Mikayla's Epics of India

  The story I liked this most from Part C of the Marabharata reading is  The Burning of the Forest  because of how eventful the story is, and based off of how easy I will be able to recreate it. I think that this story is a really good turning point for the story and really gives a good look into what the rest of the story will look like.  One of the most important sections of the story is the end: "A great battle ensued. Indra was defeated. When he poured down torrents of rain, Arjuna extinguished it with his arrows. Great multitudes of animals, uttering fearful yells and in great agony, perished in the flames. Only six creatures escaped: the snake Ashwasena, a son of Takshaka ; four birds; and the demon Maya , who was the son of a rishi . But the object was accomplished, and Agni became once more bright and vigorous. He had drunk rivers of fat and marrow."  I think that this story has a lot of potential to write about because I could go in a lot of different directions with

  Alright, well here we go! Unfortunately I missed a lot from last week due to mental health reasons, but I am hoping that this week will be different. I am hoping to be a little less harsh on myself and give myself some more understanding, otherwise, I won't enjoy the readings. So far I have adored all of part A from the Mahabharata, it is such a riveting story. I really enjoyed the Ramayana but I feel like it got a bit redundant. The story I found most interesting was  Drona Trains the Princes . I am going to wind up writing my story this week about this story, I believe because it is such a classic style of training story. I think that I could write a really good tale of jealousy with this story, or create a good training scene type of story. There is a lot of direction that I could take with any number of these stories, but I particularly liked this story for the lesson it helps teach as well as the mythology and story behind it. Information: Arjuna meets Krishna at Prabhasaksh

Arjuna and the Arpsara's : This is a pretty neat little story that Laura lead me to from the last email full of revisions. I think this tale of women turning into crocodiles. When I think of the animals depicted in Indian mythology I think of monkeys, tigers, elephants, of course, my favorite, rabbits. I do not typically think of crocodiles as being a symbol of Indian lore but this story is incredibly interesting. There is nothing in mind that I can particularly tie this to but it is useful as a frame of reference. I could definitely link this back to the Monkey and the Crocodile story, however. I think it could be something really cool to explore.  Indian Epics Blog Spot: Animals Section This is a good selection of the Mahabharata that has quite of few mentions of horses, mongoose, animal sacrifice, etc.. This section also leads to several other readings on traditional Indian animals and folklore of that nature. I am really interested to read about the horse stuff because horses s

  Here is a link to my website:  The Animals of Indian Mythology Image Information:  Madhubani Painting

      The bridge between the Mainland and Lanka is a magical sight. This is Rama's bridge. Although it has been thousands of years since the creation of the bridge connecting the two regions, the bridge is still used by many. People say it used to connect what is now Sri Lanka and India, the gorgeous limestone meets the rock and the earth so wonderfully. It is mostly a tourist spot now, but peoples say that the rocky islands were constructed by Nala, son of  Vishwakarman , the "divine artisan," in order to allow enemies to cross the ocean. This was allegedly demanded by the God of Ocean to keep things fair and reasonable. This small series of islands that create a land bridge between the two countries serves a special purpose in my life, however. I grew up along this land bridge, and I know more secrets of the bridge than many. I know what wars have been fought and won because of this bridge. I know of what Rama and Sita faced during the creation of this bridge, and the p

      This week has not been one of my best weeks. Obviously, hence why I am having to do extra credit to make up for the reading assignments that I missed. This week has been rather emotional for me, and I think I am feeling the full extent of senior burn out. I am been working non stop at two jobs while taking 16 credit hours and holy crap has it been way too much for me to handle. I am so grateful for the people in my inner circle but sometimes I just need a nap. But I also can't help but wanna kick myself for napping, like yesterday I slept all day. Literally. I woke up at 6am to go to work, got off at 1pm, and slept until 7pm. Then I woke up, drank some wine, and went to bed at 10pm. Today I am being productive, however. I had to put it into overdrive to make up for all of the assignments I have missed. This upcoming week I need to make sure that I actually go to my zoom classes, make an effort to show up in person, and actually put in genuine effort into my classes. I keep ha

