Week 4, Reading Diary B: Ancient Egyptian Mythology

Ancient Egyptian Mythology

The Two Brothers
This story has 4 parts, which makes it long, but it is very interesting. Anpu is the older brother who is married and Bata is the younger brother. Bata plows the fields for Anpu and his wife and is basically a care taker of his brothers farm. One day Bata is planting the field and goes to Anpu's house to get seeds. Anpu's wife then hits on him. Bata turns her down and goes back to work. The wife then tells Anpu that Bata tried to hit on HER. So, of course, the brother took the woman's word for face value and went to kill his brother. Bata could understand what the animals said, and they warned him that his brother was coming to kill him. Bata prayed to Ra to help him and so a stream popped up between them with crocodiles. Bata then told his brother what his wife did. Bata told his brother that he was going to go somewhere else to live and that his soul would be in the highest acacia tree, and when it was cut down he would know because his beer would go rancid. He told his brother to put his soul in a cup of water and I will grow back. Yea, that was a really weird story, but hey...Anyway, Anpu killed his wife and mourned his brother. Meanwhile, the gods made a wife for Bata. A piece of Bata's wife's hair went down the river and made the King want her, so he sent people to get her. The scribes cut down the trees and killed Bata. Anpu's wine turned rancid, so he went to find his brother's soul. The brother came back as a bull. Anpu and the bull went to see his ex-wife and Bata, the bull, told her he was Bata. The wife had the King sacrifice the bull. Two drops of blood fell and trees grew. The tree's told her that they were Bata, so she had the trees cut down. A piece of wood went into her mouth and made her pregnant. After the King died and appointed his son as king, Bata revealed that he was the son and had his ex-wife put to death. The end.

The Book of Thoth
This story has 3 parts and is very interesting also. This is about a man, Nefer-ka-ptah, who wants to get the book of Thoth, which contains all the magic and knowledge of everything. It is in the middle of a river in Koptos, in 6 boxes within boxes, and surrounded by snakes and scorpions and one snake that cannot be killed. Long story short, Nefer got the book and it pissed Thoth off so much that he asked Ra to let him have vengeance so Ra said, sure why not! Thoth then drowned and killed Nefer's son, wife and then Nefer himself. But, before he did that, Nefer had copied one of the spells onto a piece of papyrus, washed it in beer and then drank the beer that had the ink from the spell in it. I thought this would be a cool story to spin off for the storytelling portion.

"The Great Library of Alexandria" by VonCorven. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Week 4, Reading Diary A: Ancient Egyptian Mythology

Ancient Egyptian Myths

This first half of the Ancient Egyptian myths was very interesting. I found a lot of similarities between some bible stories and these Egyptian stories.

Ra and Hathor
This story was about Ra and how he became angry at the people that called him old. He was going to flood the world, but decided to just send Hathor, the eye of Ra, down to slaughter his enemies. As she was wading through the blood of the fallen, Ra had a change of heart and poured 7,000 jars filled with beer on the earth to flood it. Hathor then became drunk. From then on the people would give beer as an offering to the goddess.

The Journey of Isis
Set, Osiris' brother, wanted to kill Horus, Osiris' son, so he could rule. Isis, Horus' mother, took him and ran away. Long story short, Osiris's body was eventually chopped into 14 pieces and thrown in the Nile. The crocodiles would not eat the pieces because they were afraid of Isis, but a fish ate his penis. Isis found the 13 pieces and erected temples over those pieces but never found the piece the fish ate. I was thinking maybe a story about the the 14th piece and the fish might be interesting.

The Green Jewel
In this story, King Sneferu was walking around bored one day. He went to his scribe and whined that he was bored. The scribe suggested that he get 20 of his virgins and let them row him around the lake. This apparently turned out to be a good idea until one of the girls lost a green jewel from her hair in the lake. She pitched a fit and wouldn't go anywhere until she got that exact jewel back, so the King went and told his scribe. The scribe came back to the lake and muttered a spell to part the waters to find the jewel and they all lived happily ever after.

Emerald Teardrop by ARTG33K74. Source: Deviant Art

Fire Stories from Native Tribes: Storybook Styles Brainstorm

Topic: I will be doing my Storybook on the different fire stories from different Native American tribes of the United States. Fire is a very important aspect of traditional Creek culture and so I was just going to focus on the South East tribes stories. I then decided that I wanted to expand it to get a little more flavor but apparently there are no other tribes in North or South America that have fire stories that I could find easily. I was a little disappointed and may have to expand my story hunting from just Native American stories to all myths. I may have to do a little more digging and see what is out there.

