Extra Credit Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part B

Aesop (Winter) Part B - continuation of short fables with illustrations. 

This fable collection seemed to have a cluster of stories about not taking appearances at face value, which I found interesting!

 The Fox and The Leopard - Don't judge by appearances and use your head. This also reminded me a bit of the movie Bambi when Thumper says "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

 The Cat The Cock and the Young Mouse - Also about judging by appearances. In this story a mouse who has never seen a rooster or a cat before thinks the the wrong animal looks nice and friendly. Cats are fluffy and more similar to a mouse than a rooster. But the cat would be the one to eat the mouse.

The Peacock and the Crane - being useful is better than being pretty - so more about appearances. The peacock was very proud of his fancy feathers, while the crane is much less decorative. However, the peacock cannot fly.

 

 

"peacock" by Mathias Appel is marked with CC0 1.0 

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown. Illustrations by Milo Winter

Topic Research: The End (Of the World as we know it? - Maybe it's fine...)

 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice. 

- Robert Frost, 1920. Online source

 

"Fire on Ice.. or snow" by . : : v i S H a l : : . is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  

  

 

The Norse thought the end of the world would be a wild battle, gods, giants, creatures and people all included.  Ragnarok would be the end of everything. The stars would even go out but because there is hope - a couple of survivors remain. Those very lucky few would get to live on a newly created world. One of the signs that Ragnarok is on the way seems to be the arrival of multiple winters, but no summer. Apparently if winter is actually coming, Ragnarok may be coming too. A modern or even futuristic Ragnarok would be interesting. Does nuclear winter count for skipping summers?

 

(There was a very round about research stream that lead to this, but apparently the original Night of the Living Dead film from 1968 is in the public domain. Is this a book? Well, no, but I can't guarantee that the living dead won't creep into my stories. Ishtar was keen to have the dead eat the living too.)

Atlantis! It was destroyed in myth. So it was the end of that world and depending on what you read it might be pretty dramatic. Fire and water and everyone really needed like some sort of advanced volcano warning system. This one could be a lot of fun either by giving people technology or having a character like the Doctor passing through to carry folks off. Also you could completely leave it as something that happened a long, long time ago and work forward with why everyone still talks about it. 

And then there is Pompeii & Herculaneum. It was destroyed in reality in 79 AD. It's been the subject of several shows or movies but the old stories are basically limited to what we know from Pliny the Younger. It is enough to start with though and volcanoes are such interesting science. It's tempting to play with time here as well - the surrounding area is not exactly deserted now. I wonder how evacuating so many people would work out. It's not an easy thing to do as we've seen with things like hurricanes in the US.

 

Feedback Strategies

The first article I read was "Try Feed Forward Instead of Feedback" by Marshall Goldsmith. I don't know if this would work in this class since we are digital, but the strategy is interesting! I like the idea of looking forward and seeing what changes can be made in the future rather than focusing on past issues. While there are times that past issues would need to be addressed and corrected, I can see how in many aspects of life and business looking forward would work better. 

Feedback is like sushi. Fabulous when fresh and useless if not harmful when old.

"Feedback" by Stephen Ransom Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The second article I read was "How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk" by Adam Grant. I will admit this is my biggest fear! Anytime I can't just say 150% positive things about something I automatically feel like I'm a jerk, even if the assignment is to give feedback, or someone has asked for feedback. This article was helpful because it said it was actually more useful most of the time to just be direct and say what you mean, in a helpful fashion of course. 

In general feedback freaks me out. I do not mind receiving feedback, my entire major and most of my current courses are all about receiving feedback, but I do worry about giving it! I don't want to give out useless feedback, but I don't want to be harsh either. I feel like it can be hard to find a really good balance.

 

Wikipedia Trail - From Boethius to Mark Whitacre

While I was reading the instructions for Wikipedia trails, I clicked over and scrolled through the Twitter stream. I saw a post there about Boethius and the Consolation of Astronomy. I was not familiar with Boethius, or what he may have had to do with astronomy so off to Wikipedia I went! According to the Wikipedia page, his most notable work was the Consolation of Philosophy, which lead me to my next page. 

Boethius' most notable work apparently had a lot to do with the novel A Confederacy of Dunces, which I would not have known without clicking through these two Wikipedia pages. Not only that, Boethius' work becomes a plot point in the novel. But despite this novel becoming quite well liked after it was published, it has yet to be made into a film.