  This reading, although late, was really interesting. The entirety of part C is very fascinating. I really liked  Hanuman and Sita , although it may not be very useful to my storybook. Hanuman is a monkey-headed Hindu god so I could definitely find him a home in my storybook but he may not be necessarily integral. The story has a lot to do with modesty, and how Sita values her modesty. It also solidifies  Rama's affections and feelings for Sita, and vice versa. After this, Hanuman is captured and is described as a wiley monkey. This could be something symbolic to write about in my storybook, it seems like monkeys make several appearances in the Ramayana and this could mean something more metaphorical in the context of the storybook.  Image information: Sita fears Hanuman,1594. The David Collection

  The two sources that resonated the most with me were  Be a Mirror  by Gravity Goldberg, and  Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!"  by Alfie Kohn. As always, feedback is such an important part of our lives every day. It is both criticism and reassurance that people seek on a regular basis. It is especially important since I am going to be a teacher (in less than a year, oh my gosh) I need to understand the "do's and dont's" of how to give my students proper feedback in the classroom. The article I found most interesting was about why saying good job can be damaging to students, that is something I had never thought of. I am currently a wrestling coach and my vocabulary is mostly "good job" because, positive thinking, right? I know as a student and athlete myself that I was definitely a praise junkie and always was seeking validation about my abilities. Overall, this is the sort of thing I am going to look out for when giving people feedback on

  Stories/Sources: The Animal's of Indian Mythology     This is a good online source that links to all sorts of Indian mythological animals. This is more of a culmination of lots of different sources that I can pull from if I decide that the stories I currently have chosen are no longer what I am interested in.  Rama and the Squirrel :      This is a story that was suggested to me by Laura, and I really enjoyed it. This story feels like it is intended to be a vehicle to drive a more "adult" story/lesson. I really enjoyed the lore in this one, and I could easily find myself using this story.  The Monkey and the Crocodile :     So, I really really like this source because not only is the story really good and thought-provoking, but it also links to a ton of different sources in case I get bored with what I have already selected. My favorite thing about the "un-textbook" style of the online readings is that it is so easy to get lost in all of the readings and lore.

    In a rural town outside of Norman, OK, there were two dogs that shared a backyard fence with one another. The female lab was named Sita, and the pit bull mix was named Rama. The two dogs, although faced with the obstacle of a large fence, were very much in love with one another. Every morning when they were released outside, they two work run up and down the yards barrier for 15 minutes or so before finally settling down. The cacophony of barking and whirlwind of tail wags for these two dogs meant pure romance. Rama and Sita are soul mates, you see. They want nothing more than to spend the rest of their days barking at strangers together. Their love makes all of the other neighborhood dogs jealous, they howl in contempt when the pair meet. One day, Sita noticed that Rama was not there. He had not been there all morning to greet her. A few hours later, Rama trotted outside. Sita ran to the fence at full force to greet her mate, only to be met with a lazy waltz and heavy panting. Ram

      Just like with part A of the readings, this part, part B is packed full of wonderful lore, stories, culture, and fun stories. My favorite story is where I retrieved this image from,  The Golden Deer . I had previously mentioned that I am really interested in the Epics of India animals, and the furry friends that they feature. I think that animals are a storytelling device and sometimes can act as an engine to move metaphors forward. I think that this story could be pretty useful for my own storybook. This story not only has some really good depictions and metaphors about the golden deer but also links to several other outside sources that could be super handy to my research in writing about the animals of Indian mythology. I also really liked that I am able to listen to all of these stories rather than having to read all of them. Some of the depictions of animals are as such: "I have witnessed in this jungle graceful creatures passing fair,  Chowri and the gentle roebuck, a

  This week's reading was super interesting! I tried to get ahead a little bit, but it is a lot harder than I give myself credit for. I think that part A of the public domain Ramayana is super interesting and packed full of some really good stories. My favorite story from this set was "Crossing the River". Although I do not have a distinct reason for why it is my favorite, it seems like it is packed with a lot of information and lore. The entirety of part A is very good and full of inspiration for my storybook, however, the taste of what I got in my Myth/folklore class, I do not remember it being my favorite of the stories. The stories are short, even though there are twenty of them in this section, they are a pretty quick read. My favorite part of all of the stories is that there are hyperlinks to each term if they are unfamiliar with our vocabulary. I think the fact that they are each link  contains more information about the topic really connected me to the reading eve

