Online Education Review

I've taken 4 online classes now, including this one, and the experience really depends on who the professor is. If they're like Laura, i.e. enthusiastic, helpful and willing to answer questions, then it's an enjoyable experience. It can really set students up well for learning at their own pace.

I had another online class that wasn't nearly as helpful, the professor didn't really help at all, and so it was just a bad experience.

In Journalism History, Dr. Kerr sets it up with a What-to-do system. Every day we would have class, he would put the what-to-do for the day up so we could know what exactly we were supposed to be learning about or reading. That worked really well too.

It's just important to set a time to get the work done. 

Screenshot from my personal calendar.

Gen. Ed Review

This is honestly the most interesting Gen. Ed class I've taken at OU I'm pretty sure. I loved the format of the class. With 17 years of being told what to study, what to learn, and what to write about, it was great getting to choose what I wanted to read about, how I wanted to write about it, and the ability to do it on my own time.

I have taken all of my Gen. Ed classes now, like this was my last one, and there were very few I actually feel contributed any sort of worthwhile knowledge to me. I took a class on revenge tragedies, and let me say it was probably one of the least helpful classes in my life. If it wasn't for watching movies like Fight Club, it would've been the worst class ever.

Fight Club poster.

I lucked out because my high school offered a bunch of dual-credit classes, so I didn't have as many Gen. Ed class requirements as some people. But I'm glad I dropped the other class I was going to take instead of this one. Much better!

College Writing Review

Well we've reached the end of the semester. This has been probably the most writing-filled class I've ever taken. I'm not really sure how many words I've written throughout the semester, but it has to be upwards of 15,000.

This has been a great way to get some writing practice concerning how a story flows. As a journalism major, I do a lot of writing. It's often really different from the writing we all did in this class, but I did get to practice AP Style quite a bit. So that's been a plus.

The journalists' Bible

I've really learned a lot about how to get a story to make sense, and I think the writing skills I've improved in this class will help out a lot in the future.

Extra Reading Diary: Europa's Fairy Book

For the extra reading diary, I chose to do half of the Europa's Fairy Book. I have no idea what it's about, but the title of the unit makes it sound kinda cool.

This was actually super interesting. In the Czech Folktales unit, there was Nine at a Blow. In this unit, there is Dozen At a Blow. It's basically the same thing, with the giant's challenges, him leaving his house, etc. But it's different in that the man in this version is tasked by the king to capture a wild boar. The king promises his daughter's hand and half the kingdom to whoever can successfully trap  the boar. The tailor corrals it into an abandoned church and tells the king's men to come kill it because he didn't know if the king wanted it dead or alive. Then he tricks a unicorn into drilling its horn into a tree. THEN the king ask him to take care of two giants in the woods. He tricks them by having them kill each other. So the king gives him his daughter.

Eventually she finds out he's just a tailor. The king sends twelve soldiers to his bedroom so he can see if the man can truly kill a dozen at a blow. He hears them coming and pretends to sleep. While he is asleep, he lists off all the things he's done. The soldiers tell the princess she's basically S.O.L., and the princess decides she's proud of being married to the tailor. And they live happily ever after.

Source

Storytelling Week 14: Misery Loves Company

There once was a king who owned most of the gold in the world. King Midas amounts of gold. As kings do, he had a son. His son grew up with everything he could ever want: gold, jewels, women, you name it. One day, he grew bored of living his lavish lifestyle. He had heard of someone called Misery, so he set out to find it.

Along the way, he never ran out of money. He spent and spent, but his money never seemed to reach an end. So he didn't know what it was like to be truly miserable, and meet the dreaded Misery.

He did for months, and eventually his money was almost gone. He could barely buy food, and he thought about going back to his father.

"No, I can't go back yet," he thought. "I haven't met Misery, and that's the whole reason I went on this journey."

So he travelled on, until finally all he had was the clothes on his back. He walked the streets, and because he was the king's son, they often helped him out. They gave him food and shelter in hopes of gaining good graces with the king. With all the help he got, the king's son still had not met Misery.

One day, he decided to leave the boundaries of his father's lands. He walked through the desert for many days until he thought he couldn't go any further. His mouth was dry, he hadn't eaten, and his skin was burned from the beating sun. A figure showed up in the distance and was walking towards him. Surely this was someone coming to help him!

"You there! Can you help me?" the prince yelled out. But he got no reply, even though the figure was still moving towards him.

