Brainstorming Topics

Topic: Cosmological Creation Stories
Comments: Reading about different creation stories of where the world came from and how human life came to be initially excited me because of the impact the stories can have on people.
Possible Stories: The Creation Stories website from the University of Georgia gave a long list of possible stories to choose from. One was called "The Golden Chain," which dealt with orishas, which are any of the several minor gods. I had never heard of this word before, which excites me to explore more stories like this one. 
Sample Story Comments: I looked through the Sacred Texts Archive and found "The Seven Tablets of the History of Creation." I read the first tablet, which talked about the family structure of the gods who created the earth. 
Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: Tablet One

Book Title: The Seven Tablets of the History of Creation

Book Author: Leonard William King

Year: 1902

Topic: Mermaid Adventures
Comments: When I think of mythology and folklore, my first thought goes to mermaids. This could be because of modern movies like "The Little Mermaid" created by Disney or because of their whimsical naure. Exploring this topic will hopefully open my eyes to the diverse selection of mermaid stories and adventures.
Possible Stories: With mermaids, your imagination can go wild. What I found through reading some of the stories on The Mermaid Wife website was that their creativity exploded through my screen. The mermaids and mermen took the form of seals at the beginning of one of the stories. This website would be a great source to find more intriguing mermaid stories. 
Sample Story Comments: I read the story, "Water Demons," on the website, Water Spirit Legends 1. While it was short, it really grasped the mystic of mermaid legends by touching on the power of the underwater creatures. 
Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: Water Demons

Book Title: Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland 

Book Author: Walter Gregor

Year: 1881

Topic: Biblical Women 

Comments: Through reading about the women of the Bible in my younger years and today, there are always new stories to read or new perspectives to come from when reading about these women's real life stories. Many unlikely women are discussed in the Bible that allows the reader to see grace, forgiveness and consequences. 

Possible Stories: I would want to use the Bible to compare and contrast some of the women's stories. 

Sample Story Comments: The UN-textbook alone has about 20 stories, each focused on a different woman of the Bible. I really enjoyed reading the story of Hagar and Sarah because Hagar isn’t seen as one of the most popular women in the Bible because of her son, Ishmael.

Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: Sarah

Book Title: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook; King James Bible

Book Author: Moses

Year: 1611

(Abraham and Sarah at Mamre. Author: Sibeaster)

Topic: Pig Nursery Rhymes
Comments: This topic will let my imagination run wild. There are so many different veins I can take from traditional to wacky and unexpected. This would truly be a fun topic to use. 
Possible Stories: I read through "The Real Mother Goose" where I found a plethora of nursery rhymes. I wanted to narrow it down to a type of animal so as I searched, I found a few about pigs. Surprisingly two of them had to do with pigs and wigs. "The Aesop For Children" had a story about pigs too. 
Sample Story Comments: I read the nursery rhyme, "The Flying Pig," which isn't very specific with its words so I could easily make the "the man in brown" just about anyone to make the story super interesting. Other examples include, "The Barber" and "A Pig." 
Bibliography Information:

Sample Story: The Flying Pig

Book Title: The Real Mother Goose

Book Author: Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright

Year: 1916

Famous Last Words: Week 2

This week I really enjoyed reading through the Bible Women unit because I got to read about historical women all in one context. Growing up I heard about these stories, but there's a different perspective when you read them one after another. I noticed a pattern as I read through the first half of the unit. Many of the women who could not become pregnant, released their maidservants to sleep with their husbands in order to bare a child. After the act was finished and the women became pregnant, the wives' demeanors completely flipped. Not only would this be difficult for the wife to handle, but also the poor maidservants had no outlet to escape. The situation would truly be a challenge. 

When reading through some of my classmate’s introductions, I noticed some great writing. Danni (The Tiny Danster) had a beautiful storytelling post about “The Babes in the Wood.” The original nursery rhyme had a dark conclusion, but her version was twisted enough to make a more positive ending. Her knowledge base concerning mythology and folklore was impressive. There were many words I had to find in the online dictionary to help me understand the characters better. Danni did a great job!

After the first week of school, I am starting to establish my own routine with work, online classes and wedding planning. I just recently bought myself an extensive calendar, which has appeased my task-oriented personality. This week I am working on finding a florist for my bouquet and creating my own flower arrangement for my hair and the trees.

