Emma Keith

Announcer A: Annnnd it looks like Sindbad's been left alone on a dangerous island again! Thanks for tuning in folks — let's see how our adventurer's going to get out of this one. Announcer B: Welcome back to The Great Escape, where each week we bring you to some of the most dangerous places on the globe with some of our most daring wilderness survivors. Today we're joining Sindbad, a world traveler and expert trader, in one of our most remote and harrowing locations, and he's about to find himself in a jam. Let's have a look! [Scene cuts to Sindbad, who's just waking up on a deserted island after realizing his ship left him. Sindbad climbs a tree to try to look around and get his bearings.] Announcer A: And he's at it folks! It looks like Sindbad's noticed something in the distance, but it's not his ship! [Sindbad has spotted a large, gleaming white object in the distance.] Announcer B:  Our adventurer's having a go at it! Oh, now...

This week I read through the ever-winding and outlandish tales of Sindbad, several of which I would love to retell.  Second Voyage  (pt. 1 & 2) Sinbad evades the enormous snakes. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Source: UnTextbook . I enjoyed this third story's bizarre whimsy — the first two stories in this unit are improbable, but this one was a little more ridiculous (with the giant bird, the hordes of enormous snakes, the multitude of diamonds). Reading this one, what I pictured in a retelling was Sindbad competing in some kind of extreme reality television show that tests his wits and ability to survive. The narrator would be a TV commentator, following Sindbad's Man vs. Wild-style journey on the various islands. While I think both sections of this story would work well with this storytelling style, the second part (in which Sindbad uses the giant pieces of meat to escape with some diamonds), might be especially entertaining. Third Voyage This third voyage (w...

Dear diary, Image from page 170 of "Stories from the Arabian nights." Source: Flickr .  A tragic day for the kingdom.  Our dearest sultana has betrayed the sultan, so quietly and painfully. Father tells me the sultan is mad with grief, pacing the halls of the palace and tearing at his hair. None of this can excuse the sultan's final actions toward his wife today or his forcing father to play a part. I am conflicted — while I am disappointed in the sultana's actions, I mourn deeply for her loss at the sultan's hand. I only hope we as a kingdom can move past this and the sultan can return to h is former mind.  ___________________________________________________ Dear diary,  Dark times across the city. The sultan has taken a turn for the worse — that may in fact be an understatement. Father weeps every night when he arrives home for the tasks the sultan sets him to. Each morning the sultan slaughters his bride from the evening before and each day f...

This week I chose to read from the Arabian Nights unit and hear some of  Scheherazade's stories. I loved all the clever story-within-a-stories in this unit (especially the fisherman's story as it plunges into three levels of storytelling)! Here were a few of my favorites: Scheherazade I actually really loved the first story in this unit.  Scheherazade is a woman of courage, conviction, and level-headedness. I think telling the story from her perspective would make her bravery, but also her entire thought process, a lot clearer, and convey the weight of her situation. She could also convey the appearance of the palace and the nature of the sultan from her observations. The old man and his son, the calf. Courtesy of  Laura Gibbs. Source: Un-Textbook . The Hind While I really enjoyed this story, the story-within-a- story format makes it kind of a tricky candidate for retelling. The setting and characters work well because of the story's growing depth,...

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Far in the East, in Babylon, there lived two youths surely destined for one another. Pyramus, the pride of his city, and Thisbe, a woman of great beauty, had dwelt in adjacent homes since infancy, growing in stature and love for one another.  The two fell in love through hours of conversation and shared secrets, but as their bond strengthened, so did their parents' resolve to keep them apart. Soon, they were forbidden from speaking, kept from marriage by a will not their own.        "Thisbe." By John  William  Waterhouse. Source: Wikipedia Commons . Between them there was but one remaining avenue of communication: a tiny crack in the wall between their homes, a fissure where they could meet each morning and night to whisper to one another. They lamented that they could not kiss, or even see one another in full, but rejoiced that they could feel each other's presences. One morning as they met in their spot, tired of being apart, the two f...

My second reading in Ovid's Metamorphoses took me a little deeper into  some common Greek myths. Here are some twists to some of those stories that I considered as I read:   Narcissus I've heard Narcissus' story many times before and it's always interesting to me. Since the figure of Narcissus is so central to the story and it's a strong figure, I think he should have endured longer. He goes on to fade into a flower at the pool's edge, but in my ending, I might have him eternally lie on the grass looking at himself, with flowers growing up around him.  Pyramus and Thisbe I really like this version of the story, especially with the unique details like the lion and the veil. This story is almost overly dramatic, which I think makes it perfect for retelling (like the later story of Romeo and Juliet, it's a lot of teenage angst gone wrong). But I think a nice retelling of the story might mean a less dramatic ending in which Thisbe mourns Pyramus' los...

