Feedback Thoughts

Feedback! Sometimes hard to hear, yet often helpful. I read two articles this week about feedback and overcoming negativity. The first article I read was entitled "How to Get Past Negativity Bias in Order to Hardwire Positive Experiences" by Katrina Schwartz from KQED news. The article discussed how our brains are naturally more receptive to negative feedback than positive feedback. However, we can begin to adjust the impact of this neural trait. One solution is the "HEAL" method, promoted by Psychologist Rick Hanson, that focuses on championing positive experiences.

The next article I read was "Why It’s So Hard to Hear Negative Feedback" by Tim Herrera from the New York Times. The article discusses the need to receive feedback without succumbing to anxiety or simply avoiding feedback altogether. The author offers a powerful solution for workplace feedback: "The solution to this problem on both sides—whether you’re receiving the feedback or giving it—boils down to trusting that everyone is participating in good faith." This was an interesting solution that could be helpful in many settings, especially professional ones.

Receiving negative feedback in college can be difficult. Yet it happens for all of us at some point, whether coming from a professor, friend, or mentor. Learning how to accept negative feedback and channel it into positive results and healthier reactions is a valuable skill.

Visual representation of a feedback loop. Source: Wikimedia

Topic Brainstorm

These are some potential topic ideas for my storybook project!

1. Saints and Animals
For this topic, I would start by reading the unit on Saints and their Animals in the UN-Textbook.
I'm especially interested in Saint Francis, and the possibility of retelling the animal stories surrounding his life intrigues me. I read his page on Wikipedia, and it notes that "He...became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October." Saint Francis is a fascinating person in the history of religion, and the connection to nature he and other saints had would be fun to write about! The website section on Saints who Loved Animals could also be a resource for me.

A painting of Saint Francis preaching to animals by an

anonymous Italian painter. Source: Wikimedia

2. Enneagram types and Canterbury Tales
I really enjoy the Canterbury Tales. I read a lot of Chaucer in a medieval literature class last year at OU, and I loved the way he developed characters in his short stories. For this project, I would re-read some of the Canterbury Tales, which I could do in the UN-Textbook unit on these stories. I could mix-in my love for the Enneagram personality framework by re-telling certain tales in a way to bring out the characters' Enneagram types. I would use the Enneagram Institute's website as a resource for the traits exhibited by different number types. Knowing a decent amount already about both the Enneagram and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this would be a creative way to combine two strong interests of mine.

3. Stories from China
As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, I'm interested in studying abroad this summer and have been considering China as a potential location! The rich history and culture of China fascinates me, and I plan on reading the "China" unit in the UN-Textbook during this course. I don't have a firm idea on what this storybook project would look like yet, but I would use these stories as a starting point as well as some of the Chinese stories on Freebookapalooza. I would possibly focus on re-telling tales that have moral applications. The Wikipedia page on Chinese Folklore was interesting to browse and could serve as a valuable resource for this project.

4. Encounters with Christ (Using the Gospel of Mark)
The Gospel of Mark has always been a captivating text for me growing up in a Christian family, and I'm thrilled to re-read it with fresh eyes in the UN-Textbook unit I'm planning on reading for week 4. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus Christ encounters many unique people during his ministry. For this project I would focus on lesser-known stories in Mark and re-tell them from the perspective of minor characters. This creative way of looking at the Christian New Testament would be an enjoyable project for me. In a class I took last year on Judaism, I learned about Midrash--a genre of Rabbinic literature that fills in the gaps of Biblical stories and playfully interacts with Biblical texts in order to deduce moral implications or make interpretative claims. I could write in a somewhat midrashic style for this project, likely using the Wikipedia page on the Gospel of Mark as a resource for important context.

Week 2 Story: The Three Baseballs

Image via Steshka Willems on Pexels. Source: Pexels

The Three Baseballs

One warm, summer day in the 1950s, in a small town in central Nebraska, a mother was preparing for a trip into Omaha. She asked her three sons if they needed anything while she was visiting the big city. The older two boys, ages 15 and 14, gave her a long list of toys, pastries, and other such luxury items that they didn't really need. Her youngest son, age 11, responded that he didn't really need anything. 

"Are you sure?" asked the mother. 

"I'm sure," he responded, "but I would love to have just three new baseballs to play with."

So the mother set out for Omaha, determined to get him those three baseballs. After a long day of shopping, she realized it was getting late and left the city for home. It was beginning to get dark outside, and she took a wrong turn onto an old country road. She didn't panic and kept driving. A few minutes later, she passed a run-down store selling sports equipment and decided to stop to ask for directions. No one seemed to be at the store, but she saw a bucket of brand new baseballs outside. She realized that she had forgotten to get baseballs for her son! 

"I'll just take three and get back on the road," she thought to herself, "no one will even notice."

