Brainstorm Topics - Myth Folk

1) Topic: Animal Stories, Jataka
To be honest, I picked this topic because I love any story involving animals. I know nothing about the topic thus far but anything with animals will catch my attention. I do know it is one of the core texts of Buddhism and tells the story of Buddha. I look forward to learning more about this topic in the future!
Research done so far:  I read some of the info from your World Literature Course about the Jataka unit. I read about the religion of Buddhism and how it started in India and spread all throughout Asia eventually. I have also heard about the word Buddha several sometimes but wasn't aware of the full meaning of it, for example I did not know that it meant the one who is "awake" I thought it was very interesting that it is one of the largest religions in the world.

Budda, Jataka Tales

2) Topic: Beowulf

As shown already in my blog, I already wrote about Beowulf earlier in the week so I already know quite a bit about it. The story of Beowulf is very interesting. As I only read the first half of the story, i still learned quite a bit about Beowulf as the first part of the story described Beowulf and his journey. The story showed how Beowulf went from someone who was doubted to someone who became one of the most trusted, respected people. 

Research done so far:

I have not done any research thus far, as i mentioned below I have read part 1 of the story so I know quite a bit about it but I know there is a lot more to it. Beowulf was the nephew of Hygelac, in a town called Geatsland. Beowulf was one of Hygelac's "thanes" because Hygelac saw something in Beowulf that not others did. Beowulf was constantly challenged throughout his life and continued to prove people wrong time and time again. 

3) Topic: Beauty and the Beast

This topic popped out to me simply because of the name and how popular Beauty and the Beast is and always has been. However, I do not know much about Beauty and the Beast in great detail. When you grow up around girls and event today are around my nieces and my girlfriends nieces, Beauty and the Beast is a hot topic. 

Research done so far: 

I referred to Wikipedia to learn more about Beauty and the Beast.. As this fairy tale is about Beauty (Belle) and the Beast and how Belle ends up at the Beasts castle and refuses to have dinner with him that night and is eventually ran into a pack of wolves when running away from the beast in fear. The Beast ends up saving Belle's life from the wolves. I am looking forward to maybe choosing this fairy tale as my story to look into more in the future. 

4) Topic: Bigfoot

Bigfoot is also one of those stories you always hear about but you never actually know any details about it or who he is and what he does so I am looking forward to doing some research on the topic and getting to know more about it because right now, I do not know much. 

Research done so far:  Wikipedia is my favorite for sources for topics like these because I believe it really gives all the details about the topic. Bigfoot is a name that is given to a mythological simian or ape that is believed to inhabit forests. 

Week 2 Reading Diary: Noah

Noah, The King James Bible

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japeth."
-God also talks to Noah about all the violence in the world and how all the flesh and violence will be destroyed by the earth.

"The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark..." This quote provides imagery and description of the ark and you can really start to picture it without seeing a picture. However, here is a good image of the Ark.

The Ark, Nuremberg Chronicles 

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life...the same day were all the fountains of the deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened" this was describing just some of the work done by the Lord and all the stuff Noah had experienced. In "The Flood" section, you really start to learn more about Noah in full. 

Noah waited and waited for the floods to try until finally the six hundredth and first year, Noah looked out the window of the ark to see dry ground. 

I really enjoy the imagery in both stories that I have read so far (Beowulf and now Noah) It is something I am looking to take forward into my story. I love the descriptions and every little detail of everything that makes the reader feel like they are actually there.

The drunkenness was witness by his three sons. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood until nine hundred and fifty years, he died. 

Here comes the story of the generation of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japeth, who all 3 had sons as well. 

"Go to, let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 

The Lord then came down to see the city and all the work they had done.

"The body of the babe was white as snow and red as a blooming rose and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool and his eyes like the rays of the sun" once again, the imagery and description of the birth of Noah is incredible and my favorite quote of this section.

God wonders what earth will become without men while the angels plead to occupy themselves with it. God has doubts and says the evil inclination will overpower them. The angels came to earth and could not contain their passion.

