave with dreadlocks? Maybe he just got the most wicked of perms. Maybe all he needed to offer the demon was some Head and Shoulders... we may never know.

Cartoon Essay:

I enjoyed writing a small essay over the cartoon so much last time that I decided to do it all again. This cartoon is near and dear to my heart -- and despite being a student at a major public university, I witness this mistake far too often.

What makes this cartoon funny? First of all, the inclusion of an elderly couple in any subject immediately makes it a little funnier and a little more adorable. There is something about old people that makes them hilarious. They don't hold back thoughts, and they have enough experience with this mortal realm that makes their responses completely palpable. Now to dive in to the cartoon itself. The conversation begins with an innocent question: Are you making a New Year's Resolution? This response in itself is plain, and doesn't appear to be loaded whatsoever. Next, Opal reveals that she often finds herself criticizing her husband. It is not disclosed what the husband's resolution was, but I like to think it was something about dieting or physical health.

 The following sequence is where the grammar travesty is committed. Either he says "your" in such a way that it could never be understood as "you're", or the Opal in the cartoon just knows he is missspelling and misusing the word in his head. My girlfriend and I actually argued over this for a few minutes, whether part of the point of this cartoon was to show the woman's flaw in assuming her husband would use the incorrect word or if it was to solely show the irony in her original resolution.

The cartoon finishes with a little more of its adorable charm, with the old man quirkily responding, "We're both great." This is a nice ending in which he continues on his path of blissful ignorance.

Storytelling Week 12: Make Friends, Not War

Quail from Wikipedia

A great bird hunter lived with his wife in the Fowl Forest. When the man and his wife first moved to the forest, they thought it was a beautiful place to start a family. Before starting work on building their new cabin, the hunter decided to fetch some easy game from the nearby creek. He ventured along the edge of the creek for only a few minutes before he encountered a wild flock of quail. He knew that these birds could be easily harvested with a simple net. He manufactured the net from some of the wild grasses and thatch from the brush piles nearby.

The net was quickly tossed over the covey. It was expected that some of the quail would escape, and in the violent thrashing of their wings at least two-thirds of the winged dinner escaped. The hunter was happy with his catch, and hiked home proudly to help his wife prepare their delicious dinner.

The next day started much life the one before, and the hunter decided the quail would be an easy catch for him again. He packed his net and roamed over to the creek once again. The capture was not nearly as smooth this time. The quail appeared to work in unison, and tossed the net off within seconds. He only managed to corral one of the fowl by catching it out of the air.  He sulked through the rest of the forest in an attempt to find more prey, but to no avail.

His wife gave him a kiss and wished him good luck on the third day of his hunt. Luckily they saved some of the first day's catch or else they would have gone to bed hungry. The man happened upon the covey once again. As he prepared for his ambushed, he noticed that the quail all were watching him this time. One of them had its wing up in the air much like a general does to signal a charge. The hunter was perplexed by this, and decided it was best to slightly change his course of action. He engineered his net so that it was weighed down substantially burdensome stone weights. He approached the quail again and tossed his net. He was ecstatic about the catch he was about to have, filled with so much excitement that he did not notice the group of quails catching the net in mid-air and dropping it upon him. The quail then proceeded to pin down the hunter under the confines of the net.

The leading quail peered through the net with a pleading look in his eye. Words were obviously not exchanged, but the hunter understood everything completely. The hunter nodded his head in concession. He was then freed from his own trap, and the quail quickly escaped the scene. The hunter decided it was best to never hunt these creatures ever again.

Author's Note:
I wrote a modified version of this story: Quarrel of the Quails. I decided to tell the story from the perspective of the hunter instead of the quail The other significant change was that I made the quails work together to "defeat" the hunter. In fact, in my story, there was really no quarrel between the quail at all.

Jataka Tales: Reading Diary Week12

Link to untextbook selections: Link
Link to Jatakas stories: Link  

Jatakas
These stories are considered the birth stories of buddha, especially in the previous incarnations. Each unit was its own short story.

Monkey and the Crocodile
 I actually already really love these stories. They all read like little story tales from childhood.
The crocodile is clearly the villain in the story, but a good job is done to make one turn against the "greedy" monkey. I thought it was cool how interestingly scienftific the story was. Crocodiles do often drown their prey and then use the jaw to snap their bodies. They usually use the jaw to first immobilize the prey, and then properly drown them. It's also clear pretty early how much smarter the monkey is than the crocodile. Remember the size of a croc brain? It looks like a pea. I think the resolution of the story is quite clever and deep because of how the monkey hears the crocodile's surrender of pursuit, and yet the monkey agrees to never stop looking out for the crock.

How the turtle saved his own life
How hilarious it is that the boys were that scared of a turtle. I hope it was at least a large snapping turtle -- those are probably best to be feared.   Otherwise, the introverted turtle seems less like a demon than some of the fish I've seen. The turtle does a grand job of playing along with the old man's plan to save the turtle. I was confused at first, honestly. I thought the boys were planning to throw him on to the rocks near the lake, not into the lake.

The turtle who couldn't stop talking
 Negative exemplum - when we are supposed to learn a lesson by observing someone's foolish mistake. Very common in fables.
I imagine a really sassy turtle, probably similar to the first story. "Do I look like I can fly with you, you idiot geese?" I say all of this, and the turtle agrees to be suspended above the earth by the grip of his mouth and the talons of the geese. This story is pretty sad compared to the first two.


The ox who won the forfeit
 This man is so proud of his ox, but I never hear of any rewarding of the ox for its great strength. Man only seeks to benefit. This trend rings true whenever the ox refuses to comply because of the harshness of the man's commands.

Quarrel of the Quails
  I read this, and it sounds so familiar to me. I probably have read this before, although I'm unsure where. I think the story characterizes how stupid the quails are. Despite them clearly fighting for their lives each day in the net, they cannot overcome the petty quarrel that occurred.

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit
 If I read this story from another source without the preface that Laura Gibbs included above, I'd have assumed that it was a knock-off of the chicken and "The sky is falling!" It's interesting to know that the origin of the story dates much farther back than previously thought. The lion is smart in this story, but to only assume that the rabbit simply heard a coconut fall. What if a piece of sky had also fallen? I think that might be a dangerous assumption to make!

Banyan Deer
 Another golden deer! The indian storytellers do tend to love their gilded fawns. What a strange relationship between the king and his subjects. The people of his kingdom seem to be taking care of the king, and not vice-versa. The king is also not apparently very smart because he decided to longer hunt either deer population, which according to the story were becoming huge and probably needed to be hunted in order to control the budding numbers. Oh well.

