Week 7 Review

For this weeks review I decided to write about the fun and exploration post which can be found here. The title of the post is called Writing and Revision, so it immediately caught my attention. This year I'm really trying to put more effort, work, and dedication into my writing, even if it's just for myself, so I'm also interested in reading anything that may have to do with writing or helpful tips. The post included this picture of a quote:

Writing and Revision
Source: OUClassAnnouncements

I remember when I was younger I used to think that having to turn in a rough draft of a paper, essay, project, story, etc. to the teacher before the final draft was pointless (boy was I wrong). I always wanted to just jump in, turn in the final draft, and be done with it. But I definitely now know how extremely, extremely important it is to revise your work. In order to become a better writer you really need to go over your writing multiple times and look for mistakes. Doing this repeatedly truly helps your writing be the best it can be. I think it's one of the most important steps in the writing process. I'm glad I realized this sooner rather than later!

Storytelling for Week 7: Love Lost, Love Found

I remember the day we fell in love. Everything felt different that day. The sky seemed bluer, the grass greener, and I, happier. Ky was the first man I ever really fell in love with. I had some boyfriends from the past, but that's where I intended to keep them-in the past. With Ky, all I saw was a future-a bright, beautiful, shining future. Every time we walked through the village together, hand in hand, I could feel people staring at us. Whether it be from happiness, envy, jealousy, or even disappointment, we didn't pay them any mind.

We were so young.

Our youth flowed through us and we took advantage of it, making the most of every day. We didn't care that people thought we were too young to feel what we felt. We loved each other and that's all that mattered. Besides, when you know, you know. Even if we were just seventeen years old, we knew we were soul mates destined to find each other and live the way were living right then and there. How are other people supposed to tell you when you should fall in love? How do they know your circumstances? How do they know your feelings? It doesn't make any sense if you ask me.

We were so young.

The day he told me he loved me was the best day of my life. Those three words jolted through me like electricity and made me feel so alive. I had been waiting such a long time to tell him I felt the same way and now I had the perfect chance. It didn't take me but five seconds to tell him I loved him too. We were so happy. Except when we weren't.

When I told him I was pregnant, he changed. He didn't seem like the man who had just told me he loved me a few short weeks ago. The longer he just stared at me, the more he became distant to me. I already felt our love and happiness slipping from between us. I fought until I had no energy left in me. And the day the energy left me, so did he.

I was so young.

I didn't have anyone to turn to. My parents made it clear that I couldn't keep the babies. There were three of them growing inside me. There was no way I would be able to support them on my own. I didn't know who or where to turn to. I had never been so scared in my life. When I gave birth to my three sons, so healthy and so strong, I knew I had no choice but to give them up. They deserved a better life than mine. They just deserved better. I left them at a stranger's doorstep praying hard that they would give my boys a good home.

And they did. The fate that brought us back together will always have me forever grateful. I remember walking through the village, alone, heading towards the market to pick up a few things. While there, I overheard an older lady smiling widely and talking about her triplet sons. Although having triplets was uncommon in our area, I still felt as though there was a small chance the woman was chatting about my babies. Something inside pushed me towards her to ask, though.

When I found out I was right, joy and sadness rushed through me. My boys adoptive mother and I talked for hours. I'm glad we conversed for so long because it gave me time to work up the courage to see them, as she offered. It had been over twenty years.

Now, today, I look to all of my three sons and not only see his face, but also the determination, compassion, and humor, of my past love. I also feel the hurt and pain but still each day I see them, a little part of that pain is eased. My heart grows, and the missing parts are now filled.

They are so grown.

"Village; photo by Dennett"
Source: MythFolklore Untextbook 

Author's Note: In this week's storytelling I decided to retell the story of "The Three Brothers" from the Stories from Congo unit. In the original story, it starts off by telling how the mother of three boys didn't want them and decided to leave them in the grass one day. The three babies looked for food on their own and eventually grew up to be strong and eventually built themselves houses and found themselves wives. Then, one day, the father of the three boys found them and told the mother. The boys thought she was an intruder and planned to kill her, but the river-spirit (who helped them to grow), told them that she was their mother and to take care of her instead since she was old at this point. Even though this story was short I really liked it and had an idea of how I wanted to tell it. The way I changed it up is that I tweaked small things here and there and decided to give the mother more of a voice. It tells of how she was young, in love, and how she eventually became pregnant. With every story there's usually more than one side so I wanted to tell the mother's side.

Bibliography: "The Three Brothers" by Richard Edward Dennett, from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (1898).
Web Source: Mythology and Folklore Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Stories from Congo

The link to this reading unit can be found here.

The Antelope and the Leopard

• Interesting how a dog jumped out from the nut
• Animals, talking theme
• Plot progresses quickly once the dog jumps out. 
• Kind of weird how the leopard immediately took orders from the dog turned damsel because she was so beautiful; then, by demand he killed all of his wives. This may be a part I change up a bit
• Quick "love"
• I had a feeling damsel was actually the antelope. 
• Also interesting how the ending relates to reasons we don't often think about. "And this is why the leopard now always kills the antelope when he meets one"

The Turtle and The Man

• Right off the bat, it's different but cool how the story sets up a relationship between a man and a turtle. 
• Can both communicate to each other
• Diets - antelope
• Turtle seems to be the "bad guy." selfish, sneaky, mischievous
• Turn of events when the leopard was able to play the turtle's game
• Intriguing how the man came in at the very end. I was wondering where he went and thought the story would mainly be about both of them but it was mostly just about the turtle.
• I could retell it, having the man be more apart of the story line

The Three Brothers

• Although short, I really liked this story
• Story of a mother giving up her three children and later reuniting with them
• Instead of anything terrible, they took her in and cared for her
• I think if I were to retell this story I would definitely either add more of a background story with the mother being the main character, or add more of a story for the three brothers. Possibly more about their lives growing up and then more dialogue when finding their father and mother, too. 

"Village, photo by Dennett"
Source: MythFolkloreUntextbook

Reading Diary A: Stories from Congo

The link to this reading unit can be found here.

How Gazelle Got Married

• Taking husbands theme
• Interesting how it focuses on animals as if they were humans. 
• The back and forth journey of the dog was kind of funny; getting hungry, satisfying that hunger, forgetting the names of the daughters, then getting thirsty, satisfying that thirst and forgetting the names again.
• Bargain between dog and Nsassi
• I like the name Nsassi for a characters name, I probably wouldn't change this
• Haha, another funny part how on the way to see the two girls both Nsassi and the dog had forgotten the names and the dog had to go once more to figure it out. 
• I think the ending was kind of out of the blue how the antelope returned in the plot but it was interesting to see how they tied up that end.

The Vanishing Wife

• Reminds me of the contrast between Anansi and Nothing
• I like how the dream portion became a reality the next day for Buite
• It's sad how the story ended, and how his brother continued to treat him. I feel that I might change the ending up a bit. I think it might make for sense for the dream to have just been a dream, of course, but stories have the ability to be however they want to be.
• If I retold it I would probably have Buite keep his riches and his brother lose his and then go from there

The Younger Brother Who Knew More Than the Elder

• Wondering why the younger brother left
• Weird how the agreement turned out when the wife was lost
• I enjoyed the ending how the elder brother turned out to help his younger brother and in a clever way

"Gazelle"
Source: MythFolklore UnTextbook