Week 7 Story: Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit on OU's campus

You can find the updated story in my portfolio.

Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit attend the same university and have the same major, but have a small rivalry. They would often find themselves studying in the Bizzell Library especially during finals week.

Bizzell Memorial Library;

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Brer Bear and Brer Fox were heading to the Bizzell Library to study for their chemistry final. On their way to the library, Brer Bear was giving Brer Fox a hard time because he wasn't friends with Brer Rabbit and they shared mostly all of the same classes. 

When they got to the library, Brer Bear broke away from Brer Fox and went to study with some other friends. Brer Fox continued down to the collaborative learning center where he saw Brer Rabbit. Brer Rabbit told him that he was full of fleas so it was best for Brer Fox to sit away from him. They talked a little bit but kept a fair distance. 

Brer Rabbit, a freshman in college, was living in the dorms. He asked Brer Fox if he would like to go eat dinner at the caf the next night. Brer fox accepted and they agreed to meet each other in front of the caf. 

That next night, Brer Rabbit saw Brer Fox coming so he started heading into the caf. He waited and waited but never saw Brer Fox come in. When Brer Rabbit walked out to go look for him, he saw his tail poking out of the red telephone booth that is located in front of the caf. Now knowing that Brer Fox was trying to hide from him, Brer Rabbit went back in and enjoyed his dinner. 

The next day, they saw each other in the Bizzell Library and Brer Fox apologized. He invited Brer Rabbit over for dinner at his dorm room in Waler Tower. Brer Rabbit agreed to meet him for dinner.

When Brer Rabbit arrived at Brer Fox's dorm room that night, he heard a painful moan coming from his dorm room. When he walked in, Brer Fox appeared to be really sick and was sitting on his bed wrapped up in a blanket. Brer Rabbit looked around and did not see any food prepared for their dinner and the only thing Brer Fox had was some chicken for them to cook. 

Picture of the dorms at OU;

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Brer Rabbit asked, "Do you have any calamus root to season that chicken?"

"No, I do not have any of that," replied Brer Fox. 

So Brer Rabbit took off into the Walker-Adams Mall to look for some calamus root and kept an eye on the doors to see if Brer Fox would come out. A few minutes later, Brer Fox came out of the building looking for Brer Rabbit. He finally spotted him and started heading closer.

Brer Rabbit yelled, "I am going to leave this calamus root on this swing set for you to come and get."

With that, Brer Rabbit ran home and decided to call it a night. Brer Fox was always looking for a way to trick Brer Rabbit. but he outsmarts him each time.

Bibliography: Brer Rabbit: The Calamus Root from Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris (1881)

Author's Note: In the original story Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are trying to catch each other. At first, they talk but they keep a good distance between them as Brer Rabbit claims that he has fleas. Brer Bear was giving Brer Fox a hard time because he wasn't friends with Brer Rabbit. They made plans to have dinner together and when Brer Fox got there he just hid on the side of the house and Brer Rabbit saw his tail so he knew he was there. The next day when they saw each other, Brer Fox apologized and invited Brer Rabbit over for dinner at his place. When Brer Rabbit showed up Brer Fox was all wrapped up in a blanket as if he was sick and had nothing cooked for dinner. So Brer Rabbit leaves to go find Calamus Root and shortly after he sees Brer Fox go out after him trying to corner him, but he wasn't successful. Brer Fox never caught him and he is not going to. With my story, I followed the same storyline, but just changed the setting of the story. I thought it would be cool to make this story take place on OU's campus since that is the university that I attend. 

Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit Part B

A Story About the Little Rabbits

Brer Rabbit had several chilluns who were well behaved and listened to their momma and daddy. They kept their clothes nice and clean and they listened to everything that they said.

One day, Mr and Miss Rabbit were both out of the house and the children were playing hide and seek when Brer Fox stopped by.

The chilluns looked very fat to Brer Fox and he needed an excuse to be able to gobble them up.

They were very skittish and kept an eye on Brer Fox.

So Brer Fox asked them to break off a piece of the big stalk of sugar cane. The chilluns could not figure out how to do it until a little bird started singing a song that told them how to break off a piece of the sugar cane.

