Famous Last Words: Another Week Down

This week I chose to read Jewish Fairy Tales. They were similar to other biblical stories I have read before, but it was a different perspective and that was good for me. My daughter thinks I'm hilarious, but I will do just about anything to avoid the Iliad, the Odyssey and Beowulf. So I went completely in the other direction. I think my story this week turned out better than last week's. Poor Morgana the cat has had a lot of interesting adventures these past couple of weeks. I might have to give him next week off if I can.

I also did some extra reading for my project, and that has been really fun. Some of the things I'm reading are on my kindle, and I think my husband thinks I've just been relaxing with a book in the evenings, but I'm really still working on schoolwork. I don't usually do homework in the evenings unless I have to, but there's a lot I want to explore and it's been interesting enough for me to allow it to cross into my family and relaxation time. Arsene Lupin is a pretty fun guy, so I don't mind taking him to the couch with me at night.

My other classes went well this week, too. I was really nervous about the response paper I wrote on the reading we did for my personality class, but she told me it was beautiful. I was afraid I put too much of myself into it, because I tend to do so, as you can probably already tell. I'm having the semester of teacher's asking for my thoughts rather than just scholarly writing, so it's going to get interesting as I get more comfortable. In my capstone this week we decided on where we will serve our internship, and I went with the veteran's center. It scares me a little and is pretty outside the box for me, but everything about it felt more right. The other place would have been children and teens and I have a lot more experience with those groups already. I expected the lab I'll be working at to meet, but I haven't heard anything. It's not that unusual for it to take a little time to get things going, but since it counts as a class I need to make sure everything is alright with it. I need to apply for graduation before the 15th of this month, so I will probably do that next week whether we've started in the lab or not.

(Photo of Mario from my personal collection)

Yesterday afternoon we had to take Mario to the vet to have his thyroid checked. He's 18 years old and has hyperthyroidism, chronic kidney disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is an enlarged chamber of the heart. He's on medication for the thyroid and the heart issues. He hasn't had his thyroid levels checked since he started the heart medicine in April, and it's absolutely perfect! He's been grumpy lately so we thought maybe his meds needed an adjustment. His kidneys are a little worse, he's slightly anemic, and he's lost more weight, but those are things that are going to continue to progress as he ages. The vet says he's allowed to eat his special kidney friendly tuna as much as he wants, and we're getting some probiotics to sprinkle in his food to make his tummy feel better. Most of his behavior is surprisingly normal considering his health problems, and he seems happy most of the time (except when he's grumpy and yelling at me). So all is good with him for now, and that makes me feel better.

Tomorrow I'm taking homework to a family gathering. I need to stay caught up and/or ahead, and I need to do some more studying for my GRE. I was planning to use the long weekend to do those things, and then my husband accepted an invitation. So while the kids swim in the pool, I will be doing as much homework as I comfortably can there. I guess we'll see how it works out, I can't always concentrate with that much going on around me.

Wikipedia Trail: From William Kidd to Hammonasset Beach State Park

1. William Kidd - also known as Captain Kidd. He was a sailor who became a pirate. He buried treasure in various parts of New England, including Connecticut which is where I grew up. I didn't know this until I started researching him for my project.

2. Charles Island - an island right off the coast of Milford, CT. Ironically despite how small CT is, and all the beach trips in my 22 years there, I have never been to Charles Island, but as it's part of Long Island Sound I have seen it from different beaches. Captain Kidd was supposedly there in 1699 and left some treasure behind that he didn't want to take with him to Boston.

3. Silver Sands State Park - public recreation area of beaches and woods in Milford, CT. Charles Island is just off of the coast and considered a part of the park. Walnut beach is also attached to Silver Sands, and I haven't been there either. Again, Captain Kidd's treasure is mentioned. Maybe I should have hung out at the beach with the Milford kids when I was young. It never sounded like the cool thing to do, so I didn't.

4. Beaches of Connecticut - There wasn't much information here, and many beaches I know of are missing. But it got me to the place I wanted to end up...

(Photo from my personal collection of Hammonasset Beach.)

5. Hammonasset Beach State Park - Long Island Sound, Madison, CT. This is the beach I grew up going to. As a kid my parents would take us, as a teen I went with my friends, in my early 20's I went in the off season just to walk or sit and think. It was closed and turned into an Army base during WWII. I haven't seen the new Meigs Point Nature Center because it's been a few years since we visited. We have taken my daughter there many times on our visits to see family, including one spring break trip where it was way too cold to put our feet in the water, but we did anyway.

(Photo from my personal collection of Hammonasset Beach.)

Growth Mindset: Random Cats!

(Because there weren't already a bunch of cats on this blog.)

(Photo from Growth Mindset Resources)

I love that this cat is making art, but you can apply what it says to art, writing, school, and almost anything, really. I think it's a good mantra to keep in mind.

(Photo from Growth Mindset Resources)

I love Buddha. I would call myself a Buddhist if I had found enough time to really explore the Buddhist philosophies and put them into application. But I do try to find ways to connect with myself and others, and I try to practice being present and mindful when I can. I also think this kitty is meditating and I need more of that in my life.

