Thursday, February 27, 2020

PDE Mahabharata Reading Notes: Part D





SourceIndian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

Image result for the forest and its ghosts
Image Source: Pinterest

Suddenly the waters began to heave and foam
- Vyasa muttered holy words and called out the names of the dead one by one
- all the heroes who had been slain arose one by one
- they all came in chariots and on horseback and riding upon lordly elephants
- uttered triumphant cries
drums were sounded and trumpets were blown
- seemed as if the armies of the Pandavas and Kauravas were once again assembled for battle, for they swept over the river like a mighty tempest
 All strife had ended between kinsmen and old-time rivals; in death there was peace and sweet companionship
The elders who were living conversed with those who were dead
- burdens of grief and despair fell from all hearts after long years of mourning
- past was suddenly forgotten in the rapture of beholding those who had died


Story idea:
Using this ritual as part of the story or incorporating part of the dead coming alive and the celebration to follow.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

PDE Mahabharata Reading Notes: Part C




Duryodhana. Image source: Wikipedia 


Preparations for War
- Duryodhana refusing to make peace with the Pandava brethren, despite the warnings of the sages who sat around the MaharajahDhritarashtra.


Idea for story:
- to create a scene and character that is similar to Duryodhana

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

PDE Mahabharata Reading Notes: Part A


Vyasa dictates to Ganesha source: Wikipedia 

Vyasa and Ganesha 


  • Vyasa is the author of the Mahabharata & arranged the Vedas that contained everything that man out to know of thing on earth and in heaven
  •  anxious for someone to write it down but declared that no one on earth is worthy of such a task 
  • Vyasa repeated it to a disciple who then recited it at a snake sacrifice 

The story of Vyasa's birth: 
  • King of Chedi that was devoted to asceticism & the gods feared he sought to rob them of their powerr
  • Indra was sent to bribe with a crystal car that was capable of carrying him through the sky
  • As he was flying through the sky, his semen fell into the the river & was swallowed by a female fish 
    • 10 month later the fish was caught & out came a boy and a girl
  • the king took the boy after the fishermen showed him what he found
    • the girl was left to be the fishermen's wife 
  • Upon ferrying across the river, the rishi persuaded the girl to yield his embrace & promised she'd remain a virgin & lose her fishy smell 
  • a child was born on an island 
    • called Dwaipayana (island bloom)
      • called Vyasa due to arranging the Vedas 



Friday, February 14, 2020

Comment Wall

HEYYOOOO. You can access my Portfolio site here!



Image: Somebody come here and look at this. Source: Pinterest 

Week 5: The Diary of Tara


Image result for dear diary





Image information: Dear Diary. Source: Flickr


Dear Diary,

There has been so much that has occurred. I am now with Vali instead of Sugriva. On a night when Vali chased an enemy into the moonlight, Sugriva was left to stand watch. However, Sugriva claims he thought that Vali had been killed... from Vali's side of the story, the hole of the cavern had been filled up with a mountain top, making it difficult for Vali to get out. Once he did, though, Vali returned to the kingdom and took me from my husband and made me his own. I'm not sure how I feel about this.. this entire situation just doesn't seem right.

xo Tara

Dear Diary,

I am very suspicious of Sugriva.. I have a bad feeling in my stomach about he and Rama becoming allies. If this is true, there could be terrible fate ahead. I don't know what to do! Vali is so stubborn that I feel like if I tried to warn him, he wouldn't listen. BUT SUGRIVA IS MY KING'S BROTHER! Why must he betray his loyalty?

xo Tara

Dear Diary,

SO MUCH has happened today! I tried so hard to keep Vali away from starting war with Sugriva. I tried several times to tell my king about my knowledge of Sugriva and Rama becoming allies and that he should not go try to find him, for there could be terrible fate, but he would not listen to me... instead, Vali has stormed off to find Sugriva and fight him until the death! I don't know what to do! I can't help from thinking the absolute worst possible scenario! What if I lose Vali?! I can't live without him! I'm praying, praying, praying that Vali stays safe and defeats Sugriva.

xo Tara

Dear Diary,

MY KING! MY KING VALI... he has been slain by the hands of Rama!! Upon Sugriva and Vali beginning to fight, Rama came out from hiding behind trees and shot my Vali with an arrow shot from his bow! My king's own brother has betrayed him! What shall I do?! I am widowed! I am alone! What ever will I do without my King Vali by my side?!

