Emma Keith

In a charming village in a place not far from here, there lived a quiet family on a quiet farm — a mother and her three daughters. One Friday morning, the mother set out on her monthly journey to the market. The market was in a far-off town, and at least a day's journey there and back. She could not spare any of her daughters for the journey, and so, before she left, asked if she could bring them any treats back from the market. Her two oldest daughters asked for fabric for new dresses and ribbons for new hats. When she got to her youngest child, Mary, the girl asked for one thing only. "If you could only bring me three roses from the market mother, I would smile for a week" Mary posed sweetly.  Her mother was taken, and left with a smile, determined to bring her daughters back their goods.  That evening, as the mother returned with her buggy full of goods from the market, she was struck with the realization that she had forgotten one thing: Mary's roses.  ...

Reading through some mythology samples made me quite excited to do some storytelling of my own, but for know, I've selected some of the stories that stood out most to me as potential candidates for my own:  A hare.  Courtesy of  Hagerty Ryan.  Source: Pixnio . Origin: The Hare That Was not Afraid to Die I loved the storytelling in this second story; all the characters and the language are beautiful — its words are rich, lush and descriptive. I would definitely consider this tale for my own storytelling — I enjoy its ending, but would retell in my own language.  The Supernatural: The Indian who Wrestled with a Ghost I really enjoyed this story — it's detailed and rich, and it's full of cultural references. I'm hoping in storytelling I can recapture elements like those in this story; right now, I don't completely understand what all of them are supposed to mean.  The end of this one was confusing to me — not because it was complex...

Cats promote curiosity. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Source: Growth Mindset Resources. As I began to navigate the course readings, I realized, first of all, that I so appreciate the UnTextbook format — it's organized, simple to navigate, and free! Reading through some of these stories actually reminded me of my childhood love of mythology, but I'm excited to get a look at folklore beyond commonly known Greek and Roman myths.  Looking through some of the available readings, a lot of them drew my eye and would be things I'd like to come back to. Here are a few of them: Jewish Fairy Tales I learned some new things from poking around these readings — I'm pretty familiar with the Bible and Jewish history, so I thought these would sound familiar. I knew the basic stories, but from the little bit of reading I did, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more whimsical these stories are than the Bible stories I was raised with. I'm looking forward to reading more. ...

So much of life (and so much of classes) is time management. Your stress levels, productivity, and success ride, many times, on how well you can make use of the time you have.  To better understand how I can more effectively manage my time and to understand the principles behind these strategies, I turned to two articles:  "Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination" Image created with Make a Meme . Procrastination is a huge time management issue for me. I used to not struggle with it so much, but since coming to college, I've gotten worse. These questions break down procrastination and make it easier to find a way out. Even asking questions as simple as "what can I do to get started" help a simple process become more manageable. I really enjoyed the final tip about looking at what can go wrong if you continue to procrastinate. The worst case scenario trick is motivational to me- if I can see the consequences of procrastination and point t...

With all the technology options presented for this class, there's endless creativity and organization options to create a personalized site and project. A cat meme contemplating creativity. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs.  Source:  Growth Mindset Resources . Reading through those options makes me really look forward to experimenting with different website options and being able to choose one that works best for my project, especially after seeing some people's storybooks created on sites like Wix.  I'm also so grateful to learn about resources like Diigo! I constantly have about 30 tabs open on three different internet windows so I don't loose anything while I'm working on a project, and having a place to keep resources and a new way to mark up and annotate will be so helpful and make me a better student. I'm looking forward to using these tech options to enhance the quality of my project for this class, especially through adding little conveniences...

A cat promotes a growth mindset. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Source: Growth Mindset Resources . What strikes me most reading through the class description is how flexible the class structure is. The fact that I get to choose  how, what,  and when I want to learn (and  even when I want to finish the class) is  something I've never seen in a class.  Most professors keep to tight schedules and impersonal learning styles, but this class offers me a chance to engage with others and see their work, choose what kind of project I want to work on, and even complete as much or as little extra credit as I choose. And, the extra credit also allows students to work on what interests.  I appreciate the options for personalized learning that this class offers; that's new to me, and I hope to have fun with it!

Before viewing these videos or having heard of Carol Dweck, I was actually introduced to the concept of growth mindset in high school. I went to a small, Christian school with a staff that cared about how we learned and cared about students facing difficulties with positivity.  Then that was a challenging concept, and now it's still challenging. Carol Dweck's main point is that if something is easy, it's not growing or teaching you. I have trouble maintaining positivity in a difficult moment, but I think this concept goes beyond just smiling through something. The title of Dweck's second video sums things up nicely: "Make Challenge the New Comfort Zone." At my internship this summer, we put this another way: "get comfortable being uncomfortable." Challenges shouldn't be something to just grin and bear, they should be something you actively seek out to make yourself better.  A cat meme promoting a growth mindset. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs....

(Image Information: personal photo of my family; photo from May 2017) Hi, I'm Emma! There are many things about me you couldn't get from a blog post — how often I smile and laugh, how much I use finger guns in conversations, how much I truly adore Torchy's queso — but today I'm going to tell you a few things that will hopefully allow you to get to know me better.  If you were to ask me what's most important to me, I'd have to tell you it's the people in my life. My family members (my parents and my little brother) are my best friends. They live about 900 miles away from me right now in Atlanta, Georgia, where we've been for the last two years, so any time I get to  spend with them is very sweet.  (Image information: personal photo, my friend Devin and me; photo from September 2016) My immediate family isn't my only "family"— my best friend, Devin, has been with me since seventh grade. We're long distance as well, as s...

Reading through past projects and sites from this class, I was able to not only more fully grasp Mythology & Folklore's course objectives, but to begin to picture my own final class product.       I was most taken by the storybooks that took well-known television shows or pop culture concepts and parodied them to suit mythological tales. I also was more likely to read and enjoy projects that were straightforward with their purpose, storybooks where the project clearly introduced its main players and goals.  Here are a few of my favorite storybooks from years past, with writing styles, designs, and concepts I've really enjoyed:    Real Housewives of Greek Mythology I loved the concept of this project- the storytelling mode perfectly fit the drama and intrigue of the actual myths and characters. The writer even played up the drama a little bit to create feasible reality television scenarios, and kept the scenes quick and entertainin...

My favorite place is a favorite of many an explorer, pioneer, and adventurer.  Of it, John Muir wrote , " Nowhere will you see the majestic operations of nature more clearly revealed beside the frailest, most gentle and peaceful things. Nearly all the park is a profound solitude." (Image Information: personal photo of Half Dome; photo from March 2017) I visited that place, Yosemite National Park, this past March. The valley was stunning to me; I spent hours soaking in the cool air, towering valley walls, and rushing waterfalls.  A view of Sentinel Beach along the Merced River in Yosemite National Park (June 17, 2014). Courtesy of Su--May. Source: Flickr I hiked and left my footprints in the snow and the dirt of the park; I rested in the quiet by the banks of the Merced River. My trip was short, sweet, and left me with a hunger for more. It increased my love for the National Park System — conservation is dear to my heart.  Yosemite is my favor...

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