Story telling: The brothers, the fish, and the lost fish-hook

I've dwelt in these waters for as long as I can remember. My father, my father's father and even his father's father all lived around the same coral reef. Fishermen would frequent the lake quite frequently, always trying to catch one of us, but we were too smart and avoided their boats. There was one fisherman that was always at the lake and there was something about the hook he used that just entranced you if you got too close. My mom and dad always warned me to stay away from the golden hook if I saw it glistening in the water.

One day, the fisherman's brother followed him to the lake. I had heard some of the birds who gathered near the lake saying that the fisherman's brother was a fearsome hunter.  That day was just like every other one, until I saw the brothers talking intently on the shore of the lake. I was curious what they were talking about that was so serious so I swam closer to the shore so that I was hidden but could see what they were doing. Suddenly, the hunter gave the fisherman his bow and arrows and he instead took the pole and the magical hook and jumped into the boat. I was confused that they decided to switch places and swam back to the reef to tell all my friends what I had just witnessed.

I told all my friends what I saw happen but they told me I was too consumed in the everyday lives of these humans. I agreed they were probably right, that it was nothing too strange, and we started to play hide-and-seek in the reef. While I was hiding behind the reef, I saw something bright come floating towards me quickly! As it got closer, I soon realized that it was the golden, magical fish hook. None of my friends were around to see it and I was sure they would not believe my story. It flew past me and continued to float down towards the palace of Watatsumi. As I watched the magical hook disappear from my view, I realized that it was likely gone forever. The hunter would likely assumed that the hook was too deep in the water to recover. I wondered if the hunter knew the fish hook was magical and how his brother would take the news of it being gone.

Later that day, I saw the fisherman return to the lake to see his brother and return the bow and arrow. I saw no dead animals with him so I assumed his time hunting in the forest had not been successful. It looked like their conversation was escalating and suddenly the fisherman was screaming at the hunter, waving his hands and pointing in his brother's face. He stormed off leaving the sad hunter alone on the shore of the lake. I assumed the fisherman was extremely disappointed in his brother for losing the magical fishhook. I have no siblings, but I could imagine what it would feel like to lose a friend and I can imagine disappointing a brother would be worse by tenfold.

While the hunter sat on the shore weeping, I saw the old man walking across the shore towards him. I had never seen this man before and I was immediately curious what he was doing. I swam a little bit closer to get a better vantage point of their conversation. The old man put his hand on the hunter's shoulder and spoke kindly to him. Eventually, he gestured for the hunter to look out towards the far end of the lake and I suddenly realized what he was telling the hunter to do. I didn't think the hunter would be brave enough for a task like this even if it did mean his brother's forgiveness and acceptance. But without even a thought, the hunter dove into the water and began swimming deeper and deeper. He was headed for Watatsumi's palace.

Wata-tsumi

Author's Note:

I was inspired by the story The Fortune Fish-Hook to re write this story from a different perspective. The one brother is a hunter and the other one is a fisher. Both brothers are extremely talented in their fields. One day, they decide to switch roles and see how they fair at the others specialty. The hunter comes back empty-handed and so does the fisherman except the fisherman lost his brothers magical hook. The fisherman rejects the hunter brother and the hunter goes on a quest to get the hook back. I chose to use a fish living in the lake as the storyteller here. It proved to be a fun take as an outsider watching the brothers switch roles for the day only for both of them to fail at the other's task. I have done this in the past where I retell the story from an animals perspective, sorta like a fly on the wall and it always proves interesting to have an outside perspective on what the characters are doing.

Bibliography
Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

In this reading notes, I am finishing the second half of readings for the Japanese Mythology section.

It bothers me a lot that Yamato grew tired of his wife because she was too devoted to him. He put in all that time and effort chasing her and then when the chase ended, he decided he wanted to pursue the mermaid instead. It would be fun to hear a story told from the Princess's angle. What it must have been like to be left alone in a palace all the time while her husband ran around hunting and doing God knows what else. Definitely a story idea.

