Week 1: Indian Epics Overview

I am very excited to start this class this semester! Since taking Myth-Folklore, I found an interest in reading stories that I didn't know was there before. I. do not know much about the two Epics we are going to be reading but I do know some things about them. I took a class last semester called History of Dance, and we had to learn about many different cultures and how they practice dance. During the last half of the semester we learned briefly about India and their culture, so there was mention about the two epics. Browsing through the Indian Epics Resouces sight, there are a few images that I recognize.  Ganesha and Bharata are two characters that I have leaned about before, but I have seen images and depictions of Ganesha everywhere from cartoons, and video games. 

I don't listen to Indian music, but I have learn some. Also the only other epic I have read before is Beowulf. I read parts of in the Myth class last semester and the whole thing in high school. I was browsing though the India Epics Storybooks and the resource website and I am interested in learning about Ravana, and Ganesha. I have heard about Ravana in a previous game that I played, but I didn't know he was evil. It would be great to learn is origin story, and also others regarding him. I'm also excited to read the two epics! Do they have parts about dance in them? I am wondering because I heard that a lot of Indian culture or "dance" culture is inspired from these two epics. I think I will read some stories in the Myth Un-Textbook called Jataka Tales that covers even more stories on India. 

Depiction of Ganesha Ganapati

This is an image of Ganesha in a computer game called Maplestory.  This is one of the many examples of from where I have seen him. 

Week 1: Favorite Storybooks

The first Storybook I decided to choose was the Hindu Gods and Their Vahanas. The reason I chose this storybook first was because I am really interested in learning about Gods. In fact, I was in the Myth-Folklore class last semester and my storybook was about gods. The title caught my attention real fast and I want to read the whole thing ASAP. The introduction was unique. It began in a completely different way than I would envision it too. It was about luxury cars, and who doesn’t like those!?

The second story I chose was Tales of Love by Kanika Garg. Love is an interesting topic and decided to click on this story and see what it was about. The page is really nice and I like the “starry” background effect. It also has a simple look to it. Nothing is too fancy or hard to find. Everything is in an easy spot to find if necessary. The Intro does a great job at explaining what the storybook will be about. Love can be a magnificent thing, but also dangerous. What makes this storybook so unique is that there are four different stories about love each with different motives.

Last but not least is Maureen Kennedy’s storybook Ravana’s Story. Looking at all of the stories on the list. It looks as if there are a lot of them about Ravana. So being curious I want to try and learn everything I can about Ravana. What better way to do by reading the storybook about Ravana.

Arriving at this page there is a huge picture of Ravana battling two other beings, Rama and 

Lakshmana. The picture is nice and there is also a brief description on who Ravana is. I learned that he is the main antagonist and also extremely evil. This would make sense because the one time I heard about Ravana was on a video game. In that game the Character Ravana was evil. 

The Ravana Mask

Photo by: Abi Skipp

Week 1: Introduction - Around The World

Hello everybody! My name is Anthony Clark and I am a Junior at The University of Oklahoma. I plan on majoring in Supply Chain Management. I don't know what it is about supply chain that interests me so much. Maybe it is just the mechanics of it all. I find it very interesting to be the guy "behind the scenes" of a business or cooperation trying to find the best technique for saving money or allocating funds. I am just really excited to lean the ins and outs of how things work. I just got accepted into the Price College of Business, so I am  taking my first Supply Chain class! Hopefully everything turns out okay.

Anyway, I'd like to say that I am from Edmond, Oklahoma, but I find this statement to be a bit bit misleading. I am actually from all over the place!

I'll start from where I was born. I was born in San Antonio, Texas. My parents are both in the Air Force (my Dad just recently retired) and this is where they met. I lived there for about 5 years then I moved to Panama City, Florida. I do not remember much about that, but there are still some things that I can never forget. The first thing is the abundance of wildlife. There were many different colorful frogs and animals. It was so cool to see them: except when they were inside of your house! The next thing I could never forget is the huge paper mill. It was a factory that constantly makes paper. I don't know why but it constantly smelled so bad just like a sewage. Every time I walked outside I could smell the paper mill. I lived in Panama City for about 2 years then I moved to Moore, Oklahoma. Here, I went to Mid-Del Christian School for about 3 years. It is now called Destiny Christian. Living in Oklahoma at the time was much different than Florida. I never experienced tornadoes until coming to Oklahoma. After 3 years in Moore, I then moved to Okinawa, Japan. This, by far, was my favorite place to live! I was about 9 or 10 so I was young, but I still remember everything. I lived on Kadena Air Force Base, so I basically went to a regular school like you would in the US. Even though I lived on base I could still go off base. My family would always go off the base and experience all the wonderful things such as all the Japanese malls, the many different aquariums, and the amusement parks. Another perk from living in Okinawa was that it was a island! On certain parts of the base you could look out in all 4 directions and just see the vast ocean. It was a beautiful site to see! There is one thing though that was bad about japan and I will never forget. It was the spiders!

Scariest Spider Alive  (picture taken by Seule at Lamma Island)

More information about the spider: Wikipedia

Let me tell you that I have never been scared of anything else more than spiders. Spiders just freak me out more than anything. Again let me emphasis my fear for them! I had a hard time just finding and uploading a picture of one. I had to look away constantly. Putting up this picture was about a 10 minute process! Anyways, I was not always terrified my them. I was just afraid ha-ha! My friend and I used to find these banana spiders in their webs and throw grasshoppers in them and just watch the spider take off and roll up the other insect. The next day there would just be a corpse or legs of the grasshopper. We did this all the time and I don't know why it was fun. Until one day a banana spider got on me... It didn't bite me or anything ,but I don't want to talk about it. Lets just say that it changed my life forever. Overall Japan was an awesome place and I if I could go back I would in a heartbeat. 

