Week 2: Reading Diary A

I love that there was a background description in the introduction, to layout the foundation of what to expect at least in the book. Plus, I grasp on to what I'm reading when there is a little background history to the story. I found it interesting to read that many people across North India went on strike, so that the government would sponsor the Indian epic Ramayana. What was so important about this television show? My first impression was this the Indian epic Ramayana, was the modern day reality television shows that we consume our lives with today,  (pages 7-11)

  

Rama's Initiation: 

Sage Viswamithra, whom was once a king and conqueror, ask of the help of a son named Rama to help conqueror the five-fold evils (lust, anger, miserliness, egoism and envy). His father objected against him going alone and wanted to go with him, but the Sage Viswamithra denied his request. Instead he was sent with his brother Lakshmana. The initiation that Rama and his brother went through was a true test of man. It seemed that the path that they were to embark on was one that had never been conquered by anyone else. As the approach the scene they are greeted with bones of animals that had perished and a waking ground. Rama and his brother Lakshmana soon realize that their journey that they have embarked on has several stories behind them. What will the stories for show about the long journey?   

Rama, his wife Sita, the devotee Hanuman and Rama's three brothers

Week 1: What is "curation"?

What is curation?  

I think that this is an interesting theme for exploring more options on how to impersonalize my blog. This would be the first time that I have heard about curation, so I'm excited to start exploring and learning more about it. I am always so quick to bookmark a website that I think is helpful, especially when I am writing a paper, because once my tabs start to become to clustered at the top, it starts to get a tad bit overwhelming to me. I already knew how to bookmark websites and I have folders for specific websites that are in my bookmarks. I think that bookmarking a website has saved me a lot of times when it has come to writing papers.  

I am also one who loves to do a lot of DIY projects for my room and Pinterest has helped me with a lot of ideas. I always that that Pinterest was a app that you go on to purchase clothes or misc. items. However, it is an amazing website for learning life hacks, DIY projects, cooking and much more. Since I love food, I have gotten a lot of different meal ideas for breakfast or dinner from Pinterest. And not to mention, my boyfriend was the one who got me to start getting on Pinterest a lot more. My boyfriend practically gets on Pinterest for about 3 hours every day of the week, So if he likes it and faithfully gets on there everyday, I guess I could give it a chance.  

I am familiar with Twitter, I used to get on Twitter everyday when I first got it now I rarely get on there. The only time I really get on Twitter is during awards shows. Twitter is an amazing way to stay connected to the outside world. Twitter also helps me stay up-to-date with the news and what is going on daily. 

Open Up Your Thoughts

What does "Growth Mindset" mean to me

* what have you learned about your own learning while you've been at OU? what are your biggest challenges as you set about learning new things? 

  

I love learning about new things and I think this TED talk was very effective. I have never heard of Carol Dweck before watching the two clips, but I like her logic and the way that she wanted to combat the question of: Now vs. Yet. I think one of the things that stuck out to me the most was when Dr. Carol Dweck's TED asked the question: How are we raising our children? I liked this question because I think that it has a lot to do with the millennials (this would include my age group). She structured her answer by saying that kids are being prepared for the now instead of the yet. Ever since I was little, my family told would tell me that anything that I want in life I have to go get it NOW before someone else does. I think that my generation has a "good get it" attitude with a lazy "someone else needs to do it for me" mentality. I liked how she explained that she wanted to challenge the minds of students in school and she decided to give them a problem. Of course the problem was challenging, but the reaction that she got from the kids was incredible to me. They did not shy away from a challenge and was happy to get something that challenged their brains. I think that little kids that can look a challenge in the face and also face it head on, is not focusing on the now but focusing on the yet. What is yet to come of this problem, what have I yet to accomplish. 

  

I have learned a few things about myself, just by attending this university. I have learned that once I get on a roll I can not stop. Once that roll is broken it is hard for me to gain my concentration back. For example: when it comes to homework, I have to have a full stomach and be well rested in order for me not to get distracted from doing my homework. I notice that I accomplish more things when I have at least two of my friends around me while doing homework, because I feel the added pressure of someone watching me while I work. One of my challenges that I face as I learn new things is the way that my brain retains things. If it is interesting, then my brain can retain that information for a long period of time. If I can't apply that thing to something I do everyday or I think it is boring, then my brain will discard that information. I want to be able to take in all types of information and apply it to everyday life. I think the more I can apply my brain to think like that the more my brain can retain information and grow.  