It seems like everyone and their dog went to see “American Sniper” this past weekend, and I have heard nothing but great reviews from my friends and family. I want to go see that movie this weekend so I can see what the hype is all about. After, I want to ask my best friend’s fiancé who was in the U.S. Army in Iraq about the similarities and differences.

 (Flower Crown. Photo by Brooke Jeary)

(Flower Ball. Photo by Brooke Jeary) 

Essay: Women's Roles

Bible Women

Eve: In this first story, the woman is created after the man, which might make some people uncomfortable because of the order. I heard a sermon a few months ago from The Village Church by Matt Chandler where he spoke about God’s beautiful design in creating the roles of women and men. He touched on this area of Genesis and the potential misunderstanding. God created Adam first and realized it was not good without a helper. The word helper can be viewed as a negative word in this context, but throughout the Bible, God refers to himself as Helper. For example, in Psalm 10:14,

“But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.”

The afflicted cannot continue on without help, therefore, they are in need of assistance, which is where God comes in. If we had everything perfectly in order and together by our own will, our need for a supernatural God would be wiped out. Adam could not take care of the garden by himself, which is why God blessed him with a helper. After reading the story with this view, both genders seem appreciated, cared for and purposeful.

Sarah: Sarah has an interesting story because of her fickle attitude. At first she wants Abram to sleep with her maidservant, but then changes her thinking after it happens and Hagar, her maidservant, becomes pregnant. Hagar had to listen to Sarah because she was her authority. Today, when I think about slavery, my mind goes to American slavery just over 100 years ago, but in reality, slavery has been around for centuries. Slavery is a form of oppression and force that makes me wonder how it became so normal. Through studying some about it, I realize some people placed themselves into slavery in order to repay a debt, but other times people were born or sold into the position. If I had to guess the origin, I would assume it could be attributed to nation’s conquering one another and taking their soldiers as prisoners. I now want to investigate more about this point.

(Abraham and Hagar, by Guercino (1657))

Hagar: Going from Sarah’s story to now looking at Hagar’s misfortune, we see much unjust treatment. Even though she was unfairly treated, she received hope from the Lord through her journey, which is the better gift in the end. Sometimes afflictions give us eternal glories instead of earthly comforts.

Storytelling Week 2: Betty

In the beginning, after the plants and animals had been created out of nothing, God decided to produce a woman to care for the beauty within the Garden of Eden. He had made one woman before, but we all know how that turned out. He destroyed that story and started all over. God was not going to make a young, foolish woman again, but instead, a wise old grandmother named Betty. 

Betty had grey, luscious hair that flowed to the ground and never tangled. Her eyes, surrounded by her winkled skin, were as blue as the Atlantic Ocean. Betty enjoyed hiking up the ice-capped mountains as well as swimming in the lagoons buried within the valleys. Her breath was taken away each day by the beauty that surrounded her. Her wisdom somehow exceeded her old age. 

As she was headed to her garden one morning, she walked by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She admired its large fruits, but she remembered back to the legendary guidebook from the good Lord above. This was a storybook of the first beginning that didn't work as well as planned. Betty was well read. There was only one book in the whole garden though so she had the time to read the guidebook 52 times during her off time. She was not going to let her sharp mind trick her own knowledge of the tree. 

She just skipped along and gave the tree no more attention, but as she passed, her curly hair got stuck on one of the roots and yanked her whole body to the ground. She gasped so loudly the antelopes and deer rushed to her side. As she inspected the knot, she began to get confused how her hair could get that tangled up in such a short amount of time. 

She told the antelope to gather some of the strongest animals in the garden to help her escape the wretched tree. After a few hours passed of pure struggles. Betty’s wisdom rushed to her brain and they prayed for help. Whala! God gave her the most brilliant idea. After gathering over the rhinoceroses, she gave them the instructions to uproot the tree. The two little fellows did as they were asked and used their horns to take the tree from the ground in only seconds. Betty thanked the polite, kind animals and continued on to the garden, with the tree attached to her hair. She used the opportunity to strengthen her neck muscles. Sin never entered the world, and the woman became extremely strong.  

