Reading Notes: Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part B

All about the Little Mermaid

• Split up into 6 stories
• I can't believe the Little Mermaid did all of that for the prince
• I wish she could have told him everything
• Maybe I could rewrite this by having male mermaids (mermen?) and a princess, instead of mermaids and a prince
• One of the mermen could seek the princess at land and everything could be reversed, OR I could have the princess realize the true story behind the merman and come to the seas to be with him
• There are many alternative endings I could implement since there are so many things that happened 
• Ex. the prince marrying the princess could be switched around and instead, he could marry the mermaid or he could already be married
• Ex. the five other sisters cutting their hair for their sisters, what if they all cut off their tongues and the singing ceased, and the era of the mermaids ended, and that's why there are no mermaids today?

Source: When the mermaid decided to give up her tail for two legs, to be with the prince.

Bibliography: Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part B. 

Reading Notes: Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part A

The Princess and the Pea

• I've read this story many times but I still thought it was fun to read again!
• I may actually rewrite this and have the girl NOT be a princess 
• I could have her say she slept very well, which tells the family that she is not a princess

The Emperor's New Suit

• This story is incredible as it shows you how some people will do anything to seem smart in front of others 
• It also shows how some people will lie in order to praise you and to boost themselves as well

The Wicked Prince

• I like that he was set straight by God
• I'm not sure why he thought he could conquer God in the first place, but that just shows his confidence levels
• Not sure how I could rewrite this, but I might tell the story of how God conquered the Prince in another way, instead of the little gnat

The Little Match-Seller

• This story was quite interesting because it was so different
• It was kind of creepy because of how at the end, the little girl died and her frozen body was found by strangers
• I thought it was really sad that she was forced to go out in the cold to sell matches and if she didn't, she would be punished at home
• I might rewrite this story but have someone come rescue her before she dies

Source: An image of a burning match.

Bibliography: Andersen's Fairy Tales, Part A. 

End of the Semester Review

Thoughts about video:
I saw this video in the announcements and IMMEDIATELY knew I wanted to write my review post about it: Understanding mental illness through empathetic storytelling: Jake Morgan and Neal Walia at TEDxOU. As a psychology major, this topic greatly interests me. I also am concerned about how nobody talks about mental illnesses as much as they should. I liked how they brought up the issue and how both were so comfortable talking about it with each other when they weren't even close friends. I love those types of stories and I really liked this one as well!

Thoughts about image:
I really liked this quote in the image below, just because it's a cute motivational picture. I love that it outlined how lessons are learned and applied, and we should never give up in the middle. I think that is really important for us to remember this week especially, at the beginning of dead week. We have all come this far in the semester, and we may feel like quitting and not studying, but we have to remember not to give up in the middle! 

Source: A beautiful quote to send to people when they might be struggling.

Learning Challenge: What is Sleep for a College Student?

Data Reveals How Some College Students Sleep
This article talked about a survey that found out how much sleep an average college student sleeps. They found that on average, students actually get at least seven hours of sleep a day. They also found that women get more sleep than men because they need to, due to biological reasons. I found this really interesting because I don't think I or any of my friends ever average 7 hours of sleep a week, unless it's the weekend or in the summer, when we don't have as many (or any) classes. 

One thing I already knew, however, was that as classes get tougher, students get less sleep. That is clearly evident throughout life, because I remember when I was in elementary school, my bedtime was 9 pm. I used to get almost 12 hours a sleep on the daily! In high school, I would get 8-9 hours of sleep at first, then eventually got to the point where on some weeks, I only got 4-5 hours a sleep due to some AP classes and tests coming up. In college, it truly depends on the week and the classes I'm taking. Some weeks, I'll have no tests or papers and hardly any coursework to finish, so I may get some sleep. Other weeks, I'll have 3 papers, 2 projects, 2 tests, AND an event coming up that I have to participate in. Those weeks, an all-nighter is bound to occur. Every day, every week, is different. 

Overall, I'm glad the results of the article were consistent with health needs. That is a little reassuring, so that is good :) I wish to explore the same question in this study to people of specific majors. For example, explore how much sleep Pre-Health students, education students, Pre-Law students, history students, engineering students, philosophy students, and business students get. I think it would be interesting to compare all the majors available at a university and see who all gets how much sleep. 

Source: An accurate description of the messy environment most college students sleep in, especially during finals week.

Growth Mindset: Sharing Thoughts with a Friend

I decided to talk about the Growth Mindset with a friend, since I feel like everyone should learn about the Growth Mindset sooner than later. And college is the perfect time to learn about it, so we can all implement these ideas in the rest of our classes and in the work force when we graduate!

My friend had never heard of the Growth Mindset, so I explained Carol Dweck's video that we watched at the beginning of class. I explained the part where students all over are in this competition to get the highest grades, when in reality, we should all be trying to understand the material at hand (since that's what we're here for in the first place). 

My friend agreed that we should be trying to focus on learning instead of simply obtaining the letter grade we want. However, he stated that it would be extremely difficult to get that ball rolling, since we have been doing it this way for so long. Even if you do get the ball rolling, there would be a lot of discrimination against the idea and many people may not want to do it that way. A lot of people may ask why we can't just be doing it the way we have been, since so many people have succeeded for so long this way. He stated that the only way to do that would be creating a college with no letter grades and simply basing their intellectual level off of what experiences they have. That way, when they go into the work force, the employers know what they can and can't do, instead of just looking at one test score that may not truly reflect the abilities of the candidate. 