a brokenhearted Tara


Authors note: 
I thought that telling the story of Vali's death through the eyes of Tara would be interesting because of how invested and dramatic that she is throughout the story.
Bibliography: PDE Ramayama. Sugriva's Story  Sugriva and Vali  & Vali's Death 

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section D


Focusing on content: 

The Bridge
Narayan's Ramayana 


Image: Rama and Vanar chiefs. Source: Wikipedia 

vanar: 
- a group of people living in forests 
- help Rama defeat Ravana
- these are strictly mythological creatures
- they are shape shifters 

Identification of vanar: 
- derives from the word "vana" meaning forest and nara (man) meaning "belonging to the forest" or "forest-dwelling"
- derives from vana (forest) and nara (man) meaning "forest man"
- derives from the words vav and nara meaning "is it a man"" or "perhaps he is man"

Source of information: Wikipedia 


The God of Ocean: Varuna 
- found in the oldest layer of Vedic Literature of Hinduism
- in the Hindu Puranas, he is the god of oceans
- he has a vehicle of a Makara, which is a part fish, part land creature
- weapon is a Pasha, a noose, rope loop
- guardian of deity of western direction
- found in Japanese Buddhist mythology as Suiten
- The theonym Varuṇa is a derivation from the verbal vṛ ("to surround, to cover" or "to restrain, bind") by means of a suffigal -uṇa-, for an interpretation of the name as "he who covers or binds",


Information source: Wikipedia 

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Microfiction: Skin Crawlers




Image of a clown statue. Source: urban legends 
Clowns 

My friend was dog sitting for me while I was on vacation.
She sent me a text asking what she should do with the clown statue that was in living room...I didn't own a clown statue..



SHHHHH
Silence is more deadly than words.




Author's note:
The first story was inspired by a a horror story that I read in a magazine when I was a kid. I remember that my aunt and uncle got me some makeup and other spa-like presents, along with a magazine for my birthday. This story has stuck with me for so many years because of how creepy I thought that it was. You can read the actual story here.
In the second story, I first, I wasn't sure at all what I wanted to write or how to even write a story with 6 words. However, I sat and reflected about sayings that meant something to me and immediately thought of this one.

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana B

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana B


Image result for golden deer
Image: Golden Deer. Source: tsl.org

The Golden Deer 
Narayan's Ramayana
  • Maricha assumed the shape of a golden deer with silvern spots 
    • golden tints upon his haunches
    • sapphire on his antlers 
    • neck was golden 
    • silver-white his flank and side 
  • this starts out as a story and then goes into a rhyming
  •  Want to capture the deer and then slay the deer for Sita's sake
    • afterwards will skin him to use his hide as a "golden carpet" 

Narayan's Ramayama 
  • Rama chases the deer and shoots an arrow at it, which pierces through its heart 
    • causes Maricha to spring out of the deer's body and begins to cry out for Sita to save him, but he ends up dying
  • Sita cries out 
    • she cannot live without Rama 
    • says that she will not live one moment after he dies 
    • also says that if Rama is slain that she will die by drowning, or by poison, or else by the noose

Friday, February 7, 2020

Week 4 Lab Advice to Writers


Writing Advice & Tips 

Image: I am a writer. Source: Writing Cooperative 

With writing so many short stories every week, I thought that it was important that I explore and try to find information that could help me (and whomever reads this!) write for my personal blog. The following tips come from AdviceToWriters


Karma Brown 
Write, or read, every day... it keeps the writing muscles in shape 
=if you want to be a writer, then BE a write
=Accept the shitty first draft 

Isaac Asimov 
"The ordinary writer is bound to be assailed by insecurities as he writes....The ordinary writer is therefore always revising, always chopping and changing, always trying on different ways of expressing himself, and, for all I know, never being entirely satisfied."

Carolyn See
Henry James said, “What is character without action?” Your character doesn’t have to jump off a building, but what does he do when he’s moving? Where is he? What’s he doing? Cast him up in front of your eyes. He’s yours now. You own him. And from now on, it’s a combination of what he does and what you want him to do that’s going to make this character come alive.