Since that did not work, Brer Fox needed another excuse to eat them, so he told them to grab a sifter and go down to the spring and fetch him some water. Once again, they couldn't figure it out so the birdy sang them a song with instructions on how to get it done.

Since that didn't work, Brer Fox told them to put a big stick that he had found on the fire. Once again the birdy started singing and told them how to do it.

Brer Rabbits chilluns pushing the log and the birdy telling them how to do it;

Source: Flickr

As soon as they got that stick on the fire, Brer Rabbit came home and the bird flew away.

Brer Rabbit offered Brer Fox to stay and have a snack but Brer Fox went ahead and left.


If the chilluns would not have been able to complete any of those tasks, Brer Fox would've had the perfect excuse to eat them. However, thanks to the bird, he never had that opportunity.

Bibliography: A Story About the Little Rabbits from the book Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris

Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit Reading A

Brer Rabbit and the Calamus Root

Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are trying to catch each other.

At first, they talk but they keep a good distance between them as Brer Rabbit claims that he has fleas.

Brer Bear was giving Brer Fox a hard time because he wasn't friends with Brer Rabbit.

They made plans to have dinner together and when Brer Fox got there he just hid on the side of the house and Brer Rabbit saw his tail so he knew he was there.

The next day when they saw each other, Brer Fox apologized and invited Brer Rabbit over for dinner at his place.

When Brer Rabbit showed up Brer Fox was all wrapped up in a blanket as if he was sick and had nothing cooked for dinner

      Side note: this was clearly a trap to get Brer Rabbit inside

Brer Fox wrapped in a blanket when Brer Rabbit came over for dinner;

Source: Flickr

So Brer Rabbit leaves to go find Calamus Root and shortly after he sees Brer Fox go out after him trying to corner him, but he wasn't successful.

Brer Fox never caught him and he is not going to.

Bibliography: Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris (1881)

Maybe I can turn this story and tell it with Tom and Jerry as the characters since they as well have a small rivalry but live in the same area. This could be fun as many of us grew up watching Tom and Jerry...

Week 6 Lab : Crash Course Videos

Video 1:

Mythology is is a subject that touches on literature, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, religion,  and even science. It is a little bit of everything. Many myths are extremely old and exist in many forms or versions. Mythology is open to many different interpretations. Some scholars spend their whole lives arguing over these interpretations. The line between myth and religion is blurry. In this video, we focused on myths as stories and not facts. Most myths do not have nameable authors, even when they do they are just recasting already existing stories. It is very difficult to find a good definition for the word myth. Myth comes from the Greek word "Mythos" which means story.

Most myths that I have read have Gods in them, but in this video, I learned that not all myths must have Gods like some people believe. Stories can have superheroes as well or none at all and it can just be a story. We heard the story of Persephone and the underworld which is why some people believe that we have winter. Winter is supposedly the 6 months that Kore spends in the underworld. I had heard this story before but hadn't heard the meaning behind it.

The pomegranate with seeds that Kore ate in the underworld. Each 

seed that she ate was one month that she had to spend in the underworld.

Source: Crystalinks

Video 2:

Mythology as a study did not take off until the 18th or 19th century. In the 20th century, anthropologists conducted fieldwork to see how myths worked in society. Recent mythologies have tried to base their work on living individuals. Joseph Campbell was the most famous mythologist in the 20th century. Everyone sees myth differently depending on what their work is. For example, anthropologists and psychologists both view mythology differently and have different beliefs about it.

Video 3:

Heroes in most myths are going to be males, especially in myths in the English language. Some female heroes do exist in the stories but they are not as common. In this video, I learned about the story of 7 girls who conquered hunger, pain, and fear.

Link for the videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWYQjLLbXcigjUCnKKR86F5zrcQqfiP-

Comment Wall

Link to my portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/hiddenmorals/home

Lion picture at Pixabay

Week 5 Story: Ramo's Pond

In a jungle far far away, there is a dolphin named Ramo, who was king of the pond that he lived in. One day a year, many animals came from all over the jungle to bathe in King Ramo's pond.

