Indian Epics

The otters and the wolf: There is a wolf couple in this story and one of them wants fresh fish. The other goes to the river to get the fish for them. At the river, an otter was catching a fish, but the fish was too big and started pulling the otter away. The otter started calling for help an a second otter went and helped the other to shore with the fish. Now ashore, they began to fight because they both wanted the half of the fish with the head on it. The wolf approached the scene now, and the otters asked him if he could help them decide. So the wolf cut the large fish into the head and tail, but also cut out the middle section. He gave the head to one, the tail to the other, and kept the middle for himself. The otters thought this was unfair but could not do anything to stop him since he was a wolf. When he got home, his mate asked him how he got the fish and he said that he got it as payment for settling a fight. Image Info: Flickr, Wolf,  Source Bibliography: Ellen C. ...

The Red Bud Tree: In this story there is a tree that everyone wants to see. The 4 princes decide that they must see the tree so one by one they have their chariot take them into the forest so they can see what is so great about the red bud tree. The first one goes and it looks dead because it has no leaves or red buds. The second one goes, and cannot figure out why it is called the red bud since it is covered in green leaves. The third one goes and cannot believe how amazing the tree with all the red buds are. The fourth one goes, and it is covered in green pods. One day they start discussing the tree and are confused by what the others saw until the king comes and explains that it was indeed the same tree, they just each went in different seasons. Image Information: Wikimedia Commons, Red Bud Tree,  source Bibliography: More Jataka Tales, Ellen C. Babbitt, 1992  Source

The Pandavas were very thirsty and found a pond to drink from. When they approached the pond, a voice warned them that they must answer a riddle to drink the water or they would die. Nakula went to the water first, and he was so thirsty that he drank the water without answering the question. One by one all of the pandavas went to the water and drank without answering, and one by one they fell dead in the water. Finally  Yudhishthira approached the water last. He was sad that all his brothers had died and he asked the voice why. The voice responded that they did not answer the questions. So Yudhishthira went through the questions and answered the riddle with ease. After, the voice revealed itself to be Dharma, a god and his celestial father. Dharma granted Yudhishthira two wishes for answering the questions. He asked for his brothers to come back to life and for great strength for the next year. Image info: Pond, Pixabay,  source Bibliography:   Indian Myth and Lege...

While Krishna was visiting the Pandavas, they threw him a party. The women in the group, Draupadi and Subhandra, got drunk at the picnic party. While everyone was celebrating, Krishna and Arjuna were telling stories. Suddenly a haggard, old man approached the party. It was Agni god of fire. He wanted help to consume the forest with fire to eat the food he wanted because every time he tried, Indra rained out his fire. He needed to consume the forest in order to be restored to his normal self after he had spent the last 12 years just eating butter. Krishna and Arjuna said they would help if they received a celestial weapon. Agni agreed and got them weapons. So they all battled Indra to help Agni. In the fight, they killed all but 6 creatures. In the end, Agni did get what he wanted though and was restored to greatness. Image information: Forest Fire, Max Pixel,  source Bibliography:  The Mahabharata, A Summary  by John Mandeville Macfie (1921)

The Word Counter tech tip is invaluable for this class. I recommend it to everyone because so many assignments have a word minimum. I usually go under the word count when I write without it because I am a pretty concise writer. One disadvantage is that if you are writing with it and you reach the word count, you feel the need to stop, where without you might continue on. Definitely go  here and try it though! (Image info: Keyboard, Flickr,  source )

Reading aloud isn't something that I had done in quite sometime before this class. I think that the pros are that you can catch mistakes in your writing, but the cons are that it is slower and not always easy if you aren't alone. One thing I have noticed by doing this activity and the class is that sometimes even if I read aloud my brain corrects my writings to what I meant, even if that is not what is on the page/computer. Overall, I think it is helpful and something people should do to their writing at least once. Image info: Pixels,  source

Quote 1- L.i.f.e.: Live it fearlessly everyday.  I am a sucker for an accronym so I really enjoyed this quote. I think that everyone gets wrapped up in the future at times that they forget to live in the present. Quote 2- Keep Moving forward or else I think this is fitting in this class because there are a lot of assignments so you have to just do one thing at a time and keep moving forward.  (You can do it thumbs up, Iemoji,  source ) Quotes are from:  source

This week I did not do any writing because it was review week but I really enjoy some of my classmates previous week’s writing. My other classes are a lot right now. I also feel behind because I had family obligations all weekend and so I got no break from running and homework was all rushed and done in the middle of the night. This week I have 2 tests, a presentation, and 2 papers so I am really looking forward to spring break. This year for Spring Break, my family is going to Colorado for a few days and I am so excited. I have never been to Colorado and so it is all that much more exciting. I think we are going to go snowmobiling and then just hang around town. We really want to go skiing/snowboarding sometime, but since we are only staying for 4 days, we do not have enough time. I think it will be fun to just be there, though looking at the mountains and seeing a new place. We are leaving on Wednesday of next week though, which is nice because it gives me a lit...