Cat facing a challenge

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

My imaginative storybook favorites!

The imagination that people had when they wrote their storybooks, was a bit inspiring. I actually thought that it was a published book, and with that being said each of the story books that I looked at were page turners. I wish I could've kept reading each storybook. Each person should have made a sequel storybook.  

First, let's start with the story of Ravana. The storybook Ravana: Even Devils have a past, explains how everyone has a past that no one thinks about. I decided to choose this one because I think that it has a unexpected twist to the story that I'm not ready for. In the introduction, the story basically wants the audience to get a background story on why people think that the devil is evil, because everybody has a past, even the devil.  

 Ravana: Even devils have a past 

  On to the next storybook, Evil Women of the Ramayana. I liked how this storybook was structured. It talks about a scorned woman who was in love. Its like the typical story. Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Boy breaks girls heart. Girl seeks revenge. I think any girl can relate to a heartbreak even if they haven't experienced one.  

Evil Women of the Ramayana  

 And last, but not surely, Every Story has Two Sides. This storybook caught my attention because my first assumption was that it was catching someone in a lie, or that in life people only listen to one side of the story instead of hearing both sides before casting judgment. However, this storybook is the complete opposite of what I expected it to be. This storybook is talking about the many uses of a notebook. People use notebooks to write love letters in, to write down lecture notes for class, to draw a little doodle of someone that they are crushing on, or to simply just perfect their penmanship.  

Every Story Has Two Sides

Kaikeyi and Dasaratha

(This picture is from Ashley Cornett's blog. I had restricted access to her blog). 

  

Week 1: Overview

• Have you taken a class about epic literature before (in college, high school)...? Do you like epic movies and/or television shows like Game of Thrones, etc.? 

My sophomore year of college, I took DANC1813: Intro Non-Western Dance Form. The way that the Dr. Redwine structured the class interested me the most. She would talk about the different literature's for one class period and then the next class period she would show us a movie or a small video clip so that we could have a visual sense of what that literature meant. You could tell that she was really passionate about what she was teaching to the class, so much that there was a time that she came to class and performed for us a little folklore dance. I was first introduced to Indian literature in her class when we spent several weeks talking about the different Indian dance forms and how some of the dances pertain to elements such as water, earth, wind, etc. That was my first introduction to Indian literature in college. I think that it is fascinating to have a specific dance for each of the elements and how each one of the dances pertain to that specific element.  

One thing on my to-do list for the summer that I never got around to doing was to watch Game of Thrones, However, I have heard good things about the show Game of Thrones, but I have only seen a few episodes. I am one of those people that has to see the show from the very first episode of the first season in order to actually watch the show. But from the few episodes that I have seen of the show, they were intriguing and they kept me on my toes and kept me wanting to know more.  My friend has told me about the television show: The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a ancient Mesopotamia poem that dates back to the third dynasty of Ur, which I think plays a role in Mythology and how mythology dates back to ancient history.  

Tell me which one is your fav?

Introduction: Welcome to the life of Jordan!

Hello All, 

  

My name is Jordan Pennon. I am a "5th year senior" as some people like to call it. However, I like to say that I am taking a victory lap and I'm trying to soak in all of the opportunities that college has to offer and also I wanted to complete all the classes for my minor. I like to call myself a "Texahoma", because my dad lives in Texas and my mom lives here in Oklahoma. My major is International Studies, and over the summer finished my last class for my minor in Spanish. I currently work as a tour guide in Admissions and Recruitment here on campus, so you might see me giving a tour to a large group of people throughout the semester. I get the opportunity to go and study abroad in Rio de Janeiro next semester, which I am extremely excited about going overseas. Fun fact about my study abroad trip, I actually come back 2 days after I am suppose to walk across the stage, so that means that I get to walk early in December instead of May. I am a core volunteer, which is an organization through my college (College of International and Area Studies). We volunteer and help out with any events that they host. I'm on several umbrella organizations under Black Student Association, one of them being on the chair for Mr. and Mrs. Black University of Oklahoma. As far as working before I moved over to Admissions and Recruitment, I worked in Housing and Food here on campus and I was on the  room and board program.   

