Storytelling: Rama in New York part 2

"Rama... seriously where are you...?"

I literally cannot take this much longer.  I've been trapped in this stupid stinky warehouse for like eight days.  I could easily free myself from this little enclosure, but it would be a lot easier if my stupid boyfriend Rama would just hurry his butt up and get here to help me out.  I just need a distraction, and someone strong, but there is nothing here to help me. 

So this is basically what happened: Rama had a brother who got into drugs, killed their rich CEO father to pay a debt, framed Rama- who then went to jail, and then Rama framed a girl who came to see him (the sister of the drug dealer that his brother owed a debt to) and then he was released.  Unfortunately, now the big scary guy that is brother owed money, Ravana, has kidnapped me and he thinks he is gonna keep me here forever until I say I will do whatever he wants- which is NOT gonna happen.  I'm a smart girl, and I can find my way out of here- however, what I have in smarts I lack in strength, so I still need Rama's help.  He will be here any minute though.  When I got kidnapped I dropped jewelry from my piercings on the ground and I am sure he will find the trail and easily find me- then the real fun will begin. 

Jewelry Online Design

Wait... what was that noise??

"Sita!!"

What?? Where was that coming from?? It was his voice but I couldn't see him! "Rama?? Where are you??" I harshly whispered. 

"I'm up here!" He yelled from the ceiling- he had snuck in through a small hole in an air duct and he was crawling on the beams in the high ceiling.  "I'm going to go after Ravana- here use this knife to free yourself and we will get out of here" He said, dropping me a small pocket knife I could use to cut the ties around my feet. 

Rama crawled through the beams to the next room where Ravana was, and I could see through the crack in the door what was happening.  Rama was way outnumbered- there were like 7 big guys besides just Ravana.  But Rama had the advantage- he was a good shot and they still didn't know that he was there.  Unfortunately Rama is a boy and he is not the brightest- he jumped down into the middle of the circle and went directly for Ravana.  All of Ravana's henchmen grabbed at Rama and before he knew it he was no longer winning. 

I knew I had to do something- so I looked around the room for things to use.  I found some pretty heavy old pieces of machinery that I could use to throw at the guys holding Rama back.  I did, and fortunately it hit them both hard enough and in the right spot, and they passed out.  Rama took this advantage and pulled out his gun.  Like I said- he was a good shot, so he hit Ravana right away, but it took several shots to take him down.  We were going to quickly take care of the henchmen and get out of there- but as soon as Ravana was dead, they all surrendered.  Turns out that Ravana had kidnapped the majority of them, or they had owed him debts and they were happy to see him gone. 

Eventually Ravana's sister got herself out of jail in the same way that Rama did- she made a plea deal for information on some other big drug guy in New York City.  We made sure we didn't see her again- we moved across town and changed our names.  We haven't really been bothered lately by anyone and it has been pretty nice.  Rama's remaining brother, Lakshmana, has taken over his father's old company, and he has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it all- so he takes care of us and we provide him with safety from the bad people in NYC.  It worked out pretty well overall- we are all happy and I am just SO glad that we got out safe from the threat of Ravana.  I'm sure Rama and I will run into more challenges- but there's nothing we can't handle!

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This story is based on the second half of Nayaran's Ramayana (Link to Reading Guide).  The names have been kept the same, and some of the plot ideas, but the story has been twisted to a New York City setting.  My version of the story has two parts- the first part can be found under week 2 storytelling on my blog. 

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback MaxPixel.com

Feedback.  Whether you love it or hate it, it is necessary for personal growth.  Most people hate hearing feedback, and many also dislike giving feedback.  It can be hard to let someone know what is wrong with a project that they worked really hard on, but if we all learn how to give feedback constructively, we will be helping each other achieve better grades and do better work. 

For this blog post, I read four articles about giving and receiving feedback.  I read these four articles:  5 Tips for Taking Feedback like a Champ, Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head, Be a Mirror, and The Difference Between Praise that Promotes Narcissism vs. Healthy Self Esteem.  These articles can be really helpful in giving you new ideas about how to receive and give feedback.  One of the most important things I learned from reading them is that we have to take feedback in a constructive manner.  We cannot take offense to the feedback or we won't absorb the information and act on it.  It is best to take feedback and learn to grow from it instead of just getting offended. 