I like how at the beginning of the stories, there is a short poem that either recaps what is going on currently or foretells what will happen in the story. I'm not very good at poems, but this would be a fun challenge to try for my Portfolio. Write a poem and then tell it in greater detail with dialogue as a story.

Yamato going to battle

The details of the battle that Yamato led were very interesting. It would be interesting to tell the story from a different perspective, say maybe the steed that Yamato rode into battle on? Or better yet, tell the story of what his wife is thinking or doing while he is off in this battle to get the golden apple for the mermaid.

Once again, Yamato is visited by karma after speaking cruelly to his beautiful wife. He deserved to be duped by the beautiful siren and lose possession of the Sacred Sword because he was not responsible with it. For some reason, it seems like Yamato will never learn that when you do ill unto others, ill is dealt unto you as well. Maybe one day he will make a mistake severe enough that he will learn to do the right thing and treat others how he wants to be treated.


Bibliography: 
Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legendby E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part A

This week I will be reading Japanese Mythology.

Compared to Roman and Greek gods and goddess, I am having an extremely hard time trying to keep all of the gods in this story straight. I do like that their names have a literal meaning when translated to English. One story that I really liked in the beginning was "The Heaven Descended". It was one of those stories where karma comes to bite you in the butt.

I like how throughout the stories, there are poems or short ballads about what is going on. The break in reading kind of helps me get an idea of what all I just read and the poems do a good job of summarizing what just happened.

The description and detail in the Fortunate Fish Hook really made the scene come to life. Especially in the feasting scene, the description of the luxurious place settings and food were so detailed I could picture it. I also like how in this story, the Princess mutually consented to become Prince Fine-Fades wife. Usually, the male requests the princess's hand and the father consents to give her away, but I like that the Prince and Princess decided to get married and then got the fathers blessing. It was a lot more modern than how earlier in the story the marriage between Izanagi and Izanmi where they had to redo their marriage because the woman spoke to the man first.

Izanagi and Izanmi 

The story of the "Rescue of the Princess" sounded like a reverse little mermaid! Instead of the mermaid seeking out the human it was the other way around. He waited for her on the rocks of the shore hoping she would come back just like Ariel waited for Eric too see her. It was also very clever of the Priestess to disguise Yamato as a maiden so that he could sneak behind enemy lines and destroy them. It makes me think of a reverse Mulan with the male pretending to be a women instead of a female dressing like a man to be warrior.

Bibliography: Japanese Mythology unit
Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legendby E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Story: Isis the Scorpion Tamer

She felt faint. Her legs felt weak. Her feet screamed in pain. Her back ached, but yet she carried on. Isis felt as if her and Horus had been walking for year. It had been a long search for Osiris's remains and yet their journey yielded no results. Set was still after them and was relentless in his efforts to find them and imprison them so that they may not carry on with their search. Ra the sun god knew that Horus and Isis's lives were in trouble and thus he sent down seven scorpions to protect the queen and her son. Ra knew the scorpions would be fiercely protective of the mother and son, however he had failed to train them in how to serve as security. Therefore, Ra had sent down seven large arachnids that were powerful and unruly.

At first Isis was eternally grateful that Ra had taken the time to consider their safety and send the beasts to protect her and Horus. However, that feeling of gratefulness quickly turned into disdain. Isis and Horus came upon a small house and upon knocking on the door, they met the woman of the house, with whom they tried to convince to let them stay if only of one night. The woman refuted their request over and over and was joined at the door by her son who was around the same age as Horus. The scorpions saw the young boy and attacked him with their stingers. The mother wailed at the sight of her sons murder and Isis felt those cries deep in her heart, for she two knew the grief of losing a loved one. Isis sang a magical prayer over the boy and, at once, his breath was restored.

One of the guard scorpions

Isis apologized to the mother for the trouble they had caused, but in repayment for her sons life being reinstated, she allowed Isis and Horus to stay with them. The next day, Isis watched as Horus played outside the house with the boy. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the army of scorpions waiting and watching on the side of the cottage. She watched as they inched closer and closer to the two boys until finally, once lunged and stung Horus dead. Isis wailed and screamed as she ran outside to her fallen child. She tried to sing her magical prayer but alas it was of no use. She prayed to Ra to save her son since it was his doing that the scorpions were so wild and untrainable Ra, hearing her prayers, restored Horus and Isis embraced him tightly.

