Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales, Part B

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- The story, The Rabbi's Bogey-Man is a variation of the Golem of Prague legend. In it, the Rabbi creates two different Golems, one female and one male, at two different times. He is ultimately forced to destroy them both.
- The story presents the Rabbi's initial motivation for the creation of his first Golem as the desire for a servant. His motivation for the creation of the second Golem is to prove to the king that his action was not sinful. Most of the legends regarding the Golem of Prague state that the Golem was made to defend the city's Jewish community against those who wanted to oppress and/or kill them. I find the idea that the creature was defensive to be a more appealing take on the legend. It puts the Rabbi's actions in a more sympathetic light, and makes the Golem more ominous.
- One thread that seems to weave through this story and all of the other legends is the idea that the Golem eventually lost control, or began to act in unintended ways, thus requiring its destruction.
- Another common thread is that the Golem is brought to life and controlled by a scroll in its mouth, and that removal of that scroll results in the 'death' of the Golem.
- I think this story could be told well in a traditional, European style fairy tale manner as a sort of warning about future actions: simple, straightforward, Once Upon a Time style.



Bibliography: "The Rabbi's Bogey-Man," Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales, Part A

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- The story about the Giant and the Flood includes information about the criteria Noah used to determine what animals would be saved, the saving of a unicorn and a giant named Og, how that giant was forced to enslave himself to mankind in exchange for being saved, an etiological mention about wine and why it makes you drunk, and Og's ultimate betrayal of his oath and his death.
- The entire story is quite long, too long to include all of the details in a retelling. The most interesting part of the story, the part that stood out to me, is the etiological story about why wine makes you drunk.
- In the story, some mention of Og's origin and involvement with Noah would be required. Why was he a servant of Noah and, by extension of that, mankind? Why is Og so bitter and angry toward Noah that he would bless/curse the grapes in such a way?
- To flesh out the story, more can be included about the importance of the grapevine and the wine that will come from it.
- Why are animals getting sacrificed in the first place? There was just a massive flood that killed everything, except what was on the ark. That flood was obviously very recent in relation to the story of the grapevine being planted. Therefore, there are very few animals, and what is there are vital for breeding purposes. So, why are these vitally necessary animals being sacrificed over a plant in the first place?
- I could tell a story of someone retelling this story, in a shortened version, and have the listeners question the unnecessary sacrifices.



Bibliography: "The Giant of the Flood," Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa. Web source.

Feedback Thoughts

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I read the articles 14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out of Control and Overcoming the Fear of Feedback. I have some perfectionist tendencies, although they tend to be focused on specific things  rather than being a generalized perfectionism. Several of the points made in 14 Signs definitely applied to me, and are things that I'm aware of and try to control. Procrastination and a go big or go home mindset are probably two of my worst flaws, but I have managed to wrangle them quite a bit as I've gotten older.

The article about how to overcome a fear of feedback was very interesting. In some situations, particularly when the criticism seemed particularly harsh or unfair, I have had to pull back hard on a desire to lash out. Most of the time, I have a completely backwards way of responding to criticism: I fix the thing I'm being criticized or corrected for, and do it exactly the way the criticizer wants, but I do it out of spite. For example, while I was in Afghanistan, one of my coworkers accused me of never taking out the trash (it was a shared responsibility). My response was to not only take out the trash every single day, but to go out of my way to do all of the office clean up that we shared. He and I still laugh about it. He told me that I have a warped idea of what spite looks like.

There are some situations where I very much want feedback, and I think that I tend to take it well. I think that it comes across better when you aren't only slapped with criticism, but also receive positive feedback to highlight what you're doing right.

Topic Brainstorm: Narrowing Down the Overwhelming

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Legendary Creatures - The first topic that I became interested in, during my brainstorming session, is legendary creatures. Of the ones that interest me, this is perhaps the one that I'm most drawn to, because it allows for so much variation. My story could lean towards the fantastical and incorporate unicorns, a phoenix, or griffins into my story. I could explore the darker, gothic legends and focus on vampires, werewolves, and the undead. Then, there is a cryptozoological approach that incorporates things like bigfoot, chupacabras, or Nessie. In addition to offering an immense range of possible topics and approaches, this topic is the one that I am familiar with, but would enjoy digging deeper.

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Irish Ghost Stories - I like the idea of focusing my project on Irish ghost stories, particularly on a sort of survey of haunted locations throughout Ireland. There is a sort of gloomy ambiance in Ireland that I think amplifies a romantic, somewhat forlorn way of looking at the world. This provides an ideal setting for ghost stories to flourish.

Celtic Creatures - Focusing my project on the topic of Celtic creatures has a lot of the same appeal that the ghost stories had. However, it has a bit more room for variation. The frightening aspects of a banshee story can either be balanced by a mischievous leprechaun tale, or highlighted by a more morbid version of that same legend. It also allows a wider geographic pool of stories to pull from, including Scotland and Wales, rather than a more specific focus on Ireland.

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Japanese Ghost Stories - The topic of Japanese ghost stories piqued my interest for two reasons. The first, I simply like ghost stories of all kinds. The second is that, unlike the others that drew me, this is a topic that I am almost completely unfamiliar with. It allows an opportunity to dig deeply into something that I have no casual knowledge about, thus providing a blank sleight. During my initial research, I particularly liked reading about Onryo, or vengeful spirits. Such stories would provide excellent inspiration for a darkly atmospheric storybook.

Week 2 Story: Guinness Reminiscence

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“Hey John, how was the retirement party?” The bartender put down the glass he was cleaning, and began pulling a pint of Guinness for his favorite customer. “Oh you know how those things are,” John chuckled as he settled onto his regular stool, “a lot of handshakes, stuffy speeches, and impatience to get out of those uncomfortable uniforms. Twenty-seven years as a detective, and that dress coat still makes my shoulder blades itch. You would think I’d get used to it. Thanks Pete, I’ve been looking forward to this all day.” John savored his first velvety sip. His wife, Mary would only allow him two pints a week, so he relished every sip. “How’s your dad doing?,” John asked a short time later, “I haven’t heard from him in a couple of weeks.” Pete laughed, “yeah, he’s not the best at keeping in touch. Him and mom are still enjoying their ‘grand RV tour’. I’m going to have to pry him out of that thing when they finally get back.” John shook his head, “your dad was the best partner that I ever had, but sometimes I think the man would actually go crazy if he had to stay in the same spot for more than ten minutes. I need to give him a call. One of the rookies was asking about the weirdest cases I ever worked, made me think of him.” 

Pete leaned forward onto the bar, “so, what was the case? Dad didn’t like to talk about work in front of us kids. I think he didn’t want us to worry.” John poked at his glass a couple of seconds before answering. “It was a kidnapping case, beautiful young girl got entangled with some rich guy. It was the weirdest thing, but luckily it had a relatively happy ending. Too many don’t. Traveling salesman went on a work trip, left his wife and three daughters at home. He was going to be gone over Christmas, so he promised to bring lots of gifts back. The two older girls wanted every gewgaw you could imagine, but the youngest girl just asked him to bring her back a rose. He ended up having some car trouble just outside of town, when he was on his way home, and knocked on the door of this huge house. The man that lived there, a guy named Benny Basilisk, helped him out. But, before he left, the traveling salesman stole a rose for his daughter out of the man’s garden. Apparently, the dude worked for the mob, and he was nuts! He demanded that the man give him his daughter in exchange for the ‘betrayal’. I mean, who gets that pissed over a rose? But he did it, gave over his daughter. I guess he didn’t want to deal with the mob. So, the girl ended up locked in that house for a couple of days. Her mom came to the station, looking for help. Your dad was the only one to take her seriously, and thank the baby Jesus he did, it might not have ended well otherwise. So, we went to the house, and rescued that little girl. The guy had been drugging her, and convinced her that he was some sort of hideous monster. He’d told her that he needed her love to break some spell. The poor thing was so drugged up that she believed everything he said. She hadn’t been abused or anything, which was good, but it was just a matter of time. We got her out of there, though, and her mom put her in some pretty intensive therapy to deal with the weirdest case of Stockholm syndrome that I’ve ever heard about.” 

Pete’s eyes were huge as he listened to the strange tale. “What happened to the guy who kidnapped her?” “Well, he went to prison,” John replied. “I think he turned states evidence on some of his cronies for a lighter sentence, which would explain what happened later. He died about a week after he got to the prison, choked to death on a set of golden keys. No one knows where they came from, it was just one more weird thing on top of the already crazy.” John pushed away his empty glass, and stood up. “Thanks for the pint Pete, I gotta get home. Mary will have my head if she has to wait to watch Game of Thrones. Tell your dad to call me next time you talk to him.”

