Biography: My Best Friend

My little sister, Emma, has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. She's 19, I'm 21, so we are very close in age. Through every thing in life, she has always been by my side. Every mile stone we have hit, we were there for each other. My freshman year of college started off a little rough, and I remember face timing her almost every day for advice or to just have someone to talk to. Emma is the reason I could to the point I am at. We have dreams one day of moving into a loft together in some big city whenever we graduate college. I love her more than anything else and she'll always be my best friend.

Note: I didn't really want to talk about specific experiences with my sister, but focus more on why she is so important to me. Rather than be specific, I wanted to give an abstract painted picture of my sister.

(my sister and me: by me)

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab Part B

Silence is Golden was my favorite story from this reading. There once was a young jackal-lion cub that was very small. His father was a lion while his mother had been a jackal. They fell in love and had the young cub. The cub had taken after his father in looks, an almost identical twin you could say. There was one difference though and it was that his voice took after his mothers. People thought he was a lion cub, as long as he didn't open up his mouth. This young cub loved playing with the other lions, as they were very rambunctious group. They would stumble around all over each other and make a mess of everything.

One day, while they were playing around, the cub thought he could scare all of his friends. So he opened his mouth wide hoping to roar, but could only yell out a yelp like his mother would make. The other young lions were all confused, and didn't know what was going on. They didn't understand what strange sound this young lion cub had made and if he was even a lion. One of the cubs began to make fun of the poor jackal-lion cub, and all the others joined along. They all said mean words and said how much he looked and walked like a lion, but how when he opened his mouth, he was anything but a lion. They all said he was a jackal and nothing more than that. The young jackal-lion cub became very distraught and upset by everyone disowning him, as they began to tell him that he needed to keep his mouth shut for the rest of time. He didn't have a lion's roar so there was no use in ever saying anything. The young cub sulked away in sadness, and learned then to always hold his tongue when in the presence of others who thought they were better.

Source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales by W. H. D. Rouse


(The Cub: needpix)

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab Part A

The Giant Crab is personally to me a major story from this reading that I found really interesting. It starts off at this lake in the mountains where a giant crab lived. This wasn't any ordinary crab though. He was the biggest crab that had ever lived, as he was bigger than a dining room table and had armchair sized claws. This crab was a loner, who lived in the lake by himself. There were many different animals though that lived in the mountains by the lake and they needed water to drink. From tiny foxes to huge elephants, there was a variety of animals. The crab though was very hungry all the time though, so whenever an animal would come up to the water's edge, the crab would grab the animal with his claw. After drowning the animal, it would make for a tasty dinner for the giant crab. This went on for what seemed like forever. The crab only grew in size from his feast. The animals were running out of water though and didn't know what to do, until one day an elephant decided to stand up to the crab.

All the elephants created a plan to trap the crab while they were near the water's edge. The crab grabbed onto one the elephant's leg and tried to pull him in. The wife of this elephant begged the crab to let her husband go. The crab found the elephant to be very attractive, so he asked her for a kiss. The elephant pretended to be pleased, so the crab let go of the other elephant and made his way toward her. The elephant who had been released then let out a giant trumpet sound and launched himself onto the crab's back. The elephant weighed too much for the crab shell, so it fell apart into tiny pieces. The animals all rejoiced and went on with their happy life.

Source: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales by W. H. D., Rouse


(Crab: wikimedia)

Week 9 Story: I Am Woman

There once was a young girl who was told she could be anything. That was until she soon realized that this wasn't always the case. Annabeth was 12 years old when she first was told by a school yard bully that she could never be a marine or a navy seal, girls weren't strong enough. Annabeth was 20 years old when she was told that she would never make it in the entertainment industry, she wasn't pretty enough. Annabeth was 35 years old when she was scolded for never wanting to be a mother, women were always supposed to want to have kids. Annabeth was 60 years old when she was told she would die alone, because she never got married or had babies. These words though never stopped her, she kept on fighting even when life got in the way.

Annabeth had spent her whole life wanting to live up to her parent's expectations, but it never ended up that way. There was always those pressures of who to be and what to do with her life. Annabeth knew she would never been the exact equivalent of the male counterpart, but she knew she had values that were the strengths only a woman could have. This young, scared girl became a powerful woman that not many wanted to face. Annabeth went to law school and graduated top of her class. She was feared inside and outside of the courtroom, and proved so many people wrong that had diminished her in the past. Annabeth was loved by her friends, parents and siblings and that gave her all the satisfaction she needed from life. She knew she didn't have the most typical story, but that's what made hers so great. Annabeth was unique and that is all she could have ever wanted from life.

Author's Note: For my personal story, I chose to turn Shikhandin into Annabeth. In the story about The Maiden Who Became a Knight, we never get to see the pressure the princess felt because she was not the son her parents had prayed for, so I wanted to give her a voice. I always wanted to give every other girl who felt like they didn't have a voice to have one. I didn't keep to most of the story, but I took a major element, repression, I found in this story and turned it into an empowering one. Shikhandin should have been valued for more than just her gender, and I wanted to express that through my story.

