Storybook Plan

My Storybook Plan is fairly well explained in one of my previous blog posts. It includes information about the stories I am likely going to write for my Storybook this semester, as well as my sources for each story.

I think my Storybook will be an anthology of different stories. Each story revolves around different attractions in Disneyland, occurring to different people. Some stories will be told in a flashback mode, where people tell their stories to the media, which was then published in the newspaper the next day. Others will be told in a first person point of view. They will be describing the horrors they experienced while on various rides in the park. 

There are two main ideas I am looking to explore in my Storybook. Even a fun, delightful place that appears to be perfect in every way can have a dark side. There's always stuff going on behind the scenes that the general public don't know, and this Storybook will tell the horrors of what has happened or could happen. The other overarching idea I want to iterate through these stories is to just be careful and do your best to stay safe. While some bad things that happen in life are inevitable, like dying of old age or getting the flu, many people get hurt because they were doing stupid things and not thinking of their own safety. A large property, like an amusement park, will have its own set of dangers that, if you're not paying attention or being reckless, could end in a terrible accident.

"View of Floating Open Book from Stacked Books in Library" via Unsplash

Comment Wall

 

Sleeping Beauty's Castle, via ItsBlossom

Website: Disney's Grim Grinning Ghosts

Week 4 Lab

"What is Myth?", via YouTube

I was interested in the working definition of the word “myth”. Today, myths are considered to be straight up lies. However, by the word origin of a myth, myths are simply stories. Myths get a negative connotation due to today’s common definition, but they can actually be very fun and teach important morals to those who read them. Another aspect I was interested in was the argued “requirements” for a story to be considered a myth. Some people claim that myths have to contain some sort of religious aspect to it. Others claim that the main characters in a myth must be Gods. In my opinion, myths shouldn’t be restricted to religion or some kind of “unbelievable” occurrence that only happened through some kind of otherworldly power. 

"Theories of Myth", via YouTube

The idea that Greek and Roman myths being influenced by demons was pretty crazy to me. However, I found myths affecting today’s societies very interesting. Bronislaw Malinowski’s work was fascinating. Myth, while seeming like symbolism, actually informs today’s cultures. Myths explain and solidify certain beliefs in people. Those beliefs then form the basis for the religion and the social norms that are prevalent throughout different cultures and societies. 

"The Hero's Journey and the Monomyth", via YouTube

The Monomyth was pretty interested to hear. Just like in every normal story, with an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, myths also follow their own basic timeline. Psychological struggles, in my opinion, would be more difficult than physical struggles. Physical struggles, like being injured or not being muscular enough, could be conquered relatively quicker than mental struggles. 

"Black and Red Typewriter" via Pexels

Week 4 Reading Notes: Noah and the Ark Part B

 The Inmates of the Ark

• Noah gathered the animals, God made the animals repair the Ark

• God only allowed Noah to let animals lay down (not stand) into the Ark

• Seven days later, flood lets loose

• Bunch of people beg to be let on the Ark

• Noah criticizes them for previously claiming there’s no God, but now they want to believe

• Sinners try to get into the Ark; the beasts surrounding the Ark attack, many die (either by beasts or by flood)

• Before flood, sinners claimed the floodwater wouldn’t reach to their necks, and that if water came from the ground, they could clog it with their feet

• The floodwater came from Gehenna (demon world), which made the water incredibly hot, thus burning the sinners

• Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and all animals were only ones on Ark

• Ties Reem (huge animal that looks like unicorn) to the back of the Ark (he was too big to fit into Ark), and lets giant (Og) ride him and they are pulled along by the Ark

Noah Leaves the Ark

• Earth returned to normal at the end of the year

• However, Noah refused to leave the Ark until God tells him to

• God tells him he can leave, but Noah still refuses (he’s afraid of another flood)

• God swears to never bring another flood

• Noah sees the destruction/death, starts crying and claims God should have had mercy on the others

• God gets mad at Noah for only listening to him if God had something good to say

• Noah apologizes; Shem performs sacrifices as an offering to God (offers an ox, a sheep, a goat, two turtle doves, two pigeons)

• God blesses Noah/sons for sacrifice; gives them same task as Adam/Eve (be fruitful and multiply the Earth)

• Ham, a dog, and a raven get punished for no doing so (Ham’s punishment was having dark-skinned descendants)

• God sends rainbow into the sky as proof that he will not destroy the Earth again

• God allows Noah/descendants to kill animals for food (Adam was never allowed to do that)

• He still maintains that man may not kill another man, or he too will be punished with death