"Even after God had resolved upon the destruction of the sinners, he still permitted his mercy to prevail, in that he sent Noah unto them who exhorted them for one hundred and twenty years to amend their ways, always holding the flood over them as a threat..."
The sinners ask where the ark is when Noah tells them that a flood will come from under their feet that they will not be able to fight off.

This story is so vivid (so far) and thats what i like most about it and what I want to take from it when i create my own story. I want the reader to feel as if they are actually in the moment, which is what i feel when reading Noah.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Beowulf

The Story of Beowulf by Stafford Riggs

King Hygelac of Geatsland- My favorite part about this section is the imagery in describing Geatsland
-"hollow trunks of dead trees"
-"they were yellow of hair; their eyes were deep set and burned blue like the sea..."
-I also really liked the way they described the lords and their battles and how they were fierce and terrible with their enemies but after their battles, they would joke around and poke fun at each other and relax.

The Young Beowulf- This is when Beowulf is brought into the story, who was named a "thane" early on at a young age because of his strength of body.
- my favorite quote from this part was "he accepted the challenge because he had been called lazy and in his heart, he was angry that his strength had never been truly tried" i love this quote because it shows the toughness and determination of Beowulf. He ended up being victorious in the race he was challenged to. Beowulf was one of Hygelac's favorites and many people grew jealous of that.

Young Beowulf, 16 years old

The Wanderer's Song- "He sang in a sharp voice that was like the crying of the birds on the gray sea..." speaking of the Wanderer. The Wanderer was somewhat of a bright spot in all of their lives from what it seemed and he made a huge impact on everyone with his simple voice and reason. 

Beowulf's Resolve- Beowulf really grows to his potential in this section of the story as he is called upon by Hygelac to prove his worth because Hygelac is confident in Beowulf's strength and abilities. He was finally somewhat accepted by his peers and everyone grew a respect for him and his hard work. 

Beowulf's Journey- Beowulf was determined to go on his journey alone because he was stubborn but was insistent that he was accompanied by others with the best equipment possible. 

"Hygelac made a speech to the fourteen earls and charged them to be faithful to Beowulf..." This shows how important Beowulf was to Hygelac. Beowulf begins his journey to Daneland with all the earns, commanding and leading the whole way. 

Beowulf Lands in Daneland- "For many hours the sturdy ship fought the waves that crashed and thundered against their sides. For many hours, Beowulf and his fourteen companions saw the marvels and terrors of the wide sea" This describes how brutal the journey was starting out and was sort of a foreshadowing of the journey ahead. 

"I can see by your height and breadth and strength that you are a leader of these fine young men who stand behind you" -Guardian of the beach speaking of Beowulf

Beowulf Comes to Heorot- 

"Beowulf and his companions toiled until the sweat stood out in drops upon their faces and their strong legs ached with the weariness of tramping" Once again the imagery is incredible in this section as their journey is described in great detail. 

The Words of Unferth- Beowulf is doubted and told not to be trusted by the people in Daneland and told to go "swim fair races" back home. 

The Words of Beowulf-  Beowulf grew angry at the comments made of him. All of it was eventually squashed and everyone moved on. Beowulf and his companions got some rest for the journey ahead. This section proved the strength and determination of Beowulf, he was talked down on but responded by proving everyone wrong and earning everyones respect. 

Learning Challenges

I think H.E.A.R.T is perfect for any college student to read before he or she starts their first semester. It is hard to pick out which one is most important because I have experienced all of these throughout my college career. I think time is very important because time management is one of the most important things about college. That was one thing that everybody told me when I graduated high school was that I needed to learn how to use my time before I start college because you really do not learn how to juggle all these different things in high school. In college, you juggle different challenges, a different chapter of your life along with studying, social life, a job, classes, and other various things. Not having time to do stuff can really wear you down and make you exhausted and stressed out, which leads to other negative things. Health and happiness is another key to success in college but also goes back to time management. If you cant manage your time and have to cram everything in the span of a couple hours, you get exhausted, which leads to stress, which does not lead to health and happiness. It is definitely a challenge at first but over time, I have gotten so much better at managing my time. Honestly, I did not really have a choice to not get better at managing my time because I have worked all throughout college, on top of taking 12 hours and trying to enjoy college at the same time. This picture is really funny and couldn't be any more true for college students. I have seen this picture over and over again and still to this day, cant pick which two I would rather have lol.

