Reading Diary B

Mark: The Teachings of Jesus

I always enjoy reading the book of Mark because it shows a lot of the teachings and miracles that Jesus does throughout his life.  In this story, Jesus shows the importance of not acting in His name.  He is the only one that can create the miracles that he does and you would be talking in ill-will if someone tried to say they could do the things that Jesus can do.  My very favorite part about this whole story comes at the very end when he talks about how the salt is important, but if the salt loses its saltiness, then what good is it? If anyone is interested in learning more about the teaching of Jesus, I would recommend reading Mark along with some other books from the New Testament.

Mark: Jesus and the Blind Man

This story is opened with the brutal remarks from the people in Jerusalem.  The rumors that were spread around the city were that once the Son of God came, they were to spit on him and condemn him until he dies.  They also added that the third day He should raise again.  Unlike any human, Jesus is the only one that they can crucify on a cross and he can rise back again in three days.  This truly solidified this for many people that he was, indeed, the Son of God.  In this situation, I don't know how I could react to such an amazing event.  This is not human and unless I saw it with my own two eyes, I'm not sure if I would completely believe it.  Because of these stories, the Bible, and my faith in God, I do believe that all of this happened, but in the moment, I would be so confused. Jesus comes upon a blind man that is begging for help. Just as Jesus has already done many times, He made miracles happen and gave the blind man sight again.

Mark: More Parables of Jesus

Jesus embarked on many journeys, taught a lot of people, and made many miracles happen.  Even though He did so many amazing things,  there were still many people that were skeptical about the things that they witness.  I think I would have to believe and I would have faith in someone that creates miracles right before my very eyes.  People worship the ground that Jesus walks on yet there were still people that didn't believe.  He ends the story saying that He is the God of the living.

[Source]

Reading Diary A

 Mark: Jesus the Healer

This is one of my favorite stories in the bible because it shows what Jesus can do when you believe and it explains the miracles that happen through Jesus.   They traveled to the country of Gadarenes and a man who desperately needed help in all aspects of his life saw Jesus and ran to him.  The man was astonished and didn’t know how to react when he saw the Son of God.  The man’s name was Legion.   Jesus cleaned the unclean man and all the bad spirits inside of him left.  This is truly amazing in my opinion that something I can’t even completely grasp can happen through Jesus.  In another instance, a ruler from the synagogue saw Jesus and started worshipping him and begged him to save his daughter that was on her deathbed.  At the instant that Jesus laid his hands on her to heal her, all her problems with her blood were healed.  No amount of medicine can do these the things that Jesus did in these stories.

Mark: The Miracles of Jesus

Jesus and the apostles came together to meet and talk.  A group of people saw Jesus and began to flock to him.  He loved that because all of those people wanted to learn and hear what he had to say.  The crazy part of this story is that you will almost always find Jesus in peculiar places.  In this specific story he is in a desert.  It is crazy to me how people know to find him and know that this is the Son of God.  Since they were in the desert, he send his disciples into the villages to gather up food to eat.  Although, there were so many people and not enough food left to feed all the people.  Somehow, Jesus worked miracles again this day and turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough food to feed thousands of people that became full.  After his teachings and feedings were over, he sent them all to the mountain to pray.  Jesus cured the sick and healed the broke.  He showed miracles throughout this whole story.

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Storybook Favorites

These are a few of my favorites from looking through the Storybook! 

Happily Ever After? A Prince’s Perspective

From the beginning, the title caught my attention because everyone always talks about the fairy tales through the eyes of the princesses but we never see the story from the prince’s perspective.  This was something that I think everybody is familiar with but with a different approach.  The introduction did a great job at giving a brief summary of what is to find within each story.  This caught my attention and made me want to continue reading about each situation with the princesses and the princes because of the cliffhanger they produced.  I enjoy the images used throughout the page because it kept my attention and gave me something to picture while I read the stories. 

 

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Lost In Wonderland

I love the background of this page and the overall ambiance that this page creates.  It makes the reader feel like they are actually in the story itself.  This caught my eye because I always enjoy reading stories about Alice in Wonderland.  The only thing I did not like about this page was the introduction.  They did not do a very good job at summarizing and giving a preface of what the story will be about so it did not keep me wanting to read the story.

Mermaid Tails

Mermaid stories are always enticing, so this page in particular caught my attention.  After reading the introduction, it pulled me in to keep reading even more.  The idea of mermaids has always fascinated me so reading these tales about mermaids is something that I think a lot of people are interested in.  I wish the introduction had a few images to put the picture in the head of the reader but overall I love the layout.  The blue goes along with the theme of mermaids and the ocean. I really enjoyed the background information on the mermaids that the author provided, as well, because not too many people know that much about mermaids and where all the tales originate.  

The UnTextbook

Unit: Bible Women: Eve

This story stood out to me because this is the Bible from the very beginning.  As a Christian, this story has been drilled in our head from a very young age.  I always love this story because it teaches us to trust in God and shows us the importance of obeying him. I enjoyed the language that is spoken in this version of the story because it creates the feeling of authenticity.

Unit: Wonderland: Advice from a Caterpillar

Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favorite books and movies growing up.  I enjoyed this story because I always associate Alice in Wonderland with the caterpillar and the cat.  This is much different than the movie so it is nice to see another side of this story.  This was written over 150 years ago, therefore the diction is a little bit different in this story, as well. 

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Unit: The Monkey King: Sun Wu Kung

From the beginning, after reading the overview of this story, I loved that this was a story was the ancient Chinese culture. Monkeys have always been my favorite animal so any story about Apes and Monkeys becoming the kind are interesting to me.  His adventure through the waterfall and becoming the King of the land, fascinated me.

