First Indian Epics Blog

Reading Part A King Dasharath Kingdom of Koshala is described as a very beautiful place Capital city is Ayodhya Dasharath is does not have a son; i.e. no heir Dasharatha's Sons Dasharatha preforms a horse sacrifice in order to receive an heir After the sacrifice, the gods (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and Indra) promised that 4 sons would be born to Dasharatha Rama: Avatar of Vishnu Vishnu is born on earth as a human in order to defeat the demon king Ravana Vishnu is born as Rama (he is actually all four sons), the son of Dasharatha Vishvamitra Vishvamitra, a brahmarishi, asks Rama Lakshmana to help him fight some demons that are interfering with his sacrifices  They use swords and bows as weapons Thataka Rama engages in battle for the first time He fights a female rakshasa After winning the battle, he receives supernatural weapons that allow him to converse with the spirits of the weapons Bhagiratha and Ganga While with Vishvamitra, Rama is told s

5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ The Psychology of Comparison and How to Stop I selected these two articles because I felt like they most related to the way that I tend to handle feedback and posted assignments in general. I'll start with The Psychology of Comparison. This is something that I think about quite often. Whenever I have to post something I am always afraid of doing it incorrectly or too differently and I always feel like I need to look at everyone else's work first, so that my post will blend in more. And it isn't so much about the content of my posts. I'm not worried about having differing thoughts as my fellow students, I just want to make sure that my format is correct, or should I say, incorrect in the same ways as everyone else's. But I thought the section talking about making sure that you stay away from saying things like "my site will never look as good as theirs" was really crucial. Looking back at some of the storybooks

Women of the Ramayana: I know very little about the Hindu goddesses, but I think it would be interesting to do some creative writing on them. In present day, we are seeing a shift in how women are responding to how they have been wronged by powerful men. Women are no (rightfully) no longer staying silent and they are taking down powerful men, so I think it would be interesting to parallel what is happening today with female characters and stories from ancient Hindu texts.  Sita seems like a good character to start with. She is not only a central character of the Ramayana, but she is overall a central character in the story. Weapons of Gods: I think exploring the  weapons of the gods is a topic that you could translate into a modern day commentary on several different topics; militarization of police, conflicts in the Middle East, or, without getting too political, you could just make up some interesting stories. I think that the weapon choices that are made by the individual g

Re-telling of The Foolish, Timid Rabbit... Not really sure why rabbits are considered dumb in this picture, but it was funny Running From the Truth Like a Dumb Rabbit , May 2, 2015 One day, as the sun was setting, an ambitious young rabbit was sitting beneath a tree. This ambitious rabbit was envious of the wise old lion and his influence over the other animals and was trying to figure out a way to sway the other animals to follow him. But he had nothing of value to say. He was just a blowhard with nothing of importance to say, so it seemed impossible to ever take center stage. Then he thought, “I may have nothing of importance to say, but all I have to do is say SOMETHING, almost anything, and as long as I say it loud and confidently enough, some creatures will inevitably follow me. And then other creatures will follow them, and so on and so on.” So, suddenly, the young rabbit jumped up and yelled, “The end times are here! The world is ending!” And he ran as quickl

Reading Notes... Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbit The Foolish, Timid Rabbit I liked this story on several different levels. For one, I think its a good example of the herd mentality. People have a tendency to follow what most people are doing and consider "the norm" to be the best, simply because everyone else is doing it. They initial hysteria seems to stem from the rabbits own paranoia. But then that paranoia is confirmed when the coconut falls. The rabbit was waiting for the world to begin to fall apart and the moment that it seemed like it was indeed falling apart it refused to stop and think of other possibilities, it just went with the first thing that popped into his head (sort of a case of confirmation bias) and ran. This then leads to more animals simply following what everyone else is doing until the lion sets the record straight. It reminds me of one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes: "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to

Reading Options... Ganesha, Saraswati, and Shiva in Japan http://ouocblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/image-ganesha-saraswati-and-shiva-in.html 17 Fascinating Women from The Mahabharata Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of women's movements around the world, especially in the United States. So it would be interesting to parallel the powerful female characters in the Mahabharata to the powerful women of today. Krishna and Narakasura: Confidence Versus Arrogance I know very little about the Hindu gods and goddesses, but what I do know is mostly concerned with Krishna. So, learning more about Krishna is always something that peaks my interest. The Lord of Lanka: The Rise and Fall of a Demon King This was just one that I randomly generated and it was the one that popped up. Demon King sounded very heavy metal, so I went with it.

