JuliaK

Hello there! This is Julia's page. Here is where you will see all of my assignments and thoughts on our class project, "Man the Mythmaker." Have fun looking around!

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Assignment #1: My Hero
When one says "hero," most people think about someone who has saved other people. However, not all heroes protect humans. One such hero is a lady named Diana Reiss.

Diana Reiss has dedicated her life to the study of dolphin intelligence and awareness. Her research has shown that humans and primates were not the only ones to be able to recognize themselves in a mirror; dolphins can, too. This proves they are aware of themselves and, to some degree, are conscious of themselves and the world they live in. This shows that dolphins are sentient. This may not seem like much, but it has encouraged people to begin caring about dolphins, and discourage the killing of them. She was the scientific adviser for the movie //The Cove//, which brought to light the annual merciless slaughter of over 20,000 dolphins a year for food in a place called Taiji, Japan. She has striven for most of her life to promote dolphin protection and convince countries like Japan to outlaw dolphin slaughter. Diana Reiss helped start the program "Act for Dolphins," which is dedicated to the preservation and protection of dolphin species.

A hero, according to Joseph Campbell, a famous mythologist, is someone who will dedicate their lives to something bigger than themselves, and achieve great deeds often beyond the ability of "normal people." For Diana, this would be how she convinced hundreds of people to protest dolphin slaughter. They begin their "quest" in one of three ways, such as following the lure of animals, like what happened with Diana Reiss. Also according to Campbell, a hero always "returns" with a transformation of consciousness. For Diana Reiss, this is surely her realization that dolphins are sentient and intelligent. Overall, Diana Reiss fits all the characteristics of a hero as defined by Joseph Campbell.


 * //__Sources:__//**
 * The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphin Lives by Diana Reiss
 * Picture

Assignment #2: My Golden Age
My perfect world, or "Golden Age," would be set ages ago, back before humans "developed" the earth. It would be a thick, lush green forest, with a small stream meandering through it. All the time, the temperature would be about 65 degrees, with a slight breeze ruffling the branches of the trees. The birds would sing and dip through the air, the creatures of the forest would travel unafraid through the undergrowth. I would live in a small, one room cabin, with a wood stove for warmth and a hammock in the corner. A bookshelf would take up one whole wall, filled with all my favorite books. Behind the cabin, a family of deer would graze, spotted fawns trailing after their mothers. Every morning, I would do all the tasks that needed doing for the rest of the day, such as cutting wood or getting food or doing repairs. Every night, I would stand between the trees and play my violin. The sky would be a bright, clear blue at all times, the dappled sunlight would filter through the trees and land softly on the moss below. Once a day, people I choose would come, stay for an hour or two, and then leave again. On warmer nights, I would sleep outside in the soft grass. Though I know it's impossible, this is my dream world-one of utter perfection for me.

Sources: [|Picture]

Assignment #3: The God Teacher
When one says 'gift,' you think of something positive. But some gifts can be two sided. For instance, two weeks ago I got a new computer, and it has a webcam. I got a Skype account, and, while fun, it's caused a lot of distractions for me. The more homework or studying I have to do, the more appealing it seems. I yearn to go on and chat with my friends, but try to force myself to do the work that I need to do. On the flip side, I use Skype to study over the weekends with my friends. It's really useful in that regard, but it's also a potential distraction, which I don't like. So far, though, am able to resist the pull of Skype and am able to do my homework.

Sources: Picture

Assignment #4: End of Childhood, Part one.
I started taking tennis lessons at a very young age. I had many coaches, but my favorite was Mrs. Beth. She taught me the most of any coach I've had, and was my coach for the longest amount of time. She was also the nicest teacher I had had, making me like her even more. Then, in June of 2006, when I was nine, disaster struck. She was in the car on the way back from a tennis tournament, and someone driving the opposite way bent down to pick something off of the floorboard. He drifted into Mrs. Beth's lane and hit her car head on. According to the emergency people, she died instantly. I still remember my mom walking out of her room, crying. She sat down next to me and told me, "Mrs. Beth died. She was in a car crash." I looked blankly back at her. It was my first experience with death, and for a while, I couldn't comprehend it. Slowly it sunk in that I would never see her again, and I started to cry, too. This was a turning point for me, a realization that life is precious, and to make the most of it. She left me with her favorite saying, which I strive to do: "Exceed Expectations." Sources: [|Picture]

Assignment #4: End of Childhood, Part two.
**For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.** This rhyme has always been one of my favorites. It shows children how one small detail can have drastic effects. Though it may seem a little far-fetched that a nail can cause a kingdom to be lost, even something so small as a nail can cause the course of history to change. It is, however, based off of a true historical fact. King Edward III was insistent that everything in his armies be perfect. This involved having mandatory archery practice every day, including on Sundays and Holidays. Though his men were undoubtedly frustrated with this, it had its purpose. King Edward III was not going to take any chaces; he wanted everything to be perfect. The lesson in this rhyme is to never take anything for granted. It teaches children about responsibility, and how paying attention to details really pays off. Sources: [|Picture] [|Rhyme and historical info]

Assignment #5: The End of Time
__The End is Here__ The time has come, the end is here, we have to say goodbye. It's been nice, living here, but not so much in recent years. The world has gone down, things are worse, the Golden Age left behind, What is here, what is now, will awaken your worse fears. Everywhere is destruction, wreckage smoking in the cold air, No one remembers what we have left far behind us. When this ending started, it appeared to come straight from a nightmare. But what started as a nightmare grew into death, ending everyone's trust. Frothy figures on dripping horses galloped out of the east, They came for evil, they came for sin, they came for everyone. They washed down among us, leaving a swiriling mass of grief Apparently, it was time for the next dominant race to have their own fun. I and some others found a child's pool float in the swirling destruction, We rode on it to safety, at the top of a large building. When the horses of death receded, we tried to take action... But no one was left alive, no one was left standing.