James Joyce:
The more we are tied to fact and try to give a correct impression, the further we are from what is significant. In writing one must create an endlessly changing surface, dictated by the mood and current impulse in contrast to the fixed mood of the classical style. This is “Work in Progress.” The important thing is not what we write, but how we write, and in my opinion the modern writer must be an adventurer above all, willing to take every risk, and be prepared to founder in his effort if need be. In other words we must write dangerously: everything is inclined to flux and change nowadays and modern literature, to be valid, must express that flux.
Since this class is about short stories, Joy Williams gives her advice in Eight Essential Attributes of the Short Story and One Way it Differs from the Novel:

1) There should be a clean clear surface with much disturbance below.
2) An anagogical level.
3) Sentences that can stand strikingly alone.
4) An animal within to give its blessing.
5) Interior voices which are or become wildly erratically exterior.
6) A novel wants to befriend you, a short story almost never.
7) Control is necessary throughout. Constraints allow the short story to thrive.
8) The story's effect should utterly transcend the naturalness and accessibility of its situation and language.
9) A certain coldness is required in execution. It is not a form that gives itself to consolation but if consolation is offered it should come from an unexpected quarter.

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them–in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.



Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Reading Notes: Narayan's Ramayana, Section C

4.03. Vali_Sugriva_fight


Image: Sugriva and Vali begin to fight. Source: Chithira Poomalai

by Romesh Dutt

  • poem format 
  • Rama and Sugriva are friends/allies 
  • Vali's wife Tara is begging her husband not to to start war
    • tells him that he doesn't know what strength and forces that Sugriva has
    • Tara tries to warn him that Sugriva has befriended Rama
    • "Conscious strength, not hesitation, speaks in voice so proud and high"
  • Tara urges Vali to make peace with Sugrive & become his companion 
  • "Brother's love is trust safety, brother's hate is deadliest sin"
  • Vali insists that he must fight Sugriva 
  • Tara begins to cry as she prays for Vali 
  • Vali then takes off to find Sugriva, "hissing like an angry cobra"
  • Vali tells Sugriva that he is going to kill him; however, Sugriva disagrees and says that it is Vali who is going to die 



Image result for vali's death"
Rama hiding before he ambushes Vali and kills him. Source: wordpress

by: Romesh Dutt 
  • written in poem format again
  • both bleeding, but continue to fight 
  • Rama has been hiding 
    • In an ambush, he appears shoots his arrow at Vali 
  • Vali is hit with the arrow and falls and dies 


Monday, February 3, 2020

Biography: A personal letter to myself



A story to myself whenever something in my life goes wrong: 

Kennedee,


You're reading this, well, because something has obviously not gone exactly how you pictured it to be. And for you- a perfectionist- I know that you are beating yourself up about whatever has happened. I know that you are frustrated and most likely upset with yourself, if you had any control over the situation, BUT, there are some things that you need to know.

·      You have overcome sooo much throughout your life- seriously, you’ve came out on top in so many aspects in which you weren’t dealt a good deck of cards. Think about the big picture of your life and ask yourself: “Is it really THAT big of a deal?”
·      You are smarter than you give yourself credit for
·      If you haven’t already, take whatever journal that you’ve been writing in and let out all of your frustrations. Turn on some music, whether it be country or Christian worship songs and sit alone in a room to take time to reflect on the situation
·      If you need to cry, it is absolutely okay. Get out all of the pain that you are feeling. Once you do that; however, you need to pick your head back up and keep moving
·      Remember your favorite quote:


You Are Braver Than You Believe - Free PDF Download - Stately Type
Winnie the Pooh Quote. Source: Pinterest 


     You are so blessed and have come SO FAR in the last two years. Whatever this situation may be, know that you are not alone in it. Now, dry your eyes and smile, because life is a precious gift that is not promised from one day to the next! 


a Authors Note: 
       My reasoning for writing this letter to myself is because sometimes, I am my own worst critique. This quote that I put as my image is one that my sister Morgan sent to me my senior year of high school when I was going through a really tough time. This quote has stuck with me throughout college and has helped me in the greatest and hardest situations that I have encountered in life thus far. This quote by A.A. Mine is so special to me. 