Time Strategies I am not super concerned about managing my time with this class, this is the only class that I am taking this semester so it hasn't been overly difficult. However I will start working full-time in the next few weeks so I think it will be a good idea for me to make sure that I have a checklist of things that I need to get done. I am planning on tackling most of that weeks class work on my days off. I will be working a set schedule so things will be easier once I get into a rhythm with work and get a better idea of how close to 5 pm I will actually be getting off. 3 Steps to Recapture Time The Psychology of Checklists 11 Ways Unsuccessful People Mismanage Their Time Ghost (band), soundtrack for this blog post Ghost, Metal Injection , December 30, 2014

Technology I have had classes that required blog posts, although they weren't online, so I do have experience with blogs. But this class is definitely different from those classes and my other online classes because this has so far (and seems like it will continue to be) 100% online, where as the other online classes had a lot of student interaction on Canvas. I do not really have any web skills so I am pretty excited to learn some new things that can help tailor my blog posts and my stories to me. Electric Wizard, band I was listening to the time of this blog post Electric Wizard , September 7, 2016

Weekend 1 Assignment The weekly storytelling assignments really grabbed my attention. Last semester I created my own gospel and was able to write creatively for the first time. I really enjoyed doing that so I am looking forward to these story opportunities. It also seems like I have quite a bit of creative freedom so I'm interested in where that will take the stories. Power Trip (band [I was listening to them as I did this assignment, so this seemed appropriate]) Bandcamp, Power Trip

Growth Mindset  Growth Mindset and Computer Science Cayke Media , 12/20/2015 I had never heard of Carol Dweck before this assignment. I definitely have a growth-mindset when it comes to sports, especially in high school. That was my outlet and it just seemed like failing was part of the process during practice. It was important to fail during practice so that you wouldn't fail during the game. However, I certainly did not feel that way in the classroom, in high school or college. I've grown more in college but most of my assignments have changed. In the past few years most of my classes are graded on written assignments rather than multiple choice exams, and I write better than I study. I have law school aspirations after I graduate this spring so learning more about the growth mindset is something that I am very interested in learning more about.

My name is Taylor Blackwell, and this is my introduction post. I am a Religious Studies major in my last semester. One of the coolest things about my major is that it is a unique way of learning about people. I am not religious myself, but religion tends to be the thing that determines how people live their lives. It can determine how people act, dress, talk, who they interact with, how they raise their children (how many children they have), how they spend their money, how they vote, the list goes on and on. So, for me, learning about religion is a different way of learning about people and how they operate. The best class I took last semester was my Capstone class. Our project was to write our own gospel and it was a lot of fun. I took a creative approach to my gospel and it was the first time that I have ever had to write creatively; everything before that was just academic writing so it was a great experience. During most school breaks I don’t do anything very exciting, b

These were my favorite Storybooks from the previous classes: Tales of Kailasa: Mount Kinnaur Kailash Wikimedia Commons This topic was new to me, I was unfamiliar with the story and the characters that were introduced in the introduction of this storybook. The title of the storybook was intriguing enough, I didn't know who Kailasa was so there was an element of mystery for me, but it also didn't give away too much information. I knew Kailasa was involved and I would read some tales concerning this (I later found out) mountain, but that was it. The introduction was very well written and prompted me to continue reading the first few posts by the author. The design of the blog was my favorite part. All of the colors corresponded with the pictures and that was very soothing for me, which made reading the posts that much more interesting. Hello, when am I? : Image courtesy of Scooter Lowrimore flckr The title of this storybook was what prompted me to click on it

Oregon, My Favorite Place. It doesn't really matter where in Oregon, the state is absolutely breathtaking. Cascade Locks, OR Roman Eugenuisz, 10/15/15 Source: Wikipedia Pacific Crest Trail, OR Jonathan Miske, 10/26/15 Source: flickr Oregon Coast Andrew E. Larson, 7/1/08 Source:  flickr  It doesn't matter if you are looking for the beach and the ocean, rivers and streams, tall trees and seclusion, or mountains and fog, you can find it in Oregon. And more often than not, you can find it all within the same 5 mile radius. I am planning on going to law school in Oregon so I have the fullest intentions to plant roots for myself within the state. 

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