Time Strategies

 

This clock face is thought-provoking and beautiful. 

(Photo from Pikist)

    It is no secret to anyone in my life that I am not the best at managing my time. I tend to procrastinate and while I do believe that I work well under pressure, I know that I would be much happier with myself if I had a more organized way of working. In the majority of my classes, the strategy is simply to get the assignments done on time or else I'll fail. While this is a highly effective motivator, it tends to allow for a lot of wiggle room on exactly when I start the assignments, typically it is the last second possible, and still get them done "on time." I truly appreciate the way this class has set me up for success, though. Having the 5-6 hours blocked out in a way that works for my schedule is going to be a tremendous help and something I think I will try to utilize in my other classes. 

    The articles I chose to view were titled "Eat the Frogs First Thing in The Morning (And Other Better Work Habits)" and "How To Beat Procrastination". The first article was about breaking down your to-do list into four categories: things you don't want to do but have to, things you want to do and have to, things you want to do and don't have to, and things you don't want and don't have to do. The trick to avoiding procrastination is to choose the tasks from the first category, the don't want to but have to category, and doing them before anything else. This was hard for me to hear because I tend to keep myself busy with the things I need to do but also want to do, and that's fine, but I tend to neglect the things I simply don't want to do. The second article was about different strategies for overcoming procrastination. A big thing it talked about was breaking down large tasks into bite-sized pieces and creating a to-do list based on those pieces. Another good thing the author mentioned was figuring out why we keep telling ourselves "no" to the first step of some tasks, and how a few "why" questions can get through that blockage. Based on previous semesters, I would say the strategy of breaking things down into smaller tasks really works for me and helps me stay on top of my assignments and personal goals alike. It also truly helps to write every single thing down on my to-do list and then prioritize them based on due-dates or importance. I am still learning how to manage time, but I am confident I can find a method that consistently works for me!

First Impressions on Class Technology

 

The camera on this phone is a great example of a beautiful technological accomplishment.

(Photo from Wallpaper Flare) 

    

    Hello again! After reviewing the technology needed for this class I was pleased to see that I was already acquainted with a lot of the sites we will be using. Obviously, I am already acquainted with Blogger, but I am also familiar with websites like Wix because I currently co-run a website on that platform. I also know how to crop and edit images using a few different platforms. I was also pleased to notice that I had already completed all the items in the "browser tune-up" section of this assignment, including downloading a word counter! While I am not extremely familiar with the main course websites we will use during class, I am confident I will pick them up quickly when needed. Overall, I think the technology in class is completely manageable and not overwhelming, which I deeply appreciate. 

First Impressions on Weekly Assignments

 

I imagine this woman is writing all the assignments for her Mythology and Folklore class.

(Photo from Pikrepo)

    Hello all! After reading the overview of the six core assignments the class will be doing every week, I am both excited and nervous. The week is broken down into manageable chunks and I am confident I will be able to do all the assignments on time, but it is still a little overwhelming, but that could just be my current mental state talking (has anyone really been in a stable state since corona? If you have, please let me know how you're managing). I think my initial reaction is that I am most excited about the "storytelling" assignment. I do truly enjoy writing and engaging the right side of my brain for a bit, so I think that will be a nice break from the rest of my obligations this semester.

    As far as the extra credit is concerned, I think there are some that are of interest to me. I like the idea of the class diary and the check-in and connect. As previously mentioned, I am not doing the best this semester with my mental health, so I genuinely appreciate the option to have a check-in at the end of the week to see where everyone is at. In addition to these two, I think I will definitely complete the microfictions and the "Growth mindset/Heart" assignments as well. These were of particular interest and they seem like fun additions to my work if I have time. I am excited for most everything in this class and truly believe it will be a good semester!

My Thoughts on the Growth Mindset

 

Photo by Jeffrey

When we have a fixed mindset, we see our failures as permanent. When we have a growth mindset, we see them as learning opportunities. 

