Final Test Questions

1. (Group 1) What is the only permanent thing? Change
2. (Group 2) What is a modern version of Pan and Apollo? Tenacious D
3. Archetype: the old stuff
4. Signature: the new way you tackle the old stuff
5. (Group 3) What false idol brought snow-Pygmallion to life? John Madden
6. (Group 4) At the beginning there was the Flood and at the end there was the Flood.
7. (Group 5) How did John get away from the Cyclops? He said his name was No Man
8. (Group 6) What can be said about all ends? They are also beginnings
9. What two parts did Corrin say were about the same? Heart and Groin
10. In Triston's final, they didn't have written knowledge, they had Oral Traditions.
11. What did Jon Orsi's final compare the writing process of ? Loss of virginity
12. James Joyce compares himself to what mythological personage? God
13. Eat raw flesh of one dismembered is called what? Omophagia
14. "In my Beginning is my End"
15. The happy ending of a fairytail is the Transcendance of a tragedy.
16. Mythology does not Construct your faith. It Reconstructs your religion.
17. What does Narcissus's mother ask the oracle? Will he live to old age
18. What is a Moly? Magic herb in mythology
19. What does Pegasus mean? Fountain horse
20. What is the ticket to the underworld? Golden Bough

The rest of the Presentations

LEVI

• Importance of being in Africa
• Illiada Quote pg#23

ERIN

• How mythology is kept to life through movies
• Endings where gods make things okay
• Pretty Woman--"Making a hoe a housewife"
• *******Deusxes Machina: god comes at end and fixes everything

SARAH

• Henderson the Rain King
• Book focused on memories
• He makes connections to real world
• Page 199 "How shall a man be broken for some switch dwelling"

JENNA

• Romilayu is the true hero
• Didn't like Henderson
• He was too self-centered

MICHELLE

• Related Henderson the Rain King to personal life
• Read serious religious books for fun
• Thought stories were fun, but would never relate to
• Don't appreciate culture unless you are immersed in it
• Learned mythology has always been there in her life

SHANA

• We exemplify myth
• Events lead up to flashbacks
• Passage from Finigins Wake

Individual Presentations

SARAH

• Henderson vs Freud
• Therapy session with Freud
• Henderson is child like
• Story skips around
• Discover conscious
• Struggle of conscious and unconscious mind

ASHLEY

• Henderson is Public Magician
• Related to succession
• Dahfu becomes immortal
• "Long live the king"

KARI

• Orphean Myth--Ovid
• She told story to Mom
• "Why would you tell a story like that?"
• You cannot defeat death
• The power of art and love
• ******Sonnet 146*******

MELODY

• Henderson the Rain King and Chapter 7 in Myth and Reality
• Henderson's apocalypse of his past
• He is a Be-er
• He overcomes his fear
• He has the will to change
• Africa is a state of mind
• Step out of your comfort zone
• "Pompous Ass"

ALEX

• What is art?
• Deadalus and Orpheus
• Symbolism is very important
• "Artist cannot escape his art or his fate"
• Art is both a gift and a curse

DUSTYN

• 12 pages long
• Research on Illiada
• Religion in Illiada
• All things are sacred
• Non-religious man is not real
• Symbolic is things that we ourselves make important
• **********Hierophany: everything is sacred; bring to life**********

RACHEL

• 3 Ovid stories compared to 3 movies
• Pigmalion vs My Fair Lady
• Pyrumus and Thisby vs Trison and Esol
• Apollo and Daphne vs Sound of Music

RIO

• Henderson the Rain King
• Connected to other stories

TRISTON

• Friend went to Africa, similar to Henderson
• Guy names his baby after friend
• Cell phones are super popular
• "Sex with me doesn't cure AIDS" (Billboard)
• Children can name plants, but can't read or write
• Children are mythical
• The Ugly American
• She wears a bracelet with white beads
• She has to sleep with brother-in-law to move on from death of her husband

TALOR

• Henderson is trying to get back to illo-tempore
• He is not in touch with reality
• He goes to Africa to get in touch with himself
• He was in dream-time
• "The beginning is the end"

SETH

• Illiada's Myth and REality
• Reality is secondary
• Myth shapes our reality
• Take pieces of myth and carry on for generations

AMBERLY

• She went on a medical missions trip to Africa at age 15
• Her dad is a doctor
• Africans are peaceful and don't care what others think
• Worked in OR
• Man had to go out and kill a lion
• He walked 3 days to hospital
• Man was gored by a wild beast
• They dare to dream
• She lived a dream there
• "We can all change for the better"

LANETTE

• Henderson the Rain King
• Mythical Structure--Beginning, Middle, End
• He always suffers
• Revelation--I want
• Modern society has mythical things

JOSH

• Demythologizing Batman Begins
• Fear of bats because father's death
• Super ego = God (villan)
• Repressed ID

JAMES

• Connect Bible to Mythology
• Unicorns=Re'em; Re-yod-em
• Real unicorn=deer with one horn
• Biblical references (lots of them!)

