Alex's Epics of India Blog

I have always bee a procrastinator. A write-my-ten-page-research-paper-the-night-before-it's-due kind of procrastinator. In college, as I've gotten older and started taking heavier and heavier courseloads each semester, I've been forced, out of necessity, to work ahead sometimes. And as well as it works for me, I am still resistant to any sort of working in advance of a due date -- why study when I've got plenty of time that isn't now? One thing that I have discovered, a thing reinforced by one of the articles, is checklist making. On Trello, the article  "How Checklists Train Your Brain To Be More Productive And Goal-Oriented"   by  Lauren Marchese  indicates dopamine and gamification as two pillars for good list-making. First, checking something off a to-do list triggers a release of dopamine -- our brain's happy juice -- and we feel a surge of gratification. In order to motivate ourselves to begin checking things off, however, we can use gamifica...

The technology options in this class seemed very intimidating at first. Juggling multiple websites (blog, storybook, branching stories) along with multiple other graphic design and informational sites definitely intimidated me. However, after taking a moment to examine the options, the technology options are much less scary. I have kept a blog, created a website, used Canva, and explored other tech opportunities for other classes, so this list is (luckily for me) mostly a list of things I've done before. Also, having taken a Digital Composing class which focused on ease of use through dual-stream reading techniques, I'm hoping to make my online content pretty easy to read or browse.   Hopefully, I can inject some life into my blog posts and other online content for this class. ( Source ) We'll see how it all turns out. I am especially intrigued by the Twine option for creating choose-your-own-adventure branching stories. That's super cool!

The assignments in this class look fun and engaging! The mixture of critical reading, creative writing, and constructive feedback makes this class unique in its ability to help me grow in each of these areas, all important for my major and later work. I am most excited about the storybook option, as I love to write creatively. However, I am also incredibly interested in reading the Mahabharata and Ramayana to learn about epic poetry through a non-Western lens. How I feel when I start writing creatively... ( Source ) ...and what I end up with. ( Source ) I am also looking forward to the extra credit opportunities -- not often given by college professors. I would love to finish early provided that I read both the Ramayana and Mahabharata beforehand, and that I finish a storybook. I'll have to go back and look at the course schedule, but everything about the course content and structure is exciting!

Growth mindset is an interesting approach to teaching children not only how to memorize and learn things, but also how to grow as an individual. Before this assignment, I had not heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset. The growth mindset was something that I always took for granted in myself when I was (and as I am) growing up. I always wondered why some kids would give up; I always kept working on something until I figured it out, until I beat it. I've been told that I can get unhealthily competitive sometimes. All I ever got was yelled at by my second grade teacher. Kids these days are spoiled. Source . As an athlete, I am much the same way. In every sport I play, I try to improve, try to note what is slightly wrong or off and correct it so next time, I'm better. A good example of this is when I work on my jump shot for basketball. Often, I notice that my right elbow chicken-wings out a little bit, and I keep reminding myself to pull it in and keep it perpendic...

Hi, everyone! My name is Alex Crayon, and I'm from Kansas City, Missouri, home of the best barbecue in the world. I'm an English Writing major with minors in Spanish and Classical Culture, and I hope to continue my education by getting a Master's degree from OU and then a PhD from wherever will take me. I aspire to be a college professor of English of some sort, and maybe, someday, a published author of fiction. The best class I took last semester was World Literature 1700-Present, taught by Dr. Amit Baishya. This class was really interesting because it forced me to read outside my comfort zone and engage with texts written by authors from all over the world. The book I enjoyed reading the most in that class is The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes  by Jamyang Norbu. It's basically glorified fanfiction, and thus incredible. Though I can't pin down one book to call my favorite, there are a few that stand out (in no specific order): 1. Homer's Iliad 2. Georg...

I chose to browse the Myth and Folklore storybooks because I have a relatively good grasp of Greek and Roman mythology and could therefore focus more on structure and thematic content rather than on content I am unfamiliar with. I will try to create a storybook with a similar structure and fictionalization to these examples: 1. Gossip Greeks https://sites.google.com/site/mythfolkstory/ This is the first of three storybooks I chose which focus on both Greek mythic tradition and its retelling through fictionalized accounts of popular and/or foundational myths. In Gossip Greeks, a goddess comes down from Olympus to eavesdrop on women in the Greek marketplace as they gossip about famous female heroes and damsels. The goddess proceeds to tell the women that she knows 'what really happened,' and this launches a dramatic retelling of the famous Greek stories of Medea, Atalanta, Eurydice, and Andromeda. While I find this concept very interesting -- evidenced by my other two sele...

One of the coolest places I've ever visited is the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, France. I visited this quaint bookstore last summer, when I was studying abroad with Honors at Oxford.   So many books ! This place has so much history! Many now-iconic authors frequented Shakespeare and Company before they were famous. Writers like Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce often visited this bookstore. While I was there, I let myself believe that maybe, possibly, someday I could be a (far less renown) author who also visited Shakespeare and Company. I bought one incredibly overpriced book there just so I could get the cool, official Shakespeare and Company stamp inside the front cover. Don't tell anyone I still haven't read it. The sheer amount of knowledge and experiences amasses inside this tiny, cramped, labyrinthine bookshop overwhelmed me with awe. It's a place I intend to visit again. Someday, maybe I...