Styles Week 3

Christ on the Cross

Topic: The Crucifixion of Christ

I did some research online and found a wiki site that gave some great information about the crucifixion of Christ. The website went into detail to not only describe the cross but to show the different names used. Also in the New Testament there are a number of different accounts in the Gospels that talk about the tools used on Christ from the nails to the spears. So I will be leaning heavily on the Gospels to gather information about the actual accounts of the Crucifixion.  I will also be using these accounts to not only gather information about the tools used by also to get information about the way they were used and the about the actual crucifixion from Jesus carrying the cross, to him being nailed to it, to the sounds of the crowd, and finally his death.

Style: First person Storytelling

I will be telling the story of the crucifixion from the point of view of the tools used. The introduction will focus mainly on the events that led up to the Crucifixion. I will use the cross to describe the journey Jesus took when he was forced to carry the cross. Then I will switch to the point of view of the whip as Jesus was beaten. Then the story will focus on the nails as Jesus was nailed to the cross and raised in the air. I will then focus on the end of his life by giving the point of view of the spear used to pierce Jesus until he was dead. I am not sure if I will use the sun as a witness to the events of Jesus being taken down from the cross and being placed in the tomb. If I do I will most likely remove the point of view of the whip.  These stories will all connect so it will be an anthology.

Bibliography
1. Wikipedia page, Instrument of Jesus’ Crucifixion Link
2. The New Testament from the Bible, King James Version

Picture Attribution
Bronzino [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Famous Last Words Week 3

here is a little flash Fiction for you guys.....

The Storm

Storm Clouds

“There must have been a storm coming,” she thought because, she remembers a flash of lightning and the sound of thunder as it echoed through her kitchen door. It shook the walls of her small two bedroom house. The air had a heavy scent though she couldn’t quite make out what that scent was. To her, it smelled like a mix of sulphur and burnt pork, maybe beef. She stared at the ceiling while she waited for the rain to start. The scent in the air was beginning to fade now and she could feel the rain begin to soak the top of her shirt.

Two men walked by her like she was invisible. In and out of her house they would go as if it was moving day. The movers had been arguing just as after the thunder had rolled through the house, but that had now been replaced with discussions of which items to move first, next, and last. They must have decided to start in her bedroom, because she could feel the heavy footsteps of their steel toed work boots hit the ground and vibrate through the house. As they walked by her, she could not see what they were moving, but she could tell it was small, maybe the size of a jewelry box. One of the movers looked at her as he was passing by and she wanted to tell him to be careful when moving the dresser, but figured they had done this before, so she remained silent. She needed to get out of the rain because it had already soaked her shirt. Though it was December the rain wasn’t cold. In fact, it was warm and comforting like a rain shower on a hot May afternoon. Still it was making a mess on her tile kitchen floor, but for now she was content to remain for a moment longer. 

The smell of sulphur and pork had all but faded and the sun was beginning to set. She could hear the movers in the front room fiddling with her home entertainment system. She wanted to tell the movers to be more careful, because they were making quite a bit of noise, but she figured they had done this before and it was best if she just let them handle it without her intervening. She felt a heavy “Thud” rumble from the front room to the kitchen and knew one of the movers must have dropped something. As she heard one of the movers yell to the other one “Be careful, that thing is expensive,” she hoped it wasn’t her flat screen TV.

The rain was now beginning to soak her jeans. It wasn’t warm anymore like the rain that was soaking her shirt, so her legs began to go numb. One of the movers walked by her carrying her television and she was relieved to see that it was not damaged. He was wearing black work boots that shook the floor each time he took a step, black jeans, and a black pull over hoodie to keep him warm in the December weather. She couldn’t see any of the moving companies logo’s on his uniform. The other mover walked by her carrying speakers and the surround sound unit. She noticed that he was dressed similar to the other mover. Her arms were getting wet now from the rain. 

A subtle hint of the sulphur and pork smell still lingered in the kitchen air as the two men stood next to her talking. From what they were saying they appeared to be done moving. She began to get upset at the movers because they hadn’t moved any of the big furniture. In fact as far as she could tell they had only been there long enough to move a few things. She looked up at one of the men to say something, but the two of them were preoccupied with their own conversation and ignored her. If the two men were done moving they could at least close the door, because the draft from the cold December air was biting at her nose. The warm May rain had now become cold on her shirt and she could feel herself going numb. One of the men looked down at her and their eyes met. She saw another flash of lightning, but did not hear the thunder. The storm had passed.

Picture Attribution

By cjohnson7 from Rochester, Minnesota (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Essay Week 3

The Odyssey

This week I did the reading unit in classical The Odyssey by Homer. This was an entertaining unit. The readings in this unit did give a new reader a great introduction to the epic and translation to English by Tony Kline was excellent. However, this unit was lacking in one area because, it started in the later chapters of the epic instead of the very beginning. I understand that it may not be possible to create unit from this epic that included all the chapters of the epic, but I feel it is important to allow the reader to have all the information about the characters in the book.