Authors Note - The story that inspired me was The Three Roses, aka Beauty and the Basilisk, a variation of Beauty and the Beast. A mother going to market asks her three daughters what they want, and the youngest asks for three roses. The mother got lost on her way home, and ended up at a strange palace with beautiful gardens. After taking three roses, she was confronted by the resident of the palace, a basilisk. He demanded her daughter in exchange. The daughter, Mary, was to nurse the basilisk in her lap everyday for three hours. After three days of this, he gave her a sword and told her to cut off his head. He then turned into a serpent with golden keys in his mouth. After cutting off that second head, he turned into a beautiful young man, and they married. I was never a big fan of the Beauty and the Beast story. It always struck me as odd that a kidnapping supposedly led to true love and a happily ever after, so I changed it. I made it a more contemporary story, without the magic, to highlight how wrong a modern audience would fine the situation. I also thought that the story would come out best being told by a third party rather than one of the individuals involved in the events, so I went with a cop telling a story about the weirdest case he ever worked.

Bibliography - "The Three Roses, "The Key of Gold" by Josef Baudis. Web source

Reading Notes: Beauty and the Basilisk

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Beauty and the Basilisk:

- Characters - A mother, her 3 daughters (eldest and middle daughters spoiled and demanding, youngest daughter beautiful, sweet and somewhat simple), and a basilisk (the beast, owner of a castle with perfect roses).

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The story follows a similar framework to most Beauty and the Beast retellings, with a couple of differences:

- The type/nature of the beast is specified: a basilisk.

- The captured daughter is ordered to "nurse" the beast in her lap for three days: an odd and precise task that contrasts with the more commonly known expectation that she just live with the beast.

- At the end of the three days, the basilisk has Beauty cut off his head, at which point he turns into a serpent, then has her cut off his head a second time before becoming human again.

Further notes: Beauty is given a name, Mary. The parent who acts as a catalyst is the mother rather than the father. There's no reference to how the beast became the beast, such as a curse, or who caused his transformation.

Exciting Reading Options

The UnTextbook has so many amazing reading options. Almost all of the sections looked interesting, but some were a little more exciting for me than others. There were many that I was already familiar with, but a lot were very new. I love Grimm fairy tales, and similar stories, but I'm pretty familiar with most of them. The readings that I'm most looking forward to are completely new to me.

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The unit on Chinese Fairy Tales is one that I am particularly interested in reading. I took several Chinese history classes, and they were wonderfully fascinating. Most of what we learn in school is so focused on western civilization that it was surprising to learn how young it is when compared to China. The history classes touched on culture, of course, but there was no exposure to the kinds of tales that children would have grown up on.

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Another unit that looks interesting, and is unfamiliar, is the unit on Nigerian Folk Stories. In particular, the story titled "The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull." I cannot begin to imagine what that story might be about, but if it is even a fraction as magnificent as the title, it will be incredible.

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The unit on Russian Folktales is another one that I quickly honed in on. I also took a Russian history class that I enjoyed far more than I expected. I am not quite as unfamiliar with Russian folktales as I am with some of the other units, but most of what I know has come from indirect sources. I have read of couple of fantasy book collections that borrow heavily from Russian stories, but I've never read any of them directly. I tend to re-read books that I like over and over, so on my next reading of those collections, I think that I might have a deeper appreciation. Plus, I like stories about demons, vampires, ghosts, and the undead.

Time Strategies

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The first article that I read for this assignment was "The Important Habit of Just Starting." It had a lot of information that seemed helpful in resisting the urge to procrastinate. By nature, I am a huge procrastinator. When I was younger, I always had a fear that any project I began wouldn't be able to live up to what I had in my mind. Over time I have learned to adapt to that fear, or I suppose that I just mostly ignore it now. The biggest example that I can think of is writing long-ish papers. I would always have the same reaction before starting, and I've now come to think of it as a ritual. First, I panic, convinced that there is now way that I'll be able to find resources that I need, that I won't be able to make it the length that I must, that I won't finish it in time, and that it's going to be terrible. Then, I suck it up and just start. Eventually, I do finish, it's always long enough, I get in turned in on time, and I'm generally proud of the product I created. I now just look at the panic as the first step of the process, deal with it for a minute, then move on and ignore it. In an effort to combat my procrastination tendencies, I also allot way more time than I will actually need for the project. For my capstone paper last semester, I started actually writing about a month before the paper it was due. Some of my classmates waited until only a day or so before the due date. I absolutely cannot do that! Waiting until the last minute means that, once you finally do start, that is the absolutely only thing that you can do until you're done. Nope. I need the occasional day where I can just not do it, because I have something fun happening. On the days when I am actively working on the project/paper, I have to be able to take the occasional break, just because I feel like reading for pleasure or playing a video game for an hour. It works for me, and it allows me what I consider to be safe procrastination time.

