famous last words: just make it through

This week was a rough week. On top of Hurricane Harvey this past week, Hurricane Irma, Jose, and Katia are all doing damage on my roommate's hometown, Florida. With this news also came the news of her father having stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma which has spread to his liver. Luckily, her father come in town to surprise her and gets to stay for a week since all of the airports in Florida are closed. 

Being one that gets sick easily from stressors, I have been sick since Thursday night and have never had it this bad. I went to the doctor thinking it might be strep or mono, but it's just another stress bug I have given myself. 

I am working on relaxing which has been extremely hard given the fact that I missed class on Friday (which I never do), had to miss my Class Council retreat on Saturday, and have a Physics 2 exam on Wednesday coming up. Not to mention the fact this it is my sweet boyfriend's birthday today and I wish I could have the energy to celebrate him, but I really don't. He understands and has been helping me relax, but I still want to shower him with birthday fun as I LOVE to celebrate other people.

At this point, I am trying my best to just make it through Wednesday because my family and my boyfriend's family get in Thursday. I can't wait to celebrate the stress lessening this weekend with all of my loved ones!

(Photo by Wikimedia)

feedback strategies

Here is what I have learned from the two articles I read over feedback:

1. After reading, "Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback that Fosters a Growth Mindset" I learned -

• Being specific with what the reader has done and how it was helpful and/or useful to the assignment will help them learn what should be repeated again.
• Focusing on what has gone well rather than what is missing will guide the reader to focus, and reuse, those positives in future work without feeling discouraged.
• Taking yourself out of the feedback will help the reader thrive off their own capabilities, rather than to simply please the audience.

2. After reading, "How to Craft Constructive Feedback" I learned -  

• Sometimes all you need to do is be a witness to someone's work and share thanks for them taking their time to open up and share.
• Observe what stood out to you and repeat them through examples to the reader.
• Describe how the work made you feel.
• Suggest any place that you may see could use improvement to make the work even better.

(Photo by Jurgen Appelo)

topic research: the lonely wolf

For my project, I think I am going to stick to the topic of wolves.

After researching, wolves a few stories came to mind:

1. I learned that wolves are social beings and always like to travel with at least one mate at all times. I think that I could make a story about a wolf that was left behind from the pack and ended up pairing up with a family house dog since the other wolves abandoned him.

2. I also learned that wolves are very territorial animals. For that reason, I would like to include a plot twist similar to the one in the Beth Gellert story. I could have the abandoned wolf become territorial over a neighborhood families children and end the story with the wolf saving the children.

3. The last story that I thought of after doing my research brings the dog back into play. I think I may have the wolf mate with the dog and create a pack of his own. This will reestablish the wolf's confidence as he teaches his own pups the ways of the wolf, while maintaining his new-found traits from his dog mate.

(Photo by Gustave Dore)

My source for the basic information about wolves came from Wikipedia.

week 3 story: the chaos of man without God

In 2017, the United States was full of sadness. The climate was diminishing, the unity was breaking, and the people were left brokenhearted. 

Each person felt as though there was something missing from their life, but they could not pinpoint just what it was. All everyone could agree on was the fact that they needed to make a change and quick.

As usual, no one acted on their promises to seek out the cause of the sudden increase in madness throughout our nation...except for one student organization on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman.

This organization was a mixture of philosophy, religious studies, and environmental science majors that wanted to make a difference in our world. 

Following Hurricane Harvey destroying Texas, the environmentalist majors had a breakdown. Nothing they wrote out added up to the disaster that took place. Where had this power come from? Who is causing this on our people?

Immediately, the religious studies students bit back. They did not like the idea of blaming a person, as they knew the person they were alluding to was God. 

"He would never put such disaster upon us at a time of brokenness!" Blurted one of the young women.

In a peaceful manor, the philosophy students chimed in, "Let's all take a step back for a second...what if we are looking at this all wrong?"

Confused, the religious studies and environmental majors gave the philosophers their attention.

After hours of conversing ideas, the three groups of students came to a consensus as to why our country has been under such distress.