The Tower of Babel

• Nimrod was king, but his acts were very sinister. He was very full of himself, and made men turn away from God

• Begin building Tower of Babel as a rebellion against God

• 600,000 men in charge of building it, wanting to wage warfare with God, worship idols, and shoot at the heavens with bows/spears

• Tower was so tall that it took a year to get to the top- bricks became more important than man because of how long it took to get a brick to the top

• Men would shoot arrows to Heaven, they would come back covered in blood- they believed everything in Heaven was now dead

• God cursed them so that no one could understand what each other was saying

• Workers started miscommunicating (like handing one a brick when they wanted mortar)

• Workers would get mad at each other and kill one another

• Many people were cursed; people turned into apes/phantoms, people turned against each other

• Tower falls apart; one part sinks into Earth, another part destroyed by fire

• Anyone who passes by the Tower forgets all he knows

Source: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909)

“Noah’s Sacrifice” by J.A. Koch, via the Untextbook

Week 4 Reading Notes: Noah and the Ark Part A

 The Flood (Genesis)

• Noah puts two of every animal into the Ark (one male/one female)

• Noah, Noah’s wife, Sons (Sham, Ham, and Japheth), and sons’ wives go into the Ark, Lord shut them in

• The flood raged for forty days (what’d they do for forty days?)

• Everything was covered in water; mountains were covered

• All man and animals that weren’t in the Ark perished

Source: The King James Bible (1611)

The Birth of Noah

• Lamech and his wife had a child (Noah); he was a beautiful baby with white hair

• Noah’s eyes lit up a whole room, and he would praise the Lord when he talked

• Lamech was afraid of Noah, went to his father Methuselah and asks him to go to Enoch to find out why Noah is so strange

• Enoch explains to Methuselah the coming of the flood in the future

• Noah’s birth changed everything; originally, oats would sprout when wheat was planted. Now everything grew properly

• Noah invented plough, scythe and hoe as gardening tools (people usually used their hands)

• Noah’s birth now prevented the waves from flooding the land twice a day

• Noah’s birth also ended the Second Great Famine

Source: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909)

Noah’s Sons (Genesis)

• God tells Noah and his sons to go and replenish the Earth

• God vows that all animals that move along the Earth and all fishes in the sea will provide them meat

• He also states that men should not kill one another; anyone who kills a man will be killed himself

• God tells them to be fruitful and multiply

• God promises Noah there will not be another flood

• God puts his bow in the cloud as a token of his promise; God/Noah may look upon it to remind themselves of their promise

• Noah and his sons replenish the Earth

• Noah gets drunk, sons find him naked; sons cover him up

• Noah curses Ham’s son, Canaan, to be a servant to Sham and Japheth

• Noah dies 350 years after the flood (lives to be an age of 950)

Source: The King James Bible (1611)

Noah’s Ark, via the Untextbook

Week 3 Review

The demicolon photo was pretty funny to me. I feel like when I’m writing, my public relations studies have taught me to use brevity, making words and sentences as concise as possible, all of the time. I use semicolons fairly often; however, I feel as though I overuse them. In the same breath, I don’t want to make all of my sentences incredibly simple because that makes my writing very boring. If the demicolon was a real, accepted punctuation mark in journalism, I would be using it all of the time!

Demicolon Infograph, from Friday’s Course Announcements

In addition, the video about the two sons working on 9/11 was very emotional. As I was listening, I started getting choked up. Losing a child or a family member from 9/11 sounds absolutely heartbreaking, more or less losing two of your sons. My heart goes out to that family, and any family, that experienced tragedy as a result of 9/11. #NeverForget

"John and Joe", via YouTube

Feedback Strategies

How to Give Back Feedback Without Being a Jerk

I really like this article because I am always unsure when giving feedback. I want to help others with my feedback, but I always fear I come across as rude or judgmental to the other person. I was pretty surprised to read about how prefacing feedback with “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them,” can be so effective. A “compliment sandwich” seems to make sense on why it’s bad, and I think many people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Using a compliment feels like a natural segue way into conversation, but it’s surprising how something that is intended as a positive can turn out to be such a big negative.

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback

I found it really interesting how parents constantly giving their kids praise could actually harm them in the long run. Continuous praise for everything a child does can make him or her feel as though the only thing that matters is doing a good job, not just enjoying what they are doing. Once again, a parent praising their child seems like a very natural thing to do; every parent wants their child to succeed. However, just like the previous article, an action that is intended to be positive, like praising your child, can actually turn into a negative as the child gets older.

"Appreciation Feedback" via Giphy