Week 11: Review

Bonus Note: this week's review definitely came in handy! I originally posted many of my posts from this week on my blog from last semester's Indian Epics course! Oops! Good thing I checked! Happily, it is all now fixed and posted where it should be. :)

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Since it is my birthday week, I chose an item from the announcements that young Audra would've loved to see! Like many kids, I loved Disney princess movies! However, I was equally fascinated with finding out if the characters had real stories. I would have loved to see this image of the real Pocahontas that was done during her lifetime!

Week 11: Famous Last Words

I feel like this has been both the shortest and the longest week!

Because I have struggled with a bit of illness lately, I am playing a little bit of catch up in class at the moment. Especially during the season of exams and papers, getting behind by even a day can be overwhelming! However, this class is always calming in a way to me because of the set and clear schedule. It's truly a life-saver to an often frazzled brain!

This week, I got to read stories from the Welsh tradition. I have particularly enjoyed this course because, on top of expanding my reading and writing range, I have been able to learn more about parts of my own heritage! The stories about Pwyll and Rhiannon in particular led me to do more research. I was intrigued to see all of the many poems and songs about their relationship. However, I was surprised to see that Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon was not about the same Rhiannon! Their song, Angel, however, is!

I also really enjoyed challenging myself with the one pulse story writing style. I know that I have a tendency to write long sentences, but I did not anticipate what a challenge it would be to use short yet concise words! It significantly shortened my sentence length. While, in my opinion, my writing lost my unique voice in this style, I think that with more practice I could write both concisely and in my own voice! I hope I can try this style again soon!

Other classes are also wrapping up, so I am beginning all of my big final papers in the next week. Wish me luck! I was lucky to have time to spend away from work a bit this week as well though to celebrate my birthday on Wednesday. I felt very loved and had a great time going to dinner and seeing The Princess Bride at the new theatre in Norman!

     Personal photo of birthday flowers!

Week 11 Learning Challenges: Mental Health Videos

While I have heard a lot about OUr Mental Health through both my friends and social media, I had not gotten the chance to sit down and watch and learn from the videos the group made until this week.

Each video includes the story of an OU student who has struggled with mental illness. I personally am friends with each student who posted a video. Further, I myself struggle with mental illness.

I cannot convey how much I admire each student's bravery, honestly, and vulnerability. It shows great care to share your own story in order to help others!

So many of those around us are struggling silently with mental illness, and it is important to learn how to best support them. Everyone is different. Every brain has strengths and weaknesses. Mental illness is not a weakness. Rather, it just leads the person to go through life in a different way. However, it is important that while we recognize that each person is different and not abnormal for having a mental illness, their illness is also just as real and serious as a physical illness!

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Week 11 Tech Tip: Google Timer

Tomorrow, I begin to complete my final projects and papers for all of my final courses at OU. Further,  I am still making final decisions and waiting to hear back from plans for after graduation. To say that I'm getting nervous would be an understatement, but I am committed to preparing well and doing my very best!

In order to complete everything in the coming weeks, I must adhere to a strict timeline. Previously, if I needed to adhere to a strict time deadline, I had used the timer on my phone, but as we all know, phones also have way more fun features on them that can quickly become a study distraction! So, as I was browsing through the tech tips looking for some study help, I was thrilled to come across the Google Timer! I had no idea that it existed! Now, in conjunction with the SelfControl App, I can have my phone safely locked away and have no worries about scurrying off to look at cute puppy pictures on the internet instead of working on a paper or studying for an exam!

Hooray!

Week 11 Reading Diary: Alice in Wonderland

For this week's extra credit reading, I read from my mom's favorite story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Before now, I had not read the original book. I had only seen the Disney movie! Here are a few things that either caught my eye as interesting or different:

Alice is falling for so long after going in the rabbit hole that she has time to talk to herself. Unlike the movie, at the bottom of the hole, there are several keys. Still, none of them fit the tiny door! Once she escapes and meets the caterpillar, Alice talks to him for an extended period of time about her dilemma. It seems that Disney took a great amount of liberty with its caterpillar scenes! In the most strange part of all, Alice is transformed to only be a torso and has to move along like a caterpillar would. However, I was very happy to see that the familiar questions and purposely confusing rhetoric seen in the movie at the tea party remained, especially in Alice's conversation with the Footman!

The famous white rabbit -- my mom's favorite character!
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Week 11 Storytelling: One Pulse Pwyll and Rhiannon

Long ago, there was a Chief whose name was Pwyll. His home was grand and sat on huge tracts of land. One day, at a feast, a guest told Pwyll that a mound near his home was magic.

