Myth and Folklore

Mole Rat and a Snake worked together as servants on a farm. Snake was not allowed inside the farmhouse on account of the unsightly skin that covered her body; it was pale, wrinkly, and hung off her bones at strange angles. She worked in the fields, weaving her way through the stalks of wheat and corn to catch intruding mice, always out of sight of the other animals and visitors of the farm. Mole Rat's coat was made up of a beautiful array of scales, which shone in the sunlight and reflected a vibrant prism of colors. She was thus employed inside the farmhouse, where she helped the farmer's wife in the kitchen. In the heat of the day, when poor Snake lay under the mercy of the sun, Mole Rat could be found chopping onions and humming along to a tune the farmer's wife liked to sing as they cooked together. Although the farmer's wife was very kind to Mole Rat, the farmer was cruel and never missed an opportunity to jeer at Snake and make fun of her appearance. Snake passe

The Hummingbird and the Carabao -A carabao is resting under a tree by the river when a hummingbird passes by -"Friend carabao" and "little hum" -Hummingbird says she has come to drink on this hot day -Carabao teases that a drop will be enough -They then make a bet to see who can drink more -Carabao drinks and drinks, but the tide is rising, so the water level never seems to go down -Hummingbird teases that he has actually added more water to the river -Hummingbird then pretends to drink, but in reality just waits until the tide begins to ebb, so it appears that she has drunk down the river -Carabao is stupefied and saturated with water, hardly able to move Why the Ocean is Salty -Ang-ngalo is the son of the God of  building  -"The ocean at the time was pure, its water being the accumulated tears of disappointed goddesses" -Goddess of darkness asks Ang-ngalo to build her a palace made of white bricks -Goes to the ruler of the

The Three Friends -Buñgisñgis: “a large strong man that is always laughing” -Derived from the root ñgisi, “to show the teeth” -Three friends go to live in the country: monkey, dog, carabao -As the carabao is frying meat the Buñgisñgis comes up to him and asks for the food; when the carabao refuses the Buñgisñgis throws him into the earth -Monkey and dog return from hunting to find carabao sunk into the earth -They then cook the rest of their food -The Buñgisñgis is clever and knows their is union in strength - avoids attacking all three at once  -The next day the Buñgisñgis returns and similarly intimidates dog -The monkey digs a pit, and the next day when the Buñgisñgis arrives tricks him into falling in, burying him with earth  -Dog and carabao return and foolishly dig him up; they suffer terrible fates -Monkey escapes up a tree -When he encounters the Buñgisñgis again in the forest, he tricks him into thinking a beehive is a bell, and when the Buñgisñgis pulss the

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife -A girl is sitting embroidering, and a bird shows up -The bird says her kismet is with a dead person -The girl is afraid and locks all of her doors and windows the next day -But the bird appears yet again on her table with the same message -Taking extra precaution the next day, she works by candlelight in the cupboard -But yet again, her feathery nemesis shows up -Mother and daughter confine themselves to the house lest the bird return -The girl goes out with friends, but while drinking at a lake she is cut off from them by a wall -The wall has a door, and inside the girl finds a splendid palace filled with gold and jewels -Encounters a bey with instructions that whoever fans him and prays by him will find their kismet The Imp of the Well -A journey ensues that ends up at a garden -There a miller was grinding mill with a cat beside him -A woodcutter with a "cantankerous" wife lived nearby -She was greedy and purposefully dis

It was a lovely spring day on Holloway Farm. The sun was shining, the breeze was crisp, and not a single cloud broke the crystal expanse of the sky. But the silence was cut by a loud and persistent bickering: the spinach just wouldn't seem to shut up. "Really, I don't know who came up with the layout this year. I can hardly breathe with all these tomato plants so close by! And the roots of the cabbage keep creeping up; I'm tired of having to shoo them away." The other vegetables rolled their metaphorical eyes (except for the potatoes, who could actually claim to have eyes). The rutabaga was particularly irked. She was an elderly plant who lived on the other side of the garden, and wished only for calm and quiet in the garden. The whining of the spinach had completely disturbed the serenity of the patch the vegetables called home.  "And the soil this year, it's terribly uncomfortable! Last year's tilling was so soft I might have imagined I w

