Storybook Plan

The main theme I have for my story is retelling the legend of Dante's Inferno, but setting it some time in the 1980's with a character (for now known as Michael) who is the distant descendant of Dante Alighieri from the original tale. This will go through the same nine circles of hell once Michael goes over to his ancestor's country of Italy and will feature instead celebrities and figures from the era to represent each ring instead. If this idea seems to narrow, I can be convinced to setting it in other era.

For the episodes of this storybook I was planning on doing nine or ten, which sounds like a rather large undertaking, but it would be shorter sections that each cover one of the circles.

Some resources that will potentially be useful:

http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html
http://freebookapalooza.blogspot.com/2016/06/macgregor-stories-from-dante.html
https://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html

Comment Wall

Read the story here

1935 "Dante's Inferno," movie poster (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32844342605.html)

Week 4 Story: Ark Restart

The landing of the Ark

It was a cold, still night when Noah went out to fetch some firewood to keep his three sons and himself warm through the night. Noah looked up to the stars and sighed deeply as it had now been almost a year since he had last heard from God following the Great Flood. Noah knew that God brought this catastrophe to wipe the planet of sin and wicked beings that resided there, but felt lost without his messages to guide him. When Noah came back into his tent he cast a log into the fire and a large plume of sparks formed into a ball of light above the flames and beckoned Noah over. The orb told Noah that "you need to build another ark as the planet will soon run dry." Noah took off from his tent and began deconstructing the old ark to make his new ark from God's new instructions. After toiling for almost twenty days, Noah finished despite the worsening conditions he was facing, where ponds grew smaller and the creeks began to slow. Noah knew he, his family, and the animals he had brought through the flood would not make it for more than a day or two, so he began boarding right away. First, situating all of the animals, Noah made sure they all were safe in their pairs and finally loaded himself and his family on the boat before making one final prayer to God. Noah felt a wave of comfort come over him as he shut his eyes to rest as he didn't know how long it would be until he landed. Noah could hear the rushing waves and the ocean spray all around him, but knew not where these waters were taking him. Noah awoke to an oddly still ship and walked out to see land all around the ark and a single dove on the bow of the ship. Noah knew God had taken him to another world to begin anew, so Noah lowered the ark doors and set out into the vast unknown for the first time.

Author's Notes:
Set the classic legend of Noah and the Ark on a foreign planet where this bleak, dying planet is left behind by Noah to come to a new world to start again with his family and pairs of animals.
Bibliography:
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-noah-and-ark.html
(From the UN-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Noah, Part B

Noah and The Ark unit by multiple authors (from the UN-Textbook)
(http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-noah-and-ark.html)

The second part of this reading began in Paradise with Adam and Eve getting visited by Samael and his son, where Eve promises Samael that she will watch over the child. After the boy began to scream and cry following Samael leaving, Adam first killed him and then tried to cut him up into pieces and eat him in an attempt to stop the sound. God gives Adam a powerful book, known as the book of the angel Raziel, that becomes long-lost over time after only being found and then re-hidden by Enoch. This was until God gave this book to Noah prior to the flood as it contained instructions for the ark among many other things. The water for the flood then came, but in order to cleanse the Earth and punish them properly the water was heated incredibly before falling from the sky. Despite all of these harsh conditions, Noah's biggest problem was taking care of everyone/everything on the ark for a year as the animals became more and more restless over time. After forty days, the flood water ceased and began to go down little by little until a year passed, and Noah finally returned to land once God accepted his offering of animals. God gave Noah and his descendants permission to eat animal meat now as well as set up a vineyard from a vine that Adam brought from Paradise. Noah began to overindulge in his new vineyard and became drunk and passed out naked. He was dicsovered by his three sons and since his son Ham did not look away and cover his father, all of Ham's descendants were cursed by God. Following this Ham and one of the other sons, Japheth, left Noah and built a city of their own before all of the new world was divided up and given to the three sons: Ham being given the South, Japheth the North, and Shem between the two in the middle.

Noah and his three sons building the Ark prior to the Flood

Reading Notes: Noah, Part A

Noah and The Ark unit by multiple authors (from the UN-Textbook)
(http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-noah-and-ark.html)

This legend begins with the a man named Noah, who God favored despite seeing how evil man on Earth was and wanting to destroy them. God tells Noah that he plans to flood the Earth to rid it of the violence and evil of man, so Noah needs to build a giant wooden ship of specific dimensions. On this ship he is to bring two of every animal on board as well as his family to begin anew. On the seventh day the flood water came and Noah boarded his newly-built Ark with his family and animals where the flood raged for forty days. Noah began sending birds to monitor the water and for land, first a raven then a dove. Noah told his sons to "be fruitful and multiply" as God had told him to and they respected his wish each of his three sons creating large families. They all journeyed west on land and made a new city with a large tower, which upon seeing God scattered the city and "confounded their language." Next the legend goes back to discuss the birth of Noah and how man came to get to the point to where God felt they needed to be flooded. In the midst of a curse and famine Noah was born unto Lamech and ceased all of this upon his birth. While all the men around Noah pursued a life of gain, Noah lived a more simple life. Meanwhile the fallen angels who began to become part of the Earth with the women of Cain. On top of this there were other mortal families acting against God thus setting the stage for the devastating flood to come. The legend ends by circling back to Noah and his building of the massive Ark, while highlighting what kind of man he is in the eye's of God.

Illustration of Noah's Ark

Feedback Strategies

A "Good Job" Sticker

The two feedback articles that I read this week were both insightful as they both were centered around the notion of praise or in the case of the first article "good job." The first article I read tackled five reasons not to tell someone "good job," as it harmful for children especially. I specifically enjoyed the section where it discussed children struggling to accomplish their next task after being praised heavily on the first as it shows an interesting correlation between praise and success as well as the article providing multiple alternatives to the phrase. The second article focused on why managers seem to avoid praise, which started by explaining that roughly the same percent of managers avoid positive and negative feedback. This is interesting as they are both for different reasons as negative feedback tends to hurts people's feelings while positive feedback tends to boost ego in some cases and create a praise craving possibly. Regardless this article finishes by saying that praise is a good thing, but in moderation as it has some negative side-effects when unchecked.

Topic Research: Dante's Inferno

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-dante.html

Topic: Dante's Inferno

Map of Hell from Dante's Inferno

I chose to research this topic after brainstorming last week as it a legend that can be retold so many different ways as it comes down to the main principle of going through the various rings of hell meeting figures who represent that ring in some way. With that said I still would like to set the story in a different era and I think that that would be a unique take on this legend. The first idea I have would be for the retelling to be set in the 1980's and the people Dante meets in hell would be adjusted accordingly. The second idea would be to set it in today's world, but this feels slightly more played out as many legends are retold in the modern day. Despite this, a retelling of this legend in modern day could be a fresher take than I am giving it credit for. The last idea I have for retelling this legend would be to keep the legend in its era, but change the main character from Dante to another Greek historical figure. This idea came to me when writing about Homer's Illiad seeing many different interesting characters that were mortal ancient Greeks.