Possible Topics for a Storybook

I'm leaning towards doing a portfolio instead of a storybook, but I've really enjoyed looking into possible topics for storybooks, if I choose to do one after all! Most of my ideas stem from my interest in Native American studies. I'm familiar with a lot of Native American themes and characters, so it would be very cool to be able to delve deeper.

1. Native American Traditions. I have looked at some past Storybooks on Native American topics, and I think they're really interesting. I've also taken a few classes over Native American Culture, so that's why this topic sparked my interest. I would love to learn more about tribes that I haven't studied before, and this could be a great opportunity.

(Winter Awakening of the O-khoo-wah,

by Helen Hardin [1943-1984];University of Oklahoma FJJMA

2. Animal Stories. There are many Native American animal stories, so that aspect of it really interests me. I like that I would have flexibility to mix some Native American stories that I know with other stories that I might not know. I found past Storybooks about animals to be some of my favorite storybooks. I also hope to learn more about the similarities and differences on how various animals are viewed in stories around the world.

3. Creation Stories. Creation stories have the same flexibility with mixing and matching Native American stories that I know with stories that are new to me. I've done some prior research when I wrote a research paper over an Aluet creation myth in a Native American philosophy class. This List of Creation Myths was really interesting to me, so I will definitely want to look into this list more. I know a few specific tribes' creation stories, but I would love to learn many more and pick my favorites to retell.

4. Ballads: Stories in Song. I was really interested in the complete Francis Child Ballads, and I think it could be interesting to try and retell songs. This would be the most challenging idea, I believe. I like music, so I would be interested to see what stories used to be told through songs. When I retell stories I usually try to keep the theme or general sentiment of the story the same. It seems like with ballads the parts of the story are harder to isolate from the theme. This is why I think it would be harder to retell songs.

Storytelling for Week 2: Home Sweet Muffin

Muffins with Tunnels

As any good baker knows, a good muffin must have tunnels. That's why we here at Framuel's Pan Jewels live and breath the muffin method. You may not remember it, but you've definitely heard of (and probably used) the muffin method. First you mix the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, and finally add the wet to the dry all at once and fold together. It's that simple.

One day, I was just admiring my handiwork and checking out some of the deep and complicated tunnels inside my muffins, when I saw two ants. Obviously bugs in a restaurant can cause some real problems, but I wasn't worried about that at the time. I was just amazed that the tunnels that I created were solid enough to house two little insects!

Things got a little crazier when the larger of the two ants called out. He wasn't calling out to me, it seemed like he was praying or chanting or something. But I could hear him very clearly.

"I'm so grateful that we have been able to live within these wonderful tunnels for so many months, just by moving from muffin to muffin. However, it is becoming increasingly hard to leave a muffin tunnel once we feel that it is served to a human customer. I wish there was some way my student and I could enjoy the wonderful smells and tastes of these muffin tunnels without putting our lives and the reputation of this bakery in danger."

Once I got over the initial shock of hearing an ant pray, I thought about what my next action could be. I could tell the boss, Framuel, that there was an ant problem, but that seemed like an overstatement since there appeared to be only two ants. But I couldn't keep serving muffins that had previously served as ant habitats! It seemed like the ants really like the tunnels within the muffins, and who could blame them? Muffin tunnels are the most under appreciated art within the baking world, after all.

The ants just needed a place to live, and the place had to be a muffin. I decided to help the little guys out; we did seem to have at least one great common interest. I came up with a plan. Every day, with the first batch of muffins of the day, I would take out all of the muffins from the pan except one, which I would leave in the oven for a little extra time. Then, this slightly burnt muffin could become a home for the ants. Framuel's Pan Jewels would never serve a burnt muffin to a customer; we had a reputation to uphold! I would start by just setting their current muffin home next to the burnt one, and I would leave it up to the ants to move themselves into the new tunnel.

Luckily, my plan worked. So far, none of the other bakers have noticed the ants. And the burnt muffins go unnoticed because with so many muffins every day, and the sacred muffin method to keep up, all of us bakers keep pretty busy. I even heard a prayer of thanks from the big ant a few days ago!



Author's Note: I chose to change the setting of the story from the original, which was a small island described as being similar to a frosted cake with many tunnels and caves. As soon as I read the rich imagery about the island being a frosted cake, I knew exactly how I could incorporate that into my own story. The original story is about Saint Gudwall who lives with his pupil in a small cave. Eventually, there are major storms that threaten their cave, so fish answer the saint's prayers and build a sandbar to protect the cave. I liked how in the original story, the saint obviously wasn't praying to the fish, but they are the ones who saved him. In my story I wanted to have a similar situation where the prayer worked, but it wasn't necessarily answered by who the ants expected. The reason that I chose to name the bakery Framuel's Pan Jewels is because my brother, Samuel, and I always joked growing up that that's what we would name a bakery if we ever opened one since my nickname for him is Framuel. My biggest struggle with this story was making sure that the ants in the bakery were acknowledged as a possible problem because I wanted this story to seem realistic (even if the ants are talking).

Bibliography: The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall; source: The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900).

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall

storm off the coast of Wales

I really liked the story of The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). I liked that the story was bogged down in details. We don't know exactly why Saint Gudwall wanted to live on this island with only his pupil. We don't even know what they eat or drink! All we need to know for the purposes of this story are that Saint Gudwall just wants to live with his pupil on this weird little island and that the fish eventually help him out so he can keep living just like he wants to.

My favorite thing about this whole story is the description of the island.

"The island was one of those high mountains poking up out of the sea, with green grass on top, like colored frosting to a cake; and gray rocks below, all hollowed out into deep caves and crannies, as if mice had been nibbling at the cake."

This description is something that I would definitely want to use in a storytelling post. I can perfectly imagine the island because of the rich and detailed description. Saint Gudwall and his pupil seem to just love to sit in their cave and watch the water, they don't really have a lot going on. Maybe life is just perfect to them living in their little frosted cake island.

It's great that the fish help out the saint and his friend, and I still really like that not a whole lot of context is given. The fish just hear the prayers and decide to help the guys out. I'm sure in the full story of Saint Gudwall there are tons of details that explain why he's a saint and why the fish decided to help him, but this little story seemed like it had all the details necessary.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Saint Kentigern and the Robin

Saint Kentigern / Mungo

For this week, the reading that stood out to me the most was Saint Kentigern and the Robin from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown (1900). I thought that Kentigern wasn't a very likable character. He reminded me of the teachers' pet, but I think that in a retelling I could show off his good character more often. It was strange to me that he seemed to have no friends at all besides his teacher, and eventually the robin.

I also thought that beheading the robin was a little bit violent, and I was surprised that the teacher was so willing to suspect Kentigern with no evidence whatsoever. It seems like Kentigern would be at least safe from suspicion since he spent so much time with the teacher and seemed to be his favorite.

I thought the part of the story where the other boys put out the fire in the hearth made Kentigern seem more like a good person because he didn't feel the need to tell someone in charge that the boys had played a trick on him. Instead, he just acted like everything was normal.

I feel like the aspect of all the boys hating Kentigern just because he was smart is a really modern and understandable theme. It's too easy to be jealous of someone who is perceived as being the best or smartest. I'm glad that in the end of the story, the boys decided to be kind to Kentigern since he had done nothing to them.

Learning Challenges: All About Reading

Picture by Daniel Pennac from Learning by HEART

The part of learning by HEART that stands out the most to me is reading. In order to read a lot, I usually have to start by forcing myself to read at least a certain amount per day. After I start this, I usually find myself getting so caught up in my book that I spend most of my free time reading until the book is finished. Unfortunately, then I have to start a new book, which is definitely my least favorite thing about reading. I hate that I don't know the characters yet and I sometimes have a hard time even keeping all the characters apart! 

This is why I like the above infographic so much. I love to reread books because I already know the characters and I understand their relationships. Sometimes I feel guilty for rereading when I feel like I should be reading new books, but this infographic with all of the "Rights of a Reader" shows that a person should be allowed to read however they want, or to not read! I love to learn new things by reading books, but I think it's important to remember that one can also learn new things by rereading an old favorite. After all, every time I reread a book I have new experiences under my belt that will probably change my worldview (and bookview).

Thoughts on the Growth Mindset

Picture from Jessica Ottewell from flickr

I hadn't heard of the growth mindset before, but I think the idea is very interesting. I think that encouraging teachers to teach with the growth mindset would encourage students to actually learn instead of just seeking good grades. I think that I tend to focus on grades more than I should. When I find something difficult to learn, I often give up and think that it's just too hard. I believe that if I shifted my mindset to the Growth Mindset, I would definitely benefit.

Since I've been at OU, I've spent a lot of time taking classes that I'm required to take. However, because I'm graduating this semester, I'm now taking quite a few classes that I'm not required to take and that I'm genuinely interested in. I hope that as I'm taking these classes, I can use the growth mindset more than I have in the past.

Storybook Favorites

My favorite storybook was Native American Tricksters. I liked the subject matter, which I am familiar with, but I also liked how the stories were told, with Coyote being the site host, but also a character in the stories. The title of the storybook did a really good job of letting me know what the storybook was going to be all about. I enjoyed the introduction because I think it set the background for the storybook well, while being different and interesting enough to make me want to read more of the stories in the storybook.

Image source: Wikipedia

I also liked the storybook Mermaid Tales of the World. This introduction stood out to me the most because it was suspenseful and made me wonder what exactly I was missing since I don't know very much about mermaids. This author stayed the most in character throughout their storybook. I really liked this style, and I thought that it made it more interesting. This is a technique I might want to try in my own storybook. The design of this storybook also kept with the theme very well. I think all of these aspects together drew me into the world of mermaids and made me reluctant to leave.

