Potential Storybook Topics

1. Possible Topic: Mermaid Stories. I've always had an interest in mermaids since I was a little kid. I was even one for Halloween one year! I don't know too much about mermaids in general, mainly just from what I saw in Disney, so that's why I thought it would be a fun and interesting topic for my project. The story that stood out to me was The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen since it's a spin on the Disney version. I'm curious as to how and when stories about mermaids came about and want to learn more about their history.
Research so far. I looked at some of the previous Storybooks about mermaids. They all seemed very creative and are fun to read, so I figure I would have a good time putting my own spin on some stories if I choose this as my topic. I also found a good article on Wikipedia that gave a good background on mermaids and how their stories started. The article said that the first stories came from Assyria where a goddess named Atargatis turned herself into a mermaid after she accidentally killed the man she loved. It might be interesting to include the story of Atargatis in my project.

(Mermaid Swimming. Source: Wikipedia)

2. Possible Topic: Fairy Tales. Fairy tales also interest me so I feel like they could be a good potential storybook topic! I would want to focus more on the Brothers Grimm stories instead of the typical Disney fairy tales. I know the classic Brothers Grimm stories like Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Hansel and Grethel so I want to pick stories that I've never read before. I like that their stories have a dark twist to them and aren't just about the happy ending like most fairy tales. I want to learn more about the Grimm Brothers and why they choose this method of writing!

Research so far. I first started at Wikipedia to get some background information on the brothers and their stories. It was interesting to see that some people believed that their stories were inappropriate for children and wanted them to be taken out of the Brothers Grimm collection. Instead they chose to write a warning on the first page telling parents to be weary of the stories they read to their children. It might be fun to approach my storybook as the stories that you should steer your children away from and pick the creepiest stories from their collection.

3. Possible Topic: Urban Legends. Since I'm wanting to be a PA I find topics about science to be interesting! I happened to stumble upon urban legends but more specifically medical urban legends, which I thought could be an interesting topic for my project. I know of the common ones like don't go swimming after you've eaten, but I think it would be fun to learn about other urban legends in the health field. I wonder how urban legends come about and how many people actually believe them? It definitely would be a topic that I don't know much about so it would be pretty cool to learn more about it! 

Research so far. I followed a link to snopes.com and found some funny urban legends that had to do with Medical Myths. One of them stated "Drinking cold water after meals will lead to cancer" which is completely false, but I thought it was funny that it was considered an urban legend! I also found a link on Snopes that had a ton of urban legends about drugs which seemed pretty interesting. I think it would be fun to do a project coming from the perspective of a terrible doctor that is trying to pass these urban legends as truth to his patients! 

4. Possible Topic: Animal Stories. I love animals so of course this topic stood out to me! To narrow my focus a little I thought I could look at specific culture's animal stories. I was attracted to the Buddhist Jataka tales. I know that elephants are a big part of Indian culture, so I wasn't surprised when I saw a lot of stories with elephants in the title. I feel like it could be fun to have elephants be my focus and have them share their stories! I'm curious as to why elephants are such a big part of their culture and I want to learn more about other animals that are prominent in Indian culture. 

Research so far. I wanted to know more of what the tales were about so I looked them up on Wikipedia and got a lot of information on them. I found that they're one of the earliest forms of Buddhist literature and are the stories of the many lives of Buddha. Through more research, on a site that talked about Symbolism of Animals in Buddhism, I found that in one of his previous lives Buddha was born as an elephant which brings some clarity as to why elephants are such a big part of the Indian culture! It makes me want to read that story and possibly use it for part of my storybook. 

Storytelling for Week 2: Psyche's Online Quest for Love

Ok Cupid Dating Site

Name: Psyche

Interested in: Men

Hobbies: Loves to gaze at herself in the mirror and talk about herself all the time.

Tell us a little about yourself:

Hello! My name’s Psyche and I’m looking for love. I’ve always been a hopeless romantic since I was little… I dream of being swept off my feet by prince charming on a daily basis, but the right person just hasn’t come by yet! It’s very hard these days you know, there’s tons of princes out there but they’re all so pushy and way too into themselves. I honestly don’t understand why I haven’t found someone yet. I’ve been called one of the most beautiful princesses in the land! People from all over come to look at my beauty and even bow down to me because they think I look so similar to Venus. This has caused some problems with the true goddess Venus, as she gets jealous very easily… you would think she would take me copying her as a compliment, but alas she tries to make my life miserable every single day.

My parent’s are even starting to worry that I’ll never get married. I have two older sisters who are pretty and have great personalities don’t get me wrong, but there’s no question that I have the best looks of the family. That’s why I’m just so confused as to why I haven’t gotten married yet! This OK Cupid dating website is my last ditch effort to find a suitable man to marry. I am kind of opposed to dating a god… I’ve done that once before and it didn’t work out well at all! I even was supposed to marry the man but it all fell through in tragedy.

