Week 3 Story: Achille's Sacrifice

Patroclus fighting Hector the Trojan prince

This legend begins at the ancient Greek city of Troy where the forces of Greece all gathered to help their king's brother Menelaus get his bride Helen back from the Trojans as the Trojan Prince, Paris, had stolen her from Sparta. Achilles and his dear friend Patroclus were in Achille's tent as Patroclus was trying to get Achilles to rejoin the Greek forces. Achilles was completely against the notion as he had been shamed by the king of the Greeks, Agamemnon by having his plunder taken from him for speaking out against him earlier in the siege. Patroclus knew the end was near for the Greeks as the god Zeus himself was on the side of the Trojans due to a deal Achilles made through his mother, Thetis, out of anger after Agamemnon's actions. The Greek ships were being burned by the Trojans as they spoke and Patroclus begged Achilles to at least let him use his armor to go into the battle and potentially turn the tide of the battle. Achilles reluctantly agreed and offered him a prayer to the gods as he left to keep him safe in the coming fight. Patroclus led the Greek forces from Achille's homeland in his signature armor and chariot to the Greek ships like a bolt of lightning from Zeus himself. Patroclus took down ten men before taking down the Trojan general Sarpedon. This caused the Trojans to retreat from the ships and give the Greeks a chance to save them all while being viewed by the mighty Trojan prince Hector. Hector saw Patroclus and his men charging his way, but stayed calm as he knew he was the superior fighter as well as having the god Zeus on his side. Hector and Patroclus met and exchanged blows as they whizzed by one another, with Patroclus taking a significant hit causing him to have to take a large turn to evade Hector momentarily. Achilles back in his tent felt a strange dread as if he knew his best friend was in danger, so he sprung on his feet and with only his famed Pelian spear. Achilles moving as swift as an arrow towards the battle could now see Hector and Patroclus clashing about 500 yards away. Achilles could tell Patroclus was weakening and lowered his head and began to take an adrenaline-fueled sprint towards the battle. Achilles took a massive leap and took a plunge at Hector as he stood over a near-defenseless Patroclus. Hector noticed Achilles attempt to save his countryman and flung his spear wildly to try and land a blow, but only grazed Achilles' heel before Achilles' speared plunged through his heart. Patroclus let out a cry as he saw Achille and Hector crumple to the ground as he knew from a feelin deep in the pit of his stomach that Achilles was gone. A golden aura rose from Achille's body as he was carried to Mount Olympus to be honored by the gods by his mother Thetis, and prophesied that Patroclus would be victorious in the siege of Troy thanks to Achilles' sacrifice.

Author's Notes:
First established a bit of background information that was the original myth to let reader's know the story's setting. Then changed the ending of Homer's Illiad by not having Patroclus die to HEctor, but instead have Achilles sacrifice himself to save him. This also differntiates from the original material as PAris does not kill Achilles by firing a bow at his heel, but instead by Hector.
Bibliography:
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-iliad-retold.html
(From the UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Homer's Illiad, Part B

Homer's Illiad retold by A.J. Church (from the UN-Textbook)
(http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-iliad-retold.html)

The second portion of the Homer's Illiad reading begins right where the previous had left off, over the dead body of Patroclus. After an intense battle between the Trojans and the Greeks over the body, Hector took off his arms, but his body was rescued by a fired-up Ajax. Hector put on Patroclus' armor that he had gotten in the fight, which was formally Achilles' armor. He charges at Ajax and the others due to their jeers in his new armor, but this upsets the god Zeus. The battle rages on over Patroclus' body and Menelaus had Antilochus go and inform Achilles of Patroclus' death in an attempt to convince him to come and fight the Trojans. Upon hearing the news Achilles was heart-broken and cried out so much so that his mother Thetis came to ask what was bothering him. Upon hearing his request to fight and die as it is prophesied that he will shortly after Hector's death, Thetis went to get new arms for Achilles from the god Hephaestus. Zeus then sent Iris to tell Achilles to go immediately to the fight as his presence alone would cause the Trojans to retreat. Athene equipped Achilles with a large shield on his back and a fiery halo. Achilles shouted three times shocking both sides and causing a frenzy of panic. The Greeks were able to get Patroclus' body back to Achilles tent so that he could mourn. Hector insisted on fighting rather than staying within Troy's walls and Achilles was making way to the city gates. Achilles would have gotten in if not for Apollo intervening and switching place with a Trojan general and transporting safely back in the walls while sending Achilles after a phantom clone. All the Trojans rushed into the gates except for Hector, while Achilles argued with the Apollo phantom. Old Priam, Hector's father, begged Hector to come back into the city walls as he was so important to the city. Hector stopped and thought about the idea of staying outside of the wall and what the outcome would be until he sees Achilles charging at him. Hector instantly runs away to the city gates with Achilles gaining on him, which caused the gods to meet and discuss what Hector's fate would be. As Apollo helped Hector evade Achilles running around the city gates several times, Athene finally appeared to Achilles and assured him a victory over Hector. Athene then took the shape of Hector's brother and came to him to make him feel as though he could face Achilles. They exchanged spears and when Hector asked for another the clone vanished, so they charged to fight one another. Achilles being the far superior warrior landed a fatal blow on Hector and fastened his body to his chariot to drag to the ships. Old Priam struck with grief contacts the gods and sneaks into Achilles' camp after sending a massive ransom for Hector's body. As Old Priam slept that night in Achilles' tent, Hermes came to him and urged him to flee the camp thus ending the Illiad.