Ramo's pond in the jungle;

Source: Pxhere

On that day, a lion named Royal showed up to bathe in the pond. While he was there, a beautiful cheetah showed up to bathe as well. She was beautiful and lit up as bright as the moon. She stole the lion's heart and was left breathless. Not knowing what to do, Royal asked the dolphin, "what do you know about that stunning cheetah and where did she come from?"

Ramo replied, "Her name is Diamond and she lives with her father very deep in the jungle."

When Royal went back home, he did not eat, he was lovesick. His parents asked him what was wrong and he just sat there. Eventually, he told them that he had seen a beautiful cheetah named Diamond that stole his heart while he was bathing in King Ramo's pond. His dad's face lit up and he said, "I know her father, I can ask her father to let you have her hand in marriage." After hearing this news, He eagerly ate his dinner and the next day they set off to find them in the jungle.

They traveled a far distance until alas they came across the area of the jungle where Diamond and her dad Larry live. Royal's dad explained how his son had seen her at Ramo's pond and it was love at first sight. He asked Larry if Royal could have Diamond's hand in marriage and he agreed.

A few months later, Larry officially handed over his daughter and she married Royal. Happily married, he took his wife and they went to live together at his parent's area of the jungle.

One day, Diamond's brother came to visit and was welcomed with open arms by his sister. He informed them that Larry had sent him to invite them to a festival that was taking part where his parents lived.

The next morning, they set off to travel across the jungle to where Diamond's family lived and on the way, they stopped at Ramo's pond. Royal went to speak to the King and as he was worshipping him he had an idea. He thought to himself, what better way to worship him than to sacrifice my own life. So he found a very sharp boulder, took it to his neck and sliced his head off.

His brother-in-law went looking for him because he was worried about what was taking him so long. When he saw what Royal had done, he was mad, upset and in grief so he did the same exact thing and sliced his head off.

Diamond walked in and instantly fell to the floor crying when she saw what had happened. She started to scream and yell while pounding the ground and crying. She yelled to Ramo, "Why should I even live, what is my life good for now?" She was about to kill herself and started praying to the King.

The king answered her prayers and said, "My dear Diamond, do not do something that you will later regret. If you put their heads back on them then they shall come back to life." So Diamond listened to the King and did as she was told, but made a mistake. She put her brother's head on Royal's body and Royal's head on her brother's body.

They both awoke and were happy listening to each other's adventures. They worshipped the King one more time and went on their way. Diamond was troubled and had no idea what to do.

The Girl, Her Husband and Her Brother translated by Arthur W. Ryder

Author's note: In the original story, White, who was a laundryman, came to bathe at a lake called Bath of Gauri. While he was there he met a beautiful woman named Lovely. White's dad asked Lovely's dad if his son could have her hand in marriage and Lovely's dad agreed. They got married, and when her brother came to visit them and invite them to a festival back at Lovely's parent's house they set off on a journey. They stopped at the temple of Gauri to worship the Goddess and both While and his brother-in-law beheaded themselves with a sword to show some sacrifice. Lovely was distraught and the Goddess told her that if she put their heads back on they would come back to life. However, Lovely accidentally switched their heads and was confused about what to do. I put a twist on it and used animals instead of people.

Biography: First Pet

For nineteen years, I begged my parents to let my dream come true and get me a dog. The answer was always no, and my mom assured me there would never be a dog in her household as long as I shall live under her roof. A few months into the nineteenth year, she saw a lady walking her Shih Tzu and fell in love with that breed. That's when I stepped in and started to once again nag her about getting a dog. She finally agreed and I could not have been any happier. That next week we drove to Stigler, Oklahoma and made the best decision. We picked up our little guy and brought him home four days after Christmas. 

The first picture of Skye the day we brought him home. 

Personal photo from December 2018. 

I never knew that this little bundle of joy could bring me so much happiness. It might have taken nineteen years but he came at a perfect time right when I lost my grandma, who was practically my best friend. I was really struggling and spending time with him really helped me fill the void that my grandma had left me with. This was my blessing in disguise and one of the things in life that I am most thankful for. We are attached at the hip and he is now the most spoiled baby. I wonder what my life would be like had my mom not given in to getting me a dog. 