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Unit: Cherokee: How The World Was Made

As a part of the Cherokee people, I enjoy reading about the Indian I have in my blood. This story in particular tells the beginning of the World through the eyes of the Cherokee people many years ago. Now I can compare my beliefs on how the world was made to the way that the Cherokee believe the world was made.  From the very beginning of the story, I loved that they referred to the world as being suspended from the sky.  There are many similarities to the creation beliefs but there are also many many differences that I have found after reading this passage.

[The UnTextbook]

Introduction Week 1

Hey everyone!

My name is Alyse Williams and obviously, I am a student and a senior at the University of Oklahoma.  My major is Health and Exercise Sciences and I hope to attend Physical Therapy school in the near future. I am 21 years old and I grew up in Flower Mound, which is a suburb of Dallas, TX. 

Some of my hobbies include working out, hiking, yoga, shopping, anything outside, movies, church, and spending time with my friends and family.  I am obsessed with baseball and watching the Texas Rangers and going to the OU Baseball games whenever I can.  I also have an extreme case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), so I always have to be doing something. 

I love being involved on campus so my freshman year I joined a sorority, Pi Beta Phi, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.  Not only have I met my amazing friends but this has led me to my current job teaching gymnastics to little kids and it opened my eyes to so many more opportunities on campus.  The last two years, I have been on the executive committee of Soonerthon on Dance Moral.  We raise money for the Oklahoma City Children Hospital and dance our hearts out with the little kiddos in the hospital.  This is something that I have become very passionate about.  The picture below is a picture of me and one of the miracle children from Soonerthon.

I have a lot of pets at home, and I miss them everyday.  I have a dog named Jack, two cats named Angelina and Rex, and three horses named Annie, Snickers, and Candy.  I love going home to see them, but my mom send me pictures of them weekly.  I wish I had a picture of my adorable pets, but sadly I do not on my computer.

This summer I tried to pack in as much as I possibly could.  I studied abroad in Arezzo, Italy studying the Mediterranean Diet and Culture.  After that took a trip to Illinois for my family reunion to visit my crazy and huge family.  Soon after that, my family and I left for Mexico for a week to lay out, relax, and play volleyball on the beach.  To finish it off, my friends and I took a spontaneous weekend trip to Galveston, TX to hang out on the beach and catch the last rays of summer.  When I was not traveling somewhere, I worked for my mom at an engineering company and turned the entire company into a paperless and "green" company.  I had a great summer, but it went by way too fast.

That pretty much sums up my life! Thanks for reading my blog :)

Week 1 Storytelling

Hey! Diddle, diddle, 

The cat and the fiddle, 

The cow jumped over the moon; 

The little dog laugh’d 

To see the sport, 

While the dish ran after the spoon. 

-Author Unknown [Source] 

 There once was a great group of best friends. The cat, the fiddle, the cow, the moon the dog, the dish, and the spoon were the friends that went way back. They were an odd group of friends, the type of friends that all had one thing in common. The group of friends could all snap their fingers and enter into a magical land. This land was full of colors that no one knew existed and flowers and animals that were so incredible that when they came back to tell people about this land, no one believed them. With concerned parents and teachers, school was difficult for them, but they knew they could always count on each other. Throughout high school, they began to fight and argue with one another over little silly things. The friendship was jeopardized when the cow started bullying the rest of them because they did not wear and say the “cool” things to make them popular. When the cow started to hang out with the popular kids in school, the rest of the friends group became very jealous. They all started turning on each other and called each other mean names. They eventually grew apart as friends and did not speak to each other for many months. The cat, the fiddle, the little dog, the dish, the spoon, and eventually the little dog began to feel very lonely. They all lost their best friends, the only kids that could share this magical land that made all their wishes and dreams come true. After slipping into a state of depression and despair, each and every one of them decided to snap their fingers (which they had not done in many months) to go reminisce on old memories from their past. Pretty soon the cat called up the fiddle to join her in the magical land. The cow wanted to patch things up with little dog moon, so cow called them to join him in the magical land. The dish and the spoon still kept in contact so they hurried to the land full of colors, as well. Upon arriving, they all quickly ran to each other and apologized for everything that had happened. They realized that everything was foolish and they would rather have their best friends back. They all threw a big party that night in the magical land to celebrate their friendship and danced all night. Well into the morning, the cat and the fiddle snapped back into reality and returned home. The cow leaped over the moon and back home, too. The little dog laughed and cried tears of joy when he got back home, and the dish and the spoon ran away together. They all continued being best friends and never let silly arguments get in the way ever again.

Author's Note:  This nursery rhyme simply told the story of what those characters were doing right at the moment.  Were they celebrating something, having a party, or simply laughing and having a good time with each other?   You can find this nursery rhyme in The Nursery Rhyme Book in the source above edited by Andrew Lang.  This story reminded me of stories from the other students in my high school.  This was a common occurrence, but in the end, the friend groups typically stayed friends and worked through all their problems.

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Arezzo, Italy- My Favorite Places

This summer I spent a lot of time in a little town called Arezzo in Italy. I studied the Mediterranean Diet and Culture. This is one of my favorite places because of the culture that is lived there. I loved walking around Arezzo every day, drinking cappuccinos and eating pasta and gelato. Nothing can explain the amazing sights and people that I met on that trip that you can only find in Italy. I love the lifestyle there, too. Cars are not typically used very much because of the narrow roads and high gas prices so everyone walks everywhere which keeps all the people in Arezzo physically fit.

Yahoo Arezzo Image