Week 7 Story: Mario and Luigi

It was Mario and his brethren vs Luigi and his brethren. Luigi is Mario's half brother but because Mario has always had the attention everyone thought he was of little value. Mario took his princess because he was not royal enough. Since he a half brother who was raised by a lowly Koopa he was unworthy. Everyone bragged of how great of a Warrior Mario was but never Luigi. Luigi was an expert in fireballs but no one ever gave him the chance except Mario's evil brother Waluigi. He took Luigi in and treated him like royalty which made Luigi very loyal to him. When Waluigi told Luigi of his plan to take over Mario and his kingdom, Luigi was excited to prove his skills.

The battle had already been going for 13 days with no end in sight. Significant losses on both sides. It was brothers against brothers, fathers against sons, advisers vs subjects. The kingdom was in disorder. Mario and his brother Wario, and his side had already lost their sons.
On the other side Luigi and Waluigi lost their greatest strength, their advisor Toad. Waluigi gave Luigi full control of this army.

The next day, Luigi made arrangements for the biggest battle that will ever occur. Everyone knew it would come down to this but with all the bloodshed and loss on both sides,  no one but Luigi was looking forward to it.

At high noon, Luigi starred down Mario. Mario did not flinch and looked across the battlefield at his brother Luigi. Luigi stepped forward. All of the side battles ceased and all eyes were on the two brothers. Mario wanted peace and Luigi wanted to prove he was the best warrior. "Brother, let us end this now. We do not have to fight. Look around you, this needs to end", Mario said before he was cut off. "Oh, this will end. It will end once I destroy you!" Luigi said with a smirk on his face. Mario shed a tear and with a heavy heart said, "so be it."

(Mario vs Luigi. Source: GenoStar)

Luigi began throwing his his green fireballs toward Mario who quickly jumped to the side and threw his red fireballs. When Mario was catching his breath, Luigi threw a fireball and it hit Mario's hand. He was wounded. Luigi decided to capitalize on an injured Mario. He kept throwing fireballs towards Mario who had to jump around to dodge them. Mario jumped up on a rock and slammed his body down into the Earth sending a wave of rocks and dirt toward Luigi. Luigi could not see but continued to throw fireballs all around him. The onlookers had to run because now they were getting attacked and burned from Luigi's fireballs.

Mario figured this was his time with the now blind Luigi throwing fireballs in every direction. When a fireball came towards him he took out his secret weapon. It was a cape. He put it on and used the cape to deflect the fireball away. The cape did not even burn. When another fireball came towards him, he deflected it right back to Luigi. It was a direct hit. Luigi fell to the crown and wailing in pain. Mario determined to end his pain and finish this battle for sake of eventually peace conjured up a fireball as big as Bowser and shot it towards Luigi. When the smoke dissipated, there was just a shadow of Luigi's body in the earth but the body was gone.



Authors Note: I used Arjuna and Karna as my template for this story. Arjuna is Mario and Karna is Luigi. These two bothers had to fight each other in one of the deadliest battles of the who war. Instead of using bows to attack each other I used the ability of throwing fireballs. It only seemed fit that I carried on the use of Mario in my stories. We always see Mario and Luigi working together so I figured why not see what happens when they are against each other and I thought this would be the perfect story for it.

Bibliography:
Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). Arjuna and Karna.

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata Section D

Pandavas Depart
 I was greatly surprised to see all of Yudhishthira's brothers and wife to fall. At first I did not know what this meant. I thought they just died and now entered heaven but in reality it was that they died and were in hell.  Yudhishthira is so noble that when Indra greets him and welcomes him to heaven he said he will not go without his brethren nor the hound. To my surprise the hound was Dhrama his dad. I keep forgetting that all of them had dad gods. His dad promises him that there is no equal to him in heaven which is pretty amazing. But in reality I would think that in heaven no one is equal but unique in special way.