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I also read "The Psychology of Checklists: Why Setting Small Goals Motivates Us to Accomplish Bigger Things." I love lists. I make them constantly. I don't have a particularly organized system for making them, because I wouldn't use it. I use the Notes app on my phone. Grocery lists, packing lists, daily to-do lists, types of heirloom tomatoes that I might someday want to plant. I love them all. I learned to love checklists in the Air Force. The article talks about breaking down large projects into smaller, more manageable pieces. The Air Force is the king of that. There are Quick Reaction Checklists for emergency situations, Daily Checklists for every task that needs to be accomplished that day, further broken down by shift. They are incredibly useful and satisfying.

The schedule that I devised for this class is as follow:

Monday - Reading, Storytelling (3 hours)

Friday - Project, Project Feedback (2 hours)

Saturday - Blog comments (1 hour)

That schedule seems quite reasonable and easy to maintain. I foresee it being an effective way to budget my time. In addition, I plan to always be working ahead, in order to combat any procrastination urges that I might have!

Ever Changing Technology

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In recent years, technology has evolved so rapidly that it's impossible to keep up with advancements. My technological literacy is somewhere in the middle: I don't understand it intuitively the way my nieces and nephews seem to, but I'm not as confused/baffled by it as my mother. My approach to learning about new things is to just explore and push buttons to see what happens...it's not like I can break it!*

Basically every part of this class (outside of reading...I'm good at that) is completely new to me. I am excited to learn about some of the tools we will be using, particularly the image editing and graphic creation. I see things online all the time that people have created, and I'm fascinated by it. I have no idea where to even start! I have enjoyed the introduction to blogging, and I think I'm getting the hang of the basics. I can't wait until until I've added a few more tools to my belt!


*Note - If I ever do break it, I will claim that of course I didn't just randomly push buttons, how reckless do you think I am?!

Storytelling Assignments: Words That Fill Me with Dread

Because I prefer to begin things on a positive note, I'm going to start with the parts of the class, and the assignments, that I'm really excited about.

This is me excited (Flickr)

I like the way the class is organized. So far, everything that I have started out confused about quickly began to make sense. Although it's extremely new to me, the blogging is already starting to grow on me. It's been really neat to look back on my posts (even though there are only a couple) and think that not only are they not totally embarrassing, but I'm actually kind of proud!

I am really, really looking forward to the reading. I am taking both Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics, and I honestly can't decide which stories that I'm most excited about.

There were quite a few extra credit assignments that looked enjoyable. The Wikipedia Trails assignment was particularly appealing, since journeying into the depths of Wikipedia is something I already do when bored (that and TV Tropes).

But, there's also some dread...

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I have never done any creative writing before. I am a voracious reader, and it always confused me that I never had a drive to write. As I looked over the information on the class, I got into a conversation with a good friend who probably knows me better than anyone. I told him that I didn't know if I was creative enough to do the storytelling assignments, that I didn't even know how I would approach writing, and how I've always found it odd that someone who reads as much as I do never had the urge to write. He told me that I'm not a creator, I'm an absorber. I started to be offended by that; everyone wants to be creative! But as he continued explaining, I realized that he was right. He told me that I absorb everything around me, like a sponge. I take it all in, analyze it, organize it in my mind, then use it. But, like a sponge, I don't want to give up what I've absorbed, not without outside pressure. He told me that a lack of creativity isn't a problem for me. The roadblock is my unwillingness to share the thoughts and ideas that are constantly racing around in my head. So, this semester's challenge to myself is to figure out how to express things that I've never expressed before, and how to overcome my aversion to publicly exposing my mind. I think that I'm looking forward to it...but, there's also the dread.

Learning Growth Mindset the Hard Way

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I had heard of Carol Dweck and the growth mindset concept in passing, but I didn't know any details. Everything in the videos made complete sense! I have always found it odd that children are expected to learn at exactly the same speed, and the children who fall behind are shamed and discouraged. Meanwhile, the kids who pick up specific things a little faster than their peers are expected to stop once they've reached a specific plateau of learning, then wait around to be guided to the next one. I believe that some very intensive and wide ranging changes need to be made to our educational system, and incorporating a growth mindset into all aspects of learning would vastly improve it on every level. The videos reminded me of lessons that I learned the hard way about failure and perseverance. As a child, I had an intense fear of failure. School was always easy, so when I faced a difficult challenge, I felt that failing would be the end of the world. It was a sort of perfectionism, I suppose: If I couldn't do it perfectly, why bother doing it? It took a lot of real life failure, in situations that were far more consequential than the classroom, to realize that failure doesn't hurt, not in any way that's lasting. It's just something to be learned from, even if the only lesson you learned was not to do it exactly that way next time. Learning that changed me; it changed how I approached life, and how I interact with other people and the world around me. I guess it made me braver...I just wish that I'd learned that lesson earlier.

