Andrew Elaryan's Mythology and Folklore Blog

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...