Growth Mindset: 25 Simple Ways To Develop A Growth Mindset

I read the article 25 Simple Ways To Develop A Growth Mindset

I wanted to read this article because while I find the growth mindset to be really fascinating, sometimes it can get overwhelming to think about implementing it formally into the educational system. We are years away from that, but I don't think that means that we can't encourage the children we interact with with a growth mindset in small ways.

Some of the suggestions were things I already knew, such as replacing failing with learning and learning to look forward to and tackling challenges.

Some of the suggestions really surprised me though. For instance, one of the suggestions is to stop looking for approval. While I don't know how we could implement this in children, I think this would have far-reaching benefits not only on intelligence but also on self-esteem and the person as a whole.

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Week 14 Reading Notes Part A: Zelinda and the Monster

-It makes no sense to me that the father would go home and tell his daughter that the dragon wanted to eat him or her- is he basically telling her that he will not be the one to be eaten? I understand that he said the family will be destroyed if he is eaten, and most likely in those days it would have been the end of the world for a family if the man was gone, but how could a father go home and ask his daughter to basically go and sacrifice herself?
-I love all the names in this story, the names of the daughters are so beautiful
-Okay so I HATE the ending of this story. So the girl does not need to love the dragon, just needs to consent to be his wife. Wrong. She needs to love him, that's what Disney told me. And, how does the dragon turning into a youth save the girl's dad from dying? i don't get that at all. He basically forced her to marry him, because what daughter is not going to try to save her father at any cost? (Maybe one who's father basically gave her to a dragon so he could live)
-This story is just way too based on physical characteristics, and I much prefer the Disney version and how she learns to love him despite his beastly appearance. Maybe I could retell the story but the father tries to sacrifice himself, and the dragon falls in love with the father (plot twist?). The girls would not be able to get along well at all and the dragon would have to let him go to go take care of his family, but then they all come back to live in the castle together and live happily ever after.

Story source: Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).

(Link)

Famous Last Words: Through the Looking Glass

This week I read about Britomart in The Faerie Queene, and I really enjoyed that story. As per usual, the women did not get a lot of the rights and respect that I would like, but I did enjoy that it was about a female knight who was breaking the mold and going out to find her love. That style of writing was really enjoyable to me, and flowed really well. I did not realize that The Faerie Queene was so long, and I do not know if I would want to read all of the books published for the entire epic, but I did enjoy the short segment that I read. I finished up the second half of Through the Looking Glass too, and was extremely impressed by the intricate detail of Lewis Carroll's writing. There were so many ways that he fit a chess match into his story without being obvious or obtuse. I would really like to go back and read the entire story. I also did not realize that Alice was only seven years old in both those stories, because she has been portrayed as so much older in recent movies that I have seen. There is kind of a darkness in his writing, or at least a queerness that is not childlike at all, although I think a child could enjoy these stories very much. But it is interesting to read them as an adult because you get the sense of something much different when reading the exact same words. I also think the text has a special prose that a movie simply cannot capture, particularly since Through the Looking Glass focuses so much on poetry. All in all I really enjoyed my readings this week and I am kind of glad I have forced myself into doing some extra credit so I can do these readings.

Life-size statue of Alice Through the Looking-Glassin the grounds of Guildford Castle

(Wikipedia)

Wikipedia Trails: From The Faerie Queene to The Lancasterian System

This week I read about Britomart of The Faerie Queene epic, so I decided to start there:

The Faerie Queene
This is an epic poem written in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser, and is one of the longest epics in the English language. This poem follows knights and inspects various virtues, and was praised by Queen Elizabeth I.

Chastity 
Britomart was the emulation of the virtue chastity, which involves sexual behavior that is considered virtuous by the culture involved. This commonly involves sexual abstinence before marriage and modest clothing, especially in history.

Shakers
One religious movement of the 17th century that took chastity to the extreme were the Shakers, who required celibacy upon admission to the belief system. Children were added to the group by adoption or other measures. This group believed in equal gender roles and women took a leadership role in religious affairs, which is pretty cool.

Lancasterian System
The Shakers practiced a Lancasterian educational system, which involved the older students helping the teacher and providing knowledge to the younger students. A variety of merit-based rewards were used for motivation. This seems fairly in-line with current psychological research on motivation and positive vs. negative rewards.

Count Confalonieri and Silvio Pellico attend a demonstration of the Bell-Lancaster method in the Piedmont, Italy (1860s).

(Wikipedia)

Learning Challenge: Procrastinator Types

I used this infographic  to determine what type of procrastinator I am - and determined I am an avoider, which is described as someone who procrastinates as a way to avoid being judged for their success or failure. I did not find that to be particularly accurate for me, but I also disagreed with the descriptions for the other two options as well. I do not find a thrill for working against a deadline (although I do work better against a deadline - but that's not a thrill, right?), and I am not indecisive. I feel like I procrastinate simply because I find more fun things to do with my time until it is absolutely the last chance I have to do something. However, I also don't think I am a very bad procrastinator, my college classes have kind of beat that out of me. I would have liked a quiz or infographic with more detailed questions and possibly more options for final categories.

