Week 1, Storytelling,The Raven the Serpent and the Bracelet, Portfolio

(Source: worthless-lies)

THE RAVEN, THE SERPENT, AND THE BRACELET

There was a quaint little red brick house in the cul de sac of the suburbs of  Oklahoma City which housed a sweet little nuclear family with the 2.5 kids and a dog. A regular American Dream come true. The tan brick house next door to the red brick house in that same cul de sac also housed a family with 2.5 kids and a dog, all of whom felt they were part of the American standard of middle class life. The two families shared many things in common, such as the neighborhood they lived in, family size and newspapers.

The two families also had many differences. The Ravenwoods that lived in the red brick house had a subscription to the local newspaper. The next door neighbors, the Serpents, also had a subscription, but for some reason found it necessary to steal the Ravenwoods' paper too. They had just moved to the house a few weeks before. The missing newspaper really angered the Ravenwoods as they were dependent on having the paper for their family's daily routine.

So, Mr. Ravenwood confronted Mr. Serpent one morning about the incident in question. Even though Mr. Ravenwood had been bothered by the uncaring manner that Mr. Serpent had shown, Mr. Ravenwood kindly extended an invitation to Mr. Serpent and his lovely family to come over as a friendly gesture. "Would you and yours please come and join my family tomorrow for a lovely backyard barbeque?"

Mr. Serpent was not only taken aback by the confrontation by Mr. Ravenwood's accusations of stealing, he was enraged about being invited to a backyard barbeque where animals' flesh would be being burned and consumed! He had no qualms at all about telling Mr. Ravenwood as much. He narrowed his eyes and answered, "Absolutely not! We Serpents are vegan vegetarians of course!"
 After  yelling rudely to Mr. Ravenwood, the brooding Mr. Serpent slithered off back into his tan brick house in the cul de sac.

And all this got Mr. Ravenwood to thinking.

That night Mr. Ravenwood decided to set his trap for Mr. Serpent. He had thought long and hard about how to make sure that Mr. Serpent would no longer be stealing his newspaper, and end the troubles for good.

The other house in the neighborhood cul de sac was the grey brick house. The grey brick house owners, the Queens, cooperated with  Mr. Ravenwood to set his trap.The family had a video camera for anti-theft surveillance, and they set it up so that it got pointed right at Mr. Serpent's house and also at Mr. Ravenwood's house in order to prove that in fact Mr. Serpent was stealing the newspapers.

Once the video footage had been recorded of the incident, Mr. Ravenwood presented the evidence to police officer Jewele Bangle. Mrs. Bangle found that it was enough proof to to have Mr. Serpent arrested for theft. Mr. Ravenwood watched smugly as Mr. Serpent was sped off in the back of the squad car. And once again the cul de sac was ideal.

Bibliography:
"THE RAVEN, THE SERPENT, AND THE BRACELET"Copyright (c) 2000-2015 Indian Fables by Ramaswami Raju (1887) Yesterday's Classics, LLC. All Rights Reserved. T h e B a l d w i n P r o j e c t@mainlesson.com

Author's note:

The story caught my attention on the list of fables. I to chose to read this one because of how iconic ravens and serpents are in folklore. I had great fun in the retelling of the story of the bird and the snake.The animals seem to find their way into all sorts of legends, myths and stories the world over. The moral of the story is,"The wicked often fail to appreciate kindness in others, and compel them to work their ruin." I find it is an interesting motif that is found in many great stories.

The original story is about a raven and a snake who live in the same tree, and the two animals just act according to their own animal nature, such as the snake eating the baby birds in the nest because it was hungry and needed to survive. The raven being a very intelligent bird tried to reason with a snake, who was of course not willing to cooperate. The snake in the end was killed because the angry bird sought revenge on the snake for eating its offspring and for being rude. I tried to keep with the same moral of the story, but change the setting to make it more up to date and human related. The bracelet reference is the officer, Jewele Bangle. Punny?

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Week 1, Learning Challenges

This week I am choosing to share my thoughts about time management. Time is a tricky thing. It can be the enemy, or it can be your friend. You can use it wisely as well as unwisely. Can you really do such a thing as save time though? Some great minds will in fact argue that time is not even real, but a man made tool to measure the passing of perception which of course is not even linear. So what do we do when time runs out?