At the same time, it is a good idea to not be overly harsh when you are giving feedback.  The goal is to encourage the person to do better, not to make them upset.  While it is important to be constructive in the feedback process, it is also important to be polite and respectful. 

Hopefully these articles and my summary will help you give good feedback and put your feedback to good use! Happy commenting!

Reading Notes: The Ramayana Part D

Narayan's Ramayana: Link to Reading Guide

Stack of Magical Books Pixabay

Obviously Rama will fight Ravana, but should Sita save herself or should she be saved by Rama and his brother and team?  I think I will continue with the version of the Ramayana that I started in last week's post and I will create it from the point of view of Sita being held captive by Ravana.  Once again, the names will stay the same, but the details and setting will change. 

Rama and Ravana fight and Rama sends a sword to cut off the heads of Ravana, but every time he cuts off a head, another one grows back.  The fight gets desperate and Ravana faints and Rama calls the fight off until he feels better.  When it resumes, Ravana is desperate for help in any form and uses anything he can as a weapon against Rama. 

Ravana has a weak point in his heart, and that is where Rama strikes him to win. 

Rama wins Sita back but says they cannot be together since she has been alone with another man.  She jumps in the fire, proving her loyalty and they can be together again.  Maybe this can correspond to some sort of fire in my story as well. 

I think I will continue my story from the point of view of Sita and I will involve the character Hanuman as well.  It will parallel some of the fighting but it will have some changes.  The fire will be involved, the weapons will be changed to more modern weapons, and the ending will be similar.  The setting will be New York City. 

Reading Notes: The Ramayana part C

Narayan's Ramayana: Link to Reading Guide

Book and Flowers Pixabay

Vali- Sugreeva's brother-forced out his brother and stole his wife (monkey)

Sugreeva- Vali's brother- forced to leave his community by his brother (monkey)

Hanuman- giant monkey- goes to try to help save Sita

Rama

I may want to continue my story from last week, or I might start something completely new.  I want to see how this book ends, so after reading 2 I will know for sure.  Meanwhile in section C of the book, here are some good ideas to go off of: 

The concept of 7.  It says that Rama shot an arrow that went through 7 worlds, seas, and 7 trees. 
The concept of a really powerful arrow. 
Dundubi- a monster/demon who looks like a buffalo
Sita dropped her jewelry down to show where they were taking her

It is interesting how the men in this book will not listen to their wives but sometimes the wives are smarter.  It would be fun to write something from the perspective of the women in the story.  There are a lot of strong women in this section of the book.  I also wonder what Sita would be thinking and doing on her end to try to get back to Rama.  Although she is portrayed as beautiful and not much else, I am sure she would not be as helpless as the book makes her out to be.  Maybe she is a really strong and powerful woman.  Maybe she has secret training to get out of situations like this.  She was a princess after all, maybe she was raised with secret talents to help keep her safe and to prepare her to help lead a city.  Maybe I will write this as a reflection of the last story I wrote using the New York City Sita, or maybe I will use this book more directly. 

The Rakshasa women guard Sita and try to frighten her.  She is wearing rags and dust and does not let them intimidate her.  Sita refuses the advances of Ravana and gives Hanuman her last piece of jewelry to give to Rama. 

Week 2 Story: Rama in New York

New York City: Pixabay

My name is Rama and I live in New York City.  Let me just start this story off bluntly; I am not a good guy.  I was born and raised in this huge, crowded, dirty city, and I love it because it's home.  Right now I am in a really peculiar situation.... but you have to know some of my backstory first. 

