Indian Epics

This week I chose to do the story lab. I chose to watch the two Ted talks on stories and friends.The first Ted Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks  about her experience growing in the U.S. with her Nigerian roots. In her talk she stresses the importance of not judging a person or country on a single story we hear about them. Often we see picture and things in the news and make assumptions based on that. We need to understand that there is more to a culture than we see and there is not one specific stereotype that everyone fits into. The second stalk was about imaginary friends and their consequences. Jennifer Barnes, a ya author, talks about the emotions we feel for fiction and their characters. We spend so much time on books, movies, tv shows, that are fiction. One of the things that draws us to fiction is the relationships we form with characters. These relationships are called parasocial because we don't know them. Ted Talks logo Bibliography: two TED talks about stor

- Brahma sees Krishna sharing his food and he questions this. He decides to kidnap Krishna's friends but Krishna recreated them to trick Brahma. - Krishna plays his flute to calm the bull Hastin. He then rides it. -His family refuses to let him marry Rhada. He reveals his true identity as a God and savior of the people. -Kamsa sends Akrur to trick Krishna and invite him to a dinner but he tells him Kamsa's plan. -Kamsa attacks Krishna with elephant but Krishna is stronger. -Kamsa orders his army to attack and Krishna and his brother defeat them. Krishna kills Kamsa. Krishna and Rhada Bibliography:  Epified Krishna Videos

This week I decided to watch the Epified videos about Krishna's story. I like watching these videos because I feel like they give me a better understanding of the stories. Kamsa learns that Devaki (his cousin's) 8th child will hill him so he puts her and her husband in jail. He killed her first 6 but the 8th was a God so he couldn't touch him. This son was Krishna. Vasudev exchanged Krishna for Maya to protect him. Maya was actually Durga Krishna kills Putana  When his mother caught him eating mud, she made him open his mouth to see that the universe was inside him. He played the flute Krishna loved the dancer Rhada  Lord Krishna with his Flute  Bibliography: Epified: Krishna.  Web Source

For my second extra reading assignment I decided to continue watching the videos I started the other day. While I do think reading the original text I think that this can be very beneficial as well. I especially enjoyed the story about the Pandavas and how it was told here. A few things that I think could've made it better would have been if there was color. I preferred the film Sita Sings the Blues because of its more movie like qualities. It could have been more enjoyable if it used more of a storytelling technique. Karmic Revolution Bibliography: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXcitH65DQccwo3hSnsA05JV4

For my extra Mahabharata reading I decided to watch the videos  Karmic Revolution by Epified TV. The thing I like about watching videos is it can give me a better understanding of what was going on in the story and when. It breaks the story down so I'm able to understand it more. Because the Mahabharata was so complex this was especially useful to me. I will probably continue to watch this for more of my extra reading. Karmic Revolution Bibliography: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXcitH65DQccwo3hSnsA05JV4

So far I'm happy with the progress I've maIde. I feel like my writing has improved and I've gotten better at understanding the stories we have to read. I'm most proud of my writing and I feel like I've become more creative. I've been using the extra credit comments option. In the future I would like to spend more time on my stories to avoid grammatical errors and add more attention to detail. The Golden Deer Source:  Wikimedia

I feel like throughout this class I've improved my writing skills. Being able to read about something and create a story from it has made me think more creatively. Receiving feedback from other students is very helpful to me because it helps me see ways I can improve my skills and I can see my story from different views. So far I am happy with the work I've done on my blog and storybook. I would like to go back and fix a few grammar errors or parts where the stories could flow better. I think I could include more detail in some parts too. I feel like my reading notes help me make a note of stories that have caught my eye that I would like to recreate. Rama and Sita. Source:  Flickr This image is one of my favorites because I feel like this class has focused so much on the story of Rama and Sita. I really like the colors in this picture and you can see their love for each other.