Indian Epics Spring 21

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay   Man, oh, man am I not good at time management (most of the time). I honestly just go through phases where I'm really productive and on top of things, and phases where my anxiety keeps me from starting tasks until the last minute, and phases where I'm in between. Obviously I prefer the first one.  As I am about to graduate and move out into the world, where at least I assume the consequences will be bigger for procrastinating and letting my anxiety get the best of me, I realize I need to work on my time management. That's partly why I am not working at the student paper for the first time in three years, because I really needed to take this semester to work on myself and my mental health, and I just wasn't getting the time and space I needed to do that before. This semester, all but one of my classes are asynchronous online. I think this will be a challenge, but a good one. It will teach me to be a self-starter and to do things e

Photo by Tim Sullivan from StockSnap Looking back at the technology and how I utilized it for Mythology/Folklore, I think the one tool I got the most out of is the fact that everything was on a blog or my Google Site. I didn't have to deal with writing in Google Docs or Word and downloading then turning into Canvas. Everything is just so easy, and honestly using a blog is a really good skill for anyone down the line.  So many students might one day start their own small business in which they need to have a website for, or maybe their place of work will need someone to help with the website or blog occasionally. I definitely feel it's been helpful for me. Looking at some more of the tools, I actually already used bookmark folders before taking this course and I still do. They're just the best, I usually have to make one for every class, and the projects I'm working on. And of course turning on Spell Check in my browser and adding a word count tool have both come in han

Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay When I took Mythology/Folklore in Spring 2020, it was honestly kind of wishy-washy when I would do the assignments in this class and which ones I would do. And after COVID-19 hit us in March, I think everything I did for this class was for my storybook. That semester was just...a lot. And the flexibility in this class really saved me from being overwhelmed. This semester, while my last, is hopefully going to be much less chaotic. That said, I hope to be more consistent with the assignments in this class, not overworking myself but still keeping to a routine and learning as much as I can. I'm of course most excited about the reading and writing. I have always had an interest in Indian mythology because of a favorite book series from when I was younger, so I'm really excited to learn more!

Carol Dweck and her Growth Mindset theory are something I learned about in the Mythology and Folklore class last spring. Ever since hearing about it, and finding out about "ungrading" and all of that, I have really wished these were things more teachers implemented. The truth is, school always came so easy to me. I was told I was "smart" and "gifted". And maybe those things are true. But I know that often times I lacked a real challenge, and I didn't know that was a bad thing. In fact, when things were hard for me I thought something was wrong. Thankfully, that didn't make me end up doing badly in school, but I know that happens often. This whole thing makes me think about my brother, who always struggled in school and I know that he probably felt bad about himself with everyone in my family constantly talking about how smart I was and how well I was doing in school. Sometimes I wonder if these strategies had been used with him and kids like him, i

Hello! My name is Jana Hayes, I am a journalism senior here at the University of Oklahoma. Some basic facts about me: I'm 22, I'm married to my best friend, I'm an Okie from Muskogee, I'm very family-oriented, and I love reading and writing. Hence why I'm taking this class! This is my last semester at OU, and also the first semester since Spring 2018 that I haven't been a reporter or editor at the OU Daily. That's still mind-boggling to me. With everything that happened in 2020, my anxiety really skyrocketed and my work at The Daily sometimes felt so overwhelming... so I decided to "chill" in my last semester. I'm currently trying to land a part-time job, though, because money. After graduation, I'm not 100% sure what I want to do. For years I've wanted to do investigative reporting, but I'm reevaluating whether that's the best thing for my mental health. I know I still want to do something in the journalism world, so we'll

The Creation of Kali I was interested in this storybook because I actually am already somewhat familiar with Kali, also known as Durga or Parvati. I love the idea of telling three different origin stories, and integrating her three different identities so seamlessly. The writing here was nicely detailed, and I also loved the images the author included. My favorite story in this storybook was the "Birth of the Victor." Kali in the Modern World Okay, I always, always love modern retellings! I thought the story about Durga as a nurse during WWI was really good. I liked that she brought the demon into it as well and ended with her about to go slay him. We know she will, so including the actual slaying wasn't necessary. And then of course the story of Kali killing of the "Covid demon" was great and so creative. My only complaint about this storybook is that there wasn't a third part! Stories of the Women of Indian Epics While I haven't actually read the Ramay

     So, I've done a lot of traveling in my life so far, and it's really hard for me to pick my favorite place EVER. Last spring, when I took Mythology and Folklore, I just chose two recent trips I'd taken: Los Angeles and New Orleans. Before COVID hit in March, I had a lot of travel planned for the next year. I was supposed to go to Costa Rica for spring break, I had accepted a summer investigative journalism fellowship at Arizona State University in Phoenix, AZ (that would have involved living in Phoenix for the summer as well as traveling across the country to meet with sources), and just a few weeks ago I was supposed to be on the island of Kauai, Hawaii for a belated honeymoon. That has now been postponed to January 2022, fingers crossed it happens!     All that to say, for this post I decided to talk about a little trip to Lake Eufaula that I took with my husband just after our wedding in September. I've been to Lake Eufaula tons of times, having grown up in Musko

 Hello , my name is Jana . This is a test post. ☺