(Photo from Growth Mindset Resources)

I sort of feel like these cats while posting on this blog. I actually used to have much more of an online presence. I'm more of an observer now, although I do like to comment on other people's posts. Mostly I just post pictures of my cat on instagram. I think that may be why I'm having all sorts of fun in this class, I have to post for class, so I'm making time to do it. It's been a lot of years since I've asked my programmer husband to build me a new blog. I guess we'll see how I feel after this semester. 

Tech Tip: Canvas Dashboard

I found the tips for customizing the Canvas dashboard really helpful. I had recently figured out how to change the color of the courses. I did that a few days ago because I had two on my dashboard showing up purple and one that was red, and it looked really awful. Now my courses are all colors that don't clash with each other.

What I learned today that I find helpful is how to create a nickname for the course. Since I have two psychology classes this semester, and they are both 4000 level classes, it was getting hard to remember which was which. Not they are labeled as "Personality" and "Capstone" and I won't have to think so hard about it before clicking on the right course.

I also like that you can remove things from the To Do list. I find it really irritating when there are lots of assignments that I don't even control, like weekly participation, but they show up in my To Do list, making it harder to find assignments that I actually need to do. So I have cleared that out for the week and I feel a little less stressed out with nothing on the list.

Week 3 Feedback Strategies

(Photo from Cat Planet)

I don't actually feel that way about feedback, but my cat is going to the vet this afternoon to check his thyroid levels and he definitely feels this way (or will when he realizes what I meant by "we're going on an adventure this afternoon"!)

Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback

I really enjoyed this article. I think feedforward makes a lot of sense and would be more useful to most people than feedback. I can absolutely apply this to my situation I mentioned before with the girl who leaves criticism on my fan fiction. She tends to ask why I did something, and point out the reasons why she thinks it is wrong, and what I should have done instead. Once a chapter is published on one or more websites, and people have read it, I am not likely to go back and rewrite something unless I feel strongly about it. So giving me advice on future directions I can take the story in can be really helpful, but most people don't go back and change things after it's published. Even if it were something that were likely to go through revisions like our projects for this class, it doesn't seem like it would be helpful to most of us to get negative feedback on what we've done so far. Feedforward sounds more like helping someone brainstorm ideas for what comes next, and I really like that. I also like that it sounds quick and efficient.

The Difference Between Praise and Feedback

After reading this article I feel in the middle about the two sides. When my daughter shows me her art, I most definitely tell her that it's good. But I also tell her what I like about the technique she used, and ask questions about it if she's done something different than usual. If she asks for advice on what seems off about a drawing, I will try to help her see what she could do differently in a future drawing. But only if she asks for it. I also will share things I know about different art mediums she could try if she was trying to achieve a certain look and I happen to know a way she might go about it. This weekend she plans to borrow my derwent inktense pencils because I told her how cool it was to use them with water on a fine paintbrush, which makes the pencil spread like ink. I told her about it because I had seen her trying to achieve a similar effect with a broken marker. So I think there are times when praise is a good thing, and I definitely agree that asking questions is really important and can help you give positive feedback for the future.

Reading Notes: Lupin, Goemon, Hood and Kidd

Arsene Lupin - character created by Maurice Leblanc, gentleman burglar.

Book: The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice LeBlanc

Stories:

The Arrest of Arsene Lupin (Ch 1) - 

Told from the point of view of Monsieur d'Andrezy who receives a telegraph aboard a ship saying that Arsene Lupin has boarded, is alone, has blonde hair and is going by a name that begins with R. He accuses another passenger named Mon. Rozaine of being Lupin because he fits the criteria and is also getting friendly with the women d'Andrezy is fond of (Miss Nelly). Rozaine is cleared, and Lupin is never found despite further thefts. When the ship docks, d"Andrezy and Miss Nelly (who he credits Lupin for his becoming close to her on the ship) watch all the others exit and make it past the detective waiting to arrest Lupin. When they walk by, he stops d'Andrezy, who was Lupin the whole time. Miss Nelly takes his picture, keeps walking, and tells no one, and Lupin is arrested.

This quote from the story makes me think about Joker and his ability to have multiple personas instead of just one like everyone else:

"Why," said he, "why should I retain a definite form and feature? Why not avoid the danger of a personality that is ever the same? My actions will serve to identify me." 

Ishikawa Goemon - Ninja thief - son of a Samurai, 16th century. Studued ninjutsu under Momochi Tanba after he lost his parents. Later went to Kyoto and became a robber - organized a band of thieves - stole gold and other valuables from wealthy residents of Kyoto. Pretended to be merchants by day to scope out targets. When members of the group were eventually caught, they sold him out as their leader. May have tried to assassinate Japan's leader at the time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Goemon was executed. The means vary by legend, most common being that he and his son were put in a kettle of oil and boiled to death. Said to Hideyoshi right before his death," Indeed I stole a fortune, it is true that I am a thief but you are also a thief because you stole the whole country of Japan. "

-He was a thief for himself, not to help the weak like Robin Hood, but became popular because he stood up to authority in a time when that was unheard of.