Bibliography:
Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). The Pandavas Depart.
http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/pde-mahabharata-heroes-fall.html

The Afterlife
This is by far one of my favorite stories. Probably because it has some of the more religious themes and explores them. Most of this epic has been a war or battle or fight. But now at the end it gets interesting. I was really shocked when the Kauravas were all in heaven and ruling. It made no sense to me since they had been the ill ones. Not that they could not make it but that they were ruling. Then Yudhishthira entered hell. This was really cool just because of the perspective. In the epics it has always talked about heaven or the abodes of the gods but never the torment of hell. In my religion, I have read about visions of hell and I can see some similarities between the two. It would have been interesting if they were more elaborate but the author did a great job of characterizing it and making it seem terrible. This story just keeps getting better because it turns out that was all an illusion so make sure Yudhishthira was true and just and wanted to be with his brethren. what is different in their belief was that his body is left behind and only is a celestial spirit now. Mine believes that they are united and in heaven you will have your body and your spirit. In the end it is a great and marvelous ending to such an eventful epic.

(Journey to hell. Source: Wikimedia)

Bibliography:
Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). The Afterlife. http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/pde-mahabharata-yudhishthira-in-heaven.html

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata Section C

Karna and Indra
I really liked this story because I have not really read anything about a god being afraid of a man or wanting to protect his child. I believe this helps give the gods personality and make them to be not so distant. It shows that Indra actually cares for his son instead of not worrying about him or thinking of him. It seemed pretty clever that Karna figured out it was Indra and still made a trade. To me it seems silly. If you have invincible armor and the dad of the person who is your enemy says give me it then he must be worried about his sons life. Therefore, this means the god thinks you would beat his son if you held onto this armor. Thus, why give it up? Or why just one boon? Invincible armor seems like it would take a lot for a person to just hand over. I guess Karna was thinking Indra would give his son the armor which is why he asked for an invincible dart. The thing is though, Indra made it so he could use it in one circumstance and if he did not then the dart would kill him. These seems like a deal I would not take but is what makes the story interesting.

(Indra gives Karna the arrow. source: Wikimedia)

Bibliography: 

Source. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914). Karna and Indra

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/pde-mahabharata-karna.html

Riddles

This was kind of a long story. I could not believe that the Voice kept going on and on. I was shocked to see that Ajurna died and his servant and brother. I actually read part of this story in one of the comics because it seemed familiar to me and I knew the other brother would come and answer the riddle and save his brother and the Voice. In the comic it was a lot shorter and he did not answer so many riddles. Yudhishthira ended up answering them all and saving his brothers and asking that they go unnoticed for a year. It made sense because if they were spotted in that last year they would go into exile again which made no sense to me either. I was confused on how he was the celestial sire of Yudhishthira. 

Bibliography: 

Source. Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913). Riddles 

http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/pde-mahabharata-riddles-at-lake.html

Week 6 Lab: Storybook Research

I decided to do this for my week 6 lab because I was unsure of how I would start my next story. Since I already told how the intro happened and the decision that Morty and Summer made I knew that the next part would creating a similar story to that of Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. In my opinion, these are the two strongest forms of the whole reincarnations so I really had to do research on Rick and Morty characters to see who could actually fit these roles. Rick is pretty much the most powerful person in the series but since he is now the god Vishnu I needed to find the second best. After doing some research I figured I could make all the Rick's gods that everyone prays too. Then I was looking up who could play the two doormen. After research I found out that Hiranyakashipu was the strongest of the two and so I looked at who would be the most sly, evil, and powerful person especially once given boons or gadgets. That would indeed be Evil Morty. But when looking at the incarnation of Vishnu, I had to see who could destroy evil Morty even though he was virtually indestructible because in the story Hiranyakashipu could only be killed by not a man nor animal, not indoors or outdoors, not on earth or in space,etc. This makes it hard to kill him but then I realized Pickle Rick would be the perfect character to come down and fight evil Morty. Regarding the sibling, Hiranyasksha would be Princess Nebulon who wants to take over Earth (goddess Unity) so that all the people will stop praising The Rick gods and follow her. Then I had to think of who would be a fair opponent to this and it was Krombopulos Michael who in the series is an assassin. This would be perfect. I am still doing more research to hopefully add side characters but now I have the main characters in.

