Week 2 Review

This week, I really enjoyed Wednesday's post about storytelling style. Seeing as I'm trying to expand on my creativity when writing stories, I thought it was great that there was a rap battle option given. How creative! I would have never thought to do something like that, but I do know of and love those videos. I might just have to try it out!

Zeus and Thor rap battle

Image from publicdomainpictures

Famous Last Words: Exploring Writing Style

With this class, writing stories is something new to me. I have always been good at writing essays or research papers, but writing a story is something very different that requires much more creativity. This week, reading other peoples stories really helped me to figure out what I can do with my own writing style. I think I was a bit nervous about how much to really change the story or the characters. I wanted to keep the basics of the story with just one big plot twist or something like that. I found that while reading my classmates work, however, I may have been a bit too shy. Many people completely changed the story to where only the characters names and relationships were the same but almost everything else was different, for example making a tragic or sad story into a hilarious one with a completely different setting. Now I know what I can do, and I'm hoping each week I will go more and more out of my comfort zone and really write some creative stuff.

I think that stepping out of this comfort zone will also make the class a lot easier for me. Instead of constantly thinking about how to write the story that won't stray too far from the original, I can just sit down and write whatever I want to and make the story completely my own. I know that I do need to make it relate somewhat, but knowing that I can change more than just one plot detail or one character is going to really help me with writer's block and other things that are holding me back. I was also surprised to see how easy it was to meet the 500 word minimum, and I found myself writing a couple hundred words over that. I think overall I am going to really enjoy how this class improves my writing.

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Growth Mindset: OU's Growth

I truly believe that college is a million light years ahead of high school when it comes to growth mindset and creating an environment that encourages learning. I can honestly say that I have developed more of a growth mindset here at OU (without even knowing it) than during any of my time in high school or middle school. For my tests, I almost always have something like a project or an essay that is graded rather than a standardized test with multiple choice answers. This in itself is a step in the right direction, because I actually learn to remember and not learn just to get the right answers on a test one time. My work can be interpreted and I can show what I know rather than what I do not know.

This being said, there are also areas of needed improvement. I find that during the lower division courses that are taught by mostly Masters level students that are only slightly older than me, they are still in the wrong mindset about school. The older professors tend to grade students based on their work but the younger ones still just want a test score that the big boss man requires. This means that the freshman and sophomores are still getting that fixed mindset education. It would be great if professors could be taught this information about growth mindset. I know many don't know about it, and I think it would help a lot to prevent incoming freshman from dropping out and deciding that they aren't meant for college.

Image from Pexels

Learning Challenge: Time Management

When I made my schedule for this class, I hadn't even officially started classes yet. Since then, pretty much everything has changed including my class times and my work times. This means that yes, I had to revise my time to do work for this class! Originally, I was doing Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. This worked for me because I only had one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and no class on Fridays. Now, Fridays are still a good time for me, but I've changed it to where I will work on this class during the weekend. Two hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and if I have any time during the week I'll knock out an assignment during that time as well. I am definitely going to be doing some extra credit so that if I ever do get overwhelmed, I can skip an assignment, or maybe I can finish the class early! The extra credit is great and it gives me a comfortable cushion to keep me from getting overwhelmed in this class, so I haven't been stressed out yet. I think I've got my time finally managed!

Image from Flickr

Feedback Thoughts

I think that there are two main things that cause people to take feedback in a negative way; one is that they are too confident and the other is that they aren't confident enough. If someone thinks they suck at something, negative feedback can confirm that for them and make them feel even worse about it. If someone thinks they are great at something, negative feedback can cause them to say "that person doesn't know what they're talking about" and throw out the feedback entirely. The key here is to find a happy medium, knowing you always have space to learn and improve and that just because there is feedback does not mean you can't improve or that what you did wasn't good. I think the article% Tips for Taking Feedback like a Champ was really helpful with this.

