For this week's storylab, I watched two Ted Talk videos about creative life. First, I watched A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Scott Barry Kaufman . He covered twice-exceptional children, which are students have exemplary strengths while dealing with considerable challenges. He particularly focuses on students diagnosed with learning disorders and what they're actually capable of versus their perceived capabilities. He says we need to leave more room for children to surprise us. He also points out the problems with putting academic success first, especially as a prerequisite to determine whether or not a student is allowed to pursue other interests. His definition of intelligence is the dynamic interplay of engagement and ability in pursuit of personal goals. He wants to change how we value potential versus achievement, especially when it comes to IQ and SAT scores. He tells his personal story about how he was rejected from gifted programs and schools based on these ...
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Today I decided to take notes on The Woman on her Death-Bed from The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre by Walter M. Kelly . The story starts with a saddler named Brimbaudier who was married with children. One day, he found out his wife was sick. By the time he made it home, she was too far gone for even a doctor. She asked for a cross, which was brought to her. He calls out to a young servant in the room and said that seeing his wife suffer like this was worse than being dead. He asked her to take care of the children and the house. The servant begged him to not be so sad, because she didn't want to lose him along with his wife. He asked her to come closer and he put his hands on her chest. He threw her onto the bed. Then, his wife who hadn't spoken in 2 days cried out and said that she wasn't dead yet. She began to recover after that point, and the husband had to listen to her chastise him about what he had done often. ( Hinchliff's engraving of Mar...
For this section, I chose the beginning of The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher, found in The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan . The story begins with a priest who had no church, but instead would spend his time in singing masses for the dead. He stayed with a dame and was so helpful that she bought his food and clothes for him. Because of this, he always had a decent amount of money. One day, a man asked him for a loan for three days. The man thanked him and brought the priest his money back in a timely manner. The man then wanted to be generous back to the priest since he was generous to him. He said he would teach the priest how he works in philosophy. He begins to show the priest how he will turn quicksilver into malleable pure silver, and demands everyone else be sent away so as to not learn the secrets. ( Illustration of the Canterbury Tales Pilgrims )
I'm taking notes on the beginning of The Unknown Bride in the Canterbury Tales, found in the Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan . It begins by describing a land of fairies and fairy rings long ago where the story takes place. A knight in King Arthur's court had disrespected a woman, and according to the law, should be put to death. However, the court ladies all liked him and begged that he may live. King Arthur finally said the matter would be left to the Queen. The Queen said he could live, but on one condition. In a year, he must tell her what women wish for most. The knight travelled and asked many women what they wished for most, but no two answers were the same. He had run out of time, so he decided to ask a group of women he saw at a distance. By the time he got there, only one elderly woman remained. She agreed to tell him the answer if he would do the first thing she asked of him, and he agreed. ( King Arthur )
I didn't get a chance to finish last week's reading, so I figured I'd do it now. This time I want to focus on The Arrival of the Dragon from Beowulf, written by Strafford Riggs . This part of the story comes after a gap in Beowulf's timeline, where we don't know much of what happens to him. He lives safely in Geatsland and his uncle, Hygelac, welcomed him in the court. However, Hygelac soon died in battle and his son became king. His son did not live long, and then Beowulf became king. Geatsland was prosperous in this time, and Beowulf aged well. He was famous among his people and feared by his rivals. One night, a dirty visitor entered the dining hall. They almost threw him out on appearance alone, but one man thought he should stay. He took the visitor to Beowulf. The visitor explained that he was an escaped slave who came across a dragon, and the dragon was surrounded by gold and jewels. When Beowulf angrily questioned him, the slave showed a golden je...
This week I decided to read about feedback by reading How to Mentor a Perfectionist by W. Brad Johnson and David G. Smith . As a recovering perfectionist who both is mentored and mentors, the headline of this really pulled me in. The article covered really good points about how to manage your own perfectionism and how to identify their harmful perfectionistic traits without closing off the relationship. I think particularly the points about sharing your own missteps and using humor thoughtfully were really helpful. I'm definitely going to think more on how to encourage my mentees to embrace imperfection, and how I can help support them in that. I also need to look at my own life and see where I can embrace that same principle as well. (Image source: The Dangers of Perfectionism )
At the beginning of the semester, I thought I'd easily work ahead in this class and that I could use my free time on Mondays to knock out my work for the week. Boy was I wrong. I've tended to work day-to-day on the assignments, as this semester has been busier than I anticipated. In addition, most of my work meetings are on Mondays, allowing little focus for school. And on Fridays, I tend to be too tired to want to do the rest of my work. So, for this upcoming week, I'm wanting to use my free time on Tuesday to work ahead on the weekly assignments, and my free time on Thursday to work on the weekend assignments. That way, my weekend is free for rest and my Monday is free for my job. If I have extra time, this will also allow me to work ahead this weekend on next week's assignments. ( Hello Weekend by Glynnis Owen )
For this week's Story Lab, I read chapter two from EmpoWord. Here are some loose notes I took over it: Rather than telling a story purely linearly, including each detail, you should limit your scope to make sure you keep your reader engaged Make sure the details all reflect the bigger picture and that you keep in mind what you're representing You can start your story in medias , or in the middle of the action, rather than spending time on exposition I don't have any notes on the POV portion except that I'm very excited to see Dear White People used as an example The one note I do have is that stream-of-consciousness is listed as a POV, which I think is interesting and it'd be fun to write a story from that perspective. Covered some good points about dialogue and how mediums change the limits of the story you can tell ( A Netflix poster for Dear White People )
I am going to take notes on the beginning of Beowulf, the section titled King Hygelac of Geatsland, by Strafford Riggs . In Europe, Hygelac was the ruler of a country called Geatsland. The people who lived there were brave and warlike. The land was also surrounded by monsters. For the most part, people stayed away from the caves with monsters, preferring to keep to themselves unless they had to avenge a death. The king and queen had a great number of lords who had all proven themselves in battle. Despite their ferocity, they treated each other as brothers. Occasionally the queen would ask one of them to tell a war story, and the younger men would listen. Among these young warriors was Beowulf. I enjoyed this passage because it did a great job of worldbuilding in such a short amount of space, and also provided a good introduction to the main character. ( Illustration of the lords at war by Henry Pitz )