Week 13: Famous Last Words: Goodbye OU!

Wow, it is really hard to come to the realization that this semester is only two more weeks from being over. In fact, I graduate in exactly 23 days! I can’t even believe that I will be graduating from the University of Oklahoma with not one, but TWO degrees. This week has been a particularly special week because I just got accepted into graduate school! I will be pursing a masters in public health with an emphasis on biostatistics and epidemiology.  I will also be attending medical school at Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. I am trying to figure out now if I want to spend a year only working on a masters, or if I should go ahead and start medical school and then do joint enrollment and take one masters course per semester while in medical school and graduate with my MPH and DO on the same day in 2019. Although it kind of makes my head hurt thinking about it, I am also extremely excited for the future!

On the same topic of great news, my friend informed me of a really great job opportunity this week! She just started working with United Allergy Services as an Allergy Technician and she loves the job. The company is based out of San Antonio, although they are located all over the country. They require a bachelors degree and at least one year of experience in the medical field, which I have! The start pay is really great and I am a phlebotomist so I found out they may pay me even more. Needless to say, about two weeks ago I was absolutely frightened about graduating, but I more excited than ever about my future after undergrad. I  will be moving back to Ft. Worth, Texas a couple days after convocation and I couldn’t be more excited! 

Graduation photo taken by Matthew Griffin Photography.

Week 12 Essay: Life of Buddha

This is the first week that I decided to try the UnTextbook option. The reading diaries for the Ramayana and Mahabharata started to become a bit repetitive, so I went ahead and tried this one out. I really really enjoyed it! Because of my background in yoga (along with social media), I have heard many Buddha quotes. They have always been very inspirational and I am constantly trying to rid negativities in my life. Because of this outlook, I decided to read about The Life of Buddha this week. Although there were many other intriguing options, this one seemed the most interesting to me.

When I first started reading, it was not at all how I expected it to be. I thought that the story would be about Buddha and his teachings and medications and how he touched people’s lives. However, it started off with his mother receiving news that she was to bear a very special child. When I was reading this story I couldn’t help but think about the story in the Bible pertaining to Mary and immaculate conception with Jesus.

Eventually Buddha was born and he was a prince. Everyone loved him everywhere he went because he was stunning. He chose to live the life of a hermit and it hurt his father’s feelings but he was proud of his son. That was one of the main differences as opposed to the Jesus story. Jesus claimed to be king but he knew that his kingdom was not of tis world. Many people (aside from his followers) ridiculed him and mocked him as the King of the Jews. I would really encourage anyone who claims to be a Christian to read this story to look at the parallels between the Life of Buddha and the story depicted by the Bible. I would also like to get a timeline on when the Life of Buddha was originally written because that could lead to some controversial debates. Overall, I am so glad I read this because it has my mind racing!

Photo found online.

Week 12 Storytelling: The Life of Buddha

Hello Class, I would like to share a couple of stories with you that are near and dear to my heart. Today I would like to bring up two world religions: Christianity and Buddhism.  Many of you have heard about Christianity because we live in the state of Oklahoma, however, what many of you may not know quite as well is the story of The Life of Siddhartha—or Buddha as we have mostly heard him called.

Maya, Siddhartha’s mother, received news from the gods that she is to bear a child—a prince. She did not know if the child was going to be good or bad so she addressed a Brahma who informed her that he will live the life of a monk and deserve great praises. Throughout her pregnancy, people went to her to cure diseases. When he was to be born, Maya’s servants decorated the area with precious stones and rare perfumes. Shortly after Siddhartha’s birth, his mother passed away. Siddhartha was radiant and everyone praised him wherever he went. Even his teacher felt unworthy to teach, only to be taught by him. The prince learned about the aging and death of humanity. When he learned how to meditate, he hoped to rid all of that. He led a life of a hermit and eventually had a dream that he would become a Buddha.

Now, as I’m sure many of you can tell, there are many differences in this story. I do not think this story has any historical evidence, however, there are still many parallels in comparison to the story of Jesus. Jesus was born of Mary by immaculate conception. When he was born, the three wise men brought him many gifts. Throughout his life he chose to live like the people, even though he claimed to be the Son of Man. These two characters could have easily lived a life of riches and fame, but they knew that was not what they were called to do. They knew that life had much more meaning than material items and they sought to find it.

