Story Planning: Fox-Woman

Source Story: The original story of the fox-woman tells of a hunter who comes home after an outing to his house being taken care of as if he has a wife, but he is completely alone. So, he goes off on a fake outing to determine who it was who did this. He watches a fox enter, who he think is looking for food, but when he goes into his house to check it out, he sees a beautiful woman and a fox skin hanging. It turns out that she was the one who had been doing these things for him, So they live together for a while, but the man realizes he doesn't like her smell. She tells him that she will leave if he doesn't like it, so she does, vowing to never visit a man again.

Bibliography: Fox-Woman from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, link to online source

Fox-Woman in Fox Form, online source

Ideas for New Story: I do not like how the original story ends with a bad ending. It makes me sad that the poor fox-woman who works really hard to be a good wife for the hunter has to leave because he doesn't like her smell. I think that her new husband should be grateful for his new wife since she is doing things for him that she doesn't have to. I would like the idea of my story to be that it is what is on the inside that counts, and I want there to be a happy ending for the love story of the hunter and the fox-woman.

Characters:

Hunter- He is a lonely man who longs for someone to love him, but his face is deformed. No woman will take the time to look past his physical appearance and get to know him for the person he is inside.

Fox-woman- She is lonely as well, also longing for love. It is difficult for her because she really is a beautiful woman, but she has an odd odor due to her also being a fox.

Feedback Thoughts

     I have to give feedback often, considering I am a cheer coach, and it is literally my job to give my kids feedback. However, I am not so used to receiving feedback anymore. When I was an athlete in high school I was good at taking constructive criticism, but I actually think I have gotten worse at it. The four articles on feedback I read were all incredibly useful and gave me insightful tips.
     Let's focus on receiving feedback first since that seems to be my weak point. I read 5 Tips for Taking Feedback Like a Champ which helped me realize the importance of mastering feedback reception. Tips 2 and 3 were the most helpful for me. Tip 2 reminded me that having rom for improvement is a good thing because it means I am still able to get better, while tip 3 reminded me to not take feedback so personally, meaning I need to take feedback for what it is and not attribute it to my character in general. The article Silence the Critical Vices in Your Head had a story in it that resonated with me. The man in the story focused on his workers negative feedback more than the positive, which got him down and hindered him from doing his best work. Like many people, I often only focus on the negative, instead of giving thought to the positive. I need to keep in mind all the positive feedback I receive and not give so much importance to the negative feedback.
    

   Feedback Cats, petswelcome

     Although I see myself as good at giving feedback, I actually found the articles I read on this topic even more helpful than the previous two. I read 7 Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback which explained how an important part of giving feedback is making it revolve around a goal, which I had not really considered before. I think this will be useful for me in giving feedback as I need to consider what a person's goal might be and then give useful feedback to achieve that goal. The most helpful article I read though was The Difference Between Praise That Promotes Narcissism vs. Healthy Self-Esteem. It explained how praise needs to be centered around the work a person did for the accomplishment instead of a general character trait. I found this particularly useful because I can use this advice in how I praise my daughter to create a hard-working citizen.

Week 2 Storytelling: Sister Wives

"Asher."
"Here."
"Benjamin."
"Here."
"Dan."                                                                                  
"Here."
"Dinah."
"Here!"
"Gad."
"Here."
"Issachar."
"Here."                                                                                 
"Jospeh."
"Here."
"Levi."          
"Here."
"Naphtali."
"Here."
"Reuben."
"Here."
"Simeon."
"Here."
"Zebulun."
"Here."

Jacob's Flight by von Carolsfield, mythfolklore

"Wow. That took much longer than expected. When I took this job, I did not realize how many children I was taking on. Your father just instructed me to take care of his children. Who knew he had thirteen of them!" Jacob's children watched their teacher silently as she recovered from her surprise.
"Well, we don't all have the same mom," Asher said bluntly.
"Asher!"  Benjamin exclaimed. "That's not really 'first day' information."
"You only say that because Dad loved your Mom, Ben. The rest of us think our moms should get some recognition too," Judah stated from the back of the room."
"At least your mom is still alive!" Joseph blurted out.
"Oh, shut UP, Joseph!" Dinah said with an exasperated tone. The kids all began bickering at once. The volume in the room grew louder and louder. Ms. Carolyn knew she needed to gain control over the kids before they got out of hand. She was an experienced caretaker, but she had never worked with a family with thirteen children before.
"ENOUGH!" Ms. Carolyn shouted. The room grew still and silent as the children stared at Ms. Carolyn. All twenty-six eyes were opened wide, shocked by their caretakers outburst.
"Excuse us, Ms. Carolyn," Reuben, the oldest, apologized on the behalf of himself and his siblings. "It's just, our family is a bit complicated. It may be better if we explain this to you." Ms. Carolyn immediately regretted taking on this job. But Rebekah (Jacob's mother) had been a great friend to her. She wanted to return the favor by helping Rebekah's son, but she was not aware of how complicated Jacob's family was.
"Okay. Maybe I should get some background information. What was your name again, son?"
"I'm Reuben. I'm the oldest of us all. My mother is Leah. Our mother gave our father seven children, six sons-"
"And one daughter," Dinah interrupted.
"I see. Wow! Seven children. Sounds like a hero." Ms. Carolyn said.
"Pft... You want to know who a hero is?" Joseph asked. Before Ms. Carolyn could answer, Joseph continued, "Our mother, Rachel."
"Both Rachel and Leah will be remembered as great women, Joe," Issachar pointed out to ease the tension.
"Excuse me... what about our mother?" Naphtali questioned, Dan nodding in agreement behind him.
"And ours!" Gad and Asher exclaimed in unison.
"Okay, wait one minute kids," Ms. Carolyn said in her calmest voice. Things were really getting interesting now. She was extremely curious but did not want to see to eager to learn more. "Reuben. Since you are the oldest child, I would like you to explain this all to me." Her statement was met with groans and eye rolls, but Reuben began.
"Let's see. Our father, Jacob, worked for Leah, my mother's, father. He was given my mother in turn for seven years work. As I said, she gave birth to seven of us: Me, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah."
"Ahem," Asher cleared his throat obnoxiously.
"Since Asher seems to have something to say, I will let him speak now." Reuben stated calmly.
"That was very respectful of you, Reuben," Ms. Carolyn said. "Go on," she instructed Asher.
"My mother, Zilpah, was Leah's handmaid. Leah gave our mother to our Dad to wife," Asher explained.
"Leah claimed us as her own," Gad added.
"But that doesn't change the fact that Zilpah is our Mom," Asher spat. Ms. Carolyn knew she needed to change the subject.
"Dan! I haven't heard much from you. Why don't you tell me your story?"
"Oh. Well, my mother is Bilhah. Rachel's handmaid. Rachel was barren, so she gave my mother to our father to bear children-which are me and Naphtali." Naphtali waved to Ms. Carolyn. She smiled in response. "So where are Rachel's children?" Ms. Carolyn inquired.
"Right here!" Joseph and Benjamin said in unison. "Dad waited fourteen years to make our mom his wife. He loved her so dearly. He was always the one she wanted, but her father kept her away from our dad in order to get more work out of him. She passed when she gave birth to Ben. Everyone got quiet. Dinah looked down, ashamed of her outburst earlier. She grabbed Joseph's hand.
"I am sorry for your loss," Ms. Carolyn said. "All of you." The children looked at each other and smiled. "You all seem like a wonderful family. I am looking forward to caring for you all," she expressed with genuine enthusiasm.