Princes and the Water-sprite
  Even though the promise was made for a different reason, this sounds a lot like what Kaikeyl did in the Ramayana. She wanted her son to receive the kingdom and thus asked to exile Rama. I think it's strange that the eldest brother had this small poem prepared as his answer to the sprite, and it was apparently the correct answer. I think this might have been all a great ruse to teach the younger brothers a lesson.

Storytelling Wk 9: Epic Twitter

@NotYourAverageRiver

Lil Miss Ganges!

Source Wiki commons

1,756,998 followers

3 following

@YoKingShantanu 
Hey @NotYourAverageRiver, I saw you earlier down by the Ganges. You were lookin' fine. I will give you loads of money if you go ahead and marry me. Deal?!

@YoKingShantanu
Yo @NotYourAverageRiver , I promise to not check your texts or tweet history if we get married. I won't call you when you're out clubbin'

@YoKingShantanu
I still haven't heard back on my offer. I'll send you a gold elephant. @NotYourAverageRiver

@NotYourAverageRiver
I accept your offer. See you around. Love you lots ;)

@NotYourAverageRiver 
I had a child born today. It's swimming with the fishes.

@LilRiverBaby1
@NotYourAverageRiver that was soooooo cold of you to toss me in that river. I'm going to unfollow you. Did you see what she did to me, @YoKingShantanu? I need you to come fish me out.

@LilRiverBaby1
You took a selfie after tossing me into the river?! @NotYourAverageRiver

@LilRiverBaby1
I'm glad to have company and all, but did you really have to cast all seven of us into a river? Hit up the broskis with a follow though! @LilRiverBaby2 @LilRiverBaby3 @LilRiverBaby4 @LilRiverBaby5 @LilRiverBaby6 @RiverBabythaCreator


@YoKingShantanu
I got a call from some of my "high up" buddies. They're saying you sent @RiverBabythaCreator to them, too? C'mon. @NotYourAverage River, that's horrible

@RiverBabyThaCreator
I mean, I'm just a little baby and all, but @NotYourAverageRiver must have a reason for all of this. Maybe you can talk to her, dad. @YoKingShantanu

@YoKingShantanu
I know I said I wouldn't question you or nothin' but we need to talk. Message me back @NotYourAverageRiver

@NotYourAverageRiver
I cast those babies into the river for all of their past sins. Don't worry though, this one's a keeper! @Bhishma4real

@NotYourAverageRiver
 Those babies were eight Vasus cursed by Vasishtha, himself. If anything, I did them a favor by freeing them from this mortal realm! #NotSorry

@NotYourAverageRiver
@YoKingShantanu it's been real and all but I've got to go #brokenpromises #loveyanot

@YoKingShantanu
That's cool @NotYourAverageRiver, at least I have my son to raise. Can't wait until he can throw a football! #NFLready @Bhishma4real

@Bhishma4real
Sorry, dad, but I think I'm going with mom. #priorities @NotYourAverageRiver

@YoKingShantanu
K @Bhisma4real

@Bhishma4real
It's not your fault @YoKingShantanu, I just have some things to work out with old man Vashistha. He and mom go way back. It could be worse. You're still the king!

@YoKingShantanu
Can't get Michael Bolton's, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" out of my head. #np

@YoKingShantanu has made his tweets private.

Author's Note:

This was a Twitter synopsis (although I did not always adhere to the 140 character limit) of the opening story in the Mahabharata. In the story, King Shantanu (I've also read Santanu) sees a beautiful woman on the banks of the Ganges. This happens to be Ganga. She agrees to marry him only if he agrees to one condition: he is to never question her actions. Ganga proceeds to have seven children and subsequently drowns each one in the river. Upon the birth of the eighth child, Shantanu cannot hold back any more and confronts Ganga. Ganga finally explains that these "Vasus" had been cursed by Brahma, and by killing the children she is lifting the curse from them upon one year of birth. Since their agreement had been broken, Ganga then leaves with the baby. The baby goes on to be raised by Vashistha.


I tried my best to format this exchange at the very beginning of the Mahabharata to make it look like Twitter. I hope everyone can decipher who is talking to whom, but the gist is the bold is for the person posting each tweet. I tried to make the deaths of the babies being cast into the rivers more lighthearted and mystical. I know I didn't get to put much content in the story, but the twitter formatting actually uses up a ton of words and characters.

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Cartoon Analysis Essay: Week 11

For my analysis I chose the cartoon above, chiefly because of its tie-in to something that is near and dear to my heart: Optometry. As I have previously mentioned, I am preparing to go to Optometry school after graduation from OU.  I absolutely cannot wait to be able to serve patients like this little one, hopefully being able to correct his eye insufficiency while also correcting this point of view. I think part of what makes this cartoon appeal to me is that it is inherently true, but not in the way the boy thinks. The glasses are simply a corrective instrument that allows one to better interpret information, but cannot read or comprehend anything on their own.

This blissfully ignorant idea from the child in the cartoon is quite beautiful -- being able to read by solely by wearing these magical omnipotent frames. The first thing that comes to mind that makes this cartoon effective is the title over the glasses display that reads, "Reading Glasses". The child comprehends this as "glasses that read" instead of the intrinsic meaning, "Glasses that better allow you to read".

 I also found the right-center child's expression to be particularly hilarious, especially when considering the situation. Judging by his eyes and his leaned position while gazing at the frames, I can tell the child is having a tough time resolving the frames and signs around the room. His mouth also appears to be agape, which conveys a sense of either shock or wonder at the magical lenses that are presented in front of him.I think the cartoonist has done an excellent job of conveying the lack of resolution power the child has in his eyes currently.

In addition to the main character, there are some parts of the environment that add to the cartoon's humorous appeal. I like to imagine that the other child standing near the speaker is confused by the boy's statement. He could either be thinking, "This stupid guy over here thinks the glasses read for him", or, "I had NO idea that they had glasses that read for you. I gotta get me some!"

Storytelling Post Week 11: First Encounter

Siddhartha erupted from his bed, drenched in sweat from head to toe. He couldn't help but have these horrific dreams -- beggars were crawling around the streets, vandals were breaking windows and screaming expletives at the shop owners, and women were even being molested and raped when out past the late hour. He knew not how these travesties could occur, and he also knew not how he was seeing them. He had never ventured far from the palace. In fact, he believed his father would never let that happen. One day, Siddhartha came up to his father to ask to explore the adjacent streets around the palace. Siddhartha could see the tumult that such a request was causing his father. Siddhartha immdeiately regretted his request and began to inch away from his father, realizing that Siddhartha's request would be too heavy on the heart of the old man. Siddhartha had already turned away when his father put a firm hand onto his shoulder.