Bibliography Information:
"Rabbit Steals Fire" by Earnest Gouge, from New Fire (2004). Web Source: William and Mary Linguistics
"Bear, Tiger, Rattlesnake, and Fire" Web Source: Sacred Texts

"The Theft of Fire" Web Source: Sacred Texts

"Fire" Web Source: Sacred Texts

"Rabbit Obtains Fire" Web Source: Sacred Texts

Possible Styles:

Third-Person Storyteller: This is the style that I write in almost all the time. It is just the most natural for me. I may add this to the Inanimate Object as my style. I could also speak for the other animals in the stories in this way also. I will probably combine this and another type of storytelling to get the final product. The inanimate object and bed time story styles really seem like they are going to fit with what I think is going to be my final product.

First-Person Storytelling: This style would work if I wanted to tell the stories through the rabbit's eyes, whom is the most prominent figure in all of the stories, except one. In this style I could have the other animals from one story as characters, but not necessarily told in their voice. I also have humans to consider as a character.

Inanimate Object as Storyteller: This might be the best option for me to go with. The fire is the object in all of the stories, but it is not necessarily inanimate, as modern humans see it. In one story the fire is actually a teacher to the other characters and is old and wise.

Bedtime Story: This might be a good way to combine all the stories into one style instead of doing an anthology style storybook, since 3 of the 5 stories all have a rabbit as their main character. Also, I could have an original prompt question as a way to begin. I may have to tell it in a Third-Person Storyteller, Inanimate Object as Storyteller way.

"Fire" Source: Wikimedia Commons

Week 3, Storytelling: Fate's Hangover

(The Three Fates Tapestry. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

According to lore, Fate has never allowed Famine (the goddess of Starvation) and Ceres (the goddess of Agriculture) to meet. To allow Famine and Ceres in the same location at once would be certain doom. However, Fate had a different plan for this day.

One afternoon, Fate was drinking a glass of wine, going through her list of To-Do’s for the next day, when she started feeling ill. She had never been sick before. Goddesses didn’t get sick! But, right now, she felt as if she was going to be sick all over the Earth. She called her sisters, but they weren’t answering her calls. They had been ignoring her since last week. She “accidentally” cut someone’s life cord short before it was their time...it was a simple mistake! They could be so serious sometimes. It was just a human, no big deal, right?! After not being able to reach her sisters, she decided that she would just lie down for a minute until the room stopped spinning. Why was the room spinning...? Why was she feeling this way...? She had heard the humans talk about being drunk and the room spinning. She couldn’t get drunk, right? She then remembered who she had gotten the bottle of wine from last weekend, Loki. This was not going to end well!

Fate woke up the next day with a pounding headache. Her phone was ringing off the hook. She picked it up and saw that it was her boss calling. THE boss. Oh, sh*t, this is really not good. She was soooo going to kick Loki’s a$s for this! She got up, grabbed some Excedrin and picked the phone up again. She took a deep breath and called her boss back.

Yeah, this was NOT good. Leave it up to Famine and Ceres to pick the ONE night she was not paying attention to end up at the same club. They have both been pining for Hercules for CENTURIES and did NOT get along, AT all. According to the report, people started feeling so hungry but full at the same time and were so confused that they started eating themselves. It started in the club, but by the time she had woken up from her hangover, it had spread to the borders of town. How was she going to fix this?!?!

Fate pulled up to the club where Famine and Ceres were still duking it out inside. The catfight of the millennium! She really wished she could just sit there and watch this play out, but the boss wanted it stopped, now, so she had no other choice. She walked in and went straight over to Famine and Ceres. As she was trying to break them up, Famine caught her with a left hook. Man, that hurts...she was so going to make her pay for that! After grabbing them both by the back of the hair, she dragged them both out of the club and slung them down in the parking lot. She ordered Famine to go to the southern hemisphere and Ceres to go to the northern one allowing them to switch hemispheres every other year so no one hemisphere had to deal with one goddess forever. That should fix things! She put up a border spell on the equator to keep them from ever possibly being in the same place at the same time again.