My dad, Dasaratha, was one of those big corporate guys who never spent any time with us.  He made so much money you probably could have called him a king, and indeed most people saw him that way.  I have two brothers: Lakshmana and Bharatha.  In general, we all got into a lot of trouble growing up.  Since our dad was never around and our  mom died when we were young, we were on our own most of the time.  My brother Bharatha got into dealing drugs, I got a fake ID and snuck into clubs to get drunk and meet girls, and of course Lakshmana was the black sheep of the family and pretty much kept to himself, though he did accompany me most nights.  None of us were particularly close, but Lakshmana and I spent a lot of time together. 

Although my family seems pretty rough, I do have a soft spot.  I met my girlfriend Sita when I was about 14.  She's way too good for me and I don't know why she ever stayed with me, but I would do anything to keep her with me forever.  She puts up with all of my drama and I still have no idea why... but she is the most perfect woman in the world for me. 

Now here is where the story gets interesting.  As I said Bharatha got into drug dealing, so he was gone a lot.  Dad didn't seem to care at all what we did.  Unfortunately this came to bite him in the butt, because the time came (as it always does with these sorts of things) when Bharatha had a large debt with some very bad people.  He decided the best way to deal with this was to kill our father so that he would inherit the money.  In order to not go to jail, he decided he would frame me, because he had to pin it off on somebody and Lakshmana was too much of a goody goody. 

Alright so you know how it goes, court, trials, yada yada yada. I ended up with a fourteen year prison sentence...for the murder that my brother committed.  So there I was sitting in prison for a long. freaking. time. I was getting really bored, and my wandering side was starting to get restless.  Being the angel that she is, Sita stayed with me, and she and Lakshmana visited me often.  It wasn't enough for my adventurous lifestyle to just see them through a glass screen and never leave the same four walls... I started looking for a way out. 

Escape was obviously not an option... I tried it a few times and it didn't go well- I almost made my prison sentence longer.  But then one day something weird happened.  There was this girl who for some reason decided to visit me one day.  I guess she thought I was really hot, but she was absolutely nuts.  Obviously I was in love with Sita, but this girl, Kamavalli, was just crazy enough that I had an idea.  She wanted to get me out of jail so she could marry me (I told you she was crazy), but my idea was much better than that.  I went along with it for a few months, talked to her when she came to visit, and convinced her I was going to go with her plan.  Now, this plan only worked because Kamavalli was the sister of the very bad man that Bhartha owed his previous debt to; the debt that caused him to murder our father in the first place. 

So this guy is named Ravana and he is HUGE.  He's also leader of one of the most important drug rings/ gangs in NYC.  Like I said, Kamavalli is his sister... so my plan was to find a way to frame her for the murder of my father, get her thrown in on my prison sentence, then I could be released.  I know it sounds crazy... but it actually worked! I told you I'm not a good guy at all... but hey at least I'm free again.  The problem now is that Ravana knows what I did and he is MAD.  He kidnapped Sita and I really don't know what to do.  Lakshmana is helping me out, we have guns and we are training to take them on.  I'm a pretty good shot, but I don't know if we can take out an entire drug ring... not to mention Ravana.... did I mention how huge he is?  This might be the last thing I do, but I have to save Sita.  I don't know where she is or what they are planning but I am going to do it.  I will get her back.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This story was written based on the Narayan's Ramayana.  The character's names and relations stayed the same, but I changed up the plot a lot.  I turned Rama from a heroic character into a villainous hero.  The whole story was twisted by the New York City setting, and Bhartha was changed from a heroic brother to a villain. 

The Ramayana, Narayan Reading Guide

Reading notes: The Ramayana Part B

Narayan's The Ramayana Link to Reading Guide



Rama is really quiet during all of this time in the book, and it would be interesting to know what he is thinking about everything. 

The forest exile could be paralleled to a prison, and the kingdom compared to a business. 

Prison: Pixabay

It is interesting to me how Rama looks at Sita.  The book is written in a way that when he sees his wife, he notices the early things that she is wearing, but each earthly think to him is linked to a characteristic of her as a person. 

Lakshmana is Rama's brother.  Kamavalli/ Soorpanaka is the sister of the man Rama wishes to defeat (Ravana).  Kara is Ravanas stepbrother. 

I think I could rewrite this story pretty easily using New York City as the setting and rewriting the character of Rama as a heroic villain. 