Isis had decided she had enough of the scorpions and their disorderly behavior. The next day she went outside and went to where the scorpions lay sleeping. She conjured a magical whip and then awoke the scorpions with a loud crack. They awoke at once with their stingers ready but Isis anticipated this and cracked the whip on one of the scorpions tails. It shrieked and at the sound of its cries, the other scorpions put their stingers down and held close to the ground, lest they upset Isis and suffer the same consequence. Within a few weeks, Isis had the scorpions trained to obey her every command. They served as great protectors against all the evils that Set tried to send her and Horus's way. Isis felt safe to continue her journey with her son in search of her dear husband Osiris's remains.

Isis and her son Horus

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Author's Note:
I chose to re-write two stories and combine them together with my own twist at the end. I combined The Death of Osiris with The Journey of Isis since the two stories flowed together so well. I liked that Isis was strong and could defend herself and her son so I wanted to channel that strength all the way to the end of the story. It made more sense in my mind that she was able to train the scorpions to help her instead of them being rouge and un controllable. I tried to keep the tone of my story similar to that of the original story. I also changed the timeline so that Horus was already born and somewhat older when Isis and him stumble upon the house of the woman and her son. I felt like it made it more relatable to Isis when the scorpion stung the woman's boy because she would have had a son around that age. 

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part B

I am continuing on with my reading of Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories.

The story of the Two Brothers is such a sad one. The fact that the older brother would believe his devious wife over the younger brother who helped him so much in the fields is beyond me. I appreciate that the sun god Ra was able to separate them and show Anpu that Bata was telling the truth. I'm also noticing a trend in the use of the crocodile as a type of justice symbol. In the story of the Pharaoh and the scribe and now here between the two feuding brothers, the crocodile seems to be the constant fact when there is a debate of right and wrong or a needing of justice.

It frustrated me that the girl wife that was given to Bata by the gods decided not to listen when Bata asked her to stay in doors so that harm would not befall her. In this section again I am seeing parallels of other stories with how the lock of the girl wife's hair made its way to the kings washing area. The smell was so sweet and intoxicating just like the hair was of the maidens after Isis had finished braiding it. I really like how the story of the brothers came full circle with Bata being brought back to life with the help of a seed and some water. Just like how in the beginning seeds seemed to be a factor in his falling out with his brother Anpu.

For the life of me I cannot understand why the girl wife keeps trying to kill Bata. First she discloses to the king that he as in the highest bloom on the tree, then she says she wants to eat the liver of the sacred cow which is actually Bata in disguise. She was created for Bata by Ra but it seems that she has other plans in mind. That would be a fun story to tell in a modern sense; like a bride whose hand was given to a man by her father but she gives him so much grief to try and keep him from going through with it.

The story of king Nefer-Ka-ptah and The Book of Thoth was entertaining; I really liked the part where he had to face off against the snake that was immortal because it made me think about how Hercules had to get creative when he wanted to kill the Hydra. With the Hydra, every time Hercules cut off one head, two would grow in its place, while with the snake, the head and body just kept coming back together as if they were magnetic.

Part of the Book of Thoth

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories

This week, I chose to read Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories. I had a hard time at first keeping up with all the different names for the god Ra but eventually caught on. Immediately, I noticed the similarities between both the Egyptian gods, the Roman gods, the Greek gods, and even the Christian god. Just like how the Christians speak of three gods in one and the trinity, Ra has 3 different names; although, his correlated with the placement of the sun in the sky.

Ra

I was skeptical when I was reading the story about the reveal of Ra's secret name. Most of me was convinced that Isis was going to betray Ra in someway and instead of healing him she was going to let him die and use the power of his secret name to become the new ruler of all the gods. That could be an interesting, dark twist to the plot line to take it in that direction. I also was bummed in that story that we didn't get to know what the actual secret name for Ra was. However, it did keep the master and intrigue going.

One section of the story confused me a lot. In The Journey of Isis, Ra sent the seven scorpions to be her protectors yet she has no control over them and they seem to do more harm then good! They first bite the child of the woman who would not let Isis stay with her, which at first I understood. However, they go on to bite Horus, Isis's son, and she being unable to bring him back to life, has to summon the power of Ra to restore him. The scorpions seem to have backfired as a means to protect in this story.

Isis's protector

The irony in the fact that Osiris was trapped in the box he made was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that this is obviously the story behind the mummification of Pharaohs and the amount of effort and money they put into the coffins that encompassed them after they died.

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Feedback Focus

Reading Aloud: Reading out loud didn't make much of a difference for me. I don't feel like I recalled more details than I do when I whisper to myself or read in my head. It did make me go slower so I didn't stumble over the words like I do when I start reading to fast in my head. I do feel like I recalled more of the smaller details, but only a small amount.

Copy-And-Delete: I have never heard of this technique before so I was very skeptical to try it at first. After giving it a shot though I absolutely love it. I feel like I paid more attention while I was reading this story because I knew that I was going to have to write notes about it later. Additionally, having those notes to go back to and read helped me remember more details about the story than I normally would have. Unlike the Reading Aloud technique that slowed me down with little benefit, this technique did take me a little longer to get through the story but the outcome was so worth it.

User a Timer: I usually never have a problem staying focused when I am reading stories. I did like the idea of going back and reading over the story for a second time. re-reading a story always helps me remember more of the details and I can analyze the story better.

Out of all of these different techniques I would probably use the copy-and-delete technique. Taking notes and analyzing the story while I read it will help me more when I go back to do reading notes for the blogs.

Ultimate focus

Story: Genie vs Genie

No, of course he was not jealous of him. It wasn't like Aladdin didn't chose him too. They were a team... they were a pair... they were brothers. The Genie of the Ring repeated this mantra to himself over and over as he sat trapped inside his little ring. His brother, The Genie of the Lamp, spent much more time out in the real world than he spent cramped up in his tiny lamp. Aladdin always ran first to rub the lamp when he needed or desired anything, which left the poor Genie of the Ring alone majority of the time, sitting around wondering why he hadn't been chose to be the special one the master favored.

From the moment Aladdin walked into that dimly lit cave, Genie R. had a gut feeling that his brother would be chosen before him and preferred over him when the master realized the power he had stumbled upon. Through all of their past lives, Genie L. had always been the masters pet and was able to exercise his powers more frequently than Genie R. would ever dream of. Even when Genie L. spoke out against their master Aladdin, refusing to fulfill his request because it had been planted in his wife's mind by an evil magician, Aladdin did not scold or chastise him. Instead, contrary to what many masters would have done, Aladdin listened and took to heart Genie L.'s words of insight. There was even a whole three week span where Aladdin lost his ring under his bed and Genie R. was sure he would not be found again until the palace crumbled and a new master found him. Alas, Genie R. was not so lucky and was eventually found and was continually ignored.

One day, while Aladdin was in his court listening to the grievances of the common folk, Genie R. was sitting quietly within his ring prison that rested in a bowl on the side table next to the thrown. A impoverish family came before Aladdin and asked if there was any way he could help with their financial situation. While Aladdin left the chamber with the parents to go discuss with his advisors what they were capable of doing, the children were left to explore the visitation hall. The daughter 'oohed' and 'awed' at all the beautiful sculptures and paintings while the son ran all around the large chamber. He eventually found the ring in the dish next to Aladdin's chair and when his sister wasn't looking, he pocketed it. When the parents returned, the family left to think over Aladdin's proposal.

The family arrived home and the boy ran to his room and began playing with the ring. He ended up releasing Genie R. and was surprised to see such a massive being exit such a small object. Immediately, Genie R. was aware he had been taken whether by mistake or accident from Aladdin's chamber. He sighed aloud and merely assumed Aladdin would be thrilled to no longer have to worry about dealing with him. However, within the hour, Aladdin showed up to the family's house to reclaim Genie R. and the ring that had been stolen. He did not punished the boy but instead explained to him:

"That ring you took is not merely a piece of jewelry. It is a piece of my past, present and future and holds someone who is very near and dear to me. I could not imagine my life without that ring and its inhabitant and therefore now, I reclaim it."

