Epics of India

I’m a procrastinator. I know it. I admit it. I procrastinate with school work. I procrastinate with house work. I procrastinate with choosing what to cook for dinner every afternoon. I’ve always been this way, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned more about myself and why I have trouble starting some tasks. In “How to Beat Procrastination” Caroline Webb identifies one of the most common pitfalls that I find myself falling into with big projects. I get overwhelmed by the project as whole and don’t know where to start. I’ve gotten better at recognizing when this is happening in the past few years, and I’ve found that once I realize that’s what's holding me back I can help myself take the first step by breaking the whole project down into smaller parts. Amanda Collins talks about the benefits of breaking tasks into “small, manageable chunks” in “How to build a realistic study plan that you’ll actually stick to.” I’ve definitely seen how this approach can work when I’ve worked on la...

Image Source: Alan Levine Caption added with Cheezburger I’m most excited to explore website publishing for my class project this semester. I’ve casually played with platforms like WordPress and Wix (and GeoCities back in the day), but I’ve never had a specific project in mind that I wanted to work on and complete. Hopefully I’ll have enough time to explore some HTML and CSS scripting, too. As a computer science major I’ve done a lot with programming languages, but I don’t have much experience with markup languages like HTML. I really appreciate having access to so much helpful information about the topics we’ll be covering this semester. Since there is so much available to explore it allows each student to follow what interests them instead of following a very narrowly prescribed path. I’m looking forward to exploring more of both the Indian Epics and Mythology content sites and the Freebookapalooza site.

I am looking forward to being exposed to more Indian stories through the readings this semester. I took a mythology class at Oklahoma City Community College my freshman year, and in the section on India and the Far East we read The Ramayana which I enjoyed. I thought the concept of dharma was interesting because of how different this moral code was from classic western moral codes like chivalry for knights and how important it was to Hindu society.  Image: Episodes in the Panchavati Forest, Folio from a Ramayana (Adventures of Rama) Source: WikiMedia I like the way this class is structured which is quite different from other online classes I’ve taken. Other classes I’ve taken online tried to force the same experiences that occur in a classroom to happen online through online discussions that no one full-heartedly participated in. This class seems to be structured to take advantage of the unique possibilities only available to an online course like c...

Hi I’m Ryan, and I’m a computer science major. I guess you could say I’m in school to prepare for my second career. My first career was as a ballet dancer, and it was my dream job. I wanted to dance before I could walk, so about as soon as I could talk I started trying to convince my parents to sign me up for dance lessons. They finally agreed when I was eight years old, and after that I never stopped taking classes until I gave my last performance as a professional ballet dancer nearly two and a half years ago. Dance and ballet in particular has been one of the most important forces that has shaped my life, so I decided to share some of the story of my career in ballet. Image Source:  pxhere From when I started taking ballet class at eight through middle school, I took class for fun and didn’t take it very seriously or consider pursuing professional career in dance until I started high school. In high school I started to have class and rehearsal six days a week, and the l...

Carol Dweck’s explanation of the differences between fixed and growth mindsets resonates with me because it is similar to the way I approached ballet during my career as a dancer. The way that she suggests people should handle setbacks and seek out ways to improve is especially reminiscent of how many ballet dancers including myself approach their training. Dancers always crave constructive criticism from their teachers, directors, and choreographers because in the ballet world it is drilled into you from a young age that you get corrections because the teacher thinks you have the potential to get better. Since I grew up in this world and was a part of it for most of my life I still have that mentality in most things that I do. (image from cheezburger ) I also relate to her method of emphasizing hard work and persistence over innate ability. I had a ballet teacher that would tell the class stories that were almost like his own little parables about how if y...

Image Information: Ravana on his throne Image Source: Ravana in Lanka The first storybook I chose was The Ravana Diaries which begins by following Ravi, an archeologist, who is hoping to find artifacts to help the world better understand Ravana and the role he played in the development of man. After decades of searching, just as the Ravi is feeling as if he cannot continue any longer he happens upon what could be Ravana’s diary. The stories that follow are excerpts of the diary that occurred during important parts of Ravana’s life. I think the concept of reexamining an ancient story from another point of view is interesting, and the way this story introduces that concept draws me in and makes me want to know more about both Ravana and Ravi. Image: Pixabay by Koltrein The next project I chose was Nine Lives of a Cat . This story stuck out to me because the theme of connecting the common threads that exist in mythology, religion, literature, and folklore from different ...

I chose two favorite places. One I chose because of the role it played in my development as a young man and the other I chose because of the priceless memories I cherish from one beautiful day spent along its shores. San Francisco, California  or more specifically the Inner Richmond district. I moved to San Francisco after high school to train at the San Francisco Ballet School, and my apartment was in the residential area known as the Inner Richmond. I loved living in this part of the city because it has a quiet, homey feel that you don't get in the busier districts. This picture is of an intersection in the Inner Richmond, not too far from where I lived, on a typical drizzly day in San Francisco. In the photo you can see the style of building common in the area that reminds me of walking home with friends after a hard day of class and rehearsals. (Streets of San Francisco, photo by Lulu Vision ) Kristiansand, Norway  was one of many stops I made on a recent trip t...