Now, where is Loki...

(Loki with a fishing net from 18th Century Icelandic Manuscript. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's Note: This story was inspired by one line in the story of The Famine in Ovid's Metamorphosis III. “Famine” is a myth about how Ceres decides to torment men with hunger for cutting down her oak tree. In the second paragraph of this story, it is said that "fate does not allow Famine and Ceres to meet." In the myth, Ceres contacts a mountain spirit to contact Famine for her since they are not allowed to be near each other. I thought it would be a great story to tell from Fate’s perspective of falling down on the job and allowing them to accidentally meet. My first task was to figure out how to have Fate fall down on the job. I have, unfortunately in my younger years, failed to make it to work on time because of a hangover. So, to make this work, I thought I would make Fate basically a college girl that somehow gets hungover. My other main task was to figure out WHY the two gods weren’t allowed to meet. The obvious was that they provide subsistence and hunger at the same time, but I thought I would throw in a love triangle just to complete the college girl theme.

Bibliography: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000)

Week 3, Extra Reading Diary: Welsh (Thomas) (First Half)

Welsh (Thomas)

Arthur in the Cave
This story is about a Welshman that was in London. He had a walking stick that a sorcerer was interested in because of the type of wood it was made out of. The sorcerer told the Welshman that if he took him to where he cut his stick from, he would make him rich. The Welshman led him there and they found a passageway underground. When they came to an opening, there were thousands of warriors asleep and there was King Arthur on his throne, also asleep. The sorcerer told the Welshman not to ring the bell that was towards the entry, but after gathering their gold, he could not help himself. King Arthur and all of the warriors awoke, but the sorcerer told them it was not time yet, and they went back to sleep. I thought this story had a good beginning, but lacked on the ending. I think I could come up with something a little more interesting :)

The Red Dragon
In this story, King Vortigern was instructed by all of his "wise men" to build a fortress in a certain location. They also told him that he would need the blood of a child to sprinkle on the land before he could build. The King then sent out men to look for a child that had no father. They found one in an open field that was playing with other children. The child was taken back to the King and started questioning everything: from why he was there to why the King was building a fortress. The child challenged everything that the "wise men" had told the King. He showed them up at every turn and even predicted the King's triumph over his enemies. The King immediately put the boy in charge and had his "wise men" put to death. The boy grew to become Merlin, the most famous wizard of all.

(Nuremberg Chronicles: Merlin. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Week 3, Reading Diary B: Ovid's Metamorphosis III

Ovid's Metamorphosis III

Orpheus and Eurydice

This story is about the marriage of Orpheus and Eurydice. After getting married, Eurydice was walking through some grass and was bitten by a snake, and died. Orpheus then went to Persephone to see if he would revive her. He was told that it would work, but he could not look back as they were leaving until a certain point. Of course, Orpheus looked back and she disappeared back to whence she came.

Ganymede and Hyacinthus
In this story a couple of guys, Phoebus and Apollo, get naked, get olive oiled up and start throwing a disc around. Somehow, something went wrong and Hyacinth died. Apparently this is the mythological creation story of the Hyacinth flower. This Greek mythology just gets weirder and weirder the more I read. I still haven't come across anything that just jumps out at me for a story...

Myrrha and Cinyras
Okay, you know when the Greeks think that something is taboo and terrible, it has GOT to be bad. This story is something else. Okay, so there is a man who has a daughter Myrrha. At some point, for some strange reason, she wants to BE with her father and Myrrha falls in love with him. Myrrha then tries to kill herself and the nurse comes in and tries to help her by offering her help. She ends up working out a way for Myrrha to be with Cinyras. As if it wasn't bad enough she wanted her father, she ended up getting pregnant by him. She ended up running away and became a tree...then gave birth to a child...This is one of the weirdest stories I have ever read.

(The Bed of Cinyras, Solis. Source: Wikipedia Commons)

I still have not found anything that made me think of a side story to pull out of either the first or second half. I'm hoping that after some thought, something will work it's way out.

