Writing Across Cultures

Period 1: (until 8:00) Classwork:  Continue to work/research your chosen pantheon and your documentary project. Your project should include a creation myth, a legend or story from your researched myth cycle, and a short explanation of the major gods/goddesses within that tradition/culture (3 basic elements to your documentary). Or continue to write your myth poem/story draft.  8:00 - 8:30: Let's read about Galton and Kierkegaard. Use Kierkegaard or Galton's ideas to play around with the idea that we are shaped either by our genetic code (nature) or our environment (nurture). Where do you stand on the idea? Are we influenced more by our genes or our environment and experiences? Are children fat because of their genes, or because they grow up in a household where their family is overweight? Are children more violent because they are genetically psychopathic, or because they play violent video games or are abused? Do we learn only from our environment (good schools) or wi...

Period 1: Prometheus (Greek) (cosmogony) Pandora's Box (Greek) (cosmogony) Orpheus & Eurydice  (Greek) (legend) The Least Known Greek Pantheon  (Greek? pantheon) (parody) Writing Task: Write a poem about one of the myths--use the mythology cycle you are researching or pick a favorite god/goddess/hero/legend that you are familiar with (see handout for models) Writing Task: Create your own pantheon (what would the gods/goddesses/legendary figures would you create if you created your own pantheon? What would the pantheon you are researching be like if they existed today? Ex. Percy Jackson ) Create a story (fiction) in which you explain how your character discovers fire, death, good/evil, or some human quality or trait central to our existence (ex. how humans came to be cursed with cancer or the "first disease", how the heavens were formed, how mischief came to exist, how sadness entered our world, how trust overcame the dark forces of evil, how friendship came...

Period 1: Keynote speaker streamed to class. Period 2: Please go to the main stage theater for the presentation. HOMEWORK: Read Grendel by John Gardner. If you need assistance reading the book, here's the book on audio. See link. Have a nice break!

Period 1: Watch, pay attention, take notes on ideas you find interesting:  Crash Course Mythology, #1 You will examine a creation myth, a hero myth, and research major gods/goddesses & heroes from the cultural tradition from the list below. After you complete your research, you will create a brief informative film (documentary). Egypt Norse Celtic India (Hindu) Africa (Akan (Ashanti))  Africa (Yoruba)  Africa (Bantu) Middle East (Mesopotamian/Babylonian/Assyrian) Middle East (Zoroastrian/Persian) North American Indian (Navajo)  North American Indian (Crow, Zuni, Lakota, or Haida--choose 1) North American Inuit (Eskimo) Chinese Japanese Oceania Australia (Aborigine, Dreamtime) *We have covered Aztec/Incan, Central/South American mythology in the last unit. Period 2: Exam. Please take the exam on your chosen book. You may use your notes/book to answer the essay question, but you only have 40 min. to complete your answer. Please turn...

This morning, take a few minutes to take the  Jungian Personality Test . After you get your results, briefly write your response/observations about the test and what it might suggest about you. WRITING IDEA: Use the Jungian personality types to create characters in a story or play or film script. You may also select a story you have already written and take the quiz as that character might. Get to know your character's motivations better...! After our short reflection, we'll dive back into Pan's Labyrinth and conclude the film . Please turn in your viewing notes as a quiz grade at the end of the film. After concluding Pan's Labyrinth today, we will discuss archetypes and characters/plots in our chosen book(s). Exams on your chosen novel will be this Wednesday (next class). Period 2 (around 8:30) Mythology (a beginning) Morning reading & viewing:  "The Myth of Cupid & Psyche"   What other stories, films, TV shows, graphic novels, games...

We will continue screening Pan's Labyrinth . Turn in your notes when we finish screening the film. HOMEWORK: Keep reading your chosen novel. Look for examples of Jungian archetypes, Klein, Erikson, and Satir in addition to Campbell's mythic theories of the Hero's Journey. Take notes!

The Collective Unconscious  is a collection of latent images, not in one’s personal unconscious but from the ancestral past, as well as pre-human or animal ancestors. Not inherited, the Collective Unconscious belongs to all of us in a certain culture and time. Latent images manifest from our unconscious minds so that we can recognize patterns and symbols in an icon or persona. It is these primal symbols and concepts that create the tropes we use in storytelling. A full list of tropes can be found  here . C.G. Jung :  Psychology of the Unconscious Here's a link referring to  Jung's theory of Archetypes  (also see handout(s)). Jung's theory of Archetypes . Patterns, as those found often in literature, originate in the  collective unconscious. As we watch  Pan's Labyrinth , look for evidence of the hero's journey and other Jungian archetypes. Additionally, look for connections and expressions of Melanie Klein 's theories: "we sense the danger o...