Week 8 Reflexions

As I look back on the Ramayana and Mahabharata reading assignments and think about which one I enjoyed the most I can't help and think about the first weeks assignment. We had to choose a random story and wright about it, now I can see it was to prepare us for the semester. It took me a while to finally choose a story and read but when I did I landed on The Mountains in Labor.
For some this is still my favorite story; though short it was fun for me to read. So I am looking forward to the last 8 weeks of our course as we are given a bit more freedom!

So far out of the Ramayana readings and Mahabharata readings I have enjoyed Narayan's Ramayana the most. I enjoyed the story of Sita and Rama and of their adventures. I also enjoyed Ravana and how he was portrayed, he might actually have been my favorite character out of them all.
I also found myself enjoying the thought process of writing a story post for the Ramayana more enjoyable. As I was reading and even taking notes I would be drawn to one specific part and had it in my mind that, that is what I wanted to write a story over even before I finished the reading assignment.
I also ready Narayan's version of the Mahabharata, wanting to compare the two stories with a similar writing style. It was very difficult for me to follow which character was what and did what. It was also very soap opera-ish to me. I can see how in India they can make an entire television series over it.

My reading notes for the Mahabharata came in very handy, as did the detailed reading guides. My schedule turned out to be a little different so I found myself writing a story long after I did the readings so it was very useful in that situation for a refresher. I also ended up putting page numbers or  highlighting in my notes so I knew what to look at if I decided I wanted to write about something specific. This seemed to help my story telling the most.

I am also enjoying the portfolio. It is really giving me the opportunity to fine tune my writing and literature skills, something I am not good at. So I actually really enjoy when my peers leave critical (but in a nice way) comments and point something out I need to change or should think about more. I hope my comments I leave on the stories I have read help my peers out as well! I have gotten good ideas from reading other stories as well, as far as type of stories to write (i.e. journal entires).

Here is a cool picture of a Trilobite Fossil

They went extinct in the Permian (252 Million yrs. ago)

Thank you

Candace Johnston