MALINDA

• Props--cool mask with mirrors behind
• Why I already knew and learned to remember--Title
• Everything is new to her
• Started connecting things she learned in class to her past
• She reads books about myths to apply to her life
• Based her paper/presentation on a dream
• Allegory of the mind
• Mirrors show reality, infinity, and all-knowing

DOUGLAS

• Homeopathy
• The kind was anticipating the reain, so he had an umbrella
• Purple ribbons and skulls with cloth
• The moving of the ephigies
• Seriousness of ceremony
• Details of Henderson the Rain King

STORMY

• Had a difficult time reading book
• Thought if Henderson read the Golden Bough, he would have been a lot better off

SARAH KNOX

• He is always suffering
• He goes by ways that he is not
• Cub represents his owner's new way of life
• I want, I want was gone

SALLY

• Escatology
• Obsessed with Literal Escatology
• The world is going to end in 2002 on a napkin
• Learned the world ends every day

KORIN

• Henderson is a fetus
• He decends (his underworld) to Africa
• He is consumed with flame of grief
• Left in islolation room between flame and ash with Dahfu
• He brought fertility back to his heart

MAYAN

• Always interested in myths
• learned myths turn into real people and real events
• Connects life to Io and Jove
• She brought herself out of depression

MARI SHAWN

• "I hate mythology"
• She now embraces mythology
• No longer ancient timeless science fiction
• She is Catholic (practicing not recovering)
• Relates her religion to mythology
• Myth is something that never was, but will always be
• "trust the tales, not the teller"

JASE

• I want, I want
• 3 sections: At home US= viloin, pigs; Leaving family to go to Africa (wants change); King Dahfu--1st good deed, satisfies "I want"

JOHN N

• Who is Eclepious (healer of human arts)

JOHN ORSEY

• James Joyce book
• Read 1st page and thought it would be easy
• His birthday April 27th

CURTISS P

• media and entertainment
• Advertising related to mythology
• Nike--looks like wing from goddess

DAVID

• Broke down Henderson the Rain King
• Escapes life; always running away from reality
• Belly of the whale

STEVEN

• Mythology is everywhere
• The book Doom
• Main character represents Apollo (Paul)

MIKE

• I want, I want
• We have all heard the saying, but we have been told we can't. He never has.
• Africa wasn't the answer to his problems. It helps.

My Final Paper

Jenna Theisen

Dr. Michael Sexson

9 December 2010

Mythologies

Loyalty of a True Friend

While reading Henderson the Rain King, I found the main character to be very self-centered, spoiled, dishonest, and all together rude. I think the majority of the people in the class related to Henderson toward the end of the book when he makes up for all of his mistakes. I, on the other hand, believe the most deserving character who did not get enough attention in the book is Romilayu, an African guide and interpreter of Henderson’s.

In the story Henderson wants to go to Africa on this big adventure and eventually runs into an African interpreter named Romilayu. He would guide Mr. Henderson on his journey across Africa and in return would get the jeep Henderson promised him.

I really admired Romilayu’s character. He is in his mid thirties and is obviously a very hard worker. The thing I admired most about him is his loyalty. Not only is he loyal to Henderson, but he is also extremely loyal to his religion. “He said his prayers every evening. He fetched up deep sounds from his chest, like confiding groans of his soul” (45-46). Even when Romilayu is in the worst of times and confronted with challenging obstacles, he never turns away from his religion.

Even when Henderson screws up the most with the frogs, it is Romilayu who is there to encourage him to be a better man. Everyone else is so disappointed in him, but not Romilayu. He minds his own business and does not point fingers at anyone.

Henderson does not think of Romilayu’s feelings when confronted with certain obstacles. When they stay in the hut and have to make a fire to stay warm, Henderson tells Romilayu, “Rustle up some kindling, I tell you, and make it snappy” (133). There is no respect in that tone. He does not treat Romilayu very well and Romilayu does not say or do anything negative to Henderson in return. Even when they find the dead body in the hut, Henderson does not treat him very well. He says, “I directed Romilayu to turn him over. He wouldn’t; he wasn’t able to obey….” (135). The word ‘obey’ makes it seem Romilayu is a slave to Henderson. That word alone shows disrespect towards Romilayu. Again this happens when Henderson freaks out and wants Romilayu to go and wake someone. He is confused and questions Henderson and all Henderson says is, “‘Do what I tell you’, I yelled….” (136). Romilayu is confused and is afraid of Henderson. All he wanted to do was please the man and Henderson wasn’t even kind enough to give him accurate instructions.

