Week 13 Curation

I recently discovered some illustrators that I really enjoy, so I thought I would share their work in a curation post.

Sanjay Patel presents Indian mythology in such a beautiful and exciting way and even has a whole work dedicated to the Ramayana.

Ramayana - Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

Ramayana - Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel

Dmitry Grebenkov re-imagines different tales in his art.

Indian Little Red Riding Hood

Artist Aixado uses pastels to create a realistic image inspired by India

India, Always in my Mind

Week 13 Famous Last Words

So far, I have not had any trouble with reading for this course. I am happy that I have been able to so easily access all of the materials that I’ve needed online for free. I have not really used any particular strategy for choosing these week to week, but have just been focusing on what I find to be the most interesting. 

My best writing for this week was definitely not for this class. I am in an independent study this semester over viewing Russian literature of the late 20^th century. Since I am a Russian major, this tends to be where most of best research and writing appears. 

My other classes tend to be much more manageable than this one. Most of my classes are familiar, since they are within my field, or else fairly easy and straightforward. This class has the most volume of any of my classes. 

This past week, I did something a bit unusual for me. I watched football. (Ok, well I watched bits and pieces of a game on TV at a restaurant.) I usually don’t care about sports at all, which is pretty taboo, considering I work for the athletics department! I’m a tutor, and I made a promise to several of my student-athletes that I would at least watch parts of the Bedlam game, and I followed through with that promise. I still don’t care for football. (Sorry, not sorry.) 

My thoughts on football - Erica Patterson

Week 13 Review

Just scrolling through this week's announcements, the first thing that caught my eye was the Dante's Inferno of Academics. I actually just finished a paper for an independent study comparing Inferno with a Russian novel called Moscow to the End of the Line. I had already read Inferno, but I feel intimately connected to this academic comparison!

PHD Comics

Week 13 Tech Tip

For this tech tip, I chose to do the LolBuilder at Cheezburger.com, mostly because I thought it would be kind of fun. I'm pretty sure I've used this before, probably when I was in high school (7 years ago...give or take...) I decided to actually use a picture of my own dog, because she is pretty crazy already.

Personal photo

Week 13 Growth Mindset

This semester has been my most difficult semester because I'm honestly just ready to be done. I started college at age 16 and will be finishing my main coursework in just a matter of weeks before heading off to spend my last semester in Russia. I've been in school a very long time. What I've found at this point is that all of my previous strategies, motivators, and routines have completely failed me. I maintained a perfect or nearly perfect GPA for most of my school career, and I've realized this semester, that ultimately, my grades are worth only so much to me and they shouldn't really matter to anyone else. My worth is not measured by how many classes I've completed and how many As I've accumulated.

Basically me.

Week 13 Reading Feedback

This week I decided to return to the Mahabharata/Pandava Brothers by reading the Stories of Gods and Heroes by W.D. Monro. I spent about an hour and half, if not less, reading for this week. This was really helpful, since I'm currently up to my neck in other work. I enjoyed Monro's style and approach to these myths. For this course, I've chosen to specifically stick to free online sources for convenience and cost efficiency.

Draupadi dragged from her chamber

Week 13 Reading Diary B - Monro - The Pandava Brethren

I have finished the second part of this week's reading. This week I have chosen to read W.D. Monro's version of the tales of the Pandava brothers and their escapades. I thought it was interesting how the latter half of the story is dedicated to the battle. In the other versions of this story that I have read, it did not seem to me like the battle was as large and prominent as this author portrays it. I also thought it was interesting how the author contrasts this particular battle with those of Homer's Iliad, which put the enormity of the slaughter into a different perspective for me. In this version, I was able to understand more that the Pandava brothers had not originally known that their enemy was their half-brother all along.This made the ending more tragic, in my opinion. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this author's perspective on this tale.

Krishna and Arjuna

Week 13 Reading Diary A - Monro : The Pandava Bretheren

This week I decided to return to the Mahabharata/Pandava Brothers by reading the Stories of Gods and Heroes by W.D. Monro. I decided that I wanted to get some more background on the characters of this story to continue working on my portfolio assignment.  What I liked about this version compared to some of the others was that I was able to discern more about the motivations of certain scenarios or character decisions, like why Duryodhana disliked the brothers and how Draupadi came to choose her husband.

A Javanese shadow puppet of Duryodhana