Tech Tip: Pinterest Board

Here is the new link to my latest pinterest board: Epics of India Portfolio.

I have used pinterest a lot in the last five years of college. It is the best procrastinating tool! I love using it to find new recipes to try and I also love all of the fan fiction I find based off of some of my interests (Harry Potter, Disney, Divergent). Pinterest makes me have severe wanderlust though. Some of the pictures and places I see look so fantastic. I just really want to go! I also like to find things I feel will be useful in my future career as an occupational therapist.

Storybook Styles

Topic:

My storybook will be about my detective Wolfgang Forrester and having him solve mysteries in Indian mythology and culture. I really enjoyed reading the tales of the twenty-two goblins when I was in Mythology and folklore. I actually used the twelfth goblin's riddle in storytelling for that class "The Bus". I actually loved that riddle a lot! It had an interesting take on who is really responsible for the death of the Brahman and I think it would be a great mystery for Wolfgang to solve. I actually think quite a few of those stories could work as potential crime cases for Wolfgang. I also liked the Jataka tales. One that I think could be a good story is The Master's Test. It is short, but it has a great meaning behind it. Wolfgang could solve what the Master meant for the children to do. Another great one would be The Guilty Dogs. Wolfgang could solve for who ruined the straps on the royal chariot. Perhaps the chief of the dogs would seek out Wolfgang for help so that all of the dogs in the city would not be slaughtered. As I mentioned before I really want to do a story based off of the Missing Queen. It would just be a great case to have solved.

Bibliography:

Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat (Khan). Illustrations by H. Willebeek Le Mair. (1939). Web Source: Hathi Trust
Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder. Illustrations by Perham W. Nahl. (1917). Web Source: Sacred Texts

Storytelling Styles:

Detective shares his case - This is the type of style I used in my previous storybook from Mythology and Folklore Fairytale Case Files. I really enjoyed writing in this style and would love to continue this with a new storybook in India.

Wolfgang shares where he's been - In my idea of continuing Wolfgang's adventures, I want him to almost "fall down the rabbit hole" and be transported into the world of India where there are new crimes and cases to be solved. It might be an interesting take to have him filed as a Missing Person in the Enchanted Forest. In this style, Wolfgang would have just returned to the Enchanted Forest and is having to recount where he's been to the police.

Rabbit hole from Freedom Outpost

Clients review - This could be a totally different approach to what I have been doing. In almost like a "Yelp" manner, the clients of Wolfgang could give reviews of how he did on a certain case and tell the story of how he did it. 

Talk Show Host - I feel like after all this time and all of these cases, Wolfgang is becoming a little famous. I mean he's solved some pretty big cases! I think he would be asked to go onto a tv talk show and is asked questions about some of his more recent cases. Wolfgang could talk about his recent travels to India and the different types of cases he had there.

    

Storytelling Week 3: Oh, Where Did Sita Go?

Monkey from How Why Where

"Okay kids, it's time for bed!"

"BUT MOM!" whined Marcus and Elizabeth.

"I know, I know, but you have school tomorrow. I need you to be fully rested so you can learn! How about I read you a bedtime story? Which one do you wanna hear? The Prince and the Sandals? Sita the Warrior Princess?"

"How about Oh, Where Did Sita Go?"

"What an excellent choice Marcus!"

The mother went to the kids' bookshelf, humming to herself as she searched for that very special book. "O hear it is!" She exclaimed as she came back to her kids who were already crawling up into their beds. "You guys brush your teeth? Wash your face?" Both Elizabeth and Marcus nodded fervently. "Okay then! Let's get started!" the mother said as she opened the book.


"Monkeys, chimps, and those with ape-life
Our friend Rama is missing his loving wife.

Go forth my friends and bring her back
Otherwise Rama will give me quite the smack"

A day, a week, a month went by
but the search for Sita still came up dry

"You! With the matted brown hair
Explain to me why we haven't found Sita anywhere!"

"My lord Sugriva, I don't know what to say
I am sure we look in every which way

We could not find her in a bog
We could not find her in a log

We could not find her in a house
We could not find her with her spouse

As you can see
We could not find her in a tree

We could not find Sita here or there
We could not find her anywhere!"

"You monkeys are no help
I will just go do it" Sugriva said with a yelp.

Elizabeth, seeming upset, said "Mom, why would Sagreeva be mean to a cute monkey?"

Chuckling to herself at her daughters attempt to say "Sugriva", the mom replied, "It's hard to say sweetie, not all people are nice when they don't get their way."