Week 3, Reading Diary A: Ovid's Metamorphosis III

Ovid's Metamorphosis III

Not as interesting as Ovid I. I didn't find any of the stories in the first half inspiring, but here are a few of the more interesting ones:

Philemon and Baucis
This story, and the following one, are the two best out of the whole half. In this story, Jupiter and Mercury visited a village where they were met with locked doors, which kind of reminded me of of Mary and Joseph in the "no room at the inn" story. Finally, they were let in by a married couple, Baucis and Philemon, who were poor. Even though they did not have furniture or food worth of gods, they still provided them somewhere to sit and something to eat. 

(Philemon and Baucis with Jupiter and Mercury by Orest Kiprenskii. Source: Wikipedia Commons)

Transformation of Philemon and Baucis
In this part of the story, we continue to hear about Philemon and Baucis' trying to prepare and scrounge up some stuff for the gods. As they are eating, they notice that the mixing bowl and wine, when empty, were refilling themselves. They were going to kill their one and only guard goose to cook, but Jupiter and Mercury told them not to bother. The gods stood up and told them to follow them because they were fixing to level the neighborhood for being jerks. The only thing that was left when they looked back was their hovel. Their house then turned into a temple and the couple requested to be keepers of the temple. In their old age, they were turned into trees to forever watch over the temple.

The Famine
This story was not that interesting until the end. Long story short, this guy cut down a tree that was really a nymph. The nymph's sisters decided to get revenge by asking Famine to visit the man. The man would sell his daughter over and over to get food, since he was never satisfied. In the end, the guy ended up eating himself! That was the coolest :)
One thing that caught my eye was in this story. In parenthesis, it was said that Fate does not allow for Famine and Ceres to meet and now I want to know why. If I can't find anything or if nothing else catches my eye in the second half of Ovid's Metamorphosis III, I will probably write about this.

MythFolklore Storybook Topic Brainstorm

Topic: Fire stories from Native American Tribes
Comments: Fire is a very important aspect of traditional Creek culture. I have never heard any folklore stories about the fire so I thought it would be interesting to research all of the fire stories from the southeast tribes. I know Felix Gouge, who the stories from  from Hillabee stomp ground in Hanna, Oklahoma. When I moved to Dustin, Oklahoma, Hanna was the next town over and where my step-dad, a medicine man, was also born and raised.
Possible Stories: It is said that each fire is it's own being. There are a lot of different stories about how the fire for each ground came to be. I'm looking forward to reading all of the different ones.
Sample Story Comments: This story is about a rabbit that goes across the ocean to bring the fire back to his people.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Rabbit Steals Fire
Website Name: Totkv Mocuse/New Fire
(just FYI, the link you have in Online Books list for this book links to an old web page where none of the stories are listed. The link I have for the Website is the new link.)



Topic: Tar Baby Stories


Comments: As I was reading through the different Creek stories listed, I noticed there was one for The Tar Baby. That reminded me of the Brer Rabbit Tar Baby story. 
Possible Stories: Since there might be some kind of connection between the Brer Rabbit Tar Baby and this Tar Baby story, I thought I could maybe research some more stories from African American heritage and maybe come up with the origin and/or make my own.
Sample Story Comments: The Rabbit is one tricky little dude. He talks a wolf into taking his place when he is about to get scalded by a farmer.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Tar Baby
Website Name: Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians



Topic: Witches
Comments: I am interested in witches and witchcraft. I thought I might be able to go through the different Units and see what there is on either one. I'm sure there is plenty out there.
Possible Stories: Since most stories are of evil witches, I thought maybe a story line about a good witch would be interesting.
Sample Story Comments: This story kind of had a Hansel and Gret(h)el feel to it. Maybe a re-boot where the children are wicked?
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: The Old Witch
Website Name: More English Fair Tales


Topic: Fallen Angels
Comments: The idea of a fallen angel interests me. When I was looking through Dante's Inferno, I saw a link for Fallen Angels and thought it might be a good idea.
Possible Stories: I don't really have any good ideas today. My creative juices have hit a wall. I know there is something good there though, so I wanted to write it down.
Sample Story Comments: This story doesn't have too much to offer on it's own. I may have to go looking for more in the biblical section. Maybe when I read all of the Inferno stories, this part may make more sense.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Cantos 8 and 9: The Fallen Angels
Website Name: Dante's Inferno

(The Divine Comedy Inferno "Canto 9: The Furies". Source: Salvador Dali Society)

Week 2, Extra Reading Diary: Welsch (Emerson) (First Half)

For my extra reading diary entry, I chose to read the first half of the Welsch Fairy Tales (Emerson). These stories were really interesting since it was mostly about Fairies. 

