Story Lab: Writers Write

C.S. Lewis advice:
-be clear with what you mean, make sure that you aren't meaning something else in your sentence.
-use the direct word rather than a long, vague one.
-don't use abstract nouns, use concrete ones.. i.e. "more people died" instead of "mortality rose".
-don't use the adjectives we want people to feel but rather describe it in such a way that they will feel like that without us telling them to.
-don't use words to big for the subject or you'll not have anything else to talk about when needing that word i.e "infinitely" in place of "very".


Source: Rules for Writers by Amanda Patterson




All About Parts of Speech:
-parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection.
-noun: a naming word, identifies people, places, or things.
          common noun- identified with 'a', 'an', or 'the'.
          proper nouns- names given to people, places, days, months, ideologies, subjects or titles
          pronouns- substitutes for nouns.. i.e I, hers, myself, who
              4 types of pronouns: personal, possessive, relative and reflexive
          abstract nouns- something that cannot be seen, touched, or measured, such as a feeling or emotion
-adjectives: a word that describes a noun, 2 kinds
          attributive- stands next to a noun and describes it; usually in front of the noun
          predicative- when a verb separates it from the noun or pronoun it describes
-conjunctions: join words, sentences, phrases or clauses
    NEVER BEING A SENTENCE WITH A CONJUNCTION IN BUSINESS WRITING
-articles: give info about nouns; 'a' and 'the'
          indefinite article- 'a'
          definite article- 'the'
-pronouns: used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things
          subjective pronouns- personal pronouns: I, you, we, he , she, it.. act as the subject
          objective pronouns- personal pronouns: me, you, us, him, her, it, and them.. act as the object; being done to pronoun
           possessive pronouns: mine, yours, hers, his, ours and theirs
           reflexive pronouns- end in -self or selves
-adverbs: descriptive words used to qualify (mostly) verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs
           9 type of adverbs: time, place, manner, degree, frequency, probability, duration, emphasis, interrogative
-prepositions: connect nouns and pronouns with other words in a sentence; usually give info about time, place, and direction
Source: All About Parts of Speech by Amanda Patterson

Parts of speech

Wikipedia Trail from Lillith to

While watching the video "Seven Secrets of the Goddess", a name came up that I seem to hear more often than previously. The name is Lilith. Lilith apparently is a figure in Jewish mythology but it is believed that she is linked to even older mythology in ancient Mesopotamia literature and religion. Ancient Mesopotamian religion was practiced between the years 3500 B.C and 400 A.D. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia were the first peoples to create city-states, and they called each ruler of these city-states, "ensi". The word "ensi" translates to "lord of the plowland". During the Third Dynasty of Ur, ensi referred to the governor of the kingdom rather than the small city states. Ensi's during this time were often associated with more power than in previous times. During the Uruk period however, they had the most power. The Uruk period took place between 4000- 3100 B.C, often refereed to as the Copper Age.

Reading Notes: Gaia's Secret Part B

-rural cultures desired fertility
-urban cultures desired obedience
-it was forced thru men
-more rules created during city buildings
-city was masculine invention
-yang and yin in Chinese culture are 2 opposing forces that work in harmony to create life
-yang is like masculine and like dragon in the sky
-yin is feminine and like the earth or the Phoenix.. regenerates from its own ashes, no superior or inferior
-in Confucianism, inequality emerges and equality becomes more important
-the emperor is to sit on the thrown in the city and bring order to earth where there is chaos
-patriarchal society links women with nature and men with cult, just as culture domesticates nature, men are asked to the same for women.
-Mesopotamia epic.. god king defeats primal female and brings order to the world
-apparent in Greek myth where Zeus chased and raped nymphs across the land, fathering offspring
-in Japanese mythology, the first man and the first woman stir the ocean to create the islands of Japan, build a house with a pillar, populate when they meet.
-they meet and the woman speaks, demons are born but when the man speaks, normal people are born.. obvious that its the need to make women subservient to men.
-the sun goddess, shares the sky with her brother the moon god.. the goddess of earth is trapped by the moon god and creates day and night

-all these stories show that women are not as equal or valuable as men.