I hope you all found this story interesting and I encourage you to try and find a similar story for each different world religion. The point of religion is not to worship a certain god, but to believe in a higher being. Remind yourselves of that as you do research on this topic. Class is dismissed!

Photo found online.

Author’s Note: I chose to write this story as if I was a Religious Studies professor for OU. I wanted to elaborate how similar the story of the Life of Buddha is to Christianity because I saw so many parallels when I was reading! 

Source: The Life of Buddha UnTextbook

Week 12 Reading Diary B: Siddhartha becomes Buddha

Siddhartha speaks to his horse, Kanthaka to take him away from his father in search of beatitude. The horse took him as far as he wanted to go so they stopped. There he let Chandaka have the horse because he was a true friend. He gave Chandaka a necklace to give to his father and told him that he doesn’t want anyone to ever be unhappy. He is going into hermitage to make the world a better place, not to spite anyone. Chanda had an extremely hard time dealing with this. The Gods came and presented Siddhartha with the robe that he wished to wear.

Chandaka returned and told Siddhartha’s father about what he hoped to accomplish. His father wept but was also very proud of his son’s strength. Siddhartha went to the city of Rajagriha. The king was informed of a God begging and so he offered him riches and even half of his city, but of course Siddhartha could not accept. At one point, people thought he was dead. His mother descended and wept but he assured her that he would not die. He stayed on the banks of the river for 6 more years in the wilderness. He realized he was malnourished and went to a village nearby. His disciples left him because he needed nourishment. He had a dream that told him he would become a Buddha.

Photo found online.

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Life of Buddha

King Suddhodana’s wife had a dream. She went to the forest and called for him. There she told him that she wanted her dream interpreted by a brahman to determine if it was good or bad. The brahmans told her that a son is to be born unto them. He will be live the life of a monk and deserve great praises. The king and queen were overjoyed to hear the news. The king gave to the poor and Maya cured the ill.

Finally, the day came for the birth of Buddha. The queen insisted on having her child in the innocence of nature. The king had the servants prepare the gardens with precious decorations. He had the servants use pearls and precious stones and rare perfumes. Upon Buddha’s birth, everything in the world became beautiful and pure. The kind named him Siddhartha. The hermit Asita further verified the extreme glory to come with the life of this child. Only seven days after the birth of this child, Maya passed away. The child was to be looked after by her sister, Mahaprajapati.

One day Mahaprajapati put jewelry on the young prince. However, it was hard to tell he was even wearing any because of how radiant he was. Siddhartha finally came of age where he was assigned a teacher, Visvamitra. Visvamitra was in awe and he told the prince that he could teach him nothing, in fact, the prince should teach him instead. After that, he had his first meditation. Hermits who passed him bowed as he quietly meditated under a tree. The shadow of the trees had all moved except the one the prince was under.

The prince traveled to a city where he saw and old man and became extremely upset. He could think of nothing other than old age. He decided to return to the city where he had two more encounters. The first was a man afflicted with disease. The second encounter of the two was the corpse of a man. He was continually amazed at how man continue day by day with the knowledge of death.

Photo found online.

Storytelling Week 11: Draupadi of the Fire

Draupad, the king of Panchal had no children for many years. He performed rituals and prayed to the Gods for fertility so that he could have a child. Finally, after many failed attempts, two children appeared from the fire: Draupadi and her brother, Dhrishtadyumna. The fire was burning in order for Drupad to fulfil his vengance against his enemy, Dronacharya. Dhrishtadyumna was the first child to appear from the fire, and then Draupadi followed. The birth was unique because she was not born as an infant like we would think. No, she was born full growth and in the pinnacle of her youth and beauty because she was divinely created, not from a womb like us.

In nature fire can be very restorative. It is very good in ecosystems although our society has led us to believe that forest fires are detrimental. Without periodic fires, soils would not restore their nutrients and plants could not grow. I believe it is this restorative idea of fire that makes the birth of Draupadi so powerful.

Draupadi was known for her beautiful lotus smell that could be sensed for miles. Along with her beauty, she was extremely beautiful. It is said that she would destroy all evil. But what is it about her personality that makes her able to defeat evil? As previously noted, Draupadi was born when king Draupad least expected to have children. She is without a doubt a gift from the gods—her beauty alone is proof of this. However, why isn’t her brother the one with this special gift since he was born of fire also?  It is believed that her gift comes because she is a woman. Because she was born from the holy pyre, not requiring a womb, she is specially known for her fertility. Her brother cannot bear children and thus he does not receive such an honor although he obtains others.

