Andrew Elaryan's Mythology and Folklore Blog

CURRENT VERSION:  https://sites.google.com/view/taletwists/pig-out Homer's Odyssey , translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004). "Wow, I can't believe we're gonna meet an actual goddess!" exclaimed Eurylochus. "Thinking about it, when was the last time we even saw a girl at all. This voyage home has turned into the longest boys night ever and" Odysseus shushed him. "Be quiet, Eury. We don't know if this goddess named Circe is on our team or an enemy, so we need to proceed with caution. However, I cannot deny the need to investigate. Let's draw straws to see who will go to Circe's home." The straws decided that Odysseus and Eurylochus would stay behind with the main crew, while 22 men went on their trek to the house of Circe. Eurylochus was unhappy with this result and decided to sneak out of the camp to follow the mission group. After some walking by the group, unknowingly followed by Eurylochus, they reached the large, b...

Homer's Odyssey , translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004). Odysseus's wits: I love how Odysseus isn't a super powerful character, at least not compared to the cyclops. He knows when he is outmatched and uses his wits, rather than pure strength, to defeat the enemy. The cyclops even calls him "a puny good-for-nothing weakling". A lot of Greek mythology has the hero simply overwhelm their opponent or win by favor of the gods, but I enjoy the myths which involve some sort of cleverness on the protagonist's part. I don't know too much about The Iliad, but since that was a war story I feel that The Odyssey will slow the pace down a little bit and be a little bit more clever. After all, Odysseus is running around with just a small group of men after 11/12 of his boats get sunk. Eurylochus: I think a cool change to make here would be to have Eurylochus stay behind on accident. Instead of him not trusting the Circe, have him be super excited to meet Cir...

Neil Gaiman's Advice on the Creative Life Pushing oneself out of their comfort zone is really the only way to grow as a person. While not necessarily "art" as most would think about it, this article made me think about weight lifting. The only way to get stronger week by week is to lift more weight or do more repetitions than you did last time. If you do the exact same thing week by week you're not going to get any stronger. Often, raising the weight may mean that you can't do as many reps as you did last week, but, eventually, you will be able to. In fact, failure is better because you know you pushed yourself as far as you could, which will lead to better results in the long run. How to Get Past Negativity Bias This article is interesting because it talks about the evolutionary reasons why our brains often focus on the negative. However, we now live in a much safer world, which means that there are so few constant, immediate threats to our lives as we ...

Sea Voyage: This is the topic that I think I want to do. The sea is the source of so many cool stories. I think this is an opportunity to showcase a mix of different story types, such as adventure, ghosts, and sea monsters, for example. Also, I could take stories from many different units and geographic regions. Perhaps my project is a description of my journeys and experiencing all these different stories on a single journey. Originally, I chose to read The Iliad as a unit, but I may switch to The Odyssey as it fits this idea of a long journey filled with a lot of adventure. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-odyssey.html Illustration of the boat that Odysseus traveled home with. Source:  British Library via Flickr Creation Stories: Creation stories have always been interesting because there are so many different opinions and beliefs on what actually happened on how everything actually went down. I think a cool idea would be to have mayb...

Susan, a 26-year-old accountant living in Lincoln, Nebraska, lead the most extraordinarily ordinary life you could think of. Wake up at 7:30, work 9-5, watch whatever is new on Netflix, then head to bed. Rinse and repeat Monday through Friday. And on weekends? Well, Nebraska wasn't exactly designed for those in their mid-20s.  However, there was one thing that could brighten Susan 's day without fail: coffee. Dark roast, light roast, Columbian, Ethiopian, Americano, Espresso, Cappucino, Black, sugar, no sugar, it didn't matter. Susan loved it all. Every morning, she woke up, took the beans that she just roasted the night before, ground it up so it would be as fresh as possible, and took her choice between her pour-over, french press, espresso machine, or one of the many contraptions she had collected over the years. This ritual resulted in a perfect cup of coffee that added a boost to her day. The effects of that first cup of coffee would last her until about 1 pm....

Story source : Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917). The Number 8 : The number 8 is extremely prominent in the story. This is not something that I see as something integral to the story, besides being based on the number of tails that the serpent has, but it is something that I may look to play a bit more on. The Comb: This really did not have that much of an impact on the story either, but really drew my attention. Is there something that he could have turned the maiden into that would have actively aided him in the plot to defeat the serpent? Hercules: The very first thing that I thought of when reading the first couple of paragraphs was the scene in the Hercules movie where Hercules saves Meg from the Centaur. The two are pretty generic plays on the damsel in distress trope, so that is probably where I see the similarities. Too Easy: Honestly, I was kind of disappointed in this story's climax. I like that he used...