In the first chapter of the bible, God provides his people dominion over the earth. So, they decided that none of this has anything to do with the man upstairs wishing harm upon our people. Instead, they picked up a bible and began to dissect every verse starting from page one.

They stopped after Genesis 1-2. They figured out what has been causing the increase in chaos throughout the lands. 

In those verses, God talks about the creation of the heavens and the earth, which most Christians believe, and he also mentions that on the seventh day He rested. 

In today's age, we often forget to rest and give praise to God on Sundays. Even the most Christian of Christians will miss church due to other obligations that arise. 

"This has to be it!" they all thought to themselves. 

Later that week, the organization reached out to the news with their thoughts organized into a presentation. They gave them permission to be on air for the whole world to hear as they knew that even those that did not believe in God would do whatever it takes to stop the chaos of the world.

One month passed since their presentation and, to say the least, they were heard. Stores closed on Sundays, buses drove locals to worship God, and happiness was on the rise.

Who knew, all we needed was a little God to fix a lot of problems.

(Creation of Adam, by William Blake)

Author's Note:

The story I read was about the creation of the Heavens, Earth, Adam, and Eve. It included the seven days of creation and ended with Eve being created from Adam's rib. I found it to be quite difficult to base a story off of this topic, so I tried my best. I have been working on my own faith and definitely fall in and out of the habit of attending church, so I figured I would make a little story around Sundays. I tried to demonstrate the chaos of our generation and the fact that there are some days that I feel like I don't have time to eat much less attend a church service. I used that idea and made it be the cause of basically everything bad that's happened in a short span of time (I know, dramatic). Then, of course, the world goes back to giving the people time to breath and worship every Sunday and all is sunshine and rainbows! 

Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 1-2.

reading notes: adam and eve - leaving the garden, part b

After reading Adam and Eve: Leaving the Garden, these are some ideas that jumped out at me:

• The very beginning pulled me in with the location of the garden. Beyond it, one only can find water that goes on forever.
• The pureness of the sea and the fact that it physically and spiritually cleanses. 
• The placement of Adam by the sea also held many important details. He had to be in the perfect place to be cleansed from his sins without the smell of the apples that led him to sin in the air.
• The fact the God has pity on Adam and lifts him up is also another main detail that was a great end to the story.

Although this was a rather short story, there were many details that I can use in my own story. One that I will definitely use is the example of God's grace when we lifts Adam and Eve from their fallen state. Growing up, this is what I was taught and, even if I am writing a fiction story based on God, it will remain. I definitely found more of my "what if" thinking in the previous story I read, but this story brought me more concrete ideas that I will include in my story.

(The Expulsion, Caedmon ms., circa 1000)

This story is part of the Adam and Eve unit. Story source: The Forgotten Books of Eden, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926): The First Book of Adam and Eve 1-2.

reading notes: adam and eve - the creation, part a

After reading Adam and Eve: The Creation, these were the ideas that stood out the most to me:

• The word "dominion" in the first paragraph. This word means control of some sort and I think I could use that with a twist while referencing damage done to the earth and the fact that humans were left in control.
• I also like the idea of highlighting that God used his seventh day of creation for rest. I could see myself using that in my own story and making some sort of spirit come down and haunt our generation for not allowing the time to rest on Sundays.
• I also liked how the story ended with Eve being created from Adam's rib. I think I could incorporate that into my story as well.

I think that I am going to add a twist to this biblical story for my own storytelling. I am still debating where in the timeline I would like some mishap to take place, but I think this will be a fun way to put my own, "what if," thoughts to use. I feel as though we all come across such thoughts when studying deep into any religion and this is the perfect place for me to bring them to life and create a new story for others to read. 

I think my mishap will incorporate one of the ideas listed above. 

Here are some ideas:

• God coming down and telling His people that he left us in control and we have done Him wrong.
• God sending spirits to those that claim to obey His commands, yet do not spend their holy day with the Lord.
• Adding in some sort of punishment when mishap occurs within a relationship that either ends with the man losing his rib or the woman turning into a rib...something along those lines.

(Creation of Adam, by William Blake)

Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 1-2.