Topic

Storybook Topic: Sea Creatures with Mermaids

Comments: One of my favorite movies growing up was the Little Mermaid (the Disney version) but ever since then, I have been fascinated by mermaids and I always wondered if there were really anything like a mermaid or how they interacted with the other creatures underwater.

Possible Stories: There are many stories about mermaids all around the internet because there are so many different thoughts about mermaids and on how people associate mermaids with so many different things.  I would love to include a story on how they are the at top of the hierarchy in the sea, how a little mermaid interacts with some of the other underwater creatures, how the families work, and other adventures from the mermaids.  I also want to include many facts from the legends of mermaids.

Sample Story:  This text explains the legends od the golden mermaid.  It has the powerful king and the hierarchy that I was looking for in my story as well as incorporating the legends of the mermaids.

Bibliography: 

Book Title: The Green Fairy Book

Book Author: Andrew Lang

Year: 1892

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Storybook Topic: Not Really A Happily Ever After

Comments:  I love fairy tales and from a very young age I have always watched the princess movies and read all the books about how the prince saves the princess and then they live happily ever after.  After growing up and realizing this relationship would be highly unlikely to work out, I wonder what would actually happen years down the line if they were to get married and spend the rest of their life together.

Possible Stories: I would take my 3 top favorite stories and change the story and the endings to combine the stories and show that it is not always a happily ever after. 

Sample Story: This story has a little bit of a different viewpoint than what I want to write about but it has the right idea.  I want to look at these stories from a different perspective.

Bibliography: 

Book Title: A Prince’s Perspective

Book Author: Kate Brandon

Storybook Topic: What Animals Really Do

Comments: I have always wondered what my dog and my two cats do during the day while all of us are gone.  Surely they don’t just sit around and sleep all day.  I want to write story about what the animals in a house really do all day while everyone is away. 

Possible Stories: This will be a story with a section about the adventures of my cat, my dog, my bird, and my fish do all day.  Do they have other friends? Can they talk to the stuffed animals? Or can they talk to each other? We will see.

Sample Story: This is more information on what pets actually do all day to entertain themselves.  I want to incorporate some information and some legends together to form an entertaining story.

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Storybook Topic: A Once Heroic Ape Turns Bad

Comments: I have always loved monkeys and apes so any story about those interest me.  There are so many stories about Apes saving the day or becoming the King of the jungle, but what if this so called “king” was actually really bad.

Possible Stories: I would write a story building off of multiple stories about how the ape or the monkey becomes kind of the jungle, but then someone tragic in his life happens and this Monkey King all the sudden becomes very bad.  When that happens, the villages has to fight back and save their own species.

Sample Story:  This is the story about the King of the Apes.  This Ape was magical and became king of the jungle! He had the courage to force his way through the waterfall and become the king. 

Bibliography: 

Book Title: The Chinese Fairy Book

Book Author: R. Wilhelm

Year: 1921

Essay: The Gospel of Mark

Essay: Inspiration? Guidance? Model?

In my opinion, the Gospel of Mark is the perfect example of inspiration, guidance, and a model.  Jesus is the ultimate guide and this story shows how many people chose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and he provided the guidance they needed for them to live out a follower of God. 

Jesus provided inspiration to many people as he healed the blind, helped the child on her deathbed, walked on water, and healed the injured.  Although no one can completely imitate the actions of Jesus, being the Son of God, but many tried to imitate the best they could and worshipped all the actions of Jesus.  The disciples taught what Jesus taught and did whatever he said to do.

He has been the ultimate model to follow for thousands of years now.  It’s crazy to think about how many people know the teachings of Jesus and whether they believe in Jesus or not, millions and millions of people all around the world know His story.  Jesus was perfect.  He never lied or fell into lust or became jealous.  The values that He shows throughout the whole new testament and Mark in specific are the values that every person to ever walk the Earth should follow.  Either a follower of God or not, these are great guidelines to live by regardless because this create a person that is as close to perfect that we can obtain. 

As humans, we are far from perfect, but after hearing the stories of Jesus and following the guidelines that are explained in the Gospels of Mark, we can be as close to Jesus as we can.  Personally, I need to work on myself by following these values that Jesus portrays.  I need to work on being more humble, less jealous, more trustworthiness, and not falling into lust.  I think these are values that many people need to work on and I hope I’m not alone, but after reading the importance of following Jesus and how important this is to him and god, it motivates me to become someone better.  I have flaws and Jesus doesn’t, therefore I know I need to follow Him if I want to become the person that I want to be. 

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Storytelling for Week 2: The Gospel of Mark

The Story of Mark from a Village person

I am a man by the name of Samuel from Jerusalem.  I keep hearing about the Son of God named Jesus but I only believe what I can see with my own two eyes.   I have never met this Jesus man, but I heard he has made miracles happen.  Miracles? Or magic tricks? Is this man trying to trick us all into believing that he is so much better than us? Half of the people worship the ground that Jesus walks on but the other half are set out to kill him.  What’s so great about this man and why is he such a big deal?  He’s just like any other man in my village…right?

Many people travel through my village, but recently, I heard a very interesting story that is hard to explain.  I heard Jesus healed someone that was blind.   Unless someone was tricking everyone that he was blind for his entire life, I don’t understand how a regular man could heal someone’s blindness.  Maybe this Jesus guy is pretty spectacular after all.  Although, I need more to convince me that Jesus is really the Son of God.

Jesus is coming to Jerusalem today!  Could this mean that Jesus is coming to make miracles happen in my village? Maybe I will listen to his teachings if I’m convinced.  After hearing the stories about the people he has healed, maybe this Jesus guy isn’t so bad after all?  I was able to sneak into the temple that Jesus rode his horse into today.  I tried to eaves drop on the conversations but I was unable to make out everything.  I overheard John talking about his baptism from Jesus, but they were deciding whether Jesus was from man or if he was from the Heavens.  Well this changes it all! I need to know this answer and I will tell all my village whether or not Jesus is the real deal or if he is a hoax. 

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Many weeks went by and I still didn’t know my answer.  But how could anyone be so perfect and selfless?  He told us to follow commandments that will make us better and create a more peaceful world.  Who else would teach such a thing if there was nothing in it for them?  Questions raced through my head like a bullet coming out of a gun.  I was more confused about this than anything else I had ever been confused about.  For some reason this was more important.  After hearing about the prophecies, Jesus must be the Son of God.  There is not other explanation to explain the miracles that have happened and the teachings that he has taught and the things that only Jesus can do.  I must believe in him and follow his teachings and I know I will live a more peaceful life if I follow the footsteps of Jesus.  Suddenly, in that moment, everything became so clear.  This is what I needed to do to become who again.  I was confused and lost and now my mind is set at ease and I know exactly what to believe and understand.  This all makes so much sense.  I must go spread the word to the rest of my village and make disciples to teach about the wonderful and spectacular Jesus. 

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 Author's Note:

I read the Gospel stories of Mark for my week 2 reading diary because this is something that is always very interesting to me.  I love reading the Bible and stories from the Bible so I chose to learn and dive more into Mark.  I wrote my story from the eyes of a normal villager.  Not someone that was particularly a follower of God or Jesus but someone who was very skeptical about the whole thing from the very beginning.  I wanted to write my story through this perspective because I feel like so many people these days are very skeptical about whether or not Jesus was real or if He was the Son of God.  Samuel, in my story, did not believe that Jesus was special in any way at the beginning of the story, but soon he was convinced.