Another storybook that stood out to me was Aliens in the Outfield. I think that Aliens are interesting, but I've heard very few stories about them, so I was happy to get to read retellings of a few alien stories. By the time I finished the storybook, I really felt like I understood alien stories a lot better. I liked the author's notes in this storybook because they were very thorough and made me feel like I not only understood the author's retelling, but also the original stories. I would definitely want to have informative author's notes like this in my storybook so that I could be sure that the readers understood  the necessary context to my stories.

UnTextbook Overview

For the first unit, I've chosen to do the Saints and Animals Unit. I found this particular unit interesting because it's the unit that I've had the least exposure to, and I wanted to dive in and really learn something new from the beginning of this class.

Saint Blaise icon

I also thought the Alaska Unit sounded interesting because I've visited Alaska. I've also written a research paper on a creation story of a native Alaskan tribe, so I know a little bit about some Alaskan myths. Another unit that I found interesting was the American Indian Unit because I've grown up in Oklahoma in a small town that has a large Native American presence. I've always found Native American language and culture to be interesting, so I would be interested to read more of their stories in the Cherokee Unit or the Native American Marriage Unit.

Aside from stories from America's native peoples, I think it would be interesting to do the African Unit because I'm currently taking two African American studies classes. These stories could be a good way to unite many of the classes I'm taking so that I can relate my new knowledge to other things.

Introduction to a Wordsmith

I’m Alexandra Smith, a senior economics major from Ada, Oklahoma! I lucked out when I decided to name my blog Alexandra’s Myths because I did so without even realizing that when said aloud it sounds almost identical to my actual name! I may not be a certified myth-smith yet, but I’m working on it.

Last semester, I had a really cool internship here on OU’s campus at The Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. It gave me awesome opportunities to get experience working with an actual client that was trying to decide the best strategy for commercializing their new scientific innovation. My official title was Interdisciplinary Analyst, and I worked with a team of four other students to ultimately give a professional presentation and a concrete deliverable to our client with all of the information that we had acquired throughout the semester. I loved the whole experience, and I’m definitely going to miss it this semester.

My CCEW team: Alex, Stephanie, Lena, me, and Jack

Over winter break, I spent two weeks in Boston, my favorite place, visiting friends. After I graduate, I’ll be moving to Boston to begin a year with an AmeriCorps program called City Year. City Year is a program that I’m really excited to be a part of because it gives students who are at risk of dropping out of high school access to near-peer mentors and tutors who can help them succeed.

I’ve recently been making myself get back into the habit of reading for fun. With all the stress of school, I’ve let myself get away with only reading a few books outside of school each year. My excuse has always been that if I have the time to read for fun, I should be using the time to study or read for my classes. Instead, I end up watching TV for hours! So from now on, I’m prioritizing reading new and interesting books. I kicked this off by reading four new books over winter break, and I’m currently in the middle of a few more. Hopefully I can continue to make time for myself to read and let myself enjoy a nice book every once in a while!

Week 1 Storytelling: The Lonely House

There were two girls who lived in a house, and had lived in the house for as long as anyone knew or cared to know. The first girl was impossibly tall, with forever-long curly hair and features that took up every inch of her face. The second girl was impossibly small (though still with a commanding presence). The small girl had delicate hands and feet, and she had a surprising strength that made her the resident jar-opener of the house.

The girls loved the house they lived in, and they loved that they lived there together. The house was big and blue, and had the wonderful quality of making a person, and especially the girls, feel instantly at home. There were two big bedrooms, each with two walls of windows. The house had enough closet space to keep the house from getting overly cluttered, but not so much that the girls were allowed to hold on to too many useless clothes and shoes. The best part of the whole beautiful blue house was its perfect and pink bathroom. The pink bathroom was large and light and had everything and more that was necessary for two girls who maintained important skin regimes and enjoyed long baths.

After the two girls spent many years in the house, it was time for the tall girl to move. She had dreams and she could no longer be fulfilled in the house. If she could, she would move the house with her. Since that was impossible, she simply left one day, so that she could grow into the person she wanted to be.

The small girl was very strong, but not strong enough to live in the blue house and brush her teeth in the pink bathroom without her tall friend. She had dreams of her own to find, so she too had to leave the house too.

The house now stands alone. There are no girls small or tall living inside.

Authors note: 

This retelling is based on a song:

 There were two birds sat on a stone,

Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
One flew away, and then there was one,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
The other flew after, and then there was none,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de;
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
Fa, la, la, la, lal, de!

The Nursery Rhyme Book, author unknown, released 2008

Image information: My own personal image of a home

My Favorite Place, Boston

By Archon Fung (Arfung at en.wikipedia) (Own work (Original caption: “Own Work”)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


My favorite place is Boston, Massachusetts. I plan to move there after graduation so that I can live in my dream city. I like Boston because it's a city with a young population with tons of stuff going on and many neighborhoods that feel unique. Although I don't especially like cold weather, I do love snow, and Boston definitely gets a lot of snow each year. I've visited Boston many times because I have a few friends who live there, but I am looking forward to experiencing Boston as a true Bostonian, and not just a visitor.

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Personal picture of my cat, Yellow in fall 2014

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