Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

The story "The Memaloose Islands" tells the story of a young chief and the woman he loves. The chief goes over the spirit trail and cannot find any rest in the land of the spirits. The maiden had a vision telling her that she should go to the land of the spirits and she told her father about her vision. He prepared a canoe and they paddled up Great River to the spirit island. They heard singing and a beat drum and four spirits greeted them when they reached the death island. The maiden got off the canoe, but her father returned home. She found the chief and they danced all night. When the morning came, the spirits slept but she could not sleep soundly. She woke up later that day, surrounded by skeletons and skulls. The maiden realized she was in the island of death and became filled with horror. She found a boat and paddled home to her village. Her father was worried though, because she had been to the spirit land and evil would fall upon the tribe if she returned. Again, th...

In the story " How Beaver Stole Fire ," animals and trees walked and talked and there we no men on the earth. Pine Trees had the secret of fire and refused to share with anyone else, no matter how cold it got. One winter, it got so cold that many animals came close to freezing to death. The animals held a council because they wanted to steal fire. At the same time, the Pines held a council on the Grande Ronde River and had a fire to keep them warm. They had guards watching for animals so they could not steal fire. Before the guards took place, however, Beaver hid near the fire. When a lit coal rolled towards him, he grabbed it and ran away. The Pine Trees started chasing after him, but Beaver kept running. Sometimes he ran side to side and sometimes he ran straight, and this is why the Grande Ronde River curves in some places and is straight in others. Many of the Pines grew tired and stopped along the river. That is why there are thick...

I had a hard time deciding what to use for my acronym, so I actually chose the graphic first. I saw the flower and through of the word grow. I think a big part of the Growth Mindset is not being afraid to try new things and make mistakes, and this is often by doing your own thing even when it's not the "norm". Graphic created by me in Canva

This word counter is so helpful! I usually go to a word counter website and write my text in there, then copy and paste it. This extension makes it easy to just write where I will posting my text so I don't have to flip between tabs. I usually am worried about meeting the minimum word count, but I usually don't have an issue hitting, I am just afraid that I won't. I think I am generally bad in estimating numbers in general, so I probably would be very off in my estimate if I just tried tried to guess how long my writing is.

Nelumbo nucifera : The lotus flower, or the Nelumbo nucifera , is a species of aquatic plants. I chose to start here because one of my recent stories, as well as the story I based mine on, included the lotus in the name of a place and I was curious about the meaning behind the flower. The species is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists. The flower is even featured on the flag of... Macau : Macau is an autonomous territory in East Asia. Although the history is traced back to the Qin Dynasty, it wasn't a major settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In November, they host the Macau Grand Prix, in which they convert the city streets to be similar to the racetracks of the... Monaco Grand Prix : This Formula One motor race is held in Monaco every year since 1929. This race is one of three that forms the Triple Crown. Ayrton Senna has won the race more than any other driver, and he is from...  1929 Monaco Grand Prix Brazil : This country is the largest in So...

For this Story Lab, I watched Ted Talks about stories and storytelling . The first video is the TED Talk of a woman named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria. From a young age, she has been a storyteller. She read foreign books for much of her childhood and based the stories she wrote based on what she read in these books. She eventually discovered books and she learned that writers could look like her. When she came to university in the United States, her roommate was surprised to learn Nigeria has English as an official language and that she was familiar with many of the comforts of American life. She believes people like her roommate have a view of Africans because of writing that portrays them as living in a dark place. When Chimamanda wrote a book, her professor told her the book was not "African enough" because the characters were similar to him, a middle-class man, and they drove cars. When she visited Mexico, she realized she saw the people there as poor immigran...

This week, I chose to read American Indian Fairy Tales. In the story " The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds ," the Story-Teller Iagoo sits looking into a fire. The children know not to disturb him, as he is thinking through the great things he had heard and seen. One night, though, the children begin to worry they would not get a story from Iagoo. One girl named Morning Glory asks Iagoo if the mountains were always there. He replies that he often thinks about this himself, then says that yes, the mountains and hills were always there. He goes on to say, however, that there was one hill that was not always there bur rather it grew like magic. He asks the children if he has told them the story of the Big Rock and how it carried a boy and girl up to the clouds. In the old days, in the time when men and animals got along pleasantly, there lived a little boy and girl. They lived in a beautiful valley filled with green grass, colorful flowers, berries, birds, and nothing to f...

