Topic Brainstorm

PROJECT IDEA 1: MUSIC

After scrolling through the potential topic list one choice that jumped out to me was making my project about the musical traditions of India. I think it would be fascinating to delve into the many nuances of Indian music as they relate to the epics and the characters within those epics. I like this topic because I enjoy listening and analyzing new music (well at least new to me), and also because I feel like this would not limit me to just one story or character to learn deeply about. Song and dance are evidently very important to Indian culture, and I would certainly like to do a project about this.I actually have a very limited knowledge of music in India. Though I do know the way they organize and think about musical structures is somewhat different than that of Western music. I would probably tell a story about how through the power of music a character was able to overcome any obstacle they faced. Here is a link to Ravana on wikipedia; Ravana seems to me to be similar to Orpheus in some ways( In that he is an accomplished musician mainly.)

PROJECT IDEA 2: WEAPONS OF THE GODS

Another topic that I found to be very interesting was the weapons of the Gods. I have always been fascinated by weaponry, and weapons of the God must be something really epic. I mean these characters are Gods, so their weapons must be on some other-worldly level. One weapon I found to be cool was the Gada. Gada was a giant mace used by the monkey God Hanuman. That sounds really cool to me, and I would be interested In learning more about other weapons of the Gods. As for a potential story, I would write about an epic battle won by some God utilizing the strengths of their great weaponry. 

Gada

PROJECT IDEA 3: EPIC BATTLES

Epic battles in India falls relatively close to weapons of the Gods in my mind, but in a far more broad sense. There is definitely more to battles of epic proportions than just weapons.The events leading up too, the destruction caused during, and the aftermath of an epic battle are equally important to the story as a whole.It would be interesting to do a project about the roles the different social orders play during the events of pre, and post battles. Completely re-working the way a battle played out could be a fun story to write on this topic. 

PROJECT IDEA 4: CREATION STORIES

The origins of life, and the Earth are often heavily thought about by many people. Learning the way some people think about this in India would also be a good project to embark upon. I wonder how this culture views cosmology, and what their stories of the beginning of life and the Earth are like. Comparing these stories to their more Western equivalents would lead to an interesting project. Writing a story about creation would have endless possibilities. 

Tech Tip: "Squirt.io"

I recently discovered a very simple bookmark called Squirt.io. Squirt is a speed reader, and allows you to fully read through lengthy passages of text in a fraction of the time it takes to read them normally. It works in chrome, and I would also imagine it works in any other browser as well. It is a very simple tool to utilize. Go here for instructions on how to utilize this time-saving tool. Squirt.io has drastically cut down the time I spend reading while still providing the comprehension necessary to be useful.

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback is very important to any creative process. It allows creators to know what their desired audience likes and dislikes about their current project. It also can provide valuable insight from other creators about specific parts your own work.I often ask others for input on music projects I am working on, and can definitely see the value in asking for the same kind of input with writing projects.

The article 5 tips for taking feedback like a champ was one that stood out to me. It stood out to me because I feel that many people, myself included, often take these criticisms on the chin when they are made to help develop your writing. I especially liked that it basically told you to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable situations in creating new content usually coincides with growth and learning. Any time I ask for feedback and get a lot of comments back about growth area it feels good. That is because I know that I have not "arrived" yet, and still have things to improve on. It makes the game of creation that much more satisfying.

The silence the critical voices in your head article also resonated with me. When writing music I have often scrapped ideas entirely because I doubted hat they were enjoyable to listen to. Overtime Ive gotten much better about this, but as the old saying goes "you are your own worst critic". That can be both good and bad. On one hand you are always analyzing all facets of your work and thinking of how to improve them. On the other hand you often toss away potentially great ideas because of self doubt. Casting away those overly critical thoughts will be of great benefit to any creator.

Feedback is very important to creation

Week 2 Story: The Weasel and the Ram

There once was a weasel named Wesley that lived at the bottom of a humongous mountain. Wesley had lived his life to this point rather happily, going about his days eating and playing to his little heart’s desire. Wesley would look up to the mountain occasionally and wonder what was up there, but never really had enough interest to try making the ascent himself. However, one day, this all change because Wesley saw a powerful ram bounding his way up the rocky terrain effortlessly. “Woah!”, Wesley said, as the ram continued his way up, “I wonder what he will see when he reaches the top.” The sight of this ram climbing the humongous mountain gave Wesley the desire to go and see what was at the top of the mountain. Every single day for almost a month after Wesley saw the impressive climbing skills, he attempted to mimic the ram. Wesley had a problem though. His problem was that he did not have the stamina to make it all the way up the mountain. “How did that ram do it it!?”, Wesley exclaimed, as he sat exhausted on a rock near the base of the mountain. No matter how much he rested, Wesley just could not seem to make it any further up the mountain. Following this realization, Wesley sought to find the ram and ask him for help reaching his goal.