His father responded, "My beautiful and strong elephant, you have been held under captivity for far too long. I will permit this request. Let me coordinate.with some of my associates so I will know that you will be under supervision of safely watching eyes."

Siddhartha's father sent his most trustworthy guards and associates around to clean up the streets around the palace. The father knew what Siddhartha needed this trip to clear his mind and conscience, bit this did not mean that Siddhartha needed to see evvery unsightly detail. The king even went so far as to pay the taverns nearby to close their doors for the day. The king thought this would keep the regular patrons from contaminating the beautiful mind of his Siddhartha.

After his final finishing touches on cleaning and decorating the city, the king returned home to Siddhartha to give him permission to travel out on the next morning. Siddhartha, who originally would have been ecstatic to finally escape the confines of the palace, s
eemed aloof upon hearing his father's words. Siddhartha thought to himself, "I made this request of my father so that I may see the good and bad of the world for what it is.But now, I fear that I may not be able to handle the sadness and treachery that exists in the real world." He decided to sleep on it, which only lead to the same sequence of dreams he had the night before.

Wikipedia

The next morning, his father greeted him outside the palace with a beautiful gilded chariot. He appreciated this favor, but he decided to only ride it as far as his father could see. As soon as he leapt down from his perch, he was confronted by a man. The man was missing a few teeth and was covered in day-old soot. The man promised to him, "Oh Siddhartha! I will watch this chariot for you until you return!" Despite his appearance, the man was surely a kind soul, Siddhartha thought.



Author's note:

For my story, I decided to adapt Siddhartha's first encounter outside of the city. I thought it might be interesting to incorporate some level of premonition on Siddhartha's journey through his dreams. I tried to make it apparent that the father's efforts to coddle and protect Siddhartha would be pointless -- which is also sort of the moral of my story.

Link to Life of Buddha

Reading Diary: Life of Buddha Week 11

 Link to Life of Buddha


Link to Untextbook Options

• Nothing like a nice Spring night dream about six-tusked elephants coming down from the sky.
• Disquietude sounds like it's either not a real word, or that it is contemporary slang.
• I don't know about Maya, but I would probably seek another sort of help if I were continually having nightmares about flying elephants.
• Palanquins are the things that they carry around royalty in. They have at four people to put the wooden planks on their shoulders.
• Baby Siddhartha is greeted by the world in absolute blissfulness.
• The brahman;s sang, which I felt was not something common to many brahmans.
• Asita is apparently a person of many austerities, which is pleasing to the gods. The only reason I know the word Austere is because of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. So the gods find the hermit Asita appealing because of his stern demeanor. He's not one of those hippie hermits
• Siddhartha is seen by the King as an award for his deeds. However, I think the king misunderstands this in that Siddhartha is clearly a gift for all of the world.
• I think it's interesting that Buddha is incorporated into Hinduism in some cultures. He is incorporated as an avatar of Vishnu.
• I think it's strange that Siddhartha's presence caused so many prosperous things to happen to the king so directly. I never interpreted Buddha as a lucky charm as person, although I know many people use icons and statuettes of him to wish good luck.
• That is such a cop out ending to Maya's life. The joy of childbirth was "too sweet" for Maya. I don't think that has been said by anyone ever. Maya only met the gleeful reaction of baby Buddha, but never (on earth, at least) saw what he would become.
•  If there was ever any doubt, Siddhartha's life has definite divine important after seeing holy statues come to life to kneel at his feet. The song they sang is interesting because it implies that Siddhartha is greater than the gods that have fallen before him. That would be a lot to swallow as a young man.
• What a cool tie-in to the Ramayana.. Visvamitra, the original mentor to Rama was also the same to young Siddhartha. I don't know the supposed tim-line, but I wonder if one knew about the other?
• The four sights mark an important time where young Buddha is finally able to go out unto the world.
• I can already tell what I would like to write about in my short story: The Four Sights that inspired Buddha to go on his divine journey.
• I think it's interesting that Siddhartha had a wife. I didn't know much of this story before, but I totally expected him to have been a hermit without any interest in marriage or intimate relationships.
• I think one of the most interesting things about this passage is how Siddhartha never settles for the spiritual explanations of his elders. He uses the weaknesses of their points to seek enlightenment.
• The Siddhartha the Hermit chapter answered most of my previous questions. I had totally forgotten that he does not go on his hermitage until later in life. He has all of the reasons that a normal hermit would for going on such a quest, but he seems like he is being truthful to it.
• I know that Siddhartha is important to the royal family, but they must know he has much more important things to do to the world than just stay there with them. One should have offered to go with them like Rama's brother.
• Ascetic: characterized by practice of severe discipline to self and abstention from all forms of indulgence
• I was fairly convinced that I would write about the Four Sights, but Buddha's thooughts while sitting underneath the Bodhi Tree could be really fun to do as well. AND finally I actually know of one scene from this story -- sitting down under the Bodhi tree with the legs being crossed is so iconic.
• 
  I thought to include more note, but honestly I had already written so much that I felt the notes would be too tasking to read anyway. I wish I better utillized the brevity of some of the Reading Diaries done earlier.

Storytelling Wk. 2: Tale From the Riverside

Source: Wikipedia

"Dad, I don't think there's another river quite like the Ganges," said the boy, as he was gently nestled into his bed. "But why must the Ganges flow so much and so violently?"

His father softly responded, "The Ganges has its own story that explains its mysterious ways. Our family name, Samprashana, means 'friends of wings' and this is because our ancestors were close companions to the river cranes on the Ganges. It is said that a crane would land on the window sill each morning and greet our ancestors, exchanging a story for a small token of nourishment." The father dimmed the lights in the room and continued, 'Be still, my son, for here is one of the many stories our ancestors have passed down to us."

While the crane was not there to see it from the beginning, he was a very close friend to the mother of the Earth. Because the crane was clever and observant, Mother trusted him with keeping tabs on the living creatures of the valley and their needs. It was mostly a menial quest. Sometimes he would report about a quarrel between mongooses, or he would tell the mother of an intense battle between two great hawks. Eventually a whole new creature appeared in the valley. This beast made the land work for him. It called itself man.

Men were intelligent, emotional, violent, and amazing, the crane thought. Unfortunately, this ability led them to even threaten some of the gods. Men could move quickly on the backs of other animals, and were often haughty enough to challenge the gods to races. One day, a man started a race against one of the gods, and while the god was very powerful, he had not practiced enough riding the horse. The man could make the quickest of turns, highest of jumps, and stop without hurting his horse. This man made the god utterly furious. The god then hid the man's horse in the sunless underworld.