His name was Cupid. Yes, everyone knows him as the god of love and that’s where a red flag should have gone off in my head, but I still went for it! We didn’t have a normal dating period like most people… his mom, Venus, absolutely hated me for my beauty and had sent him down to hit me with one of his arrows. She instructed him to make me fall in love with the most unfortunate looking men who had no wealth or anything going for them, but Cupid just couldn’t resist me. He shot himself with one of his own arrows and fell madly in love with me before even formally meeting me!

Cupid knew I was desperate for love, so he sent me down to his beautiful palace. I had no idea who my secret admirer was yet, but I had already fallen in love with the life that I could have with this marriage. There was gold and treasure everywhere! I even had my own servants who I could not see but would speak to me and perform any request I had with ease. When it came time to meeting my future husband he insisted that the lights would be off and that I wouldn’t try to see him. He was so loving and sweet that I went with it. Weeks passed by and eventually I started to become curious as to what he looked like. I mean was I really supposed to marry a man who I had never laid eyes on before?! So I planned to shine a light on him after he fell into a deep sleep in bed next to me.

The night came and he started to breathe heavily which made it clear he was fast asleep. I was so nervous as to who I would see when I turned on the lamp, but when I did I was in complete awe. The man was gorgeous! I had heard tales of this kind of beauty before, but I had never seen anyone like this… Immediately I knew he had to be the god Cupid. I was so happy with the man I was supposed to marry that I climbed back into bed and fell right asleep! The next day is when things started to get weird…

                                                  

 (Psyche finally seeing Cupid by Rubens. 

Source: UnTextbook)

Our wedding day was only a couple of days away. I hadn’t left the palace the entire time I had been there and was starting to long for other human contact. When I asked Cupid, who still would only speak to me from the shadows, if I could go to the market to get fresh air he immediately said “NO!, that is what the servants are for! You are way too beautiful to be around the common folk of the land. I don’t want anyone but me to look at you.” From then on he started to get more and more possessive. The more space I tried to get the more he suffocated me with his loving gestures. It wasn’t until the day of the wedding that I realized he had shot himself with one of his own arrows to fall in love with me. I mean I had heard the stories of Cupid and his love arrows all throughout my childhood, he was showing all of the irrational, possessive, and overly loving behavior that each of his “victims” had when they were shot with one of his arrows. I was so hurt. I thought that someone had finally just loved me for me, but I was wrong. Immediately I called off the wedding and ran from the palace. I’ve yet to see Cupid, but I know he’s lurking around.

This is why I need this website! I’m ready to fall in love for real this time. I’ve heard great things about Ok Cupid from other princesses in the land and am willing to give it a try!

Xoxo, The Hopeless Romantic Psyche

Author's Note: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche is a story about a beautiful princess named Psyche who angers the god Venus, who is threatened by her beauty. Venus asks her son Cupid to make sure that Psyche is miserable and marries an ugly man with no wealth. Cupid ends up falling in love with Psyche but not allowing her to see his true identity. Her curiosity gets the best of her and when she does find out that he is the god Cupid he wakes up and flies away. Venus hears that her son has fallen in love with Psyche and is horrified and angry that her son would do this behind her back, so she give Psyche 3 seemingly impossible tasks to finish in order to stay with her love, Cupid. With the help of others Psyche is able to finish the 3 tasks and stay with the man she loves. I choose to use a dating website as my form of storytelling because I wanted to switch it up a bit! Psyche was so focused on finding love in the story, so I thought having her tell her story through an online dating bio would be appropriate. I also wanted to change the story around to where she is still looking for love because she and Cupid didn't work out. 

Bibliography: "Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche" written by Apuleius and translated into English by Tony Kline. Website: UnTextbook

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

The second half of Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche written by Tony Kline had many parts that stood out to me as well. I could really tell how furious Venus was when she found out that Cupid had gone behind her back and had fallen in love with Psyche. I thought it was cool that the story had a “Cinderella” quality to it where the little ants helped Psyche to separate the seeds in time to appease the goddess Venus. It was interesting that the water was alive in the story during the Psyche’s third task telling her to turn away and go back! I was also very intrigued by Cupid… I liked his character because no matter what Psyche did he always loved her and wanted to be with her. It might be interesting to write a story through Cupid’s point of view. Not only did the story have a “Cinderella” feel to it but it was also similar to the Greek story of Pandora’s box. Psyche was asked to get the jar of beauty and told not to open it but like most stories the main character always takes their chances and disobeys. Another approach I could take would be creating my own ending to what happens when the mule and the young kidnapped woman reach the fork in the road.