-Other stories say he gave the money he stole to the poor. 

-Kettle shaped bathtubs are now called goemon baths (goemonburo). 

-He is typically portrayed today as either a ninja or a bandit.

Sources:

Ninja Encyclopedia

Wikipedia

Story idea: I would retell the story of Goemon and his band of thieves based on the websites above and any others I can find. I have not found a book that references him, but I think there is enough to go on from internet sources.

Robin Hood - Robin plans to enter the Sheriff''s contest, meets ta group of men along the way. They make fun of him, calling him an infant. He bets them that he can shoot the deer with the best heart and they wager he can't kill just one. He wins, and tells them the wager was 300 pounds. They tell him he shot the king's deer and try to capture him, but one suggests they let him go because he is so young. Robin leaves angry, one of the men was drunk on ale and angry, shoots an arrow after Robin. It misses (just barely) because he was drunk. Robin turns around and shoots an arrow which kills the man. He settled in Sherwood Forrest, never returning to Locksley Town. He was an outlaw for both killing the man and the deer and had a 200 pound price put on his head, and the Sheriff of Nottingham began pursuing him since the man he killed was one of his relatives. Robin hid in the forrest for a year, and others like him gathered there "to escape wrong and oppression". They decided to take from their oppressors with Robin as their leader, and to help the poor by returning the things that had been taken from them. They promised to not hurt children or women, and they people they helped praised Robin Hood.

Meets a stranger on a bridge - they fight over who should cross first and is the better man. The stranger is taller and broader than Robin, carries a staff so Robin quickly makes one and they fight. The stranger wins and Robin falls off into the water, and starts laughing hysterically. He is impressed by the stranger because no one else has ever bested him in a fight. Robin asks him to be his right hand man. The man says he will join if Robin wins against him in an arrow shooting contest. The stranger hits the mark, and Robin splits his arrow with his own. The man, John Little, agrees to join, and the merry men decide they prefer to call him Little John because they think it's funny. 

This quite makes me think about the path Crow's life takes:

"Gone was all the joy and brightness from everything, for his heart was sick within him, and it was borne in upon his soul that he had slain a man."

Story idea: Crow tells the story of how he became a thief, and eventually ends up with the Phantom Thieves. He and Joker are competitive with one another, but become close friends.

Book:

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Stories:

How Robin Hood Became an Outlaw

(Photo by Frank Godwin)

Captain Kidd - aka William Kidd - a Scottish sailor , settled in New York City and became an apprentice on a pirate ship. Married one of the richest women in NY, Englishwoman Sarah Bradley Cox Oort. Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont was governing over NY, MA and NH and asked Kidd to attack other known pirates and enemy French ships. By saying yes (and he pretty much had to), his reputation as a pirate was established. 

He supposedly buried treasure - treasure hunts happened in Nova Scotia, NY and CT. 

Possible story sources:

The Gold-bug by Edgar Allen Poe - a story about searching for Kidd's treasure.

The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks

Extra reading done this week: Three chapters from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice LeBlanc; one chapter of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle; several websites about Ishikawa Goemon and William Kidd.

Topic Research: Chivalrous Robbers

Diary of a Phantom Thief: Chivalrous Robbers

1. Joker: A story in the style of Arsene Lupin

Book: The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

Stories: The Arrest of Arsene Lupin (Ch 1)

Story idea: Joker tells the tale of how he manages to slip under every one's radar in real life and the Metaverse. Except for that one time, when he ends up caught by the prosecutor. He even tricks the teammate who betrayed him, only to be caught red-handed in the end.

2. Fox: a story based on the legend of Ishikawa Goemon

Sources:

Ninja Encyclopedia

Wikipedia

Story idea: I would retell the story of Goemon and his band of thieves based on the websites above and any others I can find. I have not found a book that references him, but I think there is enough to go on from internet sources.

3. Crow: A story based on the tale of Robin Hood

Book:

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Stories:

How Robin Hood Became an Outlaw

Story idea: Crow tells the story of how he became a thief, and eventually ends up with the Phantom Thieves. He and Joker are competitive with one another, but become close friends.

4: Skull: A story based on the legend of Captain Kidd

Possible story sources:

The Gold-bug by Edgar Allen Poe - a story about searching for Kidd's treasure.

The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks

Note: I am still considering using Japanese fairy tales or myths/legends instead of or together with these. I haven't fully sorted it out yet. I also will be incorporating Joker's use of multiple personas. Some of the Japanese personas he can use include Ōkuninushi, Ame-no-Uzume, Kushinada-hime, Take-Minakata, Yoshitsune, Tsukiyomi and Yatagarasu. He also has some personas that are fun and interesting characters like Alice and Oberon. I have done a lot of extra reading this week, so I will publish my more extensive reading notes in a separate post. 

(Photo of William Kidd by Howard Pyle)