Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part B

 

Ancient Egyptian plowing

The story that stuck with me the most throughout this second part of reading was the story of "The Two Brothers". This story also had themes of familial deception and betrayal, similar to Part A. In this story A younger brother lives with his older brother and his wife. The wife makes a move on the younger brother. He of course rejects her out of respect for his older brother. But the wife calls for her husband telling him his brother made an advance on her. This family betrayal is an interesting theme I have been seeing in the Middle Eastern and Indian units. I think this could be a good theme to incorporate into my storybook project. My storybook project is surrounding the Greek mythology, however, they are all related and have sibling rivalry or backstabbing parents. In the end the brothers make up and go to save the younger brother's wife from a king together. I could bring together the family in my storybook by having them complete a common task.   

Bibliography: "The Two Brothers", by Donald Mackenzie (1907)

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part A

Egyptian Goddess Isis

This week we were to read Middle-Eastern and Indian mythology. I chose to learn about the Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Part A started out with the creation of the gods. Nu was the essence which was found in the water. He created a son by the name of Ra. Ra was far more powerful than his father and became the "Mighty One", reigning over all the gods including his own father. It was from Ra that all the other gods were born. Ra had a child by the name of Isis. her story intrigued me the most. It dealt with unknown family betrayal. Isis was the the goddess of magic. But she was dealt to roam the lands as a woman. She grew tired of the ways of mankind and sought to walk alongside her father with the other mighty gods. Ra was given a secret name, from which his power derived. She betrayed her father in order to strongarm him into giving her the name as power of her own. The author's descriptions made this seem like it was a betrayal for a throne. Similar to the first Thor film. Loki found his father too weak to rule and brought along frost giants to put him in the Odinsleep. I believe that children defying and betraying their parents is not an uncommon theme in mythology. I just thoroughly enjoyed how Donald Mackenzie portrayed it in this retelling.

Bibliography: "The Secret Name of Ra", by Donald Mackenzie (1907)

Storybook Plan

 

Zeus and Hera

    

    For this storybook project I think I want to zone in on all the scorned lover stories from Greek mythology. I want to take these stories and put them into a high school setting. Half of the "lover scorned" myths seem like they could be turned into petty high school drama. I could especially have fun retelling the ones surrounding Hera and Zeus. As Zeus seems to have a problem staying faithful to his wife. 

Possible Stories

Eros and Psyche

Persephone and Hades

The Story of Medusa and Athena

Hera and Leto

Storytelling Styles

    I think that I will somehow connect all these stories in a way. Whether that be a connection as they all go to school together or the victim's (the women) of the gods' wrath will have some sort of school club where they talk about stories after the fact. I want the reader to be able to connect to these stories. While the stories are outlandish, I want the audience to be able to pinpoint a story and be able to connect it to some part of their life where maybe they had relationship drama or heard about it happening in high school. 

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Comment Wall

The Greek God, Zeus

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Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part B

Cartoon Donkey

    The ending of this story was very surprising in a way and definitely branched away from fairy tale norms. We are used to a knight in shining armor heroically coming in to rescue a damsel in distress. Instead we get a comic relief in the donkey coming in to save the fair maiden. I think this was a good example of using irony in storytelling. I like using this type of literary device in my own storytelling processes. I can see myself using a surprise ending and irony in a retelling of this story. It also did a great job of having a leaving all loose ends nicely closed, but also leaving some room for a cliffhanger. 

Bibliography: "Cupid and Psyche", by Apuleius translated by Tony Kline.  

 

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part A

 

Cupid and Psyche

    I am not as familiar with Roman mythology as I am with Greek mythology so the story of Cupid and Psyche was pretty new to me. However, for last week's comments assignment I got to read somebody adaptation of the story. It gave me an idea of what I was getting into before reading the actual one. The first thing that I noticed was that this story is in first person narration. That is different than most of the other stories I have read so far. It left me wondering who's point of view this story was being told from. Eventually, I realized that it was a story inside of another story. A woman is captured by a group of bandits and held for ransom. I thought the author did an interesting job of using irony and juxtaposition in this story. The thieves claim that the woman shouldn't fear her life or honor because all they were doing is holding her for ransom. They had no intentions of harming her. But the woman still feared them. Claiming to an old woman that they were going to hurt her and that she feared for her life. Another thing I thought that was interesting was the delivery of the story. I had the story read to me and it was a completely different experience. I felt like I was the captive woman being told the story by the old woman. It brought me back to the days of actual storytelling, no books or e-readers. If anybody is intrigued by that than I highly suggest you try it!  

Bibliography: "Cupid and Psyche" Written by Apuleis. Translated by Tony Klein

Feedback Strategies

 

Feedback Image: Source

    After reading up on the effects of of praise vs feedback I was pleasantly surprised to see how much The Difference Between Praise and Feedback coincided with Carol Dweck's concept of growth mindset. I also was able to relate to these article because this is how my coach acts. It is not enough to simply say "good job" to somebody for their efforts. If there is any time during a practice where a stunt group hits a stunt but it was hit with a struggle we will be reprimanded if we respond to the group by telling them good job or encouraging them. This example supports the idea of fixed talent. Thus, we would be less inclined to try to new skills or improve our technique because we believe if it hit, even if it was a struggle, then it should be good. I do believe that "good jobs" are also very vague, as it states in The Trouble with Amazing: Giving Praise that Matters. It doesn't do anything for the other party. There is no instruction that could help them evolve their work. It just seems like a lazy response. In order to give the best feedback, you should be critical in order for the other person to get the most and be able to expand of their previous work.