Caleb's Myth-Folklore Assignments

 For this week's reading from part A I am taking notes on the first story, a collection of creation myths. Creation and Longevity In this creation myth from the Achomawi (Pit Rive, California), a coyote is the central character responsible for much of what we have today. The coyote scratched up the Earth from nothingness but eagle was mad there were no mountains. So coyote made some hills. They weren't tall enough so Eagle scratched up big ridges. While flying feathers fell from Eagle and these became trees, bushes and plants. Then coyote worked with fox to make man. Coyote said let them die and fox said let them live forever. In the end, coyote's stuff was stronger and people die. The natives were cold so coyote went to a place far west and stole fire. He kindled the fire up in a mountain. Upon seeing the smoke, the natives went to get it. Old Mole and Coyote This is a creation myth from the Shastika of California. Somewhere, old mole dug and threw up Earth and on this Ear...

    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...