When Henderson finally gets to meet King Dahfu, he completely forgets about his buddy Romilayu. We see this in the first encounter with the king. Henderson momentarily forgets about Romilayu and then questions where he is. “I wanted him by my side. He was allowed to walk behind me in the procession, carrying all the gear. Tried in strength and patience, he bent under his double burden; it was out of the question for me to carry anything” (149). It was out of the question for him to carry anything because he was the guest of the king. I thought this scene right here was the most important scene in the book. Romilayu has been so faithful to Henderson, yet he lets him take most of the burden when he meets the king. Henderson shows his self-centeredness when not helping Romilayu. He acts as though he is better than the people under him, including a loyal friend.

There are very few scenes after this where Romilayu is mentioned. In fact the only time Henderson mentions Romilayu is when he is having difficulties with the king. And even then, the scenes are of Romilayu faithfully praying for the both of them.
We later learn that Romilayu has a family. He has a wife and six children. Yet, he is still out in the middle of Africa helping a man who in most cases does not deserve the loyalty of such a kind-hearted man like Romilayu. Then Henderson asks Romilayu to take a letter to send to his wife and gives him the papers to the jeep, but Romilayu is not happy. He knows that his dear friend is sad and that hurts him. He is so loyal that he does not want to leave the man in his darkest hour.

Finally, when Henderson is in real danger, it is Romilayu who gets him out. He does not turn his back on Henderson when all Henderson is worried about is the dead king. He helps him to escape from yet another darkness Henderson gets himself into.

Henderson does finally see the love Romilayu has for the man in the end and comes to appreciate Romilayu for all of his hard work and loyalty. He rewards him by buying more gifts and putting them in his new acquired jeep. While parting, Romilayu is so sad to see his friend go. After all Henderson has done, Romilayu is still so loyal and worried about him. With tears they finally go their separate ways. It is not until Henderson is truly alone for the first time does he appreciate all Romilayu has done for him.

People focus their attention on Henderson. He has gone through a lot of things in his voyage of finding his inner self and overcoming his problems. He has treated people with disrespect throughout the entire book. It is Romilayu who has always been there for him. Even when the king was gone, Romilayu was there to help him back up. Even when Henderson killed the frogs and destroyed the Arnewi’s culture, it was Romilayu who was there to help him move on and did not blame him. In my personal opinion, Romilayu is the hero hidden in the shadows of darkness. Without his loyal friend, Henderson would not have gone through the experiences he did to become a better man.

Bad Day

I finally did my homework. It is better late than never I guess. Today I had a bad day. It wasn't really all that bad to begin with, but then it got horrible.

My sister-in-law is staying with us for a few days because she is pregnant and my brother had to fly to Salt Lake on a business trip. She is from China and still feels a little uncomfortable by herself. Well, I was reading a book for one of my classes when she told me she had a lot of bleeding. At first I didn't understand her. But then it occurred to me she was talking about the baby. She seemed to think this was normal. I personally have never seen a pregnant woman bleeding as much as she was. I told her to get in the car and I was going to take her to the hospital. She has a two year old little boy who is super busy, so by the time we got him loaded up and we were on our way, it was getting late.

We finally made it to the hospital. Considering we live forty minutes away, I thought we made pretty good time. We met up with my step-mom (who is a nurse) at the ER. We waited for almost a half hour for someone to even show up at the check-in counter. Then they made her fill out a ton of paperwork (in which she did not understand because she can't really read/understand a lot of English). She finally got seen almost an hour after we got there. The nurse checked her out and said she had a bad tear in her uterus. That is NOT a good thing. She bled a lot and the doctors and nurses at the ER didn't seem to be all that bothered by this. Xuying, my sister-in-law, was super scared. The worst part of the evening was seeing her suffer. My step mom and I took turns watching the crazy, wild, hyper two year old boy. He was running around the hospital screaming at the top of his lungs. You would think they would have tried their best to get her seen and out of there just to get rid of the screaming kid. But they took their time.

Now I have only been to the ER a couple of times in my life. Both times I was there prior we got immediate care. The nurses took care of the patient as soon as he or walked in the door. Now they weren't really all that busy. I think there was only three other patients besides us.

They tested her hormone levels and got an ultrasound on the baby. Thank God the baby was still alive. The heartbeat was normal and the baby seemed to be healthy. But she was still loosing a lot of blood. The doctors said she had a miscarriage scare and that she at risk to lose the baby. We were all scared and very tired.