The man could no longer race the gods and thus felt powerless. He made it his lifelong quest to find his racehorse, but after millions of excavations it seemed he would be forever the simple human that he was. At the ancient age of five thousand he finally discovered the horse in the light-less world and he died there of happiness. The god was pleased that his challenger had been defeated, and he began to boast to all of the other men in the world.

The crane could tell that the men were unhappy with how their brother was treated and led to die. They began to rebel against the earth, putting their waste and trash directly into the earth. The crane pleaded to Mother, "We must ease their sorrow or else your beauty will be ruined!" Mother, stricken with grief, cried down from the high heavens and washed the valley and the sunless place with her tears. Her sadness was so terrible that the entire valley began to flood away. The crane knew what he had to do. He dove straight down with the strongest of strikes. The sheer force of his dive made folds in the land that rose up and made what today is the Himalayas. Mother's flood was thus corralled by the mighty mountains, and the river began to look much like it does today.

He had managed to nourish the people's shores, wash away the remains of the man and his horse, and also serve his divine purpose.

"Good night, my little crane," whispered the father as the light washed away.

Sarus Crane - Wikipedia

Author's note:

The story I tried to re-tell was the Ganges Story from the Ramayana (Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.). 

In the original story, Sakara is a fortunate ruler who has planned out a great horse sacrifice. This sacrifice involves the passing of a decorated horse through each area of a country, and this passage is a declaration of the ruler's power. Any opposition to the horse is an act of war. This is where Indra comes in, or the man in my story. Indra goes on to hide the horse behind a meditating saint. Sakara's sons are assigned to dig until they find Sakara's horse. They finally discover Indra's hiding place and the saint is wrongly accused of stealing the horse. This saint is then tortured. This leads to Bhagiratha, similar to the crane in the story, agreeing with Shiva to help avoid the full wrath of Ganga descending upon the earth. The tortured saint thus receives salvation, and the valley is not wiped out by the powerful Ganga.

I tried to refrain from using many of the names in the story because I think the story should appeal on a general level, like a fable. I also changed the horse sacrifice in the Ganges story to a race, mainly because I think a boy would find a race with gods to be very exciting. The crane also took some of the roles that multiple characters did in the story because I wanted him to be the most heroic crane a boy could imagine. 

After it all - Storytelling Week 9

The war was over now. The Pandavas are back.  The soldiers could be seen hugging their wives and children next to the fire place. Life was perfect, unless you happened to see the wives and children who no longer had someone to hug. They spent this evening clinging to each other, just hoping that war would never have to happen again.

The Pandavas, as happy as they were, knew it would be no easy task to face the King and his wife the upcoming day. The royal family lost every single one of their century of sons. The King's wife Gandhari had little flecks of each of her children in her eyes, and with each of her inconsiderable tears came also a little of each son back to life for a mere instant. This was clearly a time of sorrow despite the victory.



The King's words escaped, "Where is Bhima? I request the presence of his neck in my grasp." The King began to whirlwind with his fists in hopes he could land one square blow onto the man responsible for the death of so many he loved. Bhima watched from a distance, feeling cowardly because he kept himself away from the violently-swinging King. The king began to call out, "I know you are in here, Bhima." The tension in the room began to peak.  His assistant, acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, fetched a fine iron cast of Bhima, knowing that the statue would certainly evoke feelings that could hopefully relieve the king.

The King embraced the cast, giving it all the crushing force that he could muster with his once fine-tuned body. The cast began to wane under the grip of the King, and eventually gave in to the might of his force. By the time the sight-less King laid the cast to rest, it was hardly recognizable as Bhima any longer.

Bhima watched all of this in his own tomb of somber regret, laying himself face down on the lounge in the next room over. He knew what transpired had to happen, but regardless, he was reconciled in knowing that his iron likeness could be used to heal the old king.

This is approximately what Bhima's expression would have been. Source: Link

Author's Note:
I was running pretty dry for this week, so the point of this story was to include more details on this exchange between the King, Kishna, Bhima, and his statue. I'm not sure why Bhima felt that he had to stay in the King's presence, but I think it was somewhat due to guilt.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Reading Diary B: Week 10

Krishna's mission

• Dhritarashtra finds out that Krishna will soon arrive, and he calls for a lavish reception. This is a different opinion than what Vidura insists what Krishna would like. Krishna is believed to stand for what if right. Krishna in this story is depicted as the harbringer of peace, and yet Duryodhana is the polar opposite, with plans to take Krishna prisoner and has no hope for any peace or reconcilliation

War

• Krishna, while opposed to war in general, still insists that Dhrishtadyumna become the commander of the troops.
• The Bhagavad-Gita is essentially the hype up song for the entire battle. I could see writing a contemporary version of the exchange between Arjuna and Krishna before the battle turning into a coach trying to get his football team hyped up in preparation for the state championship game. After the hype music is over, the team has become electric and proceeds to fly out to the field to take on the opposing team.

Bhishma's Death

• Bhishma is shot from behind by Arjuna, which definitely correlates back to the story in the Ramayana where it was not right to shoot someone in the back. 
• This is an example of another one of the themes in these Epics where a woman is used to exacerbate the fatal flaw of Bhishma.

Ganga and Bhishma

• Bhishma is finally cremated and laid out on the shores on the Ganges, in a cyclical example of Karma. This is a nice juxtaposition of how nice of a mother the Ganges had become once Bhishma died compared to what she was when drowning her first 7 sons.
• Since I have written a twitter conversation previously, there's no reason that the interaction between Bhishma and his mother can't be done through social media again! 

Reading Diary A

Duryodhana and the gandharvas

•  Gandharva is a name used for distinct heavenly beings
• In hinduism, they are male nature spirits, husbands of Apsaras. They have superb musical ability. Often depicted as singers in the court of Gods.
• Pandavas are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu. All married to Draupadi, although they have other wives
• There needs to be a part of the story where Dhritashtra brings all of his spies and the Pandavas to drink at a bar an talk of this occasion.

Voice in the lake

•   Pandavas are approached by a brahmin.
• Instead of mysterious golden deer from Rama, the animal sage comes in form of a mysterious giant deer. The Pandavas also have difficulty catching the deer without a bow like Rama has. 
• This story is actually incredibly sad if it does not end with Yama returning the Pandavas to life.
• Title of this section of the story: Tough love from father.

