Famous Last Words: Winding Down with Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Christmas Season! Returning from Thanksgiving break is always one of the hardest things to do. Yes it was such a restful time, and now we come back to the most stressful weeks of the semester! Yet, I believe we will all make it and I can't believe that this is my next to last finals week ever! Well, as long as I don't end up in grad school...

This Thanksgiving was so wonderful! I loved spending it with my family and we had such amazing food, and I provided the wine because of my online Geography of Wine class. They all made fun of me as I paired my wines with specific dishes and took diligent notes. Who knew Thanksgiving lunch would ever become a school assignment?

Ma famille.

I just finished up the revisions for my third story of my storybook. I loved doing the Zombie noun challenge and learning about how to make my writing not pompous or abstract. To be honest, I always thought it was a problem if my writing didn't sound pompous, because I have had professors act like my writing is elementary level. I just think it's more important to be concrete and clear over sounding like I drink tea out of a Harvard mug, while I hold a pipe and wear bifocals.

And here I am doing my next to last assignment for this class! After this, all I need to do is do the revisions on my final story and wham, bam, thank you ma'am, I am done! I have so enjoyed this class, but I am proud that I will have a finished and revised storybook to show off and an A in the course. This has been such a great course and I am looking forward to returning for the Epics of India course. So this is not farewell, but simply a See ya soon!

Week 13 Story: Skin Deep

Dear sister,

     I thought I could make him love me through my wisdom, my faithfulness, and my devotion to him. Instead, he is miserable. He complains of how he could have married any young beautiful woman in the kingdom.
     Does he not remember that I saved his life? He would be dead at the hands of the queen if I had not given him the answer to her question. All I ask in return for his life is that he lives out the rest of mine as my husband. But even that is too much.
     I was once a great beauty, like you are now my beloved sister. How has some knight not snatched you up? I suppose if we based it purely off of looks, then you should be the sister who is married to one of King Arthur's knights, though I may be the more wise and experienced.
     Oh sister, what am I to do? Set him free of the only price I demanded in exchange for his life? Or keep him imprisoned, but make my life just as terrible with his moping and hateful stares?

Yours thoughtfully

Dear sister,

     Your plan was genius and was executed perfectly! What a fool that knight is! I can't believe that going behind the curtain, running away, only for you to come out and claim to be me, only turned beautiful, actually worked! I hadn't realized that people truly are that stupid! You are far more wise than I had ever given you credit for. 

     While I will not be the one to enjoy his affections, I do feel that he has repaid his debt to me by being married to and caring for you, my favorite sister. Also, the amount of silver you have promised to send me every month doesn't hurt either. 

      In regards to your question: no you do not need to worry about recreating the birthmark on my shoulder. I doubt he has any recollection of my "former self" as he probably tried as hard as possible to forget all about it. 

Yours cheerfully

"The old woman transformed" Source

Author's Note: In the original story of The Unknown Bride, the old woman is transformed into a beautiful young woman when the knight admits that he would rather have a faithful ugly wife than a selfish beautiful one. She is then transformed and they live happily ever after. Instead of having her transform, I had her switch places with her sister. 

The Unknown Bride: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part B

Chaucer Source: Canterbury Tales

• The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher
• In this story, a canon pulls a trick on a priest by pretending he has a recipe to create silver in a crucible. 
• He claims that this recipe is philosophy
• This story reminded me so much of the beginning of the Disney animated movie Robin Hood (when Robin Hood pretends to be able to see the future and is stealing his money), that I started watching it on Hulu.
• I thought that priests would have been the more educated of society at this time?
• How did he not recognize that magical recipes are not "philosophy"
• This priest is far too trusting of people. 

Quick aside: Watching Disney's Robin Hood, I actually thought about the part where John cries about his "mommy" not loving him as much. Then I thought "Richard? John? Their mother?" Sure enough, Eleanor of Aquitaine was the mother mentioned in Disney's Robin Hood as the mother who loved Richard best. How funny that a character mentioned in a movie I watched as a kid that I never thought much of, I am now studying and writing about. 