-pandora opens the box of evil.. a woman who opens an evil box
-men were told to be wary from all men and that they are all the problems of life
-eve breaks the law of god and compels Adam to do so.. even is subservient.
-Lilith was his first wife but refused to be obedient so was cast out and became the mother of all monsters and demons.
-men were valued by what they had, women included as their belongings.. isolation of women began.
-the greater the isolation, the greater the desire of women.. which is why Snow White is so appealing.. she's a virgin in isolation.
-1,000 Greek ships were sent to get Helen]
-After the fall of the Trojans, the women were taken back to Greece

The Yin and the Yang

Source: Seven Secrets of the Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik (2016).

Reading Notes: Gaia, Part A

Gaia
-the earth mother in greek mythology
-cronus was able to leave gaia's womb by her castrating his father
-Aphrodite rose from the blood drops
-irenes goddess of retribution
-cronus declared himself king and ate his own children to keep them from overtaking him
-gaia saves one son, zeus
-zeus kills cronus
-zeus declares himself king of gods
-inuit told a story similar.. seagulls attack humans and.. one dies and when she sinks to the bottom of the ocean, her limbs turning into marine life.
-people who want to hunt need to appease her and get permission from shamans
-india speaks of primal one, Adya.. took the form of a bird, laid 3 unfertilized eggs
-Bhrama, Shiva, and Vishnu were born from them
-she was set on fire and turned to ash
-from ash came 3 goddesses: sarawati, parvati, and Lakshmi.. all became Bhrama, Shiva and Vishnu's wives.
-grama devis came from the ash and they are deities in every human settlement
-in Egypt there was attum

Mother Earth: also known as Gaia


Source: Seven Secrets of Goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik

Wikipedia Trail from Jasper National Park to Paleo-Eskimo

With my winter vacation quickly approaching I was curious about Jasper National Park in Canada. My boyfriend and I have plans to visit Jasper National Park and spend a few days there. From the wikipedia trail starting with Jasper, I went to the next page that talks about the Arctic Ocean as this is a desolate place that has unknown history and fascinates me. It is the shallowest of the oceans and is almost completely surrounded by land masses. Some of the oldest history that has been discovered dates back to the Pre-Dorset times which were 3200- 850 B.C. During this time the Paleo-Eskimo culture lived in the arctic. Paleo-Eskimo peoples lived in what is now modern day Russia, across North America and into Greenland. They were gradually displaced by the Dorset culture.

Jasper National Park

Week 13: Ursa Minor

There once lived a great bear king named Urso who lived and loved greatly. Bar loved so deeply that he had two wives, one named Ursala and the other named Orsa. Each of his wives gave birth to a son; Ursala's named her son Ursulito, and Orsa named her son Borso.
Now legend has it that Ursula was a bear of infinite wisdom and wit but was not pleasant to look at, while Orsa had enough beauty to make up for what Ursula lacked. Unfortunately all of the bears in the kingdom would run away in disgust when they laid eyes on Ursula and even her son Ursulito, for he took after his mother and also lacked the looks. Although Ursala did not receive much attention from her towns bears she was content, all she needed was the attention and affection of her husband.
Over the years, Urso began to give more and more attention to Ursula as they continued to grow in their relationship. Urso and Ursala's relationship grew stronger each day and so did Ursa's relationship with his son Ursulito. Orsa grew more and more jealous of the time that HER husband, Urso, was spending with the hideous wife and the hideous child.
One day Orsa had seen enough and plotted a way to rid the kingdom of Ursulito for she knew that he stood a great chance at inheriting the kingdom. Her plot was quick and deadly, as deadly as a Black Mamba.
Jealous Orsa had returned back from a stay with family in a nearby province, and with her she brought gifts. She gave each of the family members' their gift and quietly waited for her gift to take its course.
Once back to his room, gladly and expiedtly Ursulito opened his gift that he had received from Orsa. In the basket he saw a snake who hissed fiercely. Immediately, Ursulito dropped the snake and ran away but the snake continued to follow him. As the child ran the snake seemed to continue to gain on him, until the snake was finally able to catch up.
The snake hissed at Ursulito, "dear boy, you must not be afraid. I am sent here to protect you from your evil stepmother. Orsa thought that when she bought me I was a venomous snake who could kill you but I am the opposite and I will lead you to safety, but you must trust me and follow me."
And so, Ursulito and the snake began their long journey and headed away from the kingdom. For many years Ursulito continued on this journey until he caught word that his brother was killed in battle and that his father had passed. The snake, who had been his companion this entire time urged Ursulito to return to the kingdom and pick up rule, and so he did.
Once Ursulito arrived back to his home kingdom, he was told the stories of how great his father was and that in his honor they named a group of stars after him, they called it Ursa Major.
Ursulito continued to rule the kingdom and all people who lived under his rule were happy. Many years passed and Ursulito became ill, the doctors worked diligently to save him but he finally was not longer able to continue on.
The towns bears wanted to honor Ursulito in a way that they had honored his dear father and so they named the constellation nearby to Ursa Major... they named it Ursa Minor.