In the Court of King Virata

•  A common theme in both of these epics have been exiles. Why might this be important as a punishment?
•  There is more gambling in this story.
• Probably the most serious note of the story so far.  Draupadi is raped and requests for revenge at the hands of Bhima. This is a prompt for a court drama. You would initially be cheering for Bhima to get his revenge, but once he goes too far and kills Kichaka, knowing that Bhima is destined for jail. The scene could close with Drapadi moving away to start a new life.
• 
  

Reading Diary A: Week 9

Shantanu

• Kuru king of Hastinapura. Descendant of the race of Bharata.
• Falls in love with the beautiful Ganges river woman, although they agree to never question her actions. It is only after the 8th son is about to be drowned that he questions her.
• The children were "vasus" or cursed by Vasishtha. The first 7 were drowned to be freed from the mortal world into heaven, but the 8th was sentenced to living out life as a great man, but also must remain celibate.
• I know reincarnation is a thing, but punishing 7 babies for stealing a cow in another life seems harsh. I don''t care how beautiful my wife is, or how proper of a wife she is, you're not going to get away with drowning babies.
• It's unclear to me why some get "freed". Was their punishment only to live 1 year of life as a baby? Or did she feel bad about the terrible life they would live if they grew up?
• Shantanu loves those water ladies, now falling in love with the daughter of a fisherman
• I knew an Indian student at OU named Satya, although I'm pretty sure his full name had at least 3x as many characters as Satya. I think he was a computer science major, for what it's worth

Pandavas and Kauravas

• The moral of these stories should be "Don't mess with animals, because they could belong to gods or even be a god". If you can't go out and shoot a deer, in fear that it may be a celestial being, what can you do? People gotta eat.
• The gods in these stories can be so meddlesome and fickle. The celestial deer is clearly distraught over his own death and thus stops a man from ever being able to make love ever again. That's cruel.

Bhima

• Our first encounter with a rakshasa. This demon falls in love with Bhima, much like Ravana's sister, but instead has a child with her. Ravana's sister would be so proud!
• I also just realized that Bhima kills one rakshasa, so he definitely knows how dangerous they are, and then he marries another. Sounds like a good plan.

Reading Diary Week 8: Assessment

• Is there information from the instructions that you had not noticed before? 
• What are the main strategies you use in writing your Diary posts? 
• Do you have specific Diary tips that would be useful for other students?
• Do you use the same Diary style/strategy each time?
• Are your Diary posts more or less the same length each time, or do they vary?
• Overall, would you say your Diary posts are too long, too short, or just about right? 
• Is there something you have started doing in your Diary posts that you wish you had done from the beginning?
• Is there something you might start doing in your Diary posts now that you have not done so far? 
• Do you include images in your Diary posts?  
• Do you include favorite quotes or phrases in your Diary posts?
• Do you make connections to other stories / books / movies in your posts?
• Do you take the notes while you are reading or afterwards? 
• When you look back at your old Diary posts, are they useful?
• What could you do to make the Diary posts more useful for future reference?
• Do you use your Diary posts when you are writing the other blogs posts each week?
• Overall, how good a job would say you are doing with the reading assignments?
• In general, do you remember a lot of the reading in this class, or not so much? 
• In general, do you remember reading in your other classes? Or do you mostly focus on preparing for exams? 
• What are the reading strategies that are most effective for you for short-term memory? What about strategies for long-term memory? 

After reviewing the instructions, there was nothing that I explicitly did not notice before, but I realize after reviewing my posts that I spent the first couple of weeks doing a summary, and then eventually progressing to actual thoughts on some of the reading.
In my posts I generally tried to record points or thoughts about the reading I found the most interesting. I tried to use the Reading Diary as a way to foster ideas or prompts for my storytelling for that week, but I largely didn't use any of my possible prompts. I would suggest that other students try to write a little bit after they read each seciton, and not go back to post after reading the passage in its entirety. I think I would suggest this because of the volume of some of the readings each night. I've never included an image in my diary posts, but I think it could be useful to start looking up photos of some of the subjects so that you have a good foundation to choose from once you pick your storytelling topic or even just for your portfolio. With the reading assignments, my biggest problem was trying to not skip any sections, especially when they got slow and/or boring. I think I remember a lot of the reading from Narayan's version, but Buck's version of the reading seems like such a blur to me despite it being the most recent one. I think my old diary posts could be very useful for those times when I'm stuck without a prompt for my next re-telling post. I say all of this in confidence, but I still remember pretty much only relying on the book when working on storytelling posts. Part of this was because I like to include more details in my post, and I don't use the diary to record such details

Storytelling Wk. 6: Next is Reclamation

Jea Gazis Flickr

The scrawny youngster dragged his feet as he approached the group, being extra careful to not look at any one member the wrong way. His wispy dark hair flew past him in the arid wind and he only managed to keep his yellow headgear attached by tying a bright red shoelace around it. The dirt of the entire playground lay nestled in his shirt and pants. Still with his eyes affixed to the cracks in the pavement, he asked, "Can I play over here with you guys?'

The playground was meant to be fun. It should have been fun. For Vibs, it wasn't. Before that day, Vibs spent most of his time trying not to get stepped on while excavating in the sandbox. His only real interaction with people would last as long as it took him to apologize, usually a woefully stutter-ridden "S-s-sorry!" Vibs had no interest in standing in the way of anybody.

Probably the most interesting thing about Vibs was his proximity to something far less kind and unassuming. Vibs was the brother of Ray, the biggest, baddest, and whiniest punk to ever patrol a jungle gym. Ray was not one to be crossed, and most of the kids who had crossed him didn't come out for recess any more. Ray was also manipulative. Despite his overwhelming size, he managed to convince teachers that it was he who was being bullied or having lunch money stolen. Even though Ray was obviously a bad fruit, most knew better than to ever get near him. Thus, his effect on the playground was minimized to mostly fear and not treachery.

That changed one day when I brought my new Spalding basketball to recess. It had a cool leather print and was one of those internalized air pump balls that couldn't go flat even if you tried. I took a long shot, probably about ten feet farther from the hoop than I should have been, and missed the goal completely. I was obviously embarrassed, but that emotion I felt does not compare to what I felt when the ball bounced off the head of the recess ruffian.

Much unlike his usual primal nature, he did not beat me into submission nor yell until his throat dried up. Instead, Ray simply grabbed the ball and sat on it. That's not to say he didn't acknowledge its beauty -- he wouldn't stop touching the new leather with his grimy gauntlets. I was already devastated whenever Ray snatched it, but knowing Ray had my ball made it somehow easier. It was like knowing that it had been blown into oblivion -- completely unreachable, unlike losing a ball across a fence. I had already begun to cope with life after my ball. That's why I couldn't comprehend what Vibs was doing when he tried to kick the ball out from underneath his brother. Ray lashed out, "What are you doing, Squirt?!" to which Vibs replied, much louder than he had ever spoken to someone on this playground, "It's not your ball to take. Give it back, or I'm telling Mom."