The boy apologized and swore to never steal again and Genie R. realized he was wanted after all.

Slave of the ring

Author's Note:

I was inspired to write this story based on my part B readings of Arabian Nights. The story tells of two genies, one living in a lamp and the other living in a ring. While I read the story, I felt sad because it seemed like the Genie of the ring never got to do anything for Aladdin and rarely left his ring. It inspired me to write a story of how Aladdin really does appreciate the Genie of the Ring even though the Genie may not realize it. I had a little impoverish boy take the ring to symbolize the once rambunctious nature of Aladdin before he discovered the genies and his whole life changed. That is why he did not punish the boy and instead educated him.

Bibliography:

Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part B

I am continuing on with reading Arabian nights and in the second half of these readings I get to the part that drew me in to the story in the first place, stories about Aladdin and his lamp! Something that was unique compared to the Disney version was the fact that Aladdin had his mother around during the story. I like this better because the mother played a role that supported Aladdin but did not parent him to where he lost his hero like qualities.

Aladdin was a lot more assertive in these stories than the movies. The way he used the genie's to break up the princess and her first husband so that he could have her rubbed me the wrong way. How the princess did not recognize that he was the man who had did that and yet she married him anyways is beyond me. If I could go and re-write the story, I would have the princess reject Aladdin for the way he had handled himself earlier by kidnapping her and sleeping next to her while he betrothed slept outside in the cold. It would be an interesting turn of events for the princess to be a strong female lead like Jasmine was in the Disney version.

The way the Genie of the Lamp was willing to warn and help Aladdin when he knew that the magicians even more evil brother was the one who had been corrupting the thoughts of Aladdin's wife was a winning point for me. It was curious though that the Genie of the Ring had such a small role in this story. I wish he would have had more opportunities to shine and be helpful like the Genie of the Lamp. Not just in granting wishes to Aladdin, but be able to help him in friendly ways like the Genie of the Lamp was able to. That also brought the question to my mind of why the first magician wanted the Genie of the Lamp but did not care to go for the Genie of the Ring. Was there a difference in power? That would be a cool story tell! The power struggle between two genies (possibly brothers?) to be the most powerful one in the entire universe. This is something I may look into.

In conclusion, I'm glad the story did end happily ever after with Aladdin getting then princess, his genies and his castle. At least that factor was the same between the original stories and the Disney version.

Genie of the Lamp

Bibliography: Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part A

This week, I chose to read Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang. The first thing about this book that drew me in was that it had the story about Aladdin and the Lamp! Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies so that drew me in.

One of the first things I noticed I like about the story was the strong female lead, Scheherazade. She was clever in the way she tricked the king into keeping her alive so that she could continue to tell her stories. She was also extremely courageous and brave to ask her father to have the king marry her so that she could save the rest of the women in the kingdom. I definitely respect her and the strong will she has. In my story writing, I would like to incorporate a strong female lead instead of the usual damsel in distress. 

I found it interesting how the writer was able to keep the multiple levels of stories straight. The deeper the levels went the more sure I was that I was going to get lost or confuse the plot lines. However, the author did a great job of keeping each level of story individual yet incorporated with the overall plot. On the other hand thought, I do not plan on using this style of writing whenever I write my story. While it was interesting and very unique, I felt like some of the time I was more focused on keeping the stories straight in my head then I was on absorbing the story. 

Each story had a similar lesson thought about trust and trickery. Trust is a hard thing to gain back once you lose it and in a lot of these stories, the sultan/king or higher power usually was to suspicious of the other people. In the case of the Genius (AKA the genie) he was too arrogant with his power over the fisherman and it ended up biting him in the butt. I love stories that have life lessons or morals to them because you not only feel entertained but you also feel like you grew a little bit by the end of it. 