(Evil Morty. Source: Inverse)

Bibliography:

Hiranyakashipu
Narasimha
Hiranyaksha
Varaha
Hiranyaksha Story
Jaya-Vijaya
Rick and Morty Character List

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata Section B.

Gambling Match
It was so sad to see that the wise king knew what Duryodhana was planning to do but still went through with it. I wish they would have explained a bit more why this was so. Yudhishthira knew better but I guess like all characters, each one has a fatal flaw and his was gambling. It was even more surprising that he would gamble so far as to give away his kingdom, his own self and his wife. This seems ridiculous. I know that people can gamble a lot away and maybe that was what the story was hinting at that you can even gamble away you life literally. However, I think most people with gambling problems would stop when it comes to someone they love. I also think that after losing too much that he would begin to question the dice or ask Duryodhana to play i
nstead of his nephew. Depending on the game his chances vary as to winning but the odds of losing that may times in a row is nearly impossible. This could be something to include in my story, really exploit one of my characters fatal flaws. Or just see how desperate someone is to win or how much they are willing to lose. These would be great things to explore. As far as the writing style, I thought this was very well written and gave the character voices.

(Gambling. Source: Wikimedia)

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. Gambling Match. http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/pde-mahabharata-gambling-match.html

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata Section A

Pandu and His Wives

I thought this story was interesting mainly because I did not see that coming. Also it makes me view his character differently than if this had not been in the story. I could understand a man hunting and see a great big deer and want to kill it. However, if the deer is in the middle of the act, it seems kind of weird to shoot it right there. In the first part it explains a very brief account of what happened in a couple paragraphs. The other part of the story is more detailed which to me is important. In the first story it said the King took vows of celibacy but in the second story it says nothing of this. It was important to note the Brahmin did not curse him because he shot him as a deer. He cursed him because he shot him while in the act. I was surprised to note that the Brhamin, the priest, in a sense cursed his wife too. That she must die with him, the one whom he was lustful towards or was in the act with. Maybe this is more of the culture that the wife would die with the husband. It also seems kind of sad and wrong that this Bhramin would curse Pandu so much that he would die. If these guys are the spiritual ones then I think they would just want them to repent not wish bad upon them. It seems also so crazy that these guys have so much power to curse that it comes true. I would have to take this into account when writing my stories. I think a lot of people today curse or wish bad upon others or "curse others" but are saying it because they are mad at the time. But in reality they would not actually want that to happen to the other and if it did happen they would feel bad and guilty that it happened. So maybe when writing I can have someone accidentally curse someone and it comes true.

(Pandu shoots the Brahmin. Source: Wikipedia)

Learning Challenge: Deskercises

I think a lot of, especially students are not incorporating exercises in their daily life. I know when most people think of exercise they probably think of the gym and the "typical workout" which includes running and all. This is one form but they are many ways to exercise. I found some exercises to even do at a desk! When looking at the Yoga Desk Exercises I noticed that I already did most of these. I personally do not like sitting down all day or staying still for that matter. In class, you don't really have a choice. Therefore, throughout class I will stretch by simply twist my torso side to side or tilting my head on each side or extending my legs as far as I can or holding my hands behind my back and trying to pull outward. These really help me in class. I can focus more and I don't feel so stiff. When I began to read the other one it mentioned stairs. Instead of taking the elevator to your room, take the stairs. Instead of taking the elevator down from the parking garage, take the stairs. When going to class instead of taking the elevator up, take the stairs. This is the easiest way to get exercise as a student. I have class on the fourth floor of some buildings and every morning I will take the stairs. Not only is this sometimes faster but like I said I get exercise. When I was taking my MCAT, after taking a portion I would go to the hallway or bathroom when on break and just jump in place for 2 mins and it would get my blood flowing and I could think better and its cardio. 