Skye's first Christmas outfit.

Personal photo from December 2019. 

P.S. Enjoy one of my favorite pictures of him at the end. The little hoodie he is wearing says, "Who needs a mistletoe when you're this cute." This was his Christmas 2019 outfit and also the first Christmas that he spent with us. 

Author's Note: I chose to write about my first pet because it is one of the moments that changed my life for the best. I have struggled a lot trying to figure out who I truly am these past few years and getting him felt like my world was finally looking up. He is very special to me in many ways and if I am going to write any kind of biography he is an essential part. I loved writing this story because I got to relive the day that we got him and all those memories came running back. 

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche Part A

The Captive Woman

This story starts off with some robbers getting together, pouring wine out of golden glasses to remember their dead comrades, and singing songs to honor their God Mars. shortly after this, they fell asleep. An old woman gets some barley and the horse starts eating it, meanwhile, the donkey went to go search for some bread because he was starving and hadn't eaten. The robbers woke up in the middle of the night and grabbed their weapons and left where they had been staying. Lucius who was previously a person and had been turned into a donkey was on his third basket of bread as dawn approached. Lucius went to the stream to get some water when he noticed that the robbers were returning to the site where they had been staying. They came back with no goods, but instead with a girl who you could tell came from a very well respected family of that region. The robbers tried to calm her down by talking to her and telling her not to be scared, for they just needed money and poverty had led them to do this. They were sure that her parents would not hesitate to pay to have their daughter back. The girl was not soothed by this so they called the old lady over to try to comfort her, but nothing was working and the girl was crying uncontrollably. She was crying and telling the old lady that she had been taken from her family and deprived of the comforts that she was born and raised to. She said, why should I stop crying, for how do I even know if I will live. She finally fell asleep and after a bit, she arose suddenly and started tormenting herself violently by pounding her breasts and tearing her face. The old lady was now starting to get angry and asked her why on earth she was crying. She said, "You better not try to cheat my men out of profit or I will see you roasted alive. 

The donkey that Lucius was turned into;

Source: Wikimedia

Bibliography: The Captive Women, Translated into English by Tony Kline 

Famous Last Words: A Hectic Week

This past week has been extremely crazy and hectic. I have had several different doctor appointments to go to. I started and finished my application for the rest of my Communication Sciences and Disorders degree at OU Health Sciences Center. There were so many parts to it and a lot of paperwork that I had to get from my previous college and fill out so it was very time-consuming. I also work a full-time job and work six out of seven days a week. My schedule is very busy and some weeks I really struggle to fit everything in.

The reading that I chose this week was "Adam and Eve" from the biblical unit. I grew up going to church with my parents and going to bible school on Sundays to learn all about different stories of the bible. Reading those stories brought back old memories from those days and it was fun to read stories that I do not remember so well. I read the first part of the unit, but due to time restraints this past week I was not able to read Part B and write the blog for it by the time that it was due. I did the extra commenting assignments to make up for those points, but I really liked that unit so I want to go back and finish reading it soon.

I enjoyed the assignment where we have to comment on other people's posts because I find it interesting how everyone uses their imagination to recreate stories and change things about them. I read a lot of good ones and enjoy doing my work for this class because I am invested in it. This class is a lot of writing and I usually hate anything to do with writing, but it is so easy to get carried away typing when you are into the topic that you are writing about. There are not any limits in this class and that is a great opportunity to grow.

My goal for this week is to get all of my assignments done and do some extra credit to get ahead a few points. I have been procrastinating a lot these past few weeks and this week I really want to work on getting ahead so that I am not so stressed out.

An accurate description of the word tomorrow for procrastinators;

Source: Flickr

Week 4 Review

Escaping reality by reading;

Source: Tumblr

I really like this image that I came across on the H.E.A.R.T. part of the daily news. This picture is very relatable in my life and probably in other people's lives as well. We all deal with different things on a day to day basis and at times it can be too much and all we want is to be able to escape reality. I love reading and it is my favorite hobby. When I read books I catch myself getting so invested that I forget about what is going in on in my life at that very moment. In a sense, I escape reality and it is such a freeing feeling. It makes me feel like I am living whatever story I am reading and I am a character in the book. This graphic is a perfect representation of how many people use books to escape from reality, even if it is only for a little bit.