One of the many people who wanted to make that novel into a film was Steven Soderbergh. He is a writer, director and producer who worked on movies you may have heard of like Ocean's 11, 12 and 13. He was also involved in Magic Mike and a movie called The Informant! which I had not heard of, so helped decide my last page.

The Informant! is a movie based on the true story of Mark Whitacre. Whitacre was a whistle blower who worked with the FBI regarding price fixing complaints at the company he worked for in the 1990s. Unfortunately he was also doing some illegal activities of his own on the side and got caught. Because of that he ended up in federal prison. Ultimately, the FBI still thought he was a pretty decent guy in the end since he helped them with other things. Go figure. 

A film strip because some of this Wikipedia trail was high drama

"film" by popturfdotcom is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Week 3 Story: Grasshoppers in Winter

Once there was an owl who lived high in an old oak tree. Over the years, the owl had seen many other animals and insects come and go, for owls live longer than squirrels or crickets. This owl had seen many summers. He just wanted to sleep during the day and hunt when night came. Being perched so high in the tree, this usually wasn't a problem. 

Towards the end of summer, a grasshopper began visiting the bottom of the owl's oak tree. Every afternoon the grasshopper would make his music for hours and hours. He'd hop from one place to another and generally just enjoy himself quite loudly, which disturbed the owl's sleep. 

After a few days of this, the owl was incredibly irritated. He was tired, his hunting was off, and he was just having a bad day. He called down to the grasshopper, "Excuse me! Some of us are trying to sleep. Please keep it down!"

The grasshopper was shocked! He didn't even know anyone lived in the oak tree. "Hello up there! I'm sorry my music is bothering you, but why are you asleep on this lovely day? Don't you know the summer is ending?"

"What do I care about the summer?" cried the owl. "I just want to sleep, so I can find something to eat tonight. Go make your music somewhere else and leave me alone!"

The grasshopper was not unreasonable and hoped the owl would talk things over with him. "Perhaps I could make music at different times? I'll only be here a short time longer. I'm sure we can make something work until summer is done!"

The owl wanted to hear no more of this talk from the grasshopper. "I am the owl, this is my tree, and I told you to leave! I don't want to make something work, and I don't care that you're only planning to stay by my tree for a little while, I want you to go now!" 

"Oh no, Mr. Owl, you misunderstand me. The summer is ending, and it's getting colder. Soon I won't be anywhere. I make my music to remember happier days. Grasshoppers don't live through the winter. That's why I care so much about the summer."

The owl was briefly shocked into silence. He knew the other creatures in the forest came and went with the seasons, but he had never stopped to think that some of the animals only knew one season. "Make your music then," said the owl. "Just try to keep it down in the middle of the day."

The weeks went by, and the grasshopper made his music. The owl learned to sleep through the noise, just as he learned to sleep through all the other noises from the forest. The days grew shorter, and the nights grew colder, but it didn't bother the owl. The grasshopper's song grew shorter and quieter, but the owl didn't notice. 

One day the owl woke up, and it was cold. There was snow on the ground. The forest was quiet. As the owl left his oak tree to hunt, he noticed grasshopper in the snow, silent and still. He called out to grasshopper, "Hello down there! Are you enjoying your first winter?"

 

 

Owl in winter

"Great Gray Owl Morning" by Leslie Abram is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

 

The grasshopper made no reply for grasshoppers do not live in the winter. The owl remembered this talk with the grasshopper at the end of summer. Not one to let food go to waste, the owl picked up the grasshopper and started off the night with a quick snack. Perhaps next summer, a new grasshopper come to would share the space around the oak tree. 

If you consider things from a different perspective, you may find it easier to compromise.

 

 

 

Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part A

Part A of Aesop with illustrations by Winters - multiple short fables per page with illustrations. Some stories were shorter than others.

One story that I really took note of is The Owl and the Grasshopper. This story caught my attention because yes the owl was cranky but neither party thought to try to compromise. Instead you end up with a crunchy grasshopper snack but at least the owl can enjoy the quiet again.

I also took note of The Ass and the Load of Salt. It reminded me a lot of when my kid was younger. Things can become a battle and become more difficult or take longer than if you'd just done the task!

The Tortoise and the Ducks also caught my eye while I was reading through these fables. I was reminded of Terry Pratchett's book Small Gods. The turtle in that book was much luckier than this one - he managed to land somewhere soft. 

Illustration from The Tortoise and the Ducks

From The Aesop for Children - Illustration by Milo Winter

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown, Illustrated by Milo Winter