There is a lot we can do for our health. A lot of small changes could greatly improve our well-being. 

(The open chest stretch. Source: HBR)

Sources:  33 Exercises   and   Yoga Desk exercises

Week 5 Story: Mario the King and Peach the Unloyal

Authors Note:
This story is inspired by Sita sings the Blues. When Sita returns home, Rama banishes her even though she is pregnant. I know Rama is a great hero but to me this seemed like a flaw in his character to care about others opinions and not love his wife when she proved she was loyal. I painted this story to exploit into more about this ego that we do not see and instead of Sita (or peach) still loving him a different story takes place. She stands up and calls him out leaves. Maybe one day Mario will come to realize to treat those that love you with more honor and respect, especially your wife. 




Mario had just defeated the evil Bowser and all was right with the world. At least that is what most people would expect. It was true Mario and his army of Toads had just defeated the evil Bowser and all his Goombas. The princess was now saved and returned home with Mario to the kingdom where he would now be crowned King. 

(Mario crowned king. Source: Sweetyhigh)

Upon his return the people greeted Mario with great celebrations. However, when the princess came strolling in their was silence. Mario was too busy with the fanfare to notice how Princess Peach was feeling. At night, Peach was all alone in bed while Mario was at parties. Some nights he never even returned home. Princess Peach began to feel alone, like she had never returned home from being captured by Bowser. She was so loyal and devoted to Mario that she didn't understand why he did not even spend much time with her. In front of the kingdom, everything seemed perfect but behind closed doors they weren't.

After an evening of partying, Mario returned to the palace. He then began to overhear his subjects speak about the princess. He called them over. 

"What is this talk of the princess?" he asked. His subjects remained quiet. One brave Toad spoke up and said, "Well, my lord, it is just. that. there is talk around that the princess is impure. I mean she did live with Bowser for a few months. So..."
Mario interrupted him "I have tested her and she is pure." Then another Toad spoke, "Well, the kingdom does not think so. It seems as if you took someone unloyal as your wife." Mario had it after this. "Leave Me!" he shouted. 

Mario then called Peach in and stated He no longer wanted her as his wife and she was ruining his position as King. Peach was sobbing but Mario did not care. He sentenced her to exile the next morning. 

(Peach crying after being exiled. Source: Mariowiki)

Peach could not believe the way her lover and king was acting. She believed that he was no longer the man she fell in love with and that his heart was not on her but the glory of his kingdom, his power, and making everyone love him. Peach quickly broke the news to the people that the king was acting insane. 

The people did not know who to follow, The king they love who just got rid of an unloyal wife or the pure devoted wife who is being kicked out from an insane power hungry king. Peach wanted no war or to be blamed for this so she said who ever wanted to leave can leave with her. She and more than half the kingdom, mostly those with families, left. They established their own kingdom where Bowser used to reign and named it Peachtopia. Mario was left with very few subjects. He could not believe what had happened. 

After a few months, his kingdom fell apart. He was back into the forest, living in nature. A king no more. A powerful war Mario was, still had trouble finding food. He eventually had to come to the realization that he was here at this low point with no food, no love, no glory because he had been conceited and not truly cared for those that loved him. Mario went to Peachtopia and hoped that she would allow him to stay in her kingdom. 





Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. 2008.

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Section B

(Sita singing the blues. Source: Wikimedia)

One thing that keeps coming to me is the type of animation. When Sita is singing the animation is very simple (no offense to the creator). The body of Sita and all the characters and animals are in shapes. They are not free drawn or anything. When I was in high school I took an animation class and I actually learned how to make animation using simple shapes like seen in the video. 