Are LOLCats and Internet Memes Art?

In my opinion, anything that an individual creates is a work of art. The way memes work, we have to find a picture and then write a caption for it. In a way, that is an art that is being created. It is something that they created with their imagination. The fact that they are made on the internet does not make that any different. Just like somone painting or drawing something is art, so are memes. 

Typing Tech Test Tip

The first typing test that I took was the KeyHero.com typing test. I kind of like this one more than the other one that I did because It has a set amount to type and then it gives you your results. The second typing test that I took was on TypingTest.com and I was not a fan of that one. It gives you one minute and has a bunch of words on the page to type. Once that minute is over then it just cuts off the screen. The KeyHero.com typing test also tells you your accuracy percentage while the other one doesn't. I will say that my results on both of them where within 2 words per minute so I feel like they are both accurate.

The farther into college that I get the more that I try to improve my typing skills. When professors talk really fast it is helpful to be able to type fast because so that you can take good notes and keep up. What I am working on right now is trying to type without looking at the keyboard and memorizing where all of the letter keys are.

In Junior High, I took a computer class and every single class period we started off by doing a typing lesson and taking a typing test to improve our typing. It was fun and every day I was competing to beat my score from the time before.

Feedback Strategies

Why Rejection Hurts So Much
Rejection hurts us in a way that we would never think it would. Rejections can come in very different forms. Many forms can come from person to person interactions such as not getting that job you wanted or being turned down by someone that you like. As mentioned in the article, I believe that in today's generation our biggest concern is getting rejected by others on social media. Rejection is in a way painful and this may be related to the same part being lit up in an MRI when someone experiences pain and when they have talked about the most recent rejection that they have experienced.

Rejection quote; 

Source: Flickr

Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise?
After reading this article and comparing it to my past few workplaces, I could not agree more with the author. According to this article, almost half of the managers that were surveyed said that stressful or difficult to give negative feedback to their employees. However, with that being said, managers were also giving much positive feedback or praise. When leaders are always giving negative feedback and not positive, it reflects back on them as leaders. Managers often feel like if they give too much positive feedback then their subordinates see a sign of weakness in them and that can lead to them feeling like they have more and more power.

I can really relate to this article myself as I see a lot of this at work. My managers are always so quick to give employees negative feedback, which can often lead to them getting down on themselves. When we have really good shifts they fail to give people praise and recognition, which makes employees feel like they are not appreciated. I believe managers need to focus on the good and the bad equally and not focus on one or the other too much.

Topic Research: Nursery Rhymes

My three favorite nursery rhymes that I want to start researching and include in my project are Humpty Dumpty, Hickory-Dickory-Dock, and Hush-a-bye baby.

I want my project to be modern stories for kids to read before bed, but I will be combining different nursery rhymes to come up with each story so that they are still short stories, but not too short.

For my story based on the nursery rhyme Hickory-Dickory-Dock, an idea that I have is to change the clock to another object and instead of a mouse maybe use a hamster or some other animal in the rodent family that is not a mouse. I have not decided what other nursery rhyme I want to combine with this to come up with a new story, but I have the part for Hickory-Dickory-Dock.

Hickory Dickory Dock nursery rhyme;

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hush-a-bye baby is a story that I am thinking of combining with Rain Rain Go Away and possibly one other nursery rhymes to be able to tell a story with events for a whole day. I was thinking about possibly changing the baby to an animal, such as a monkey. Monkeys are my favorite animal so I would like to somehow incorporate that into my story.

As for a story with Humpty Dumpty, this was always my favorite nursery rhyme growing up. It makes me laugh every time because it is a silly story. I picture trying to put Humpty Dumpty (an egg) back together and it seems quite impossible. I want to change the ending of this story to where somehow Humpty Dumpty is put back together again, just in time for something else to happen to him and break him again.

Picture of Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall;

Source: Pixabay

These are the two links that I used to find stories to do my project:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18546/18546-h/18546-h.htm
http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/04/myth-folklore-unit-nursery-rhymes.html