Week 3 Famous Last Words

This week has been a difficult one filled with many emotions, so I wanted to write a blog post to reflect back on the week. 
I had an interview at The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy this past Saturday for admission into their Fall 2015 program. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. Pharmacy school is everything I have thought about for my whole college career. This interview was everything.
I was full of nerves as I went into this interview, but my sister helped me to relax beforehand. This interview was a difficult one to prepare for because it is not like typical interviews. It is a multiple mini interview. It included eight mini interviews in different rooms. You are given a situation or a question and have to discuss it with an interviewer for eight minutes. I thought that I did well. I knew that I had some shaky parts, but thought that overall it had gone good. I thought I would be okay.
I received an email a few days ago that said I was not chosen for OU's pharmacy program for this fall. It made me so sad and has messed up my plans. My backup plan is to work for a year. (I am a pharmacy technician at Walmart.) This will give me lots of experience and will also help me to get in state tuition. I am from Texas, so saving money by becoming in state sounds like a great idea! I was not very smart when applying to schools and only applied to OU. I am going to take two courses that I need to be able to apply to another program. I am hoping that working on things to improve my application and preparing better for the interview process will help me to achieve my goal of going to the College of Pharmacy at OU for Fall 2016.
I am struggling with doubts of my abilities and myself. This and other things in my life are looking way different than I thought they would this time last year. It really hurts that all of my plans are on hold for a year. I hope to make the best of this situation! I know that God has a plan for my life and this is all part of His plan! I am deciding to enjoy this year that I now have to work and save money for school. I am not going to give up on my dream!

Martin Luther King quote

Mothers in the Epics: Styles Brainstorm

Topic: 
My storybook is going to be about mothers in the epic stories. I got this idea when reading about Rama and Bharata's mothers. I want to include the story about Bharata's mother forcing the king into exiling Rama and making Bharata king. This story was in The Ramayana. Another story that sounds interesting is the story of Kunti abandoning her child, Karna. I'm also going to look into the goddess associated with mothers.

Bibliography:
Narayan, R.K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.
Kunti. Website: Wikipedia.

Kunti and her husband

Styles:
1. Deathbed Story: I saw this on the 50+ Storytelling Ideas page. I think this would be interesting for the story of Bharata's mother, Kaikeyi. Did she regret forcing the king to exile his son, Rama? Did she ever think that she made the wrong decision in forcing the king? This could be an interesting story! I feel like on your deathbed you look back on your life and want to give the people you love wisdom. Kaikeyi could be doing this and talking about her previous life choices and mistakes. I feel like a big one would be forcing the king to make Bharata king and exiling Rama. Another story that could possibly be told is Rama's mother. Kausalya could talk about how proud she is of her son, Rama.
2. Bedtime Story: This is a possibility. I have used this style in a storytelling assignment previously. It could be one of the children telling their children stories of their mother! Rama could tell his children all of the good things about his mother, Kausalya.
3. Family Therapy: I got this idea from the 50+ Storytelling Ideas page, also! I think that this storytelling style would be interesting for the story of Kunti abandoning her child. They could be in therapy discussing why she chose the choices that she did. Her child, Karna, would definitely be looking for answers as to why she would abandon him. He would probably have issues from being abandoned, also.
4. An Anthology: I saw this idea on our assignment page. It seems to make sense for the stories I am telling to use different styles. I can do a collection of different stories told in different styles. These styles can be ones that best fit the story being told. The stories I am thinking of using feel like they need to be told in different styles, not the same ones.
5. Narrator of Stories: The goddess that is associated with the mothers could be telling their stories. She could tell the readers if she thinks that the mother is good or bad. I think this would be an interesting viewpoint!