Ray proceeded to turn away from all of us, being sure to never come up off this new perch. I groaned as the leather began to stretch and grind between the friction of the massive Ray and the grisly pavement underneath. Vibs again tried to reason with his oaf of a brother, "Ray, maybe they'll let you play with them if you give the ball back. Not everyone is as mean as you are." To this response, Ray huffed out a, "No, I'm alright where I am," and then again turned his back on Vibs.

Vibs would not get another chance to plead with Ray. His slight frame was sent in full somersault down the hill by Ray as he ran off with the ball, clearly playing football with my basketball. The moment was too ugly for any of us to watch. I was so sure that Vibs was buried in all of the dust kicked up in the scuffle, but he managed to get up quickly enough to keep his hat from ending up in the street.

...

So now I stand back in front of Vibs, the bravest runt on the playground, and say, "Of course you can play, but your brother still has my ball." Vibs replies, showing once again that his beast of a brother could not faze him, "I think I know what we can do to get it back."

Author's note:

I realized as I wrote this that a huge chunk of my story actually covers much earlier in the book, where Ravana steals Sita (or Ray steals the basketball from Rama) and I hope that part was okay to include in order to tell my story of Vibihshana's conflict with Ravana and his eventual leaving of Ravana's side to join Rama. I also was not trying to objectify Sita as a basketball, but instead trying to find a relatable object of children on a playground. I still can't figure out how to describe the scene, either from Rama's perspective or Vibs. Rama gets the perspective of Vibs being sent through the dust, and can talk about the size and personality difference between the brothers. I had a difficult time locating a picture of boys fighting over a basketball, so I ended up using it to set the scene on the playground, before Vibs is sent to the dust. I thought modifying the names into something more like what kids could comfortably use made the story flow better than just having their full names. It was hard to describe how Vibs would show him treasures of the Lankan land, so I decided getting the ball back from Ravana would be relevant symbolism.

Source
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Reading Diary: Week 7

Hooray! The end of the Ramayana forever! I never thought I would make it this far, and especially not twice.

This is an absolutely beautiful scene, the flowers marking Lanka where the battle was once held. I think that's also extremely sad. That's essentially the burial ground of all of Ravana's effort, however vain it may have been.

The whole fly-over scene with Pushpaka can be so sobering. Rama resents his actions against Vali, for which Sita does nothing but console Rama for his actions. He gets a 'get out of jail" pass on that one.

That silly Hanuman needs a story told about his collection of all of the waters of the world's rivers. He would probably figure out a way to have tons of fun along the way. He is also told to bring anything beautiful he finds along the way.  That could be his chance to pick up some ladies for the coronation ball?

This part can be so boring. There's not conflict left. I now know the ending. It's not a problem I have with the Ramayana, really just with books in general. The only book I remember ever being excited to read the post-resoution was the first of the Harry Potter books, for what it's worth.

I don't feel as bad for Rama having to wait those 14 years to take the throne now. Fourteen years is merely NOTHING relative to his 11,000 year reign in power. That might as well have been an afternoon daydream -- and/or nightmare.

Also towards the end, great, Sita is now the victim of the "Sins of the Father" with a karmic banning. Rama needed to suffer in order to save the kingdom but also because of his father's past debt to Kaikeyl, and now Sita will likely suffer as well

I will say that the ending is much more beautiful this time.

Reading Diary A: Week 7

We are so close to being finished with the Ramayana. I just needed to let that out, for my own sake.

Malyavan

• Chief advisor to the Emperor Ravana of Lanka.
• Some relational view to Vibishana: also opposed the war being fought against Rama.
• All I could think of his flashback was an old dude in slippers freaking out at the family reunion about past duties. PTSD is a messed up thing.
• Does Shiva physically take him? It almost sounds like Malyavan dies on the hill top -- taken by Shiva. I feel like this should be more obvious, but it definitely is not.

• The scene of him being taken from Lanka could be a somber but beautiful one

Jambavan

• He's the master of disaster. So much blood and gore in this scene caused by the annhilation of Rakshasas.
• I might have missed it in a past reading, but why is a bear king in with this party? I found out on wikipedia that Jambavan is sometimes also described as a monkey king, which makes his presence more sensible, but bear kings are really cool, obviously.
• The two magicians / wizards on the hill would be a nice addition to the brothers' storybook I read the other day. I don't think they reappear, but just making stories about these demon magicians could be really awesome

Ravana preparation

• I'm not very good at this type of storytelling, and I can't see myself attempting a foray anytime soon, but SOMEONE needs to write a story about the epic wind dance party that Ravana throws the night before an epic battle. Ravana is clearly a partier, and while he earned himself a charioteer in his dance, he also could show off some sick moves to Sita in his final attempt to win her over.
• Time comes to nag Ravana, which sounds like an annoying little sibling at his dance party, too

There's not much to write about from the epic battle. My initial storybook project was going to be centralized around weapons, and the astras in the final battle are the most varied and intriguing of the entire story.

I'm also so relieved that Sita did not have to prove herself to Rama after she is saved but instead is reunited through Agni, the fire god. Agni is super interesting, and is shocked whenever Rama either refuses or does not recognize his true deity name. It's probably just Rama being humble again.

Week 6: Reading Diary

Nala

• Monkey whose special skill is to make rocks buoyant. This is particularly useful as Rama's troops need to cross the ocean into Lanka. Not really sure why Nata wasn't helping out whenever they were asking who could jump across the gap to Lanka earlier in the book.
• Credited as builder of the Rama Setu, or the bridge that allowed Rama's forces to enter modern-day Sri Lanka
• Varuna tells Rama that Nala is a divine architect of the gods, and Nala even fights in the great battle between Rama and Ravana
• Nala (and sometimes Nila) managed to get this rock buoyancy power due to mischeif in their youth. Once upon a time, the ornery Nala would often throw divine talismans or images into the water for fun. Because of this bad habit, the sages put a curse on them that disallowed anything thrown into water by the monkey from drowning. This led to the great career as a water architect
• Wounded in the battle by the arrows of the Great Indrajit
• In some versions, Nala constructs the living quarters for Rama's army while marching on Lanka

Vibhishana

• Clearly the wisest Rakshasa in all of Lanka, as he persitently asks to return Sita to Rama.
• This marks a place where the tide could have taken a major turn. I could imagine trying to weave a tale where Ravana listens to his loyal (brother?) Vibhishana and chooses to give back Sita to Rama. It's like trying to turn the story back into a happily ever after ending.
• A completely different story would be the inner conversation going on between members o the camp other than Rama whenever Vibhishana attempts to come aboard their camp.