Just then, as she grabbed the baseballs, a large, tough-looking dog emerged from behind the store. The dog spoke forcefully, demanding her youngest son in return for the three stolen baseballs. The mother was distraught, yet quickly realized she had no power to change the situation.

She found her way back to the main road, returned home to her boys, and explained the situation. Her youngest son, John, was thankful for the baseballs and even seemed happy to go to the strange place; he loved sporting goods stores!

As John's mother dropped him off at the store, the dog appeared and commanded John to pet him for three hours. The dog slipped into the shadows after this, and John looked around the store for a while. John felt perplexed yet oddly calm.

A while later, the dog returned bearing an old hunting knife and told John to cut his tail off. John, who loved all types of animals, tried to refuse. "I could never do that!" he cried.

Yet the large, fierce dog insisted. As the tail fell off, some human-looking skin appeared to emerge through the dog's weathered back hair. The dog lit up with excitement! "Hurry, shave all of my hair off!" yelled the dog.

As John began to shave, something strange started to happen. The talking dog was turning into a small girl about his age! When the transformation was completed, there stood a kind-looking child. "The baseballs belonged to me, and so now you have to be my best friend," she said.

The girl's family, who had been worried for days, was soon found. She remained close friends with John for years to come.

Author's note: This story is a modern, American adaptation of a classic Czech fairy tale. The basic plot remains similar in structure, yet the characters and the details of the events have been changed!

Bibliography. "The Three Roses" from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922). The story source can be found here.

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

"The Three Roses" was an enjoyable fairy tale and probably my favorite reading from this week's selection of anthologies. Time for some story notes! I'm going to try the "Focus on Plot" strategy for notetaking.

• I always enjoy stories that start with "Once upon a time." These words always put me in a relaxed mental state, ready to enjoy a tale.
• I was surprised at the third daughter's request for three roses. She seems to have more depth than her sisters and is somehow a bit mysterious.
• As the mother sets off for the market, I could sort of sense as a reader that something unfortunate would occur!
• The mother gets lost! The plot is moving quickly. She then stumbles upon a "palace" which is always a great setting for a fairy tale.
• The palace has a rose garden, so surely the third daughter will get her rose, right? Probably not without more complications though! For a short story, the author sure has thrown in a lot of interesting wrinkles.
• The antagonist (maybe?) appears...and is a Basilisk. I like how the creature enters "at once" before strongly demanding that the mother exchanges her daughter for the roses.
• The plot continues to move quickly, and I like this pace. The mother goes home, resigning herself to giving up her daughter. Yikes! That would be terrible. I wish we had more insight into the mother's emotion at that point with some dialogue.
• The daughter (who just now gets a name, Mary!) seems fine with going to the castle and being handed over to the creature...which is a twist. It makes me as a reader feel better about where this is headed!
• Mary having to nurse the Basilisk is certainly an interesting yet odd wrinkle. And then, suddenly, he brings out a sword for her to cut his head off. What an interesting turn of events! It's almost as if each successive strange event is topping the last. 
• Mary cuts off the creature's head, and then a new head appears so she is told to cut it off as well. The second cut reveals a young boy! The creature becoming a young boy is the most important event in the story, in my opinion. The plot seems to hit its peak here.
• The boy says that he "must" marry Mary, which is one final plot twist. This has been a roller coaster of a short tale. I'm not sure that I like the fact that the marriage seems forced...
• The wedding is "great" as the story concludes, yet the author writes that the attendants all "had to play and dance." More forced things? A bit odd! This has been a fun, quick plot nonetheless. 
• I enjoyed how the emphasis shifted from the mother in the beginning to Mary in the back half, coinciding with the moment where the author lets readers know her name.

Male green basilisk. Source: Wikimedia

Story source: The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922).

Week 2 Reading Overview

Here are my reading list choices!

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Saints and Animals

Week 4: Gospel of Mark

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: The Life of Buddha

Week 6: Twenty-Two Goblins

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: The Monkey King

Week 9: China

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Mississippi/Great Lakes

Week 11: Inuit (Eskimo)

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Celtic Tales

Week 13: Alice in Wonderland

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Ashliman

Week 15: Inferno

I'm definitely excited for these readings! I'm quite interested in religion, so weeks 3, 4, and 5 will all be enjoyable for me. I'm considering studying abroad in China soon, so I'm also looking forward to reading week 9. I've always wanted to read Dante's Inferno but never found a good opportunity, so reading some of it on week 15 will be an awesome end to this course. 

Gustave Doré's illustration to Dante's Inferno. Plate XVIII: Canto V

Source: Wikimedia

I chose this image because, out of all the readings, I'm probably the most excited about Inferno. I found this image and was struck by the dark, swirling scene. 😳