The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part A

• The Unknown Bride



Source: Study

• Knight must find out what "women desire most of all" or Queen Guinevere will kill him
• Old woman promises to tell him the answer if he will do whatever is the first thing she asks of him
• The answer is: to rule over their husbands
• She tells him he has to marry her. But she is old and poor
• She asks if he would rather have her old and poor, but faithful, or young, beautiful, but unfaithful
• When he replies that he would rather have her as he is (after complaining about her), she becomes young and beautiful
• Commentary
• Why is this guy rewarded for complaining, and then deciding to be happy when he really doesn't have a choice?
• Why does she want him if he is going to be a jerk to him?
• This reminds me of a story where a wife was only beautiful at night. and the man must decide if he will be happy with this or want someone he can show off.
• When I tried to google this story, I came up with nothing. But I know I didn't make this up because I'm not that clever. 
•  I think that she deserves better than this guy. 
• Also the magic of how she became young and beautiful wasn't explained? How did that happen?

The Unknown Bride: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Reading Notes: Faerie Queene, Part A

Wikimedia

• It's hard to believe this is a Renaissance story with so much female empowerment. 
• Granted she disses her fellow women when she talks about them doing feminine things like needlepoint, etc. 
• How does she have faith that she will love this guy?
• Why does she love this guy?
• How did her nurse became skilled enough to pass for a squire?
• When people discover she's a women, they are amazed at her beauty, but not at the fact that she's such a skilled fighter for a women. 
• What if the roles were reversed and this dude was going killing people to find a girl he had only seen in a mirror

Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod, with drawings by A. G. Walker (1916).

Week 11 Review: The Devil

     My favorite part of the announcements this week came from the Halloween announcement, October 31st. I loved the English proverb: Speak of the Devil and he will appear. This semester I am in the course Milton and the Bible. Which means I have been doing a lot of thinking about the devil this semester. While of course I do not believe the literal understanding of this proverb, I completely agree with the sentiment. The devil can take on all forms. It can be temptation for the most common, well-known sins such as adultery, murder, lying, stealing etc. But he can also be your insecurities and your fears. For instance, when you constantly talk about how you feel ugly, you're not going to suddenly feel beautiful. You will become more insecure. You have invited the devil into your life by giving him acknowledgement and I place to grow. If you constantly worry that something will happen, if/when it happens, it will be worse. Instead, we should focus on the good things in life so that if the devil appears, he cannot withstand the light in our lives.

Source: OU Class Announcements

Famous Last Words: Momma's Girl

     I feel like I am finally coming back into my stride for these last few weeks. I am back on my storybook, and really proud of my work so farm while also ready to forge ahead. I am debating whether I should stick to the laid out schedule, which would mean I would end up with only three pages, or if I should add in a fourth story. I think that my storybook could be complete without a fourth, but maybe not the way I had imagined it originally.

A picture I shared Sunday for National Redhead Day.
Still bitter my mom didn't give me her awesome red hair. 

     I am also proud of my Week 11 story. It is one of my shortest stories, but I do not think that is less than because of its length. It also made me aware that I really love stories about mother's and the love they have for their children. In fact, my Week 10 story was about a woman protecting her children. Yes it started out as a story about her and her terrible, tyrannical family, but at the end she had to risk death to give her children (and herself) a better life. This semester I've also written about Saint Juliet who was not willing to convert because she didn't want to compromise hers and her son's salvation. Week 7, my story was actually called "A Mother's Love". You would think I would have some dark haunted past involving mothers and children, but I think it is actually on account of the contrary. I have one of the best moms ever. Maybe it's because I have such a great relationship with my mom, that I know how great it can be. And so when I read a story in which a mother's love saves her children or it ends unhappily, I want to provide my own voice and strengthen the message or give it a happier ending.
     I am sad that this course is beginning to come to an end, but I think I will be in the Epics of India course next semester, so I'll get one more semester of storytelling!

Week 11 Story: Thunder

     I can hardly remember my mother. I had been taken by  the thunder gods when I was so young that most of my life had been spent with them. Life with the thunder gods wasn't too bad. I couldn't participate in many of their activities as I was mortal, and they preferred their own kind too me, but they treated me well enough. However, I always knew that as soon as I could escape, I would find my mother and return to her. I knew the ways of the gods now, and I knew how to keep her safe.
     One cool, clear day was the perfect moment for my escape. Tomorrow would be the day of sacrifice, where the thunder gods called out to those that were promised to them. Today, they reviewed the list of promised sacrifices and anticipated the start of a wonderful new year.
     I went back to where the thunder gods told me they had taken me. I could only hope that my mother didn't live too far from there. I found the river from where I had been taken and looked around for any clue of where my mother could be. There was one worn path from leading from the river, but when I followed it, it only lead to an abandoned old lodge.

