Preston's Epic Blog

 Vali continued to torment Sugriva, but was forced to quit once Hanuman got ahold of him to quit. Rama visits Sugriva in the hill, where they eventually become allies. They become allies because they could bond over being exiled by their father, and also because both of their wives were missing. Rama helped Sugriva kill his brother Vali. Sugriva was then crowned king of the royal city Kishkindha. Sugriva finally returns to Rama on the hill where he send out a search team to find Rama's wife.  Hanuman builds up the courage to fly to the island of Lanka. He is attacked by two different sea monsters, Simhika and Surasa. Hanuman out wits the two and escapes their attack when he's then encourages by the devas and gods. Lankini then stands before Hanuman on the island of Lanka to stop him, but Hanuman is much too strong and defeats Lakini. He then comes upon Sita. Sita refuses to leave with Hanuman even though she knows the ring means that Rama sent Hanuman to rescue her. She demand...

Part A One of the areas I found most useful from reading past student's feedback was the "Asking Useful questions" tab. I feel like this helps me the most in feedback, but it's also what I tend to do best when giving feedback.  In order to grow we have to think and provide information on our own. If we're constantly giving suggestions without allowing the learner to learn, then no one will ever get better in the long run. Part B I read "Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback" and also "Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback that Fosters a Growth Mindset". In both articles, the central idea was always growth. Why give feedback if we're not giving feedback to allow our peers to grow? As this is a rhetorical question, the answer is obviously there would be no point! It would be wasting everybody's time. In order to grow, we need to have a second set of eyes on our work. Get opinions and feedforward criticism, rather than feedback criticism. Feedb...

Ganesha: The Remover of All Obstacles This is a story of Parvati creating her own son on her own from scratch. She was so proud of her son that she placed him in front of the gates of her and Shiva's home. One say as Shiva was returning, the son had no clue who it was. He only knew that he was supposed to stop anyone from entering. Shiva in return defeats the son and cuts his head off. Parvati outraged by the matter places an elephant head upon the son, thus making him Ganesha. Shiva the Fisherman This is another story between the couple Parvati and Shiva. Shiva again curses Parvati in order to win her loyalty and love in a separate form. He puts Parvati into the form of a fisherwoman, and he in the form of a fisherman in order to capture a shark that was terrorizing the village. I think I can have a lot of fun with this story and bend the lines a lot more than the real story was actually written. Shiva Parvati: A Story of Divine Love Beginning with the death of Shiva's first w...

https://sites.google.com/view/prestontaylorportfolio/home?authuser=0 - Latest story is here at this link. Marion after he wins the battle to take Princess Peach back.  Pixy.org Note: I wanted to do a little run-off of the Ramayana but with different characters. In one of my previous blog posts I talked about how much the Ramayana reminded me of the basic Super Mario Bros. story. It's really simply because of how Peach and Sita both get captured and the other husband/fiancé had to come in to save his loved one. I hope you enjoyed! Bibliography: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana  from parts A & B by Laura Gibbs

Rama is exiled by Dasharatha, and Sita, his wife along with Lakshmana, his sister, followed. Rama's people still obeyed by his rules and word; they were still loyal. Bharata becomes king, and a fight breaks out that blames Manthara, for good purpose since she was the one that forced it. Bharata and Shatrungha go to see Rama in the forest where he was exiled to, and talk of needing to make a sacrifice to allow their dead father, Dasharatha to travel to the spirit world. Manthara apologizes continuously to Rama, but Rama is forgiving to her, telling her in a new lifetime the two of them will meet again as Krishna and Kubja.  Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana then travel all over, receiving gifts and doing deeds for other gods.  We then come back to Ravana and see his battles and troubles. He ends up capturing Sita, Rama's wife. He was almost stopped by Jatayu, but Ravana ended up beating him in the fight, cutting his wings off causing him to fall to his death. Sita was now Ravana's a...