                                                 

(Psyche's Jar of Beauty by Waterhouse

Source: UnTextbook)

Week 2 Reading Diary: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

There were many parts in the first half of reading Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche by Apuleius and translated by Tony Kline, that caught my attention. For example when the thieves kidnapped the girl the donkey talked about how gorgeous the young woman was and that she looked like a girl to “covet”. I also liked how they chose to describe the young woman later on in the story. It was said that she looked as if she was, “born from the blue depths of the sea, emerging in spray from the foaming waves…” (Psyche’s Beauty). Another part of the story that stuck in my mind was the fact that Psyche was so beautiful but still lonely. Her two older sisters weren’t as pretty as she was but they were happily married… or so it seemed. The story also follows a very standard fairy tale plot because when they find that Psyche has a wonderful life they immediately get jealous and want to take her happiness away. The last thing that stood out to me was the description the sisters made for Psyche’s husband. They made him sound like he was such a hideous creature. I had a vivid picture of a serpent like creature slithering into bed with Psyche and was shocked to find that he ended up being a handsome Cupid. 

                                                       

(Painting of Psyche Abandoned by Coypel

Source: UnTextbook)

Learning Challenges: H.E.A.R.T.

I found the H.E.A.R.T. learning challenges website to be really cool and it's something that I definitely want to implement into my daily life this semester. I'm actually already working on the challenge of Health and Happiness! I really want to try to be more healthy this year both mentally and physically. So, I've been attempting to make healthier choices when it comes to eating and also trying to keep negative thoughts to a minimum. I want to look back at this year and see a chain of happy events and memories rather than sad ones! Immediately when I saw the idea of making a happiness jar on the H.E.A.R.T. blog I knew it would be something that I wanted to look into. It sounds like such a cool concept to write down things that make you happy that day and then look back at them at the end of the year! It's a good way of only focusing on the positive things in your life. I plan on trying out the happiness jar idea this semester! I included a picture of what the jar could potentially look like. I can't wait to make my own!

                                                           

                                              (Image of what a happiness jar 

                                               could look like. Source: H.E.A.R.T.)

Another challenge that caught my interest was Attention. I really struggle to pay attention on certain things throughout the day and am just now realizing how much of an issue it is! For example, I can be listening to one of my friends tell a story and completely zone out and have no idea what they said. I want people to know that I'm truly listening and feel like what they say matters when we're having a conversation. I plan on trying to make a point to focus more on what is going on around me throughout the day. I feel that many times I can be so focused on getting my school work and daily activities done that I'm just floating through life and not really paying attention to anything else. 

Growth Mindset

Both Carol Dweck and the concept of growth mindset are two totally new concepts to me. I really liked the Ted Talk video because it made me view learning in a completely different way. I'm a very goal oriented person... if I don't set a goal that I want to achieve I feel lost and like I'm not using my time productively. That being said it's clear that I've gotten sucked into the way of having a fixed mindset when it comes to school. For example, my goal last semester was to make all A's in my classes. Yes, it was a great goal but like the video says not everything in life is about grades... it's about challenging yourself to expand your mind and learn something new! It's so easy to get hyper focused on getting A's in classes especially when grades are one of the main things PA admissions offices look at. 

While being at OU I've struggled the most in my science classes. I was so used to making good grades in High School that when I wasn't performing as well here it shocked me! I think last semester was when I kinda used the growth mindset without even knowing about it. I've always had a hard time with Chemistry and last semester I was taking Chem II. I ended up completely failing the first exam, but unlike feeling like a failure like I did after my other science tests I took it as challenge and opportunity to learn something new. So I ended up doing practice problems and taking a different approach to studying, which in the end really paid off! I'm hoping to continue that way of thinking this semester... not being as concerned about the grade but more concerned with the way my brain is being stretched to try something new. 

I'm very interested in learning more about growth mindset because I feel that it will be a  very helpful and healthier way to approach school this semester and in the future. The class I'm the most worried about is Genetics but I really think implementing this new concept will help me tremendously. I'm also excited about this course because it's completely different than other courses I've taken at OU. I think it's going to challenge me to use a different part of my brain than I'm used to which is good!
                                                 

(Growth Mindset Meme. Source: Blogspot)

Storybook Favorites

There were so many good storybook options to choose from but one that really stood out to me was Nursery Rhymes Gone Wrong: What Happened Afterwards. It is clear what this storybook is going to be about based on the topic, which is a main factor in why I chose this one. I really enjoy stories with a twist and I can tell this one will have many twists and turns throughout its stories. I also thought the introduction was well written and it grabbed my attention, making me want to read each story to see what really happened after these nursery rhymes were over! It was smart that they included a brief summary of what happened in the original nursery rhyme to give the reader background information before reading.

