The Stories, the Myths, the Folklore

I am a cheerleader at the university and my coach always talks to our team about Grit and Grace. She relates books and videos to help us understand the concept of grit and to help us get motivated to never settle for anything less than greatness. This video is a TED Talk video that talks about Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance with Angela Lee Duckworth.

I watched the video: Carol Dweck: The Effect of Praise on Mindsets and it involved kids solving small block puzzles. The puzzles ranged from very easy to quite challenging. It was stated that kids that wanted to practice more of the easier puzzles were praised for their intelligence because they see that they are successful at the easy puzzles and do not want to feel "dumb" when trying to solve the harder puzzles. I immediately made the connection that that is what a "fixed mindset" is because they believed that their intelligence is innate and will not progress with further effort. However, the effort put in to solving challenging puzzles is what triggers a growth mindset and can open doors for expanding new knowledge. If you see challenges as an opportunity or use mistakes as motivation, you are valuing a growth mindset. "No matter who you are, you can always be a great deal smarter." -Carol Dweck Growth Mindset Motivational  Poster  

Not long ago, a pack of sharks were gathering together just off the shore of an island called Humanland. They were swimming together and eating together when all of the sudden a boat of humans floated by. Some of the humans, along with the ruler, Michael, hunted them for dinner that night. The sharks were petrified!! The leader, the Great Alexander, the biggest shark in the pack, spoke up and said, "We need to avenge our friends! They cannot attack us like this and get away with it." So the Great Alexander concocted a plan to use their friend, Daphne the dolphin, to lure the humans into the water and then they would finish the job... On the first day, Daphne swam close to the shore, showed off her majestic features, and sang many songs, but not a single human noticed her beauty.  On the second day, Daphne jumped out of the water in an attempt to get the humans to notice her, but still, nobody paid attention to her.  Finally, on the third day, Daphne swam as cl...

"Why Dead People are Buried" was a very unique story. I found it very amusing and it made me think how people actually started getting buried when they passed away.  I feel bad for the dog because he was the most trusted messenger and that is why he was sent out first. I f he did not stop for the bone, he could have spread good new all over the town and loved ones could be revived. But since he got distracted, his consequence is knowing that he messed up.  At the end of the story, it said that no one believed the dog when he said loved ones could come back to life, but I wonder if anyone actually tired it. Would it have worked? If one single person tried it and it worked, everyone would do it.  If the sheep was so foolish, why did the creator send it out in the first place. Everyone believed the sheep, but he passed on a false message and changed everyone's life from then on to the future.  I know many people do not believe in magic, but I wonder if magic did ...

The story, "Of the Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King," was very interesting. The first thing that I thought about while I was reading, was that it was very quick and to the point. The King of Calabar was ruthless and disliked, so another town wanted to take him down. They found a witch that was willing to kill the king, so they sent her to Calabar to finish the job. I find it somewhat humorous that the King of Calabar, Mbotu, laid eyes on this witch that transformed herself into a beautiful young girl and wanted to marry her immediately. It seems very unrealistic because who jumps into a marriage in less than a day? It is also very interesting that the task of killing the king was so easy for the woman. She sedated him with medicine, killed him, and left undetected. Why did she choose such a gruesome way to kill the king? Was he so ruthless that he deserved a ruthless death? I thought that maybe the medicine she was going to give him was poisoned or something, but no, she...