Conveniently enough, the very next day Wesley saw the ram come hopping along towards his home. Wesley called out to the ram, “Hey, you with the horns!”, “Come here I want to talk with you!” he continued. The ram happily walked over to Wesley and introduced himself. “Hi there, my name is Ralph, who are you?”, said the ram. “Well my name is Wesley. How do you get up that mountain so easily Ralph?” Wesley replied. Ralph gave Wesley a little smirk and answered with, “Why don’t you join me on my way up today Wesley?”. Wesley was immediately excited as this was all he could think about for the past month. So, Wesley agreed to accompany his new friend up the mountain. Ralph told Wesley before they got on their way, “Hang on tight Wesley, I have to make some pretty big jumps to make it up.” Wesley grabbed on to Ralph as tightly as he could and the two made their way up the mountain. Ralph would take all his usual jumps, and showed Wesley everything he knew about this part of the mountain. Eventually the two made it to the peak, and they looked out over the horizon. “Wow, its beautiful Ralph, thank you so much for helping me get up here!”, Wesley exclaimed as he took in this new astonishing view. Ralph and Wesley then made the journey back down the mountain after enjoying the fruits of their labor. The two would make that journey together once a week for the remainder of their lives. 

View from Wesley's Home

Author's Notes: This story was inspired by the two turtles Jatakas. More specifically the Turtle and the geese. This Jataka involves a turtle and two geese who became friends due to the geese looking for food. One day the geese offer to take the turtle to their far away home, but only if the turtle can say not a word to any one on the way. The turtle agrees, and the geese pick up a stick for the turtle to latch his mouth on. On the adventure the turtle winds up talking to someone and falling to his death. In my story I changed the characters and setting as well as the over all goal of the characters. MY story also ended on a happier note than the death of a turtle. 

Bibliography: "The Turtle and The Geese" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit

Reading Notes: Jatakas

TURTLE and the GEESE

• Setting

                 The short story shortly but descriptively tells the reader about where the story takes place.Which is near a pond at the foot of a hill.  There is no mention of a time or date, so that is left up to the reader. 

• Plot/Characters

                The story tells about a turtle and two geese who befriend each other. The geese fly away for the evening, but the turtle would also like to join. The geese come back with a solution, but the turtle must give up something for a short time in order for the plan to work. The turtle is unable to make this happen and pays a major price. The Characters are not overly developed by word, but instead by action.

Turtle

Reading Options

The first reading option that I chose was "Garuda: Vishnu's Divine Mount". I chose this because I was interested in the comic books specifically. I wanted to see how they differed from the comic books that I have read in the past. Turns out they are rather different at least at a glance. I have not yet fully read one so I will leave that assessment for another time. Garuda seems like it would be an interesting choice to start delving into Indian comic books.

The second reading I have chosen is  "The Tales of Durga". I chose to look at this one because I thought the cover picture was really cool. It looked like it was potentially about some awesome warrior defeating his enemies on the back of a Lion.

The Third option I chose to look further at was "Ancestors of Rama". This one looks like it could have a lot of meaning behind it. Reading the brief summaries of it that I did I feel like I woould enjoy reading this story as well.

Durga

Time Strategies

Time Management

It's really important, and is something that I have struggled with greatly throughout my college career especially. I always tried to remember everything I needed to do. That is not inherently what the problem was; the main problem was that I tried to do this without writing anything down. This led to either completely forgetting to do somethings, or not leaving myself enough time to complete said tasks. Eventually I wound up getting a planner and actually utilizing it, and ever since then I have become far more in control of how I spend my time. 

The first article I read was titled "The Important Habit of just Starting". This was an interesting article to me. I did not necessarily learn anything new from this article per say, but it was a new way of looking at time management. The article mentions a formula for motivation that I thought was a different way of looking at the struggles of starting a task. This article reaffirmed the importance of starting tasks on time, and with a plan.

The Second Article that I read was titled "Increase your creative output with 14 time management tips just for creatives". I'm not going to lie, I clicked on this one because it called out to me. I would consider myself a creative, and wanted to see another person's perspective on increasing efficiency in content creation. I did learn from this article more so than my first article; it mentions taking purposeful breaks and starting with the worst part of the task first. These are two things i believe would help not only in any creative process but with any long-winded task you may set out on. 

The White Rabbit