Famous Last Words for Week 8

This is the last week of school before spring break and all I can say is, I'm ready more than ever for spring break.

Over the past week I had another snow day miracle occur where I did not have to complete an assignment that I had not finished since the computer labs would be closed on Wednesday (Heck yeah).  However, after the weather shift today I hope we will not have any more snow days, because I'm too attached to this beautiful sunny and over 60 degrees weather.  

Just yesterday I attended the OU Men's Basketball game against Kansas.  If you aren't familiar with college basketball, Kansas or KU is a top dog in the sport and consistently is one of the top ranked schools in the nation.  The game actually ended with an amazing last second shot and the atmosphere was unlike any game I've ever attended.  I remember always watching amazing buzzer-beating plays on TV and wondered what it would be like to be watching from the arena.  AND NOW I DO.  

Here's a picture that my family took while they were watching the game at home!  See if you can find me in it :) 

(Personal photo of me in the student section of an OU Men's Basketball game.)

After the game I went out with my friend to Campus Corner and ran into people that I haven't seen or talked to since freshmen year!  It's so nice running into people that you have lost touch with and when you see them you just pick up right where you left off.  

So this next week I'll be trying to complete as many assignments as I can before spring break.  Hopefully layovers during spring break will help me work ahead for assignments in this class.  I guess we'll have to see.  

Commenting Review Week

I feel like the feedback I have gotten from comments has really helped me improve my writing.  Also, having this instant feedback motivates me to write when I feel swamped with other schoolwork.  I really appreciate it when my peers tell me what they got from my story.  This helps me to see if my message was received or can call attention to some details in a way that I had never thought of before!

The project comments from Laura are extremely helpful.  She knows how to correct or constructively critique stories in a way that does not damage a writer's ego.  Other people in the class do not have this ability…  And there have been times on my blog and other students' blogs where I feel our peers have been too harsh in the comment sections.

Overall, I feel that the comments I have received have helped me become a better writer.  So I will gladly take all of the helpful and harsh comments my peers can give me.

(Image provided by Flickr)

Writing Review

The writing assignments are the main reason I enrolled in this class.  I love writing.  Creative writing is so fun to me, I love creating or adapting a story and then making it my own.  So all of the past storytelling assignments I look back on fondly.  I really appreciate that this class lets us students write creatively but doesn't stress us out to the max.  I feel like that is something very unique about this class and I'm glad I have this opportunity in college, because I was really starting to miss the creative writing classes I took in high school.

Much of the feedback from peers is very helpful!  However, I feel that some students have become power-hungry and search your stories for any tiny error to bring up to you.  I appreciate it when anyone helps perfect my story by finding errors, but I don't appreciate people reading my story to basically grade me themselves.  Sometimes I feel like people lose sight of my story because they're too set on correcting me.

(Picture of a 1796 oil painting done by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) entitled “Fishermen at Sea.”  Source: Wikipedia.)

This is my favorite picture from my storytelling posts and it was actually my first!  I wrote my story and incorporated a big contrast between light and dark.  Then I found this picture that captured that contrast PERFECTLY and had a fishing boat and a stormy sea.  It felt like fate.  I feel like this image added a lot to my story.  

Reading Review Week

Well it's that midpoint in the semester and it's time to review the two readings we have covered thus far in this class.  Both readings were about the Epic of Rama with two different versions done by two different authors.  

Looking back over the past seven weeks at my reading diaries, I feel like my entries in the beginning were a bit more detailed than my past few entries.  This may be because Narayan's tales of the Ramayana were my first exposure to Rama's Epics and I jotted down more of an outline because all of it was so new and I didn't feel the need to be as detailed when reading Buck.  Also, I was probably able to add more to the Reading Diaries at the beginning of the semester because I was not super busy with other classes.  

I really like that there are Reading Guides that go along with the class readings because I feel that they can really help students get the main idea of a section.  One of the past readings that has stayed with is the battle with Ravana.  That part really was the climax of the epic and so much was going on so it was very entertaining to read.  I feel that this part of the epic was not long enough whereas in other parts (like Rama's journey into exile) went on way too long!  

This image of Rama and Sita at their wedding has definitely been one of my favorites.  I love all of flowers and they contrast well with the earth toned walls and background in the picture.  It's just so beautiful I wish there were more photos of them with these colors!!!! 

(Image Information: Picture of Sita and Rama at their wedding from Wikipedia.)