Dashagriva is born as a son of 10 heads from Vishrava and Kaikasi. Dashagriva also has 3 siblings, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, and Shurpanakha, a girl. Dashagriva was gifted immortality by Brahma. Dashagriva's brother, Khumbhakarna was gifted "immortal sleep" per say. It was next that Dashagriva earned the name Ravana from Shiva. Shiva imprisoned Dashagriva under his mountain when Dashagriva let out a tremendous roar. Shiva was so impressed by this that he grants Dashagriva the new name Ravana, translating to "he who roars". Ravana then creates a new instrument for Shiva. He's then rewarded his wife, a double of Parvati named Mandodari. Later on Ravana takes back the gold city of Lanka from his step-brother Kubera. Upon summarizing the beginning life of Ravana, I initially realized that keeping track of all of these names is going to probably be a bit challenging this semester. Anyone reading can tell the Ramayana is heavy on characterization. Simply meaning t...

Neil Gaiman's Advice on the Creative Life It's an incredibly reflective idea, for the lack of a better word, to realize how modern day students are so worried about making mistakes in order to "be perfect". I often think of my next few years of having to be near perfect in order to succeed and get to the places I want to be in my future. It's a crazy turn of events to be told, "No, make mistakes, and make a lot of them". But, it makes sense. Kind of piggy backing off what Gaiman has to say, simply live your life! Don't think twice on what you're going to do, because after all, second thoughts are what hold you back from making mistakes. Don't live so carelessly that you're making a fool of yourself, but live efficient and accurate, and the mistakes you encounter will only cause you to grow in the long run. A fixed mindset that could be holding you back I'm so happy I chose to read this article because it's playing right along with...

The Gods/Devas As I've talked before in my past blog posts I have a pretty large interest in mythology and what comes with it, whether it's Greek, Roman, or now Hindu. I'm not familiar at all with the stories and blueprint of the Hindu gods/goddesses. I know this topic will keep my attention, which is why it's very tempting for me to choose this topic, but also I think it'd be fun to let my mind wander and give twists to beginning stories with Shiva. Epic Battles In pretty much any movie, TV show, or fictional story modern day you will most likely get some kind of battle scene. This battle scene can be large scale with thousands of participants, or it can be between two individuals. Either way, they're still battle scenes. I think this is because there's really no limit as to what can be in a battle. They can be manipulated or simulated to where any form of imagination can create an engaging story. By researching certain battles in Epics of India, I could ea...

The year is 3500 and our Earth has grown unsustainable. The humans inhabiting it for the last millennium refused the constant warnings of global warming and pollution. The ozone layer is now anything but what it was in the year 2021, full of dust, space debris, and toxic gases. The people of Earth knew they had to do something, and quick. They hadn't made the necessary space technology to search the universe though, so they grew hopeless.  One day, an alien who was from another world was traveling the universe and stumbled upon Earth. His instincts were so advanced that he knew the people of Earth were desperate just by looking at the sorry planet. After all, he was starving for a human brain. He swoops in to one of the last civilizations known, acting like he was about to save them all, really was plotting to eat them.  After the alien made his plead in saving the people of Earth, they were hesitant. Even in our most desperate times as humans, we can still smell a traces of d...

I really want to focus on the character of the cunning crane. It seems in every story you're told or read, there is this cunning individual. They are devious as the evil villain, but other times, why do we somehow relate to/respect them? Maybe their deceit is for the good against evil, maybe their deceit is a natural human action we're all guilty of (hence the relatability), or maybe their deceit is simply so flawless that the only thing we can do is applaud it out of amazement. While we're surely against the devious crane taking advantage of the innocent fish, for my storybook this semester I want to focus more on a cunning character that uses his devious skills to fight evil.  The cunning crane dipping his head in the little pool. W. Robinson The Cunning Crane and the Crab - From The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse with illustrations by W. Robinson

I have chosen to read Ms. Gibbs version of Ramayan this semester. Since I've begun I can tell she's extremely passionate about this subject and what it has to offer. That being said any version created by her I'm all in on. I know there will be passion in the reading, but I also am looking forward to supporting her work! The Dance of Shiva (Character in first comic I chose) (by Khitindra Nath Mazumdar, from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists , 1914) Vaishno Davi The first comic I chose was Vaishno Davi. Scrolling through the page what really caught my eye was the cover of the Temples of India that contains the story of Vaishno Davi in it. In the description it explains her as the goddess of the hills, and that the story contains metaphors on the life, struggles, and powers of being a woman. Shiva Parvati What caught my eye with this comic was the cover and how Shiva looks to be the god of the sea. My interest in Greek/Roman Mythology was at play here instantly relating to Po...