Which 2? Source: Google Images

Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset is a very interesting term in my opinion and a term of which I have not heard of until I watched these videos. I think its an interesting topic because I think college has somewhat lowered my confidence over a 4 year span honestly. I love the "not yet" term because I think that still gives students hope. Back to my thought of college lowering my confidence as a student and as a person in general; I have had many teachers (one of which was last semester) that have given C's and D's to almost every student in their class. They claim that "test grades don't matter" as long as you are trying and you are improving over the semester but little did they know, once students got their first test grade back, they were wanting to drop the class and were scared they were not going to graduate. I think there is so much emphasis put on test grades and students think that one single test grade defines your success. I am not the best test taker and have got some D's on some tests throughout my college career but I do not believe that a D on a test defines my knowledge for whatever class I am taking and I think a lot of students feel the same way. I am in no way saying that I don't want to be challenged, because I do, and have been many times throughout college but there are some teachers at OU that do not believe in the "growth mindset" concept and put way too much emphasis on tests defining your success in a class. I definitely think this growth mindset concept is very interesting and I look forward to digging further into it throughout the semester. This is and always has been one of my favorite quotes from one of my all time favorite people:

Michael Jordan Shot Quote, Courtesy of Google

Storybook Favorites

My favorite storybooks:

1. The Villians of Black Magic 
This what a really interesting story because it dug into villains and what they actually are and how we are around them every day. The term villain makes me think of movies such as batman, spiderman, etc. and how villains take over a city or whatever. This storybook was cool cause it looked at villains from an actual villains perspective and what influences their acts of violence/darkness. It was interesting to find out more about Rumpelstiltskin after hearing his name for so long but not actually knowing a lot about him.

Rumpelstiltskin, Source: Google

2. The Redemption Squad

This was a very unique storybook and i really liked the way it was all set up in its unique way. It was weird to be quite honest but weird in a good way. This storybook discusses the MBI (Mythological Bureau Investigations) which is responsible for making sure the world of mythology and folklore maintains the balance of good and evil. I really like how references from Game of Thrones and Harry Potter were thrown in there as well. 

Ogre, Source: Google 

3. The Trickster of OU

This was my favorite one of the three because I thought it was hilarious and loved the way she tied OU into it, allowing students to relate to it. This will probably be the theme and design/idea I will go for when making my storybook. The Trickster of OU focuses on Prometheus' story but is translated into an OU theme broken down into "the parking incident", "the longhorn incident" and a couple other interesting categories. My favorite part was when she talked about the parking incident and talks about how bad the parking is here at OU. I think this type of idea really attracts students to read it like it did for me because it was something I could relate to easily. 

Loudspeakers

These three were some of my favorites, with "The Trickster of OU" being my favorite of the three but it looks like there are many other interesting storybooks and I look forward to reading more of them as I get closer to making my own storybook here in a couple weeks!

UnTextbook Overview

The first unit that got my attention was the Noah section. One reason why this unit was intriguing was  because I remember hearing all about Noah's Arch as a kid so it is somewhat familiar to me but I was not old enough to really understand and appreciate all the details to the story.

Noah's Arch (Nuremberg Chronicles)

Another post that grabbed my attention was Alice in Wonderland for some of the same reasons as Noah's Arch. Growing up with a sister, I ALWAYS heard about Alice In Wonderland but it never really interested me that much obviously because i thought of it as a girls interest. It also popped out to me because they are still making different versions of Alice in Wonderland and having them in theaters today so i look forward to reading more into it to see what I was "missing out" on as a child LOL. This is also interesting to me because it was made into a Disney movie and my girlfriend has a little niece who is all into the Disney movies so I get to hear all about them every single day. 