"I don't like this story anymore mom. I'm tired." yawned Elizabeth. "Can we go to sleep?"

"That is a good idea!"

"But mom," replied Marcus, "you didn't finish the story!"

"It's late enough honey! Besides, now you can have something to look forward to tomorrow! I will finish the story before bed tomorrow."

Marcus looked at his mom with suspicion "Pink promise?"

Smiling to herself, the mom agreed, "Pinky promise."

"Goodnight kids, I love you"

"Love you too mom!" they chorused together as they soon drifted off to sleep and dreamt of monkeys searching for a princess.

Author's Note: For some reason when I read the story "the Armies" and "Sampati" I imagined the monkeys looking here and there and not finding Sita anywhere. After that, I really wanted to try to write this with a Dr. Seuss vibe. More specifically, I was thinking about "Green eggs and ham" and having the monkeys describe where they searched for Sita. I chose the title "Oh, Where did Sita go?" as a spin off to the Dr. Seuss classic "Oh, the places you'll go". It seemed like a fitting title for the story and I feel it really tells the reader what the story will be like before they even start reading it. It was fun to figure out different places Sita could be while making sure everything still rhymed. However, it was more difficult than I thought! This is why the storybook portion is smaller than I had originally planned for it to be. I had to have a mom read it to her kids because I immediately think of my mom reading Dr. Seuss and other books to me as a child. I basically kept to the story of the monkeys searching for Sita. I chose the cartoon of the monkey because I feel like it is a very child friendly image that could easily be found in a children's story.

Bibliography: The Armies from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913), and the verse portion comes from Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (1899) and Sampati from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914). 

Week 3 Reading Diary: Ramayana Part 4

Ramayana PDE

Rama vs Ravana from BBC

Rama Attacks from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

I would love to go more into depth of how Ravana tricked Sita. The hurt that Sita felt and then the relief and anger when she realized it was all an illusion. The story did a great job talking about it, however, I don't think they went far enough. I really think the readers should feel what Sita is feeling in this story. 

Indrajit from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914)

Wow this is a great battle scene! It has great imagery I would love to play with. My favorite is "But the monkeys were panic-sticken, and if even a straw moved they deemed it to be a rakshasa." War is gruesome and those poor monkeys had lost thousands of friends. I would be terrified too, especially if I thought my great leader was dead. What is an army without their leader? It goes down hill really fast. I also feel sorry for Sita. Again, she is shown the body of Rama and now Lakshmana. She is just really going through a lot of emotions at the moment. Not to mention, at the moment she still doesn't know that Rama and Lakshmana are in fact alive. She must be distraught! 

Ramayana and Lakshmana from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913)

I went through a moment of panic with Rama over Lakshmana. I was not going to be happy if he died! Thankfully, he was saved with herbs! Like when I wanted to go into more depth of Sita's pain and loss over Rama, I would like to do the same with Rama and his pain over what he thought was losing his brother. They had experienced so much together and had survived so much of this battle it would be heart breaking to see your best friend and brother die. 

Week 3 Reading Diary: Ramayana Part 3

Ramayana PDE

Baby Ginger Monkey from Wiki Commons

The Armies from  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913) and Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (1899)

I think this would be a great story to recreate. One of the first things that comes to mind is telling the story from a monkey's perspective. Follow their journey to find Sita. Maybe he could be really annoyed with Sugriva and complain about his boss. I think this would be a fun story to write about. Another idea with this story is to write it like a Dr. Suess book. Perhaps give it an "Oh, the places you'll go" or a "Green Eggs and Ham" vibe. It could be difficult finding a way to make it rhyme, but I think it would be so fun! 

Sampati and Jatayu  from The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana, by Frederika Richardson Macdonald (1870). 

I love the talk of a bird race! I could have a lot of fun with that! Maybe it's a bird race competition and there is a tragic accident that ends up with one racer losing both wings. Afterwards, you can see how he is coping with it. Perhaps he is telling his therapist about the incident. Another take on this is to go off of the sentence "Of what good is life to a bird who has no wings?" I think I could create a great tragedy based off of this. Or talk about how that sacrifice, although painful and with lifelong consequences could be worth it to save someone you love.  

Sita and Ravana from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914).

I would like to go into more detail on the interactions Ravana and Sita had. I can definitely imagine her painting a great story of how her Rama would defeat him for her. I also believe that each time he came it would be more colorful and dramatic. It could be funny to have him walk in there asking how he was supposed to die today and Sita having an entire story already planned out for him.