Achilles fighting Hector outside the gates of Troy

Reading Notes: Homer's Illiad, Part A

Homer's Illiad retold by A.J. Church (from the UN-Textbook)
(http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-iliad-retold.html)

This story begins in ancient Greece, where a Spartan King's daughter Helen was being married to a Greek prince of her choosing. With every prince in Greece offering their hand in marriage, Helen chose Menelaus of Mycenae who was "the chief of all of the Kings of Greece." Everything was great until Prince Paris of Troy came to Sparta and fled with Helen and an assortment of treasure. Menelaus called his Greek allies to help him take the city of Troy and get his wife back, but after nine years of siege they all but gave up leaving a small unit to stay at Troy and sending the rest to other cities. When the Greek army took the nearby city of Chryse, Menelaus' brother Agamemnon was given a priest's daughter by the name of Chryseis. The priest begged and offered money for the daughter, but Agamemnon refused. The priest prayed to the town's god Apollo and Apollo, upset with how his priest was being treated, came and fired arrows at the Greek army for days. After ten days, Achilles called a meeting to figure out why Apollo was angry and after finding out and arguing with Agamemnon he leaves the army after almost attacking Agamemnon. Achilles later that nights has his girl taken by Agamemnon as payment for Chrseis being returned to the priest. In his grief, Achilles asks Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans take down the Greeks. Thetis convinced Zeus to help the Trojans thus upsetting Hera upon Zeus' return home to Olympus. Zeus finally decided to send a false dream to Agamemnon telling him he would take the city of Troy. Meanwhile in the city of Troy, Hector has Queen Hecuba make an offering to Athene. Later on, the Greek chiefs meet with Achilles following a feast and try to bribe him to come back to the Greek army as they are beginning to take heavy losses. Achilles refuses them, telling them he is leaving so that he may live to grow old rather than fight and die for Agamemnon who he despises. During the fight, Patroclus approaches Achilles wanting to use his armor and take Achille's troops to try to turn the tide of the ongoing fight. Achilles prayed to Zeus for PAtroclus to gain strength and he did so regaining the Greek ships and killing Sarpedon the Lycian. Finally, Patroclus drives the Trojan forces up to their gate but after taking out some Trojan warriors, Apollo strips Patroclus of his armor and blinds hims. In his vulnerable state on the battlefield, Patroclus was killed by Hector's spear.

Hector of Troy

Notes:
Menelaus (Umlaut on the U)
Chryse (Accent on the E)
Chryseis (Umlaut on the I)
Athene (Accent on last E)

Feedback Thoughts

(Fixed Mindset link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-26/fixed-vs-growth-mindset-at-work-and-in-life/9897782)
(Rejection link: https://ideas.ted.com/why-rejection-hurts-so-much-and-what-to-do-about-it/)

Growth Mindset tips vs Fixed Mindset

The first article I read offered good advice on avoiding the fixed mindset as it can stall or even stunt one's intellectual growth. So often today I see that people see challenges as intense hurdles rather than an opportunity to reach out of their comfort zone. The second article I read covered why rejection causes so much pain for people and had multiple ways to deal with it when it happens. I really liked the point of keeping or "reviving" your own self-worth as it is a great way to bounce back from a rejection. The most productive feedback I have ever received was when I was a junior in high school and unsure of what I should do after graduation, my Physics teacher at the time told me after class that ".. I had a really good sense and should stick with it," in regards to Physics and later my major Mechanical Engineering. As for the most negative I can't think of any specific time outside of being told I didn't have a future in Spanish in my Spanish 3 class in high school. Lastly, a good anecdote of a time I received good feedback was after my freshman year at my internship, when after completing a motor test fast to try and get it to my boss before lunch, an older intern read through it and helped me find an error and told me that "it's better to take your time and meticulously get it right than rush out something to make someone happy." While this sounds harsh it is paramount in the engineering world as the safety of many rely on what we work on.