 The constellation, Ursa Major

Authors Note:
This story has been adapted from the original story called the Tale of the Pole Star by C.A. Kincaid, found in his book titled "Tales from the Indian Epics". The original story told by Kincaid is about a king, his 2 wives and their sons. One wife is far more gorgeous than the other and her son took after her, the other wife had a better personality and her son took after her. One day one of his wives grew jealous of the other's son and pushed him down. When the child asked his mother what to do she told him to retreat to the forest and pray to Krishna, and so he did. Krishna finally appeared to him after many years and told him to return. After his arrival his brother died and his father eventually did too, he took up rule. Many years passed under his rule which was a fair rule, but he longed to worship and be with Krishna. The king gave up his kingdom and pursued Krishna until he arrived at a path that continued above ground. Along the way he met 7 sages who watched him continue his journey and eventually until he found Krishna. Once he found Krishna he was turned into a star and the 7 sages were also turned into stars. The constellation was called the Seven Sages Constellation in Indian culture and the Great Bear in western culture. Ursa Minor represents the Great Bear or the Seven Sages Constellation.

Reading Notes: The Tale of the Pole Star, Part B

Uttanpad was a king who lived in India, he had 2 wives. One was named Suniti and the other was named Suruchi.. one had a beautiful personality but was neglected, while the other had a beautiful face and was not neglected. He had a son by Suruchi named Uttam (6) and by Suniti had a son named Dhruv (5). They got qualities from their mother. One day Suruchi pushed Dhruv over when he was being told a story by Uttanpad, because she was furious and told him to go pray to the gods. He went into the forest to pray and stayed there for many years until Krishna appeared. Krishna told him that he had to rule his father's kingdom and make people happy before he could go with him to heaven. Narada was summonsed by Krishna who directed him to lead Dhruv back to town. Suruchi and Uttam were both displeased with his arrival and were extremely jealous. Finally, Uttanpad rebuked Uttam who became even more furious. He begged and was given permission by his father to go to the forest with the army to fight a rivalry army but was told that he must take orders from the general. He decided not to and was lured to his death by the tribesmen within the forest. Dhruv was sent out to avenge the tribesmen and was successful. After years passed Dhruv was crowned king and Uttanpad went to the forest to live until it was his time to die. His people were happy but he was sad and thought of when he was young and worshipped Krishna, he longed to be with Krishna. He gave the kingdom to his son and returned to his old home in the forest to find a northern path. He followed the path which got higher and higher from the ground, he finally came upon the Sun and the Moon. He continued on to when he came to where the seven rishis lived. He didn't stop there and kept on the path to the end where he sat down and looked up at Krishna. He gradually became a shining object, the Rishis who watched him also became shining stars. The Great Bear is also called the Seven Sages and Dhruv is the Pole Star.

