Week 10 Review

I liked today's Words of Wisdom. It was, "As you make your bed, so you must lie on it." As with most things, it sounds better in French - "Comme on fait son lit, on se couche."

For me, it's really about dealing with the consequences of your decisions. Once you've acted, you have to accept and navigate the outcome.

Sleepy Cat
Source: Flickr girlonaglide

Extra Reading Diary: Marriage Tales

Extra Reading Diary: Marriage Tales

I'm continuing my reading of marriage tales for my Extra Reading Diary. I enjoyed the first half of the unit and I expect the second half will be just as great!

The Dog-Husband: When I read this title I was a little suspicious that it could have to do with werewolves, but I thought it was probably just my imagination. But I was right! Although the story doesn't mention werewolves, there are humans who can turn into dogs. I thought it was a very clever and interesting idea to have the main character have a man (werewolf) lover who stayed disguised in his dog form so he could be with her. It was a bit uncomfortable when the children were born as dogs, but I guess that played into the story later. Overall, I really liked this concept.

The Youth Who Joined The Deer: This story was nothing like I expected. These shapeshifter stories never end! I thought this story was amazing. I did find it odd that the man like deer so much at first and yet he still killed them. But it fit in perfectly with the ending of the story. I think this is a beautiful way to look at nature. I also found the concept interesting that deer would sacrifice themselves for their people, but they were always revived. I think it would be an interesting concept if a deer volunteered to be killed, but someone stole his bones so they couldn't bring him back. These marriage tale stories are right up my alley!

Deer
Source: Wikipedia Commons

Reading Diary A: Marriage Tales

Reading Diary A: Marriage Tales

I'm always interested in how different cultures look at love and marriages. In today's society we are so used to the idea of people having soulmates that the thought of an arranged marriage is barbaric. I think that it differs on the time period and it's interesting to see how people have adjusted to their cultures and customs.

The Piqued Buffalo-Wife: I found this to be an interesting story. I like stories about shapeshifters and I didn't expect this story to include it. I liked how the mother and son were both buffalos, but the father was still human. It's interesting to see that the man wasn't horrified or worried that his wife was different than him. Most people are scared of the unknown. I also like when characters have to go through a series of trials to get what they want. I can see this story being told around a bonfire, and those are my favorite kind.

Indian Woman
Source: photo by Edward Curtis

Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman: With the buffalo story, I expected this story to be similar, but was pleasantly happy to find that it wasn't. I like stories where animals interact with each other and are able to talk. I like the dimensions and character that each animal had.

Extra Reading Diary: Alaska

Extra Reading Diary: Alaska

I have family that live in Alaska, so I thought it would be interesting to learn a little bit about the history of where they live. I'm interested in seeing how Alaskan people differ from the Great Plains indians that I read about in my other units for the week. I'm hoping to read something about polar bears too, if possible!

Eskimo Girl
Source: Myths And Legends of Alaska

The Raven Myth: Raven's Creation: My favorite part of this story was the shape-shifting raven. The raven mainly focused on creating animals that would have been relevant to the Alaskan people. Whereas other stories focus on buffalo or such, this author focuses on goats and caribou. I like the idea of a raven creator. I wonder how he was made? Is he a god? I think this could be an interesting topic to explore. 

The Raven Myth: Raven Creates the People: I was particularly intrigued by the little snippet in this story about mosquitos. I think it's funny that in this story mosquitos never bit men until they were told to do so (by man himself no less!). I like that the creator, in this case the raven, is wary of man. I think it's an interesting concept when the creator is a bit horrified of what he has made. Another concept that I like his how quickly the children grew up. Do they still have the mind of a child and the body of an adult? Or do they develop that quickly mentally as well?

Reading Diary B: Great Plains

Reading Diary B: Great Plains

This is a continuation of my Great Plains reading diary. I enjoyed the first part of this unit and I'm looking forward to the second part. I'm already interested in Why The Possum Plays Dead.

Why The Possum Plays Dead: I thought this was a clever story, explaining why possums play dead. I like stories that try to give an explanation for the way things work. I also liked that the story gave each of the animals personalities. Poor possum didn't get a wife in the end, but he did pick up a helpful survival instinct.

Possum
Source: Wikipedia Commons

Coyote and Snake: It was cool to see two animals who are usually depicted at tricksters go up against one another. In this story the snake triumphs. I like that snakes attack was subtle. I could see myself using this idea for my storytelling post this week. Pitting two clever people against each other is more interesting than a fool against someone clever. My only question is why did coyote get fatter? I assume it was swelling from the snake's venom.

Rabbit and Deer: I liked this series of stories, especially the How The Deer Got His Horns story. I like the concept of animals earning their particular physical features. It also gave a funny explanation why rabbits gnaw on bushes.

Reading Diary A: Great Plains

Reading Diary A: Great Plains

I chose this unit because I live where the Great Plains used to be. I think it's important to know the history of the land you live in. I'm also basing the werewolves in my novel off of Native American culture, so I'm hoping to get some ideas from these stories.

Indians + Tepee
Source: Wikipedia Commons

The Creation: I'm always a sucker for creation stories and this one was no exception. I liked the idea of the sun and moon being the parents of humans. This story also presented a creative take on how humans got to Earth and subsequently how animals (mainly the elk) helped them live here. The Native American people were so in tune with nature that it's no surprise they saw themselves working with animals in the beginning.

Sacred Legend: This is another take on the story of creation. In this story, in the beginning humans were in the water. This story is less about creation and more about how the people learned to survive. It takes the reader from the discovery of fire to the building of tepees. There isn't much personality to this story, but I like how it gave a more clinical view of history. This is essentially their science and how they understand the world. It was fairly simple, but it gave them an origin story.

Reading Plan

Reading Plan

• Week 9 - Great Plains 
• I chose this unit because I want to know more about the Indians that live in my area of the world. 
• Week 10 - Marriage Tales
• I have never heard of marriage tales so I'm interested to see what they're about.
• Week 11 - King Arthur



The Death of King Arthur
Source: Wikipedia Commons

• I'm in an Arthurian Legend class right now, so extra reading about him will probably be helpful. 
• Week 12 - Beowulf
• Most people read this story in high school, but I didn't get the chance. Now I can. 
• Week 13 - Inferno
• I'm interested to see Dante's view of Hell.
• Week 14 - Ashliman
• The story had me hooked at Little Red Riding Hood (there's a wolf!).