Old Gyilym
In this story, you learn to never tick off a bunch of fairies that are trying to help you! Old Gyilym Evans was going to town for his wife to buy groceries. He found a golden coin on his way and ended up getting drunk instead. On his way back, he passed out in the fairies house and woke up in a bunch of gorse. When he got home, he told his wife what had happened and she called him a fool and told him it was the fairies taking revenge for him waisting the money they gave him.

(Fairy Passage. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Old Man and the Fairies, Tommy Pritchard and Kaddy's Luck
In this story we find out the first rule of fairy club, is you don't talk about fairy club, to anyone! First an Old Man is given a bag full of gold. After his wife nagged him to death about where the coins came from, he finally told her. Overnight, the fairies took all the gold back. Little Tommy Pritchard used to pick up a coin every day on his way to school and he would spend it in the sweet-shop. His father noticed that he always had money and threatened to whip him if he didn't tell him where the money was coming from. Tommy told him and the fairies stopped leaving him a coin. And poor Kaddy used to hang out with the fairies when she was younger until she got married and had a child of her own. One evening while on their way to the fair, she was telling her husband about how she used to play with the fairies. The next day they found a different smaller baby in the crib, the fairies had switched them out.
So, the final rule about fairy club is don't talk about fairy club!

Week 2, Storytelling: The Becoming

(Deucalion & Pyrrha Repopulate the Earth. Photo Source: Wikipedia Commons)

Jupiter was flooding the Earth from above with rain. He had become so impatient at the time it was taking to flood the Earth that he called on his brother, Neptune, to help him flood the Earth with more water from below. Only two people made it out alive: Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha. In the aftermath, they looked around and realized they were alone. They appealed to the goddess, Themis, to help them. She replied that they should throw the bones (rocks) of their mother (Earth) behind them. They began to do this and one by one, my kind was created from the bones of our mother. After landing, we would soften and morph into a human form, and after a few minutes, we were free to walk, talk, and live. I was euphoric when I was thrown. This was my first moment on Earth. As I began to morph, I felt my bones being created and hardening, I felt my skin stretching over my muscles. I felt my eyes forming underneath my eyelids. I was Becoming. I was slowly opening my eyes when everything stopped. At first I thought maybe this was what was supposed to happen before I took my final form, but I knew that this was not right. This was not normal. Something was wrong. What had gone wrong? What had I done wrong? This was as far in the process of becoming a human in the re-population of the Earth as I was allowed to go.

I have spent thousands of years trying to figure out why I was not allowed to Become. No one answers me, no one can hear me. My soul is stuck in this slowly deteriorating form. No one noticed me after the Becoming. Everyone moved forward as Deucalion and Pyrrha threw the rocks, moved forward, and threw more rocks. I was left alone for a long time before someone found me. A young woman who had been wandering through the woods, half lost, was the first one to find me. She walked up to me and looked me in my half opened eyes. I thank the goddess every day that I had gotten my eyes open this far before things went wrong. To be immortal and blind would be the final sick twist to my situation. She slowly reached out to me and rubbed her hand down my arm. I could feel her, but I could not respond. I was screaming, trying to move a millimeter, but nothing would happen. After slowly moving around me, she grabbed both my shoulders and said she was taking me home with her. I was so relieved to be moved. No matter what happened, at least I would not have to stand out here in the cold, dark, nothingness by myself.

After leaving me for some time, the young woman returned with men. They all looked me over, trying to figure out where my base was. I wanted to tell them that I was not a statue, that I was supposed to be a human. I was supposed to be like them. I was supposed to Become. After prying my feet from the ground, they carried me gently to her palace. The young woman would stop and stare at me sometimes, like she knew there was something different about this statue, but she was always going somewhere else, never staying long enough to follow her hunch. The young woman grew into an old woman, who had young women of her own. I stayed on the palace grounds for a very long time. I saw countless wars, famine, empires rise and fall. At some point, I just became a part of history. Over the next millennia I have been moved from museum to museum, from storage to storage, from person to person. I have lost limb and head, but I still remain.