Angada

• Son of Vali and Tara, nephew of Sugriva. Tara was also once the wife of Sugriva before Vali banished Sugriva and later killed by Rama. I think this should maker things awkward as his own nephew was birthed by his own ex-wife? That sounds like some melancholy sitcom right there.
• Catches a spy bird but is not allowed to kill Suka
• One of the "peaceful" messengers of Rama's. Says basically everything that Ravana's party has tried to convince Ravana of already, but it is all to no avail.
• I think it's interesting to note that most of Rama's threats that were delivered through Angada all were very direct. Most of them boiled down to, "you will die if I don't get my Sita back". This is significantly different than some of Ravana's threats where he says "One of these days..." and trails off. It's this that makes me think that the Rakshasas are not only built to destroy and kill. That being said, I think the Rakshasas are also more interested in pain and torture than the average human. Such a conundrum.

Week 6: Reading Diary A

Sampati, the vulture

• Huge vulture, sibling of the great Jatayu that once defended Rama and Sita. Clearly, these birds are of great nobility. I see them as being reincarnates of some amazing king from a past life, although going from King to super vulture wouldn't really be much of an ascension
• Sampati is an unsung hero in all of this, as his coming clearly marks a momentum shift in the search for Ravana. If he does not show up with information on Ravana's presence across the water, there's a fairly good chance that the search party ends there. The morale was definitely low.
• I'd like to tell a story of Sampati and Jatayu where Sampati doesn't lose his ability by flying too closely to the sun. I would keep the part where he essentially burns himself to protect Jatayu, but an epic battle would be way better of a story for the loss of Sampati's flying ability. It might also be interesting to talk about Sampati's recovery to fly, or how some engineer in a town nearby helped create a prosthetic to use as a wing. Maybe once his wing was repaired, Rama could fly on the great vulture during the epic battle against Ravana, instead of the chariot.
• I can't put my finger on it, but this part of the book is clearly my favorite. I think everything up until this point can have its interesting moments, but once they actually get the search party down to the tip of India and start to proceed to Lanka, the book really thrives for me. Reading is no longer a task after this point.

Hanuman

• Clearly, Hanuman has known this ability to cross the ocean so easily by growing to be a giant, but he was either hesitant to do so, or was not paying attention during the discussion of crossing the 100 leagues. I think it would be interesting to write a story about how Hanuman came to be able to grow into a giant. Could this be his family trait? Is there a limit to how large he can actually get? Is there a limit to how long he can stay in this form?
• The story of Hanuman growing to be large enough to jump across the ocean is awesome, but imagine it from the perspective of a bystander -- that would be incredibly frightening. All the poor animals of the hillside and river are being throttled about while Hanuman is gaining all of his size.
• The stories of the mountain king-god that rested underneath the passage to Lanka was incredibly interesting. Apparently, the large mountains of the world used to be able to have wings and fly whenever the wanted, and it was only when Indra punished them for their carelessness while landing that they finally lost their wings. They make out Indra to be some sort of bad guy, but I think it's obviously clear that the mountains flying and landing wherever could cause massive devastation. Indra clearly knew what he was preventing.

Brothers - Storytelling Wk. 3

"Your brother never meant to spite you. He's just never had anyone challenge him until you came along. I know I should have raised him better, but boys will be boys".

I always thought Vali was the absolute coolest guy. He was excellent at stickball, track, and any other test of athleticism and strength. Mom always said that Vali had muscles that were weaved by God. It was odd that someone so blessed could be such a short-tempered and short-sighted brother. Despite his physical advantages, he always tried to prove himself to me -- usually by demonstrating how much farther he could toss a boulder or how easily he could break a tree limb. It bothered him to no end that I couldn't care less about his supernatural strength. This usually caused him to be further incensed, storming off only to later come back and ridicule me for my piano playing or my science projects. I never wanted to argue, but he made it happen. It only got worse.

Source: Wikimedia commons

He often decided it was his obligation to protect the town's animals from ravenous wolves or to jump into burning buildings to check for life inside instead of waiting for our fire department. His favorite "responsibility" was probably whenever storms would scatter the livestock into Cave Creek nearby. Vali would never acknowledge that his servitude was about doing the nice thing for people. He really just enjoyed people knowing that they were indebted to him. On a particularly violent and stormy night, Vali had been digging out some pigs but was taking forever to come home. Against my mother's best wishes, I set out for the creek side to make sure he was okay. It must have been a solid eight hours of searching before I gave up. We reported to the police that he had gone missing, but they said that there had been tons of people stranded in the storm, most of whom were presumed dead. I knew that my brother could not so easily be taken away by a fickle storm, so I was not nearly as devastated as my mother.

On my way home from school each day, I looked out upon our fields, fully expecting to see him running like a madman through the tallgrass. It had been nearly three weeks since the storm, and I had to have been the only one who still thought he was coming back. We heard a sudden thump on the back door. It was Vali! I could not keep myself from grinning while he embraced my mother. I should have noticed the bottle of gin in his knapsack and I should have noticed that he had fresh clothes. But who was I to be upset when the pride of our town was back?

Vali was different now. At first, I thought he was joking around with me when he talked of the night he went missing. He'd say, "I expected you to come fish me out of the creek, you scrawny punk." or "Someone as smart as you should have known I would be staying with Betsy down the road."  Vali was arrogant and short-tempered, but I never thought he had it in him to stay the weekend with Betsy -- the girl he once promised to me I would marry someday. When I found out that he and Betsy were much more than just "roommates" during his time away from home, I was crushed.

I felt like I was slowly being towed away from everything that I loved. Vali spent all of his time with my former love. And when he did manage to stumble home, he was completely wasted. My mother was still in shock from losing him, so her only instinct was to coddle him further. She was always pleading with me to make sure Vali had everything he needed. "He needs you to help him on his school work!" This really just meant he was too busy upchucking all night to do his math problems.

When it became apparent that this was going to be my life for my eternity, I packed up my world and applied for individual independence from my mother and Vali. I knew living in my own condominium outside of Brooksdale Community College a few months before school starts would not be nearly as stressful as living with my family.  I had grown weary from all of the verbal and physical abuse from the relationship with my brother, and I had grown weary of my mother's unwillingness to do anything about him.

To this very day, I am barred from evening dinners with my mother and brother -- far from welcome in what was once my own home. My mother and brother couldn't understand how much their burden on me was keeping me from succeeding. I am not married to the girl to which I was meant to be married, but I know that without my choice to leave, I'd still be doing homework for my brother.

