Reading Diary A: Great Plains

Here are a few of my favorite stories from the unit of the Great Plains.

Creation: I really enjoyed the story of The Creation. I found it interesting that the Wazha Zhe and Hoga groups within Osage possessed different creation stories. It was also unique that both stories had an elk play an import role within their creation. This shows that the elk was an important part of life with the Osage. Even though the Hoga group creation is much darker, both stories have uplifting endings.

Peace Pipes: I liked the story of The Legend of Peace Pipes. I found it interesting that the three types of feathers used within Omaha peace pipes are feathers of the owl, woodpecker, and imperial eagle. I thought it was surprising that all these other eagles dropped feathers down, such as the bald and white eagle, but they were not acceptable for making the peace pipe. I enjoyed learning that peace pipes were used to prevent things, such as revenge.

Eagle's Revenge: I enjoyed the story of The Eagle's Revenge. In the beginning of the story, it surprised me that the hunter just shot the eagle because he was feeding off of the deer meat. I would think someone would just "shoo" it away. However, I guess that is where the plot changes. I thought it was interesting that a mysterious man appears during an eagle dance and kills seven villagers. It was a cool twist that you learn the mysterious man is in fact the brother of the eagle.

Three Ghost Stories: I liked reading The Three Ghost Stories. It was interesting how both the Omaha  and Dakota depict afterlife. Each story depicts of a "ghost road" that the ghosts must walk in order to be accepted and allowed into the "good" spirit realm. I also thought the final story of the Ponca was interesting. This was like a traditional ghost story. The warriors heard whistling in the forest, but the sounded ended up coming from human remains. This read was interesting because I have never read Native American ghost stories.

Milky Way

Storytelling, Week 9: Moccasin River

          A long, long time ago, two young boys walked through the forest to a nearby river. The forest was filled with giant oak and maple trees. The sunlight beamed perfectly through the leaves to create a golden shade of color. Every week the boys would hike down to the river to see the otters. They always try to catch these otters, but are never successful.

          Now this river was known as being one of the most beautiful rivers in the Appalachian Mountains. The river was clear and emerald green moss rose from the rocks. Blooming dogwoods and fallen trees hung over the river's path. The soothing sound of the rushing river could put any traveler to sleep. The temperature of the river was cold, but not too cold. It was perfectly refreshing.

          The boys reached the picturesque river bend and saw the family of otters playing. The boys watched the otters for several moments until they decided to sneak up on them. They have tried a countless number of ways to catch these agile otters, but none have proven successful. This time they decided to sneak in from upstream and catch them from behind.

          The two boys entered the river upstream and quietly swam towards the joyful otters. However, the smaller boy sneezed which brought attention to the otters. The animals dove underwater and didn't come up for several minutes. Puzzled at the fact, the boys swam to a nearby rock and stood on it glancing down at the river. Slowly, hundreds of water moccasin snakes rose from the depths of the river and swam towards the boys. The snakes horrified the boys to their core.

          After seeing these snakes, the boys ran screaming to the nearby tribe. They entered the elder tent out of breath. One of the elders asked, "Why are you boys so scared? See a bear again?" The two boys told the horrific story to all the tribe elders. They appeared to be both amazed and confused. The elders promised the boys that they will walk to the river tomorrow and see what happened.

          The next morning came and the elders walked the half a mile hike down to the river. To their amazement, now a thousand water moccasins swam in the river and were even coiled upon the rocks. The sound of hissing was so loud that the tranquil sound of the river could no longer be heard. This sight saddened the elders, as that this was once a beautiful river full of peace where children could play. Now it is inhabitable.

          The next day the river's name was changed from "Moss River" to "Moccasin River."

Water Moccasins

Author's Note:

I wrote this story as an adaption of the Sioux story of The Boy and the Turtles. In the original story, a young boy goes hunting for turtles and sees plenty within a nearby lake. However, the turtles submerge under the water and young men arise from the lake. In the adaption, I had two boys travel to a river to try and catch otters for fun, but snakes arise from the depths of the river. I didn't want to go too far from the overall feel of the original story. The main point taken from the original is that the name of the lake changed due to only one fascinating incident. Well, in this adaptions case, the name of the river changed. 

Myths and Legends of the Sioux

Marie McLaughlin (1916)

Reading Diary A: Sioux Legends

Here are a few favorite stories from the first half of the Sioux unit.

Rabbit and Bear: I thought the story of The Rabbit and the Bear was an interesting read. First, I like that there is some information given about flintknapping and the making of flint arrows because I was not sure what this was. Second, I like that the story used rabbits and bears because the animals are so opposite. The ending of the story surprised me that the rabbit basically killed off the majority of the bear population.