By Larisa Koshkina. Public Domain

     I was about to give up when I heard in the distance a woman singing. I followed the noise and saw a woman knelt at the river bank, singing a terribly sorrowful song. Her clothes were rags and she looked beaten by life. I approached her slowly.
     "Hello?"
     She looked up quickly. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but snapped it shut. She stared at my eyes, searching for something.
     "My name is Ashish. As a young child, I was taken from my mother at this river by the thunder gods. I have been waiting all this time to find her. Do you know where she might be?"
     Suddenly she was up, her arms wrapped around my neck. "I always prayed you'd come back to me."

Author's Note: When I read the story An Indian's Vow to the Thunder Gods, I found it horribly sad. While I'm usually down for sad stories, this just seemed particularly poignant. The way she lives in fear of losing her child for years, only to be there when he is struck dead. And the imagery of her trying to leave him to be sacrificed, but by this point he is too old that he goes after her, wanting his mother, it was just too much to bear. So I decided to give it a happy ending.

An Indian's Vow to the Thunder Gods: Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon, by Katharine Berry Judson (1910). 

Reading Notes: Vow to Thunder Gods, Part B

• She never sends the boy. Years pass. The Thunder gods kill him while they are outside
• Woman promises first born child to the thunder gods
• This is not explained at all.
• Why would anyone do this? There must have been a reason but it isn’t explained. It just says she hadn’t imagined the strength of a mother’s love
• Every time a storm comes (which is the signal to send sacrifices which were promised to the thunder gods
• She sings a sorrowful song about what happened and never has another child
• Who was the father of the first child? Where did he go? Could it have had something to do with why she promised her child in the first place?
• What if the boy hadn’t died?
• He could go looking for his mother, or run into her somehow?



(source)

• What if she could do something to revive him?

An Indian's Vow to the Thunder Gods: Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon, by Katharine Berry Judson (1910). 

Reading Notes: Ashish, Part A

(source)

• When a god covets a man’s wife, he sends him away and tries to impersonate him

o Sends him away by telling him to find eagles in a tree. The tree keeps growing and he ends up way too high in the sky that he almost dies

o The wives can tell it is not really their husband. They can tell when he can’t perform the same in gambling and he can’t produce the same color fire. 

• The man is saved by some random butterflies

• Similar to the story of King David and Bathsheba

• What happened when he got back? How can you punish a god for doing you wrong?

• What was stopping the god from having the wife while the husband was away? All the people gambling just went back to their home.

The Story of Ashish: Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon, by Katharine Berry Judson (1910).

