Caleb's Myth-Folklore Assignments

    Finders       It was late last Friday night. I had just finished doing my homework for school. Suddenly, a car passed by the window. Its headlights flashed into my room, and I saw something shine in the corner. I walked over to pick it up. It was a very pretty ring. Three small diamonds sat centered around the gold band. It's my sister's graduation ring. Our parents had spent a small fortune on it. How did she manage to leave it in the corner of my room? I kind of want to keep it. What's that old saying? Finders keepers; losers weepers!  Ring Ornament Metal by Pashminu on Pixabay Keepers      I had been looking for my graduation ring for weeks! Hiding my hand from mom and making excuses this whole time has become really exhausting. I was just about to give up and tell them what happened when my sister sat down for breakfast. On her finger, my ring! What was she doing with that? I asked her where she had found it. She told me it was j...

    These are notes on the story, The Fetish Sunga , for part B of week 9 reading. (fishing on the sea coast; sketch by Dennett  from the book) Plot     A selfish man hides the fish that he catches at the river. He lies to anyone who asks him about it and says he has no fish. A fetish, named Sunga, watches all of this and is very disappointed in his lies. One day, while catching more fish than he has ever caught, Sunga sends her daughter to fetch the man. He follows her along the river, which has dried up to provide a road, to a wonderful town at the river's water shed. There, Sunga makes him partake in a great feast and drink lots of wine that removes his ability to speak. Now, he can no longer lie to people and must use signs to communicate. Thoughts     I don't really understand what the guy's goal was in hoarding the fish. The story said he had so much some of it was rotting. I guess he was just weird and selfish. He's clearly not prideful or ...

   I chose to take notes on How Kengi Lost Her Child  for this weeks first reading. ( Photo from the source book ) Plot This is a really simple plot. Two women have land split between them by their shared husband. One day one of the woman takes some beans from the other woman's farm. The second woman is very cross about this and demands that they set some ground rules. They agree that everything birthed on their land belongs to them and the other has no claim to it. Life goes on. One day the second woman comes to the first woman for some tobacco to help aid her pains. She sit on the woman's land and smokes. She gives birth to a baby. The first woman claims the baby as her own and they argue. They go to a town to have the dispute settled. The prince decides that the first woman is acting within her rights because of the agreement they made. The baby is hers.  Characters There's not much to say about characters here. It's a short story. I get the feeling that the secon...

 Looking Back     I think I am happy with my progress so far. It has been an interesting class, and I think I've really come into my own in it. I'm enjoying the work I'm doing. I'm currently most proud of the work I have done on the storybook. I really like my idea. I think the execution is going well so far. I think I'll genuinely want to save and share this bit of writing once I am done and have done a couple rewrites.      I think I have a good weekly routine. I break the week up into a couple hours a day over three days. I usually get the reading done on Tuesday, the story writing, blog comments, and feedback done on Thursday, and I use one of the weekend days to get the project piece for that week done.      I enjoy the weekly writing the most. Having a chance to refine and develop my voice as a writer while doing very little work developing a story has been really nice. In fact, even after this class I may use rewriting short stories as...

 Feedback In      Overall, I think the feedback I have received has been okay. It's not always the most helpful, but it's not always completely terrible. My biggest concern with most of the feedback I've received is it's nothing but praise. Most people do their best to meet the minimum 60 word count and avoid being critical. I understand that most people in this class don't want a career in writing. This is just an elective. So, they might not care as much about improving their own writing or helping others do so. I do. I want people to tear my writing apart. I want to know what's unlikeable about it. I can't improve if I don't. I wish my feedback felt a bit more critical. Feedback Out      I would like to think that I am providing good feedback. I try to implement the WWW or TAG methods in some form in my comments. I try to offer praise as well as criticism and suggestions. I hope people are getting something out of my comments. Blog Comments  ...

 Looking Back     I'm pretty happy with the class and the work I have done in it so far. The writing is great for me. I love having a class where I can work creative muscles so freely. I especially enjoy that most of the legwork of the stories is already done for me. It's just my voice getting some practice and refinement.      I'm perfectly happy with my blog and project website. The real importance for me in each of these websites is getting my assignments done and being able to enjoy the writing I am doing. As long as the sites can be navigated easily, I don't much care about there aesthetics. I'm not trying to generate traffic.     I'm very satisfied with the writing I have done so far on my project. I'm really excited about the concept and the voice I've chosen to tell the story. It's fun. I think I'm doing some pretty good writing on there. I won't say its the best writing I've ever done, but it's enjoyable for me and I'm sa...

( Cuttlefish ) I don't actually know why this story stood out to me, but it did. I liken it to some kindergartners being put in a very severe timeout.  Story Bathala (supreme Tagalog being) created all the fish in the sea. He declared that the fish should have a meeting to designate officer roles. Every fish showed up on time except for the cuttlefish and the squid. They wait a bit but they don't show up. Bathala designates stingray as sergeant at arms, crocodile, cadaver carrier, and crab, soldier. Then, the missing two show up and interrupt Bathala. Bathala scolds them and they run off. They decide to collect mud to throw at the officers. When they return, they ask for a job. Bathala only scolds them. They throw their mud. Bathala is furious and curses them to carry pouches of mud forever. This is why they are slow and have ink today. Bathala also cursed squids to never grow because he found the squid most annoying.  Bibliography. Cuttlefish and Squids  from Filipino Po...

      Black Opal (photo by James St. John on Flickr ) The story that stood out to me was the tale of the Three Brothers of Fortune. I think it stood out because it reminded me so much of the deathly hallows tale from Harry Potter. Perhaps Rowling took inspiration from this story. Plot     A wealthy man sends his three sons off to school. They party and don't learn anything while there. The three sons are ashamed of this and refuse to go home. Instead, they wander through towns seeking their fortune. They come upon an old lady who offers them a magic resurrection book for purchase. The first brother purchases it. They next come upon an old lady offering up a magic mat that can transport you wherever. The second brother purchases it. They come upon a set of magic stones that can be used to reassemble things. The third brother takes this. Happy with each of their magic charms, they continue wandering. They happen upon a crowd grieving over a dead body. Th...