Alice In Wonderland Disney Pictures

Patrick Schaefer: Introduction To A Future Real Estate Broker

Hello everybody! My name is Patrick Schaefer and I am a Marketing major in my 5th year here at OU. I will be graduating in May and honestly cannot believe how fast it has gone by. College has certainly been a challenge but a good one and a fun one at that. I have had many ups and downs, many good semesters and some bad semesters but i am still on my feet prepared to graduate here in a few short months. It seems like yesterday I was moving into the dorms with two of my high school buddies. As far as last semester goes, I ended with a 3.8 so that was a great accomplishment. My favorite class of last semester was a marketing strategy and policy class that was very unique and unlike any class I have ever taken. Some facts about me are I am from and have grown up right here in Norman all of my life so I am more than familiar with the city of Norman and the University of Oklahoma. Both my mom and dad are OU Alum so I really had no choice but to come here.... just kidding I really wanted to come here on my own. I currently work for a property management company here in Norman and plan to work there after I graduate along with getting my real estate license right after I graduate! Another interesting fact about me is that my girlfriend and I have a golden retriever named Chance who is almost three years old. I have grown up around golden retrievers all my life and one day decided that I wanted one of my own so now I have one and I don't know what I would do without him. He is our life and our schedule's revolve around him. A couple of other random facts are I have a brother who is also an OU Alum, I am a HUGE Oklahoma City Thunder fan and obviously an OU basketball/football fan. I look forward to getting to know some of you over our blogs within the the next few months.

This is a picture of Chesapeake Energy Arena, where the Thunder play. This picture was taken during a playoff game a couple years back. NBA Playoff time is my favorite time of the year! ThunderUP

Week 1 Storytelling: Abram Brown

A small town in Colorado, Image Link

There once was an 80 year old man named Abram Brown, who lived in a small town in Northern Colorado. The whole town knew of Abram Brown because he would walk into town every morning to have a big breakfast at his favorite breakfast spot, The Café. Abram Brown was known as a nice man who would say hi to anybody who walked by, but most people knew Abram Brown as the guy with the long brown coat that button’d down all the way to his ankles. He would wear this coat regardless of the temperature outside. Abram Brown would wake up and walk into town from his house just one mile away. Abram Brown was once a skinny man, until he ate pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs and biscuits and gravy every morning for two consecutive years. Abram Brown was 160 lbs until two years later after all of those big breakfasts, he grew all the way up to 300 lbs. As each day and each breakfast passed by, it got more and more complicated for Mr. Brown to button down that old brown coat. Then, one day he could not button it at all. Despite gaining so much weight and not being able to button his coat, Mr. Brown walked to The Café every single morning, coat on but unbutton’d, to have his usual breakfast and coffee while he read the daily newspaper. The whole town was shocked to see Mr. Brown gain so much weight over time. One day, Mr. Brown woke up to start his usual routine and as he stepped out his door on his way to have his usual breakfast at The Café, Mr. Brown collapsed and had a heart attack and died right away. The heart attack was caused by his unhealthy eating habits and all the weight that he had gained over time. The town was shocked and saddened to hear the news, as the brown button’d coat man they knew so long would no longer be walking the streets of their lovely town each morning.



Author’s Note:

This story is simply about a man named Abram Brown who once wore a brown coat that button’d down. However, Abram Brown is now dead and gone. My imagination brought me to think of an old man in a small town that everyone knew of and would see walking the streets every day. Then, when I saw “button’d down before” I thought of a reason why that coat would for whatever reason not button down, bringing me to believe that Abram Brown gained so much weight that his coat got too small and he was unable to button it down.



This retelling is based on a nursery rhyme:



Old Abram Brown is dead and gone,

You’ll never see him more;

He used to wear a long brown coat,

That button’d down before.





The Nursery Rhyme Book , author unknown, released 2008

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - My Favorite Place

This was hard to pick a favorite place because I have been to some pretty cool places throughout my life but my all time favorite place is Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. My family and I have taken vacations there for five years now and I can honestly say it gets more beautiful and better each and every year!

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, photo by A.L.F Gady. Source: Google https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7003/6566735127_94e9ab0eee_b.jpg

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Patrick Schaefer
Mythology & Folklore Spring 2016