I think time is a fluid like substance. It is illusive to be sure. But my time is the most important thing in the world to me next to my family. I have gone through so many phases of my, different "times" as you might say. The older I get, the more time seems to pass quickly. Time is precious gift.

I am an anxious person and I find that I make lots of lists, plans and goals. I am obsessed with organization and ease of function. I spent most of my adult life working as a store manager. At home I am a mother and wife that also keeps the operations running. Part of being a good manager is to delegate tasks and using the strengths you have that your team offers.

One of my tools to keep things moving along is to plan ahead. Life is a series of choices, like a game of chess. It helps tremendously if you are strategically planning your moves ahead of time. Anticipate your obstacles. Make contingency plans. Plan your exit strategy. I have a notebook to keep track of events, finances, important dates to record and plan things with. I sometimes even use technology to keep it all organized, and portable.

I plan ahead for the month usually for meals, finances, and chores. I make charts and lists and assign a household action planning list. This helps to take away my stress of feeling like it is all on my shoulders to take care of. This helps to teach my kiddo responsibility and life skills as well as earn her allowance by being paid per task. We all know ahead of time what days we are expected to do our part. I make shopping list for the month, use coupons and sales to keep it all affordable and on hand. I pay bills once a month or auto pay online so I am not distracted daily or weekly with these details. I put money on a prepaid gas card once a month to take care of fuel needs. We gather up projects and items the night before for what will be needed the next day so we won't feel rushed in the mornings.

One of my tools that I use to keep things on track is my smart phone. This is a tool that not everyone at my age has figured out how to fully take advantage of. I learn constantly from my younger peers and my teenager, as well as my husband who is in the information technology field how to utilize this great tool. I have google calendar that keeps track of not just my schedule with school, but doctors appointments for myself and my family. I have google products to manage nearly everything. Alarms set for everything. This makes it easy for me to anticipate what obstacles I may face, to plan a better plan. Not planning enough time for projects in college is such an embarrassing waste of time. Real life is not very forgiving in that aspect period.

I use motivational memes in my life. The photo above is a picture I took of a postcard I bought 18 years ago. I keep it posted to remind me that sitting around waiting for life to happen is an embarrassing waste of time. I try to spend time wisely working on things that I can control like homework and life planning. I try to spend time on my self care, like getting a massage, retail therapy, vacations etc. I also try to remember to spend some of my time in helping others. Nothing feels better than giving to those who need you. Even if you only have a smile to share or give away, it can make a world of difference to someone!

Week 1, Growth Mindset

Image made with cheezburger.

Growth Mindset was a concept I heard about last semester in the Mythology and Folklore course. It is a very interesting idea and I agree with the concept. We shape our world we live in with our beliefs and perceptions. We often limit ourselves. I think I have been inspired in the past by certain books I have read. One of them being the life changing book called "Illusions" by Richard Bach. It is an easy read, small book. The concepts inside the book are huge. One of my favorite quotes from the book is when the main character learns, "Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours."

I have found that in my life I have made huge messes. I made choices that have led my life, and my education down some odd paths. I am a non traditional student. I often question my sanity at being a 42 year old person trying to earn my first bachelors degree. Many times in life I felt that the education that I have always wanted was not going to be possible after I had to leave college when I was 20 years old.

Occasionally though I would find a glimpse of inspiration, from a book, a television show etc. that would stir up my emotional need to push myself and my comfort zones into areas that are not the traditional path but valid choices none the less. There are times when I compare myself to others and see that they are smarter than me, or made a different choice and I feel less than. But I pull it back together and march to the beat of my own drum and feel great for accomplishing things that are challenging for me.

This course and the other three I am taking this semester will actually reflect this concept for me. Taking this online course poses challenges because I an so technology uncoordinated (like two left feet...lol) but it also creates opportunity for me to grow and learn things that my younger peers take for granted. Also I struggle so much with writing clearly. Being at this University has been such a valuable asset to me. In the past at other colleges I always received great grades on papers and projects. However, since I have been here the professors have graded my work mercilessly. I have rarely received an A grade on my writing. This is crushing to me in some ways. My ego is bruised because I felt like I was already great. The truth is, I am in the "NOT YET" stage. I am so close.