While my step mom and Xuying were talking with the doctor, my job was to take care of the kid. He seemed to have an endless supply of energy. I think we rad around that hospital fifteen times. The bad thing about watching him was I have blood sugar problems and we had not eaten dinner. My sugar was dropping fast and we couldn't get in to see my step mom for her to take a turn watching him. While his energy level seemed to have a bottomless pit, my energy level was failing fast.

We were there for almost FIVE HOURS! They forgot she was there, waiting for the results. That entire time she waited, she thought she lost her baby. It was terrible to see her in so much pain. We finally had to track down the doctor and ask what was going on. The doctor thought someone else had already talked to us and that we were gone. I almost switched my major right then and there. I wanted to become a nurse, because I was so upset with the lack of nurturing they did. I am telling you, the care she got was terrible! Even my step mom who is a nurse said she was super disappointed in the care she got. We waited for several hours to hear the results and no one bothered to come in. Now I could understand if they were busy. But by the time we left, the only other patient in there was asleep.

My brother was finally notified about our not-so-fun adventure and was really worried about his wife. He is hundreds of miles away and won't be back till friday. The hardest part is seeing her upset. Their son knew something is wrong and wanted his mom to hold him. She cannot of course because she cannot lift anything and has to be pretty much on bed rest. She is still bleeding a lot and feels really sick. I just pray the baby and Xuying are okay.

Tonight taught me many things. 1.) I do not think I ever want to have kids. He was completely crazy and a lot of work. 2.) Always carry something to eat at all times. 3.) There is definitely something wrong with our healthcare system. When the troubled patient has to wait a half hour to be seen because she has to fill out billing information first, we need to change. 4.) Most importantly I realized there is nothing more important than family. This week is super busy for me with school and I had a lot of homework and studying to do tonight. But when the time came, the last thing on my mind was homework. I have a quiz tomorrow and I am not even close to being prepared for it. I know I will not be happy with my score, but I will not regret my decision to take care family first.

Group Presentations 2nd day

Group #4

• Live music
• Golden Bough reading
• Hercules (Cornucopia)
• Feast--song "Unwritten"; Psalm 100
• Dry, no rain, too hot!
• Henderson the Rain King
• Synchronocity: Two events coming together by chance
• Possible Test Questions

1. What movie did Dr. Sexson mention we see related to the presentation? Answer: Oh Brother Where Art Thou
2. What was reffered to in the presentation? Answer: Golden Bough, Henderson the Rain King, Bible, Hercules and Aculous, and Apocalypse
3. What were the names of the three songs sung during the presentation? Answer: Rain, Rain, Go Away; Unwritten, Dancing for Rain
4. How did they come up with the topic of rain for their presentation? Answer: Golden Bough quote
5. What is significant about Counting Crows and this presentation? Answer: They have a song that mentions Henderson the Rain King.
6. When did he learn to play the guitar? Answer: 8 years ago
7. Why is the song Unwritten significant in this presentation? Answer: Gives a feeling of rain
8. Why did they use a blue sheet to represent the rain? Answer: It was easy and inexpensive (low budget)
9. How many times did they rehearse this presentation? Answer: 3 times

Group #5

• Skit
• "The Life of John (the college student)"
• Barbarians--Philistines
• Roomates ruin his Mythologies book
• "The way to win over a girl is to text her 15 minutes later and act like you don't care"
• Old beggar comes up to John and begs for money; he refuses
• "There are no boring books. Just boring people"
• "Books give life meaning" and "Don't let jealousy get the best of you"
• Girls dancing
• NO MAN
• Possible Test Questions

1. What does the buff guy do for a living? Answer: he sells Kirby vaccuums

Group #6

• MYTHOPOLY!!!
• Cool game pieces
• Daphne, Narcissus, Trojan Horse, Bear, Arachne, Sickness (Swan)
• Dr. Sexson's face was in the center
• Possible Test Questions

1. What happens when you land on FREE PARKING? Answer: You get a bag of gold coins
2. In the game Mythopoly, what is jail? Answer: Hades/Hell
3. Why isn't there a winner? Answer: The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.