Photo found online.

Author’s Note: This is written from a third point of view because I didn’t want to make this very personal. I chose to give a history of the birth of Draupadi and some details about her defining characteristics. She is known for her remarkable beauty and smell, but why is she the one that will defeat the Kuru line and not her brother? I chose to make it because she is a woman that is known for her fertility and able to bear children despite the fact that she was not born of a womb.  Her brother was not called to do so simply because he is a male.

Bibliography:

Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata.  

Week 11 Reading Diary B: Pandavas

This episode starts off with the Pandavas running away. Bhima sets the house on fire, but Purochana built a tunnel so they were able to escape with few deaths. Once they left the tunnel, they were taken away by the boatman. They are disguised as Brahmins. Draupadi and her brother, Dhrishtadyumna, were born by butter melted into fire. Their father is King Drupada. Drupada set an archery test to the Pandavas where of course Arjuna dominated. He was actually the only one who passed. Because of this he won Draupadi as his wife. People were surprised, however, because no one knew that he was a Pandava; they were still disguised as wondering Brahmins. Draupadi marries all of the Pandava brothers. Arjuna meets Krishna in the forest and falls in love with his sister Subhadra. He takes her to be his wife. Arjuna and Krishna are approached by Agni who wants to eat the forest. They distract Indra. Maya seeks Arjuna’s protection from Agni and builds a palace for the Pandavas as a gift.

Photo of Draupadi found online.

Week 11 Reading Diary A: Intro to Buck's Mahabharata

In Buck’s version of the Mahabharata, he starts with an invocation of the story. In here Vyasa is the composer of the Mahabharata and Ganesha is the scribe who wrote down while he dictated. The elephant head of Ganesha comes from when Shiva got angry with him and tore of his real head. He ended up replacing his head with that of an elephant’s which is why he has a human body but an elephant head. There is a background of how certain people came to be. The ocean was originally milk and upon it’s churning, Rambha, Lakshmi and others appeared. It turned to poison and Shiva swallowed it.

Shantanu and Ganga fall in love along the Ganges river. She agrees to marry him only if he does not ask her questions of her actions throughout their marriage. Each child that she births she drowns in the river up until the 8^th child, Vasu. She gives Ganga that child and dives into the river where she disappears. That child is Bhishma. Satyavati is born inside of a fish. Her and Parashara have a child named Vyasa. Drona and Kripi had a child together. Drona came to King Drupada to ask for help because they could not feed their child. The king treated him with cruelty. Bhishma employed Drona (and Kripa) as a teacher for Pandava and Kurava princes. Arjuna is the best pupil of all the Pandavas.

Photo of Ganesha found online. 

Week 10 Famous Last Words

Wow, getting back into the swing of school after being at the beach for a week is difficult. With graduation quickly approaching, I find school work becoming a burden! Senioritis is truly hitting me. Luckily that dreaded post-spring break week is over and I am finally finding some motivation for this second wind before I graduate. Taking 19 credit hours my last semester of undergrad was not a wise decision.

This weekend was the Medieval Fair which is my favorite part of the spring semester! In the past, my mom and little sister have been in town and we went as a family. This year, knowing my family wouldn’t be with me, I got some of my friends together along with my boyfriend and his little sister. We all went and had a really great time! My favorite part about the fair is the food because I love every kind of food. Unfortunately, almost all of the food there is fried and my body didn’t appreciate that very much. However, I endured the pain and ate a funnel cake, corndog, and a spiral spud. A spiral spud is a whole potato that has been cut in one continuous spiral form and then fried.

In between binge eating fried foods, I played with animals at the exotic animal area. I held a tarantula, pet a large iguana, and cradled a baby kangaroo. I also almost got stepped on by a giant tortoise and took a picture with a ridiculously heavy snake around my neck. Overall, it was quite a success. I made sure to wash my hands with soap and water afterwards before returning to my food. If you haven’t been to the medieval fair, definitely go next year!

After such an exciting day, I went home for the evening and completed some homework. However, I was quite exhausted and ended up falling asleep. It was quite a successful weekend back in Norman! I will be sad to graduate and leave this fun town.

Personal photo taken this weekend at the Medieval Fair in Norman.

