Mythology and Folklore

(Current version of this story also at  https://sites.google.com/view/the-hymelian/pygmalion ) (Pygmalion and Galatea, from  Wikipedia ) "O Pygmalion, why do you reject women so?" Venus sighed as she watched from above. The man she watched was Pygmalion, who had nothing but distaste for the women he saw each day. Instead, Pygmalion chose to create his own woman, the perfect one for him. Venus looked on as he began to carve away at a piece of ivory, shaping what he believed to be the ideal image.  "Well that certainly doesn't look like ME," Venus huffed, "but she is quite beautiful, it is a shame he can't truly have her." Venus watched over Pygmalion as he grew more and more fond of his masterpiece. He began becoming far too close with this inanimate object for Venus to endure. He dressed it, kissed it, laid it down on his bedspread, and perhaps when Venus wasn't looking, did unspeakable things to it. Venus felt sorrow

(Pygmalion (Regnault) from  Wikimedia Commons ) I chose to read and take notes over the story of Pygmalion from our professor's anthology of stories. Before I even began the story itself, I greatly appreciated the introductory paragraph which gave some background into the story's origin, as well as some insight as to what occurred in the story. This was helpful going into a story that I had not previously read. I also greatly appreciated the descriptiveness of the story. While I am not sure if this is of origin or of Gibbs's creation, the words invoked within the story gave it a true picturesque sense. The one thing I did not enjoy was the use of punctuation. This may be instilled in me from my own schooling, but I was long ago taught that the large use of commas disrupts the flow of a sentence and leads to confusion for the reader. I did, at times, find myself confused on the fluidity of the sentence, sometimes having to go back and read again what I had just seen t

(Gods Antique Mosaic Mythology from  Max Pixel ) When it comes to the types of stories that most grabbed my attention, there are a few that stuck out. Popular names such as Homer's Iliad or Dante's Inferno. I know much about the Iliad and the Odyssey already, but they are both classic stories I often refer back to. Dante's Inferno has always been a story I have meant to read, but either have not found the time or have not had it. As such, for this blog the three stories I chose are Homer's Iliad  - The classical story of the Trojan War, depicted in movies such as "Troy" Homer's Odyssey  - Odysseus's story of his return, and the troubles he faced along the way. Dante's Inferno  - Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and eventually Paradise. I hope to revisit these old stories that I have spent time both in and out of school learning about, as well as to gain knowledge through finally reading the story of Dante's Inferno

(Render of a Clock from  DeviantArt ) For time strategies to help myself get through this class as well as this semester, I've decided to take steps towards getting my work done sooner. I suffer greatly from lack of motivation and procrastination. I find it hard to force myself to do tasks unless absolutely necessary. Now that I'm taking a 15 hour semester again and working 25 hours a week, I do not have that luxury. I am going to start doing my work as soon as I get it rather than the day before it is due, and start asking myself the questions listed in  4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination . I'll also start making public commitments to doing my work in this way, as mentioned in  How to Beat Procrastination   so that I am almost pressured into getting my work done in this manner. I need to buckle down and finish these last two semesters to that end.

(Blank Laptop Empty Computer Mock-up Screen from  Max Pixel ) I am relatively excited about some of the tools we are using in this class. I am already fairly familiar with Blogger just from doing our week 1 assignments, and feel comfortable with it. I have prior experience with website publishing, bookmarking, and image editing as well. I would say the only thing I do not have much prior experience with is graphics creation, a tool I am excited to get some experience with! Altogether, I do like the simplicity of the tools we are using, as well as their intuitiveness. 

(Checklist image from  pxhere.com ) In my opinion this class is both similar and unlike other online courses I have taken before. Most online courses I have taken include a certain amount of writing each week and discussion. That is not entirely unlike this class. However, they have not been done in the form of blogging, rather they were in the form of a 3 page paper.  The extra credit assignments that stuck out to me were the extra commenting, extra reading, and famous last words assignments. They all appear to be things I would be interested in doing, and famous last words in particular seems to be fun!

(Rainbow Brain, from Wikipedia ) Before this, I had not heard of the specific terminology "growth mindset". However, I am somewhat familiar with the ideas behind it. It seems to be more oriented at, as the title suggests, helping the students grow rather than handling things in a manner that might make them feel lesser than their peers. There is a small difference between the mentioned school's concept of "not yet" and the word "failed". I think it could make some difference if implemented across more school districts in the nation, but I do not think the difference is substantial enough. In the end, I believe that the "not yet" grade would become the new "F" in the eyes of students. To this end, I don't necessarily think that it works well enough to implement. I feel as though the example Dweck used here does not represent well enough the ideas behind a growth mindset, and do believe that a growth mindset is the proper t

(Personal Image from cellphone) Hey everyone, my name is Jacob, and I am currently a senior at the University of Oklahoma, majoring in mathematics. I'll say this, the major is not for the faint of heart. Upper level math courses are pretty difficult! But that's enough about school, I'll tell you a bit about myself. I am twenty-one years old and am currently dating my girlfriend of almost 5 years, Rachel. We have plans to move in together next summer and are working towards that goal. My hobbies include video games, playing soccer, and planning. By planning I mean organizing events and recruiting teams for local leagues. This fall, I recruited two teams to play in OKLCS (Oklahoma League Championship Series), which is an Oklahoma organization that hosts competitive play between teams in League of Legends. I love playing soccer competitively, and can't really play for recreation or I get too competitive. I have five pets, two dogs and three cats. Really only two of

Storybook image from pixnio.com user Marcelo https://sites.google.com/bmchs.org/loversofzeus/home, The Lovers of Zeus The title of this storybook is The Lovers of Zeus. I chose this storybook because I have always heavily enjoyed Greek mythology, and am currently taking my second course in mythology (this one!). The title does seem to accurately describe what the storybook is about. The introduction puts an interesting and modern twist on Zeus's romantic deviance, describing it in a modern world scenario, but does well to highlight the sexual drama in Zeus's life, even if the stories feel somewhat inaccurate due to the modernization. While the visuals used in the storybook are nice, some of them seem a bit out of place (such as the popular "Rosie the Riveter" image) and there is a lot of white space that is somewhat displeasing to the eye. https://sites.google.com/site/andreasstorybook/, Weather Gods The title of this storybook is Weather Gods. I chose th

(Mount Rainier (Background), Tacoma (Middle), Puget Sound (Foreground), from goodfreephotos  ) My favorite place in the world that I have seen would have to be Tacoma, Washington. The city is located on the banks of Puget Sound, where you can sometimes see whales, seals, and a whole manner of sea life outside your window (if you live close enough). From most places within the cit, weather allowing, you can also see Mount Rainier jutting into the sky. On top of these things, the weather there is usually rainy or cloudy which is what I love the most.

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