(Unknown Statue. Photo Source: Wikipedia Commons)

Authors Note: The story Deucalion and Pyrrha is about how the god Jupiter decides to flood the Earth with the help of his brother Neptune. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha survive the flood by landing in their boat on the top of Mount Parnassus and become good pagans who worshipped the gods and goddesses and made offerings unto them. After appeasing the goddess Themis, she decided to allow them to repopulate the earth. To do this they were to pry rocks up from the ground and then throw the rocks behind them. When they would do this the rocks would soften and morph into a human like form and then would become new women and men. I first thought this myth would be a good one to adapt into a story about one of the rocks who was to become a man or a woman that didn't quite make it all the way to their human form. I thought about what would happen to them if they were stuck half-way between “becoming” a human. The flow of the sentences in the first paragraph is supposed to be choppy, to show the urgency and to mimic how I thought becoming a person would happen, in short spurts.

Bibliography: Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000)

Week 2, Reading Diary B: Ovid's Metamorphosis I

For some reason, this half was a little harder for me to get into. I don't know if it was me or the stories, or the fact that the weather has been so nice the past couple of days that I didn't want to sit in front of a computer reading. I compromised and printed out the stories for me to read on paper. I'm old and old school, for some reason reading on a laptop just doesn't float my boat. Anyway, on to:

Ovid's Metamorphosis I

Echo
I thought this was a very interesting story. Continuing on from the first half, again, Jupiter and sex. This man! This time he is not out pillaging and raping, but arguing with him wife about whether women or men enjoy sex more. They decide to go to this guy, Tiresias, who had been turned from a man, to a woman, and back to a man--all by whacking two snakes on the head who had been mating (WTF?) Anyway, he confirms Jupiters accusation that "women do gain more...from the pleasures of love". This ticks off Juno off so she blinds the man, however, Jupiter feels kind of bad and makes him knowledgeable of the future...seems legit!
The story goes on to talk about Narcissus and what a pain he would be because he would fall in love with himself. This story also tells the story of Echo, who used to talk to Juno to keep her from finding Jupiter with other women, and how she came to be 'but an echo', only able to repeat the last words of other people. It explains that she retreated to a cave after being rejected by Narcissus, which I thought was an interesting way of explaining why there is an echo in caves.

Narcissus
His story was really boring, but at the end of this section, it talks about how "he had been received into the house of shadows". I thought this might be an interesting story to take off on for the storytelling part.

Perseus and Medusa
This story...I could make a dirty story out of it...but that would not be appropriate for class :)

(painting by Piero di Cosimo)

Week 2, Reading Diary A: Ovid's Metamorphosis I

Ovid's Metamorphosis I

Short, Sweet, and to the Point!

Deucalion & Pyrrha:
This story is about how Jupiter has the Earth flooded and only Deucalion and Pyrrha survive. They were good little pagans so they were allowed to throw rocks behind themselves to make new women and men. I thought this may be a good story to tell about one of the men or women that didn't quite make it all the way to human and are stuck in their statue form.

Io:
Oh, poor, poor, Io. This poor woman is raped by Jupiter and then turned into a cow so his wife (Argos, Saturnalia, Juno) wouldn't know about her, although it seems that she does know. This story, even with the help at the top, just confused me in the beginning. Anyway, lo is to be watched over by the wife's brother Argus, who by the way, has 100 eyes! Then Jupiter sends Mercury to kill Argus so that lo can turn back into her previous form. Eyes freak me out for some reason, so I will probably stay away from this story.

Callisto:
So, now this poor woman gets raped by the same god, and he gets her pregnant too! She is then shunned by her group, which includes the goddess Diana, for being pregnant, even though she was raped and not her fault. After giving birth to her son, Juno turns her into a bear. At the age of 15, her son Arcas sees the bear, who is his mother, and tries to kill it. Jupiter, seeing what was about to happen, decided to stop it and make them both into the constellations of Little and Big Bear. Why that was the natural progression of the story baffles me. There is no "reason" why it jumped from bear and human to stars?!?!

(Jupiter and Semele, by Gustave Moreau Source: Mythology and Folklore UnTextbook)

Semele:
So, again, Jupiter rapes another poor woman and gets her pregnant! This time Juno disguised herself as an "old woman" and cons Semele into getting Jupiter to amass all his power into him at once and then embrace her. This, of course, kills her. Her baby is ripped from her stomach and attaches to Jupiter's leg (ew, gross!) until it is born.