Bibliography: Stories of Women (Rachel and Leah) from the Bible, link to online source.

Author's Note: When I read the story of Leah from the Bible, I was immediately intrigued. In addition to this though, I was extremely confused. There were so many children and so many mothers and so many weird names that I could not keep track of who belonged to who. I figured others had had the same problem as me, and so I decided to write a story in which all of those relationships are expressed clearly. The Bible stories I enjoyed most these past two units were those with dialogue, so I knew that had to be an important part of my story. I kept the relationships all the same, but I was able to do some character development with the children that was not at all there in the Bible stories I read. The jealousy among the women though, especially between Leah and Rachel, which I feel I expressed through the children's comments. In reality, the family really was quite broken and the children did not end up interacting as family, but I decided to take a lighter, more positive approach with my story where the children realize that no matter what, they are still one, big family.

Reading Notes: Adam and Eve, Part B

This set of stories was not as captivating as the women of the Bible stories. They were less captivating in my opinion. I found Adam and Eve in these stories too whiny. They had a hard time accepting the punishment for their actions, which was frustrating for me. The stories were very dark and more depressing than I would have liked. There was so much grief and desperation with little hope. This bothered me due to the fact that I like to see the Bible as quite inspirational, building hope. In addition to all this, God seemed meaner than I'd like to see Him. Although he was merciful, it was not to the extent I would have expected. His punishments were harsh, and I feel like the whole forgiveness lesson cold have been taken advantage of here. All that being said, these issues I found with the stories helped me come up with alternatives for my own story. I would like to write a story where Adam and Eve overcome the hardships they are facing. I would like to see them learn how to cope with their punishments a bit better. I would also like to see them take more accountability for their mistakes. Although there were some things I did not like about these stories, there were some good qualities as well. I enjoyed the dialogue between Adam and Eve, and I also appreciated the love story aspect between the two. Eve was so upset by Adam's suffering that she did not want to live without him. This helped the story seem less distant and more relatable. I also realize that although God seemed quite "mean," his actions were necessary to teach Adam and Eve a lesson. Therefore, it was important that God have this quality in order to use these stories as a teaching tool for those who read it.

Adam and Eve by Masaccio, mythfolklore

The Forgotten Book of Eden, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr.

Reading Notes: Bible women, Part A

     I really loved the story of Sarah because her story portrays her as "real". Her unintentional laugh when hearing of her bearing a child in her old age is classic. I would like to use that in my story, showing each character's "realness," with little details like Sarah's laugh. It is always interesting to see a character's internal thoughts, and it is fun to have the characters express them, especially by accident. This makes the character more relatable and more likeable even, in my opinion anyway.
     The story of Rachel and Leah fascinates me. The jealousy between the two women is something that I can include in my story. Jealous women are automatically entertaining. Who doesn't love some drama? I would love to include some sassy dialogue between the two women in my story. It could especially be entertaining if the women were trying to mask their jealousy but just could not seem to tame it in their conversation.
     Leah's story seems so ridiculous to me, which means it will be a really fun one to write about! I want to have all of Jacob's offspring explaining their relation to each other to a visitor who does not know them. The children could do their best at explaining who shared just a dad and who shared both parents. The only girl could be a very fun character to play with, considering she has only brothers and a lot of them at that. They could also explain their different mothers' jealousy toward each other but from an innocent child's point-of-view. Perhaps I could have both the children and the mothers attempting to explain the connections. The children would explain parts of the story their way, and then the mothers would have to interject, explaining the story with more accuracy but also with less innocence.

 Jacob's Flight by von Carolsfield, mythfolklore

Stories of Women (Sarah, Rachel, and Leah) from the Bible, link to online source.