Story:The Rabbit and The Giant

Rabbit Grit

There once was a village that had several happy animals. Each one would share everything with on other. They all live in peace and harmony. It was all thank Rabbit. He made sure that everything was fair and the peace was always kept. Over the years Rabbit gotten married and had started a family. He wanted to pass the responsibility but he couldn't find anyone suitable for.

One day a giant came to the village. All of the village were scared and ran to find Rabbit. Rabbit Finally heard the news went to greet the giant with open arms. "Hello friend. What can I do for you on this fine day." Rabbit said. The giant looked around, " I was looking for a new home and I heard this was a peaceful village." When the giant spoke his voice rumbled the earth.

Rabbit looked around and thought this would be a great opportunity to slowly give away the responsibility of leader to the giant. "Of course you can stay ere. There is something I must ask though."  Rabbit said. Giant shook his head up and down. "You must keep the peace. Also make sure you share with everyone and everyone shares with you." Rabbit said. The Giant agreed to the terms. He set up a house for him.

For months everyone loved the Giant. He proved protection from invaders.  After a while Rabbit was ready to pass the responsibility to the giant. He rushed to Giant's house. "Hello friend. How can I help you?" Giant asked. "Hello friend. I was wondering if you would like to become head leader. you would keep the peace and make sure everyone shared with everyone." Rabbit said.  Giant looked shocked. "But Rabbit why would you give this to me. your the best leader!" Rabbit felt so humble, "Well thank you friend," Rabbit said, "But it is  my time and spend some time with the family." Giant smiled and accepted the role. Rabbit moved his family away from the village to his own land far away.

For a while the peace in the village was kept until winter came. When food started to slow down the giant was getting hungrier and hungrier each day. He finally implemented a rule, that any food caught was to be given to him directly. The village began to starve. Rabbit had heard rumors that his old village was starving. He set out the next day to see if these rumors were true.

Author's Notes: I chose the story How the Rabbit killed the Giant. I felt like there need to be more of  a backstory. So I wrote a prequel to this story showing how the giant came to be in the village in the first place. Also for the reason why the villagers stayed and didn't leave when the giant started stealing all there food.

Bibliography: Judson's How the Rabbit killed the Giant Link to Source

Famous Last Words: Losing Motivation

This week it's very stressful. I am just losing motivation to do anything. I think my senioritis is kidding in, which isn't good. I have a full semester after this. I am find ways to keep myself motivated. If you guys have any ideas I would love to hear them. Right now what is motivating me are the trips I am going to take in the near future. Such as going to the Iowa State Game next week, then to New Jersey, and after that home for Thanksgiving. I just need to keep pushing forward.

On a good note a couple of my exams were pushed back, as well as several papers. This helps a lot with the stress factor. I have realized in the past couple of days I am really slacking on this class and need to step it up. Get back into the swing of things. I really love my Alice project but I am a little worried that I am trying to be a perfectionist and over think what I want to do instead of having fun with it.

I am also starting to lose inspiration with some of my stories for this class. At the beginning of the semester it was really easy to come up with stories. Now I just feel distracted and my mind is somewhere else. So the inspiration for my storytelling is getting lost in my other thoughts. I would love to hear some advice for getting my head back in the game.

So the plan for this week and probably weeks to come is to step up a better schedule to figure when things need to get done. I also need to find new ways to motivate and inspire myself for class work. Lastly I need to spend less time on Social Media and on my phone in general. The rest of the week is looking bright. I just need to keep moving forward.

Motivational quote Plus Quotes

Reading Notes: Great Plains

Rabbit wikipedia

This week seem to be harder to get through then the others. Choosing the great plans I was expecting more adventure then I read.  There were not a lot of stories that inspired me to write something for Wednesday.  But if I were to change a story I would chose the rabbit and the giant. I may use it from the giants perspective. Almost have it to where we see why the giant stole all the game. The other option I have with this is creating a prequel to the story to show the giants first encounter with the village. This could be an interesting set up. I then would end it when rabbit comes to visit the town.

When reading the Native American stories a lot of them are similar to each other. I have read the one about two animals racing each other, and making a beat on the winner about three other times. I feel like this tale must be very important to the Native people. I don't really understand why. This story does not seem to have a moral. Or anything that would make it a legend.

I would do a story or the race but I did a story last week over the same idea. I feel like this would be to repetitive. The one that would be the most fun would be the rabbit and the giant. There are so many thing I can do with this story. I can't wait to write it.