Sultan

Bibliography: Arabian Nights by by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Story telling: Simba strays from the Pride

It was a warm Spring afternoon in the heart of Africa. All the cubs in the pride were out to play with one another in the bright sunlight. The mother lionesses stayed close by to keep a watchful eye over their rambunctious cubs. All the mothers wanted to talk to Nala about her son Simba and all the amazing things he said and did. He was wise far beyond his years and everyone in the pride took notice of it. The entire pride was getting ready to journey back to their homeland after a week of being away for the annual feeding excursion. Simba had done well in the hunting and at night when they rested he told wise stories to the other cubs and families that had great messages and lessons to be learned.

After a few more hours of play, Mufasa and the other lions decided it was time to start the journey back to the pride land. They rounded up all the cubs and set off on their journey home. Everything was going smoothly with the journey until about the second day when Mufasa and Nala realized they had not seen their son Simba in quite some time. They looked to see if he was talking to the elders of the pride but he was not with them. They sought out the cubs to see if he was playing with them but he was not with them. They checked with the mothers to see if he had offered to help them with their young but he was not with them. Slowly his parents realized they had not seen Simba since they set off for home. Riddled with grief and anxiety about the whereabouts of their son, Mufasa and Simba told the others to set up camp where they were while they both went back to find Simba.

Mufasa and Nala began the long trek back to the hunting grounds they had been at. The entire way there, they were concerned about their son, looking for him as they traveled back to where they had come from. Eventually, they reached the hunting grounds but did not see Simba anywhere. As they continued to search, they found him in a nearby cave surrounded by the elders of the baboon tribe. He was talking to them about the order of the pride land and how the entire ecosystem was balanced and how to maintain harmony with in the tribe. His parents were astonished at his wisdom and silently stayed at the opening of the cave until he had finished his stories. Once the elder baboons began to disperse, his mother confronted him, concerned that he had wandered but curious about the extent of his wisdom.

"Simba, why did you not stay with the pride? Why did you stay behind with these strangers?" Nala asked.

"Mother, no creature that walks the same earth and breaths the same air is a stranger. Should you not be overjoyed that I am sharing the knowledge you have instilled in me? Or at least be proud of the image I represent on behalf of our pride," Simba replied.

With that Nala was stunned and had no response. But she took his words and considered them deeply, vowing to never forget them. Simba apologized for worrying both her and his father and together the family set off to go meet the rest of the tribe and finish their long journey back to the pride land.


Bibliography:
Infancy Gospel as told by the apostles Luke and Mathew

Author's note:
I chose to write this story based on the story of when Jesus, Mary and Joseph were traveling from Jerusalem. His parents realized he was not with them and turned around to search for him in Jerusalem. H had stayed behind to speak to some of the high priest there and shared his wisdom and insight. When his parents finally found him in the temple, they were confused as to why he stayed behind and the great knowledge he was sharing with he elders. This made me think a little of the Disney movie the Lion King because of how independent Simba was in the movie. I could imagine him running off to go on some big adventure alone and worrying his mother and father to death. I wanted to try storytelling with animals but retain some of the tone that was used in the original story in the Infancy Gospel . I also wanted to use parallelism by repeating the phrase "but he was not with them." I felt like the phrase added a tone similar to the Bible to my story. I was nervous about writing this story at first but once I got this thought in my mind it was fairly easy to write.

Simba, Nala and Mufasa

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Reading Notes: Infancy Gospel Part B

This second half of the Infancy Gospel has been extremely interesting to read. None of these stories I have heard before when studying the Bible in Confirmation. It is interesting to hear all these stories of Jesus performing miracles for people even when he was merely a child. It exaggerates the extent of his divine power and love that at the age most children learn to crawl or walk, he was performing miracles and changing lives. How strange it must have been to be Mary and have to low life and sickly people of the world coming to her and her son asking for his healing touch and grace.

I love how in majority of the first few stories is about how women with leprosy would bath baby Jesus in scented water and then would pour his bath water over themselves. After they did this, they were cured of their leprosy and would sing his praises. It makes me think of all the Christian hymns and songs that talk about being washed clean by Jesus. Or how in baptism we are washed clean from our sins by the water of Christ. It was a subtle foreshadowing I think of rituals that would become custom in the Christina faith. 