(Garden of Eden, by Lucas Cranach)

Author’s Note: This tale was based on the first story of the Bible about Adam and Eve, which was written by Moses. The original story, Eve , was taken from the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook (2014). God made Adam and Eve as the first human beings to live freely in the Garden of Eden. They only had one rule, which was to not eat of The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but after some time, Eve was tempted by the serpent and decided to eat of its fruit. After both Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they understood their depravity and nakedness. They were then driven out of the garden.

I created the story as if God realized his first creations were too young and stupid, so He needed to create older wiser people instead if He expected them to follow His directions. Now that He made Betty, a lovely grandma, there is no longer a need for other humans to destroy the beauty of the garden. I wrote the story with a twist in third person. I spoke to the audience to better connect with my reader.

The image is of God (in human form) talking to Adam and Eve amongst all the peaceful animals. There are other people in the image, but those should be discarded for the sake of my new version of the story of Eve. 

This story is part of the Bible Women unit. Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 [LIBRIVOX AUDIO].

Reading Diary B: Bible Women

Bible Women

The Witch of Endor: I read 1 and 2 Samuel this past semester, which is where this story comes from, but I had forgotten about this section. It is interesting to me what people do in times of desperation. Saul outlawed witchcraft in the country, yet called upon the Witch of Endor out of desperation. He had been a disobedient king, who killed and became a selfish ruler to Israel, so God became silent to His calls. That doesn’t mean God didn’t hear them, but he was punishing Saul with silence. The fact that Saul went to a witch shows how hard the absence of the Lord’s voice was in his life. If he truly did not care, he would not have gone to such great lengths to reach Samuel for clarity.

Bathsheba: David has always been regarded as a saint in my mind because of his faithfulness and boldness concerning his God, but this story shows the depravity of man. Comparing this story to the Witch of Endor one above presents some parallels. In the name of lust, David sinned and continued to do so to cover up his mess just as Saul sinned out of desperation.

“And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.”

This section of the story grabs my heart because Uriah was a faithful soldier. His men did not have the luxury to sleep in the comfort of their homes so when he was sent home, he laid at the door of the king’s house instead. This act is beautiful. One I do not know if I would have had the discipline to accomplish, but one I certainly admire.

(Bathseba by Gerome)

Esther: I just finished watching the TV show Reign, which has taught me much about the medieval times and the power of the king. Through watching the main character Queen Mary and her ladies, their virtue was sought after by all the young and old suitors. This reminds me of Esther’s story because King Ahasuerus had virgins line up to be chosen from to replace his wife Vashti.

Reading Diary A: Bible Women

Bible Women

Eve: This is one of my favorite Bible stories because it represents the beginning of mankind.

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

This is the first sentence of the story, which is written so poetically. God gave Adam the job to "dress" the garden. He named the animals and essentially became their caretaker just as we take care of our pets. However, he had millions under his care where we usually have about three or four.

Later on in the story, after Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God gave each gender a punishment. I had never noticed this certain consequence until a few months ago, but it explains so much. God told Eve, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband." This means God's initial desire was for both genders to experience equality, but because sin entered the world, women started to naturally feel a desire to please men. This is a huge part of why feminism is present in our world today - to fix this problem. There are also epidurals to help with the pains of childbirth, which is another punishment the woman received because of her disobedience. 

Altogether, this story brings forth much grace. After they sinned - after they did the one thing God asked them not to do - God gave them clothing to cover their shame of being naked. They had every other freedom possible, yet they deliberately disobeyed because of their curious flesh. 

 (Garden of Eden, by Lucas Cranach)

Hagar: This is such a sad story because Sarai was frustrated with her own circumstances so she told her husband to sleep with her handmaid. After she conceived a child, Sarai became an evil woman toward her. Making sure Hagar felt alone, unloved and ashamed. God loves the brokenhearted and heals those in need. He did just this when Hagar was about to leave her baby under a bush because she didn't want to see him die. He showed her to a drinking well to symbolize hope as well as to literally give her a drink. 

Leah: It is so interesting to me that the story of Leah and Rachel is so similar to Sarai and Hagar. Having their handmaids sleep with their husbands to give them children seems to be a trend.