 (personal photo)

I have a boyfriend and we have been together for 2 years. He used to run track for OU until he graduated and now he is in grad school for HR. Funny story about how we met. We met through me tutoring him in Spanish. He pretended to not understand Spanish, just so I could tutor him three times a week. He is my best friend and someone I know I can be myself around. His goofy matches my goofy. 

(personal photo)

Some of my hobbies include going to the movies, going bowling, reading, running, eating and sleeping. I am a movie fanatic, I have to go see every movie that comes out. I feel like movies complete me. I used to run two miles everyday, until I injured my foot, and now I am on restriction from running until I have surgery on my foot. I am a lover of food. Food and I are best friends, we compliment each other very well. 

When food is on the brain

Week 1 Storytelling: The aventures of Punch and Judy!

Punch and Judy Fought for a pie; Punch gave Judy A sad blow on the eye 

Once upon a time, after the sun had just barely peaked across the sky at the tallest room in the tallest tower lived two twins, Punch and Judy were two mischievous twins who were deemed for greatness. Punch was tall with luscious blond hair, green colored eyes, and had brown colored freckles that covered the peak of her nose and her cheeks. Judy was also tall, but had brown hair, blue colored eyes and just a few freckles that covered her cheeks. Punch and Judy would always fight over every little thing. Judy loved the color pink while Punch loved the color green. Judy loved to play outside while Punch loved to be inside the castle. However, one thing that they could agree on is that they had an enormous love for pie. Not just any pie, but coconut cream pie.  

Punch and Judy  

Fought for a pie   

Punch and Judy loved Coconut Cream Pie. They can always picture their grandmother baking them a pie from the time they were knee high, until the time they started walking. The savory taste of coconuts and the graham cookie crust was to die for. The way that their grandmother would make it, would put a sharp pain in their stomachs, but the pain was well worth it. After their grandmother passed, they could never find a coconut cream pie to match until  one day their next door neighbor Tiana moved into the neighborhood. Now, Tiana was known for her cakes and pies around the town. And of course she passed the coconut cream pie test when it came to Punch and Judy's taste buds. Tiana's coconut cream pie was so good that Punch and Judy would get in arguments on who ate all the pie and would go days without talking to each other.  

Coconut Cream Pie

As Tiana approached the tower, Punch greeted Tiana before she could knock on the door. Tiana was carrying a coconut cream pie that she wanted Punch and Judy to sample because she added a little bit of vanilla whip cream as a topping. Punch knew that she didn’t want her twin sister to know that they had received a pie, so she decided to hide the pie. Punch walked throughout their tower to find the best hiding place for the Coconut Cream Pie. She tried to think of places that Judy wouldn’t think of, but she knew that their twin intuition would give her hiding place away and everything would be ruined. So she decided to take the pie back over to Tiana hold on to the pie until further notice. Tiana looked at her with a quizzical look. Punch explained that she wanted to surprise her twin sister with the pie, because she knows how much she loves pie.  

*later that day* 

Later on that evening, while Judy went on her evening stroll around the neighborhood, she was hit by the delicious smell of coconut cream pie. She sniffed and sniffed until her nose led her to Tiana's windowsill. And to Judy's surprise, a freshly baked coconut cream pie was sitting there staring at her in the face. Judy's eyes were bigger than her stomach and the next thing she knew, she looked down and all that was left were the crumbs from the coconut cream pie. Amused at the fact that she had just consumed an entire pie, she suddenly had a rush of emotions. Judy didn’t want Tiana to be mad at her because of the pie, and so she decided to leave the evidence back on the windowsill and she would walk away before anyone saw her. Before she could escape Punch found her, guilty as ever. Punch couldn’t believe her eyes, the delicious coconut cream pie that Tiana had prepared for them had been demolished by her twin sister. Next thing you know Punch and Judy are fighting in Tiana's yard. Just as Tiana said that she had another coconut cream pie in the oven for them, Punch gave Judy a blow in her right eye. 

   Punch gave Judy A sad blow on the eye.

Author's Note: I started to pull some of my inspiration from the movie, Cinderella, with the two evil step sisters, and then tried to include a little Disney feel by adding in Tiana from, Princess and the Frog. 

Book: The Project Gutenberg Ebook of The Nursery Rhyme Book

Author: Unknown

Editor: Andrew Lang

Year Published: 2008

Web Source: The Project Gutenberg