In regards to giving feedback, I think many people will always give positive feedback to avoid making the person run into one of the struggles listed above. This is a problem too because it just prevents the person from getting better. In fact, it can give them a big head that results in the "that person doesn't know what they're talking about" mindset when they do get negative feedback. Be honest, but don't tell them they're the best writer of all time. It's also important to not give too negative of feedback. Don't tell someone that their story sucks, just tell them where they can improve and make sure you tell them where they did well also. Combining negative and positive feedback together can make the person feel complimented while also showing them that they need work. This is what works the best for me when I receive feedback and it's also how I try to give it.

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Story: Cupid and Psyche

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. She was so beautiful that every man in her village wanted to be her husband. Her beauty was compared to Aphrodite and statues were erected in her honor. The princess was called Psyche. Any time she left her castle, she would be bombarded by men who wanted her and would propose to her. It was overwhelming, so she chose to spend all of her time in her room.

Her sister was also beautiful, but not nearly compared to Psyche. She had a husband and lived her life happily outside the castle without any extra attention. Psyche became very envious of her sister. She would sit at her window and watch her laugh with her husband and children. Her jealousy grew until she began to have hatred for her.

"Why must beauty come with such a price?" she would ask herself. "I have no friends, and any man who wants me wants me only for my looks. No one knows me for my true self. I watch my sister live her life happily with a man who truly loves her. It isn't fair that I must spend my life away in this castle while she walks freely!"

With this anger, Psyche prayed to the Gods for assistance."Gods, please hear my prayer. Help me escape this fate of beauty. I don't wish to have this while my sister lives happily. I can't stand to see her outside the castle while I am stuck!"

Venus, Goddess of beauty herself, normally didn't answer such prayers. But, she felt jealousy of Psyche and her beauty. She didn't like that the villagers worshiped her for it when Venus was the only one they should be worshiping. So she sent her son, Cupid, to answer Psyche's prayer. However, her plan wasn't to help her, but instead she wanted Cupid to kill her.

During the night, Psyche heard a noise by her window. Startled, she approached the window to peak out. Her room was high in the sky, so it didn't make sense that someone could be there. But when she looked out, she saw something that left her awestruck. It was a winged creature, a boy, carrying a bow. She was shocked by his beauty and knew immediately that he must be a God. The winged boy approached the window and then entered the room.

"Hello, Psyche." he said. "I am Cupid, God of love and desire. I have come to help you. My mother has heard your prayer."

"I never thought my problem would be worthy of a Gods help.. How will you help me?" she asked.

Cupid found himself struggling with his words in sight of this beauty. His intentions were to kill her, but suddenly he couldn't make himself. He knew his mother would be angry, but he now knew that he had to find another way to help Psyche.

By the next morning, Cupid and Psyche had already become great friends. They had talked all night long and Cupid now felt that he knew everything about her. He understood her hatred for her sister and felt that he had the perfect idea to end Psyche's suffering.

Suddenly, he went to the window, and began to fire arrows at the towns people. Arrows began to rain from the sky as every person was struck. At first Psyche was horrified, but then, she noticed that instead of dying; the towns people were love struck. They were suddenly filled with desire, but not for her, for her sister. Her sister was surrounded by everyone in the village and everyone was admitting their love for her. She ran from the streets into the castle.

"Cupid." Psyche whispered. "I'm free."

"Yes." he answered. "You're free to leave this place."

And with that, Cupid flew away back to his home. He never forgot Psyche, though, and visited her often. Their friendship became strong and eventually they were married. Venus, who originally wanted her dead, was still happy to welcome such a beauty into her family and Psyche was granted immortality, to live happily ever after with Cupid. Her sister remained in the castle for all of her life, with her husband and children, too afraid of the towns people to ever leave.