Reading Notes: The Ramayana Part A

Narayan's Ramayana:  Reading Guide part A

Open Book: Pexels.com

Personal Index of Characters: 
Main characters: Rama and Sita
Ravana: evil antagonist
Kosala: setting city
King Dasaratha- childless
Sage Vasishtha- advises king to feed his wives rice
Sage Viswamithra- former king now a sage who convinces the king to let Rama go with him to defeat demons
Sidhasrama: where the brothers travel to with Viswamithra
Kausalya- wife of king/mother of Rama
Kaikeyi- wife of king/mother of Bharatha
Lakshmana- broher of Rama

The Ramayana has been told as a bedtime story, made into a TV drama that people protested for, some study it as a religious experience, it is told as a narrative and performed as plays and dance dramas.

For this portion of the book I really enjoyed reading the background of the story; how popular it is and how people use these readings.  When I began the story I noticed that the plot consists of something similar to Native American Creation stories, where the small tales within the reading tell about how something came to be.  Some of the stories also teach Rama and Lakshmana a new skill or something about themselves or the world, and sometimes through these tales they also affect the lives of others. 

This portion of the book inspires me to write something that contains a Sci-Fi influence.  It would be great to take some of these stories and turn them into a child's bedtime story that they become immersed in and take the place of the hero to help people and learn about growing up.  It could also be interesting to write about a traditional story that has been opened into a portal, so every time someone reads the story, they are sucked into it and they experience the tales as Rama. 

Another interesting take would be if the story was performed and it transported the audience into the world of Kosala or Sidhasrama.  They would have to work together to get out of it, and they may learn some life lessons along the way.  Perhaps the mini-stories within the larger story will be individual reflections of people who have been accidentally taken into this strange world on an impromptu journey. 

Growth Mindset: An Introduction

The Brain Pixabay

The mind is a powerful thing.  We are always hearing about new studies telling us the best way to learn and new strategies to get the most out of our brain.  Growth Mindset is one of those new and upcoming strategies that can help us learn. 

I first heard about Carol Dweck and her Growth Mindset studies last semester when I was taking Physiology.  Our teacher had us do an assignment about having growth mindset versus a closed mindset, and how to change it.  We took a quiz and talked about how we planned to use our growth mindset to pass the class.  Unfortunately, I believe this class was using the concept of Growth Mindset all wrong.  They used it as a way to make the class so much harder than it should have been, and everyone in the class was struggling so much that they ended up giving out about 6 to 8 percentage points of extra credit at the end. 

I really like the idea of Growth Mindset, and I believe it can be especially helpful to small children, because it helps everyone get on the same level; whether they are from a good or bad background, and whether or not they have the same resources.  I like that this method of teaching lets children know that they are all more than capable of doing whatever they want to do.  I think that the closed mindset really does hold a lot of children back in life, especially when they are in sad situations where they hear that they are not good enough, or that they will never have the opportunity to go to college. 

Growth Mindset can be helpful to all kinds of people.  For me personally, I have always challenged myself in school.  I always wanted to get the work done faster, and I ALWAYS had to have an A when I was younger.  Unfortunately, while I think that Growth Mindset could be really beneficial, I don't think it is necessarily for everyone when it comes to school.  Some people (like myself) are easily stressed, and when a Growth Mindset is applied to a classroom in the wrong way (like the Physiology class I mentioned above), it does not produce a conductive learning environment. 

When applied properly, the idea of Growth Mindset can help us to build our self confidence and grow, which is why I believe it would be very beneficial to young people with developing brains.  It will give them a "you can do it!" attitude and they will be able to reach their dreams. 

I plan to continue to try to use Growth Mindset to help myself learn and achieve my goals.  I want to challenge myself to create good blogs in this class, and as the blog for the class suggested, I want to try to vary my writing style when I do my creative writings.  I am also applying Growth Mindset to other areas of my life by trying to change my sleeping, eating, and exercising habits to be healthier.  I may even apply growth mindset to my hobbies, and challenge myself to create a blog with my vintage glass collection, so that I will find more information on each piece and accumulate it in one place!