Reviewing for review week, I have now typed review so many times it does not seem like a real word. This photo from the announcements blew my mind! I am a sucker for cool trivia so I really enjoyed this addition to the announcements page: Image Information: twitter picture, announcements,  source

Looking back, I am not happy with my progress so far but I am happy with the last couple of weeks. I most enjoy revisions. I do well when I have specifics that I need to do, so I feel like I really thrive in the portfolio assignments because I know exactly what I need to do. I am definitely using, and will continue to use extra credit. I want to finish early so I need to get to work for the rest of the semester. I want to avoid missing assignments for the rest of the semester. I want to try new writing styles. (Photo Information: Flickr,  Source )

I think that the feedback I am getting from the class is good. Overall, I think people are very nice and constructive about the work. I think that specific comments are most helpful but I understand people's hesitation in making them. I think the comments I am leaving on other people's work is good, but at times could be more constructive. I am very afraid of offending someone so I try to just leave nice comments. I think that reading other people's work has been helpful though because it gives me inspiration for my own work. I feel like I have gotten to know people by their work! I would write my introduction a little differently if I did it again, but there is always room for improvement.  I just need to get to work looking forward. I am excited for spring break to have a chance to really get some stuff done so hopefully I can finish early.  I like this image, because getting over perfection and just doing work is something I struggle with daily in al...

The reading for this class has been good! At times, I have found them a little hard to follow just because there are a lot of characters with names that are not familiar to me, and places that are also unfamiliar. The reading notes help, but I definitely would like to branch out on the styles of note taking. I am also happy with my writing, but again think branching out more would be good for growing my writing. My portfolio has been fun so far and I am excited to add another story to it. I think my biggest accomplishment so far has been catching up so much last week on work.  This is one of my favorite photos that I have used because it is what I picture when I think about being productive. I love going to coffee shops to study because I find being in my apartment very distracting. So when I need to get something done, I go to a coffee shop usually Grey Owl but if I am in a particular funk then I make it all the way to Boxcar and then I try to drink enough coffee to fuel a ...

I chose the Empathy story about "I wish my teacher knew..." because my mom is in education so I have a soft spot for endearing teacher stories because they remind me of her. She has been in education my entire life from being a teacher to top tier school system administration, and I think she is one of the most caring people in education ever, but I am a little biased. I feel like often the education system as a whole gets caught up in grades and tests, and forgets that students are human beings. Stories like this emphasize that disparity, as well as emphasizing the impact a teacher or professor can have. I am glad that stories like this have gained some notoriety because I have had teachers or professors in the past that could use this reminder. Often, even now in college, I think that some professors like the power trip of being in charge and take that a little too far at times without considering what else students have going on. I think a good way to practice compa...

I like this Growth Mindset Cat because I often get inside my own head and overthink things. I think it is important to be reminded to step outside the situation and change your point of view. Sometimes just the break or new viewpoint can help you succeed or find a new path to take. So if something is not working, it is important to remember that you might just be going at it the wrong way.  Honestly, I have never related to a picture more. I am very much a napper and a kitten lover so this is the perfect photo for me. Also, I think the mindset of needing a break is important for me to remember in so many classes. Currently it is 8:48am and I have yet to go to sleep for the night because I really need to catch up on this class and do some other homework, but the end is in sight and I am so excited to take a break and go to sleep. So it is important to remember breaks are equally as important because no one can live without sleep or a little fun. Photo Information:...

My reading for this week went well, considering that I did it. I enjoyed the Mahabharata and plan on catching up on in with the extra credit readings for the next couple of weeks since I have only had the chance to do part A. I still like my Foolish, Timid Rabbit story the most, and I feel like the revisions for my portfolio really helped me create a solid story through my interpretation of it. I am behind in this class right now because I am in so many classes this semester. My workload is a lot and I find myself working nonstop trying to stay afloat so getting ahead is not something I have been able to do in any of my classes but especially this one. I am so glad that this is an online class because attendance isn’t my strong suit so I am behind in some of my other classes as well, and although I loved the snow days, it means that my professors are cramming to get stuff in before spring break. My hopes for the next week is to really get on top of thi...

I really enjoyed the  Zombie Noun  video posted on Saturday. In the video there is a short lesson about what Zombie Nouns are and how to avoid them. I found the video very educational because it was not something I had thought about. I think that while writing for a class it can be easy to let your writing become wordy and using zombie nouns is a way that happens. This 5 minute video shows you how to avoid that and it has fun graphics as well. Photo Information: Cartoon Zombie, Pixabay,  Source

For this week's extra credit, I wanted to make a post about how bookmarks have helped me stay organized for this class. The class can be a lot of links to keep up with, and in the beginning I had a hard time because of the disconnect between using canvas for everything in all my other classes and having a separate website for this one. So something I have done is create a folder on my bookmark bar and saved some important links onto it.  To do this Tech Tip, you need to be on Google Chrome.  The first thing I found helpful was to make a folder for all my links so they are all in one place. To do this, went to the bar at the top of my screen and went into my Bookmark Manager:  When in my Bookmark Manager, I clicked on the three dots in the corner of the screen: This opened a drop down menu where I clicked "Add New Folder": After I created a new folder, I could go to the individual links I wanted to have, or that I come across while doing assignments a...

    This is now on my  portfolio!         Ekalavya wanted to be an archer his entire life. As long as he could remember, he dreamed of being the best archer in all the lands. Being a Bhil, Ekalavya knew his chances were slim, yet he knew he had to try to achieve his dreams. So when the call for new trainees to come, Ekalavya traveled for days to reach Drona, who was the best trainer in all the land. When Ekalavya arrived to train with Drona, he was immediately dismissed because he was a Bhil and seemingly unworthy of training with Drona. Drona obviously had some unhandled childhood trauma he was projecting onto Ekalavya, but nevertheless Ekalavya was sent away.             As a young boy, this was devastating to Ekalayva and for weeks he wept. He just wanted to be like the other boys, and get to pursue his dreams. One day, Ekalavya woke up in the early morning and knew what he had ...