The Great Bear also known as the Seven Sages Constellation

Source: Tales from the Indian Epics, C.A. Kincaid (1918).  

Readings Notes: The Churning of the Ocean, Part A

When the world was young there was a mountain named Mount Meru that was north of India. The lesser gods gathered on the peak because they thought that it would make them immortal and powerful like Vishnu, Brahmadeva and Shiva. In order to obtain this they knew that they had to get the ambrosia jar at the bottom of the ocean. Vishnu suggested that they call the demons to help, they'll get the jar and jewels. They left Mount Meru and went to Mount Mandara which was another great mountain. This mountain had deep forests with a lot of animals like lions, tigers, leopards, and elephants. They picked it up and tried to uproot it but were unsuccessful. Vishnu called the snake god, Vasuki to help them. He was able to uproot the mountain so they all rolled the mountain to the shore of the ocean. They churned the ocean waters with the mountain to gain the ambrosia, with the condition that they give some to the ocean god. Gods and demons were working together at this point.They asked the tortoise god to lie at the bottom of the ocean to keep the mountain from sinking. The tortoise god put the mountain on his back and went to the deepest part of the ocean. The snake god then went to the mountain and had gods on the mountain swing him and demons on land swing him, thus they churned the ocean. They were unsuccessful so they went to Brahmadeva and asked for his help, he begged Vishnu to give them more strength. They were finally successful and the moon rose up, a giant elephant also rose up, a pretty maid rose, Vishnu's wife (named Lakshmi) rose up. Indra named the elephant Airavat and he became his servant, he named the girl Rambha and she became chief among the dancing girls. Sura, the wine goddess arose, a horse named Uchaisrava arose, jewels named Kaustubha arose. As they continued to churn the snake god became ill so Shiva drank the poisonous liquid that protected the ambrosia, this turned his throat blue and he is known as Nilkantha or Blue-throat. Then an old man named Dhanwantari arose with the ambrosia. The demons grabbed it but Vishnu got it back and he punished the demons by only pouring it on the gods who became immortal while the demons stayed immortal. One demon named Rahu drank some but the sun-god told Vishnu who was able to cut off his head. Rahu's body rotted but his head was immortal and sometimes eats the sun-god out of spite. Fortunately the sun-god reappears.

             The Churning of the Ocean

Source: Tales from the Indian Epics by C.A. Kincaid (1918).

Wikipedia Trails from Thanksgiving to Seasonal Tropical Forest

With the holidays fast approaching and my love for Thanksgiving I wanted to know some more information of the holiday. The holiday is observed in Canada, the US, the Caribbean Islands and Liberia. I found it interesting and had no knowledge that Libera celebrated Thanksgiving! Liberia is officially known as the Republic of Libera and is located in Africa. About 40% of the Upper Guinean forests are located in Liberia. The forest is a tropical seasonal forest. A Seasonal tropical forest is a forest that has deciduous trees, semi-evergreens, and tropical mixed which is also known as monsoon. 

Seasonal Tropical Forest

Story Lab: Topic Research, Virabhadrasana's

This Wikipedia page about Virabhadrasana's or the Warrior poses is a good starting base for my research for my final story. I plan to combine all three of the Warrior poses into this story and show the progression of the story to the poses.


The first pose called Virabhadrasana I or Warrior Pose I derives from the story about Krishna's wife, Sati, killing herself because she was not invited to her father's ritual. When Krishna found out of his wife's death he snatched a lock of hair from his head, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. From the lock on the ground rose a warrior who he named Virabhadra with Vira meaning "hero" and Bhadra meaning "friend". This warrior was created to kill Sati's father, Daksha. The pose replicates Virabhadra's arrival with swords in his hand moving up through the earth.

                  Picture information: Virabhadrasana I




The next of the series is Virabhadrasana II pose or Warrior II pose. In this pose, Virabhadra spots Daksha and moves swiftly towards him in order to kill him.