Week 3 Storytelling: Ravana and the Decapitated Head

Ravana was desperate. He was trying to find a way to make Sita his. He thought that if he got her away from Rama and she was with him, then she would fall madly in love with him. This plan failed. Sita stayed true to Rama all through the time with Ravana. Ravana brought her to his home and tried to flatter her with gifts and compliments, but this failed to work. Ravana was angry! He could not think of anything else to do to make Sita fall in love with him. He sent her out to the Ashoka Vana pleasure garden and guarded her with demons. Ravana could not stand to look at her beauty anymore. He was mesmerized by her beauty, but could not convince her to be his. He was not used to not being able to have anything and everything that he wanted.
Ravana came up with one last plan! He thought that maybe if Sita thought that Rama was dead, then she would want to be with him. "Maybe she is just a faithful wife," Ravana thought. "Maybe if Rama is dead, she will be mine." Ravana went to a sorcerer and got him to make a fake decapitated head of Rama. He took this head from the sorcerer and rushed to Sita in the garden.
Sita had been very depressed since she had been captured by Ravana. She missed Rama and longed to be with him. She believed that Rama would come to rescue her. As days passed, she was starting to lose hope. She cried constantly, even though she was in a beautiful garden. She did not like being guarded by demons. They scared her. She saw Ravana walk into the garden with a decapitated head. This scared her, but she wondered what he was up to.
He told her that Rama had been killed and showed her the decapitated head. At first, Sita was very sad. Then she thought that Ravana was trying to trick her. She knew that Rama would defeat Ravana in a battle. She believed in her husband. Ravana's trick did not work on her!
Ravana was angered that his final plan did not win over Sita. He realized that she would never be his, but he was not going to give her up! He left her in the garden guarded by the demons. He planned to keep her there forever. He no longer cared if he had Sita. He just did not want Rama to have her back.

Ravana and Sita

Author's Note: I chose this story because it seemed very brief in our reading. I thought that it would be interesting to add more detail and background to this story. I feel like the readers learning more about Ravana and Sita would be interesting for them. Sita and Rama have a great love and I wanted to show that Sita believed in Rama. She would not give up on him or lose hope in him. The good people always win and triumph over the bad people. Ravana thought it would be easy for Sita to be his, and he was wrong. He did not want to work to win her and that is what you must do for love. Sita knew that Ravana was deceiving and a liar. That is why she did not fall for him showing her the decapitated head of Rama. I feel that the image I chose fits well with this story. Sita is sitting in the grass next to a tree and Ravana is coming to her. I assume that he was going to her to try to deceive her and make her fall in love with him. She refuses to even look at him and will not fall for his tricks.

Bibliography: Narayan, R,K. (1972) The Ramayana.

Week 3 Reading Diary B: Ending the Ramayana

Hanuman finds Sita in the Ashoka Vana pleasure garden after first mistaking Ravana's wife for Sita. Sita was being guarded by demons. She was also very depressed and wanted to hang herself from a tree. Hanuman destroyed Ravana's capital.
Hanuman tells Ravana about Rama and suggests that he should surrender to Rama. Ravana refused to surrender. He thinks that nothing can harm him and he wants to keep Sita.
Rama needs the help of the sea god to get to Lanka. They must cross a lot of water. The sea god allows him to build a bridge. Many animals, including monkeys, help him build the bridge to Lanka.
Ravana tries to trick Sita and make her think that Rama is dead. He shows her a decapitated head that looks like it is Rama's.
A battle occurs between Ravana and Rama. Rama, of course, wins this battle and kills Ravana. Rama made there be a grand funeral for Ravana.
Rama wanted to test Sita for her to show her purity. She built a fire and jumped into it. She told Rama that she had not been touched by Ravana.

Sita's test of purity

The fourteen years of exile are finally over and Rama can return to his kingdom. Rama's coronation occurs and he can now be king.

Week 3 Reading Diary A: After Sita's Abduction

Rama and Lakshmana searched for Sita after they found that she was missing.
Sugreeva's Story (p. 92)
Vali helped to save the people by churning nectar from the ocean. The gods gave him amazing strength to reward him. Sugreeva is Vali's next in authority. Mayavi (a demon) challenged Vali and then realized that they shouldn't have challenged Vali. Mayavi ran away and Vali chased after him. Vali told Sugreeva to stay and watch over everything. Vali hadn't returned after a long period of time. This worried Sugreeva, but Sugreeva was talked into staying instead of looking for Vali. They blocked the entrance so no one could get in because they feared that Mayavi would come back for Sugreeva. Vali finally beat Mayavi and came back, but saw the entrance blocked. Vali was angered with Sugreeva so Sugreeva ran from him. Sugreeva ran to mountains that Vali couldn't go to.

Sugreeva eventually challenged Vali. Rama shoots an arrow at Vali during their battle. Vali dies and Sugreeva becomes king.

Battle of Sugreeva and Vali

Sita has still not been found yet.

Possible Project Topics

1. Possible Topic: The Goddess Ganga/Ganges. I saw Ganga in the list of goddesses and I remembered the story from our reading this week. I also used that story for my storytelling post. It would be interesting to learn more about Ganga and the river.
Research so far: I looked over the Wikipedia article and it talks about how sacred this river is to the Hindu people. I think it's really cool that they believe the river is so sacred and powerful. They celebrate the descent of the river in late May/early June every year which would be interesting to learn more about.