Bibliography: Judson's Myths and Legends of the Great Plans Link to source

Wikipedia Trails: Disney to Sputnik

Cinderella's castle my own photo

I started off with Disney for the set fact that I am currently on my way to Walt Disney World Resort. Reading the 1964 worlds fair caught my attention. This is where Disney shared four separate ideas at would later be found in Disneyland. Link

The World's fair in New York in 1964  was the third major world's fair to be held in New York. This had many inventions from the mid 20th century for America. Which had a very well representation of the space age. This lead me to my next wikipida page.  Link

The Space Age was a time period where several countries where racing to get into outer space. Many activities such as the space race, space exploration, and space technology. That space age is said to have started with Sputnik. Link

Sputnik lead me to my last Wikipedia page. Sputnik was the first earth satellite to be launch into outer space. Allowing the Soviet Union to be the first country to launch something into outer space. This launched the space race. After this even several countries where launching things into outer space. This was a big part of the Cold War.  Link

So my trail wasn't as strange this time but I did learn a lot of new information! Starting off with Disney and ending with Sputnik! I can't wait to see where my Wikipedia trail will lead next week! 

Famous Last Words: Week 9

Wow I can't believe we are already half way through the semester! There are a lot of exciting things happening. I have finally caught up in a lot of my class work! As well as getting a little ahead in this class. The stress level for classes is finally going down.

Now the stress level for everyday life and color guard is going up. I only have two more days of norman high left and Pride is getting a little crazy. But luckily this weekend is an away game and I'm on my way to disney tomorrow. I get to see my best friend that I haven't seen in over a year! It is going to be a much needed stress reliever! But anyway back to school stuff.

Walt Disney Castle WallpaperFolder

Looking over my past writings and looking at my future items I am working on. I can tell that my writing skills have gotten stronger. Not just in this class but in my other classes as well. I am able to write two page papers in a much short time period and they actually make sense.

I think my favorite part of the week though is getting to work on my storybook. I get to escape into wonderland when I am writing. Everything disappears and I feel like I'm actually in the story! I also love reading other peoples stories, Portfolios and storybooks.  Seeing all the different ideas and designs is amazing. Reading other peoples project actually helps me make my storybook stronger.

Now on to the readings this week. I've done a lot of reading outside this class to. Especially for my communication class. I am reading a book called geography of time. It's pretty interesting. I have used some of the things I have learned from that book in my writing for my alice adventure.

Well that's all I have for now. and I have to wake up early to get on a plane to head to disney. Until next time!

Story:Fox and Hare

Once there was a Fox and a Hare. These two were very well known. They brought the warmth to the Cold nation. They had done this by bringing the warm winds from the lands of the warm people. Their people were so pleased with this task that they rewarmed each of them with a very rare smoking pipe.  Each different in there own way. Fox's pipe was a brown with a long steam with the bell of the pipe facing up to the heavens. Hare's pipe was a sleak black pipe with a curved steam with a bell that face up towards the heavens. But Hare's pipe had a small hole right before the bell that faced downwards, allowing more of the smoke to escape. Fox and Hare became the best pipe smokers amongst the nation.

 Now Fox had always been jealous of Hare's pipe. As well as Hare's ability to smoke his pipe in the most dangerous situations.  Fox had always tried to steal Hare's pipe but always failed to obtain it.

Fox and Hare Danger Prints

Fox had finally come up with a plan. He bet Hare to a race in which the winner would obtain the others pipe and the loser will smoke no more. "Where shall we have this race my dear friend?" Hare stated in a low and steady voice.  "we shall race across the plain just before the tree line." Fox replied. Hare thought for a moment. "Well my friend that wouldn't be fair. How about this. We can start in the middle of the plan and end at the old oak in the middle of the forest." With a smile Fox said, "That sound perfect. Tomorrow when the sun rises." The two prepared for the race. They both meet very early right before the sunrise.

The two dropped their pipes at the finish line, and walked there way back to the beginning of the race. Several other animals had gather round to watch the race. With a Bang the race began. Fox dash very far ahead of hare using the flat area to his advantage. Once he got to the tree line it became a little more difficult. Hare had caught up to Fox. Being able to duck under all the logs pushed Hare ahead.