After scrolling down a little more another storybook title caught my eye. This one was called, The Unanswered Questions of Pooh and Friends. There was no doubt in my mind that I would like this one because I absolutely loved watching Winnie the Pooh as a kid. The title did a good job of saying what the storybook was going to be about. I also thought the introduction truly grabbed my attention and made me want to know why all the characters were upset. Not only were the title and introduction great but I also really liked the design and layout. The pages were all yellow and red which match the colors of the character Pooh and I thought the storybook was easy to navigate.

Another storybook that I really liked was the one titled Happily Ever Whatever. I thought the title did a good job of making the reader curious and wonder what the storybook is going to be about. The introduction really gave good background information so the reader understood what was going on and was ready to read the rest of the story. I also liked the layout and design of the storybook because it made it clear that it was about princesses since the background is glittery and at the bottom of the introduction it even includes the Disney princesses.

Below I posted a screenshot of the cover page for the storybook, The Unanswered Questions of Pooh and Friends. I really thought that the design looked like something that would come straight out of one of the Winnie the Pooh stories. I also thought the picture they included with the characters looking like The Beatles was really cute!

                                                           

(Screenshot from The Unanswered Questions of Pooh 

and Friends storybook. Source: Pooh and Friends Cover Page)

Overview of the UnTextbook Readings

I chose to read the Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche for my week 2-3 reading, which can be found under the Classical Unit. This particular unit really grabbed my attention when I read that it had a storyline similar to Beauty and the Beast. I've always loved reading fairy tales so this one sounded like it would be a good fit and something new to read!

Myth-Folklore Unit: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

Other units that I found interesting include the unit on Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Alice in Wonderland, and Chinese Fairy Tales. I liked the Brothers Grimm unit because their stories seem to take a dark turn which I find very entertaining! I also liked that it has two stories that I'm familiar with, Little Red Riding Hood and Rumpelstiltskin, but it also included many other ones that I had never heard of before. I chose to bookmark the Alice in Wonderland unit because it is one of my favorite stories I read when I was a kid. I probably watched all of the different versions hundreds of times and never got tired of it. I feel that maybe reading the story as an adult I may see or learn something that I didn't when I read it as a child. Finally, the unit covering Chinese Fairy Tales seemed very interesting to me as well because I love stories that have larger than life characters and plots. This particular unit seemed to have both of these things and to make it even more appealing it said that many of them included animals! I think this unit could potentially be a great read for me since all of the stories would be new and different.

Myth-Folklore Unit: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)
Myth-Folklore Unit: Alice in Wonderland
Myth-Folklore Unit: Chinese Fairy Tales

I wanted to include a picture from Alice in Wonderland that came from the Down the Rabbit-Hole section. I thought the image of Alice was funny and it definitely caught my attention!
                                                             

(Illustration of Alice by Sir John Tenniel. 

Source: UnTextbook: Alice in Wonderland unit)

Introduction to a Hopeful Future PA

Hello everyone! My name is Adrienne Crawford. My current major is Health and Exercise Science but I’m Pre-PA (Physician Assistant)… so after I enter PA school I’ll have an extra two years of school! PA’s are basically a step down from a doctor. They can see patients and prescribe medicine to them under the supervision of a doctor. Many people normally see a PA when they go to the doctors’ office instead of seeing their actual Physician! One of the main differences between the two is that PA’s don’t perform surgery. I’m excited to become a PA because I love helping and interacting with people. It also allows me to jump around from one specialty to another. For example, I could be a PA for a Dermatologist for a few years and then switch over to specializing in Oncology and so on. The options really are endless!

I’m still in complete denial that the semester is starting because I had such a great break. I loved getting to spend time with my Siberian Husky, Zoe! Zoe’s super sweet and is totally in her element when it snows outside… which doesn’t happen too often in Texas unfortunately. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Huskies I’ve included a picture of one below!

                                                 

Above is a photograph of a Siberian Husky.

Source: Pixabay

Not only did I get to spend some much needed time with my dog over break but I also turned 21! I got to celebrate my birthday with my friends in Dallas, which was a ton of fun and then I went to Las Vegas with my mom. I had never been to Vegas before so it was really cool to see how crazy everything was there. My mom and I went to a concert and the Cirque Du Soleil: Beatles show. I’m very close with my mom so it was nice getting to spend that time with her.

I also had never seen any of the Star Wars movies before, so I was curious about all of the hype surrounding the new movie that recently came out. I decided to watch all 6 movies over break (in the right order) because I wanted to understand what everyone was going so crazy about! I must admit I ended up really liking them and still need to find time to see the new one in theatres!

Now that I’m starting to get back into the school routine, I’m really excited for this upcoming semester. I can’t wait to see what this New Year has to offer!