Pope's Posts

This week I chose to do my reading notes differently. I wanted to do small summaries and details of each individual chapter of section C that I enjoyed or wanted to include in my story. The Pandavas in the Forest Life In The Forest: This story immediately made me think about the children of Israel who walked in the wilderness for 40 years. It was during this time that Jesus was tested, yet he remained faithful to God's will and instructions. I think this would be a really great story to expound on the trials of the Pandavas while in exile. Arjuna and Shiva: I caught another biblical reference. Clad lived in scant clothes and lived upon withered leaves and fallen fruits and reduces his allowance. This portion of the story sounds kind of like the Daniel Fast. A fast in which you eat nothing but fruits and vegetables while focusing on enhancing your relationship with God.,  Riddles at the Lake: As funny as it may seem, this passage reminded me of the grump old  ...

"Amber get it together, looked enthused, and suck it in. You're about to marry the love of your life. He's a great man. Don't ruin it for us like you did the last time.  I don't need another lawsuit and a front page spread in the newspaper," said Amber's father as they stood arm in arm soon to head down the aisle. My shiny sea foam colored eyes were filled with animosity and guilt all while this morning's breakfast violently churned in my gut alongside the feeling of anxiety and apprehension. "Why do I feel like what I am doing is so wrong? This just doesn't feel right, but I will make it right for my parents.," Amber thought. I picked up my cobalt blue stilettos in sync with Hear Comes the Bride  and trudged down the aisle. I could feel my fathers excitement from the pep in his step to finally gain a son-in law after having lost two potential candidates. The faster he walked to the front, the heavier my feet became, weighing me do...

Bhima fighting the Rakshasa, Hidimba. Image Source Part B of the Public Domain Edition of Mahabharata  is more thrilling and fast paced. It contains more episodes of violence and revenge. The latter chapters initiate a cycle of revenge and war. The amount of jealousy and betrayal among kinsmen and enemies increases. I do find that this part of the story is easier to read; however, there still remained times when several new characters were introduced that it left me wondering about what happened to the characters that were introduced first. Bhima and Hidimbi and was one of my favorite stories as it reminded me of one of my favorite middle school romantic fantasy series, The Twilight Saga. Bhima and Hidimbi met by unfortunate circumstances. Bhima was trying save the rakshasi, Hidimbi from being dismembered by her brother. Similarly, in Twilight novel, a regular human being, Bella is saved by a modernized rakshasha, vampire, Edward, from being crushed by a van. From that point ...

Mahabharata  Part A was really detailed and upheld a quickly developing plot. Almost every "chapter" introduced a new character that somehow circumvented back to previously mentioned characters. Each character's vows and hardships became increasingly complicated. One of the running theme that I noticed was that men always yearned for children; however, it remained inevitable that there was a cost behind being able to conceive. Following conception of a child, the family would either fall apart or the child would die. If the child did live, they were displayed and treated as a prized possession or cursed. There was a lot of "an eye for an eye" requests and activites being carried out. Surya. Wikimedia Commons I noticed that several of the stories in this part of the Mahabharata had several biblical influences that I am aiming to utilize in my own story post. One of the most distinct biblical moments I captured were in the chapter, Kunti and Her Son. Kunti c...

Sita Cries A River.  Commons.Wikimedia This Part B of the novel immediately gave me an idea about how I'm going to build my storybook. My storybook is going to  be a visual album; the same format that famous singers and songwriters have released to the public. I have a love for music and I feel that I could really incorporate this aspect to enhance the creativeness of my assignment. This half of the Ramayana   illustrated more moments that the Public Domain Edition didn't capitalize. There were several sections in Sita Sings the Blues  that she sang and was given time to lament. I do feel that her character was weakened. She was portrayed as a stronger individual and asset to her husband in the PDE unlike this version. Furthermore, I like how the producer actually uses the color blue to illustrate her sadness. Even the content of the songs reflect the moments passing by.  The image above made me think about Justin Timberlake's song, Cry Me A River, whic...

Sita Sings the Blues Frame from Nina Paley.  Creative Commons I really liked this film depiction of the Ramayana. It included a lot of the details concerning Sita's feelings. The story was a combination of several stories that explained the Ramayana. This film took a comical and almost satirical approach. The images in the video were obnoxious, but it kept the reader involved. Some of the commentary included, "Sita and Ravana made their way to Sri Lanka, but they really meant Lanka." I feel that I could use this same approach with my story book. I could make small changes to names and places.  Furthermore, this story depicted Sita as more of a damsel. She seemed to need Sita's permission for a lot of her activities. Sita explicitly stated this during her interaction with Ravana and his coercion to marry him.  Sita singing the blues is a great way to personify her feelings and to advance the plot. I like how at one point in the film she is singing and the reco...

I know that TARDIS is representative of an acronym; however, I feel that my work this week has been "tardy." I tried to use a sense of humor just then; however, I'm not a very comical person. Most of  my jokes and entertainment come from really dry humor. This past week was very busy for me i other courses. I'm trying to finish a degree this spring at another college; therefore, that course work and curriculum has been taking precedence over certain assignments. In addition to my course, I have I'm having to attend my extracurricular activities. One of the larger projects that I missed for this past week was the Storybook. I'm needing to finalize my topics. Furthermore, I was reading a post in professor Gibbs' blog,  Learning by HEART that talked about every book being a TARDIS. After using this acronym for the second time, I have to explain it. T ime A nd Board Outside of a Store.  Laura Gibbs R elative D imension           ...

The plot in Part D hastens. There is more violence and war taking place. With Rama's separation from Sita, the state in which he is able to obliterate his enemy weakens. The rakashasas seemed to have grown stronger, which surprises the reader. The reader is used to Rama being the victor and coming out on top; instead, Rama, his brother, and Sugriva are having to depend on celestial beings and their magical powers. The expected pattern of the story was taking a turn, leaving the reader more intrigued as to what was happening. From this, I gained the understanding  that for my story to remain interesting, there must be some aspect of unexplained character interventions or deaths. The Kumbhakarna Awakening. British Library In this Part, I could see that some of the stories had a Greek mythology influence. One story specifically, Kumbhakarna, talked about bringing back one of the greatest rakshasa demons. Upon awakening, the demon would devour thousands of apes. This reminded...

Image Information : The Monkey Brothers' Fight  Brooklyn Museum Again this week, despite Rama's inconvenience of being exiled, he still manages to be summoned by others to fight their battles. However, these moments illustrate and support the idea of Rama being noble and heroic. Furthermore, I feel as though the background behind the relationship between Sugriva, the monkey summoning Rama, and Rama was lacking.  In this week's reading, the couplet, rhyming style of writing continues to be implemented. I utilized this same style of writing at the beginning of my story last week. This gives me the idea to reach further in my writing to format my whole story in a couplet style. The rhyming gives the reader a greater since of pathos and a greater emotional connection. It makes the story seem much more intense. These couplets provide a greater focus on the adjective choices by the author that paint vivid pictures in the mind of the reader. I did notice that the author c...