Finally, after Japan, I came back to Oklahoma and lived in Edmond were I would spend the rest of my regular grade school. I went to Deer Creek High School where I played basketball. I loved my school and met tons of great people there. I still go to Edmond about every other week to visit my girlfriend.

Week 1: Storytelling: The Hunters

The Hunters

Journal Entry #4: It has been 10 weeks since the outbreak, and civilization was destroyed. Life as we know it was changed. Cities became wretched places; filled with grass growing through the asphalt and buildings. Emptiness amongst the buildings gave you the feeling that you were alone. The countryside was barren. All that remains on the planet was the survivors and the hunters…

The hunters were the main reason for the almost complete destruction of the human race. Around 5 billion people have been killed already. What makes the Hunters unique is that they are an unknown species. From what is known, the Hunters are a type of organism that can infect any type of life form. Some of which include, plants, animals, people, and fish. What is most recognizable about them is that once something is infected they receive incredible strength and intelligence. Their main goal is to pursue and kill so that they can pass on the infection to your corpse.

Journal Entry #5: I just stumbled across and old abandoned cabin in the middle of a forest. It seems like a safe place to stay for now. There is bedding here and also food. Looks as if there may be some kind of camp here.

“I have no time to worry if there or others I must focus on my mission.”  Saying aloud to myself.

Later that night, I was awoken by the sound of leaves crunching near the cabin. As I peeked through the window saw 2 figures coming toward the cabin. I couldn't tell if they were bad, but I decided to hide inside a closest in the room. As they all came into the cabin I could her one of them shout, “Finally! We are back from that supply run and got some great stuff. I’m going to go put up.”

“AHHHH!!” he screamed. “What the heck are you doing in here? You almost got yourself killed. What is your name!”?

I answered. “My name is Clem and I’m the daughter of Dr. Richard Murphy. Sorry to intrude. I just needed a place to stay they night before I go back out on my mission. “

“Mission? The man responded. “What kind of mission are you on? Aren't you like 10 years old little girl?” “Actually I’m 12. What is your name?”

“Well my name is Kenny,” he responded. “Well anyways, what about this mission? What are you trying to do?

“Before my dad died. He found a way to kill of the Hunters forever. All I have to do is make my way up north east and find the castle that has the machine to detonate this special EMP bomb I have.” I said, with a bit of fright.

“Ok, lets go!” Kenny said, “I’ll help.”

As the two went start their journey, they headed north. A couple hours passed and there was still not anything in sight. Not knowing really where to go Kenny and I found a big bridge, which they could rest for the night. Once they there, as they started to sit down, a group of vampire bat came flying out. There were at least 200 of them and some of them started to circle us. We began to run. If they were to bit us then we could either die or become infected and turned into a hunter. We ran until they stopped chasing us. After, we came across a small cave where we stayed the night.

Journal Entry #6: After my crazy night with the bats, Kenny and I were forced to walk east because there was a big mountain in the way. We came across an abandoned laboratory 3 or so hours later. I thought for sure that this was the place I needed to be.

As we searched the Lab we continued to look for the machine needed to use, but it was nowhere to be found. I was split up from Kenny searching somewhere else. I went to go find him but he was gone. I raced to he entrance and I saw people tie him up and race on foot with him over the shoulder. There was nothing I could do they were so far away.

I am alone.

After walking for a few more days. I came across a huge house. It must have been the castle my dad was talking about but it looked strange. I walked up to the entry and opened the door. The squeak from the door echoed throughout the place. It was extremely dark and quiet inside.

Suddenly I heard a noise. It was a strange moaning sound. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it was getting louder and louder. I tried to light up the room with a lighter I had but it was not working. As I keep trying to brighten up the room, the sound kept getting louder and louder!

“Flick…..Flick.. NO! Please! No! Flick…

Part 1

Winter Tree

(By: burzinski)

Authors note:

This story is inspired by Tom Gauld. He made the picture called the Map of the Area Surrounding Our Holiday Home. What I like the most about this picture is that many different stories can be told from it. This picture from Tom Gauld has the potential to tell an infinite amount of stories. In my point of view the area around the cabin looks almost apocalyptic to me. When I look at this picture I see a desolate place, with little hope. I also was thinking of the hit show “Walking Dead”.  This is where I wanted to derive my story from, and with all the other random scary items in the area, it seemed best to make it a thriller. One of my biggest goals for creating this story was to provide suspense. I wanted the reader to feel anxious and scared when reading my story. My story ends abruptly because I wanted to try and scare the reader.  I tried to evoke a sense of danger while reading. Hopefully sometime in the future I will be able to write a part 2 for this story!

P.S  This story was my first story ever posted in this class, and it is crazy to see how far I have come since this post. 

Week 1: Okinawa Japan: My Favorite Place

My absolute favorite place is Okinawa Japan. Since my parents are in the military before living in Oklahoma I lived in Japan for about 5 years. It is so much different there compared to the U.S and I lived on the small island of Okinawa where one can go deep sea diving, hiking, visit one of the largest aquariums, and more! This picture is one of the many exhibits at the aquarium. I have been to this place many times and it is just jaw-dropping every single time.

Exhibit at the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa Japan

Photo Taken By: Jordan Emery Churaumi Aquarium