After what seemed like forever, the figure became clear. It wasn't quite human, but at the same time had very human-like features. It wore a tattered gray cloak, with worn boots and a hood that shielded its eyes from the burning sun. Its hands were twisted in gruesome positions. The prince knew immediately that it was Misery.

Not quite what Misery was wearing, but close enough.

Source: Getty Images

"You must be Misery," he said to the creature. "Is this what it takes to be miserable? Is this what people go through every day for you to be in their lives?"

Misery silently nodded, his eyes still hidden behind his hood.

After all his time in the palace living lavishly, the prince had a change of heart.

"Let me travel with you. You bring sadness and despair to people across the world. But I have the resources to bring joy and hope. Please, say I can do this," the prince pleaded.

Again, Misery nodded his head. It was settled. The prince would become Misery's companion, his antithesis, Hope.

The prince gathered all his strength, and began his journey to the palace. When he got there, he explained to his father what his plan was. He asked for his inheritance, and any other valuable possessions the king could spare. The king gave him enough gold and jewels to last him a few lifetimes over.

He hugged his father, and left with Misery. He was dressed in simple clothes, enough to blend in and not seem out of place with Misery.

They travelled throughout the world. Misery found the people in the darkest of times. He found those who were poor, hungry and without homes. Wherever Misery went, so too went the prince -- Hope. Hope gave these people money for whatever they needed. In their times of sadness, he brought them joy.

The moral of the story is this: wherever there is Misery, Hope can always be found close behind.

Author's Note: I chose to do the story The Man Who Met Misery from the Czech Folktales unit. In it, the prince meets Misery, then goes home back to his lavish lifestyle. He also loses a finger to a giant, which I won't explain too in depth! I wanted to reflect a change in attitude within the prince. I also thought I could give Misery a more human portrayal so the story would flow better.

Bibliography:

The Key of Gold: Czech Folk Tales by Josef Baudis (1922). 

Reading Diary B: Czech Folktales

I'm continuing with Czech Folktales for Reading Diary B.

The story I enjoyed most was Nine At a Blow. It's about a tailor who mends stockings when he has spare time. One day, flies are on his table and he swats them, killing nine at a blow (story title!). He notches that phrase into his belt, and decides to travel. He buys a finch from a boy on the road and puts it in his bag. Then a farmer's wife gives him some milk and cheese, so he puts the cheese in his bag too.

One day, a giant sees the tailor's belt and asks him if he's really killed nine at a blow. The tailor says yes, so the giant asks to see who's stronger. It starts with the giant saying he can throw a stone that won't come down for an hour. The tailor says he'll throw one that will never come down. The giant does his task, and the tailor takes the finch out and it flies off, so of course he does his too. After a couple more tasks, the tailor promises to teach the giant to fly.

When they were traveling, a king said he'd pay 1000 pounds to anyone who could kill a dragon that had been bothering him. They have a giant pair of tongs and a hammer made. They get to the dragon and it flings the tailor aside, and the giant kills it. The tailor says he meant to keep the dragon alive, and then tells the giant he'll teach him how to fly. So he counts to three and tells the giant to jump from the top of the church they're at. The giant kills himself, and the tailor keeps the money.

Neat golden dragon

DeviantArt user BenWootten

Reading Diary A: Czech Folktales

For the last week of this class before we do review stuff, I chose to do the Czech Folktales unit, mainly because I have Czech bloodlines in my family. My grandma actually used to make us Czech noodles from scratch, I wish I knew how to make them 'cause they were so good.

The main story I'm going to focus on is The Three Roses. Basically, a woman has three daughters. She is going to the market another town over. So she asks the girls if they want anything, and two of them demand a bunch of stuff. More than is probably reasonable. Then the third daughter says she only wants three roses. The mother obliges, and goes to buy all the stuff. She straps it on her back and starts to head home. Along the way, she gets exhausted and loses her way. Eventually she goes to a palace that has a beautiful rose garden. She forgot the roses! She takes three of them, and a basilisk shows up demanding her daughter in return for the stolen flowers. She gets scared and sends the third daughter to the castle.

Every day, she has to nurse the basilisk for three hours. He did this for three days, and on the third brings a sword and tells the girl to cut his head off. So she does it twice. He grows into a prince, and says because she delivered him from his serpent body, he must marry her. They have a big wedding, and lots of people show up to celebrate. The story ends abruptly the next paragraph with, "but the floor was of paper, so I fell through it, and here I am now." This was particularly odd because none of the other stories ended this way. That was pretty odd!

Basilisk, by J.J. Bertuch from the reading