Source: Very relatable quote, as a path with no obstacles is not a path of learning.

Reading Notes: The Brothers' Grimm, Part A

The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids

• I liked this story because it was cute and it showed how the wolf was cunning and how the way of the world is
• I loved that the mother was able to cut the kids out of the wolf's stomach without him noticing and fill it with stones.
• I don't think I've written a short, cute, fun story in this class so I could write one now if I wanted to rewrite this story in particular

The Seven Ravens

• I wonder who exactly or how exactly the boys got turned into ravens and back into humans?
• There is no character devoted to that task specifically, so I might rewrite this story and add a character, like some sort of magician or witch who is capable of transforming humans into animals

Little Red Cap

• This story is very similar to the Wolf and the Seven Young Kids in that the wolf tried to eat children in both, and at the end, everyone he swallowed was let out again and his stomach was filled with stones instead
• I like this version of Little Red Riding Hood since it is more of a happy ending than the original story

The Elves

• I really like this story and find it really cute that little elves came and helped a poor shoemaker without expecting anything in return
• This reminded me of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book, where Hermione makes all the elves little hats and campaigns for them because she hates the way they are treated
• I could rewrite this story with a little Harry Potter addition to it

 

Source: Hermione's campaign for elves in the Goblet of fire book.

Bibliography: Ashliman's Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales, Part A. 

Week 14 Story: A Tale of Two Stories

There once was a hideous Beast who stole a baby from the king and queen of a great palace. The little princess was a girl named Belle, and the Beast had kept her in a lonely tower all her life. The Beast was friendly towards her, and acted as if she were his own child by feeding her, teaching her life lessons, and cleaning up after her. However, he would never let her out of the tower. He had said it was for her own safety, but in reality he was scared of losing her.

There was only one window in the entire tower, and it was at the very top, where Belle stayed. Belle had beautiful golden-brown, long hair, and anytime the Beast went out to hunt or run errands, he would have to climb down Belle's hair. Every time he wanted to come back up to the tower, he would yell "Belle, let down your hair!" One day, when she was older, a prince from a neighboring kingdom happened to travel through the forest with the tower, in which Belle was staying. He soon saw the Beast call Belle from down below to let down her hair, and he saw how the Beast was able to climb up the hair all the way inside the tower. He was immediately intrigued and the next day, he waited until the Beast left the tower, then called to Belle from down below. Immediately, Belle let down her long hair and the prince climbed up.

Belle was extremely startled, as she had never seen anybody else in her life but the Beast. She, too, was intrigued by the handsome prince. He convinced her that he was a good person and asked her to marry him. She wanted to, but she was afraid of what the Beast may say. The prince convinced her to run away with him, so she did.

Back at the prince's kingdom, Belle was welcomed with open arms. Everybody loved her and thought she was well suited for the prince. After a long day of touring the kingdom and finding out there was much more to life than her little tower, Belle found a magic mirror in the prince's room. The prince told her it would show her the thing she wanted to see the most in that moment. She immediately thought of the Beast. When the mirror drew up an image of the Beast, Belle saw him in pain. He had fallen over and looked very ill, and was lamenting about losing Belle.

Distraught over what had happened to the Beast that had card for her for years, the princess immediately traveled to the tower once again, threw her hair up to the window, climbed up, and found the Beast trembling on the floor. Immediately, the Beast was engulfed in puffs of white smoke and when it cleared, a handsome man stood before Belle.

He quickly explained how a witch had cursed him long ago, causing him to transform into a hideous beast, and that he would only be released from the curse when someone actually cared for him like family. Belle had grown to care for him, and although she ran away from the tower to be with the prince that rescued her, she always had a special place in her heart for the Beast who had raised her.

Source: The Disney's Belle and Rapunzel.

Bibliography: Thomas Crane's Italian Popular Tales.

Author's Note: As many of you may have guessed, I have combined aspects from two fairy tales into my story for this week: that of Beauty and the Beast and that of Rapunzel. The Italian Popular Tales I read had different versions of these stories; Zelinda and the Monster and the Fair Angiola. In Zelinda and the Monster, the father of three daughters asked what everyone wanted as a present, and the first two haughty daughters asked for something expensive, while the youngest, Zelinda, asked for a simple rose. In getting her that rose, a fearsome Beast mistook the father for a thief and asked for either him or his daughter to stay with him. Zelinda decided to stay with him and the Beast treated her nicely and even asked her to marry him. She said no at first, then when she saw her father in pain in a magic mirror, the Beast said he would let her see her father if she promised to marry him. She did so, and when she got back, the Beast got turned into a handsome prince and he explained how a witch had turned him into a Beast and only someone who loved him for him could release the curse. In the Fair Angiola, a woman stole from a witch, who made her promise to give up her first-born child at the age of 7. The woman agreed, and when the time came, she had to give up her daughter Angiola to the witch. The witch kept her in a tower and cared for her as her own. One day, a prince came by and convinced Angiola to marry him. She consented, and gave all the furniture in the room something to eat so they would not tell the witch where she went. The broom in the corner was not seen, so he didn't get any food. When the witch got back, the broom is the one who told her where Angiola went. The witch found her and turned her face into a dog. A few months later, an actual dog came and helped Angiola get her beautiful face back with the witch's consent and the prince and Angiola got married. I took both of these and combined the stories to make one. This author's note is really long but I had to explain the context behind both!