The old oak tree was in sight. Fox tired to jump on Hare to get ahead, but Fox lost his footing. This allowed Hare to reach the old oak tree first. Picking up both pipes to keep for himself, he smoke happily for the rest of his days. While Fox had regretted his decision of the race, He lived in jealous and hate for the rest of his days.

Author's Notes:
This was a continuation to the story "Origin of the Chinook Wind". There is a part at the end of the story of Fox racing Hare for the pipe. In the original Fox end up taking Hare's pipe by jumping over a log and landing on top of Hare. Allowing him to steal Hare's pipe. I wasn't a fan of this ending. So I add a little bit of a back story of the race as well as the design of the pipes themselves.  I also wanted to add a moral to the story since this ending in the original was very random.

Bibliography: Judson's Myth's and Legends of the British North America. Link to Source

Reading Notes: British North America Part B

These stories where a bit more confusing. It was also a lot harder to stay focused while reading them. The one that shocked me the most was the story "Turtle and Thunder"  Turtle goes in search to find someone to help him figure out who is striking him.  When he finds help, it is several little turtle. These turtles end up dying. I think if I was going to do this story I would change it in a way to have the turtles live but still keep the legend.

Turtle wikipedia

The story of  "Wolverine and Rock" didn't make much sense. It didn't really teach a lesson. I mean I cold almost see the lesson of be grateful for what you get. It also just ends, there is no real conclusion with this story. The story that had a plot twist in it was the "Origin of the Chinook Wind". It was almost like it was two separate stories. I think I may do this one for my storytelling this week. I would base it around the second half of the story when Fox and Hare have a race. I would expand the race to be a little longer and have a little more depth to the tail. I am also thinking of not having Fox win the race maybe change it around some. This section was a little bit of an eye opener. In the way of how the stories where told and what they were about. I really enjoyed this unit.

Bibliography:
Judson's Myth's and Legends of British North America Link to source

Reading Notes:British North America Part A

Illustration from book Blogspot

Reading these different stories was a nice change. I really enjoyed these tales. Most of them where tales of how the earth was first formed. In the second story almost all the diving animals died. They were trying to help the turtle but could accomplish this. I was surprised that the Todd died, I thought Todd was going to stay alive but instead after bringing up the earth she died.

I really liked the first reading. It gave us a back story of the different worlds. This helped with the rest of the stories apart of this unit. I think for my story this week I may use this the beginning and change the worlds around a little bit. There weren't stories about the lower two worlds in the introduction so I may write some background on the lower two worlds.

When I first started reading this I didn't think I was going to enjoy this unit. But so far this is one of my favorite units to read. I was afraid the language was going to be confusing. It was nice and straight forward.  I am excited to read part B later this week!

Bibliography:
Judson's Myth and Legends of British North America Link to source

Wikipedia Trails: Starbucks to Bow-legged

Starbucks Logo Wikipedia

So I started off with Starbucks. Mainly because I was drinking a Starbucks coffee while doing this assignment. But when The company was first found the three owners wanted to name it after the chief mate in Moby Dick which led me to Peqoud. (Link)

Peqoud is the fictional ship in the book Moby Dick. It is described to be made of whale bone that the ship has hunted. This ship was a well wore ship. It comes to a part where it describes the way it's deck were worn and wrinkled comparing it to the way the "pilgrim worship flag stood in the Canterbury Cathedral."(Link)

Which led me to the Canterbury Cathedral. This cathedral is located in Canterbury or Kent. It is the oldest and most famous Christian cathedral that currently stands in England. The thing that stood out to me was this cathedral involved the murder of archbishop Thomas Becket by King Henry II Knights. Becket was killed in his own Cathedral. This led me to King Henry II. (Link)

King Henry the II was a ruthless leader and a ruler of many lands. The titles he held were Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, and many more the thing that stood out to me was his appearance. he was a red head, with a large head. His body was short and stocky with bow-legged. (Link)

This left me with the definition of what being bow-legged means.  Which is a "physical deformity marked by bowing of the lower leg in relation to the thigh." (Wikepeida)


I think its interesting that I started off with Starbucks and ended with Bow-legged. It's very interesting the trail this took me on.

Famous Last Words: Week 8

So it's Week 8, which means we are about halfway through the semester. That's a really scary thought. My stress level has gone down a little bit since midterms are over. This is also partially the reason I haven't done one of these in a while cause I haven't had the time.