For this week's reading, I'm exploring classic Greek tales through Ovid's Metamorphoses. If there's anything I really got from each of these stories, it's that Zeus is a far worse figure than the mythology books of my childhood made him out to be. Below are some of my takes on the stories that stood out to me this week: Io Argus, Hermes, Jupiter and Io. By Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Source: Wikipedia Commons . I've always really enjoyed the story about how the peacock got its spots, and the tale about Argus' fate, but this backstory is interesting, and quite sad, as well. I've never heard the bit about Io's father and his grief at her fate.  I think this one could be interesting to retell from Io or Hera's perspective, since they are both at the center of the plot and are both subject to great injustice at Jupiter's hands. I'd also want to extend the story to include the bit from the beginning of the next story, Phaethon's...

A growth mindset cat. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Source: Growth Mindset Resources. As someone who's very oriented around both giving and receiving praise, these articles were very helpful to me. I love encouraging and praising others, but it's helpful to think about being constructive and being present when I do so, per these articles:  Presence, Not Praise: How to Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Achievemen t From personal experience, as someone who's always been touted as "naturally creative" or "naturally smart," it's harmful to both sides to assume that these gifts are innate and not built by hard work and application. Those who aren't "born with it" may never try to develop skills they think they have no hope of learning, and those who are "born with it" will feel disappointed in themselves and like failures when their talents aren't quite enough. I also agree with this article's assertion that praisin...

This week, I dug into my topic brainstorm from last week on writing about the Greek Underworld .  As I mentioned last week, I'd like to have Hermes be the storyteller for this project, since he's the escort for the dead to the underworld. I think Charon, another Underworld psychopomp, would also be a fascinating storyteller (they've both seen all the dead in the Underworld). I'd like each section to be an obituary for one of the deceased souls that dwells in the underworld, but I also want each obit to have a personal flair/style from whoever's writing it (Hades, Charon, etc.). I also want each section of the project and each person memorialized to represent a different region of hell, like Tartarus and the Elysian Fields.  "Charon carries souls across the river Styx." By  Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko.  Source: Wikipedia Commons . Some of the stories I'd like to tell through this project are those of:  Tantalus Tantalus was a son of...

In a certain town in the American west, a well-respected and elderly man realized his time had come. He had but one son called Hanina who lived not far from him, and he called on his child to set his affairs in order. "My son, it's time for your mother and I to pass on," he told Hanina. "But I will care for you even when I am gone. After your week of mourning, I want you to go to the marketplace and buy the first item offered you. Your purchase will bring you great fortune." Hanina was deeply distressed by his father's request and his impending death, but was comforted with his father's command at their parting: "be at peace, my son." Days later, Hanina's father and mother passed within hours of one another. Hanina and his own wife buried them on a small plot outside town.  A week after his parents' passing, no longer dressed in black, Hanina woke early on a Saturday morning and walked to the market in the center of town.   Mo...

The second half of my Jewish fairy tale reading seemed significantly darker than the first half, and also shifted away from the more classically Biblical focus of part A. However, I really enjoyed several of these stories, and especially the ones below: King for Three Days I did enjoy this story as is, and especially the contrasting figures of Godfrey and Rashi. However, if I was rewriting, I think I'd gender flip the rabbi. I know women weren't rabbis, but the story could work with Godfrey consulting a wise and respected female teacher and having her prophecy come true.  The Rabbi's Bogey-Man The fairy frog. Courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Source:   Jewish Fairy Tales: The Fairy Frog . This fairy tale is really fascinating to me! I love the futuristic feel of the story and of the rabbi's invention, and I love the language shift in the middle of the story — the rabbi's invention is called "the machine woman" at first, then moves to "the bogey-ma...

For this week's reading, I chose the unit on Jewish fairy tales. I really enjoyed seeing some more magical or fantastic details added to several Bible stories and characters I already knew. Below are some of my favorites from Unit A of the section: The Giant of the Flood I love that this story contains a unicorn and I love the fantastic elements included (the unicorn is as big as a mountain, precious stones compose the ark's windows, etc). I also enjoy how this story works littler explanatory myths in, like the phoenix origin story. This story is different for me because I know one version of it well, but it works in a character I know from different Bible stories, Og. I like how several of these Jewish fairy tales tie together common Bible stories and people to be part of one another's narratives (Og, for example, goes on to interact with Abraham and Moses later in his life in this telling). David rides a deer to flee the lion. Image courtesy of Laura Gibbs. Sour...