(Link)

Growth Mindset: Eight Ways of Looking at Intelligence

This week I read an interesting article called Eight Ways of Looking at Intelligence (Link). This article focused not only on looking at intelligence not only as something that is fluid, not fixed (i.e. growth mindset) but looking at objects and situations that can affect our intelligence in specific ways. One thing that was confirmed by this article was that situations affect our intelligence. A high-stress or low-motivation situation is not going to nurture intelligence in the same way that a low-stress, nurturing environment will. One thing that I thought was really interesting was the article touched on how when we use tools, our brain can actually prune neurons to visualize the tool as an extension of our body. But tools can be good or bad, and can take our attention away from what we need to focus on. This article struck me as a practical application of the growth mindset.

(Link)

Typing Test Tech Tip

I did the typing test tech tip this week, because I consider myself to be a fairly quick typer. I grew up with computers and I am a scribe in the ER, which involves a fair amount of typing. I used KeyHero.com and was found to have a 90% accuracy rate and type at 80 WPM. My score went down to about 75 WPM when my accuracy rate went to 100%. I liked this test for the length, it was very short, but I did not like that it counted it as inaccurate even if you took the time to go back and fix the typo. Past typing tests I have taken do not count errors if you take the time to go back (thus sacrificing WPMs) to correct your mistakes. I think that is considered fairly fast, and has certainly been fast enough to serve my purposes in class and at work. Quick typing is crucial and will only become more of a required general job skill as time goes on and technology becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives.

Week 13 Extra Credit Reading: Through The Looking Glass Part 2

I read the second half of Through the Looking Glass for my extra credit reading this week because I enjoyed the first half so much last week. I found the second half to be more exciting than the first but also much more confusing and a little hard to follow. The first half, while whimsical and non-sensical, did seem to have a plot while the second half seemed to go on meandering and it was easy to get lost. While a resounding theme throughout the story was poetry, the story made it seem like Alice was going to slay the Jabberwocky or that it would seem somewhat important, and then we read it and never heard from it again. The whole use of pawns and knights was quite clever, and I liked how the knight kept falling off the horse- I read on wikipedia that this was supposed to imitate the L-shaped movements that knights make on a chess board. I would like to read the whole book, I think that would make the ending make a little more sense to me. I found it very interesting how Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum talked about Alice being in the Red King's dream, and if she woke him up then she would cease to exist. But they are in her dream. Very existential. The wordplay that existed between the two queens and Alice was so creative, but I found it strange that they were friends rather than being enemies like you would think they would be in a chess game. So once Alice grabbed the Red Queen and started shaking her, she put the Red King in checkmate and "won" the game and was allowed to wake up, according to Wikipedia. It was just amazing how all these details that seem to be so whimsical and random actually came together to tie into the major themes of the story

Story source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

(illustration by John Tenniel)

Week 13 Story: Britomart's Decision

This was the moment that Britomart had been waiting for. She gazed up at Artegall's face and felt... nothing? Well that was strange. Britomart looked again, to be sure. Yep, everything checked out. Strong jawline, wavy golden locks, hunky blue eyes. It was all there, just like the mirror showed it would be. So why wasn't her heart all aflutter like it was supposed to be? Maybe she wasn't doing this right. Britomart tried squinting her eyes but nothing changed. She just didn't see anything behind those eyes. He seemed like a nice man, but no different from all the other men who were wooed by her good looks. She had known from a young age that she was more than just a pretty face, and it was a rare man who saw that in her. She had been sure Artegall, the man prophesied to be her love, would be one of those men. It was heartbreaking to think that she had to settle for a man who only valued her for her beauty.

But wait, why did she? So some stupid mirror told her she was supposed to be with him. He was a famed knight, there were maidens falling all over him. He would be fine, and she owed it to herself to find a love that was good by her standards, not some wizards. Britomart kindly said goodbye to the love-struck knight, and set out on a new journey. Her best friend, Amoret, had gotten lost in the desert, and wandering around in the desert finding her sounded like the perfect way to readjust her views on love. While also nursing her sore heart, Britomart had to admit to herself. It was a little sad that the dream of her knight didn't pan out the way she thought it would. But Britomart shook her head, put on her helmet, and set off towards the desert.

Author's Note: In the original story, Britomart saw Artegall's image in a magic mirror and Merlin told her that was the love of her life, so she set off on a grand quest to find him. She finally finds him and they get married and live happily ever after. She makes a best friend along the way named Amoret, who does get lost in the desert but Britomart leaves that to other knights to find her. After Britomart gets married she kind of stopped being the bad ass princess warrior to me, and just altogether running after a dude you see in a mirror seems a little stupid to me. So I decided to retell it where when Britomart actually meets Artegall, she realizes he is not what she thought he would be. But that's okay, because she has other things in her life that are important to her and she is going to worry about finding those.

Florimell's Flight by Washington Allston

(Wikipedia)

Story source: Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod, with drawings by A. G. Walker (1916).