2. Possible Topic: The Goddess Sarawati. I really like the idea of doing my project over a goddess or goddesses. Sarawati is the goddess of knowledge, arts, learning, and music. She is also part of a trinity, so maybe my project could be over the trinity.
Research so far: I looked through the Wikipedia article about this goddess and found out that there is a festival (Vasant Panchami) that is in her honor. This is also where I found out that she is part of a trinity (Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati). She has many temples dedicated to her.

The goddess Saraswati

3. Possible Topic: Kausalya. I picked Kausalya because she is Rama's mother. Rama is the hero of the story we have been reading, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about his mother. Bharata's mother would be another interesting choice.

Research so far: The Wikipedia article about Kausalya doesn't have much information about her. It just says that she is the oldest wife of Dasaratha and talks about family relationships, but maybe more information could be found about her elsewhere. 

4. Possible Topic: Dharma. I looked at this topic because I didn't even know what it meant! I also looked at it because I have already looked at karma this semester, so I thought that dharma would be interesting, as well. I was just interested in seeing what it was. I learned that it is justice, but also truth. I feel like this could be a very interesting topic to do my project over. 

Research so far: In an article online, I saw that Hinduism's definition of dharma is the moral law of the world. It also involved spiritual discipline which I found very interesting. They believe that if the moral law is followed, then you can save yourself from suffering.

Week 2 Storytelling: Ganga Bedtime Story

Rama and Sita were putting their children to bed one night. The children ask them for a bedtime story and Rama and Sita gave in. The children squealed with delight.

"How about I tell you a story of our ancestors?" Rama asked. He started the story of his ancestors and Ganga.

Ganga flows through our land and everywhere she touches is holy. People can attain salvation from her. She wasn't always in our land, though. She had to be brought down from the sky.
Sakara, an ancestor of ours, ruled the earth a long time ago. He was very successful when he was ruling the earth, but he wanted to expand his kingdom. He planned to do this with a sacrifice that would make him supreme lord of the earth. It was called The Horse Sacrifice. A decorated horse was freed to roam the lands of many kingdoms. The kingdoms that let the horse roam through accepted the plans of Sakara. When people stop the horse this causes a war. When the horse finally returns back to the kingdom of Sakara, the sacrifice is done.
These plans make the gods very nervous, because they don't want a king to have that much power. They keep watch for plans like these and try to stop them. One of the gods, Indra, stole the horse and hid it underground. He guarded the horse with Sage Kapila. When the people found out about this, Sakara's sons started to dig underground for the horse. When the boys found the horse they were mean to Sage Kapila and took back the horse. Sage Kapila was angered with them and turned them to ash. Only one survived: a grandson. He apologized for their actions and returned to Sakara's kingdom to help complete the horse sacrifice.
The grandson's son, Bhagiratha, learned of his ancestor's fate many years later. It upset him that his ancestors did not get salvation, so he made it his goal to attain salvation for them. He prayed to Brahma who was the creator for thousands of years. Brahma advised him to ask for the help of Shiva to help Ganga descend to the earth. He prayed to Shiva for thousands of years and then Ganga for thousands of years. Finally, Shiva gave in and helped him to bring Ganga down to the earth. Bhagiratha attained salvation for his ancestors and also helped everyone on earth for the future.

Sita added, "I think a lesson you can all learn from this story is to never give up on what you believe in and what you want. If you work hard enough and believe, then you can achieve it."

The two parents kissed their children goodnight and left them to sleep peacefully.

Author's Note: For this story, I decided to make it a bedtime story based off of Ganga's Story from our reading this week. I got the idea from storytelling prompts that we were given. I decided that Rama and Sita should be the ones to tell the story since they are a huge part of our reading. I changed the story into my own words and took out a few little details. For example, the challenges Bhagiratha went through with Ganga and Shiva.

Bibliography:
"Ganga's Story" by Narayan, R.K. (1972) The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic.

Image of a river

Week 2 Reading Diary B: After Rama's Exile

Lakshmana and Sita wanted to go with Rama, and Rama couldn't convince them not to. The people were all very upset about Rama's exile. The people followed Rama, but he and the others got away from them. The king died when he heard the news of Rama and the others leaving.
Bharatha returned home to find the King dead and his brother exiled. He questioned his mother about why Rama was exiled. His mother explained what she did and he was angry with her. Bharatha went into the forest to try to convince Rama to come back and be king. Rama refused and said that his father wanted him to be in exile for 14 years. Rama learned of his father's death, but still refused. It was decided that Bharatha would rule for 14 years and then Rama would return and be king.