First, off, Jupiter needs to be neutered. He has serious issues! Other than that, it was interesting to read the Greek myths, since I have never actually read any before. I know most of their names and attributes from movies, constellations and such, but it was nice to see read their stories. I definitely liked the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha the most out of the first half of this Metamorphosis.

Week 1: UnTextbook Course Plan

OH, a woman after my own heart to let me plan my own semester out ahead of time. I am the ultimate in organization, but also the ultimate in procrastination, so this will help me tremendously to keep me on track! Oh, but there are so many options!!!!!

Week 2: Greek Myths: Ovid I - I am very much into gods and goddesses so this will be right up my alley. I have not read much about the old Greek gods and goddesses, so I'm taking this opportunity to learn. 

Week 3: Greek Myths: Ovid III - Pretty much the same as above. I chose III over II because I recognized more names from the table of contents.

Week 4: Ancient Egypt - I've always been interested in Egypt in the archaeology, architecture and myths. I have heard some myths from watching shows on Discovery, but I am excited to read these first hand.

Week 5: Khasi Folktales - I chose the Khasi Folktales because it included creation stories, gods, and goddesses

Week 6: Brer Rabbit - I went off subject here on my theme because I was so excited to see Brer Rabbit and More Brer Rabbit. I grew up in Macon GA about an hour away from Eatonton GA, which is where the author is from. I used to go visit the museum when we would be on our way to South Carolina to visit family. Although the stories have been see as racist, which is why my mother never let me read them as a kid, I am interested in reading them now because it is said that Joel Chandler Harris retold these stories straight from southern African-American oral stories. Although he is said to have been trying to appropriate their culture, without him, we may not have had any of those stories go to print and be preserved. I think he had good intentions anyway. Mr. Harris was very supportive of African-American people, which was not the norm, especially for his time and being from the south.

Week 7: More Brer Rabbit - See above.

Week 8: Review Week

Week 9: Eskimo Stories - I chose this one because it has supernatural, shaman, and ghost elements to it. 

Week 10: Cherokee or Apache Stories - Both of these appeal to me over the rest, but I can't make a decision at this moment :)

Week 11: Celtic Tales - These call out to my heart. I learned over the last 4 years or so that I am 1/4 Irish, so I have taken learning everything Irish to heart. I am also English, German, and African, but for some reason the Irish is what speaks to me.

Week 12: More Celtic Fairy Tales - See above.

Week 13: Grimm (Libravox) - I chose this Grimm because there are not many stories I know from this section so I want to take this opportunity to read outside of my comfort zone. 

Week 14: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman) - I chose this Grimm over the other 2 because one of the stories listed is "The Gifts of the Little People" I know this is not the same Little People from Creek stories, but I thought it would be interesting to compare.

Week 15: Review Week

And, that's my semester!

(illustration by Anne Anderson)

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

When Brothers Cross Paths

by Tracey Ferguson. The design for this storybook was nice. Nothing in particular really caught my eye, but the title of the storybook did and when I saw it was about Supernatural AND the Brothers Grimm, I couldn't resist. He/she did a great job on the crossover of the Grimm brothers and the Winchester brothers from Supernatural, I was actually reading it in their voices in my head. The writing was great and I wanted to keep reading. The stories were good, but the navigation was a little cumbersome since you had to scroll all the way back to the top to get to the next story.

The Werewolf story was great and the Siren/Mermaid mash up was good too. I really liked the Hansel and Gretel re-make where they die as it gives the Grimm brothers some "regret" in their story. And in the last story, if only Azazel was that easy to kill! LOL


Samhain Sagas

by Chelsea Lott. The design was not as fluid as it could have been, but the name of the storybook and the pictures used on the home page caught my attention. I have been studying Celtic witchcraft for two and a half years now, so I was very interested in reading these stories. And OH, that girl has a sick twisted sense of humor! Just out of curiosity I clicked "No" on the question of if I wanted to survive, and unfortunately my volume was up loud ... Needless to say I almost had a heart attack and an epileptic seizure at the same time LOL. The font she used is perfect and the link to the next story makes the navigation easy for you to keep going.

The first half of the introduction is awesome! The writing, the tone, the lilt to the sentences, the build up...beautiful! Even though I took nine years of bible class in school this retelling of the creation story and the story of Lucifer is GREAT! If this woman is not writing books professionally, she needs to be asap! I just now realized that I read through all of the stories without writing anything else down because I was that engrossed in the stories. The whole storybook of Samhain was awesome!