The guest said, “if you sit on it, you might get hurt or you might see an image like a dream.”

The tale made Pwyll want to test the mound at once. So, he and his men went to sit on the mound. Soon, they saw a horse run past them on the road that was near by. A girl of great beauty in gold robes was on the horse.

Pwyll said to one of his men, “Go get on your horse. Catch up to her and bring her here!”

But, while his horse ran as fast as it could, the man could not catch up to the girl in gold. Her speed did not change, but as the man sped up, more and more space split them. For many days, the same girl in gold robes rode down the road near the mound. Each day, the men could not catch her.

At last, Pwyll got up from the mound and got on his horse. He would try to catch the girl on his own. He was sad to find that he met the same woe as his men. Pwyll could not catch the girl on the horse!

In a yell, he said, “please wait!”

To his shock, the girl in gold robes said, “I am glad to wait. You should have said that the first time that your men went to catch up with me!”

The girl in gold robes told Pwyll her name and said that she rode to his home to search for him. She told Pwyll that her kin set her up to wed a strange man but that she knew that it was right to wed Pwyll. Pwyll said he would be glad to have her as his wife.  The two then said that they would meet in a year to be wed and have a great feast.

Author's Note:

For this storytelling, I wanted to try one of the example storytelling styles: one pulse stories! In this style, the writer is challenged to retell their story using only word with a single syllable. It is a great brain exercise to sit and think about all of the synonyms for words that you want to use or various ways that one sentence can be phrased to convey the same meaning! This was a great challenge for me because I am prone to using long sentences and lots of descriptive words to get my point across. Here, I had to try to be concise and brief! My story is a retelling of how Pwyll and Rhiannon met in the first part of The Maginobi.  My story very closely follows that of the original. I only changed little details about time in order to fit my writing style.  Of course, I also called Rhiannon the "girl in gold robes" for this reason as well!

Bibliography:

The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest (1877).

Pwyll and Rhiannon
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Week 11 Reading Diary: Pwyll and Taliesin

This week, I am reading sections from The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest. These stories are all Welsh in origin. Since I read Native American stories last week, I'm excited to read stories from another part of my heritage this week!

Pwyll Goes Hunting:

I think that this story sets the scene for the rest of the action! Two leaders meet on a hunt and essentially agreed to switch places for a year. How is the king capable of disguising them so well and for so long? I can't help but wonder if he also has ulterior motives. Further, who is this enemy who will fall after one hit but be just fine after another? This is a really interesting introduction.

In the Stead of Arawn:

Not too much attention is given to how the residents of the kingdom perceive the disguised Pwyll. I wonder if no one really noticed or if they were in on the plan! Also, I wish that I knew more about the enemy, other than the fact that he tried to smooth-talk his way out of defeat. Tricky! Now, the two nobles have switched to their true forms and the king promises to reward Pwyll.

Pwyll and the Wondrous Lady:

In the time that we missed in Pwyll's kingdom, the people were treated better than before. Pwyll promises to continue that standard. Meanwhile, a new mysterious character is introduced! The wondrous lady literally shines as she rides past the men on the mound. No matter how fast they go, they're unable to match her constant speed. Is she magic like the other king?

Pwyll and Rhiannon:

The riding lady's name is Rhiannon. Now I can't help but wonder if the Fleetwood Mac song is based on this character! She has some kind of magic or psychic ability because she comes specifically to seek out Pwyll whom she intends to marry. A year after they promise to wed, he goes to their arranged meeting place to find a huge celebration.

Gwawl's Request:

It's getting even more dramatic! Rhiannon confirms her magical powers with her plot to get rid of the suitor that steals her away. It seems like she could just say no, instead! Now, another year has to pass to make it work. Is that a significant time in Welsh stories or just this particular one?

The Game of Badger in the Bag:

Pwyll wins! Also, the (apparently significant) game of badger in the bag begins.

The next few stories I read in quick succession because they were so interesting! Pwyll and Rhiannon's baby gets taken. He grows tremendously quickly. Must be the magic! This reminds me of Disney's Hercules. Wasn't there also an Indian Epic boy that grew extremely quickly? His adoptive parents give the boy the horse born on the night he was born. Eventually, he is returned to Pwyll and Rhiannon. Everyone is so kind in returning favors in this story! The boy later rules all the lands. 

Rhiannon on her magic horse
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