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp Part 1 -Poor tailor with an idle son -Father dies because of son's idleness -African magician shows up claiming to be Aladdin's uncle -Aladdin and his mother have dinner with the strange man -The next day he takes Aladdin to buy fine clothing and begin his transition to a productive human being -The magician leads Aladdin to gardens and then onward toward the mountains -The magician tricks Aladdin into going after a magic lamp -Aladdin wanders through halls and fruit tree gardens, finds, the lamp, and returns -Aladdin refused to give him the lamp, and the magician shuts the door out of the cave -Aladdin cries and ends up rubbing a ring the magician gave him -A genie appears Part 2 -Aladdin returns home -His mother polishes the lamp to get it ready to sell, and another genie appears -The boy asks for food and the lamp genie fetches a feast -The sultan orders all homes shut up as his daughter goes to the ba

Fear -A young boy's mother tells him to shut the door because she has a fear -The boy asks what fear is -The mother answers that it is "being afraid" -The boy sets out to discover what fear truly is -Finds a group of robbers, who tell him fear is there with them -They ask him to cook helwa in a nearby cemetery, where a hand reaches out of a grave to ask the boy for food     -The hand is beaten back by a spoon     -"Naturally I should feed the dead before the living" (what a sassy child) -The robbers send him to abandoned building, where he finds a bracelet, but not fear -The boy then helps save a sinking ship by flogging the daughter of the sea, who is rocking it and causing the passengers to be afraid -Three pigeons dive into a fountain and are transformed into women     -Each drinks to the health of the boy for his various encounters with fear that he did not flinch by The Wizard-Dervish -Padishah = great king -A padishah with no son encounters

Scheherzade -Sultan is married to a wife whom he loves very much -Discovers his wife had deceived him in terrible ways -Carries out the law of the land by asking the Grand Vizier to out her to death -Becomes convinced that all women are wicked at their core -Decides to marry a fresh wife every evening and have her strangled in the morning        -"Every day saw a girl married and a wife dead" -Grand Vizier' had a daughter named Scheherezade who was clever, beautiful, and courageous -She desires to stop the barbaric practice of the Sultan -Asks to be married to him -Her last wish is to have her sister with her to ask for a story before dawn -And with the beginning of the story she begins her plan to save the girls of the land from the Sultan's terror -Possible story idea: reversed gender roles (dead husbands) The Story of the Merchant and the Genius -A merchant sets out on a business journey -Stops to rest under a tree -A genius comes up to attack him

Episodes Under Consideration -A Letter to Allah about the moon in the well -A Letter to The Sun and Moon Gods of the Blackfoot Tribe from their grandson Starboy -A Letter to Huitzilopochtli (Aztec Sun God) from his mother Formatting Ideas I want to play with true letter format in these stories, meaning there will be a salutation, a body, and a closing. Specifically, I want to experiment with informal/formal tones of letter writing. For instance, the letter from the peasant who spots the moon in the well to Allah might be very formal, whereas the letter from Huitzilopochtli's mother to him may be much more informal. Or perhaps because this is the expected choice, I will mix it up and switch these two story approaches. After all, many people feel a very personal connection to God(s) (in this case Allah), whereas the relationship between mother and son can be one of distant respect and obeisance as much as affectionate love. Rather than writing one-way letters, I am also thinking

Thanks for stopping by! You can find my storybook here The rulers of the sky. Source: Flickr

-Create freedom appears liberating -Ironically, we find ourselves paralyzed by "boundless freedom" -Cost, materials, laws of physics: creative constraints  -Apply across professions -Constraints are essential    -This is especially true of scientific experiments, where variables are controlled    -Engineers discover constraints and then find solutions to problems by working around them -Iterative vs. innovative   -Iterative: How can I create a better...   -Innovative: How can I reach my goal when the best solution doesn't work... -"Serendipitous failures" sometimes end up being the solution to the constraints of other problems -Orwellian    -Can mean authoritarian   -BUT this is not the whole story   -Deceptive and manipulative use of language -George Orwell opposed to tyranny  -Believed language shapes our thoughts and opinions -Double speak: words used not to convey meaning, but to undermine it    -War is peace   -Free