My favorite story out of this section is the "Two Robbers". It is so amazing to hear the first encounter of Jesus and the two slaves who would be accompanying him up on the hill of Golgatha. Even stranger is hearing Jesus tell his mother that the day of his crucifixion will come and the very men who would have robbed him will be on either side of him while he dies. I especially appreciate that Titus's good character shows through so early on and that the Lord recognizes it and promises to reward him with life forever together in paradise.   

The quote at the end of the story "The Rival Women" has to be one of my favorite Bible versus in a while. "They digged a well, and made it deep, but fell themselves into the pit which they prepared."After reading this quote I went and found the full verse from the King James version. To me, this quote speaks the idea that you reap what you sow. If you do evil towards other than you will reap the consequences that you tried to inflict upon others. 

Jesus and the robbers

Bibliography:
Infancy Gospel as told by Luke and Mathew

Reading Notes: Infancy Gospels Part A

For this week I chose to read Infancy Gospels coming from the King James Bible. One of the stories was about Jesus and his parent going to Jerusalem and him staying behind to speak with the elders. I love the wisdom in his answer and how even his parents were unable to comprehend his deep response. This would be a cool concept to carry on with a seemingly young character being the wisest of the story.

In the same story, there was a parallel with the phrasing of "Mary kept all these sayings in her heart". When he was born a similar phrase was used and I liked how that strong phrase keeps reappearing. I hope to incorporate that grammatical technique into my own writing when I begin my story telling.

After reading the Protevangelion of James I was astounded at how Joseph came to be Mary's husband. I had never read that version of the story before and it gave me a new perspective on Joseph. Furthermore, it makes me wonder why when Mary conceived a child through the Holy Spirit that Joseph still doubted the trueness of the situation. He was told rom the start with the priest that he was to "chosen to take the Virgin of the Lord" so why did he question when a miracle happened to him?

Through this reading I discovered there were so many more people involved in the early years of Jesus's life. I had no idea there was a midwife or others with Mary and Joseph when she gave birth to Jesus. It was cool also to hear a story where Jesus spoke to Mary after he was born and laying in the manger. My mind always thought that is what would have happened when the Son of God was born unto man kind. This reading challenged the normal concepts surround Jesus' infancy and the story of his birth.

Overall, I love this first section of the Infancy Gospel. It is highly intriguing hearing multiple different perspectives of the same story. It gives a well rounded understanding of the magnitude of Mary and Joseph's situation and just how out of order it was with the time in which they were living.

Infant Jesus and the Virgin Mary

Bibliography:
Infancy Gospel as told by Luke and Mathew

Feedback Thoughts

For my articles about getting feedback I read "5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ" and "Overcoming the Fear of Feedback". I liked the tips for taking feedback because it gives a new perspective on looking at feedback and not over analyzing it. Often times, we take the feedback given way to personal and criticize ourselves instead of looking at it as a way to improve our work and habits. The tips on overcoming fear of feedback talks more about having a positive view of yourself prior to receiving the feedback. I also enjoyed that is discussed the biological aspects of receiving feedback. Realizing the half the reason we react negatively to feedback is because of biology makes me feel a little less crazy for feeling the way I do. Also, understanding why we react that way can help us counter attack those feelings proactively and prevent them from sneaking into our minds. 

Einstein's advice on effort

For articles on giving feedback I read "Presence, Not Praise: How To Cultivate a Healthy Relation with Achievement" and "Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset". After reading Presence, Not Praise I really enjoyed the idea of praising effort and not success. If you praise effort, you will continue to strive for the best and desire to improve yourself. On the opposite side of that, if children are only praised when they succeed, their failures will be viewed much more harshly as will the criticism that they receive. Once I read be a mirror I began to really appreciate some of the impactful teachers I've had in my life. They made me feel like I could figure out any problem no matter how difficult because they praised me for my hard work and encouraged my critical thinking. This type of feedback is what I want to give to my coworkers and employees whenever I enter the professional world. Being a good leader is knowing how to give constructive feedback and being able to foster independence and self confidence in your team. You can help them strive in all aspects of their lives if you can give them constructive feedback that will improve them without demeaning them.