Sunday, February 2, 2020

Yoga- Topic Research


Yoga Mythology: 64 Asanas and Their Stories by [Devdutt Pattanaik, Matthew Rulli]



Yoga 
For one of my sources for my project, I have looked into and decided to use a book that Professor Laura provided me with called Yoga Mythology By: Devdutt Pattanaik with Mathtew Rulli
Although there is not a full link to the book that I can provide, I have included a link for anyone who is interested in to to start with a free sample of it from google play You can also get the book for you kindle from amazon here. This book provides the names of 64 yogic asanas and tells of their stories, as well as how their names are connected to yoga poses.

In the first chapter of this book, it talks about a household metaphor of yoga in which women use rice flour to create patterns called kolam or rangoli on the floor just outside their house. Here, dots and lines are joined, with the reminder that connecting starts to create constellations helps us understand the sky.

Other points-of-reference from this chapter include:
- yoga is also referred to as 'joga'
- it has different meanings, which is contingent upon a person's context of it
- adjectives that are used to describe the connection of yoga

  • karma yoga
  • bhakti yoga 
  • gyan yoga 
  • hatha yoga 
  • tantra yoga 


OTHER RESOURCES  

The wikipedia page on Yoga is another source that I think will be great in learning to origins of it. 
The wikipedia page on Yogi. From this article, it states that a Yogi (male) lives by voluntary ethical precepts called Yamas and Niyamas, including: 

  • Ahiṃsā (अहिंसा): nonviolence, non-harming other living beings
  • Satya (सत्य): truthfulness, non-falsehood
  • Asteya (अस्तेय): not stealing
  • Dayā (दया): kindness, compassion
  • Ārjava (आर्जव): non-hypocrisy, sincerity
  • Kṣamā (क्षमा): forgiveness
  • Dhṛti (धृति): fortitude
  • Mitāhāra (मितहार): moderation in diet both in terms of quantity and quality
  • Śauca (शौच): purity, cleanliness
  • Tapas: austerity, persistence and perseverance in one's purpose
  • Santoṣa: contentment, acceptance of others and of one's circumstances as they are, optimism for self[32]
  • Dāna: generosity, charity, sharing with others

The wikipedia page on Yogini, a female practitioner of Yoga.



Image source: Amazon

Feedback Strategies

*** Note: Check this out on my portfolio here


Feedback Gallery

I thought that the feedback gallery provided a good sense of the type of comments that we should be leaving on one another's blogs. It is better to be specific in the questions that you ask and your reasonings behind asking them, so that the author is able to fully understand how you have perceived their writing and how they can help answer your questions.

Depression Memes For Laughing Away Your Pain (22 Pics) - Memebase - Funny Memes
How I feel when I'm left with my thoughts for too long meme. Source: cheezburger.com


 Articles 

"If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become truth for you." Louise Hay
This quote came from the article How to Let Go of Negative, Limiting Beliefs About Yourself By Mike Dileone

This article hit home for me. I am 100% guilty for allowing myself to be defined by labels of todays world. The author describes this belief to be what holds people back from unleashing their greatness within. 


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As the years go by, those labels, whether true or not, become sewn into the fabric of our being. They become part of our core, the vocabulary we use about ourselves, and the thoughts we hold of ourselves.

This quote came from the article How to Let Go of Negative, Limiting Beliefs About Yourself By Mike Dileone


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Mike Dileone lists 4 strategies for eliminating negative core beliefs: 
1. Write down or say out loud the belief- but really, do both 
2. Think back to the earliest time you can remember having that belief
3. After you've replayed it in your mind, put yourself in the other person's shoes and reframe it
4. Challenge the belief. 


Article #2 that I read was from inc.com called Want to Raise Successful Kids? Science Says Praise Them Like This (but Most Parents Do the Opposite)

 I chose this article because I think that these negative thoughts and perceptions are first formed through childhood. This article discusses the differences in a fixed vs a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is the belief that a person's skill is almost entirely innate. A growth mindset is the belief that achievement is much more variable, and that intelligence and problem-solving abilities can be developed over time. In a study of 7th graders that were followed for two years, Dweck's research indicated differences in the following aspects of the two groups of students: 
  • goals 
  • attitudes toward effort and failure 
  • boredom and difficulty
I think that it's interesting how it's suggested to ask one another what is something that everyone struggled with that day instead of asking how their day or school was. 

 "Praise your child explicitly for how capable they are of learning rather than telling them how smart they are."
Quote source: Angie Aker's (inc.com, orginally from Upworthy).