Reading Notes: Czech Folktales part B

This week I decided to read some Czech folktales from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. The stories I read in part A are erratic and energetic, but only seemed to give me limited ideas for stories. 

Nine At A Blow

This story is perfect if you want to read about a terrible person, wow!  The tailor in this story is unbelievably horrible.  He literally got an ego after killing flies…. FLIES!  And not to mention that poor giant that he completely screws over at the end of the story.  Something needs to happen to this guy; I’m thinking Revenge of the Flies!  Nine flies, perhaps the children of the original flies, band together to take the tailor out.  

The Soldier and the Devil

I think it’s strange and funny that the God in this story grants wishes; that’s how praying works, right?  Heh.  Anyway, I’m having trouble coming up with stories from this unit, because so many small things happen in each story.   I wonder why the soldier would want to wish for the ability to put someone inside of his knapsack?  It seems like a weird request, especially if you are able to wish for anything. I suppose a story could be made about the night the soldier and the woman played cards.  Maybe I could write something from the woman's point of view.  Maybe she also had been granted wishes, and the wishes she was granted helped her win every card game and take everyone who plays her's money.  It could almost even be a story about a casino!

The dealer always wins! Courtesy of TajPix on Flickr

Reading Notes: Czech Folktales part A

This week I decided to read some Czech folktales from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. The stories I read in part A are erratic and energetic, but only seemed to give me limited ideas for stories. 

Sleepy John

This had to be one of the most erratic stories I’ve ever read.  I mean, it doesn’t even seem relevant that John was sleepy.  I guess it’s important for the backstory, but it was a little disorienting.  Anyway, as far as ideas for stories, an idea that sticks out to me the most is to write about this whole fiasco from the Queen’s point of view.  Why was she summoning herself to hell?  Is she a demon of some sort?  What are her intentions with the king?  What happened to her after she was swallowed into hell at the end of the story?  These questions could potentially be addressed in the story I would write about this tale. 

The Three Roses

I really liked the ending of this story; it was definitely unexpected… The narrator claims to be someone who has witnessed the events in the story firsthand, but we still have no clue who he or she is.  The fact that the narrator ended up telling us this story after falling through a paper floor is also very strange, but I liked it.  This story seems like it could be someone’s dream, and falling through the paper floor was them waking up.  I could work with the idea of stories as dreams if I were to use this one.  

Three pink roses. Courtesy of London Chow on Flickr

The Waternick

This story is also really erratic and a little hard to follow, but at least it had a nice ending.  I’m actually kind of surprised that the author decided to allow the children to return to their mother in the end – that poor woman.  An idea for a story I got out of this was to twist the plot a little bit, and maybe somehow have the children rescue the souls that are trapped in the cups.   

Tech Tip: Instant Screenshots!

Do you ever want to capture what's on your computer screen without having to go through that hassle of pressing print screen, pasting the image into an editing program, cropping out the crap you don't need, and then uploading it with an image hosting website in order to share it with someone online?  It takes quite a few steps and can consume quite a bit of time that you could be using to do something of much more importance.  I was always frustrated with taking screenshots of my computer until I found Gyazo.

Gyazo is a little program you download onto your computer that allows you to simply click an icon, drag over the area of your screen you want to capture, and have it instantly uploaded to your account with an accompanying link that you can share with others.  You can also instantly save that image to your computer as well. 

Look, I just did it and it took about 3 seconds.
Link: https://gyazo.com/1d630cca4d19090fba2efaf007d73898

So meta; courtesy of Gyazo and myself

Download it and give it a try! It's a game changer for sure. 

Learning Challenge: Paying Attention

With the end of the semester rapidly approaching, I've been extremely distracted, tired, and not paying much attention to school.  I just can't seem to get or stay focused, so I decided to do a learning challenge about attention.  I browsed YouTube and found a TED Talk given by Chris Fraser over paying attention, so I decided to give it a watch.  Below are my thoughts.

I had never really thought about the concept of being "taught" to pay attention before; I always assumed it was something that just comes naturally when you're intrigued by something.  I know that's not the case, especially since I struggle with attention issues sometimes myself, but I never realized I could "learn" - in a classical way - to pay attention.  I liked Chris' idea of mindfulness being the key to learning to pay attention.  I think I could agree with that.  I thought his demonstration with the chime was interesting, but I don't know if it was strong enough to back up his talk.  I mean, anyone could pay attention for a chime for a handful of seconds, but I think people really struggle when they have to pay attention to something a) on their own accord and b) for long periods of time.  But maybe the key to that is as simple as being mindful in that moment to what you're doing. 

Story Planning: Hell on Earth

“FORSAKE ALL HOPE, ALL YOU THAT ENTER HERE.”

That is a portion of the phrase that looms above the entrance to hell in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.  

“ARBEIT MACHT FREI” (Work will set you free; work sets you free)

That is the phrase that was displayed above the entrance to many concentration camps in Nazi Germany and other Nazi ruled countries.  

The entrance to Dachau.  Courtesy of wikipedia

 

When I look at the two phrases in context, I believe that the second phrase is much more shameful and horrific.  It was a lie.  The slogan from Dante’s Inferno would’ve been equally appropriate at the gates of the concentration camps.  Although early on, some prisoners in the work camps were set free, but most of the time, they were imprisoned again shortly afterwards.  The Nazis had no intention of releasing their prisoners, no matter how hard they worked.  At least Satan was honest… 

Like I said in my reading notes post, if I choose to write a story based on Dante’s writings and the Holocaust, I want to ensure that I’m careful.  I don’t want to be disrespectful in any way toward those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.  With that being said, here are a few ideas:

I.  Satan is trying to determine which circle of hell Hitler and his followers belong in, and they walk through each ring discussing why he may belong there.  His disgusting acts that fit each ring of hell could be briefly discussed.  Of course, he would end up being placed in the last ring, and may even end up being personally punished by the devil himself. 

II. I could take a different approach, and write a story that still includes Dante and Virgil, but instead of touring hell, they are touring Nazi Germany.  Virgil tells Dante about the groups of people who were persecuted there, and some of the atrocities that were committed.  Virgil could even discuss those who would belong in Limbo: the people that were aware of what was going on, but that did not try to help.  Though they did not “actively” sin, they did so passively, and as we see in the original source, that’s enough to deserve hell.   It could be a reunion between the two, even. 

I don’t feel strongly about either approach, and I’m still considering whether or not this is even worth attempting, because again, I don’t want to be insensitive.