In the story " The Fairy Bride ," a young girl named N een-i-zu is the daughter of an Indian chief who lives on the shore of Lake Superior. She plays with the other girls in the village, but likes to go for walks by herself and sometimes disappears for hours. It was believed that fairies called Puk-Wudjies lived in the sand dunes she likes to explore. The fairies stayed out during the day because people do not often visit the sand hills, but disappear at night. Some fishermen and hunters have seen them and been tricked by them. Although they are not harmful, the Puk-Wudjies like to play tricks, such as misplacing people's items. Neen-i-zu heard the story of a Happy Land, a place without sorrow, and wants to find it. She believes the fairies are the way to find the Happy Land. She makes up a song asking the fairies to show her to the Happy Land and sings it. N een-i-zu's mother wants her to marry a deer hunter, but the girls protests, saying he only cares about deer...

There once lived a headmaster who oversaw the White Lotus Academy, a school for young wizards. The headmaster was a powerful wizard, and many students hoped to learn from him. One day before going out, he told a group of students to watch over a small wooden box for him. "But you must not open it," the headmaster told them. They promised they would not before he left. Not long after, the students' curiosity got the best of them and they open the top of the box. Inside, they found a small toy car. To pass the time, the students played with the car but made sure it was back safely before the headmaster returned. When he got back to White Lotus Academy, the headmaster burst into the room yelling, "Why did you disobey me when I told you to not open the box?" The students denied that they had ever even touched the box. "Why then, did my car crash when I was returning?" The students knew they had been caught, but the headmaster decided to give...

"The Sorcerer of the White Lotus Lodge" tells the tale of, surprise, a sorcerer who is a part of the White Lotus Lodge. He is known to deceive many people and has many students learning the ark arts from him. One day before going out, he put a bowl down and covered it with another bowl. He ordered his pupils to watch the bowl and not touch it. They of course open it to find water and a small boat, which they play with. The sorcerer returns angry that they disobeyed him, telling them his ship capsized at sea. Another night, he lit and candle and told his students to make sure it does not go out. They get tired and go to bed before he returns. The candle had gone out, so they relit it. The sorcerer returns mad and tells them he had to walk in the dark for fifteen miles. When one of the pupils insults the sorcerer, the sorcerer says nothing. Soon after, he sends the pupil to feed the pigs and turns the student into a pig when he enters the sty. The sorcerer sells him to a but...

In the story "The Lady of the Moon", a prince named Hou I was a great archer. There were ten suns in the sky, and they got so hot that people could not stand them. The emperor ordered Hou I to shoot them and he shot down nine of the suns. Hou I rode his harder to Kunlun Mountain and found the Queen-Mother of the Jasper Sea there. She gave him the herb of immorality, which he then hid in his room. His wife Tschang O ate some of the herb and floated up to the the clouds. She reached the moon and has lived in a castle there since as the Lady of the Moon. A emperor of the Tang dynasty was with two sorcerers and one made a bridge up to the moon. They climbed up and found the castle, on which was inscribed "The Spreading Halls of Crystal Cold." A cassia tree grew next to it. A man sat in the tree and cut off branches. One of the sorcerers decided this was the man in the moon and the tree must be cut down every thousand years so it does not cover the beauty of the moon....

So far, I have been pretty happy with the assignments I have done. My blog posts have been useful for my writings, my stories have been fun to write, and I am excited to see where my Storybook goes. The past couple weeks have gotten pretty busy at some points, though, and I have missed a couple assignments. I have used some extra credit to make up points, and would like to continue to use other extra credit opportunities to make up the remaining points. My favorite assignments so far have been the Story Labs; I think they're a fun break from writing every week and help mix up the weekly schedule. Going forward, I would like to work ahead on assignments so I have a bit more flexibility in the week. This semester has been pretty busy to this point, but a couple things are slowing down and I will have some free time to work ahead on assignments. One thing I might want to try in future writing is to mix up my style a bit or try a new way of storytelling. Motivation by Chris F...