"The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense." -It is possible that all languages share a common origin -Whether or not this is true, there were far fewer languages in the beginning of humanity -Tribes would break into separate groups in search of new land to live on -Isolated populations then developed in different ways, including in the department of language -3000 to 8000 languages in the world, depending on who you ask     -Sometimes dialects of the same language are so different that they may be unintelligible to other         speakers of the same language -Hearty welcome vs. cordial reception: very different linguistic connotations -"Hearty" and "welcome" come from Saxon -"Cordial" and "reception" come from French -France ruled England for a period      -The aristocracy spoke French, the commoners spoke Saxon -French and Saxon languages became more intertwined  -We still associate French wo

I am going to try my hand at combining two of my topics, relating letters to the gods about the sun and moon... Story #1: A Letter to Allah I will base this story off of a tale in which a hodja believes that the moon has fallen into a well. The hodja writes to Allah asking how he can save the moon from its watery fate, and proceeds to describe all the methods he has thus far employed. A bucket cannot scoop up the silvery puddle and a hook cannot pierce its rippled surface. The hodja asks Allah what he needs to gather the moon from inside the well and return it to the sky, but soon begins to wonder whether Allah has let the moon fall for a reason. https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1335a.html#hodja Story #2: A Letter to The Sun and Moon Gods of the Blackfoot Tribe This tale will be based on the legend of Star Boy (nicknamed Poia), born of Feather-Woman and Morning Star. His mother was banished from the sky for digging up a forbidden turnip, and passed away from unhappiness soon af

How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk  By Adam Grant -The "feedback sandwich" - positive, negative, positive -Positive feedback can "fall on deaf ears" because the person is waiting for the negative -They might see positive feedback as "softening the blow" of what is to come (the negative) -By starting and ending with positive feedback, criticisms may be lost -19 words can help improve feedback reception by 40% - “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.” -Level the playing field; you're not on a pedestal -Ask if someone wants feedback rather than giving it immediately -Dialogue versus monologue Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise? By Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman -Managers feel it's their job to give negative feedback, with positive feedback being optional -People do not like to give negative feedback -Positive feedback actually makes a greater impact

"Well, this doesn't bode well for the empowerment of women in the coming centuries." Sarah sat huddled in the corner of a dark wooden box being pulled along by two donkeys. She and her husband Abraham were fleeing to Egypt, and as one of the original patriarchs of Judaism, Abraham's beliefs about women were deeply entrenched in the emerging pattern of patriarchal norms. Sarah made a mental note to talk to God later about how this was unfolding.  Back in the present situation, Sarah bemoaned her husband's need to conceal her in a box. Abraham feared that when the Egyptians gazed upon her beauty, she would be snatched away for the king's harem. This was problematic for two reasons: firstly, because anyone who tried to mess with Sarah, be it a peasant or a king, would find themselves in for a fierce battle. She would not be dragged anywhere without a fight. The neighbors joked that her spirit was like Moses’ burning bush – endlessly fiery. Secondly, be

The Witch of Endor -King Saul of Israel prepares for a battle against the Philistines -Worried about the outcome, her decides to consult a witch -The trouble is, he has outlawed witchcraft -Disguises himself and goes to one "familiar with the spirits" -The witch sees an image of Samuel -Samuel is salty that he was raised from the dead to talk to Saul, but asks him what is wrong -Saul tells him the lord has forsaken him, and Samuel is like yep that's true, you're gonna die tomorrow Bathsheba -King David of Israel goes to the roof and peeps a naked lady in the distance washing herself -The woman is Bathsheba -And David, all hot and bothered, is like, "netflix and chill?" -Bathsheba conceives a child -David invites Bathsheba's wife, Uriah, to him -David writes a death sentence for Uriah (to be put in front of the "hottest battle") and Uriah carries it to Joab (an important guy in managing affairs) without knowing -Uriah dies, and