Group Presentations 1st day

Group #1

• Double Mythology
• Categories: The Golden Bough, Henderson the Rain King, Myth and Reality, Ovid's Deities, and Blogs
• Possible Test Questions

1. What was the final question in Double Mythology? Answer: Draw Dr. Sexson and quote him.

Group #2

• Game
• Random slides
• Give clues and act some out
• Possible Test Questions

1. What is the modern version of Pan and Apollo? Answer: Tenacious D
2. What scene was acted out by Katie and Seth? Answer: Perseus and Madussa

Group #3

• Woman falls in love with a snowman
• Boys are all bad
• They scratch themselves and party too much
• John Madden answered prayer
• Snow boy turns into real boy
• Possible Test Questions

1. What substance did they use besides ivory? Answer: Snow
2. Who was the deity to grant her wish? Answer: John Madden (famous football coach/announcer)

Class Notes 11/18/10

AJAX and ACHILLES' ARMOR

• All stand up
• two guys try to get us on their side
• fight over Achilles' armor
• Throw it off the ship

AEOLUS, ULYSSES, CIRCE

• See home
• Men rip bag open
• The wind blows them off course
• Someone gets eaten
• Boats sink but Ulysses' boat
• Go to castle and drink brew
• Turn into pigs
• One guy tells Ulysses
• Ulysses goes to castle and gets magic
• Lady gives them brew, but nothing happens
• They get married
• Men turn back
• Leave one year later

CYPARISSUS

• Cyparissus shot his own deer
• Wishes to mourn forever
• Turns into Cypariss tree
• Sap is like tears on tree

ALCMENA

• Jove seduces Alcmena
• She is pregnant
• Juno makes birth go longer
• Boy is named Heracles
• Last mortal Jove seduces

IPHIS and IANTHE

• Poor couple; wants to kill girl
• Goddess Icis comes to her in sleep
• Gives birth to a girl
• Raises girl as a boy
• Wants to get married to a woman
• Iphis is turned into a man by gods at their wedding

DIOMEDES

• Tells story of way back from Trojan War
• Big storms--gods are mad
• Goddesses turn men into birds
• Can't go to war because of story

ROMULUS

• Twin, raised by she-wolf
• Romulus rules city of Rome
• Jove creates giant storm
• They turn into deity together

ERICSCYTHON

• Unbeliever--didn't respect gods
• Chopped down sacred tree of Ceres
• She cursed him with eternal hunger
• Sold daughter into slavery
• She shape-shifts out of slavery
• Sells her again
• Finally he eats himself

ACHELOUS and HERCULES

• Famous painting
• Both fight for Dianira
• Achelous turns into man, snake, and bull
• Hercules rips horn off
• Achelous turns into river

CEYX and ALCYONE

• Married, he wants to leave
• She doesn't want him to go
• He dies at sea
• Juno sends messenger to tell of his death
• She goes to sea and finds his body
• They both turn into birds

KIND MITUS

• Man was arrested for public intoxication
• Big party
• Asks for everything he touches turn to gold
• Food turns to gold
• Repents
• Goes to river to get rid of curse
• Lines banks of river with gold
• Pan brags he is a better player than Apollo
• Mitus votes against Apollo
• Has donkey ears
• Stylist whispers "Mitus has ass's ears" under rock
• When wind blows by river, you can hear the reads sing "Mitus has ass's ears"

Henderson the Rain King

"Persons who consulted the oracle of Faunus had to be chaste, to eat no flesh, and to wear no rings" Page 283.

I have finally gotten my book. What a crazy process that was. I ordered over a month ago and it was put on backorder. They said it wouldn't be here for another couple of weeks. I decided to cancel my order and overnight it. I got here Monday. I have been reading it and to be honest, I am not a huge fan of the main character. He seems to be a spoiled rich guy with a bad attitude. He drinks too much, has affairs, abusive, not a very good friend, not a good father, and is incredibly self-centered. I hope his character learns a big lesson in the end.

Class Notes 11/18/10

"Persons who consulted the oracle of Faunus had to be chaste, to eat no flesh, and to wear no rings". (Page 283)

IPHIGENIA

• Agamemnon is on his way to Troy
• Decides to sacrifice Iphigenia to goddess
• Diana takes pity
• Replaces Iphigenia with stag and lets them continue

POLYXENA

• Only person who knows of Achilles' weakness
• Killed by Achilles' son in front of mother.

SYBYL OF CUMAE

• Tells of Trojan War
• Before go to underworld, find Golden Bough
• Make offering to Diana
• Go to underworld
• ******Golden Bough=Ticket to underworld

ORPHEUS and EURYDICE

• They get married
• She gets bit by snake and dies
• He plays instrument to get her back
• Plays so beautiful, gets wife back
• looks back at her, she disappears
• They tear him apart while he sings the saddest part

ATALANTA and HIPPOCENES

• Atalanta is a very fast runner
• Challenges to race or husband
• If he wins, they get married; if he loses, he dies.
• Venus gives Hippocenes magic apples.
• He wins and they get married.
• Venus gets upset for no Thank You card
• They turn into lions

PAN and SYRINX

• Pan falls in love with Syrinx
• She turns into reed at river
• He breaks reeds and puts into panpipe she she will always be with him