Week 10 Story: Escape

     Anne was not afraid of the pains of childbirth. She had already known such great pains that she couldn't imagine anything worse.
     She had lost both her parents. Her stepmother had done everything in her power to make her life hell. She had been forced to marry the prince, who only wanted her for her great dowry. Her stepmother had wanted the prince to marry her own daughter, but money and power was everything for the prince. The prince was especially cruel.
     When she gave birth to her first child, and it was a girl, she was beaten for weeks by the prince. Anne wanted to love her child, but there was something about her. An inexplicable lack of connection between mother and daughter prevented Anne from caring for this child who caused her pain.
     Now it was time to give birth to her second child. When her stepmother, the midwife, announced that the child was again a girl, Anne was aware she should feel sad. Instead, she felt void of feeling. She had learned long ago that if there was a God, He wasn't on her side.
     It was announced the next day that due to Anne's inability to produce an heir, she would be beheaded, and the prince would marry her half-sister. Anne's stepmother would win after all.
     Anne sat behind bars, awaiting her death. Suddenly, a shadowy figure emerged from the recesses of the dungeon. Anne recognized her, but couldn't quite place her.
     "Princess Anne, my name is Sophia. I was your stepmother's assistant during the delivery of your children. She told me she would kill me if I ever told you the truth. But I must! I can't live with this!"
     "Perhaps you aren't feeling well," Anne said kindly. "Go lie down."
     "No princess! I must tell you, or this guilt will kill me before your stepmother can lay a hand on me. Your daughters are not yours. You gave birth to two, healthy sons. Your stepmother switched them with girls from the village so that the prince would give up on you and have you beheaded. She did all this so that her daughter might marry the prince!"
     Anne didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do. Unlike her lack of feelings after her second delivery, she now felt overwhelmed by every emotion she had been suppressing over the years. So much anger, grief, and sadness suffocated her, leaving her silent.
     "Hurry princess! I have made arrangements to rescue you and bring you to your sons! For I was in charge of killing them. Instead, I had a family watch over them until I could reveal the truth to you."
     Behind her, Sophia removed a large stone from the wall that led to a winding hall by which the two escaped the dungeon. Sophia explained that she had partnered with others in the castle who had turned against the crown due to the prince's brutality. They had put their plan into motion as soon as Anne's second pregnancy was announced.
     Anne lived happily in the countryside with her two boys for years. She was so happy that the only reminder of her pain was a few scars given to her by the prince. She had shared with her boys the truth of her past, but had taught them that they need not be anything like their father. They shared blood and nothing more.
     One day while Anne watched the boys play in the garden, a party of knights rode up to the house. "Anne, we are here to bring you and the prince's sons back to the castle."
     Anne pinched herself to wake up from the nightmare, but the knights remained in the garden. "What is the meaning of this? The prince is married. He wanted me killed. Does he want to finish the job?"
     "Your half-sister could not perform her duties and produce an heir. Rumor spread that you were in fact successful. The prince has already had your stepmother and sister killed and awaits your arrival to be remarried."
     "Very well. But I must ask that we do not depart until tomorrow. My sons know nothing of their origins. For indeed, who could explain to their children that they have the blood of a prince while they live like paupers?  We must also rest for the journey, for we have worked in the fields all day.
      The knights agreed and made camp just outside the house. But Anne had no intention of returning to her wretched life in the castle.
     In the dead of night, she and her sons escaped. They hardly stopped until they had arrived at a different kingdom where they could begin new lives. They were never again bothered by the cruel prince, and they lived happily ever after.

Portrait of Anne Boleyn
Source: Wikimedia

Author's Note: This is based off of the story of The True Bride from the Marriage Native American series, but inspired by the stories of Henry VIII and his wives. In the True Bride story, the sons are replaced by a cat and a snake. It doesn't say that the prince beat her, but he did try to have her killed. At the end of the story, the wife does go back to the prince, but that bothered me, so I gave her a happy ending far from a prince that tried to murder her. Also a much happier story than that of Anne Boleyn and the other wives of Henry VIII. In the original story, the prince is attracted to her by her beauty, but also the fact that she could spit out golden nuggets. I wanted to remove all magic from the story and make it seem historical, since this pretty much happened with Anne Boleyn. So instead, I just gave her a huge dowry (and made the children girls instead of trying to explain how humans could give birth to animals). It is evident that this prince doesn't care for her, which is how he can beat her and easily have her and her family executed.

The True Bride: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

Reading Notes: The True Bride, Part B

• Diamonds and Toads meets the story of Romulus and Remus. 
• Did the prince really love her? Surely he wouldn't have had her killed if he loved her?
• The Stepmother getting rid of the sons she gave birth to is especially cruel. 
• Gives her a cat, then a snake instead of her children
• Children are raised by dog
• How old were they? Seem old enough... would they have known about their true origins?
• How could that woman go back to her husband after he has her killed? 
• How did she forgive him?
• Once she was turned into a goose, why couldn't she be with her kids?

Photo by Dick Daniels. Source: Wikipedia

The True Bride: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

Reading Notes: The Rolling Head, Part A

• The use of the snake being the woman's undoing in very similar to the Hebrew creation story of Eve and the serpent
• Father doesn't seem to feel guilty, only the children "regretted what he had done to them". 
• As in they are not sad that he killed their mother. They are sad he made them eat her
• Exploring the relationship between the father and children more
• Maybe they don't mourn their mother?
• only felt bad due to the rolling head
• If there wasn't a rolling head, would they care if their father had killed her?

Photo of woman at a lake. Source: pxhere

The Rolling Head: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).