Week 13 Reading Notes B: Fairie Queen: Britomart unit

I did not like the ending of this story, how we did not find out what happened to Amoret, and how Britomart became this wooing wife who could not stand to see her husband go and was literally making up excuses for him not to leave. Why couldn't they go on the quest together? She had obviously proven her skill with a sword and could take care of herself, she did even better in the tournament than her husband. I just hate that after all this time they could not give her a better ending. And she did not even get to keep her best friend, but rather she got stolen in the desert or something like that.
I am interested in writing a story with a different ending, maybe Britomart sees Artegall and while he is beautiful and everything that the mirror showed her, there was nothing beneath the surface. She had fallen in love with her idea of him, the dream she had made up in her head of him since she was a child. But now that she had been on this adventure and found out that she can take care of herself, she realized that he was not what she needed to fulfill herself. So instead of just running off and marrying him, she goes and finds Amoret, and deals with the loss of this driving quest that has been leading her for her entire life. And then maybe she finds that knight that she met at the castle from the first half of the unit, because they were actually friends and genuinely enjoyed each other's company. But wait he was committed to his wife (maybe she dies, sad) but I just want it to be deeper than "she was so pretty and he fell in love"

Story source: Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod, with drawings by A. G. Walker (1916).

Britomart viewing Artegal: an illustration from Book III, Part VII of an 1895-1897 edition

(Link)

Week 13 Reading Notes A: Fairie Queen: Britomart unit

It is kind of sad that there is such an awesome princess who can throw knights from their horses, and yet still her whole mission in life is not to free the oppressed or accomplish amazing tasks like the male knights, but is of course to go find a man she saw in a mirror. I am all for love but why can't she someone along with all these other things? Would she be fine with sitting in her castle if she had not seen this man? Seems like a waste of a heroine. And further more, is this man searching for her as desperately as she is searching for him? Or is he off winning fame and glory doing knightly things? The double standards, as always, are irksome
-I'm definitely at least seeing some more powerful women in this story, but again with the six knights, its because she "has beauty that has no rival". So would knights swear to serve her if she was not pretty?
-Ok so it says further on that even as a child she liked to use weapons and hunt and did not like ladylike things, which is cool and different but again with the lovestruck puppy stuff, it is just so one-dimensional
-Scudamour sounds like a toddler, and would likely be more successful in his knightly efforts if he would stop flinging his armor on the ground and laying face down and throwing tantrums
-I like that Britomart seems to not be interested in material wealth
-So Merlin told her that the brave strong knight would become king and have lots of sons and kings as offspring, but he never said it would be with her. She seems to be putting a lot of faith in a shadow of an image she saw in a mirror

Story source: Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod, with drawings by A. G. Walker (1916).

Britomart Redeems Faire Amoret, William Etty, 1833

(Wikipedia)

Famous Last Words: King Arthur

This week I had some readings that I really enjoyed. I read the King Arthur unit, both parts, and they were very different from what my perception of the Lancelot stories were from popular media. There was a lot more focus on the actions of the knights and how grand they were, and a bunch of focus on how some of the knights were good enough based on their passed sins and some were not. I found myself having some sympathy for Lancelot, because a lot of the story focused on how he could have been the greatest knight the world had ever seen, could have found the Holy Grail, but because of his past sins he had to sit and watch others do it. That seemed pretty harsh to me, but then at the end they redeemed him. It just seemed like they made him suffer his whole life and then at the end they were like "Oh, its all okay". But after saying all that, after King Arthur died and they talk about how sad Lancelot is and blah blah blah, he still went to Guinevere and asked her to go with him. So maybe he did not care enough about the Holy Grail at all. I also thought the whole knights going around looking for ways to kill themselves heroically was super overrated and dumb. But I enjoyed the style of storytelling and how it jumped from person to person. There were a few characters that I would have enjoyed learning more about, including Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. Women did not get a very good rap in these stories (as they usually do not in older tales) including King Arthur's sister and Merlin's girlfriend. I might be kind of mean to the knights too if they were always trying to run off and die too, though.

Sir Launcelot in the Queen's Chamber by Dante Rossetti (1857) 

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Wikipedia Trails: From Humpty Dumpty to Ancient Rome

Humpty Dumpty Wikipedia Page 
I read a portion of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll this week and so I wanted to know more about the influence of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. It turns out the rhyme became popular right around the time that Through the Looking Glass was published. While the rhyme is quite simple, Carroll's adaptation is much more in-depth, in which he is a confusing intellectual who loves to discuss language.

Prosopagnosia Wikipedia Page

It is suggested that Humpty Dumpty has prosopagnosia, due to him saying that he would not be able to recognize Alice because her eyes, nose and mouth were in the same place as everyone else's. Prosopagnosia is the inability to recognize faces, including one's own face. However, other visual abilities and intellectual abilities remain intact. I did not know that this was even a real disorder.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Wikipedia Page

An uncommon cause of prosopagnosia turns out to be carbon monoxide poisoning, although the mechanism is not discussed in either Wikipedia page. Carbon monoxide poisioning occurs due to a colorless, odorless gas. This gas can cause minor symptoms such as flu-like symptoms or can lead to seizures or death. 