When the video started I was kind of confused with what was going on. I did not understand the laundry scene besides the guy taking a dig at Sita and Rama. I did not remember this from the Ramayana besides the people thinking Sita was not pure. In the Ramayana, if I am not mistaken, Rama did not know Sita was pregnant before he sent her into exile. To me this seems very hard to believe that he would send his wife who is pregnant into exile. To me, this would look worse than having her stay with you. It seems almost un-noble of him to send her into exile in this condition. 

I was also debating Sita's devotion to Rama. It would be pretty hard to still love/worship someone that just sent you into exile while you are pregnant and after you even proved yourself pure. So she is either crazy or has unconditional love. It would be interesting to see how you can create a story and have audience members believe two different things. At this point, I now have some dislike for Rama. He finds his kids and wants to take them and then is unsure what to do about Sita and doesn't seem excited to see her. I could not believe this. He seems very stubborn. I think it was just of her to call mother earth and ask to be taken away. Rama although he was sad, got what he deserved. 
The music in this movie seemed to have an old time blues feel to it. It really helped to captivate the audience and get them to feel a certain way. I know I was sad when she starting singing about being blue and alone and thought of ending her life. The imagery also helped to show this when all the animals turned blue as well. 



Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. 2008.

Reading Notes: Sita Sings the Blues, Section A

(Rama killing demons. Source: Flickr)

To start off I was confused on who this guy and girl are. They were not even introduced really. All of a sudden the guy goes to India so I figured maybe this is how the story is starting. Where he goes to India and learns about the Ramayana (wrong). 

The think that is different from the story I read and this movie is of course all the singing. It almost seemed like how Disney movies randomly break out in song to explain the situation. The animation does change whenever Sita begins to sing and makes Rama look super buff. As he hits demons with an arrow, they die instantly. Seems like a pretty powerful bow. I wonder what object I can use in my story that would kill these demons instantly. 

I though it was interesting how the side gods or Indian people talked about Ravana. They made him seem like a really good guy. They talked about how good he was, how smart he was, and that he was devoted to Shiva, and was King of Lanka. But then he captured Sita because of his sister. It did not make sense why he would do this, especially since he cannot be with her by force. That was also really interesting. They didn't say why he couldn't, only that he was good so he did not do that. 

I also found it interesting that there was very little emphasis or talk about Rama's brothers. In the Ramayana, his brother goes with him into exile but the video did not show that. There was also nothing about the bird god, Jayatu who helped Rama and Hanuman find Sita. When Hanuman comes, it is just him and Rama and then they go attack. It skips over having to conquer the monkey kingdom. 

Sita plays a clarinet which was interesting. Did not think that was a instrument located in India. It would be important to note that in my stories to give audience members a description of the scene and so they can better visualize. 

The video did give me a better idea where the story occurred in geographic location. It was cool to see that the passage connecting India to Sri Lanka is called Rama's bridge, after the Ramayana. 

Bibliography: Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. 2008.

Wikipedia Trail: Hiranyaksha to Jataka

(Hiranyaksha being killed by boar. Source: Wikimedia)

Hiranyaksha
While doing my research on my storybook topic I first started looking at Hiranyaksha. This is a demon. This creature used to be a doormen for Vishnu but was sentenced to life on earth as enemies of Vishnu for 3 lifetimes.

Vishnu
Since Vishnu had a lot connected to Hiranyaksha and Hiranyaksha was even killed by an avatar of Vishnu. I then was able to learn more about Vishnu and all of his avatars. One of his most famous one  is Rama from the Ramayana. Then I continued to learn more and saw Buddha.


Buddha
I had no idea that Buddha was an avatar of Vishnu. This is one of the more recent reincarnations. I learned that Buddhism adopted the Hindu god Krishna. They talk about this in the Jataka.

Jataka
These are books from India regarding all the previous reincarnations of the Buddha. It said that the Buddha had reincarnations of both human and animal. These remind me of children stories that teach them a lesson. It also shows how the Buddha reincarnation comes and brings peace and happiness to the story.