MEDEA

• Gets sent to get Golden Flees
• Jason is challenged by Medea's father
• Medea loves Jason
• Chellenge to overcome bulls and dragon
• She distracts her father by killing her brother
• Jason gives flees to his father
• Medea gets angry and kills everyone including Jason's wife

ALTHAEA and MELEAGER

• Mom heard son will live as long as wood in fire
• grabs wood out of fire
• Atalanta is upset, throws wood in fire
• kills brother, then kills herself

CYNUS

• Son of Ares, handsome, cruel
• Tries to kill Hercules
• Ares tried to stop him
• Athena tries to stop Ares
• Hercules struck Cynus
• Gave sickness to Cynus
• *******Turned into swan

THESEUS and ACHELOUS

• They have a sleepover
• They tell stories

DEATH OF ACHILLES

• Was held by heal and dipped into River Styx
• Mother hid Achilles by dressing him like a girl
• Achilles fascinated by armor, went to war
• Fight over a woman
• He killed Hector and drug him behind chariot
• Achilles got shot in heal and died

MINERVA, THE MUSES, PEGASUS

• Minerva gets sick of take care of people
• Muses had great fountain from Pegasus
• Blessed land and Pegasus
• ******Pegasus=Fountain Horse

PERSEUS and ANDROMEDA

• Andromeda is chained to rock
• Perseus falls in love with Andromeda
• He saves her, then get married

THE BACCHANT/MAENAD

• Follower of Dyanessus
• Get drunk and be somebody
• Go hunting--anything that moves
• ****"Mad Women of Dyannesus"

CEPHALUSS and PROCRICE

• Face has been changed
• Goes to wife, tries to seduce her
• She doesn't give in
• He reveals he isn't a sexy stranger
• He is her husband
• She goes away
• Comes back, make up
• Gives him a gift
• Nymph goes to wife and says husband been unfaithful
• He throws sharp thing and stabs wife and kills her

ECHO and NARCISSIS

• Will he live to old age?
• Unless he notices himself
• Echo falls in love with him
• He dies and turns into flower

FALL OF TROY

• War started from goddesses
• Judges Aphrodite to be pretties of all
• Gives prettiest award away for apple
• They want Helen back, so war begins
• Gods were upset wot they would never make it home

GALLATIA and AXIS

• Gallatia--sea nymphs
• Man sings song to her
• Realizes she is with Axis
• Takes mountain and throws at Axis
• Axis becomes River God

PERSEUS and ATLAS

• Perseus (son of Jove)
• They get in fight about land
• Atlas wins
• Perseus shows Atlas Madussa's head
• Atlas turns to stone

CERCOPES

• Monkeys banned by Zeus
• Woman makes him work in dress
• Skirt gets ripped off
• Gets mad
• ***"Don't take life too serious" and "Don't be foolish like monkeys"

FOUNTAIN OF JANOS

• Juno unlocked gate
• Tried to overflow water to keep them safe from bad guys
• Many people died
• Both ruled together

Mythology in Everything

"The reluctance to mention the names or even syllables of the names of persons connected with the speaker by marriage can hardly be separated from the reluctance evinced by so many people to utter their own names or the names of the dead or of chiefs and kings; and if the reticence as to these latter names springs mainly from superstition, we may infer that the reticence as to the former has no better foundation." (Page 292)

I read this story for my Children's Literature class and had a desire to blog about it. It comes from the book Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor. It is a fairly new book, so I don't think it is widely popular yet. The story is called "Spicy Little Curses".

They story begins in Hell. A demon and the Ambassador to Hell. The demon loves to play tricks on people and put curses on them to get their souls. The Ambassodor, Estella, replaces the children's souls with people who have done terrible things. One day twenty two children were trapped under rubble from an earthquake. She makes a deal with the demon to save the children only if she will put a curse on one girl. She accepts the deal.

She held onto her side of the deal by going to a baby girl and cursing her to have the most beautiful voice anyone has ever heard, but cannot speak a word or everyone who hears will die. The little girl, Anamique, grows up and knows she cannot speak without harming everyone she loves. She writes all her thoughts and feelings in a diary.

Then one day a soldier coming back from the war on a train spots Anamique's missing diary and proceeds to read it. By the time he reached his final destination, he had fallen in love with the owner of this diary. He decides to find this woman who cannot speak. When he spots her, he immediately is entranced. It is love at first sight for both.

They write each other and go to balls and fall more and more in love. He finally whispers in her ear to say something. He doesn't believe in the curse. Then one day he proposes to her and before she can answer, he kisses her. She realizes he is afraid of her and flips out. She goes straight to the center of the room at this grand ball and sings this beautiful song. Everyone within hearing range falls over dead--including her love.