Chapter 4: Encounters in Exile
Rama meets a beautiful woman in the forest. He finds out that she is the sister of Ravana, but she says she is not a demon like her family. She tries to get rid of Sita because she is in love with Rama, but fails. Lakshmana stops her and tortures her by cutting off some of her body parts (ears, nose, breasts).

Chapter 5: The Grand Tormentor
Ravana is angry when he finds out that his sister is mutilated. Ravana falls madly in love with Sita from Soorpanaka's description of her. Soorpanaka hoped that Ravana would get Sita, so she could have Rama to herself. She figured Rama would have to fall in love with her without Sita around. Ravana comes up with a plan to get Sita. Ravana makes his uncle Maricha help him. Maricha comes to Sita disguised as a golden deer and Sita wants Rama to capture it. Rama chases the deer and when he finally shoots it, Maricha speaks in Rama's voice calling for help. Sita hears it and makes Lakshmana go find Rama which leaves her alone. Ravana goes to her as soon as Lakshmana leaves and he takes her away.

Rama and the golden deer

Week 2 Reading Diary A: Beginning the Ramayana

Prologue:
King Dasharatha has no children. He wants children so he will have a successor when he passes away. A sacrifice is performed and, from that sacrifice, a special rice is obtained. This rice is given to King Dasharatha's wives to make them become pregnant. Four sons are born: Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrughna.
Chapter 1: Rama's Initiation
Viswamithra once was a king, but is now a sage. He asked Dasharatha if he could take Rama with him to conquer the evil creatures that are at Sidhasrama (a sacred ground). The King said no at first, but gave in eventually. He let his other son, Lakshmana, go with Rama.
Viswamithra told Rama and Lakshmana a few stories and then he prepared to perform sacrifices. The demons tried to distract them during this time. Rama and his brother tried to fight off the demons and keep the sacrifice going. It worked and the sacrifice was completed.
Ganga's Story (p. 16)
Ganga is the river that flows through the land. She had to be tamed and controlled before she could be on the earth. King Sakara (one of their ancestors) wanted to expand his kingdom by performing the Horse Sacrifice. Indra (a god) stole the horse and hid it underground. Sakara's son's found the horse and Kapila burned them to death. Bhagiratha wanted salvation for his ancestors, so he prayed for many years. Shiva helped him bring down Ganga so his ancestors could obtain salvation.
Chapter 2: The Wedding
Rama and Sita fell in love at first sight. Rama passes the test he must undergo to win Sita's hand and they are married.
Chapter 3: Two Promises Revived
The king discovers that he is aging and decides he needs to pass his kingdom on to Rama. The coronation is planned for the next day. The King owed Kaikeyi 2 promises. She used these now to exile Rama for 14 years and make Bharata (her son) the king's successor. Rama went into exile without complaint.

Dasaratha upset over Rama's exile

Indian Epics Course Overview

One thing that really interests me about this class is the idea of telling stories from stories. This also makes me nervous though because I am not very creative, so I don't know how well I will do at retelling stories in my own way. I am very thankful for the reading guides provided for the epics. I have definitely never read these before and I was nervous about it. I feel like the reading guides will definitely help! I find it very intriguing that we are reading versions of the same epic by different authors. Seeing the different ways the authors write the stories will be interesting. The UnTextbook idea sounds fun! I like the idea of getting to choose what I wanted to read each week. 

I have never studied Indian history or culture before, so this class is all new to me! I have never listened to Indian music or watched any Indian films. I am excited to learn more about the Indian culture through this class. I love to learn more about different cultures!

Image Source: Sculpture of Lord Ganesha on the Lakshaman Temple

I chose this image because I remembered seeing it on Pinterest when I made my board for this class. It got my attention on Pinterest because one of my roommates loves elephants!

Storybook Favorites

Character Therapy: Healing in Stories
This was the first story that really got my attention. This is because I want to become a pharmacist and am interested in healing. That is why I chose this as one of my favorites. The title was very clear in letting readers know what the story was about. The introduction really drew me in and made me want to read the stories. I liked the way that it feels like you are really talking to someone. The writer makes it feel like you are there with them. The layout of the blog works really well because it looks like a yellow legal pad. In a therapy session, the therapist would be writing, so this background makes sense.

Karma's Courthouse
This story got my attention because of the word karma. That word has come up very often recently in my mind and in my life. That is why I chose to read this story. I really like this story because of the mystery the author uses. It really makes you want to continue reading the stories. I also really liked the color scheme used and the pictures. One picture is a grey fog over water and it is so pretty, but mysterious. It goes really well with the story and its mystery.