This semester my goal is to achieve some level of growth in my writing. I am aware of several of my weak areas. My goal for graduating from this university is to take with me the skill of communicating at a level that my professors agree is up to snuff! I love to write! I want to be great at it! So the next four months of my life will be aimed at working to achieve this goal. I believe it is a goal that is realistic and important to accomplish. I don't want to hear myself ever say again, " I can't write an A paper to save my life! I can write B papers all day long though!".

Image found on Pinterest.com

Week 1, Overview

Overview

Image source: Ganesha

Looking through the course material I feel like a kid in a candy shop. This is how I felt last semester in the Mythology and Folklore course. I wish I had the time to read every printed word on this website, and who knows, given enough time maybe someday I will. There is just so much wonderful stuff to choose from.

I have read parts of the Bhagavad Gita for previous courses that I enjoyed taking.  I am interested in India and Hinduism and have only briefly studied them in my current degree program in Religious Studies. I look forward to learning more about the ancient stories that are so very old in these epic stories. The many ways to really get in there and appreciate them are all ripe for the picking the way that Laura has created this class.

In the past I struggled with reading some of this material because I am largely unaware how to pronounce some of these enormous foreign words. While looking through what feels like the infinite choices of tales to read I chose to have the audio play one of the stories as I also read it. It was like a weight lifted for me because I will now be able to know how to say those words as I read along. I hope and intend to even be able to say them aloud to another human! It took me a really long time to be able to say Bhagavad Gita.

I used to work at a wonderful store called The Center For the New Age in Sedona, Arizona. It was so much fun. The store is full of many statues and objects that are focused on the Hindu gods and goddesses. So I recognize some of them, but may not be real familiar with all their backstories. It will be nice to get all filled in.

I have always loved Lord Ganesha. I used to have to move a life sized statue of him in and out of the store I worked at, so we got to be pretty chummy. When I was looking at the main page and saw the music I had to click on it and it was "Ganesha Sharanam - Jai Uttal" and I was so happy I was moved to tears. I am really going to enjoy listening to the music! I have been exposed to some Indian music when I worked at the Center For the New Age because we also sold music there, but it has been 14 years since I worked there. I really like the band Prem Joshua and own some of their music.

I look forward to using the free PDF versions of the course materials (Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition). I have looked at them and they seem adequate for what we are doing in this class. If I get further along and change my mind that's cool too. I enjoy books and may purchase them for the Kindle if I really find that I want them as reference material for my studies. I am excited that there are also options to check out the super cool comic book collection at the Bizzell Library. Movies are cool too! Love that option to bits!

Overall, I am aware of how much time this class will take, it is very reading and writing intensive. All of my classes for this semester will be. I am up for the challenge of learning new things, having fun, and polishing my writing and communication skills while learning new technology and loving every minute of all the hard work!

I chose the image of Lord Ganesha for this page today because I know that he is the remover of obstacles. As I sit here today starting this class early knowing that this semester is going to be the hardest one of my entire life, I want Lord Ganesha watching over me and all my efforts. Together we can do this thing! He is so darned cute!

Week 1, Storybook Favorites

Storybook Favorites 

• Social Media in Ancient India

What really caught my attention about this storybook is the title. When looking at such an enormous list of such interesting things, I went with the ones that drew me in. I am a big fan of social media. It is a neat idea and I like what the author did with the idea. I love writing things that are fun! I like the way the author used the familiarity of social media age we are in and tied it to Indian Epics. I like the style the author chose to display with the background and graphics.

• The Diary of Ganesha

Ganesha is one of my favorite deities, so I was drawn to him. I like the idea of retelling the stories of a god/goddess as a diary and from a personal point of view rather than a story being told about him. That could really be a lot of fun to become one of the characters that I get to read about. I have taken a few courses that have exposed me to some of the Hindu concepts and their sacred texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita. I love the background that was chosen to show the concept of the diary. 

• How I Met Your Mother

Running through the list, this title pops out at me, not because I am a big fan of the show, admittedly I did watch it for several seasons, but it grabbed my attention because it's a familiar title. I think people will be drawn to want to read a story about something they already know about like a television show that they may have watched. I hope that I will be inspired by some of the readings that can send me into a fit of creativity to some up with something this clever.