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Homer's Iliad Week 4: Adam and Eve Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Arabian Nights Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Japanese Mythology Week 9: Ozaki Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Cherokee Week 11: Hero Tales Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Beowulf Week 13: King Arthur Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Russian Week 15: Inferno The Goddess Isis. Source:  The Secret Name of Ra I am so excited for weeks 7 and 9 because I'm really interested in Japanese mythology and folklore. One thing that surprised me is that when I saw the opportunity to read Celtic folklore I thought I would immediately jump on that, but after looking through the options I went for two British units. Also, I am ex...

I think that I still like my schedule a lot. My goal is to start completing all of my course work as early as possible. Hopefully, I'll be able to complete the week's tasks by Monday or Tuesday each week. The first article that I read was  4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination , and I really connected with question 1. This question prompts us to ask "what one thing can I do to get started". This is usually how I start all of my studying sessions. I will do the smallest task that I need to complete first to get the ball rolling, and then keep that momentum rolling into the longest/hardest task of the day. The second article that I read was  The Myth of "Too Busy" . This one honestly felt like it was calling me out. Admittedly, I do tend to put a lot on my plate, but then fail to properly prioritize things in order of importance. Reading this really made me think that I need to reevaluate how I'm structuring my days to make sure I get the import...

I am already pretty familiar with most of the technologies being used, besides Blogger and Google Sites. My browser of choice is Google Chrome, as I think the variety and ease of use of extensions are the best. One extension that I have used for years that has already shown its usefulness in this class in Grammarly. Grammarly not only provides great grammar and spelling suggestions, but it also performs analysis on tone and shows word count. As an all-in-one writing extension, I have yet to find one that works better than this. Grammarly logo. Source:  Facebook

I like the structure of the assignments a lot actually. There is the opportunity for feedback after each assignment, whether its a post or work on the project. Keeping the general structure of assignments consistent from week to week works well for an online class. It helps students remember their assignments better and allows us to schedule assignments ahead of time more efficiently. In addition, I am glad that there are ample opportunities for extra credit. Sometimes, it is hard to keep yourself accountable with an online class and it can be easy to slip up and miss a few points here and there. The extra credit allows students to not have to worry so much about their slip-ups and be able to stay on track. "Extra credit" on a chalkboard. Source:  We Are Teachers

I've definitely heard of similar concepts, but never Carol Dweck and her growth mindset idea. I think that I agree with it to a certain extent. I think that failure can be demoralizing for a lot of students, so it can be good to frame unsatisfactory results in a manner that encourages future improvement. Also, at the end of the day, the point is to learn, not to reach certain grades. However, I think a lot of kids might not respond to a growth mindset centric for education because they do not have a growth mindset. The issue with a lot of students is not that they are stupid, it is that they do not care that much about school in the first place. The growth mindset approach, in my opinion, works wonders for students who care about learning and improving, but I also think that it does little to encourage those who are less motivated. In fact, I believe the traditional education system is good for motivating students because there are consequences for poor performance. The philosophy ...

Hello! My name is Andrew and I am a junior majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. I chose CS because I have liked coding since high school and software engineering is a field that is growing really quickly. I added a math major because it only required taking 3 extra math classes, plus Spanish. This summer I will be interning in Dallas which I'm really excited about. I have lived most of my life in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C. However, I was born in Boca Raton, Florida. In addition, I have lived in Italy for one year when I was in the seventh grade. My favorite book is Ender's Game, as it is the only book that I've ever read multiple times. My favorite sports teams are the OKC Thunder and Juventus. My favorite food would have to be steak, closely followed by Pad Thai. A medium-rare steak. Source:  Taste of Home When I have some free time I like to play NBA 2K with my roommates, but my favorite video game ever is The Witcher 3.  On-campus I am ...

The Nutcracker This one immediately stuck out to me because of the time that I saw the ballet of The Nutcracker live with my mom! However, there were no words at all. I could kind of follow the story based on the actions on the stage, but what I really noticed was how precise all of the dancers' movements were. It was clear to see that they had put dozens, even hundreds of hours into putting on this performance. That's why I really liked this storybook. She describes things from the point of view of the dancers themselves which is a really cool way to look at it. Shumka performs the Hopak. Source: N ew Pathway Ghost stories of OU I remember going on the ghost tour in my first week at OU. This was a really cool alternate way to show some of the stories. I feel that scary stories really benefit from being told in these more human avenues such as diaries and text messages. The dark color theme fits with the scary story theme as well. The author definitely put a lot of ef...

While most of my life has been spent living in Fairfax, VA, a suburb of Washington D.C., I spent one year living in Chieri, Italy in the seventh grade. Chieri is a municipality near the city of Turin, resembling something between a city and a town. Panorama of Chieri. Source:  Wikipedia What I love most about Chieri is how simple and peaceful, yet beautiful it is. I spent a lot of time exploring the town on my bike or visiting the local market while walking my dog. Looking back at pictures of my family and me in Chieri, I can't help but be flooded with a sense of nostalgia. I'm planning on visiting Italy again after I graduate, and I will definitely make sure to stop by Chieri!

My first blog post!