Author's note:

This was an adaptation of part of Sugreeva's story about his history with his brother, Vali. In the Ramayana the great warrior Vali goes into a cave (deemed Cave Creek in my interpretation) to fight a beast and takes a very long time to come out. The challenge of the beast is instead more of a challenge of stamina in my story; he must save the livestock that has been stranded in the creek. The only person to still believe he is alive is his brother. However, because Vali felt abandoned after being left stranded for so long, he basically shuns his brother from their city and ends up taking his wife, too. I did not incorporate any of Rama's intervention in this matter, as my re-telling only covers everything up to Sugreeva's banishment out of the city.

I remember reading about Vali's great strength and how it would make sense if one of the brothers was the brute jock, while the other was the perceptive and intelligent son. I wish I had made more time to flesh out the reemergence of Sugreeva into Vali's life, so that I could change Vali's imminent death at the hands of Rama into something more optimistic.

The picture I chose was made to set up some imagery of the livestock stranded in Cave Creek.

Source:

• Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana

Week 5: Portfolio Styles

Storytelling from an Animal's perspective
What attracted me to this style is its versatility, Telling a story from the perspective of an animal -- like a crane, which I did in one of my stories about the Ganges -- can be useful for pretty much any setting. I also like to use animals as more of an innocent character for reader sympathy. I think it is most reminiscent in kids' stories, books, and movies. Most kids can be intrigued enough by a talking squirrel enough while still being fully entertained by its cute appearance. Some of the challenges provided come from forcibly infusing this animal bystander into a story. It's also easier to use an animal whenever it's not plausible for the human to be in that situation. One of the weaknesses is that some might not take an animal as seriously while the story is starting, before the setting is completely established.

Breaking News
What interested me in this storytelling style would be the ability to choose an unfavorable perspective potentially. For instance, a news station in Lanka could be hard at work trying to convince viewers that Rama is in the wrong, and that these battles are really all about perspective. I remember reading a book that was a newspaper report on the "Three Little Pigs" but from the perspective of the wolf being the good guy. Other than that, I don't recall too many stories where they are told from this view. The weaknesses of this style would be a lack of introspection to the characters. Most character development would be with newscasters and not the reported characters.

News channel

Social Media / OU hybrid
I saw the social media idea and the OU-campus idea and would like to give a shot at mashing them up. I'm trying to imagine a series of tweets or Facebook posts between some of the ladies of Lanka and how much they dislike having Sita around -- maybe on OU's campus or in a class? Obviously this one would need some major tinkering, but I think it has potential. One of the weaknesses would be the readability -- seeing as each tweet could only be 140 characters by rule. I'd like to figure out a way to actually format them as tweets, too.

Social media

Plot twist
I like the idea of plot twists; however, I feel pretty inadequate in my ability to concoct them. The reason I like plot twists so much is because they can completely change how you feel about a story. Plot twists are especially prevalent in thrillers (Inception, anyone?) and while they're not always carried out properly, the reader sometimes can feel proud because he predicted the twist. The weakness of this style is that it requires entirely new material and that this material needs to mesh well with the rest of the story. The strength, as I mentioned above, is that they can completely re-vamp a story that has been repeatedly told.

Court Trial
This was my idea for my original storybook. What appealed to me about this style is that it makes everything feel more real to me.  Saying someone was "sent to court" isn't nearly as threatening as actually going through the trial and all its gritty details. One of the weaknesses, and what ended up bogging me down on my storybook, was trying to go through the in-depth trial speak used. I like it in movies because it makes the setting more realistic and credible, yet it was excruciating for me to write. I would still like to figure out a way to incorporate it into my portfolio, just not as the only style.

Week 5: The time of a new king

The kingdom did not hesitate for anyone or anything. The birds chirped as early as they could. The sun gazed down as soon as its warm face as erupted over the horizon. Dasaratha had obviously had a pretty horrendous past few days, so it wasn't completely inconceivable for him to be sleeping in. It was only when some of his servants came in to dress him that they realized what had happened. In shock of Rama's exile, the great king Dasaratha had perished.

The couriers of the kingdom were immediately sent out to ride to Kekaya to find their new king. Preparations were made for Dasaratha's funeral ceremony, but all of it felt too soon for anyone to actually accomplish much of anything. The seamstress could not find her dexterity while sewing his silken gown and the carpenter could not manage to avoid cracking the wood on his casket that was being carved away. It seemed as if the people of Ayodhya had lost a father-- their king Dasaratha.

When the couriers arrived in Kekaya, iDasarat was revealed to them that they were in search of the king's son Bharata. All of the messengers were confused. One said, "By Brahma, this is not Bharata's throne to take!". Another retorted, "I'd soon assume we give the kingdom up to the Rakshasas if Dasaratha or Rama is not the one caring for us". Nevertheless, the couriers retrived Bharata from his residence. He appeared very disturbed; his beard had become long and grisly, and his eyes yelped out for sleep. Bharata had not slept for at least two days, and even if he managed to sleep, the only dream he managed to have was the same horrible terror. It was a simple nightmare. He would be walking through the forest, obviously on a hunt. But no matter which direction he traveled, he always managed to get back to the same clearance. Then he would hear screaming (which he managed could be of his mother) in the distance and chains shattering. He tried to run to help whomever was being tortured, but still could not manage to escape the clutches of the forest. The screaming got so loud that the trees began to bleed from their ears. He could only wake up if he managed to run himself hard enough into one of the bases of the trees.

Bharata pleaded, "Have you come to help me with my quest for proper slumber?" The couriers shook their heads, and felt awful about the inevitable news they would have to explain to this clearly drained son of a lost king. Bharata sat them down and requested that his roommate (and uncle) play some soft music so as to calm his nerves. He felt that he knew what was happening. "It's my mother, isn't it? I've only had the most horrible dreams about her screams in the wilderness near Ayodhya". The messenger stopped him before Bharata could go on, "No, your mother is in good health". Bharata had no more patience to guess who in the family had fallen and began to weep. "It was Rama, wasn't it?" The couriers again shook their heads.

One of the messengers who had yet to speak gently grabbed Bharata's hand and solemnly explained, "Bharata, son of the great Dasaratha, you must know that your father has died from shock and grief due to your brother's exile into the wilderness of Ayodhya. We understand how hard of a a time this must be for you, but we also request your presence in Ayodhya as the new king. We have made arrangements for you to take your throne in the morning". And as the last bit of his speech trailed off all of the messengers and the son of a great king began to sob synchronously They planned to return that night, but soon realized that this was a time to mourn with their newly established king.

Author's note:
I tried to make this story more about how sad and distraught everyone was after the king's death. I didn't like how the messengers would not tell Bharata that it was his father who had died until Bharata made it back to Ayodhya to see for himself. I also wanted to make more of a connection between the messengers and Bharata as they mourned over the loss of a father and king.

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. 

From Wikmedia Commons