Ancient Rome Wikipedia Page

I thought it was interesting (and depressing) that carbon monoxide poisoning has been used as a form of suicide as far back as ancient Rome. Indoor fires can cause carbon monoxide poisoning and it is documented that some Roman royalty died due to "sleepiness" from house fires. 

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Learning Challenge: Prolonged Sitting and Health

I read Get Off The Couch Baby Boomers, Or You May Not Be Able To Later (Link) and I found this article to be super interesting. Since I am going to medical school I am really interested in health trends and how day-to-day activity can impact our long term health. When it comes to prolonged sitting and binge-watching TV, it is such a relatively new trend that it has not been studied yet because the people who primarily do it (millenials) are not at the age where they are feeling the impacts of these behaviors. It is common knowledge that inactivity can lead to activity deficits in old age (an object at rest tends to stay at rest) and sitting for long stretches of time can lead to a host of problems, including obesity and blood clots. It is something that the medical community and society at large will have to make an effort to educate the public about, or we may see a whole generation with motor deficits directly related to the amount of time spent binge watching tv and on the internet.

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Growth Mindset: Bad Resolutions

I read Don’t Waste Your Time With Bad Resolutions. This Is How to Do Them Right. (Link). I actually thought this was a fantastic article. I have read numerous articles on how to set resolutions that are constructive and I did not know if this article would have any new information for me but it did. One thing it said that I have heard before is to set specific, measurable goals. This makes sense because just saying "I'm going to lose weight" is a lot less achievable and motivating than "I am going to lose five pounds in the next month". But one thing that it said that really surprised me is that too much positive thinking can stifle your progress and motivation. We hear all the time how healthy and great unconditional positive thinking is, but this article states that optimistic visualization of the future can make us not do anything to change it now. The article says to be positive, but realistic and I thought this was really good advice because I find myself doing this.

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Tech Tip: New Pinterest Board

I have used Pinterest a lot and actually used Pinterest for my India-Epics class where it was super helpful for finding images to use in my Storybook. There are a lot of really good images and resources for Oz on Pinterest and it was easy to set up a board on my account that I already have. There are a ton of really beautiful images too that I would like to incorporate into my Storybook.

My link to my board is: https://pin.it/ys5vhhyd5drkui

Week 12 Extra Credit Reading Notes: Looking Glass Unit

Lewis Carroll has such an interesting way of writing that is quite nonsensical but still allows you to follow the story and not focus on the details and how much they are not making sense
-Alice is a lot younger in this story than when I think of her in Alice in Wonderland. She tells Humpty Dumpty that she is only seven and six months, and she seems quite aware for her age
-The people in the looking glass house are not very nice to her, but she does not seem particularly upset by that, rather I think she understands that this is a part of the world that she is in
-There is a lot of poetry in this reading and normally I do not like poetry but I actually enjoyed it quite a lot in this reading, it was quite light and read very easily
-I like the shift from Alice being in a house that somewhat resembles her normal world, and she is somewhat in control there and illustrates it by picking up the chess pieces and moving them around, but as time goes on it shifts and she becomes the one who does not know what is going on and the world becomes crazier and more nonsensical
-I do not understand how Alice went from not being able to be seen by the chess pieces to being seen by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, but perhaps that was in the chapters that were skipped in the reading
-Lewis Carroll obviously put a lot of work into writing the Jaborwocky poem because the words, although nonsense, do actually intuitively make some sense when Humpty Dumpty explains them. It is obvious that he did not pick random words and make them mean something, he picked words that matched his meaning and I think that is even more creative and makes the poem make sense before it is even explained

Story source: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

(illustration by John Tenniel)

Week 12 Storytelling: Lancelot's Proposal

She could not believe he was here. It had been years since she had seen him, but he still looked the same. His shoulders were not quite as broad, his hair had grayed, and he had a haggard look in his eyes, but the eyes were still the same blue they had always been. She could not look at them too long or she became distracted. Guinevere felt stirrings in her heart that she had not felt in a very long time, since before Arthur had been slain. The pain of his passing had not faded, and it still stabbed at her heart with an angry ferocity. She still woke up in the mornings and did not recognize the surroundings of her small room at the nunnery. It was so different from the grand palace she had lived in for so long. She did not mind the nun's habit, or the plain food, but she did miss the human contact.
Guinevere realized that Lancelot was speaking, beseeching her to run away with him. Wait, that couldn't be right. They were not children anymore, and their affair had ended many years ago. She scoffed at his proposal, but then he moved in closely to her and the memories flooded back. She remembered why she had betrayed the grand Arthur to be with him. But that was a long time ago, and Guinevere's heart had grown hard. She was a widow now, and a woman of God. She had begun to feel aches and pains in her bones, and age was quickly coming for her. It was time for Lancelot to go. She shoved him away, hard, and could barely stand to see the hurt in his eyes. Lancelot screamed that she was all he had left in the world, but Guinevere turned her back and walked towards the chapel. She did not look back.

