Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

I have always been scared of feedback, but I think this class will be a good start for me to embrace it. In school, I have not had many good experiences with feedback, especially from peers. Many times that I get feedback from peers, either I take it personally and just feel down about it or my fellow classmates only give feedback because they have to for a grade and it is worthless comments such as, "I really liked what you did here..." and "I agree with your point about..." The best feedback experiences I have had are usually in English or writing classes by getting notes from my teachers; the feedback I receive from them shows me what I am doing well and where I can improve. I think the most important thing to remember when I receive feedback is that no matter how much I focus on the negative, there will always still be some positives. The first article I read was John Spencer's " Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work ." I particularly ...

One topic I think would make a good Storybook topic is Dante's Inferno. I have read it before, but did not get to look at the story in much detail. I like the idea of keeping Dante's structure the same by telling a tale that moves through the circles of Hell. Dante, however, just came up with what each ring represents, so I could do the same and change what each circle of Hell means. I also think it would be interesting to update who the narrator meets along the way. Dante used ancient historical figures, but much time has passed since the "Divine Comedy" was written and there are several more people that the narrator could meet on his or her journey. I also am drawn to Italian Tales (as I have said in almost every assignment haha). Particularly, I think Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane looks promising. This book contains dozens of Italian stories I could draw from. I have read some Italian literature before, but never any folk tales or fairy tales. I know ...

Pygmalion lived alone. He saw the flaws of all the women around him and decided it was better to live on his own than with any of  the corrupt women he could take as a wife. But Pygmalion was lonely, so one day, he decided to create the perfect women. He took out his easel, brushes, and paints, and drew a woman so beautiful, no man would ever doubt her perfection. He painted her clothes of fine silk, skin as white as ivory, and fine jewelry as gorgeous as she. Once she was completed, Pygmalion framed her painting and hung it on his wall, where he passed by every day. Every time he walked past her, Pygmalion would caress her cheeks or stroke her name, pretending the canvas to be flesh. And little by little, he added to her image, painting her a small gift every day. Rapidly, Pygmalion fell in love with her more and more, but grew more and more discontent with her lack of life. When the festival of Venus finally arrived, Pygmalion saw this opportunity to pray to the gods for a liv...

In the story Pygmalion, the title character creates a statue of ivory and falls in love with it. He prays to the gods to have the statue as his bride, and Venus, the goddess of love, hears his prayer.  She brings the statue to life for Pygmalion. He and the statue later have a son named Paphos. The story serves as an explanation for how the city Paphos got its name. I think it will be important to keep the basic story structure the same in retelling it: a man creates an inanimate object, falls in love with it, and it is brought to life. I think it would be interesting to have the object changed in my story, though, possibly either by changing the material the statue is made of or changing it to an entirely new object, such as a painting. The characters in the story all serve important roles, so I plan on keeping them all the same. Pygmalion is the reason the story has its name and is an important character in mythology. Venus is the goddess of love; the reason the statue comes...

I loved looking through all the options available in the UnTextbook! I actually think I will read more stories than required when I have extra time or after the semester is over. Looking through all the possible units, it was difficult to pick out just a couple that I was particularly intrigued by. Italian Tales stood out to me immediately as I began looking at the list of units. I am currently taking an Italian Lit and Culture class (where we are reading  Dante's Inferno and Decameron !) and I always love learning a bit more about Italian culture. In my Italian class, we examine how Italian literature has influenced Italian culture, so I think reading Italian folktales and fairy tales can give me better insight into how current Italian culture has been affected by these stories. I also think the Turkish Fairy Tales look interesting. If I do read these, I think I would like to read the facsimile book online to be able to see the accompanying illustrations. I think the illust...