Source: The Maiden Who Became a Knight in the Mahabharata by Sister Nivedita



(Women Empowerment: pixabay)

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

The Maiden Who Became a Knight is my favorite story from this reading, especially since it is a more empowering story about a female figure, retold by a female voice. The story begins with the eldest queen of Drupada and how she was unable to have a child with the king of the Panchalas. Drupada prayed every day for a son to be born, instead of a daughter. He dedicated his son to fight the battle against Drona. Shiva blessed him and his wife became pregnant, but with a daughter. Shiva did promise Drupada though that a son would be the next born child. Drupada went home and told his queen of the news, and she was overwhelmed with happiness and blessings. The queen was due to give birth and after she did, they informed everyone they had given birth to a son, although it was indeed a daughter. No one was suspicious and the lie went on. They named their daughter Shikhandin, which had a feminine form of Shikhandini. She was raised as a warrior, going through everything that a prince would train as and for. This daughter was just as strong as all the other princes. It was time for this "son" to find a wife, so they searched far and wide for a suitable bride. When the king of the selected bride heard of the rumors that the prince was in fact a woman, he vowed revenge on Drupada and swore to destroy his kingdom. Drupada felt guilty and weak at this time, and the queen publicly took responsibility for this lie. Drupada and his council concluded that the marriage proposal was all in good faith and they believed the daughter to be a son. So they prepared for war and prayed to the gods for help.

Source: Mahabharata by Sister Nivedita


(Shikhandi Battle Scene: wikimedia)

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

The Promise to Drona was one story that really stood out to me throughout this weeks reading. Drona had taken these princes as his students one day and called for them to gather together and lay down. Drona promised these princes that he would teach them to become strong warriors and learn how to bear arms. He had a special plan for these men. At the sound of this declaration, the princes all became silent in unison. Although one of them, Arjuna, the third eldest Pandavas, swore that he would accomplish this goal set before them. Drona instantly favored Arjuna from this moment on, as he saw all the pontetial Arjuna held and the warrior he would become. Drona and Arjuna had a special bond because of this, and they never wavered from each other's side. Arjuna was set to master the arms he would soon to learn. Princes from all around came to see the famous Drona, master of arms and teacher to men. All of the Kurus and Pandavas were his pupils, and these princes were set to be strong warriors. Karna soon came along and he was very different from the rest. He was rumored to be the adopted son of another royal member of the court. His true birth blood was unknown to everyone though. Karna and Arjuna soon became enemies within their training, always pitted against each other. Karna befriended Duryodhana and his brothers though, not the Pandavas. Arjuna took every opportunity he could to learn and master every skill they were taught, so he could be better than the others. Arjuna was eating one night and found out that even in the dark he could eat without a problem. So he also started training at night and when Drona found him so, he embraced the student fully realizing all the potential this young prince had inside of him.

Source: Mahabharata by Sister Nivedita


(Drona: wikipedia)

Week 8 Progress

Overall, I am pretty proud of the progress I have made during these last few weeks in Indian Epics. From week 1 to week 8, I feel like I have learned a lot, and I can't imagine how much more I will learn in the next eight weeks. Not only material from the class, but from general technological skills as well. Nine weeks ago I didn't know how to use google blogger, google sites, or other basic online skills. That is pretty big progress. For the second half of the semester, I really want to try and finish up my assignments as soon as I can, rather than the due date itself. I am writing this specific post two days before it is due, so I would say I am off to a good start. Here's to progress!


(Progress: pixabay)

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I feel like I have received really good feedback for my stories and it has helped me edit specific stories and learn what is best for stories that are up and coming. That part has been something I like going over because it has helped me learn my strong suits and my weaknesses when it comes to story writing. Throughout this class though, the part I have struggled most with is giving really good feedback and comments. I feel like I can't come up with really good feedback since I don't really have a lot of experience with writing. I might mention that I have not taken a single english class while at university. I just am not good at critiquing other's works and finding positive issues that I can help address. In the future, I hope to work on my feedback commentating and focus more on what I do know, and use that to my benefit.


(Commentating: pixabay)

Week 8 Reading and Writing

As I look back on my progress throughout this class, a few things stick out to me about everything I have accomplished. At first, it took a few trial and error processes to understand the layout of this course and how to work all of the new websites and platforms I was in the process of learning how to use. Overall, I feel like this course has gotten a better more easier over time. Not because of the material or anything, I just understand what is expected of me every week and it is easy to stick to the schedule when it is so consistent overall. My writing has also greatly improved as I have learn how to rewrite stories in a fashion I like and I can better comprehend the material and verbiage. I also have almost mastered reading notes over our weekly readings. The stories specifically surrounding Sita I really became attached to. 

In the next few weeks to come, I expect to finish up my storybook and write more stories regarding Indian Epics. I hope to do further research outside of our readings in order to gain the most out of the material being presented to me. 

(Writing: Needpix)