Topic Brainstorm

The first topic that I am interested in is the legend of Robin Hood as I always loved the Disney movie growing up, even dressing as Robin Hood for Halloween as a third grader, and always was interested in the story. I do not have much knowledge of the formal legend, but am familiar with a good amount of the plot and most characters. I would like to learn more about the original Robin Hood myth as it's a story that I have only heard a retelling of so many times. As for stories for stories I would like to tell is potentially a retelling of the original Robin Hood story using the characters from Disney's adaptation. I have heard anecdotally that the Disney adaption was not necessarily accurate so I think that would be a unique way to retell this story. '
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-ballads-of-robin-hood.html)

The second topic that I am interested in for this project is Dante's Inferno as I had heard about it towards the end of my time at private elementary school before switching over to public schools where we did not have an assigned Religion class. The only knowledge I have of this tale was that there were multiple levels to hell, where each level was represented by a deadly sin. I would like to learn more about what all of the levels specifically entail and what the protagonist experiences at each level as I know all of the "deadly sins," from my days in Religion class. I think an interesting way to retell this story would be to set it in a different era. Despite seeing in the UN-Textbook that there was previously done I first thought when I saw the topic to set it rather sometime in the 20th century, but I am undecided as there are many routes to go from there.
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-dante.html)

The third topic I find interesting is Blackbeard as it is again a character that I have heard about, yet never known what all they were actually famous or in his case infamous for doing. I only know of the character of Blackbeard as a mythical pirate from the days of pirates in Gulf of Mexico. I would like to learn about what all of Blackbeard's supposed exploits were when he terrorized the seas. Despite his terrifying status I think it would be a unique way to retell his story with Blackbeard being a current era captain of a ship either commercially or a fisherman for example. His exploits could then be adjusted to fit the theme for a fun take on his bloodthirsty legend.
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-blackbeard-pirate.html)

The last topic that I think would research for this project potentially is an urban legend/Native American legend from my hometown of Alton, IL. The story of the Piasa Bird was prominent growing up as every time we would drive into town we would pass by the cliff drawing by the Mississippi River. I know that the general premise of the story is that the Bird was attacking villages until it was slain by the Ouatoga tribe. As for stories I could tell, I would have a hard time adapting the legend to a different era/setting, but I think a good idea would be to make the legend more in-depth by adding characters and more of a plot line on top of the current legend.
(Link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Piasa-bird)

The Native American Drawing of the Piasa Bird

Week 2 Story: Pygmalion's Last Statue

On the island of Cyprus in an ancient Greek city there was a young sculptor by the name of Pygmalion. He was extremely talented, but spent most of his time working on his projects that he found himself often lonely. Pygmalion had been working on a full-scale ivory statue of a gorgeous woman for some time and began to slowly fall in love. From clothing to caressing the statue, Pygmalion began to go above and beyond for this inanimate shape that he became immersed in. Some nights, Pygmalion couldn't even sleep as his mind was so fixed on his ivory statue. This infatuation soon became an obsession, where Pygmalion needed time with the statue nearly all of his waking hours. People of the city began to view Pygmalion as an outsider and some even went as far as to call him a "madman." As the seasons changed, so came Venus' festival where Pygmalion eagerly attended as he had concocted a plan on how to get his ivory statue to love him. He gave an offering to the ceremonial fire and noticed a large puff of smoke instantly rise from the flames. Pygmalion rushed home to see if he could finally be with his statue girl, but Venus had other plans as she had been watching Pygmalion's obsession with some statue. Pygmalion entered his home only to feel a cold sensation go through his body as his skin and bones began to turn to ivory. Pygmalion's whole body hardened almost instantly leaving him a near identical ivory statue nearly a yard away from his beloved statue. Venus hoped this new statue would serve the people of Pygmalion's city a lesson that one should never succumb to their obsessions especially when they are as unorthodox and end up as desperate as Pygmalion. 