The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere by Julia Margaret Cameron 

Wikipedia

Story source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).
Author's Note: Guinevere is the wife of Sir Arthur, King of Camelot. While they were married she had an affair with one of Arthur's closest knights, Sir Lancelot. After Arthur was slain in battle, it was written that Guinevere went to a nunnery and became renowned for how pious and devout she was. While she was there Lancelot came and saw her, but she sends him away. I wanted to elaborate on that encounter, because they have so much history and I think the emotion of their old affair combined with the pain of losing her husband is intriguing.

Week 12 Reading Notes Part B: King Arthur

-Seems like knights just walk around looking for grand ways to die. Where are their wives, reminding them not to act like toddlers and maybe just act reasonably for a day or two? I can feel the testosterone seeping out of these stories
-The castle of Maidens sounds like every guy's fantasy
-Lancelot is a lot more interesting of a character to me than Arthur. It seems that he tries to be good, but he has a past that is holding him back from the grand  and holy quests that are just outside his reach. That is much more human and much more realistic. Can you imagine being a knight and being on a quest for the holy grail and then it is within your grasp and you have to watch another knight take advantage of it, and then steal your sword and horse? That would be torture. That could be an excellent metaphor for our past holding us back from love, or a family, or the career we wanted, which is a sad but often too real truth.
-The nun is pretty harsh to Lancelot, basically saying that as far as being a sinner he is in a league of his own. Like he is the first guy to cheat on his wife. He obviously seems to repent his actions but the world just seems to keep punishing him even when he tries to make amends and do right.
-So after all the shame that they placed on Lancelot, he is kind of the last knight and he gets to have this grand burial and get to go up to heaven and be crowned the goodliest knight and truest lover- this all does not make a whole lot of sense to me. I found these stories to be very confusing

Story source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Queen Guinevere bidding farewell to Sir Lancelot by Emil Teschendorff (1833-1894)

Wikipedia

Week 12 Reading Notes Part A: King Arthur

-It is interesting that Merlin tried to counsel Arthur out of marrying Guinevere, saying that he could find someone who is just as pretty but is a much better person. It is like he knows that something bad is going to happen, but it is typical that Arthur only cares about her looks. I do agree with the statement that once a heart is set on someone it is futile to try and change it, however
-Women are getting a pretty bad rap in these tales. The woman who Merlin loved basically treated him like a plaything and then buried him alive after she had gained all his knowledge. His sister stole his scabbard and then tried to burn him alive with a mantle.
-Arthur is pretty one-dimensional. I wish he would have more of a struggle, I feel like the only struggle he has is being a little arrogant, which if you pull the sword out of the stone I think you're allowed to be a little arrogant.
-I have heard a lot about Guinevere in popular media and such but they almost begrudgingly give her a section of the story, and they allude to her possibly not being the best but then we just hear of her as "the queen" from then on
-It would be really interesting to hear about the feud between Arthur and his sister from Morgan's point of view- why did Arthur have to kill the knight that she loved? Was he a bad person? Or was Arthur being overprotective of his sister? Were they close before then? It would take a lot to cause a sibling to hate another so much that she tries to kill him, so the knight must have meant a lot to Morgan. There is a lot of potential there to flesh out

Story source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Voyage of King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay to the Isle of Avalon by Frank William Warwick Topham (1838-1924) - Source

Famous Last Words: Creepy Fairytales

I really liked my story this week, I feel like I often try to do really deep or meaningful stories which I think are important in their own right, but sometimes it is fun to just do a funny little story that does not have to have some huge meaning. I also read the Emperor's New Clothes for extra credit this week and I thoroughly enjoyed that too. The Native American tales are really beautiful and I love how they incorporate animals and give the animals so much respect, but I am ready to move on to a new genre. I feel like I have read a million Native American stories, and that is probably because most of them are one or two pages, not like the longer stories that I have been reading in the other units. I read some of Andersen's fairy tales for this weeks extra credit readings, and I really enjoyed them. The little mermaid in particular was very different from what I expected. It is always a little sad/creepy to me when I read the original fairy tales and they are pretty dark and gruesome, not at all like the cute Disney versions that I grew up on. Like in the Little Mermaid, every time she walks she feels like there are knives stabbing her feet, but she continues to do it to impress the Prince. She also does not even end up with the Prince, she ends up trying to earn salvation and get to let her soul live on rather than end like the mermaid souls do. That does not make for a good bedtime story. But I don't know, something about them being dark and a little sad also makes them more realistic. All in all I enjoyed this weeks readings but am ready to move onto something fresh.

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Learning Challenge: How To Stop Judging

I read "10 Reasons to Stop Judging People" by Dr. Barbara Markway

- I really liked this article. I know judging is something that I struggle with, and even though I think I have gotten better as I have grown it is something that I will always struggle with and have to fight against. I have had more than one instance where I have judged someone harshly and instantaneously, only to find out soon after that there were extenuating circumstances that explained their behavior. You just never know what is going on in someone's life.

-One of the strategies the article mentioned is reminding yourself that you are just like them, and that you have probably done whatever thing you are judging them for. That is something that I have found has worked quite well for me. When someone cuts me off in traffic, I remind myself that I have done that before and maybe they are late for work.