Picture information: Virabhadrasana II

The last of the series is Virabhadrasana III. Here Virabhadra beheads Daksha, Krishna arrives and sees that he is dead. Krishna then absorbs Virabhadra back into his original form and into a rabbit. After seeing the dead Daksha, Krishna is mournful and finds a head of goat to put on Daksha. This pose replicates Krishna bowing in humbleness.
In the end both Daksha and Sati are reborn.

     Picture information: Virabhadrasana III; humble warrior

Reading Notes: Gods and Goddesses, How Krishna Went Under the Ocean

Balarama and Krishna were asked to save his teacher's only son who was killed by the ocean and it's being. The ocean became fearful as Krishna stared at it in fury so the waters parted and opened. After speaking to the sea god he was told that is was a dragon named Shankasur who lived under the ocean.  He went forward to the open ocean and the waters closed over his head. The land where he was had plants and animals that did not exist on land. He killed the the dragon but didn't find the son in his belly, he did keep the shell that he lived in and made it into a weapon. They continued on to the underworld god, Yam in search of the boy. Yam gave back the boy and so Balarama and Krishna returned with him.

Image info: The Lord Yam of the dead

Source info: Tales of Ancient India: Gods and Goddesses, Edmund Cox (1887).

Reading Notes: The Gods, Part A

There was a lot of evil deeds occurring and so the gods gathered together to hash out a plan in an attempt to keep the evil deeds at bay. Siwa, the god of gods was asked to create a being who would check evil thoughts before they were able to become evil deeds. Ganesha, Lord of Wisdom was born to keep people from acting out their evil ideas. He is the remover of difficulties by those who seek him. Sani would not look at him, he explained to Uma that he had a curse cast upon him and must destroy any being that he looks at. Uma demanded that he look at Ganesha so he did. When Sani did so Ganesha's head was severed and ended up where Krishna was, in a whole different land. Siwa had his servants go in search of a new head, they were to take a head from the first creature that they saw. This is how Ganesha ended up with an elephant head. He is still one of the first gods that people in prayer call upon.

Picture info: Lord Ganesha

Source Info:     
Tales of Ancient India   
by Edmund Charles Cox, (1887).

Wikipedia Trail From Daylight Saving Times to

I was intersted in learning about Daylight Savings Time and wanted to learn a bit more since I knew that not everybody took part in it. I found out that the countries who did were Canada, US, Chile, Brazil, most of Europe, a part of Australia and New Zealand all do. George Hudson was the man who originally proposed the change in 1895. He was a British born in New Zealand and was an entomologist which is the study of insects. The word is derived from the word "entomon" which means "insect". Entomon is a word fromAncient Greece. Ancient Greek was from 9th century BCE to 6th century CE. Divided between the Archaic period and the Hellenistic period.

Picture info: A map of countries that participate in Day Light Savings

Famous Last Words: I'm Fine

To be completely honest, the readings for this week were not all that difficult for me to complete, at least not like they have been in the past few weeks. Life has a great way of getting hectic right when you don't need it to but I'm seeming to manage! I really enjoyed reading my classmates' stories and I can't say that I had a favorite.. but if I must choose then maybe the Loony Tunes storybook! That storybook is just so creative and clever. He also does a great job of portraying the characters just the way that I remembered they were! Another classmate that I really enjoyed reading was Brenna! She did a great job at using poetry and made everything flow so well! Perhaps I can learn a thing or two and try to follow suite.. maybe try that style in the future! 

As for my other classes.. I an doing fairly well but the essays along with work and drill and moving and life are going to be the death of me! I have high enough grades that I do have some buffer but naturally I would like to keep my A's. A class that I am going to aim getting an A in that I don't already have one in is this class. All of the opportunities are there and I am set up for success so the ball in my court. I hope that this week I will be able to get ahead in my classes and begin working on the extra credit for this class. Now that I have mostly settled into my new place in Norman I should have an easier time with doing this since I no longer have to commute home after class at night! I also would like to get up earlier this week and make it to the gym. Lastly, I would like to make sure that I do my damn PT!

Photo info: Current feels