Pygmalion and his Ivory Girl both as statues

Author's Note: For this retelling of the Pygmalion legend, I altered the story by making Pygmalion become slightly more obsessed with his ivory statue as well as having Venus punish Pygmalion and make him a statue rather than making the statue human.

Bibliography: "Metamorphosis: Pygmalion" from Roman lore by Ovid (Kline, 2000)

Week 2 Reading Anthology: Reading Notes (Metamorphisis)

Pygmalion and the Statue by the Roman Poet Ovid (https://sites.google.com/view/mythfolkloreanthology/metamorphosis)

This legend takes place in the city of Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, which is also where the goddess Venus is rumored to be at following her birth at sea. In this legend Pygmalion is a talented, but lonely sculptor who has no wife for he feels women in his town are "wicked." Pygmalion begins to treat one of his ivory statues as if it his wife, and going as far as creating clothing and a bed for this statue due to how infatuated he became with his creation. Pygmalion even became affectionate with his statue due to how in love he became with it as he even began to kiss and caress the statue due to whatever connection it was that he felt with this ivory statue. When the festival of Venus arrives on the island, Pygmalion went to the ceremonial fire and after giving an offering wished for a woman "like his ivory girl," despite knowing the statue was what he truly desired. Because Venus favored Pygmalion, the fired flared up thrice and with that Venus granted Pygmalion his wish. When Pygmalion went home he gave his statue a kiss and noticed that the statue felt alive, he began to check her vitals and confirmed his theory that his statue had come to life as a real woman. Pygmalion could not believe it as his prayer had been answered, for he now had his perfect girl that he had made of ivory, Pygmalion gave thanks to the goddess Venus and she attended the eventual wedding of Pygmalion and his girl of ivory. Lastly, the two had a son following this, who was named Paphos "from whom the island takes its name."

Pygmalion and his eventual wife Galatea (The Ivory Statue)

Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Adam & Eve

Week 4: Homer's Illiad

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Ancient Egypt

Week 6: Life of the Buddha

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: The Monkey King

Week 9: Ozaki

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Apache

Week 11: Inuit (Eskimo)

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Robin Hood

Week 13: King Arthur

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Ashliman (Rumpelstiltskin)

Week 15: Librivox

Disney's Robin Hood (my Week 12 Reading)

The unit that I am looking forward to the most in this course is the Middle Eastern and Indian Units as both of the topics I selected are major historical stories that I would love to research. As for topics not covered in the book, it would be nice to have a section on Aztec and Mayan mythology as it is the only mythology not listed that I know. The story I would like to look into the most is the story of Robin Hood as I am extremely familiar with the subject matter having watched the Disney interpretation near a hundred times as a kid and read the Howard Pyle Robin Hood for a report in middle school. 

Time Strategies

Checklists: An important Time-Management strategy

I took a good amount of time preparing for this semester by meticulously planning my schedule to work with all of my courses in mind as this was especially important as it is my final semester. Since this means I am currently doing my Capstone Project I accounted for this by not having any classes scheduled Friday nor do I have classes on Thursdays unless an emergency meeting is needed. Nevertheless this leaves an extended weekend for me to complete my assignments in my other courses as reflected in my previously-submitted schedule that puts all of the hours towards the weekend. As for specific strategies I related with the article on checklists as I began keeping many different checklists from notes on my desk at home to the notes app on my phone I constantly keep them as they provide me with simple, quick instruction on my next task with recurring "accomplishment." I have long since overcome my time-management struggles and I like to think this semester will be no different.

Technology

Required Add-Ons for this course

While I am familiar with many different Google Extension and Add-Ons I have not personally used any of the ones listed in the assignment, but I do already have most of the preferences already in place such as spell check and word count. The online environment definitely requires a decent knowledge of online tools as many thing are needed for a class that can't meet in-person than Microsoft Word documents. The web skill I want to work on the most is getting the best out of using my browser via all of the tweaks and the add-ons this class has already lead me to as they help with typing my initial engineering lab report already. The only extension I could recommend is getting the word count by Spian Labs as it is the one and only word counter I have downloaded.