Introduction of a Frustrated Cat Owner

My name is Nancy, and this is my last semester before graduating from OU. I'm particularly excited about that fact, because I'm one of those older students who put off going back to school for entirely too long! My major is classical studies, with a minor in history...two things that basically have zero to do with my career. After high school, I wandered around aimlessly for a little while before deciding to enlist in the Air Force, a decision that was literally made with a coin flip...it was also the best decision that I've ever made. That coin did good. I did eight years active duty, was stationed in Guam, Germany, and California, broken up by the occasional stint in Iraq.

Balad AB, Iraq

While in Germany, I traveled around Europe as much as I was able. I loved Ireland and England, but Germany holds a special place in my heart. For one thing, the food is amazing!

Kylemore Abby in Ireland

Me and my mom at Neuschwanstein Castle

My job is aviation management, which has quite a few different parts, but essentially I make sure that the airfield is safe for aircraft movement. After separating, I took a contracting job in Afghanistan for about two and a half years. The hours were ridiculous, the food was terrible, the living conditions were horrific, and people kept trying to kill me. It was a pretty good time. That type of environment creates a bond between you and the other people stuck with you that's difficult to describe, and impossible to replicate...plus they paid me a lot.

Our Christmas Wish Lists in Afghanistan (you have to make your own fun)

Eventually, I got tired of being far away from my family and good restaurants, so I came back home. I enrolled at OU and got a job at Tinker AFB, and I've been working and going to school full time for the last couple of years. But, as much as I have loved it, I've always been a little nomadic. Staying in one place for too long makes me antsy, so I'm considering going back overseas for a few years after I graduate. The only thing stopping me is my cat. His name is Dante (short for Dante's Inferno). He's awesome. However, he makes doing homework difficult...

Dante

Dante making life difficult...

Seriously, does anyone know how to keep a cat off a laptop?!


All images from my personal collection

My Storybook Favorites

There were several storybooks that caught my attention, each for a different reason. The first storybook that I had a particular liking for was the very first one that I looked at, "Tales of Gothic Creatures." It was the featured storybook when I clicked the link. The framework of the story is a ghost tale - the ghost of a young woman is telling the story of the night that she died, a night that she and her friends went into the woods and attempted to freak each other out telling scary stories. Each scary story that the kids told had a Gothic element: werewolves, vampires, demons. I love those kinds of stories, which is what originally drew me in, but my favorite part of the storybook was the way the author incorporated an almost Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde twist into her framework story.

Tales of Gothic Creatures

The second storybook that I liked was called "The Villain's Side." I've always enjoyed reimagined tellings of old stories from a unique perspective, and the misunderstood villain angle is one of the best. Fairy tales, in particular, seem to lend themselves well to it. Snow White seems to be one of the best to get really dark and creepy with. This author kept his tales a bit more lighthearted than some that I've read, and I thought it was fun and interesting.

The Villain's Side

Finally, I was drawn to the storybook "My Brothers Grimm." It checked two of my favorites off right away: fairy tales, and a smart woman getting things done. The framework of the story is a younger sister explaining to the patrons of a bar, and her brothers (the famous Grimms), how she is secretly the one responsible for their success. She retells some of the Grimm brothers' famous triumphs, filling in all of the parts that they were oblivious to, with an occasional lecturing aside about their incompetence. It was a funny and entertaining storybook, with a somewhat bittersweet ending.

My Brothers Grimm

Cemetery     

Big Bad Wolf: Gustave Doré  

Woodland Pathway

Neuschwanstein Castle, My Favorite Place

I was in the Air Force for 8 years, and I spent a little over 2 of those years stationed at Ramstein AB  in Germany. I loved the beauty and the history of Germany, but there's beauty and history all over Europe. What I cherished most about Germany, the thing that was unique about it, was this whimsical sense that, just over your shoulder and out of sight, a fairy tale was happening. I would drive down winding roads, through the forest, and almost catch myself looking for Hansel and Gretel or several bears chasing a blonde. When I visited Neuschwanstein Castle, it seemed to encapsulate that feeling. It had all of the beauty and the history combined with that visceral sense of wonder and enchantment. It always made complete sense to me why Disney would choose to use it as the model for its fairy tale castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle

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