Tales of Strength and Struggles
This story seemed very interesting to me. I like that it has a goddess telling the stories of other women. It tells of struggles that those women went through and the strength that they found in themselves through those struggles. Once again, the introduction drew me in and made me want to keep reading. In the introduction, it speaks of two women being betrayed by their husbands. This caused them to be punished. I love the pictures used of the Mother Goddess. This story was really fun to read.

(Image of Durga during a festival honoring her. Source: Wikimedia

Introduction

My name is Hilary Adams! I am from Paris, Texas and am 21 years old. I have one brother and one sister. I am very close to my sister. I have two adorable nieces. One is seven years old and the other is three years old. I am really close to my family. I am from a small town and I went to a small high school. I graduated with 78 people. I went to Paris Junior College for a year before I transferred to OU. I moved to Norman and began school at The University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2012. I transferred here my sophomore year of college. My major is Planned Program with a focus on medical sciences. I am also pre-pharmacy. I chose to attend The University of Oklahoma because of the pharmacy school in Oklahoma City. I have an interview at the pharmacy school on the 24th of this month, so hopefully that goes well! I graduate in May with my bachelor's degree and am super excited about that! This semester I am taking my capstone and three electives. The electives include this class, a religious studies class, and a women and gender studies class. I am nervous about the religious studies class, because I have never taken one before. I love watching television shows. My favorite shows include The Vampire Diaries, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder. My absolute favorite is Grey's Anatomy. I am actually watching Grey's Anatomy while I am writing this post! I don't have any pets, but I will as soon as I move to a place that allows me to. I love animals! I work at Walmart. I have worked there for almost two years. I am a pharmacy technician. I love my job in the pharmacy. It is difficult at some times, but I enjoy the job so much. I am really looking forward to this year and this semester. My goal is to make this year better than last year!

(Photo of my nieces dressed as Anna and Elsa for Halloween. Photo taken by my sister-in-law)

Week 1 Storytelling: The Real Story of Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

(traditional nursery rhyme)

Jack and Jill were the best of friends. Jack was very outgoing and rowdy. Jill was very quiet and shy. They had lived next door to each other for their whole lives. They were still young, just ten years old, and are in the same class at school. All of their classmates made fun of them for being friends. The girls told Jill that Jack is gross and dumb because “he’s a boy.” The boys told Jack that Jill has cooties and that he shouldn't be seen with her. They still wanted to be friends though and ignored what their friends were telling them. They didn't see any reason to stop being friends since they had been friends for so long.

One day after school, Jack’s mother asked him to go up the hill and get her a pail of water from the well. Jack ran next door to Jill’s house and asked her to come along with him. Jack asked Jill to go with him because he didn't want to go alone and wanted to spend time with Jill. They talked as they walked up the hill. They couldn't understand why their friends didn't want them to speak to each other. It made them both of them very sad.

When they reached the top of the hill, Jack filled the pail with water. He told Jill that he will always be her friend no matter what any of their friends said. He didn't care what anyone else thought. This made Jill smile, but then Jack tried to kiss her. “Gross!” she screamed as she shoved Jack down the hill. Jill was embarrassed that Jack had tried to kiss her and she didn't understand why he did since they were best friends. She ran back home and never spoke to Jack again.

Jack and Jill falling down the hill illustrated by William Wallace Denslow. Source: Wikipedia

Author's Note: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill." It is quoted at the beginning of this post. This nursery rhyme can be found in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). This was one of my favorite nursery rhymes when I was younger, so I chose to retell this story for my storytelling post. I wanted to create a background story for Jack and Jill to make the story more interesting. I always pictured Jack and Jill as children when I heard this story. I wanted them to be friends and not siblings, because that fit the story line I wanted to tell. I remember in elementary school when kids were made fun of for hanging out with a kid that was not the same gender. That seemed like a good plot to add into the retelling of this story.I wanted to add the funny twist of Jill pushing Jack down the hill. I chose this ending because I knew that in the original they both fell down the hill and I wanted the ending to be more humorous. I feel like Jack trying to kiss Jill and her shoving him was an appropriate reaction.

My Favorite Place

My favorite place is my hometown: Paris, Texas. This is my favorite place because it is where I grew up and where my family is. I love this town. I have lived there from the age of six to the age of nineteen. It is small, but it is home to me. We even have our own Eiffel Tower!

(Image information: personal photo of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas; photo from November 2013)

First Blog Post

This is my first blog post ever!