The demon was so happy his curse finally lead to souls coming to Hell that he was dancing and bragging. Estella, the Ambassador, was very old and upset. Anamique was so upset she had killed her one true love that she went down to Hell to get him back. While down there, she ran into Estella who told her all about the deal she and the demon had made and that she was terribly sorry for the curse. The only way she could make up for this terrible curse she put on the girl was to get James, Anamique's lover, back from the fires of hell. The only way that could happen was for Estella to sacrifice herself. After Estella died by Anamique singing the most beautiful song Anamique walked into the fire and grabbed went on a search for James's soul. While still singing the Lord of Hell heard her singing and was entranced. He made her a deal. He would let her bring all the people she killed, including James, back to life if she would replace the now dead Estella as the Ambassador of Hell. She gladly accepted. "She didn't see James or the others and she didn't turn round to look for them...She had learned from Orpheus's mistake, and did not look back".

She and James were married and had three beautiful children. She lived in both worlds. She had her family up on Earth and she would sing as much as she wanted while in Hell. The demon who ordered the curse on her in the beginning softened when he heard her sing and agreed to save as many children she wanted.

Bad Days

I haven't experienced a truly bad day in quite a while. I have not experienced a good day too. Every morning I wake up feeling terrible. I am taking this new medicine that is supposed to be making me feel better, but it is not. I wake up every morning feeling really weak. (Needless to say it is hard to get out of bed.) I wake up to a screaming two year old and his parents yelling back at him in Chinese. I finally make it to the kitchen where I try to block everything out of my head and get something to eat, but people are always asking me questions. I don't want to tell them that I really don't care about what I want for dinner tonight when I feel as if I am going to faint right now. It is super hard to keep your cool and not scream at someone when you feel terrible. I have gotten to the point where I feel terrible everyday. I put on a good face and never talk about it, but it gets me down sometimes.

To top it off, I injured my back at work. The doctor said I tore all of my muscle tissue along my spine and that is why it hurts so much to sit for long periods of time. So not only am I feeling terrible all day long to begin with, but now I cannot find a comfortable position to sit. When you have class all day long and have to carry around books, it isn't exactly the best thing for your back.

All in all, my days aren't really that bad. I don't feel great, but my computer hasn't broken down, or I didn't have a fight with my boyfriend, or my car hasn't broken down. I feel lucky to have had most of the things work in my favor and I am constantly surrounded by people I care about.

Daedalus and Perdix--Jenna Theisen

"It is natural to suppose that the various events of the agricultural year were celebrated by the Egyptian farmer with some simple religious rites designed to secure the blessing of the gods upon his labours" (429).

One day when Daedalus was burying his son, he saw a bird flapping its wings. Daedalus knew this was no ordinary bird. He knew it was his dead nephew Perdix.

Long ago when Perdix was only twelve years old, he came to stay with Daedalus and his wife. The boy wanted to observe Daedalus make things, so he would try and be just like him. Perdix studied Daedalus and started taking Daedalus' inventions to the next level. Instead of inventing a blade, Perdix went one step further and put teeth along the sharp blade to make a saw. Daedalus was enraged his nephew invented this new object without his approval. He was so enraged he threw Perdix down from Minerva's citadel and said he fell. Minerva quickly turned Perdix's clothes into feathers and gave him wings to fly. Perdix was turned into a bird just before he hit the ground.

Perdix was turned into a Partridge. To this day Partridges lay their eggs in lower shrubs and do not dare to fly too high because of the fall Perdix took.

"For in Egypt the oxen which were sacrificed had also to be red; a single black or white hair found on the beast would have disqualified it for the sacrifice" (Pg 441).

PHAETHON: A kid talks his dad into letting him drive the sun chariot, but loses control and dies.

EROPA: Jove turns into a bull and leads Eropa into the water.

CALLISTO: Jove rapes her and Juno turns her into a bear.

CORONUS: A woman turns into a bird and Apollo shoots her, not knowing she is pregnant with his child.

"It is natural to suppose that the various events of the agricultural year were celebrated by the Egyptian farmer with some simple religious rites designed to secure the blessing of the gods upon his labours" (429).

I was a little disappointed in my test score. I studied a lot, but have a difficult time with names. The names on the test killed me. I think for the next test I will study the names A LOT more. Hope everyone did better than I did.

Jenna Theisen --Earliest Memory/Dream

I decided to write about Amberly's blog about her son and the spider in the window. I liked this memory because it reminded me of my earliest memory. When her son first noticed the spider in the window, he wasn't scared. It is only because his parents made him aware of how the spider can bite him that he made a connection to fear. This little boy sounds adorable. However, if they did not warn him about this evil creature in the window, he probably would not have a fear for it. Now the poor child will probably be terrified for life and maybe not evil remember why.