Time Strategies

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali 1931 (Flickr.com)

Time can be difficult to budget, especially when you are in college.  There are a million things happening in every class at all times.  With the addition of technology, we have become constantly connected. Assignments are no longer due during class times, but often the night before or the night after at midnight.  It is hard to keep up with everything, but everyone eventually falls into their own strategies for success. 

In order to keep myself organized, I have always liked to make lists.  It helps me so much to check those boxes off and scribble the words out so I don't have to worry about them anymore.  In high school, I worried about my assignments so much I actually had to black out the words when I was done so I wouldn't keep double checking myself! Now I have found that it is much easier to make a list that is written in colors that keep me happy and motivated!  For this reason, I read this blog The Psychology of Checklists.  It was really interesting because it explained to me why I love making lists so much! They keep me organized first and foremost, but they also trigger dopamine reward zones in our brains that cause us to feel happy and accomplished.  The blog goes on to explain that this feeling makes us want to accomplish more and more, so we keep working and getting things done!

This semester I will use a lot of my same strategies to stay organized and ahead of those deadlines! I will obviously keep using my lists, but I also find working ahead to be particularly helpful.  I also like to sit down and do a lot of work in one chunk of time.  I hope to finish this class early, and I will try to stay ahead as much as I can in my other classes as well, making time to do my homework in large chunks, and keeping up with my checklists! Most of my work for this class in particular (and maybe for some of my other classes as well) will probably be done Fridays- when I don't have any classes.  I'll work between classes during the week and after class.  Although this will be my busiest semester yet, I know I can handle it, and graduation is just around the corner!

Reading Options

For next week's blog I will be reading Narayan's Ramayana.  I decided to read this version because I prefer to read a hard paperback copy, and I already have it.  I also like that this version of the reading has an online reading guide that might help me if I get confused.  Although there aren't any pictures, I think that this version will work well for me because it is small and I can take it with me to read without dragging my computer along.  Sometimes it is just relaxing to hold a small book instead of staring at a screen or being crushed by a giant textbook :)

I haven't really done a lot of studying mythology, but I tend to like hearing the stories from them and I find exploring past cultures interesting.  When I think of myths I usually think of huge beasts that need to be heroically tamed.  Obviously by this thinking I'm more accustomed to the dragons of western mythology, but I think that this book will be very interesting and open up a new window of exploration for me. 

Dragons Wikimedia Commons

I went to a religious private school, so I have studied a lot of different religions when I took my required World Religions class.  It was definitely interesting to learn about Hinduism and Buddhism, because they are so different from what I am used to hearing about.  Hopefully I can take these new readings and turn them into a new interesting story.  I hope to create something fun and interesting like the blogs based on Barney and Crush that I mentioned in my last post.  Those kinds of blogs are really interesting and fun to read and I hope I can find more material like that to inspire and entertain me while I work in this class. 

Storybook Favorites

My Brothers Grimm: India Edition
Grimm in India

This storybook caught my attention because nearly everyone has heard of the Brothers Grimm.  The story is about a man who married into the Grimm family and has been kidnapped.  He says that the sister in the Grimm family is the one who is actually clever and powerful.  The blog is well designed and uses a font and theme that holds with the feeling of the tale, and is easy to navigate.  The design of the blog keeps the reader immersed in the story, and the introduction keeps the reader wanting to know more about the story. 

Barney's Epic India Playbook
Barney's Blog

Who doesn't love How I Met Your mother?? I just recently finished watching the series, so obviously this story told by Barney caught my attention.  This blog is very "Barney"... AKA it looks like it is wearing a suit.  It is clean and professional as well as very organized and easy to navigate.  The writing in this storybook is phenomenal, as the author has somehow managed to mesh the mindset of Barney Stinson with the Epic Tales of India.  I didn't know it was possible to talk about demons and deities as if they were girls at a club in New York city, but this blog manages to create something new of these two pieces of media. 