       With the current state of the world, it is so easy for me to fall into some serious self-doubt, disdain, and a negative mindset. I have been extremely critical of myself and my achievements in the last few months and I cannot seem to shake that negativity. This is my last semester of course work so I really want to go out with a bang.  Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head  and  Re-wire Your Self-Critical Brain  were the two articles that really stood out to me in terms of motivation and positivity. For feedback, I am really bad at giving critical feedback. I want to be positive to everyone around me and I want to boost people's confidence. But for myself, I am extremely negative. I am critical of my failures and I water-down my success. These two articles really speak to me and I think I need to take more of my own advice. I definitely need help taming my inner critic, as the articles say. I am good at receiving feedback, but sometimes I can be a bit protective over my w

  Topic Brainstorm: The Women of Indian Epics:      So, part of the reason I am so interested in the women of Indian epics is because of how they are classified, categorized, and how they are talked about. I also saw a lot about this topic in the previous topics, as well as the readings. I think that there is plenty of resources online and through the course, material to learn plenty about the topic, such as  The Women of the Ramayana . I think that there is a lot to learn from the perspective of women throughout Indian literature, folklore, and stories. I have some previous knowledge on this topic from a World Literature class, but my knowledge is limited. The Animals of Indian Epics:      I am very interested in how Indian Epics use animals for storytelling, to convey a metaphor, and as actors to tell "grown-up stories". After reading  Animals of Indian Mythology  I figured that there must be cultural importance to certain animals, as they seem to signify certain things in

       "Huh, so it is really happening." I sighed as I looked up at the sky. "The sky is actually falling".  We knew that this day would come. Global warming has been an issue since the early 1990s, and well, we are way passed the point of return nearly 200 years later. We have heard jokes and tales of people mistaking falling objects for the sky falling, but it appears that our attempt at rebuilding the ozone has finally collapsed in on itself. I guess we knew it would happen, that the bubble would burst, but no one knew it would be this soon. I stand and watch on the muggy street corner of my childhood home as thin slices of some sort of engineered plastic fall from the sky. The sun shines through the holes in the bubble that appear small to the eye but must be half a mile wide. The rays are bright, almost as if they're being amplified. I squint as I look up to the sky. The UV stings, my skin feels like it could burn under the heat. In school, we read stories

  So, naturally, my favorite story from this anthology was   The Foolish, Timid Rabbit . Last semester in Mythology and folklore my favorite things to write about were the rabbits in the fables and tales. The chicken little style story was a lot of fun to read. The story explores the "what-if" of the sky falling and the world ending. Something I have definitely been exploring this semester for my own anthology and website has been animals, maybe specifically rabbits if I can find enough material. Although I have toyed with the idea of feminism in the Indian Epics, I think that I would have a lot of fun with the depictions of animals in the literature. That said, this story speaks to the unknown. The foolish and scared rabbit had no idea that it was merely a coconut that fell behind him which caused widespread fear amongst the other animals. This metaphor can be translated to be used in any life situation. When someone doesn't have all of the facts, when media blows things

  Just for the ease of access and affordability, I have chosen to go with the free online PDF of the Ramayana to read.  The comics that I am interested in are: Shiva Parvati : This comic interests me because of what the summary had to offer. Although the summary is short, there is a lot packed into it. I feel like there is a lot that could be gained from this comic and I think I would really enjoy the full version. The story of "diving love" really intrigued me and I think that there could be some really interesting discussions surrounding this story.  Parashurama : I also chose this comic because of the summary that I read. I found the synopsis super interesting. I also found the attached image to be super interesting because of the artwork. I think that the lore of the story will be super interesting and could relate really well to the sorts of things I want to discuss.  The videos I am interested in are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsuqbPda5uo&list=PLrWYQjLLbXcie5D