Famous Last Words: Back on Track

This week I got back on track! I wrote my first storybook story, which I think went really well and I am excited to receive feedback on it. I had chosen the original story source long ago, towards the beginning of the semester. I have been thinking about that story since, so when it came time to actually sit down and write my retelling, it felt daunting. However, once I started typing, it started flowing. I am now ready and pumped to write the next story for my storybook. I hope I am doing Eleanor of Aquitaine proud!
I thought I knew which stories I wanted to do next for my storybook, but now I am not sure. I think I may have to spend a lot of time thinking about that this week, planning for my storybook. Unfortunately I am behind, so I can't do a planning post instead of writing the story. I am not too worried about it, it will just be harder since for this first post, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the storybook.
I am also looking forward to the homecoming game this weekend! When I went to OU/Texas this year, I had really great seats in the student section. Sitting nearby was the "Soonerman" who dresses in an OU unitard for every game. He also waits the four hours before the game in order to get a front row seat at every home game! I started talking to him and I told him how I had always wanted to sit on the front row, but that I didn't have friends who were that interested in football who were willing to do it with me. So we decided for that this week's home game, I am going to wait with him ad grab a front row seat! I am so excited to see how different of an experience it is, being so close to the field. Hopefully it's worth the four hour wait, but only time will tell!

Week 9 Story: Waiting

     Dimena could never understand her mother. Nzambi was a beautiful goddess who lived on earth with everything she could ever want. And yet, she forced Dimena to stay with her at all times. She could never leave. She couldn't make friends, and explore the world.
     Sometimes her mother had visitors, mostly supplicants who begged her for help with their crops or their families. This was the most exciting time for her as she was able to see people talk to them about the world and their lives. They could never understand why the daughter of a deity would be interested in the lives of mere mortals, but they answered her questions nonetheless.
     Rumor soon spread of her beauty that was beyond what anyone had ever seen before. Dimena didn't feel comfortable with the men and women who stared at her so longingly, but they kept demanding that she be able to leave her mother and marry. While she didn't want to be subjected to the power of just another guardian, the idea of getting out of the same home she had always lived in, waiting on her mother, sounded wonderful.
     Her mother said that she would only allow Dimena to marry whoever could bring back heavenly fire from Nzambi Mpungu, the creator god who stayed in the heavens. Many tried, but none succeeded.
     Finally, there was a band of animals who were able to work together to bring the heavenly fire back to earth. Dimena silently cried tears of joy and pure relief as they entered her mother's throne room. She stood by her mother's side as she always did, ready to heed her commands. She couldn't help but think that this could be the last time she would have to stand waiting for her mother's decisions, owned and controlled by her.
     "I deserve to marry her as I risked my life, almost being burned alive in the bamboo!" said the rat.
     "But I pecked the hole by which we enetered heaven." said the woodpecker. "She should be mine!"
     "But it was my quest! I am the reason she was rescued!" said the spider.

Nzambi Figure
Source: Wikimedia

     Dimena stood smiling, wondering which would be her husband. No matter what, she would be leaving the same throne room where she had been forced to stay for more years than she could count.
     "Well, if I give her to any of you, the others who do not win her will make her life miserable. I cannot do that to my daughter. So she will simply have to remain here with me. You are all dismissed." She waved her hand and Dimena's rescuers disappeared.
     "Dimena, fetch me something to drink. Perhpas the juice from yesterday. On second thought, I want fresh squeezed juice. Why are you just standing there. Go!"
      Dimena couldn't move. She couldn't feel. She didn't know what to think.
     "How?"
     "How what, my precious?"
     Dimena tried to speak, but she couldn't find her voice.
     "Speak up, Dimena. You know I won't tolerate mumbling."
     "How could you keep me imprisoned here?"
     "Imprisoned? Imprisoned! Ha! You live in a beautiful home with a mother who loves you more than anything. I am keeping you safe. The world is dangerous. You are too precious to risk. The world doesn't deserve you!"
     "I'm leaving," Dimena could hardly believe the words coming out of her own mouth, but she continued anyway. "I will not stay here, your slave whom you claim to love. I will be free!"
     "No you won't." And with that, the earth around Dimena rose. It envelopped her legs. She couldn't walk. "My only other other love, the earth will keep you here. Home. Where you will be safe."

Author's Note: This is based off the story How The Spider Won And Lost Nzambi's Daughter. In the original, we know nothing of the daughter except that she is beautiful. I thought it bizarre that the story mentioned how the daughter served her mother, even though her mother is a deity. So I decided to give her a voice, and imagine how the daughter would have felt I gave her a name and tried to explain why she would have remained with her mother after learning she would never be able to leave. 

How The Spider Won And Lost Nzambi's Daughter: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).