A Tale of Two Turtles
Kurma and Karma

Similar to the Barney's Blog Storybook, A Tale of Two Turtles is a really interesting blog based on what seems to be Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo.  In this blog, Kurma (the turtle based on Crush) tells us all about how his dad "Karma" got his name.  This blog meshes hippie culture of the United States with the ideas of Karma and how energy flows.  The style of writing is really cute and entertaining, and the whole blog is under the sea themed.  While it is easily navigable, it is also a really cute theme that makes me want to read even if I just get to see more pictures of cute sea turtles!

Sea Turtle: from Kurma and Karma (originally posted on scubadiving.com

Introduction: All about me!

My name is Sydney Newlin and I am a Senior majoring in Spanish/ Pre-nutrition.  I hope to graduate this spring and be accepted to a MA in Dietetics program that starts in the summer.  For a long time I didn't know what to major in, and I switched between a lot of different types of classes, but as soon as I decided on Nutrition and Spanish, I got to work.  Last summer, I took 14 credit hours of classes, 15 in the fall, 6 hours over intercession, and this semester I am going to be taking 17 credit hours.  Lately that hasn't left me much time for my hobbies, but I have a few of them that I enjoy!

I love collecting vintage class, doing all sorts of crafty stuff like making jewelry and painting or drawing, and I love to spend time with my family (which includes my two adorable dogs), my friends, and my boyfriend. I really like watching Netflix when I should be doing more productive things, and I just finished watching all of How I Met Your Mother.... and I actually liked the last episode even though I heard it was horrible to most people.  I like to play video games every once in a while but I rarely play campaigns and I even more rarely complete campaigns.  Black ops I and II Team Deathmatch and Zombies are pretty much what I stick to... and Yoshi and Sonic are pretty cool too. 

Yoshi:  Sketchport

Personal picture of the pups from 2015

Because of my interest in nutrition, I am trying to start learning how to cook healthy, and my goals for this semester include cooking myself dinner more often... because although fast food is delicious and easy, it is horrible for me.  (We will see how that goes... I'll probably be sleep deprived pretty quickly with my 8 am classes four days a week!).  I will probably have a really busy semester, but I am so excited to graduate so I can start reaching some more of my personal goals!  I hope this semester turns out to be easier than expected, and I will hopefully be working ahead in this class on a regular basis so I can finish early and focus on my other 14 credit hours. 

Week 1 Story: The Not-So-Clever Fox

The Not-So-Clever Fox

Winter Fox:  Pixabay

Mr. Fox was thought he was a very clever guy.  He liked to scale buildings and sneak into new places without permission… until one day he broke into the theater. 

It was a chilly day in the beginning of spring and Mr. Fox had just come out of his burrow for the season.  He decided he wanted to go exploring and maybe stir up some trouble like he did when he was younger.  He wandered around the forest for hours trying to find a good place to be mischievous,  and he finally found a small village. 

The farthest building on the outskirts of the village was a theater, and Mr. Fox decided that was where he wanted to cause trouble.  He quickly found the dressing room and noticed that it was devoid of costumes, but every wall was filled with masks.  He started trying them on one by one and acting silly; making fun of each type of animal that he tried on.  He started small; making fun of mice, bugs, and snakes with the masks.  When he put on one mask, a brave little mouse jumped out of the corner and said “hey! You had better watch what you say about others, because one day you might step on the wrong toes!!” And Mr. Fox thought “How would this little mouse ever think that he could threaten me?”.  So he continued… without taking into account the advice of the brave little mouse. 

As he went down the wall the animal masks got bigger and bigger… bunnies, opossums, raccoons, wolves, bobcats, and even bears!  Mr. Fox was having a grand time making fun of other people, and he wasn't being nice about it at all.  Many of the small animals heard of his actions or saw him and were reduced to tears, for they were not as brave as the little mouse. 

Finally, Mr. Fox had had enough of his laughter and he decided that he was hungry and it was time to go home.  He walked outside, and the sun was beginning to set.  “Oh no” thought Mr. Fox, “I had better hurry to get home for dinner!”. 

