WEEK 4: STORY LABORATORY

The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Single Story Web Link

Chimamanda began reading and writing at a very young age. She talked about how impressionable and vulnerable she was by the books she read. She had never left Nigeria or knew anything outside of Nigeria, so her stories were only familiar with the British and American books she read as a child. Once she came across African books she knew more than just the single perception she had from the books she read. Once she came to America to go to college, she was quick to realize that her American roommate had a “single story” about people from Africa. In a patronizing way assumed Chimamanda didn’t know how to work a stove, listened to tribal music, and was shocked to hear her speak English so well. We are all guilty of the single story. The single story is basically the close minded perception we have of others. When we are younger or not familiar with something we create our own perceptions without knowing reality. Majority of the time these single story perceptions carry on into our older years and that is when stereotypes and prejudices begin to evolve. We take what we think we know or what we have always heard about the unknown and that becomes our first impression.  When we read one thing , we cannot assume it reflects on all ethnicity, religions, or cultures that are represented in the single story.  

  

Imaginary friends and real-world consequences: parasocial relationships | Jennifer Barnes | TEDxOU: TED Talk Web Link

Jennifer Barnes answers the questions. Why do we spend so much time, emotion, and money on something we know isn't real? Why do we engage and feel so passionate about fictional characters? Why do we care so much and feel so connected to them? 

A parasocial relationship is a relationship you form with someone you don't really know. For instance, I feel like I know Justin Bieber by the way I follow him on social media, watch videos of him, and listen to his music. I feel like I know him. We don't only follow these celebrities through a publicity platform, but through their personal social media. We feel like we actually know them! But, when it comes down to it, we know that we are just a spec in these fictional characters and celebrities lives, and they don't know us! However, we still feel connected to them. We have a subconscious belief that we believe that fictional characters are fictional, but we have alief, a gut feeling they're actually real. This Ted Talk was super interesting and left me thinking about all the fictional characters and celebrities that I feel like I have a relationship with.

READING NOTES: JEWISH FAIRY TALES PART B

The Fairy Frog
Story source: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).
I enjoyed this story a lot, I liked that the story was happy and light! I think it's important to mention different emotions throughout a story. In the beginning of The Fairy Frog Hanin's parents pass away. We learn about grief and how there is a time of many days of grief. I always appreciate when stories emphasize different seasons of life and that includes emotions! Hanina and his wife used all their money and basically bet everything they had for this purchase they made at the market. That takes a lot of faith, but over time they took care of the frog and fed him with the little food they had. Eventually the frog grew to be the size of a human. As crazy as it sounds, the frog began to take requests from Hanin and his wife to pay them back for taking such great care of him.

Image Source

READING NOTES: JEWISH FAIRY TALES PART A

Jewish Fairy Tales Part A: Web Link
My focus for this Reading Notes was Jewish Fairy Tales. I really enjoyed these stories, I could see myself writing my final story project similar to these. I noticed all these stories taught some kind of lesson, and I would like to incorporate that in my own story.

The Giant of the Flood
Story source: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).
I enjoyed this story a lot. It's a twist on the Bible story of Noah's Ark. There is a giant that is begging Father Noah to save him too, however he's a giant and won't fit on the ark with all the other animals. However Noah makes a deal to help Og the giant if he works for Noah. Along the journey they reach obstacles and Og is a giant so is very capable of helping.
I noticed this style of writing is almost satirical sometimes. Even though it falls in the unit Fairy Tales, I think many adults would be able to relate to this story. Putting a funny adult twist, or adding some references that adults would find funny and relatable I think could be a good idea for a story. What made me think of this is in the The Giant of the Flood, Noah says"When a man shall drink too much of the juice of the wine, then shall he become a beast like the pig, and if then he still continues to drink, he shall behave foolishly like a monkey."And that is why, unto this day, too much wine makes a man silly. Instead of the ending being the Og drank too much and evetually perished because he broke Noah's word, you could add a funny twist that they took a break from their journey and drank wine together. Happily Ever After.

Image Source

 The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog
Story source: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).
This story was a great one! I always love stories that give reasoning for why things are the way they are. Cat and dogs have a long history of being enemies. We see it in cartoons, we read stories, and we even see it in real life. Although this story was light hearted it was also very heart wrenching at some points. People always side with being a dog or a cat person, and I really felt for the dog in this story. It was so sad to know he felt so defeated and was barely surviving. I liked this story, but I don't want to be sad. I don't think I would be very good at writing a sad story. But I love the idea of cat and dog!