Week 8 Comments and Feedback

Students are never failures. They may experience failure, learn from failure, grow from failure. But they are never defined by failure. (Image source from Andi McNair)

The comments I am receiving on my posts are useful for sure. But the most useful feedback I enjoy is the one our professor gives us. She emails us back in a timely matter and tells us exactly what we need to fix, and I really enjoy that. The feedback I give back could be better. I think my strategy is reading the author’s note first then reading the story, so I can be aware what I am reading for the story. Also, reading other students feedback helps me make sure I am not the only one thinking a certain way. Sometimes I doubt myself and think I am wrong until I see someone post a similar comment to mine- which makes me feel a lot better.

What I can move forward is to be more descriptive about my feedback. I felt like I was very broad and barely specified it in my feedback comments. Maybe if I did that, it would definitely help them improve their posts because I would want the same thing.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking through my previous stories I have created along with my other blog posts, I have definitely improved a lot since the beginning of the semester. I have to admit, it was a little tricky trying to figure out how to use the online announcements and understanding the stories because it was something new to me. I had no knowledge about Hinduism or myths, which made it a little challenging to understand at first; I eventually got the hang of it. I have never taken an online class like this before where I am constantly blogging or other people are reading my stuff. It is definitely a learning experience!

Just clicking links and glancing around my blog, I am completely content with how it looks. I am a very simplistic on how things appear and how accessible my posts are. The only thing I am not content is how bad my first couple blog posts. I feel like I was struggling a bit at first to understand the stories and what exactly the assignments were asking for, but I got the hang of it! As I am glancing through my weekly posts, I think my favorite thing to do is to take notes on stories. Usually my strategy is to do extra research online to make sure I am understanding the story correctly. It helps me understand the stories a lot better which helps contribute ideas for my creative story.

I am ready for a challenge (image source from cheezburger)

The only thing I look forward to is improving my creative writing. I was never the greatest at creative writing or writing in general, but it has definitely improved over time. And I hope to continuously improve my writing skills.

Do you see that picture on the right? Yeah, super cute. I chose this picture because the cat represented me when I want something; I must work hard to get it. My goal is to expand out my writing, make little mistakes, and make one of the best stories out there! I know it has been a little challenging, but if I put my mind into it- I can do it. 

Week 9 Story: Princess Salisa

The Three Sisters (image source from Wikipedia)

Taika and Himouto have always been close growing up. Girls were always attracted to Taika but never to Himouto. Himouto was born to be a king, but he would need a wife in his throne. So Taika gathered up princesses from around the different kingdoms and found three sisters. They were princesses of Geno; their names were Salisa, Syla, and Struta.

The princesses were given a chance to be fought over if they could take down Taika. A king named Java came to fight for Salisa. Java and Himouto were battling each other with spears until Himouto defeated him. Himouto gave Java mercy and spared his life.

The wedding came and Salisa came clean to Himouto. She told him that King Java was her secret lover that she has been with for three years. No one knew about her secret lover and she never expected herself to be married to the same man with her sisters. Himouto released her from her marriage with his brother.

Princess Salisa left the kingdom and went to go find King Java. Once she got to the kingdom, he did not what anything to do with her. He did not see her as his lover or his property. King Java lost fair and square with Taika and felt that she was his rightful owner. He felt unworthy of Salisa and demanded she go back to her rightful owner, Taika. King Java had to block his feelings and affections towards her and turned her away.

She felt humiliated and disgusted with herself. Princess Salisa only saw herself with King Java and now she got that taken away from her. She could not go back to Geno because she felt ashamed already for not marrying Himouto or being reunited with her true love; she had nothing left in the end. Princess Salisa ran off to live by herself to figure out how to fix it.

For the next couple months, she lived in a village called Norta. She stayed in that village and cried for months. She barely ate, barely drank, and barely wanted to survive. Her sadness took over herself. She wanted her life to swivel away because she felt like it was not worth living. So, a goddess heard her cry and came to her village.

The goddess was named Hanos. Hanos was a goddess who granted wishes to people that mourned the most. Hanos asked her what she truly wanted and Salisa said, “I want to be with King Java”. Hanos responded saying, “ I cannot grant you that wish but I can bless you with a second life, but there are demands for it.”

In order for the second life to be granted, Princess Salisa had to die and rebirth. But in her second life… she has to kill Himouto in order to be with King Java. In order for a rebirth to happen, she had to burn herself in the pits of fire. Once she was reborn, she would remember everything that has happened to her and the demands Hanos gave.

Princess Salisa dug up a pit with sticks in it and lit it on fire. Once the fire was big enough, she threw herself in it and said "This is for my true love, Java."

Authors note: I used the story with Amba who was arranged to marry Vichitravirya. Amba and her sisters, Ambika and Ambalika, were arranged to marry the same guy. She was in love and committed with the king of the Shalwas. Once he heard of what had happened, he came to fight for her. He fought against Bhishma and was defeated with his life spared. No one was able to beat Bhishma, so his brother was still going to marry the three sisters. When the wedding day came closer, Amba admitted she was in love with the king of Shalwas and they were in the secret committed relationship. Bhishma released her from getting married and she tried to reunite with her lover. The king of Shalwas denied her because she did not belong to him anymore and Bhishma was the rightful owner when he got defeated. Once she left, she knew it was Bhishma's fault. She was so sad and depressed that the Great God came to her to answer her prayers. Amba was granted a wish that she would become a man in her next life to kill Bhishma.

Sister Nevedita, Amba, Link