(Jakata story. Source: Wikimedia)

Learning Challenge: Sleep

(Cat just wants to sleep. Click picture to watch gif. Source: Reddit)

Why Sleeping May Be More Important Than Studying. Source: MindShift

The article confirmed about what I knew about how choosing to sacrifice sleep to cram can actually cause you to do worse on tests. I will say based on personal experience, this is kinda true. When I cram before a test sometimes, the stuff I stayed up cramming for did not really help me but other times it was important. Regardless, I should have been preparing for the exam about a week or few days before that way I would not have to stay up so late and would be prepared. I wish I could say I learned something new from this article but I did not. When I was studying for the MCAT I had to know quite a bit about sleeping and dreams. Also, I have just been really fascinated by dreams and therefore knew a lot about sleep. I have also heard people talk about how sleeping helps with memory. I did try this and was able to recall more after a good nights sleep versus minimal sleep. I would like to see how accurate this study is and look more into how cramming affects test scores. I also think it would be interesting to see how sleeping in phases would affect someone. What I mean by this is sleeping 2-3 hours at a time. I once was studying for an exam and would set my alarm for an hour or two later so I could rest and wake up to continue studying. That did help me and I was able to do well on the test. 

Comment Wall

This is no ordinary adventure! In Indian Epics, reincarnation stories happen very frequently. However, now it comes to the popular TV show, Rick & Morty.

(Rick and Morty. Source: Metro)

This is EARTHC-137 EPICS  Reincarnation stories starring the Smith Family. Enjoy!

Tech Tip: Twine

I have played a twine game and also made my own twine game! The process was really fun!! I think it would be really cool if someone would make their story using twine. This gives the story more life and variety. The reader can choose what happens and depending on what they choose the characters could live or die or fall in love or not, etc. I think it would be fun to try experimenting writing a story using this program. I think it would be a bit difficult though because then you will have multiple outcomes that you would have to write based on certain situations. Also, making sure you follow it correctly because when making my game I accidentally sent it to the wrong screen and then the game did not make sense so I had to start over. Another thing that stinks or just because I haven't figured it out is that when you make two different stories you cannot later connect them or use one of those branches to go back to a screen you already used. If I could figure that out, then it could make the story more interesting because I could use it as a chance for the audience member to correct their mistake or give them a second chance to change the outcome. I am so glad I did this. I strongly recommend everyone give this a try!

Tech Tip: Twine Game Link

Here is a link to my twine game:

Number

Hope you enjoy!

Story Lab: Advice to Writers

One of the best pieces of advice I found while exploring the website is not write what you would not read. To me this sounds so simple but very much true. I began to think about what that meant even more though. If I tried to write a book about poems then I do not think it would be great compared to if I wrote a book about science or adventure. What it comes down to is your passion. If I am not passionate about poems but try writing a book of them I believe people would know that I do not like poems. Not because I said that but because my voice in the poem or the quality of the poems. As a writer you have to think, would you even read this if it was not yours? Of course not everyone will read your work but if even you would not then why would anyone else? Not everyone will like your work either but if you do then that is what is important and the people who like this topic will see your passion behind the work and greater appreciate it.
Bibliography:  You can't write what you wouldn't read   by NORA ROBERTS




The second piece of advice that I found helpful was to not link things that do not cause one another. I think I tend to do this in my writing. Example: "As John was cutting the grass, Mary started to cook dinner. " These two things have nothing to do with each other. It sounds much better if I would of said "John was cutting the grass outside. Mary was inside cooking dinner." You should only using the "As this happened, this happened" if it is cause and effect. I think for me I do this because I just want to either make the scene flow or try and get all of the backstory in one sentence.

