Here you can find some of my personal favorite stories that I have written throughout the semester. They are all based upon a story that I have read, then re-imagined myself. Please feel free to browse around and leave comments! I love to hear what my readers think of my stories. Enjoy.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Week 14 Storytelling: The Grasshopper and the Ant
There once was a
grasshopper. He spent all of his summer singing songs for the community. He
sang old songs and new songs. He took all requests and would play anything. He
was the best in the whole community at singing songs. While he was singing his songs, the rest of
the village was busy at work collecting food for the winter. The grasshopper
didn’t care, and thought that he still had plenty of time to collect food for
the winter so he just kept singing. Little did he know, winter was just around
the corner.
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| A picture of an ant and a grasshopper. Web source: Wikipedia |
The next week, winter had struck in full force. The
grasshopper was freezing cold, as he had not made a place for shelter. He was
also very hungry because he never had enough time to collect food. He started
to ponder how he was going to get through the winter with no food or shelter.
He decided to go ask his good friend, ant, if he had any food he could spare.
The ant laughed at his request. The ant said that he
shouldn’t have been singing, but instead should have just collected food like
everyone else. The ant then told him that he should dance for food, since he
had sang all summer. At first, grasshopper walked away very melancholy. He
thought that this would be his last winter ever, for he thought he could not
make it through this harsh winter. Then he thought, maybe ant had a great idea.
Instead of dancing for the winter and begging for food, he
decided to open a dance club. This is a place where all of the critters of the
village could become warm and have fun during the winter. He knew that he could
charge people food to come into the dance club. He began work immediately on
the building of his dance club, and before he knew it, he was done.
It was opening day at the dance club, and everyone came to
dance and have fun. In just one night, grasshopper had enough food to last him
the whole winter so he started letting people in for free. Ant came to the
dance club looking for a good time, but grasshopper would not let him in. He
told that ant that since he didn’t give him food, he could never come in his
club. The ant went back to his house and was alone all winter.
Author’s Note
The original story
can be found here: The Grasshopper and the Ant. In the original, the exact same thing happened. The
grasshopper had been singing all summer so he didn’t have time to collect food
for the winter. He went to the ant to ask for some food and the ant told him he
should dance to collect food. This is where the original story ended though. So
I decided to add a little twist and have the grasshopper open up a dance club
where he could collect food.
Here is the original: Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks by W. T. Larned and illustrated by John Rae (1918).
Extra Reading Diary: Aesop: La Fontaine
The Tortoise and the Two Ducks: I really enjoyed this poem
about the tortoise and the two ducks. It had a great feel throughout the whole
thing and I thought it was very well written. I liked that this poem was a
little longer because it gave room for a little bit of detail. I thought it was
a little difficult to read after the first time, but the second time I read it
I understood it much better. Overall I really enjoyed this poem.
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| (15th-century illustration) |
The Frog and the Rat: This poem initially interested be
because it was about a frog and a rat. These are two animals that you don’t
usually expect to be conversing with each other. It was a very good story and
thought it was very well written. I thought the whole poem had a nice flow to
it. I specifically enjoyed the rhyming in this story because it really added to
the flow. This was probably my favorite poem in this unit, although all of them
have been very good.
The Astrologer Who Stumbled Into a Well: I thought this was
a very cool poem. I have always been interested in astrology so that is what
really drew me to this poem. I’m glad I read it because it was one of my
favorites. I thought it was very well written and had a very good use of
vocabulary.
Reading Diary A: Aesop: La Fontaine
The Ass in the Lion's Skin: I really enjoyed this short
poem. I thought it was very cool seeing what the donkey was like trying to be a
lion. I also liked the rhyme throughout.
Many of the poems do not rhyme, but that is one of my favorite parts about poems.
This is probably my favorite part of all the stories I read, although they were
all very good. I look forward to reading the second part of this unit.
The Fox and the Grapes: I really enjoyed this poem. I
thought it was very sad that the fox could not reach the grapes. I don’t know
what he meant by let the pigs devour. If the fox couldn’t reach the grapes
there is no way that the pigs could. It
is also really sad that the grapes were sour. I really enjoyed this story and
hope that there are more stories like this.
The Grasshopper and the Ant: This story made me chuckle. I
thought it was hilarious that the ant told him to dance. Basically this story is
about a grasshopper that sings all summer long, so had no time to collect food.
Whenever winter came along, he had to ask the ant to burrow some food. The ant
told him that since he sang all summer, he should dance all winter for the
food. I thought this was a pretty funny, but mean, thing to say by the ant.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and thought it did a great job at making
me laugh.
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| An image of a grasshopper and some ants. Web source: Wikipedia |
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Online Education Review
I have taken three online courses in my college career. I think there is many advantages, and disadvantages to the online format. It is advantageous because you get to have freedom of when you do your homework. You also do not have to be in the same state as the rest of your class. I also think you lose a little bit in a online course because it is not as personable. I think it is much easier to learn when you can see and talk to your professor in person. Overall I think online classes are great, but there definitely should be a balance between in class, and online courses.
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| Its been a long semester, but it has been fun! Web source: Flickr |
General Education Review
Overall I have had a pretty good experience with my general education classes. It is a great opportunity to learn about something you are interested in that doesn't pair up with your major. For example, I chose this class because I thought it would be very interesting. I had always been interested in mythology and knew it would be cool to learn more about other cultures stories. I think requiring general education electives are a great thing.
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| A picture of some inspiring stones. Web source: Pixabay |
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
College Writing Review
With my major of Energy Management, I haven't had a whole lot of writing classes throughout my career. My most important writing class I took throughout my college career is business writing. This class specialized in writing emails, formal letters, and things of that sort. I thought it was very important because it teaches you how to be a concise writer. In the business world it is important to get your point across in the shortest possible way. I really enjoyed this class though because it really helped with my creative writing. This was really the first creative writing class I have ever taken, and I'm glad that I did it.
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| A funny photo of a cat. The web source is here: Wikipedia |
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