I used the Project Topic listings to narrow down my Storybook
topic selections. If I could find a way to marry one or more of my chosen
themes into one project, I think the outcome would be really unique. The topics
listed, along with some previous research we did of previous students’
projects, watching videos, and browsing my own blog helped me to pinpoint the
common threads between those which interested me:
1. Creation Stories
I feel like choosing to do a Storybook project about creation
stories would be an appropriate choice for this class. In my blog post about
students’ past projects, I found that this cyclical “birth/death” theme of how
the universe comes to be created and destroyed were common themes. This theme
is very complex and philosophical, but I think within that realm some very compelling
stories could result. I decided to watch the video “Hindu Creation Stories” as
a way to be introduced to the subject in a short two minutes. This summarized Hinduism
beliefs and noted that in contrast to most religions’ single story of creation
at the basis of its principles and practices, Hindus have many stories to
complement their understanding of infinite universes. In the first 10 seconds, an
infographic of sorts shows three choices: a universe from a cosmic egg or man
and then one fashioned from timber. I can see how a story could branch from
such a flexible topic.
2. Women of the Ramayana
I watched the video “Powerful Women of Hindu Mythology |EPIFIED” to supplement the sources on the Project Topic Listings page. This
video was a sort of crash course to important women like Arundhati, “known for
the power of her chastity,” Lakshmi, “goddess of prosperity,” Kali, “fiercest
mother figure and slayer of demons,” and Sita, “Loyal to her husband, kind to
all beings, daughter of the earth” just
to name a few whose personality descriptions appealed to me. think it will be
easier to choose which characters I want to focus on once I get a feel for who
I like reading about most as the weeks go on. I also spoke in my post about
previous students’ storybooks about stories to do with women in particular.
This theme very much overlaps with number 1 and 3 of my choices, as a project or
two I sampled showed.
3. Loving Couples of the Ramayana
It says on the Project Ideas page that the central couple of
the Ramayana is Rama and Sita, and I noticed a past project or two devoted to
these main lovers. That being said, maybe I would choose one of the other couples
listed, I see there are some polygamous couples, and widowed couples finding new love— these might be interesting to bring some less prominent pairings to
the forefront. As for the monkey world couple and the mermaid/man couple, I
think I’m less inclined to choose the first option since the mythical creature
of a mermaid has a little more intrigue and charm. Stories of romance are so
timeless-- if I could make one with as much heart and drama as ones so cherished
and loved I would consider that an enormous (and amorous) feat.
4. Twins
It was said in the assignment overview page to use whatever
influence available to inspire a topic to focus on. As stated in my “Introduction to a Type A Idealist,” I am a twin myself. Professor Gibbs offered me some links
about some twins who are part of the Indian tradition, including the twin Gods
known as the Ashvins. She also offered me an example of a mother, Sita, who has
twins Lava and Kusha- so maybe I could combine topic idea number 2 I listed
above with this one. In addition, I watched the video “The Greatest Twins |EPIFIED” which gave examples of some other twins I could research further if I
so choose. I noticed that not only identical but fraternal (boy/girl) twins
were featured—while from my experience as an identical twin myself would better
inform me in my writing about identical twin girls, I think choosing to have
characters of different genders would be a creative challenge that would allow
me to think about how this sex difference would impact one's identity. I would
have to do some searching to see if I could find any previous students’
projects to reference that had a similar topic.
(Image Source: Etsy)
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