Bibliography:  Don't Explain How Things Are Linked in Fiction by PHILIP HENSHER

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition Ramayana, Section D

Valmiki's Hermitage
I was greatly surprised that Rama exiled the love of his life. To me this is a character flaw in Rama. He lets what other people thing of him get the best of him. He should of had no problem of Sita living with him. Sita even proved to him that she had been faithful when she put herself in fire but came out okay. People will always talk but if you know she is innocent then to me it is crazy that he did this. However, I have to give the author props. I did not see this coming at all. That is what makes a great story. One that makes you say "wait, what?" and wants you to keep reading more and more. I was also quite surprised that Sita had children and Rama did not know. I would of thought she would of told his brother that she is pregnant or he would of known and told Rama.

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie. blogspot




Sita Departs
This here is a nice conclusion to the Ramayana. When Rama meets his sons, the great saint Valmiki taught them poems to sing about Rama. It then also provided the lovers to be reunited with each other. Rama agrees to take Sita back and do another test of purity. But then she is gone again. It is here where we realize the truth about Rama, that he is the avatar of the god Vishnu. This ending was great! I will have to try and keep surprise endings when I try and write my story. I will also have to find a way to connect the whole story and bring about a conclusion that is satisfying to the readers. It was also interesting to note that Sita, her name means furrow, and she returns into the ground of the Earth. So although, these two lovers on Earth are done, they will one day meet again in Heaven. I liked how the author broke this text up. They included some paragraphs and then text with only a couple of lines and then maybe back to paragraphs and then to a few lines. It was defiantly easy to read and not as complicated. This ending provided backstory and a conclusion.

Bibliography: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita. Blogspot

(Sita goes into the Earth. Source: Wikimedia)

Reading Notes: Online: Public Domain Edition Ramayana, Section C

(Rama Sends Lakshmana to Sugriva. Source: Onlinegallery)

Rainy Season
I am not a fan of the sentence structure of two lines in a sort of poem. This writing style made me a bit confused on what was going on and who was taking in it. However, when it goes into Rama's lament I did enjoy how it was set up. I also knew who was talking which was great. He is reflecting what is going on and does it in a very creative pattern of speech which was unique. It gave me an insight of what he was thinking instead of the narrator telling me how he feels and what is going on.
As a story teller, it is important that the reader can connect with the characters. I think we can all relate to Rama when we lose someone or something we love. Although, I am not a fan of the two sentence structure style of writing I can respect and understand it. In order to appease to all readers, it is important to shake up your style. I would not just use the two line structure but do as they did in the story by using both the two line structure and then either a paragraph style or poem style.

Bibliography: The Rainy Season. Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt




Sampati and Jatayu
In this story I was looking more at the formatting of the story. The author would bold certain words and provided links so that the audience member would have a clue of what that thing is or who that person or animal is. The bold characters from previous stories, gods from Hinduism, and places in the world. At the end of the story, the author decided to italicize the last paragraph. I think it provided great way of transition. In the italicized text, it was more of a description. No character spoke but the narrator provided details with what happened. I really liked that break of text and style. It provided a nice closing. Something else I noticed in the text is how different all the characters spoke. The bird Sampati spoke with a very old and formal way of speech which included "thou, "wouldest", "thy" etc.  When writing my stories I will need to keep in mind that not every character should talk the same, they all need to have their own characteristics and voice.

Bibliography:  Sampati and Jatayu  The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana, by Frederika Richardson Macdonald

Topic Research: Incarnations

(Avatar Parashurama with his axe and bow. Source: Wikimedia)

Story 1: Parashurama
He is an avatar of the god Vishnu. Unlike many of Vishun's avatar he also has power from other gods because his mom made a dual sacrifice. He is most notable as the guy with an axe. In one story he meets another avatar of Vishnu called Rama. Parashurama is also a teacher of celestial weapons and kind of like guards them. This is why he comes to Rama to see why he destroyed a special weapon but when he understands he gifts Rama with a weapon.