-A new strategy that I thought was really interesting was feeling good about your situation and behavior. The article states if you feel good about your parenting style, you are much less likely to judge someone else's. I think that's very true, and it boils down to the more self-esteem I have and the more I can have confidence in myself, the less I will need to tear anyone else down

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Growth Mindset: Multiple Intelligences

I definitely think everyone has multiple intelligences, and while some people are considered traditionally intelligent that does not mean there are not ways you can still grow your intelligence. I have killed myself academically for five years, but would really love to grow my intrapersonal and natural intelligences. I need to take time to reflect with myself and be around living things, I think that is one of the most important things I can do for my happiness. It is so important to lead a very well-rounded life, and not get bogged down with what society says is number-one important.

Connecting with nature. Photo by Steve Henry/USFWS.

Wikipedia Trails: From "Emperor's New Clothes" to "Damsel in Distress"

So I just read The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen so I decided to Wikipedia trails that. Here is the link. This is a story about an emperor who is obsessed with clothes who is swindled by these two guys who say they weave the finest clothes but only people who really know their stuff can see it. So everyone pretends they can see it and the emperor walks naked in a parade, hilarious right?

Ok, so Andersen also wrote the original The Little Mermaid so I followed that link to here. Except it is not the little mermaid you know. She can barely walk because her feet bleed and hurt and her sisters tell her to kill the prince and she does not even end up with him, she ends up being an air-spirit that does good deeds. Crazy right?

Ok, so I guess the little mermaid is mentioned in one of my favorite TV shows, Once Upon A Time, so I followed it here. This show is way cool because it brings common fairytale characters to a modern town called Storybrooke, and all these characters who are used to having magic now have to learn to live in a land without magic while also trying to get home. Way cool. Anyways part of the cool thing about this show is it doesn't focus on traditional themes such as...

The damsel in distress, which is a link I followed to here. And what a journey it was. A damsel in distress is an old school and outdated lady who needs a big macho man to come chop off the dragon's heads. But lately us ladies have been saving ourselves. Yay!

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Tech Tip: Blogger Template

So I experimented with the Blogger design option, and actually found a theme I really like. I chose a theme I think was called "watermark" but it was plain and beige, but then I was able to change the color to a pretty mauve and adjust the font and text colors and I found something that is a lot less distracting than my old theme. I really like it!

Extra Credit Reading: Andersen Fairy Tales

-What about a princess is not as it should be? Do they not wear their crown in the right spot? Is their corset not cutting off enough of their circulation? I thought a princess was defined as the offspring of a king and queen, that does not seem to be that hard to verify
-Also the prince seems to have a pretty serious princess fetish Im just saying
-Why is a princess standing alone in the rain? Isn't there supposed to be like 40,000 servants surrounding her to help her breathe and everything?
-I like to look back in history at some really amazing princesses who championed for their subjects, and this story makes all princesses seem like the epitome of spoiled brats
-The emperor's new suit is HILARIOUS, I am just picturing some old guy staring at an empty loom oohing over how beautiful it is. That is fabulous. And then the emperor has to pretend he sees the clothes, and then put them on and walk in a parade. I don't know if I could rewrite this story, because it is just so hilarious to begin with. And the swindlers who were faking just eagerly weaving away at fabric that is not there. This might be my favorite story that I have read out of all of them.
-Haha, the world looked like a map- did they still think the earth was flat then?
-I think most great conquerers of the world think that they have conquered even God, but I have yet to read a story where they dare try. It seems like a lot of work for God to send an angel down and let the angel bleed and then for the man to continue to live, but maybe that is because God is forgiving. i did like that he was taken down by a little gnat

(Image from Michael Clarke at Flickr)

Story Source:  Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Week 11 Story: Brave's Fright

There was once a little boy named Brave, who was the son of the Chief of a great tribe. Brave was quite brave and strong, and everyone expected greatness out of him someday. However, he was also impulsive and mischievous, and quite known for getting into trouble. He had a band of six boys who followed him around like puppies and oohed and awed at his every stunt.
One day Brave came across a hollow in the ground, which he did not know was the grave of an old medicine woman. Assuming it was just the place of a dried out puddle, he tried to walk over it and tumbled and fell back. Confused, he tried once more and fell back on his face, with his bottom high in the air. At this point he could swear he heard the trees shaking their leaves in laughter and the wind giggling behind him. Brave shook his head and went home. The old men of the village told him that that was the grave site of an old medicine woman, and his six friends insisted he show them the next day.
The next day, Brave decided to play a prank on his friends and crawl in the grave to scare them. So he told them he would meet them at the grave, then went and painted his face white as a ghost and crawled in the grave. As he was waiting for his friends, he started hearing a faint chanting. The chanting grew louder and then an old woman whispered in his ear, "WHO ARE YOU?" Brave screamed and bolted upright. Right at this time the six boys had come upon the grave, and ran screaming through the woods as they thought they had saw a ghost. Brave followed them, scared senseless, and as he looked over his shoulder he saw a crinkled eyed old woman smiling and waving behind him. Brave ran screaming and crying into the middle of the village, to the waiting laughter of the old men.