Storytelling Week 10: The Statue of Bhima

War can bring out the worst in people. We have seen this throughout many centuries of village raids. Bhima, a fine warrior, killed many people in this war. He killed the elephant Ashwatthama. He killed Duhshasana and after mutilated his body and drank his blood. Because Duhshasana is the brother of Duryodhana, he hides in despair because of the loss of his brother. “I cannot go on any longer” he says, “That was my best friend and I am too distraught to live life without him.” After coming to the realization that he was angry instead of sad, he decides to dual Bhima who ends up completely hurting him by wounding his thigh. He eventually dies.

Many people were upset by Bhima’s action because he is so brutal in combat. He is notorious for his behavior as a teenager and adolescent because of how he mutilated cats and other small animals in his back yard. His uncle, Dhristarashtra, was especially reluctant towards him. He took Bhima in at a young age because both of his parents were killed in battle. Although he tried to be as good of a father as possible, there was always something off about their relationship. After the end of the war, Dhritarashtra wanted to kill Bhima. For no particular reason really, he was just so upset and Bhima was usually who he took his anger out on.

Krishna was around the corner and heard Dhritarashtra talking in an angry stuper. “Where is my nephew?” He scolded,  “He no longer deserves to live after all that he has done!!” Krishna knew how important Dhritarashtra was to Bhima, regardless of how poorly he treated him. Bhima was always respectful to his uncle because he forever owed him for taking care of him as a young boy. Krishna built a statue with the same clothes and scent as Bhima. It was so realistic that even people who weren’t blind could have fallen for it!

Krishna placed the statue in the corner of the room ready for action whenever Dhritatashtra arrived. Eventually he did, and he came near the statue due to the familiar scent of Bhima. Just as Dhritatashtra came to attack Bhima, the real Bhima entered the room and saw the scene take place. He watched as his uncle attacked what he thought was him. Distraught, he ran out and never returned. He had known for so long that his uncle wasn’t his number one fan, but he had no idea how deep the hatred ran. He lived in the forest and died from a poisonous snake bite.

Bhima vs Duryodhana. Photo found online.

Author’s Note: I chose to write about the Statue of Bhima. I kept the same overall story line, but I added some random details of my own in there with regards to their family history. I wanted to add the dichotomous relationship between Bhima and Dhritarashtra to show that Bhima had respect for his uncle even though he wasn’t always nice to him.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Week 10 Reading Diary B: Pandava Lives On

Krishna arrives at Dhritarashtra’s emissary and he throws and elaborate reception for her although that is not what she wanted. He plans to take Krishna captive. Yudhishthira makes Dhrishtadyumna the commander of his troops. Bhishma is the commander of Duryodhana’s troops. The battle is going to be at the field of Kurukshetra. Drona escapes Dhrishtadyumna’s attemps at killing him. Bhishma assaults Krishna and it makes Arjuna super mad. But when Krishna went to go kill him, Arjuna pleaded that he don’t. Arjuna shot Bhishma. Arjuna attacks and kills Karna when his chariot wheel got stuck in the mud showing no mercy. After the battle is over, Pandavas go to Hastinapura. Dhritarashta wants to kill Bhima but Krishna puts a statue in his place and Dritarashta crushes the statue thinking it was him. Bhishma was still dying and Yudhishthira goes to speak to him. Eventually once he passed, he was cremated and put along the shores of the Ganges river. Krishna’s city was brought down by the people and he is eventually killed by a hunter who had mistaken his feet for birds. The Pandava line continues as Arjuna’s son eventually becomes king at Hastinapura.

Photo of Bhishma on his deathbed. Found online.

Week 10 Reading Diary A: Pandava quarrels

In this episode, we see the Pandavas are acquiring weapons. While they live in the forest, they chase after a dear that had stolen a staff from a brahmin. They were warned not to drink the water in the forest but they did it anyways. In their thirteenth year of exile, they are disguised as different average people.

Later on in the story, Uttara and Abhimanyu get married. The Pandavas make another peace offering. Here he asks for five villages for each of the brothers to be separated. If this were to happen then war could be avoided. Karna has the Brahmastra weapon. Bhishma tells him that he is conceited and this makes him super angry. War is imminent.

Photo found online.