Sarah -Abraham and Sarah are advanced in age -Three men pay them a visit -Abraham and Sarah prepare a meal for them -One of them remarks that Sarah will give birth to a son -Sarah laughs, because she is old and can no longer conceive -Sarah gives birth to a son, Isaac -Abraham is 100 years old at this point Hagar  -Hagar is an Egyptian handmaid to Sarah -Abraham and Sarah have no children -Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham so that he may conceive a child with her -Hagar flees to the forest after conceiving -God has a nice chat with her, reassuring her and promising her many children -Hagar gives birth to Ishmael -Hagar and Ishmael are sent away because of Sarah's loathing -God promises Ishmael a nation of his own Rebekah -A servant takes ten camels to a nearby city to find a wife for Isaac -Posts up by the well during the time women come to draw water -Awaits the woman who pauses to allow him and his camels to drink, for she will be the one who shows kindness un

The Fairy Frog -Hanina bestows his son with a dying wish: to buy the first thing offered to him at the market before the Passover feast -Hanina's parents pass away side by side, and the traditional seven days of mourning commence -The item offered to him at the market is a silver casket worth a thousand gold pieces -The casket is opened on Passover and a frog hops out -The frog grows massive over the ensuing weeks -Hanina and his wife grow poor and destitute in trying to keep up with feeding the frog -Finally, the frog speaks to the couple and offers to grant their desires -The wife asks for food, Hanina for knowledge ("the lore of men") -The frog writes down the laws and seventy languages on strips of paper -When Hanina swallows them, he becomes acquainted with everything -Learns the "language of the beasts and the birds" -Then Hanina and wis wife are taken by the frog to the forest -Birds and insects come in droves with precious je

The Giant of the Flood -Noah gathers the animals for the ark -The men and women of the world are left behind      -"All ye that lie down shall enter and be saved from the deluge that is about to destroy the world" -Noah realizes he must find a unicorn -The giant Og offers to bring him one in return for salvation -Noah refuses, but Og outsmarts him by hopping on the back of the unicorn      -Noah has tied the ark so the massive unicorn may swim alongside -The giant is massive and fears death by starvation      -He could once "drink water from the clouds and toast fish at the sun" -Noah feeds the giant in exchange for his servitude to the Israelites later on -Og helps Noah plant seeds around the world once the flood subsides -Plants the grape vine      -Og slaughters four animals to honor the plant: goat, lion, pig, monkey      -His declarations after the slaughter of each represent the stages of drunkenness      -"When a man shall taste but a few

How Arts Education Teaches Kids to Learn From Failure I believe there is no better way to set young people up for success than by teaching them arts in school. I have learned the most important life lessons from my time spent in the dance studio - about time management, about the process of learning and refining a craft, and about pushing my limits to go beyond where I think I am capable of being. As the article states, art is fundamentally about a growth process, because it's not like you can slap a letter grade on a tendu. Instead, you work each day to understand how your feet move across the floor to create a specific shape, which ultimately enables greater movement built from this fundamental concept. The phrase "practice makes permanent" is one I have heard before in dance, and it relates the idea that when you ignore the process of making something better, you are essentially an unwanted result. It is much better to fail a thousand times than to spend those tho

Day and Night  I've always loved the idea of personifying day and night: as the guardians of light and darkness, and as the timeless couple that works together to keep the cycles of earth in balance. My grandparents have two beautiful native American sculptures that depict the sun and the moon as vaguely humanesque creatures. They live side by side on a wall in their home, and I have always loved imagining the special bond they share as the keepers of day and night. For this project I would like to explore how and sun and moon have been represented in different cultures, and what the concepts of day and night mean to them. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013437416&view=1up&seq=294  (p.248) A New Alice Alice in Wonderland is a timeless classic, and one of the reasons it is so beloved is because of all the unique characters the reader encounters during Alice's journey. I think it would be a lot of fun to start with a different initial character (a