Assignments

Wikipedia Trails

The assignment that I am most intrigued by for this course would be the storytelling for multiple reasons. The idea of retelling a story as an open-ended concept is enticing as it allows for a range of approaches and the imagination to run wild. After reading several if these retold stories for a previous post I look forward to creating my own story recreation. The one aspect that makes this class unlike the many engineering courses I have taken is how much of the content is up to my own interpretation as it can be done however I please as long as it completes the assignments requirements. As for extra credit assignments that jump out to me, the Wikipedia Trails assignment seems interesting as I already enjoy surfing around on the internet when looking things up.

Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck's idea of a growth mindset is an important one in today's scholastic landscape. When I was in middle school, I had little to nothing to do as the curriculum was in no way challenging as the school was the old high school and it was a big time of transition for our school district with fewer teachers and a hour after lunch for "studying." Because of this, I went into high school with no preparation as my time-management skills were lacking tremendously leading to a much harder than necessary first semester. The whole time I was going through this I was wondering how different things would have been had I been pushed harder in my three years of middle school. The idea of the "Not Yet," that Dweck proposed for grading would be a perfect balance to pushing students to maximize their learning. The "Not Yet," grade would not crush students but encourage them to work harder through the more difficult curriculum.

My old middle school - Alton Middle School 

Introduction (BrandonBurklund)

Hi everyone, my name is Brandon Burklund and I am beginning my last semester as a senior here at the University of Oklahoma. My major is Mechanical Engineering, which I plan to utilize in the field either through design or more of a lab setting. I am originally from Godfrey, Illinois, which is a small suburb north of Saint Louis.

Downtown of my hometown (Godfrey/Alton, IL)

I first gained interest in the University of Oklahoma when I was a junior in high school, as I was roughly nine hours from the campus, when my older cousin initially came here as a Mechanical Engineer on scholarship. Despite having multiple, more northern schools on my radar such as the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin, I came down to Norman sometime in April my senior year to finally visit the campus. You would think the nine hour car ride through a less than scenic Missouri and Oklahoma alone would turn me off to the idea of coming here on top of going somewhere where I did not know anyone outside of a single family member, but it took all of about five minutes into my tour when walking on the South Oval that I knew I had found my home for the next four years. Coming onto campus that fall of my freshman year was daunting to say the least as I was on my own for the first time and quickly realized all of the things you take for granted when in your own home/hometown. Fast forward now to my senior year and it feels like its been the fastest seven semesters of my life, but each so full of countless memories that I wouldn't change for the world. Being in a complete different part of the United States has helped me grow into the person I am today and I wouldn't change it for the world. I even plan on moving to Texas as opposed to my recurring childhood desire to one day move up to Chicago. As I sit and think about how I have reached the beginning of the end of my time on campus I realize how lucky I was to go to such a great university and look forward to spending my last semester in this class as well as meeting the rest of you soon.

Storybook Favorites

https://sites.google.com/site/constantlychangeling/winter-1

The first story that I would say is one of my favorites from the storybooks is the short story "Changeling of the Seasons," for a few reasons. It utilized each of the four seasons to outline the history and customs of a mythical race of creatures known as the changelings who switched places with humans by using each season as a starting point for each of their four different stories. The piece then ended in winter with an open ending where the Queen of the Changelings asked the reader to join her and instead fight the creator with explicit instructions on how to contact her.

https://sites.google.com/view/urban-legends-of-texas/introduction

The next story that I would add to my list of favorites is the "Urban Legends of Texas," as it outlined three separate urban legends from Texas all of which I had not heard of as I am from Illinois, which is a long way from Texas. As someone who finds urban legends extremely interesting from Mothman in New Jersey to the old story of the hook on the car door campfire story I heard growing up. The Donkey Lady I found especially chilling as it closely mirrors a story I had heard from my youth in which a man was disfigured and said to haunt the large wooded park at the back of my childhood neighborhood hiding in brush along the sides of the trails.

Camp Warren Levis ("Boy Scout Park") from my hometown
https://aboutstlouis.com/local/communities/godfrey-illinois

https://sites.google.com/view/greekcommonapp/intro

This next story I found to be much lighter than the previous read as it was titled "Common App," where it followed the application process for college for three different Greek deities: Apollo, Artemis, and Atlas. Each of the deities was given an essay prompt that played into their backstory thus making for a fun game of seeing how they each answered these prompts as well as show their previously-established personalities.

Week 1: Alton, IL...My Favorite Place

Bluffs of the Mississippi River in my hometown of Alton, IL

Test

Testing, 1, 2, 3