Week 9 Storytelling: The Childhood of Bhishma

Once upon a time, there was a man named Shantanu. He fell in love with a woman who was very mysterious. Her name was Ganga. She only agreed to marry him if he didn’t question her. He was so lovestruck that he agreed. His wife had deep psychological issues and drowned all of their offspring except the last one. She had reasoning for why she did this, although she never told him why—and she didn’t have to since he agreed in the beginning to ask any questions.

The youngest son that was still living went by the name Bhishma. Bhishma’s parents never told him what happened to his siblings, although he had heard his mother speak of her previous pregnancies. He was a happy boy growing up even though he didn’t have any other siblings to play with. For the most part, he spent time with his mom—he was the definition of a momma’s boy.

The first day of school had arrived and Bhishma had to be separated from his mom 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. He dreaded it at first, but as time went on he began to gain some autonomy. One day, on his way to school, he ran into some classmates. They asked why his mother had drown all of his older siblings. “What?” He exclaimed, “My mother is a wonderful woman. She has always been there for me. There is no way she could ever do that!” Enraged by what they had said, Bhishma stormed home to tell his mother of the terrible rumours he heard.

When Bhishma asked Ganga about the drownings, she was speechless. She had completely forgotten about those tragic events that were suppressed so deep in her memory.  “Oh, son….” She explained, “I have wanted to tell you for many years, but there is no way you would ever understand. I didn’t want to hurt you.” Expecting her to tell him that it was all a lie, Bhishma ran out of the room in tears. He felt so betrayed by his mother that he decided to run away; after all, she was the most important person in his life and she couldn’t even tell him the truth!

Bhishma ran away into the forest where he was attacked by a rakasha. He screamed for his mother’s help but he was too far gone at that point. The next day, Ganga had to bury her son that would still be alive had she told him the truth from the beginning.  

Photo of Bishma brought to his father grown; found online.

Author’s Note: I decided to have Bhishma grow up in a normal community with his mother and father instead of  having Ganga return him to his father when he was grown. During this time he finds out about the drowning of his older siblings through other children at school. I made it seem more like a realistic story because tragic events like that would be talked about in a society like ours today. The moral of the story is that your past actions will always catch up with you if you choose not to face those demons or “skeletons” in the closet.

Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.

Week 9 Reading Diary B: Exile of Pandavas

Part B starts off with Duryodhana worried because he finds out the Pandavas are still alive. He invites them back and give them part of his kingdom. They build it into the city of Indraprastha. Duryodhana is extremely jealous but he warned not to do anything. Crystal Palace is built  to rival Indraprastha. Yudhishthira gambles away Draupadi. She refuses to come out but Duhshasana drags her out and she calls on Krishna for help. Once her robe is removed, her body is replaced with a different one. Yudhishthira loses again and this time him and the Pandavas are in exile for 13 years. Vyasa assures him that all of his enemies will be defeated in the future. This chapter ends with Arjuna meets up with the Pandavas five years later.

Photo found online.

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Intro to Narayan’s Mahabharata

Just as in the beginning of the Ramayana, I was a bit overwhelmed reading about all of these new characters with different identities and names. This reading starts off with Shantanu marrying a woman who is the Ganga river incarnate. She drowns their babies because she is giving birth to eight gods who are being punished. Shantanu then falls in love with another woman, a fisherman’s daughter (he must have a thing for women who live in water). Pandu cannot have children because of the curse that was put upon him when he shot a deer while it was mating. His curse was that he would die the same way--making love.

Purochana builds a house for the Pandavas. They esape through a tunnel after setting it on fire. While they were hiding, Bhima kills a rakshasa. He then marries one of the sisters of the rakshasa, Hidimbi. They have a son Ghatotkacha. Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, realizes that the Pandavas are in disguise as brahmins. Arjuna wins Draupadi as a bride. Kunti tells the brothers to share what they won, so they shared Draupadi. Ironically, she had five husbands in a previous life. Wow, it would be exhausting to have 5 husbands!

Photo of Draupadi and her 5 husbands. Found online.

Famous Last Words Week 8

This past week has been quite crazy as I have been recovering from being stranded last weekend! With all the snow days and missed classes, I’m sure everyone has had quite a crazy week also. I can’t believe that D-Bo cancelled so much class! Thanks again pres!! With spring break just around the corner, I decided to take full advantage of the snow and went sledding with a bunch of my friends over at Griffin Park. We had so much fun! I think we went all out because we knew this would be the last snow storm we would get before the weather begins to stay consistently warm. We had a massive snow ball fight also. I felt like a kid on christmas morning.