EARLIEST MEMORY-- I was about three years old and I was sent to bed for "nap" time. I never have been able to take naps. I would lie there for an hour and stay completely awake. I was lying on the bottom bunk in my room when I heard a noise. I had never heard that sound before and grew curious. The noise was a buzzing sound and it would be loud and then disappear. I realized the noise was coming from the top bunk, my brother's bed. Being the curious child I was, I climbed the ladder attached to the bed and ascended to the world of complete terror. Not knowing why this little creation flying about the room was making so much noise, I reached out to grab it. OUCH!!! You guessed it. I had grabbed a bee. Not only was it a bee, but it was a yellow jacket! I screamed and yelled and thought I was going to die. My mother ran into the room and while comforting me, told me I had been stung by a bee and that I should not try to touch it. Ever since this horrific and scary event, I have been scared of bees.

LATEST DREAM-- I had a wild dream last night. I dreamt my best friend from childhood came to a football game with me. I haven't seen her in years and she hadn't changed a bit. She was still the same size and age I last saw her. We talked and had a lot of fun. Then something happened and the game was cancelled and I was supposed to get back to work. I work at the stadium on campus and my boss was yelling at me, telling me to clean up all this mess. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. All of my coworkers were there watching me clean up all this mess. Then out of the blue I noticed the reason the game was cancelled. There was a big tornado-ish thing in the sky and was destroying the stadium. I ran inside to where all the other people were and my small friend. When I got inside, I noticed it was a mall. The shops were all open and I was trying to get people out of the building. No one would listen. I then was randomly in a car chase going downhill on a windy road. I could hear my boss in the background asking if I was planning on coming back to work later. Then I woke up.

Jenna Theisen--Chinese Creation Story

I found several creation stories. The creation story I found most interesting to me was the Chinese creation story. I obviously found this interesting because I am living with a chinese woman right now and have become interested in her culture. The story I found about how the earth and man came to be is the Egg story.

In the very beginning the world didn't have a heaven or an earth. Pan Ku, their creator, was sleeping on this egg. After about 18,000 years he awoke suddenly, breaking the egg. The top part of the egg was light and clear, so it became heaven; and the bottom part was dense and dark, so it became the earth. This is where yin-yang came about--"the two sides that make up a whole" (Baker).

"Pan Ku was born larger than any man and with a hammer and chisel in hand. With these tools, he further separated the sky and the land." Four mythical creatures helped him: "the tiger, phoenix, dragon, and tortoise. After another 18,000 years, he had built enough to assure the heaven and earth would never meet again" (Baker).

Pan Ku stayed very busy trying to build the world. After his death he created wind, clouds, soil, rock, water, mountains, stars, the sun and moon, and finally humans. "His flesh became soil, his bones rock, and his blood filled the rivers and seas. His limbs and body became the five major mountains in China. His hair became the stars in the sky. From his sweat came the rain to nourish the land. His eyes became the sun and the moon. And finally, from the small creature on his body, which has been equated to parasites in some translations, came man."

I love this creation story because the Chinese are very against waste. They do not like to waste anything. When Pan Ku died, all of his remains were recycled into the objects that make up the world.

I found all my information at this website:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29121.asp

Family--Jenna Theisen

So my brother Paul and his chinese wife and son are living with us now. They arrived in the United States only Wednesday and are trying to adjust to the culture shock of Montana. Paul grew up here so he is adjusting fine. It is his wife, Xuying who is having a difficult time. She has never visited nor been outside of China. She speaks some English, but not enough to fully communicate yet. I feel really bad for her because she misses her entire family. In China the whole family lives together. She has never really been away from home.

What is really interesting is she is Buddhist. She wears a Buddha necklace around her neck and has a huge poster of him in their room. She has many beliefs that are very different from ours. We found a poster advertising something about Zen and wanted to know if she would be interested in participating. She immediately said NO. You must practice the same religion you grew up with. She has many different culture issues too. For example, she has never driven a car before. I spent a few hours on our farm teaching her how to drive. It was challenging for both of us because the communication part was very difficult. But that experience brought us closer together.

Their two-year-old son Dawson is adorable. He speaks mostly chinese, but understands most English. He cannot say my name yet, but Paul and Xuying taught him to say my chinese name Gu-Gu (which means brother's sister in chinese). So now he runs around the house saying "Gu-Gu! Cu-Gu!Gu-Gu!". It is pretty funny.

I am so happy to have them home in Montana. We are all still trying to get to know each other and adjust to the new family and cultures, but it has been a blast learning.

Jenna Theisen

I finally got my blog going. YAY!!! I am terrible with computers.