Week 10 Lab: TED Talk videos

For this week, I chose the lab option and watched two TED talks about stories and storytelling.

In the first video, "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Adichie tells of growing up in Nigeria and experiencing a lack of representation in children's books. She began writing, and her characters resembled the White American/British characters of the books she was reading. Eventually, she was able to read African literature. This helped her reframe her view of books. She then talked about the concept of a "single story" that leads many to misunderstand people from other parts of the world, including her college roommate in the United States. People may be well-meaning, but have a skewed perception of countries like Nigeria--just one country in the diverse, complex continent of Africa. "Single stories," framed by people in power, can paint entire people groups in one way repeatedly. Ultimately, Adichie concludes in the lecture that a single story "robs people of dignity." In the talk, she highlighted how stories can be used for both bad and good. I really enjoyed learning from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and hearing her powerful perspective on the importance of stories. It definitely changed how I conceptualize stories as a society-affecting tool.

The next talk, called "Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences," was given by Jennifer Barnes. Barnes is (or at least was at the time of the lecture) a professor and psychologist from right here at OU! She notes the massive amount of time and money that humans consistently spend on consuming fiction, whether books, TV shows, or movies. She also examines how fictional stories and fictional characters end up affecting us. The relationships between humans and fictional characters (or even real people in general that we only know from media) are called "parasocial relationships." She also discusses the philosophical concept of "alief," which I thought was fascinating. I learned a lot from this lecture! She also talked about the effects of having fictional friends being comparable to having real friends in some ways. Knowing how people engage with characters psychologically will help me in crafting stories and characters going forward in this course. 

Fan art representation of Lupin from the Harry Potter series, one of my favorite fiction characters. 

Artist:  Mademoiselle Ortie aka E. Tihange. Source: Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, Part B

Bibliography: Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes unit. Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1914).

Reading notes for this unit of legends continued! I want to focus on character names in these stories.

One name that stuck out to me was from "The Worship of the Sun" story in the Un-Textbook. In the intro, readers meet a character with a great name: "an Ojibwa Indian and his wife lived on the shores of Lake Huron. They had one son, who was named 'O-na-wut-a-qui-o,' 'He-that-catches-the-clouds.'" In this story, the boy is taken to the "Sky-land" and is gone from his earthly home for a while. In this way, the name really fits what happens to the character. The naming in the introduction gives clues to the subsequent plot; rather than just being an interesting or beautiful name, it literally tells readers what the character will go on to do! This would be a fun way of using names in my stories.

In another short story, this one called the "Sun and Moon," I really enjoyed the name of the moon: "ONCE upon a time, Ke-so, the Sun, and his sister, Tipa-ke-so, the Moon, the 'last-night sun"."

The idea of the moon being called the "last-night sun" was creative and seemed conceptually interesting to me. The way this society associated the sun with the moon demonstrates a beautiful way of thinking about the natural world that I would enjoying implementing into my telling of stories.

A story called "The Lone Lightning" features a character named just that! However, he isn't given that name until the end of the tale. The author concludes the story by saying "Thus at once he changed the boy into Nazhik-a-wawa, the Lone Lightning." This name not only sounds cool, it really is the culmination of the story. It would be a great idea in one of my stories to have the plot build up to the giving of a significant name.

Names can be so powerful! Interesting, strong names are a great way to draw-in readers to a story. I enjoyed this unit on Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes stories.

Picture of Lake Huron "taken from east of Port Dolomite, MI 

in the upper peninsula." Source: Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, Part A

For this week, I'm reading the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes unit!

Bibliography: Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes unit. Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1914).

These readings were enjoyable and interesting. For my notes, I want to focus on the character of the Creator in the Chitimaca tale of "Creation." 

The story begins with a fascinating, compelling description of the Creator: "THERE was a Creator of All Things. This Great Mystery understood all things. He had no eyes, yet he could see. He had no ears, yet he could hear. He had a body, but it could not be seen." The idea of an omniscient Creator reminded me of the Abrahamic religions. However, this creation account and Creator were unique, distinct from more well-known/widespread creation accounts. This creator creates fish first, which I thought was neat and likely connected to geographic and/or cultural realities. The account says that the Creator made the first humans at Natchez, grounding this account in a familiar, spatial location. 

An interesting etiology for tobacco can be found in this story: "He gave them laws but the people did not follow the laws. Therefore many troubles came, so that the Creator could not rest. Therefore the Creator made tobacco. Then men could become quiet and rest." The existence of tobacco is connected directly to human disobedience of the creator, which I thought was a fascinating explanation for something so popular in the region. 

The creator then makes women, "but at first they were like wood." We then see direct interaction between the Creator and the people, as he takes an active role in their world. The Creator teaches the women how to move normally and some additional valuable skills. He also teaches the people in general how to hunt and cook.

The characterization of the Creator depicts a benevolent, powerful deity who knows much and wants to help his created people. I found this account engaging and want to incorporate these types of meaningful characterizations in my own stories! Reading a creation account (and other stories) from a tradition that is largely unfamiliar to me was a worthwhile experience.

"Flag of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw of Louisiana (formerly the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogees)" 

made by Wikimedia user "Xasartha". Source: Wikimedia