Week 7: Divakaruni: Palace of Illusions, A

February 29, 2016
Ch. 1 Fire:
Confined.
Always loved the story of her birth. Favorite, made her feel special.
Daughter of king Rupert
Fancy names for her because of her importance.
Held to a higher standard because a princess.
Brave for 30 days for the fire ceremony, priests, king, and ministers.
 Flattened rice for food. King only drank water.
The 30th day – fish curry finally.
Everyone was scared that the fire ceremony wouldn’t work right and them not praying hard enough would get blamed.
Everyone held their breath when the king poured the stuff on the fire.
Then the smoke rose spiraled with voices “here is the son you asked for”
Then her brother stepped from the fire.
What did he look like? True prince, noble and gold, even his clothes were gold. Not older than 5 yr old.
She worried if he could win the battle.
Even before the clapping finished you walked out coughing and reaching for help.
“Behold we give you this girl. A gift beyond what you asked for she will change the course of history.”
King gave both of them love and then they went to feast.
Boy name: Destroyer of enemy’s, Girls name: daughter of Rupert.
She wanted/needed a new more important name.
She questions what really happened when she stepped form the fire.
She is a bit sad that she recognized the king (her father) only planned on raising her brother.
The kids clung together so he had to pick them both up even though he had hesitation.
He provided everything a princess would need.
She couldn’t forgive him for that first moment. She also lacked trust.
She took it out on his palace. Describes the palace that she hated.
No trees or flowers that she noticed.
He removed everything he didn’t like.
She would close her eyes and imagine colors and pretty items.
Unbearable if she didn’t have her brother. He refused to abandon her.
Shielded each other from bad things.
She wrote letters to her brother in her head.


March 1,2016
Chapter 2: Blue

Both dark skin which is frowned upon in this culture because they like milk skin. They tried getting rid of it but they couldn’t.
He charmed his was in hearts of women without using his skin color as a hold back.
He had several wives.
He smiled to answer all of her questions. “A problem becomes a problem only if you believe so.”
Men in front, women behind, go to the temple to pray dressed in their best.
She felt awkward in this group. She allowed her servants to dress her in the best and she held her head high this time.
She thanked other women when they said how beautiful.
People were asking who she was and where she has been.
Songs were made about her, the amazing princess.
Over night she became a celebrated beauty rather then an outcast.
He had several different stories on how he was born that never happened.
He had his own kingdom and many wives to take care of so he didn't visit much.
He was always there to answer questions.
She kept tabs on who was important in her life. Keshna is the he.
Servant, king, brother, Keshna.
He challenged her beliefs and that was good.
Keshna said she was the female version of him.


March 2, 2016
Chapter 3: Milk

What is milk? The poor mother mixed water and flour to make milk for her child but he found out it wasn't milk and he never trusted her again.
Stories made the kids not question Rupert other life.
story about the king: The prince was distraught when he had to leave his friend. He told him to come see him when he is a king.
She got upset because her brother kept giving him excuses and not allowing their father to look bad. He always gave excuses.
His friend came back to get his friendship.
If he took this friend back in would the people see him as weak.
He turned him down and told him he was wrong and only friends who are at the same level can be friends.
in time it grew dim in his memory and he still remembered that moment.
one day he was awoken by the horns saying the army was waiting out front.
They captured him and said he had to come with them but they would not hurt him. He just admired the young man that did this. He said if only he was my son.
His teacher asked them to take him and that teacher was his old friend.
The king asked to be killed rather then mocked. The teacher gave back half of the kings land and riches back.
He breathed in the vapor that will fuel him for the rest of his life.
What started with milk then got taken and changed to blood.
She met him after her marriage and she held his hand and he welcomed her.

Chitra Divakaruni: Palace of Illusions, A  

Storytelling Week 2: The Royal Wedding

It was finally the day, the day that everyone from the princes of far off lands to the homeless families in the park had been waiting for. It was the day of the royal wedding. Both  Prince Raymond and Princess Sandy were getting ready on opposite wings of the huge castle, that will soon be theirs, while everyone was flooding in dropping off all of the presents. They got everything from fine china and diamonds, to flower arrangements and letters. They both could not focus on the presents all they could focus on was that happy moment when they will be names man and wife. Of course they knew they did not need all of these gifts but the public and their family and friends insisted on the. You see, these are rulers that the public was actually excited about having. This event had been int he works for months upon months. It took countless amounts of time preparing and getting everything perfect for their special day. Both the bride and groom could feel the clock ticking down to the time when the bride would make it down the isle.