    Hello readers! Before today I had never heard of Carol Dweck, but I had definitely heard of the growth mindset. I am not entirely sure of how I was taught about the growth mindset without being taught about Carol, but it is what it is. I believe my first exposure to this topic was in my senior Advanced Placement English class in high school, where my teacher wanted all her students to understand the fact that what we were going to be doing was challenging, but we would not be penalized for our failures but praised for our efforts. That class ended up being one of my favorites ever, and looking back it is easy to realize why that is. I never felt embarrassed when I said the "wrong thing" or made a less than stellar grade on a quiz because I knew it was just a learning opportunity, and my teacher made that very clear. Even though I knew about the growth mindset in my later years of school, I was wholly unaware of it as a child. I was definitely one of the children who was praised for my natural intelligence. School was easy and fun because I already knew how to do a lot of things and I learned new ones quickly. I was at the top of my class for a long time without even having to try. When I got to high school and my classes became more challenging, I had a really hard time learning how to study in an efficient manner simply because I had never really had to study at all before. It was a sharp learning curve and I was able to overcome it, but only because I had a really great support system. Many of my peers who were just as "naturally gifted" as I fell through the cracks and became "average" students. 

    At OU, I think I have definitely adopted the growth mindset. It is a bit hard to give yourself the grace you need in the growth mindset when there is a traditional grading system in place, but many of my professors have been incredible at enforcing the growth mindset as well. This could simply be because they are all social work professors, see my previous introduction post for more information, but I think most of all they are kind and compassionate people. I am truly excited to see how I can continue to adopt the growth mindset these last two semesters and into graduate school. In this class specifically, I think I am excited to see how the non-traditional grading methods can be used to further this new goal of mine. I've never used a grading system like this, but so far it seems to be working well. I think I am nervous that as the semester wears on and the workload grows, I will be more inclined to not do my assignments to the best of my ability, simply because of the sheer number of them. I do think that the grading system will help with that, as I tend to be motivated by checking something off a list, but it is always a concern. That being said, I am still very excited about what the future holds regarding this class and the rest.  

    In general, I think the growth mindset is a really incredible thing. There are indeed critiques of this way of learning, and I hear those and understand them, but I still think this is a great method overall. I believe that when we take failures and turn them into learning opportunities, we can become more well-rounded learners, and people who create a better environment for everyone.

An Introduction to Me

 Who Am I?

    Hello all! If you aren't already aware, my name is Rachel Goldin (yes that is golden with an "i") and I am a senior Social Work major. Last year I transferred here from the University of Arkansas for a myriad of reasons, but a main one being that I was accepted into the Social Work program at OU, which just happens to be a fabulous program. I will graduate next spring with my BSW and will almost immediately step into the accelerated masters program. I will graduate in the spring of 2022 with my Master of Social Work, which will allow me to practice as a social worker. I do plan to pursue my LCSW, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, which requires 2-3 years of supervision. At the end of it all, I will be able to practice therapy without working within the confines of an agency, which is my ultimate goal. If you know anything about the enneagram, I am a type 2 with a wing 1, so I think that should tell you something about my personality and may help explain why I want to be a therapist. If you don't know what the enneagram is, I highly recommend taking this quick test because it will tell you so much about your personality and your motivations behind the way you do things. If you're slightly offended by what your type is, you're in the right place. 

    

    I am not just my future career or my school though! My pride and joy is my chunky little fur baby named Gladys. I found her in the parking lot of my old church about 2 years ago and the rest is history. Here are some incredible photos of her for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, she is incredible.                             

      Here she is in all her glory. These photos were taken by me, on my couch.  

    In addition to pet ownership, I have a few hobbies that I am truly passionate about. I love reading, so much so that I commemorated that love in a tattoo on my right forearm, going to concerts (or listening music in general), cross-stitching, baking, singing the Phantom of the Opera at the top of my lungs, thrifting weird little knick-knacks, and buying exuberant amounts of cheap candles from TJ Maxx. If you have looked at my previous post about my favorite places, I don't believe it will come as a surprise that my favorite books are The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Fahrenheit 451, and many more that I simply cannot list here because of the sheer numbers. My favorite concerts I have ever been to were The Killers, both in St. Louis and at the Amp in Arkansas, a triple concert with Awolnation, AJR, and Judah and the Lion in Tulsa, and a small band called Brother Moses at a random house in Arkansas. Before the pandemic, I tried to go to at least one concert every few months for the health of my soul, but good ole' 'Rona has made that impossible. 