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Author's Note: This is based on the original story A Little Brave and a Medicine Woman. In the original story a boy does tumble and fall, but there is no ghost or laughing. Furthermore, the woman does not whisper in his ear, although the boy does think he hears chanting. I thought it would be fun to make Brave a little more cocky and to also give the grave a ghost with a sense of humor

Story source: Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).

Week 11 Reading B: Sioux Unit

-It is interesting to have Iktomi's appearance described in such great detail, I have not really seen that in my other readings of the native american tales
-It would be terrible to not have a friend in the world, and I think particularly in the Native American culture where it seems they are very social to not even have an animal that is your friend is a testament to how bad of a person Iktomi is
-I wonder what it would sound like to have ducks singing
-When they all go into the hut to hear Iktomi singing, it really reminded me of a cult. I could turn this into a story where Iktomi runs into money problems and really needs help, so he creates a cult and invites people in, and they are heavily pushed to donate. But maybe one person investigates the cult and finds out the money is going to Iktomi. But Iktomi made part of being in the cult a requirement to not ask any questions, so by asking questions that person "opened his eyes". Something like that. And then of course when he runs away and goes home he would get robbed by someone else, and maybe the robbers beat him up because they found out he has a bunch of money in his house from the cult. It could be set in modern day and maybe the news advertised that a cult leader made away with like $20,000 worth of offerings given by cult members.
-In the rewrite Iktomi could have really elaborate ceremonial garb that he puts on when he begins to recruit people for the cult and they all come to see this grand show that he puts on and they get sucked into the way he sings and dances and the shows he does and then he asks them to give their life savings to the cult.

This story is part of the Sioux unit. Story source: Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa (1901).

Artist Gertrude Spaller's rendition of Iktomi in the story Iktomi and the Ducks (Source)

Week 11 Reading A: Sioux Unit

-I like to think of the medicine woman as kind of a trickster, someone who is giggling as the boy keeps stumbling. Maybe in the rewrite he will hear the trees shaking their leaves in laughter and the wind giggling as it passes over his behind sticking up in the air from where it had fallen
-Brave would be strong and mischievous, and I see his six little groupies following him around the village waiting to ooh and awe at his every move. Maybe he will be the chief's son, bred for greatness and leadership
-I am very confused, because it says when Brave rushed to the village he was as badly scared as the rest and he ran to his mother's tent. Was the thin quavering voice that they said was like an old woman's not Brave's, but actually the medicine woman's?
-In the rewrite I would like Brave to be laying down in the grave when he hears a rushing through the wind, and a whisper of chanting like an old medicine woman would do. When he looks over he sees a pair of wise old eyes. Brave screams and bolts straight up, and that is when his friends see him and run away. Following that, Brave runs into the village and scares all of the women, etc. Basically I would like the medicine woman's ghost to play a much more active part in the story, and be pretty mischievous in teaching Brave a lesson about playing jokes on his friends. Maybe I could open up about Brave having some disdain for the medicine man currently. Maybe he thinks that it is a different time and that those kinds of things do not work any more. Maybe his father is telling him a ghost story and Brave scoffs at it because he does not believe in ghosts

This story is part of the Sioux unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).

Betsy Thunder, medicine woman of the Ho-Chunk tribe in Wisconsin, 1913 (Source)

Tech Tip: Canvas Mobile App

I was actually surprised by how pretty and user-friendly the app was. I remember the old app (D2L) was terrible for me and not even worth downloading but this one seems to be really quick and I like how similar it is to the actual website. I will definitely use this and it will be nice not to have to sign in and out so much. I installed this on my iPhone. It will also be really nice for using the messaging system inside of canvas.

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot

-This is the most eloquent parrot I have ever heard. I am giving him the voice of the parrot from Aladdin, and would like to rewrite a story in which he is quite funny and snarky on top of being intelligent
- I feel bad for Khojisteh, I know she loves her husband but six months without seeing him is a very long time, particularly in a  society such as the one she lived in where women were not allowed to go where they wanted and do what they please
-The parrot is much smarter than the other bird, I did not expect Khojisteh to be so violent and to slam the bird against the ground and kill it. This reminds me of the arabian nights tales where the girl is telling tales to preserve her life, this must be a common theme in this region
-It would be terrible to have all of your feather plucked off, I think in my retelling I would have the parrot make the woman pluck every hair from her head so she knows what it feels like
-I like that in this story the male, who is supposed to be the head of the household and know everything that is going on, in reality has no idea what is going on and is kind of just a pawn in the scheme that is between the parrot and the woman. I also like that this story allows for mistakes without it having to ruin the woman's whole life.
- I think this story could be turned really funny, the parrot and the woman could live in the burial ground for forty days and become good, sarcastic friends.
-It is interesting how intelligent and respected parrots are in these stories, I had no idea they had such a reputation

Image Source

Source: This story is part of the Tales of a Parrot unit. Story source: The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi (1801).