Image Information: King Shantanu Meets Ganga (title text added by me)

 Source: Vintage Fine Arts Prints

Week 1; Introduction

Week 1, Introduction

Greetings and Salutations!

This is my husband Barrett, me and my daughter Maya at the Butterfly House in Missouri Summer 2015.

My name is LaDawn Beckman and I am excited to be taking this Indian Epics class. I found out about this class last semester when I took the Mythology and Folklore class. My Spring classes are going to be all writing intensive, but it will all be worth it. My  Spring and Summer breaks are already calling to me!

Camp Verde Arizona mhcwillows.com

Montezuma's Castle www.travelux.com

I am from Camp Verde, Arizona, a tiny little town North of Phoenix and South of Flagstaff. It became a town after being a military fort back in the days of the cowboys and Indians. When it was a fort in the wild west back in the 1800's they named it Camp Verde because the valley was green and lush, people died of Malaria then because of it. Now it is more like shades of brown because of the changing weather patterns and also the dwindling water tables of rivers and lakes due to modernization. Camp Verde is also where you will find the state parks of Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well. Interesting historical Native American sites to visit.

 I am currently in my second year here at the University of Oklahoma. I am a Religious Studies major with a minor in History. I graduated from Oklahoma City Community College where I got an Associate of Arts degree in Psychology and almost had an Associates of Applied Science in Business Management but I am one class short of that degree because I didn't want to take finance. I found out that I really don't like business, or accounting. I decided to follow my passions.I am now technically in my senior year here at OU. I look forward to graduating in December of 2016.

I love to read, write, travel, garden, bake all kinds of foods, and lounge around in my pajamas. My friends and family live all over the United States. I am lucky enough to have a sister who lives here in Norman and also goes to OU. Considering we are 15 years apart in age, this is a neat experience for us! I hope we all have a great semester and have fun learning new things. I look forward to reading all the interesting things that people will be posting!

Week 1,Favorite Places

Week 1,LD's favorite places, Mount Shasta California, Flagstaff Arizona, England, Italy....

Mount Shasta California
en.wikipedia.org

I absolutely love Mount Shasta California. I first went there in the year 2000. I have only been there twice. It is the most magical place that has captured a part of me, and I always yearn to return there. There are lots of interesting stories about the metaphysical and paranormal things that happen in that area. It is on Native American sacred grounds and has legends to that extent. There are also stories of encounters of aliens, ascended masters, a lost city under the volcano and much more.

Flagstaff Arizona

flagstaffspecialedition.com

I was born in Cottonwood Arizona about a 45 minute drive south of Flagstaff. I had family that lived in Flagstaff and we went there a lot when I was young to visit and go shopping because it is and was a much larger city than Cottonwood. In 2001 my daughter was born in Flagstaff.  The trees are amazing. They are Ponderosa Pine tress. If you walk up to one and smell it, it will smell of either vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. I am not kidding. The next time you get a chance to visit, do yourself a favor, hug a pine tree, give it a good whiff, and be amazed.

England

www.coxandkingsusa.com

I have not had the pleasure of visiting England yet. I have been fascinated by the place since I was a child. I used to tell my parents and grandparents that I was from England and that I could remember being there. I do have English ancestry as well. I think I may be attached to a past life memory from there, and particularly to the time period of the Tudor dynasty.

Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy

www.lymphology2013.com

I have been learning Latin and studying the medieval period of European history. I want to somehow find a way to visit Italy as an incorporated part of my education. I cannot get enough of Italy! The Romans are so fascinating!

Honestly, I have traveled a lot in the United States except for the East Coast. I love travelling, and I hope that my life will always allow me to see and learn new things. I am a Religious Studies major with a minor in History and I appreciate and like to study all cultures and their beliefs. I am fascinated by ancient cultures the most. I want to learn more about the amazing world we live in! But my absolute favorite place in the whole world for me is to be at home, in my pajamas enjoying the pursuits of my interests, such as reading great books, watching great television shows like Dr. Who and Ancient Aliens, baking and eating yummy foods, playing with my cats Freyden and Tiny Dancer, and spending time with my husband and daughter. Sorry, no pics available for all that at this time.