   I will leave you now with one of my favorite scenes in cinema, and subsequently, one of my favorite quotes of all time. This scene takes place in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Frodo is wounded and being overpowered by the One Ring, the battle rages on and the Fellowship is struggling to get the upper hand, but there is this precious moment that brings it all back into focus. I truly believe it is as relevant to us in this time and day as it was during the darkest times in Middle Earth. Please watch and enjoy, and let Sam's wise words move you.

-Rachel

My Storybook Favorites

"Spin Me A Yarn"

The Swan Princess

(Wikimedia Commons)

This photo was taken from the Grimm section of the storybook and depicts a scene from the text.

    The first storybook that caught my eye in the long list to choose from was one called "Spin Me A Yarn." This book is about the textile stories of Greek, Grimm, and Chinese mythology. This topic is completely new to me, as I am only truly familiar with the major characters and stories in Greek and the Brothers Grimm mythology, and I am woefully unfamiliar with Chinese mythology in any capacity. Even though I have a base knowledge of Greek and Grimm, I have zero experience reading textile stories of any origin. The title of this book gave me a hint as to what the stories were about, but didn't give everything away, which intrigued me. I think a good title is one that is subtle enough to make you want to pick up the book, but also one not completely unrelated to the story, so this was good. The introduction page was written like the beginning of a novel with lots of dialogue, which I thought was a unique and exciting way to grab the readers' attention and something I think I will try to do with my own storybook. Another thing the author did well was that she wove in what the stories were actually going to be about with subtle details, such as the line where the shopkeeper says "Our wares are so rare they’re mythological, and we guarantee every item’s authenticity." As far as layout and design go, the background is a little distracting and the layout is a bit busy. The author chose to put the photo about the text at the very bottom of the story, which I thought was a little weird. In addition, almost the entire background is comprised of photos. I am a fan of a nice background picture if it isn't distracting, but the designs were conflicting and made it hard to focus on the text at times. I do think I might mimic the page navigation layout for my story, but I might do some tweaking. 

"Death's Final Story"

    The second storybook that I picked from the bunch was one titled "Death's Final Story." I was immediately intrigued by not only the title, but what I thought the story was going to be about. I do not know any lore about Death, save for minimal stories of the Grim Reaper, but I'm not sure if that counts. What I found was that this storybook was not actually about the mythology behind Death itself, but rather the retelling of another story with which I am completely unfamiliar. The actual story is one of a cruel monk who wanted to become king of the Fairies but was killed by a goblin and taken by Death. I will say that the introduction was very strong and held my attention well, but the actual stories were a bit hard to follow if you weren't already familiar with the original text I think. In the author's note, it was stated that the character of death was added to tie all the stories together, which I think is a fun strategy to use when telling mythological stories from a different point of view. The overall layout of this storybook was nice and simple, which I wasn't mad at. There were photos relevant to the stories at the top of the pages, but there were no photos behind the text, which I appreciated because it was easy to read. I think that is somewhat the design I will go for when I write my own storybook, but I'm not entirely sure yet. I thought the page navigation was smooth and made sense for the most part. One thing I thought that could have been done differently would be to have a more distinct separation between the body of the text and the author's notes. As it is, the author's note is simply another paragraph on the page, which doesn't really make sense to me. Other than that, I really enjoyed the stories and thought they were done well. 