Unfortunately for Mr. Fox, Karma always has its way, and soon the sun began to set and it got dark.  Mr. Fox realized that he was lost and there was no way that he would get home in time for dinner.  He stopped and yelled out for anyone to give him directions.  He encountered a squirrel and she said “Yeah, I know where you live, I was watching you this morning from the treetops, but I am not going to help you because I don’t like how you treated my friend the brave little mouse!” 

Mr. Fox was unfazed at this… he didn’t need a squirrel’s help anyways!  He continued on…

…but he soon realized he was walking in circles.

Mr. Fox heard a rustling in the bushes.  He was afraid, but he would never admit it.  “Who is there?” said Mr. Fox. 

Mrs. Raccoon popped out of the bushes, and Mr. Fox was secretly relieved.  He turned to her and said “Mrs. Raccoon, I have been lost for several hours and I am very hungry, is there any way you would spare some leftovers for me?  Mrs. Raccoon was not amused; “You made my three young children cry today with your antics! Get away from my home!”.  Mr. Fox was slightly saddened by this, but he continued on. 

Finally, after wandering for several more hours, Mr. Fox found his home.  He was so tired he just wanted to sleep, but when he walked to his front door, there was the brave little mouse. 

Brave little mouse said “Mr. Fox, you owe me and my friends an apology, and I want one before the sun comes up!”.  Mr. Fox responded, “you silly little mouse, get out of my way, I am tired and you can’t do anything to make me apologize or stop me from eating dinner and going to bed!”

Suddenly, all of the bushes around Mr. Fox began to rustle.  All of the forest creatures began to appear… opossums, squirrels, mice… and wolves and bears.  They were not amused by the antics of Mr. Fox. 

Mr. Fox began to apologize profusely, and he was so afraid that he began to cry. 

You would think that the forest animals made fun of him, but they didn’t.  

They knew that the most important thing in life is to be nice to people, so they let Mr. Fox go home.

Shortly after, he felt so bad that he apologized to each animal separately and gave them all gifts.  He stopped causing mischief and to this day, he is friends with little brave mouse, because sometimes bravery comes from the most unexpected places. 

Author's Note:  This story was inspired as a rewrite of Aesop's Tale "The Fox and the Mask".  In this story, the fox goes to the theater and encounters a scary mask, to whom he comments about being lovely, but not having any real brains, and then he is no longer afraid.   

The original Fable was very short, so I added a lot of new content, and based my writing off of the characteristics of the fox.  He thought he was tough, but he still has to learn lessons in life. 

Bibliography:  "The Fox and the Mask" from The Fables of Aesop Aesop's Fables

Favorite Place... the most relaxing spot in Oklahoma!

Oklahoma Map: Wikimedia Commons

When most people think about Oklahoma, they think it looks pretty much like this boring map; flat and empty.  Although it can be hard to get past the plainness of most of Oklahoma, there are some great spots, and one in particular is my favorite place; Sequoyah State Park. 

This State Park is located on Fort Gibson Lake, and it isn't too far from the city... only about a two hour drive, which makes it easily accessible any time of year! The cabins have recently been remodeled and they are big enough to fit your entire family.  There are many activities available near the cabin, including a nature center, a golf course, sand volleyball, a playground, horseback riding, and of course lake activities!

This spot is my favorite place because it is so calm and relaxing.  If you ever want to get away from school and technology for a while and just enjoy nature, Sequoyah State Park is the best place to go!  I love to look at the lake, especially the sunsets every night.  Who wouldn't want to see this?

Personal photo of Fort Gibson Lake from 2015

It is always fun to make a campfire and watch the sun go down with family and friends.  Every day at this State Park is full of new adventures and tons of exploring.  It is a great place to reconnect with your family and friends and re-center your mind after a hectic semester.  It is pretty easily accessible, affordable, and a beautiful place to visit!  Just make sure to book ahead, everyone loves this place!

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I am also working on a Storybook Project about Rama and his twin sons.  If you are interested you can find it here! I hope you enjoy it and feel free to make comments about what I can do better!

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My name is Sydney and this is my blog for Indian Epics!