Anyways, one of the things that everyone has been ranting about this week is the video of SAE on campus. In light of recent events, it is important that we as a society realize that racism is still alive. I feel bad for the men who are forced to evacuate their home in the middle of their mid-terms. But, it is really great that president Boren sends a message that racism WILL NOT under any circumstances be tolerated on his campus. One thing that has bothered me throughout this whole issue is the fact that students are posting statuses on social media saying that they are “ashamed of their alma mater.” For starters, one stupid fraternity does not depict this university as a whole. I’m confused how people can say that they’re ashamed of their school just because of a handful of people. Obviously this is heartbreaking to our university, but I feel that our President has made it clear his stance on the matter which should make all of us as students at his university proud. Anyways, hopefully everyone’s voices will be heard. All I have to say is thank goodness next week is spring break!

Personal photo taken March 2015.

Commenting Review Week

Everyone in this course is coming from different backgrounds and majors. Some of us have been in college for 5 years straight while others are just going through the second year or so. No matter what, everyone is at different stages of their academic careers and so we all have different styles and levels of writing. For example, I am not a very great writer and I know that. So having other students comment on my blogs really helps get a different perspective. I am always up for learning and I think we can all learn from each other in this course.  Having other students comment on my blog helps me make sure I’m on the right track and it helps me fix problems in my writing that I would not have previously noticed.

When writing a short comment, I usually focus on the author’s note and why they chose to write that way. When leaving a long comment, I start with the title and author’s note. From there I look at how they write, and try to relate it to what they are trying to get at. I think a title can really catch readers attention so if it is super original and catchy, then I always make a comment about it. The most important part of receiving and giving comments is to be critical but yet give positive reinforcement. It is really important on the receiving end to not take anything personally. After all, at least we don’t have to see these people face to face!

  

Photo found online. 

Writing Review Week

Upon entering this class, I didn’t know what to expect.  When I found out that we would be writing blog posts every week along with a project that included more writing, I was immediately overwhelmed. However, as time has gone on I think this class has helped me get over a “writers block” as some would call it. Because I am a science student, my courses have not required me to write like this. In combination with a couple other courses, this semester has required more writing than all of my undergraduate work combined. This class in particular has really helped me just flow. It also has helped work the creative side of my brain {which has always been lacking}. I usually am given information, memorize it, and the regurgitate it. This class has taught me to take information, digest it, and then put my own unique spin on things. I have learned so much because of it! 

For the second half of the semester, I’d like to bring more quotes into my stories. I have been avoiding a third person point of view because I dread the writing part with commas and quotation marks. It would be a disaster to critique! I have read many other students blogs that have included this type of writing so I think if I continue to read a few more I may be comfortable enough to do it myself. I really enjoy the feedback that I’ve received and given to students. Part of being a college student is to learn. Although we turn to our professors for guidance, it is amazing how much we can learn from our peers. This class has taught me to do so even more than before. I am truly amazed at what this class has done for me. I came in wanting to learn about some awesome stories (which I have ) but I also get to leave with a whole new appreciation for authors, peers, and of course my professors. This has been really rewarding because it is unlike any class I’ve taken. It will be wonderful to look back at the blog that I’ve been compiling for a whole semester. 

Image found online. 

Reading Review Week

The readings in the course thus far have been different versions of the traditional Indian epic, the Ramayana. We started with Narayan’s version, which is the first version I’ve ever encountered. In fact, I’ve never read any sort of indian epic until this class, which is why I took it! After two weeks of reading Narayan’s version, we turned to Buck’s version of the Ramayana. It may just be preferential because it was my first, but I preferred Narayan’s version, I felt that Buck’s version pointed more focus on parts of the story that I personally did not find quite as important. I really enjoyed the Reading Diaries because they help keep me on track with the readings. In retrospect, I forgot quite a bit of what I had read. One thing I have really enjoyed is the Pinterest portfolio. It gives me a visual to what these character are like because I am very much a visual learner. My favorite character from the Ramayana is Hanuman. Upon further investigation on Pinterest, many other people found him as a really strong, loyal, and cornerstone character also. The photos I found of him always depict him in a very loyal manner.