"Real Housewives of Greek Mythology"

    The last story I chose from the list was one titled "Real Housewives of Greek Mythology." I happen to be a fan of trashy reality television as an escape from the crisis state of the world, so this immediately spoke to me. This storybook does happen to be something I am a bit familiar with. I grew up reading the Percy Jackson series and familiarizing myself with the major gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. I love the goddesses and their lore, so I am definitely familiar with the main characters in this iteration of the Real Housewives franchise. The title of this story was quite obvious, but it was funny so it was still intriguing. I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a more light-hearted retelling of the tales of the Greek goddesses, and I thought that was a nice way to go about it. The introduction of the storybook was very helpful in understanding what the story was going to feel like. The author introduced the "housewives" like they would do in a promotional commercial for a new season of the show. The author gave background and key information about the women and really did a nice job of setting the scene for the actual story. The whole story is set up to run like a script from the show, which I found to be a very creative way of writing and made it really stand out from the rest. I love the idea of making a show or movie script for my own storybook, but I don't know if I will actually end up doing so. The design of the site is clean and simple, but still on-brand for the show. The titles are broken down into "episodes" so the story flows nicely. The author chose to keep minimal photos, which I thought was nice, given the fact that the scripts were the main focus of the pages. Overall, I loved several elements from this storybook, and I may choose to borrow some. 

My Favorite Places!

 Tollymore Forest and Hobbiton

I could not decide what my favorite place on Earth would be, but I have narrowed it down to these two! 

Tollymore Forest National Park

Photo by Phil Rogers

I once stood in this same spot in utter awe at the sheer size of the trees in Tollymore.

The Hermitage, Tollymore Forest

(Wikimedia Commons)

I shivered as I walked through this sacred and special structure in the forest.

    In 2018 I had the privilege of traveling to Northern Ireland with a lovely group of friends. Fun fact: Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but regular Ireland is not (for reasons unbeknownst to me). While there, I was gifted the opportunity of a lifetime. I was able to traverse Tollymore Forest National Park, which is where C.S. Lewis gathered the inspiration for The Chronicles of Narnia. I have a deep love for this book series (the movies were great, but nothing will beat the books). My father introduced me to the series and helped me read them, but I have since reread them several times. I also have a deep love for C.S. Lewis and all of his works. That being said, there is something truly magical about Tollymore Forest. The leader of the trip I was on said, "There are some places in this world where the divide between heaven and earth is almost indiscernible, and this forest is one of them." Don't you just get shivers reading that? Tollymore will always hold a special place in my heart, and I only hope to go back one day to catch a glimpse of the great lion, Aslan. 

Hobbiton (Matamata, New Zealand)

Hobbiton, New Zealand

(Wikimedia Commons)

This is Bag End, where I stood and lived my fantasy of finally becoming a true hobbit. 

Image by Trey Ratcliff

This is the aerial view of Hobbiton, which I think is just stunningly beautiful.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

    It's me. I'm the hobbit. No, really! According to an official tour guide in Hobbiton, to be an extra who played a hobbit in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (where the only acceptable way to watch is the extended version and I will take no comments on this), you had to be shorter than 5 feet and 3 inches tall. I happen to be 5 feet and 2 inches tall, so I am indeed hobbit size. In 2016 I went on a trip to Australia and New Zealand. While in New Zealand, which is a whimsical and beautiful country on the whole, my family and I had the chance to see the Shire, and more importantly, Hobbiton. This incredible landscape is part of the movie set used in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy (which should have only been one or two movies but Peter Jackson got greedy, but that is a rant for another time). As with The Chronicles of Narnia, my father showed me the incredible world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth when I was young. I fell in love with the epic tale of the Fellowship and the incredible journey that ensued, and I hold the books and films near and dear to my heart. So, as I ran across the bridge and yelled "I'm going on an adventure" my heart was full and my tear ducts were overflowing. I stood inside the door to Bag End and could feel the air shift around my body, welcoming me, and I knew I was home. I had a ginger beer at the bar in the Prancing Pony and my soul warmed with the spice of the drink. The experience of being there and knowing I was standing where Sir Ian McKellen once stood and laughed was enough to make a grown woman cry, and I did. There will be nothing in my life so magical as those precious moments, and I am eternally grateful to have been there. 

First Post for Mythology and Folklore

 Hello! This is my first post for Mythology and Folklore, but there will be many more to come!