Finally the clock struck five in the afternoon and the doors flung open to reveal the blushing bride. The groom waited for her as she took the long walk down the isle. He waited at the bottom of the stairs to help escort her up to the alter. They both stared at each other as they vows began, soaking in this moment neither of them ever wanted to forget. The groom was told to cherish her all the days they lived and he said I do. The bride was asked similar vows and she promised to keep those as well. Then the whole church bowed their head and prayed and the holiest priest in the land blessed them and their marriage. The Princess was then honored for grace right before the priest declared them man and wife.

It did not take long for the music to fill the air and for the party to start. After music started to be blasted and the celebration had just begun the Prince took his princess away for the evening so they could celebrate their night on an intimate level. Even though the bride and groom had left, the town kept the part going for long after, celebrating the new couple that would rule over them. The whole town partied for a long time because they knew this was going to be the start of something great for the country.

Authors Notes:
 I tried to make it a modern day wedding day where the groom and bride are both a prince and a princess. I tried to describe the presents in detailed newer items and then go into the normal ceremony and talk about the guests and them celebrating together and wandering off to their honeymoon. I think this will hopefully make a interesting and relatable piece where it is easier to understand the story.


Bibliography: Ramayana (Public Domain Edition), Romesh Dutt, 1899

The Royal Wedding

Reading Diary Rama + Sita's Wedding

Rama vs. Sita's Wedding:

I am choosing to do my story on the wedding chapter so here are some notes that I will be using to write my story this week. When I took notes it was just major points throughout this chapter.

The Groom is a Prince and the Bride is a princess.
They are talking about a bunch of gifts they have received for the wedding.
The blushing bride is coming down the isle to her groom who meets and takes the bride to the alter.
They start their vows.
The groom promises to cherish his bride.
They then pray for the couple.
She was honored for her grace.
The holiest of priests blesses them.
Music then filled the air
The groom takes the bride away.
The town was happy.

I think I want to make it a modern day wedding day where the groom and bride are both a prince and a princess. I think I  can describe the presents in detailed newer items and then go into the normal ceremony and talk about the guests and them celebrating together and wandering off to their honeymoon. I think this will hopefully make a interesting and relatable piece where it is easier to understand the story.

Rama + Sita's Wedding

Learning Challenges

Learning and exploring the HEART blog made me understand there are other people out there that struggle. I was diagnosed with depression in September and have been struggling with it since then. I think watching the OU mental illness video ( I put it below) helped me be okay with sharing this and being open to people knowing. I have told some of my family and friends and I have had good and bad reactions to the news. I think the most important thing for me was understanding that there is nothing wrong with me because of this. It happens and most of the time is decided through your make up and not actually the situations. My therapist describes it like a glass that is filling with water (situations) some people, like me, have a smaller cup and that cup overfills a lot quicker and easier then others. I think learning about this stuff is important and really appreciate our professor making it a point to talk and teach about it. 

OU Mental Illness Video

Growth Mindset

Striving to be a teacher, I really enjoyed these pieces. I felt it was great information that I had never heard or thought of before, but made complete sense. The idea of changing how we encourage students in such a small way making such a huge impact was crazy for me to watch and learn about. I think I will keep this information with me not only through my semester but also for when I become a teacher and how I interact with my students.

Growth Mindset 

Storybook Favorites

I enjoyed so many of the pieces it was hard to pick only three. The ones that I chose were Lord Rama:  The Greatest OU Football Player, CSI: Indian Epics, and  The Real Housewives of Ramayana. I started off with ones that sparked my interest and ended up reading more then just the introduction. I thought the topics was unique and kept me interested throughout the whole introduction and it gave me a clear idea of what the piece was going to be. All the titles gave pretty good ideas of what was going to be expected during the storybook. The design was also unique on each blog and gave me a few ideas of how broad we can take this. I did not quite understand what the assignment was going to be or how creative we could get and by reading these three options I was able to understand that more. I think my favorite one was the CSI one because that is something I watch and am thinking of ways to do a similar theme. It also did an amazing job at designing for the theme. I really had the idea that it was going to be a diary just on the design and the background.  The other two were unique and interesting and gave other good options. Now after reading these I am excited to see were I can take this assignment and how unique and interesting I can take my storybook. I am not normally the most creative person but I feel like this might be a different story. Overall these three stories gave me great ideas to push forward and plan for my storybook post in the future. Who knows which one I will use or what I will come up with on my own for this project.

CSI: Indian Epics

Week 1: Overview

Hello,
I have Chosen the second choice, the online domain version. I was first drawn to this one because it was easy to get and free. I then started reading the first chapter in it and got intrigued. I only read a paragraph but it made me want to read more.

Ramayana

I am honestly so excited for all aspects of this class. I have no experince in this genre and so I am so excited to get to read all of the different pieces.