So far, most of the comments I have received have been helpful. I have found the most helpful comments are the ones that give specific ideas on what I can fix. While I appreciate comments that say what parts of my story readers are confused about or think I can fix, if I do not have specific thoughts on what needs to be changed, I do not know what about that part of the story I need to go back and revise. I also like comments that give specific feedback on what I am doing well in the story; this gives me ideas on what I can continue doing for future stories. I think my comments have (hopefully) been useful for the writers I am leaving comments for. In my comments, I usually mention what I like about the story, like the characters, the ending, the style, etc. When I find parts that may be a bit convoluted or have grammar errors, I usually mention it as a suggested edit for the author. I like using the WWW and TAG methods when I leave comments because I am able to talk about what I li...

Looking at my blog and website, I am happy with the design of both. I spent some time customizing this blog when I first set it up- I changed the font and colors to reflect my personality. I think the layout is easy for visitors to follow. On my storybook website, I have chosen to use images for each story from the same illustrator so there is consistency in the design. Again, I think the website is easy to navigate, which I am happy about. So far in my readings, I have focused mainly on the plan when I write my blog post. Typically in my retelling of the stories I choose to write about, I have kept the main plot the same but choose to change other details to give it my own style. Writing about the plot helps me remember the major details of the story so I can remember the plot for my own writing. I chose written about the style and dialogue, or other details I have liked in the readings, but have found that I do not usually use these details when I go to write my own story. I am ...

Pig lived in a brick house and baked a pie every day. One day, Wolf walked by and smelled the wonderful scent of a pie wafting down the road. Wolf stopped by Pig's house and peered into the kitchen window. He said to Pig, "Give me that pie." Pig replied, "No, I will not give you this pie. I am excited to eat it and do not have time to make another." Wolf said, "If you don't give me the pie, I will huff and puff and blow your house down." Pig had seen Wolf blow down the houses of the other two pigs and was afraid of Wolf blowing his house down. Pig handed Wolf the pie through the window. The next day, Wolf stopped by Pig's house again and demanded Pig give him the pie he was making that day. Day after day, Wolf stopped by Pig's kitchen window and took the pie Pig baked that day. Owl was flying by Pig's window and could hearing sobbing coming from the kitchen. He stopped by and asked Pig why he cried. Pig sobbed, ...

In the story "Jackal, Dove, and Heron," Dove lives on top of a rock. Jackal asks Dove for one of her children, and she says no. Jackal says he will fly up if she does not give him one of her little ones. She throws one down, and Jackal returns day after day to take more of Dove's children. Heron sees that Dove is sad and asks her what is wrong. She tells Heron than she must give Jackal her children or else he will fly up and take them. Heron calls Dove foolish and tells her that Jackal cannot fly. When Jackal returns the next day and asks Dove to throw one of her little ones down to him, she tells him no and tells him that Heron has told her that Jackal cannot fly to take them. Jackal finds Heron at the water. Jackal asks Heron how he stands in different situations, and when Heron bends his neck down, Jackal hit him on the neck and broke it in the middle. This is why the Heron's neck is bent. This story is almost entirely written in dialogue, and each line of dialo...

This week, I chose to read South African Folktales. In the story "Tink-Tinkje", the birds decide they want to have a king since humans and animals have a king. They cannot decide on who the king should be, and go through many suggestions. First, they suggest Ostrich since he is the largest, but decide against him because he cannot fly. They think suggest Eagle because he is strong, but then decide he is too ugly to be king. The next suggestion is Vulture for his ability to fly the highest, but the birds deem him too dirty and smelly. Someone suggests Peacock since he is beautiful, but someone else says his feet and voice are too ugly. The final suggestion is Owl because he can see well. They decide against him since he only comes out at night. One bird suggests that whoever can fly the highest will become the king of the birds. The other birds all in agreement on this system. Vulture flies for three days straight and thinks he has won the title, but then he hears "T-sie...