Cupid and Psyche

Author's Note: In the original story of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche is also a beautiful girl and she is doomed to a bad marriage from an oracle. She weds to a strange man who doesn't show his face (Cupid), and although she is happy with him, her sisters get jealous of her wealth and remind her that the oracle said she was doomed. So Psyche plans to kill Cupid, but as she shines a light on him she sees how beautiful he is and she realizes she loves him. While admiring him she accidentally burns him and he leaves her, angry that she betrayed him. The story ends by Psyche being put through difficult tasks by Venus, Cupids mother, who hates Psyche because of her beauty. In the end, Psyche passes all the tasks and is granted immortality with Cupid to be with him forever. In this story, I eliminated the oracle but instead made her feel like she was in her own prison and instead of her sisters being jealous of her, I made her jealous of her sister. This makes Psyche into somewhat of a villain because she wants to plot against her sister. I didn't want to change the love that Cupid and Psyche have because I really like that part of the story, but I wanted it to be an easier love, one where there isn't so much turmoil but instead happiness between the two from beginning to end. I decided to make the sister have a sad ending because it shows that Cupid would rather strike a whole town with arrows than kill Psyche, and it shows a more wicked side of Psyche that the original story did not. 

Original story: Cupid and Psyche by Apuleius 

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part B

The first thing I noticed in reading part B is the anger that Venus feels about Cupid falling in love with Psyche. She feels betrayed that her son would do this since she feels that Psyche is her enemy or rival since the people worship her for her beauty, even though Venus is the goddess of beauty. It would be interesting if instead, she related to Psyche and felt empathy for her.

As Venus begins to assign Psyche with tasks, I wonder what would have happened if she could not complete them or had no help to complete them. Would she pass out of exhaustion? Would Venus kill her? This could lead the story in a tragic direction.

Another thing to note is if Psyche was never caught by Venus, and in turn never had to preform these tasks. Maybe Cupid escapes from his confinement, healed, to rescue her and keep her safe or to win his mother over in regards to Psyche.

As Psyche goes to the underworld to preform another task, perhaps she could get stuck down there; not dead, but only trapped until someone can rescue her. Or maybe she has to preform tasks for Hades and this just adds on to her long list.

Psyche in the Underworld

And lastly, as the story ends, I can see several different ways it could go. For one, Psyche could die leaving Cupid in a depression that his wife and child are gone, and he no longer preforms his duties leaving his mother in shambles that she ever tried to get rid of Psyche. Another way would be that Cupid grows tired of Psyche and realizes that his mother is right and lives happily without her. There are other ways that the story could end happily as well, maybe Cupid instead gives up his life to live a mortal life with Psyche, in a Disney's "Hercules" type of ending. The possibilities here are endless. 

Cupid and Psyche by Apuleius, translated by Tony Kline 

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part A

One idea that I came up with right off the bat after beginning the story Cupid and Psyche was, wouldn't it be interesting if the roles were flipped? If Psyche was a goddess of love and Cupid was instead the most handsome man in the land. A gender reverse could be interesting. Since women and men had different roles in society at this time, it could be a very different situation as to if Cupid were married or not.

Another idea from "The Oracle of Apollo" is that instead of no one wanting to marry Psyche, if she was already married. That could steer the story into another interesting direction. Or, instead of the oracle saying something negative, it says something positive like "Psyche will marry and have many children." This would prevent a lot of things from happening, or, the same things could happen but for different reasons. This implies that certain things will happen no matter what an oracle says.

My favorite section is "The Mysterious Husband" where Psyche is told not to allow her sisters to know if she is alive, and she is also in a great depression. She is eventually told she is able to see them as long as she doesn't do anything they say. This is an important part of the story. If he had not allowed her to see them, it would have played out much differently; or if when she did see them, she did not create a lavish life for herself but instead kept things private and didn't make her sisters jealous.

Cupid and Psyche

Finally, the last part that grabbed my attention was when the sisters plot against Psyche, and Psyche ends up fearing that she has a monster for her husband and trys to kill him. This could lead to an interesting place if details were changed! It would be interesting if Cupid did not drive her from the place, but instead reacted differently, or perhaps if she never tried to kill him in the first place. 

Cupid and Psyche written by Apuleius, translated by Tony Kline