Collage of pictures from Samhain Sagas

Woman in White

by Chris McIntosh. I LOVE the artwork he used on the home page. Very fitting! What caught my attention is the subject. If you can't tell, there is a theme to the type of stories that I like :) And after reading through the first story, I've noticed that everyone of these storybooks have an element of the show Supernatural in them. I can't believe it's taken me until now to start watching them since they clearly have a great influence on us creepy-ghost-freaky type :) These stories were okay. Probably like something I would write, Okay, but kind of awkward. Of course, after reading the Samhain Sagas, anyone that's not a professional will seem awkward. I did love his ending though...very sweet :)

Week 1, Introduction: Can, open, worms, everywhere!!!!!!

Friends Logo. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

(used this because I couldn't use the "Can, open, worms, everywhere" meme

from that episode, and yes, it is one of my most favorite shows and yes, I quote from it often)

Well, this is a loaded question for me. I am 36 so I have done a lot of living and it is all pretty crazy, not Maury crazy, but maybe Springer crazy. I usually tend to way over share when asked this question because to me, my life story is the only thing that is remotely interesting about me. Nothing life inspiring, but it's definitely crazy. So, you asked for it...

I was born in Macon, Georgia. Raised by a single mom. No southern belle here, more like a cross between Shelby and Ouiser from Steel Magnolias. Fast forward to 1994, 16 year's old, mother remarried and drug me KICKING AND SCREAMING to Oklahoma. Thrown into a Creek traditional culture family. Learned how to stomp dance and still go to this day. Was pretty smart, valedictorian, but it was in Dustin, OK and I only graduated with 3 other people, so not so impressive after all, LOL. Went to college, met my first husband and we married at 18. Divorced by 19, married again by 21, pregnant at 22. I had my baby girl in July of 2000. She was 9lbs 14.8oz and I wear that number like a badge on my sleeve. Ask your mothers kiddies...and I had no pain medication or epidurals. Yes, I was stupid...girls, trust me, take the drugs! Fast forward to 2004, 26 years old, divorced again, single mother, dead end job at a newspaper. I started going back to school for my degree in CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) part-time at night while I worked full-time during the day for 4 years. I graduated in 2008 with an associates in Drafting at the age of 30. I had also gotten remarried (that's the third one for those keeping count) in 2006, but this one was a keeper! Got pregnant, on purpose this time, and had my baby boy in March of 2009. I also learned in 2009 that who I had spent my whole life thinking was my real dad, was not my real dad. Who I thought was my real dad was never around, but after 31 years of thinking one way, it was a little life changing...had a mini-life crisis, but I'm over it...maybe. Still happily married though...8 years going strong :)

(Image Information: Personal photo of my family from October 2013)

So, in 2013 I decided that I was tired of working office jobs, which I had to because the economy had taken a turn for the shitter after I got my degree and no one was hiring drafters. I went to UCO onbe semester for interior design and decided that it was NOT what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. SO, after some soul searching, I realized I wanted to be an archaeologist, and had since about the age of 9 or so, but I had thought it was just for old, rich, white men. I couldn't have been more wrong. I am three semesters in and have a lot more to go, but I have definitely found what I was meant to do.

Now, for some fun stuff:
Favorite Author: Stephen King and JK Rowlings, oh and Deborah Harkness...
Favorite Book: Anything by Stephen King, but I really like Insomnia and The Dark Tower series and all of the Harry Potter books and the All Souls Trilogy by Harness
Favorite TV Shows: In my 4th season of binge-watching Supernatural, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead (got to meet Norman Reedus in November...I'm still speechless), American Horror Story, The Originals, Arrested Development, Family Guy...
Favorite Movies: The Lost Boys, Practical Magic, Steel Magnolias, The Crow, Clerks II, Dumb and Dumber, Labyrinth, LOTR, Harry Potter
Favorite Music: Tool, A Perfect Circle, Slip Knot, Korn, Seether, Breaking Benjamin, Snoop Dogg, Chevelle, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Prince, Eminem, Queen, STP, Nirvana (I did grown up in the early 90's) and many more, but I won't bore you with the whole list :)

Anyway, so that's me in a nutshell...