While in the opening introduction of the unit the beginning point of the unit is explained. There is not enough information in this introduction to do the early chapters of the Odyssey justice. I think this unit could use more than just a simple introduction, maybe this could come in the form of a separate starting chapter that works as a companion to the remainder of the rest of the chapters of the book. There are so many things that happen to the characters in the Odyssey that by writing a “Cliff Notes” version for the first few chapters would be more useful that a simple explanation in the introduction.

Another way to accomplish this is to create an expanded introduction. I understand that the Iliad unit can act as a way to give new readers more information about these characters, but the issue with that is that readers may not read the Iliad, so the Odyssey unit must stand alone. By expanding the introduction so that it leads right up to the events in the opening chapters of the unit a new reader will gain a better understanding of the story. Also, this would be a good place to introduce the reader to the Iliad which will hopefully encourage them to seek out that unit and read it also. Though the introduction to the unit does all this, I feel it does fall short and would be more interesting if was written as more of another chapter and expanded by around 300 words. In all however, this was a very entertaining unit that have some of the best parts of the Odyssey in it so that new readers would be introduced to the Odyssey in a way that was not boring and full of enough information that they would be able to understand the story.



Picture Attribution
Alexander Pope [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Story Telling Week 3

The Kind Conqueror

 

 

Circe and Odysseus



 I had been told he would come for me one day. This man, this warrior, this king would come to me one day. Would he be kind and honorable, or would he come to me as a conqueror? I did not know. I could not risk being a lamb. So I prepared. Day and night I perfected my skills in seduction, I would practice my dark art of magic, and I would study the stars for a clue to his arrival.
For each man that would arrive to my island I was prepared. Many came expecting to find a lamb right for the slaughter. Many found a lion prepared for the hunt. It was them that I conquered. Enslaved.

Then a group much like others that had come before them arrived on my shores. I invited them to sit and dine. I could sense a foul intent in their eyes when they looked at me. I told them to drink and feast. Like pigs these men were at my table. So like pigs these men became in pens. I still laugh at the thought of their hove’s in the mud, as they mucked around unaware of what had just happened. I should have sensed it, but I had grown lazy in my ways. I should have known that these men were different from the others. These men were attached by honor to the man that I had been told about.
He came looking for them. I invited him to sit and drink and feast much like the others. When the time came to place this pig in the mud to muck he was guarded. I was unable to do to him what I had been able to do to so many before him. I fell at his feet and tried to apply my skills of seduction to him, but he was immune to my ways. He forced me to promise him that I would free his men. So I did what he asked so that I could be spared.

This man was kind to me. I grew to love him and would have given my life for him if it was his will. We lived here on this island of mine in happiness, but I could sense that it was just an illusion. This fantasy love that we shared could not last. He was troubled with memories of duty to another in a far off land. A child, a wife, a kingdom, and a promise that he must keep by returning home. I knew I could not keep him here no matter how I begged. He was an honorable man; the kind of man I had hoped that Hermes had told me would come. This honorable man left to fulfill his promise. He left with my heart. A heart that has never been returned to me and day and night I am overcome with the sadness of his departure. I pray to the gods to return my heart so that I may live in peace, but my prayers go unanswered. Now I know that the man that arrived on my shores was a conqueror that came to me in the disguise of a kind and honorable man.

 

 

 

Author's Notes

This is a retelling from the Odyssey by Homer. I wanted to tell the story of Circe through her eyes and add another demension to the story. I love the Odyssey but I have always thought the more interesting stories were stories that involved the side characters. I think that the character of Circe is a great example of this and I have always wanted to understand her side of the story.

 

Bibliogray

The story of Circe from the Odyssey by Homer

 

Picture attribution

Hubert Maurer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


The Odyssey Reading Diary Part A

Circe from the Odyssey

I love Greek Mythology so this week I read the Odyssey by Homer. One of my favorite parts of this story is the section on Circe. I have two ways of looking at this section. The first being that this is an example of a woman in Greek Mythology causing chaos and death for men, after all in the Illiad it was a woman that caused the war of Troy, and here it appears that this is another case of Women getting a bad rep in the Greek mythology. Still when I read this story I can’t help but think of Circe as an heroic woman of sorts. The men first see her and call out to her in hopes of finding refuge. They don’t look at her as a danger and they are more than happy to feast and get drunk. I love the character of Circe in this book because she turns men to pigs. By today’s standards this is would be how we would look at men that acted in the way most male figures did in the stories in Greek mythology. So I am able to view her as an empowered woman of sorts. The relationship she shares with Odysseus works to add to this view of empowerment. Though she does sleep with him and frees his men it is only after Odysseus proves he is worthy of her love that she gives into his wishes. So she in a way forces him to pass, albeit small, a set of heroic trials. The relationship does have a sad ending for Circe, but I feel that has more to do with Homer’s view on women than a character flaw that exists in Circe. So I tend to look at Circe over all as an empowered heroic woman in a male dominated Mythology.



The Odyssey







Bibliography
The Story of Circe from The Odyssey by Homer, translated into English by Tony Kline

Picture Attribution
By Wright Barker (British Painter, 1864-1941) (Wright Barker, 1889) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons