Famous Last Words Week 3... ready for the semester!

I've been inspired by some students who got started early and who are already working on Week 3, so I decided to keep on working ahead too! I just finished Week 3, where I did some Aesop trickster stories (having this be the summer of tricksters is going to work out great!), and also made up a plan for a Storybook of African Tricksters... I am really excited about that. I wrote a book of Anansi stories from the Caribbean, and right now I'm working on a book of Brer Rabbit stories... and now with this Storybook project, I can start to assemble the stories that show how Anansi and Brer Rabbit are African tricksters whose stories came to the Caribbean and to the Americas from Africa. So much of African culture was crushed by slavery, but these stories could not be stopped. The Storybook format is perfect for me to get to write about Anansi and Rabbit and also Tortoise who shows up as a trickster in African American stories also. I was thinking I wouldn't have time to do a Storybook project and be a student in class, but it is totally worth it; I feel really lucky to get a chance to share these stories as the Spring semester takes shape.

And I also managed to finish the Mahabharata book; I am really pleased with how it turned out! The website is in good shape also. More information here.

Some students in the Indian Epics class have already been reading the Ramayana Tiny Tales book, and it seems to be working well, so I am very happy about that!

This week is going to be really busy because it's the first week of class, which is always hectic, and I have two Zoom things to do on Thursday; having them both on the same day is kind of intimidating, but maybe that makes it easier too. At least I only have to have Zoom stress one day this week! One of them is a discussion group on ungrading with some OU faculty members (I know a couple of people in the group, but most of them are people I do not know), and then I'm doing a microfiction workshop with the students in the #NetNarr class this semester that Mia Zamora and Alan Levine are teaching. I've known Mia and Alan for forever, but this is the first time I've done a Zoom thing with their students: I'm not even sure if Mia's class is a classroom class this semester or not, but Alan is in Canada, so he and I are Zooming in, either into Mia's classroom or into the Zoom space where so much of college is happening now. I'm not a fan of Zoom, but it will be fun to meet Mia's students and talk to them about the wonderful microfiction book that the students wrote in these classes last Fall.

I hope we will write a book this Spring too. Thinking optimistically, I already made a cover. :-)