Boy and Turtles: I enjoyed the story of The Boy and the Turtles. I liked how the boy was hunting in a stream, but then attempted to hunt them at a nearby lake. As he sneaks up on the turtles, he is too distracting and they retreat to the lake. However, little men emerge from the lake, which at first confused me. I was not sure what was going on when this happened, but I like that they changed the lake's name from "Truth Lake" to "Man Lake."

Little Brave and Medicine Woman: I really liked the story of The Little Brave and the Medicine Woman. I found the story interesting that it was a journey between a group of six young boys. They were going to inspect a haunted grave. The ending was humorous that the "Little Brave" scared the entire trip by becoming covered in mud. Overall, the story as an interesting read and I thought the extra history provided on various Sioux traditions was interesting.

Wonderful Turtle: I enjoyed the story of The Wonderful Turtle. I really liked that the story focused on the quality of bravery. The tribe mocks the turtle for his "flat chest," but he explains that he got this abnormality by fighting in a war. The tribe then decides to stop mocking him due to his bravery. However, the ending is sad when the turtle leaves for a season and returns to his wife with a child (from another man). Overall, it was a great read.

The Rabbit and the Bear

Commenting Review Week

          I believe that commenting on other student's blogs has been extremely useful. It is great for both improving my own proofreading skills and giving constructive criticism benefits the other student. It is also interesting seeing how other students are also improving. I think that commenting on each other's posts has created a solid connection as it kind of joins the class together.

          When commenting on other people's blogs I usually like to stick with the content. When telling a story the content is the most important part. Writing mechanics (such as grammar and spelling) is also very important, but can be just a simple mistake. So I'll touch base with those issues, but not dwell on them. It is enjoyable returning the positive encouragement I received on my own posts to other students.

          Honestly, this is my only class this semester where I am commenting on other student's work. Yes, in the past I have had to "peer edit" a paper, but have never constantly commented on people's assignments throughout the semester. I have taken online classes where the professor will post a question (agree or disagree with the statement) on the discussions board within D2L and we have to comment on at least two student's replies. However, I think this is always so pointless because every student ends up always writing basically the same reply. So we are all just agreeing with each other. It is interesting that this class has us commenting on our own unique writings.

Remember the Titans

Writing Review Week

          I have enjoyed doing the storytelling assignments for this class. It is interesting creating original adaptions on famous stories that we have read within our units. I have noticed that my writing has improved since Week 1. I feel as if my later stories are better than my first few. I also find it much easier to think of ideas and adapt a story as time progresses for this course. I guess my goal for the second half of this course is to keep improving my work.

          The feedback from both you and fellow students are extremely helpful. The best way to improve in skills like writing is constructive criticism from an outside perspective. I enjoy reading other student's stories because everyone has their own unique writing style. It is interesting to see other students choose a story and form their own creative adaption. This class has helped me with novel style dialogue (with quotations and ect). I am not used to writing in this style and like that I am learning how to do it.

          This class has been useful to me, especially when it comes to improving my writing. For one of my senior projects I have to write a feature screenplay. The story is about two boys that are lost in the forest after camping. I actually included a brief paraphrased version of the storytelling post I wrote for Week 7 about the wolves in the screenplay. It was cool how the projects ended up overlapping.

The Office

I have no clue why I chose this image. I didn't know what else to put haha.

Reading Review Week

          I have enjoyed every reading unit that I have read and wrote a diary for. However, my favorite units thus far have been Aesop's Fables (Jacobs), South African Folktales, and Nigerian Folktales. I found these units the most entertaining because they are playful and give morals to the story. Even though every unit has meanings behind their stories, I found that the stories within these units were more bluntly and stated in an outgoing manner. I definitely use the reading diary as a source for my storytelling assignment. When I read the stories I usually know which story I will base my adaption off of. The most interesting thing I have noticed is that some stories parallel other units. For instance, the idea of the birds carrying a turtle by a stick is present in a few units. It was cool how this story was told in different ways by different cultures even though it had the same meaning.

          I do not do a lot of reading on the side of classwork. If I do read outside of class I do not read material like we have read in this class. So it is interesting to read something different that I have never really read before. When I was younger we had to read some of Aesop's Fables, but that is the only exposure I've had to this type of reading. It was interesting to look back at those fables now that I am older and can comprehend the meaning behind the morals.

          Honestly, I do not have any ideas on how to improve the reading content for this class. We are given quite a bit of options to choose from in each unit. Therefore, we are not stuck reading stories that we did not want to read in the first place. I like this idea a lot because it is different than any other class I have taken in college. In other classes we are kind of forced to read material that we have no interest in, but in this class we have a choice.

Aesop's Fables