Source:Parashurama


Story 2: Vedavati
She is the incarnation of the god Devi Lakshmi. Her whole goal is to marry vishnu or his avatar. When a demon god, Ravana, appears to her, her tries to make her fall in love with him. She rejects him and he keeps persisting and begins to mock her for her devotion to Vishnu. She gets so upset that she said she would rather be burned than with him. She curses him, that in her next life he will be destroyed by her birth. She then comes alive as Sita which I knew form the Ramayana. In the end Rama defeats Ravana and he is killed just as she predicted.

Source: Vedavati
             Story of Vedavati


Story 3: Jaya & Vijaya
These two characters are the doorman of the god Vishnu. Vishnu has been linked in all of these story suggestion which is really interesting. According to the story the Four Kumaras come as children to see Vishnu and the gatekeepers turn them down. In anger they curse the doorman that they will be born of earth. Vishnu comes and cannot reverse this but offers them two offers: be born seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as enemies, after they will come back to be doorkeepers of Vishnu. They decide to be enemies. One of them in their second life is Ravana who we know fairly well. It is really crazy to me that the doorman of Vishnu is one of the main demons in some stories.

Source: Jaya and Vijaya


Story 4: The Three Princes and the Water Spirit
I am not sure if this counts as a reincarnation or not. This is a Jatakas which is about the births of Buddha in previous lives as animals and humans. I think he is the eldest prince in the story since he is the wisest and kindest and saves his brothers from the water spirit. Then he even offers the water spirit a house in the kingdom in which he now rules as king.

Source: Jatakas

Wikipedia Trails: Squirrel to Royal Air Force

Squirrel
I got to this from the class Twitter. It was talking about squirrels and that sounded interesting so I learned more about squirrels. It's name comes Greek word meaning shadow-tailed. I also did not know they that could not digest cellulose.
Protein
Back to the Squirrel page. I was fascinated about what squirrels could and could not eat. I know a bit about proteins because I am a biochemist. I clicked further to see what Wikipedia had to say and started learning about the history of it.
John Kendrew
I found this guy at the end of the protein page. He solved the first protein structure which was myoglobin. This was incredible! As a future doctor, I also knew quite a bit about myoglobin and in some classes talked about it so it was cool to see the guy who solved its structure.
Royal Air Force
John Kendrew lived an interesting life. I talked about what he did before. He also worked at the Royal Air Force headquarters. This is the oldest air force in the world. Unlike the US Air Force, this Air force is primarily based in the UK and is not scattered around the world.

(Squirrel. Source: Pixabay)

Feedback Strategies: Praise

The two articles that I read for this assignment were 5 Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" and The Difference Between Praise and Feedback. Reading these two were hard for me. I did not quite understand why praise is so bad. I also had no idea how bad parents worry about what they say to their kid because when reading the articles they said parents were careful not to say certain things or would google scripts to say to their kid. This seems a bit crazy or overboard to me. They are your child and each person has a unique way of caring for their child. The second article specifically mentioned process praising which I also have never heard of. This is when you praise someone for the process not the actual work, such as "wow, that must of taken you a long time" instead of good job. The article gave another example about saying a child is good for taking out the trash. This seems a bit silly. I would thank my child for doing that because that is helpful. I did not like how in the first article, for one reason it said saying good job is manipulative. I think a parent would act in the best interest of their child and the child may not see it that way. For example, I did not want to learn how to swim or go swimming but my mom made me and praised me for my effort and work. I now love to swim and have swam on a swim team in middle and high school but this would not have happened if my mom did not make me or praise me.

After reading these two articles I think what it comes down to is love. As a parent, do you love your child and always want the best for them? I think too many times we say "good job" because it is easier than saying anything else. This is sad. This is not doing the best for the child. As a parent you should be investing into your child and getting to know them, who they are, how they think, etc. We need to stop staying at the surface and dig deep and find out what made them act this way or why they drew it like that? Simply ask questions and actually form a relationship with your child. The one thing this article got right is "good job" should not be an instinct response. It is good to praise but it is also good to give feedback and learn about the person.

(Feedback Cat. Cheezburger)