I am beginning to work on my Storybook stories and I think I am making it harder then it needs to be. The problem is I am such a protectionist when it comes to these things.  I am also trying to get a head in most of my classes because the next three week I am doing a lot of traveling. For example, I am going to florida next Thursday. I'm going to visit a friend in Orlando that I haven't seen in a year. Then the week after that I have a couple of doctors appointments that are forcing me to miss class. Then the last week of October/ first week of November I am going on the Iowa State game, then off to Philly to see my boyfriend. So as you can tell its gonna get really busy really fast.

I have started doing readings for this class. And I am starting to do readings for this class and I need to start reading for my other classes. For the next week anytime I have free time I am going to be doing homework or studying. The other thing I have to focus on is getting sleep. I will not be able to function if I don't get enough sleep.

In the next couple of days I am going to make a detailed schedule of what I need to be working on when I am not in class or at home sleeping.  These next couple of weeks are going to be hard but I am ready for the challenge.

Inspirational Quote Pinterest

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland Part A

I am doing Alice in Wonderland for my Storybook project. When reading this there was a lot of information that I didn't know about. I had to really pay attention to what was happening and where the setting was when reading this because I got very confused as to where I was. I have gotten several ideas from reading the beginning half of the stories.

I know from the first half I think I am going to have the option for readers to go in to two separate  dreams. I just have to make sure that my word count doesn't go over or I don't lose the attention of my readers. The other hard part will be conveying Alice's inner thoughts or the dialog she speaks out loud to herself. Which she does quiet often in this story.  She also offends almost ever character she meets. And its almost like she starts to say something then realizes that she chose the wrong word. She does this like three or four times to the mouse.

I went back and read the stories that were left out of the assignment and they seemed very slow and I don't know if I am going to include these parts in my storybook. Also comparing this to the disney version there are a lot of things that were changed in the story to keep the story moving forward. I am excited to work on my project.

Alice in Wonderland cover Wikipedia

Bibilography: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Link to Source

Week 8 Reflection

READINGS 

Through out this semester we have had many choices in what we want to read that week. The way I tend to pick the story I want to read is, if I can relate to it. The other option is if I can learn a lesson from it. I think my favorite reading was the very first two weeks of reading, with Homer's tales. These were very easy to create stories from.  When looking back at my reading notes I feel like this is just an extra step in my writing. I don't feel like it is helping me create my story. Usually when I start reading the story, I already start to think how I would want to change it or base my new story off of the one I'm reading.

When looking a head there are several readings I am excited for! I am really excited for the British unit! I think I am going to read Robin Hood and King Arthur for those assignments. I have always been fascinated in these stories. As well with the last two weeks! I will most likely read the brothers Grimm stories! Fairy Tales are my favorite. This is probably why I have read mostly fairy tales for my readings. 

WRITING

This class has helped me with my storytelling. When reading the stories I have written I have a common theme. Most of my stories are very fast paced with a twisted ending or something that is very dramatic or sudden.  My favorite part of this class though has been my storybook. It's opened new doors to my creative side. I can't wait to take Alice and my readers on a great adventure. 

The biggest thing I need to work on is proof reading. I also am going to have someone else look over my writing. To check for grammatical mistake that I missed when reading it over. I also need to slow done when I am writing. I feel like I tend to speed through what I am writing and this makes my readings confused sometimes.

CONNECTING
When looking at other peoples stories I really like to see how they change the story. Especially if they change the story completely. The detail and the lesson learned from the story, in my opinion, is the most important part of the story.

Giving feed back to stories can be a a little challenging. Especially when a story is really good and I don't really see anything I would want to change. I try to make sure I don't repeat myself when giving feedback on a story. I also try to give my own opinion on these stories.

Finally I am excited to see what the second of the semester brings me. And all the stories I get to write and read. The second half of the semester seems to be less stressful then the first half was.

Motivational words Link to source

  

Story:Jealous is an ugly color

Long ago there was a tiger who took a fox in to her care to have as a playmate for her cub. These two were the closet friends! They did everything together. They had come up with thousands of different games.

One day when the two were in the cave playing the mother tiger brought back a calf for the two to have another play mate. The fox new the reasoning the mother tiger brought back this calf, it was because mother tiger didn't really like the fox. Over time the fox became very jealous of the tiger's and the calf's friendship.

Tiger and The Calf Stories for Children

One day mother tiger was dying. On her death bed she called over the calf and tiger cub, she told them to hold on the their friendship and to never let anything break it. She only had a couple of breaths left and called the fox over. She said, "look over you brothers, you must it be jealous of there friendship, for it will be the end of you." With this the mother tiger took her last breath.