Week 10 Storytelling: The Girl With Three Fathers

There were once three brothers and one sister who lived in an isolated cabin. They loved each other dearly, and when their parents passed on they became each other's only companion. One day, the sister came upon a man in the woods, and immediately fell in love. The two were wed and had a child within the year. However, tragedy struck and the couple was killed shortly after the child was born in a terrible flood.
Thus, the three brothers were left with this little baby girl. The men had no idea how to raise their niece, and no women around to help them. However, they did their best and through love and patience on both ends, the little girl grew into a beautiful,  intelligent young woman. As she grew old, she understood that she could not live in the cabin with her "fathers" forever, and one days she told them of her plan to go explore the world and find her fate. They hated the idea of her going out and learning the truth of how evil and hard the world was, but they understood it was her decision.
Soon after the girl began her journey, she met a strong, confident man who lived in a grand house high on a hill. The man seemed to know everything and welcomed the girl into his grand life with open arms. But soon their lives took a dark turn, and the man who had seemed so grand and kind soon became dominating and cruel. The girl did not know what to do, and she missed her home and her fathers dearly.
One day when her husband was out, she send a letter to her fathers, telling of her woes. However, she instructed them that they could not write back or try to overtly rescue her for the man knew everything and everyone and would certainly exact revenge. When the fathers received this news they wept with sorrow, until one of the men came up with a grand plan. He said, "There is a woman who lives not far from here that is known for her skills in bringing about childbearing. We could ask her to go rescue the child under the pretense of consulting on childbearing." The other men agreed that this was a grand plan, and they quickly went to the woman to beg for her help.
The woman felt sorrow in her heart for the poor dear's plight, and quickly agreed to help. She went to the house and told the man why she had come, and he ushered her in eagerly. She instructed him that she could not work with any male presence within 30 miles of the home, and he should leave for the night and come back tomorrow. The man, although skeptical, packed a bag and left. The woman and the girl quickly fled, and rushed back to the girl's fathers. The fathers then realized that their fear of the world would hurt their daughter, and the foursome set off to find a new life away from the evil man.

Image Source

Author's Note: This story is very loosely based on the Arapaho tale Splinter-Foot-Girl. In the original story, a child is born out of a wound and lives with seven young men. The girl when grown is wooed by a buffalo bull, and goes to live with him. The girl's seven fathers miss her, and use a mole and badger to sneak her away from the bull. The bull then chases them to try to get the girl back. When I was reading the tale it reminded me of a girl running away from an abusive relationship, so I tried to tell it more like that.

This story is part of the Native American Marriage Tales unit. Story source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

Week 10 Reading B: Native American Marriage Tales

- I wonder how the wife who did not bear the man any children felt- did he scorn her? I imagine since that is the defining feature of these wives that this is an important quality in this society
-So this guy just abandons his wives and child for this mysterious woman. Where did her child come from? Was he worried about the father of that child?
-It is interesting that these people are willing to be killed and eaten by their own kind, and then revived. But again, I have to wonder what happened to the man's original family. Were they just abandoned by their father?
-I wonder if the people remember being killed once they have had their bones tossed in the water and they are revived. It would not be fun to be killed and it would be hard to not resent someone for killing you, even if you volunteered for the job and did so for the good of the group
-So the hunter's people just accept him back because his new wife pulls a bunch of food from underneath her arm? I would think they would have some questions, but maybe the deer people are seen as an elevated people and to join them is like joining a religious group and you cannot say no
-It is cool how much respect the story gives to the deer. It treats the species as their own people and the way hunting is described is how I think nature was supposed to be used. We see animals as mindless beings, but Native Americans viewed them almost as equals, and made up endless tales about them and gave them spirits and respect. Its beautiful and it also makes for great stories. I still hate that the guy left his family, he should have at least let them know he was not dead

This story is part of the Native American Marriage Tales unit. Story source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

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Week 10 Reading A: Native American Marriage Tales

-Okay first things first, he took advantage of her situation? So he raped her. So this cow was tied up (I don’t know what fast in the mire is but need to look that up), and this guy raped her and she gave birth to a boy. Maybe as a cow she didn’t care, but I think even animals had feelings. What kind of creep goes around raping cows?

-Secondly, why is the boy so keen to find his cow-raping dad? And I do not see his dad coming and searching for him. The dad does not seem to have any interest in having a son. How would the son know what to look for? There needs to be more detail in the retelling

-So when the dad comes to the cow she charges at him, which I can get on board with. But then it simply says “Then she went home with her husband and child”. Where’s the wedding? How does she feel? She is a remarkably good woman and deserves to be treated as such

-So this guy strikes her with a burning stick because she did not feel like cooking a feast for his guests? He does not sound like a very good husband

-I thoroughly enjoy that he had to rub himself in what I can only assume is buffalo feces

- I do not think the man should have been resurrected after being trampled by the buffalo. He did not deserve the wife and son he had, and could not recognize his own son among the calves. His wife and son should have moved on and been better off without him. I would like to rewrite the story where they move on to remain buffalos and have a happy life. Maybe the son becomes chief of the buffalo heard.

This story is part of the Native American Marriage Tales unit. Story source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

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