If I had one word of advice for future students, it would be to get your work done ahead of time. Although past students seem to have pounded that into our class, I couldn’t agree with them more. The assignments really don’t take very long but it is important to get ahead instead of behind because it can seem overwhelming. If you don’t understand the reading at first, read the the Reading Guides. They are so helpful! Also, if you can’t decide what you think about a character, make sure to look up the Ramayana online. There are many different websites talking about the story because it is such a legacy.

Photo of Hanuman and Rama found online.

Indian Epic UnTextbook

The Reunion of Sita and Rama--- The Iliad of the East: The Ramayana, By Fredrika Richardson

Chapter XIX: Pages 301-310

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t54f1rt80;view=1up;seq=320

I chose this particular book to review because I’ve read a bit of the Iliad so I thought it would be fun to read the Eastern version. As I was reading, I felt that it was written like an ancient Indian epic should be written. It was quite formal and had very deep, emotional depth to it. I felt like I was able to connect with the characters on a better level. I really enjoyed how it was written. I don’t think there was much I disliked about it. It was a bit more difficult to read but I really enjoyed it!! I like how the chapter started out with Sita in the cold cave that she was trapped in. After the emotional roller coaster of proving her purity to Rama, he finally gave in and held her. Great story! They will always be my favorite Ramayana couple.

Famous Last Words For Week 7

Wow, what a crazy week it has been thus far with the weather, huh? Well, last week my boyfriend surprised me and told me that we were going to Vegas for the weekend that I should get to packing. So, this past weekend I was walking through elaborate hotels and watching amazing shows. When we went to go print out our boarding passes Sunday night, we were informed that our flight into Dallas was cancelled because of the ice/snow storm. This was at 11pm Sunday night. Well…. Reversing a little bit. We checked out of our hotel Sunday morning at 10am and had the hotel hold our luggage for us until our flight that night. SO…. After walking up and down the strip for 13 hours we then found out we weren’t going home that night. Due to excessive ice we were unable to get a flight home until Tuesday… Into Dallas… and then had to drive up to Oklahoma after that. I didn’t get home until pretty late last night so I have been playing catch-up on all of my school work at the library since 8am! Let me tell you I am exhausted. Luckily most of my friends are doing a lot of homework and studying today also so I’ve had some company here at the lovely Bizzell. Anyways, despite the ending of the trip I had so much fun! Las Vegas is a beautiful city. I’ve heard it referred to as “Sin City” but I never felt like it was too terrible. Then again, maybe that’s because I didn’t enter any establishment that would make me feel that way :). The first day we were there it was sunny and beautiful! We were able to go to the top of the Stratosphere and ride the roller coaster! The great thing about being stuck in Vegas is that we were able to walk all the way south to the “Welcome to Las Vegas Nevada” sign! I love traveling and taking pictures in front of icons. If you haven’t been before I would suggest going!!!

Personal photo taken last weekend (Feb 2015).

Week 7 Storytelling

Today I found out that I am pregnant! Can you believe that? There will finally be a prince of Ayodhya and it may be taken away from me. It has taken us quite a bit longer than usual to become pregnant. Rama and I knew we wanted to start a family when we got married, but after the abduction we thought it may be best to wait a few years. It has been about 10,000 years since the abduction, but the first 5,000 I was still undergoing some pretty heavy post-traumatic stress disorder. It was really hard for me to sleep at night even though there were guards on both sides of the bed. During the daytime, Rama found it difficult to leave my side because he was so scared of losing me again. The past 5,000 years or so, however, have been a bit different. I have regained a bit of my independence and am no longer afraid to be alone. I had forgotten how important it is to have alone time to grow as an individual! Rama began to grow impatient with me because we were not spending as much time together. When I finally became pregnant there were rumors being spread among the people. Despite the fact that I’ve never been alone with a man other than Rama, people brought up Ravana. This really got under Rama’s skin and now he is trying to abandon me. I told him I wanted to go to the Ganges river to pray, however, I know he’s just going to discard me. This is my way of leaving him.

Photo of Sita with dove found online. 

Author's Note: I chose to tell this story from Sita's point of view. I was very disappointed in the way that Rama wanted to abandon her in Buck's version of the Ramayana so I chose to twist it a bit. I decided to make it to where Sita knew what was going on and used going to the Ganges River as her excuse to get away from a husband that didn't trust her. 

Bibliography:

Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.