   

Reading Notes: Nzambi's Daughter, Part B

• Animals must work together to free a maiden to be married
• When they present necessary item to mother, the animals disagree on who should really have her
•  The mother says because they all deserve her and are fighting over her, none of them can have her
• The maiden waits on her mother for the rest of her life
• People only want her because she is beautiful
• is she smart? dumb? funny? serious? 
• Does she want to get married or stay? 
• Does she really want to serve her mother for the rest of her life? A servant in her own home?
• Doesn't she want to get out and live her own life???
• Maybe she wants to be married off, but is afraid of her mother's wrath. 

Nzambi Figure
Source: Wikimedia

How The Spider Won And Lost Nzambi's Daughter: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

Reading Notes: The Vanishing Wife, Part A

• Guy gets the perfect wife, house and servants 
• He has one job: don't let his wife see a fish's head. 
• He gets lazy and stops cutting the heads off right away as he should, and so she sees it and he vanishes
• Why wasn't the guy grateful enough or what he had that he couldn't follow through on his  one job??
• Who else does this?
• probably everyone.
• In life we do the one thing we knew we weren't supposed to do. 

Dude would press this button.
Author Chris Mckenna Source: Wikimedia

The Vanishing Wife: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

Week 8 Progress

Overall I am really enjoying this class. I love the writing assignments and I definitely do as much of the extra cedit as possible. I did this because I knew I would reach a point in the semester where I had no motivation. Well the time has come. Last week I totally fell off the wagon and didn't most of the assignments. Everyone has those weeks, right?

For the rest of the semester, I want to change my schedule just a bit to start working on the coming week on Sunday. That way I can get ahead and have more time I can devote to story planning for the class project.

My motivation to push through the rest of the semester is to get to Christmas, drink lots of hot chocolate, and be a woman my dog can be proud of. 

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I definitely enjoy reading the comments from my peers. They're always really nice and supportive, which is cool little ego boost at the end of the week. The class project feedback has probably been more constructive than the story feedback. Often time I do not get a critique for my stories, which is fine since I don't usually go back and edit. But perhaps more constructive criticism would help me for the following week.

Reading other people work is inspiring and motivates me to work harder on my own writing. I try to always give something for the writer to improve on, but my peers are doing so great on their stories! Sometimes it's hard to find anything wrong!

By reading other people's blogs, I definitely get a sense of their personality! However, I am not getting to know people through commenting. I don't stick to reading the same people every week because I would rather read lots of different writing styles and switch it up often. I think the same can be said for my blog. I am very candid in my writing, so I think people are seeing the real me, but I don't think that anyone is really getting to know me.

I need to be better about bookmarking class projects I like. I think that it's fine to read different people's blogs every week, but these class projects are more comprehensive, so I should probably stick to a few people's projects!

(cheezburger)

I chose this image because while criticism is not often, there are definitely patterns which is what is important. If it mentioned twice it's doubly important.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I have loved doing the readings, but I mostly enjoy doing the stories. I love to write so this has been such a great experience. I think that my favorite readings were the Egyptian stories, second place was the Japanese stories.

Notes: I definitely use my notes every week. I like writing a synopsis (even though that's technically not what we are supposed to do) because it helps me remember what are the big takeaways, the major plot points of the story. That way I am sure that my story is reflecting those major points. I also make notes to myself to remember what I wanted to focus on.

Stories: My biggest accomplishment of the class I think has been the Introduction for the class project as that was the most difficult, but it cam out well and I am proud of it. However, the story I had the most fun writing was the first story, Beauty Fight Backs. I was excited to write it, and I based it off of my favorite story formula: Beauty and the Beast. I am still most proud of that.

Image: Finding images is my least favorite part of the assignments every week. I don't put as much thought into it as perhaps other people do. I would much rather write. My favorite image used is from my story Martyrs Imprisoned. When I was writing and thinking about Christian martyrs being held by the Roman government, I immediately thought of Paul's cell which is in the Rome which I saw when I went.

Prison cell of Saint Paul in Rome.
Photo by Edith OSB Source: Flickr

Looking Forward: I think to get more out of the reading and writing experience, I need to get back on top of my Class project. I feel so behind last week that I didn't have much time to write the first story for the project. That definitely isn't something that should be rushed, so instead I just decided to wait until next week to get started on it. I still am sure that it will turn out well, I just need to devote more planning time to it so that I can sit down to write effectively.