There's nothing left to do, now that the end is here. No hope remains in the drowning city. I suppose now that another creature will take its chance to escape fear, But no hope left for us... that is the real pity.

I can't do anything, We were so powerless, and now the city is a dump. I climb to the top of the tallest building, Take a look around...and jump.

In this poem, I think I sound most like the Blue-Eyed son... he can't do anything about it, to he gives up and drowns in the flood, too.

Assignment #6: Changes in the Stories
Change is a theme that shows up in many, if not all, of our stories. One particular story, however, exemplifies change quite well. It is the story of "Pandora." In the myth, great change is brought to the world when curious Pandora is tempted to open Zeus's gift to her, a box. Out of the box comes every horror of man-kind, from death to old age. The whole world becomes worse after this terrible change. People grow sick, feel pain, age, die. It was the end of the happy period or "Golden Age" for those people as they realized that life was fragile. Change can be for good or for worse; in this case, it is definetly a bad change. Without that change, the world would have turned out to be very different from what it is today... but we cannot ignore that the change happened. We do not have to like it, we just have to learn to live with it.



Sources: Picture

Assignment 7: Changes in our world
The world we live in today is one of many changes, both drastic and small. These changes have effects on our everyday life, whether we notice them or not. However, there is one change that was certainly noticeable and, though it happened several years ago now, still has a huge impact on our lives: 9/11. Before September 11, 2001, security at airports was slack, people traveled without fear, and the USA was thought to be invincible, or at least close. In one day, everything changed. People first perceived the US as vulnerable, and able to be attacked. Security was stepped up, from minimal to an extreme level. People had to consider the chance of an attack when they traveled. These changes were monumental, ground-shattering, but not for the worse. Even though 9/11 was terrible, we've taken out of it the thought that we could be attacked, and made taken the appropriate measures for that. We've taken steps to prevent that ever happening again. We have grown and learned from our changes, and everyone should strive to do so as well. Don't let the changes stump you, but accept them, and act accordingly. Sources: Picture

Assignment # 8: My Favorite Season of the Year
In learning about "A Human Year," we discovered that all of our past archetypes could be associated with a season. This helped to show the cyclical pattern of life, as was summed up in "A Human Year." Out of these seasons (and archetypes), my favorite, without a doubt, is Autumn. I love Autumn for the beautiful, rich colors, and the change that comes over everything and everyone. Autumn, to me, is hautingly beautiful, a glimpse of the darker side of life, but still light enough to be comfortable. In our mythology unit, Autumn represents the End of Childhood. Usually, this Archetype is viewed as a negative-loss of innocence, the "fall." However, I see it as an opportunity-to grow and learn, to discover the real world and how everything is not perfect and easy. In the End of Childhood, coming into your own identity is big- not acting like someone else, but being your own person. Similarily, the leaves of Autumn cast aside the same shade and become unique, becoming more beautiful different and mixed than the single green of Spring and Summer. It's a chance for each color to show its worth- not as part of a group, but as an individual- to me, there is magic in that. Instead of associating the End of Childhood as bad, as many do, they should come to realize that being unique and special is nothing to be ashamed of-but something to be welcomed as a break from the usual, monotonous pattern of life; and, to me, Autumn, and therefore the End of Childhood, is the best representation of this.

Sources: Picture

Assignment # 9: Evaluation
Throughout this unit, many stories have been discussed. Though they may seem separate and different at face level, when you really look into their meanings and morals, they're all the same. They all help to give structure and order to our lives, to assess life, and make it easy to understand. The Golden Age of your childhood; a God-Teacher telling you how to improve your ways of life; the End of Childhood, and initiation into the real world; the Flood, destroying old, rotten ways of life, but leaving room for future, better ways; Changes, bringing rebirth and a Golden Age again. Myths like those in these categories help us to understand many things. The Golden Age will not last forever. The End of Childhood is not really an end, but a progression. The Flood is also not the end; simply a new start. Changes will come, and life will go on. All of these parts of the cycle-the same cycle of the seasons-bring us turn by turn closer to a "civilized" civilization. After all, the eventual goal of human beings is to be completely civilized, and each generation has brought us closer to that state. In this unit, it is made clear that, when it is time for your own generation to step up, you must take upon you the burdens of the time, and strive to solve as much as you can for the next generation. You must put everything you have into improving not only your life, but the lives of our civilization as a whole. Though our generation might not be able to do much now, eventually our time will come; instead of blustering into our "inheritance," we should be ready for it, ready to carry on human beings' struggle. Everyone must do their part, and that includes realizing that the Golden Age must end, and we will be expected to accept that and to accept our responsibility without complaint. Then, when it's time for the next generation's turn, we can hand down the burden, comfortable knowing that, with your help, the world has come at least one step closer to the greatest goal we could ever acheieve- a completely civilized community.