This made the fox very anger for in his heart he new the other two didn't like him. as the days went on his jealousy grew stronger. He new the only way to get rid of this jealousy was to get rid of the calf so his friendship with the tiger could go back to normal. So one day when the tiger was out hunting he saw the calf bouncing around. "hey you know you should watch your self." The fox said. the calf looked every confused. "What are you talking about?" The fox look at the mouth of the cave to make sure the coast was clear. "Haven't you seen how the tiger has looked at you recently?"

The calf laughed, "What do you mean he hasn't looked at me any differently then the day we met." "oh but he has my dear friend. I don't want you to get hurt. He's been planning on having you as a meal some time soon. I would stay awake tonight while he stays awake." the fox said warningly.
The calf now frighten never took his eyes off the tiger when he returned. That night he stayed awake the whole night.  "Calf why don't you sleep I will be here to protect you." the smiled and turned away pretending to sleep. Once morning came the calf was so tired from a restless night. When the calf got up the tiger feel asleep knowing that it was safe for him to sleep during the day.

With a nod the calf left the cave unprotected, "Fox, my good friend, I hope to see you again some day. I am leaving for my own protecting." The calf said. The fox nodded and smiled. It was about mid day when the tiger awoke. "Fox, where is our good friend calf." The fox stretch and with a yawn he said, "Oh calf left this morning while you were a sleep. he didn't want our friendship no more." tiger jumped up and ran out the cave looking for calf with the fox right behind him.

"Tiger we don't need to look for him he doesn't want our friendship." They walked over a hill and the calf was surrounded by a pack of wolves. "Help help." The calf screamed.  "No one can hear you, you're wasting your last breath." The alpha wolf said.  Right before the wolf pounced on the calf the tiger and the fox jumped in to protect him. scaring all the wolves away. The three ran back to the cave. "Why did you leave us Calf. Why don't you want our friendship?" the tiger said. The calf sighed, "Fox told me that you were going to eat me, so for my own safety I left. I still want your friendship."

Both the calf and the tiger looked at the Fox with confused eyes. "Im sorry I didn't want you to die, I just wanted it to be like how it use to be when tiger and I were only friends. I let jealousy take over." They accepted his apology in payment he had to hunt for the three of them for a year. They all protected each other and remain close friends for the rest of there days.


Author's notes: This is based on the story called "How the Fox feel Victim to his own Deceit." I kept the beginning the same. I added dialog and changed the ending to a more happy ending for all the characters. I liked this more then having the Fox die.

Bibilography: How the Fox Fell Victim to his Own Deceit by Albert Shelton Link to source

Reading notes: Tibetan Part 2

There were several Folk tales I read for today. A lot of them ended with someone dying. If the person was in the wrong they were the one who would be grieving. The one that stood out to me was "How the Rabbit Killed the Lion". This did not give a good lesson. From reading this I only learned it is ok to lie and trick people if it is in your favor. This is not what it should be about. If I was going to do this as an assignment then I would change the ending. In the way of the rabbit is in the wrong and he would get what he deserves. The other one that stood out to me was "How the Raven Saved the Hunter". Sadly in the end the raven dies because the hunter was foolish not to listen to what the raven was trying to warn him. I may do a retelling of this story. I may have the raven live in the end or change the roles of who dies. But I really enjoyed reading Tibetan Folk Tales this week.

The Lion and The Rabbit Blogger

Bibliography: Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton Link to source

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales Part 1

This week I read several Tibetan Folk Tales. Each tale had a moral to it. At the end of each story it explained what the moral of the story was. I really like this because it made sure you learned the lesson that was being taught.

I think my favorite story was the How the Fox Fell Victim to His Own Deceit. It's teaching a lesson to never come in between friends or never break up a friendship because you feel like you are being left out. I think I may use this for my retelling this week. I may change the animals or make them people. I haven't quick decided yet.

The story that was my least favorite was Covetousness. Everyone dies in the end of the story. I understand the greedy part of it, but the part where the elephant dies because he was trying something new I do not think this was a good lesson. In the end it said don't try something that is not meant for you but to me it seemed that the elephant was just wanting to try something new.

Overall I really enjoyed the readings today and can't wait to read more tales tomorrow.

Cover of the Tibetan Folk Tales, Blogger

Bibilography: Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton Link to Source