My Heroes (It Might Be a Fish)

For our final unit of our humanities class Stories, we learned about the hero's journey. We had to tush through this final unit because we spent a lot of time on Unit 2. In this unit, we learned about the hero's journey.  That was most of what we learned because we didn't have much time to do anything else. For this action project, we were asked to think of a real-life hero and a fictional hero. We then made a slideshow showing 8 of the stages of their own hero's journeys. We then compared and contrasted them.

The hero's journey is a cycle that is used in many books and movies. This is basically the steps that a hero takes when they go on an adventure. The first step is the call to adventure. This is when the hero is called to go on their journey. The second step is the supernatural aid. Not all heroes have a supernatural aid. Real life heroes also can follow the hero's journey.  In most cases of real-life heroes, the supernatural is not involved. The third step is crossing the threshold. This is when the hero goes to the unknown world or sets off on their journey.  The fourth step is the mentor. The mentor is someone who helps the hero along the way. They could give them advice, or follow them along on the journey and support them The fifth step is trials and tribulations. This is when your hero is on their journey and is encountering challenges and meeting new people. The sixth step is the abyss. The abyss is when all hope is lost. The hero might die and be reborn, or it could seem like the challenge is impossible. The seventh step is atonement. This is when the hero reflects on what went wrong. This may be the time when they realize their strength and keep going. The eighth and final step is the return. This is when the hero returns home with the stories of what they have done. Their home might be a better place because of what they have done.

Slashme. Heroesjourney.svg. (2009). Wikimedia Commons. 27, Oct 2017. Web.

My 2 heroes are Marlin from Finding Nemo, and Mitch Grassi from Pentatonix. I chose these 2 heroes because they both have a personal connection to me. Marlin is the hero from my favorite childhood movie, "Finding Nemo." Mitch is my favorite member of my favorite band, Pentatonix.  Mitch and Marlin may sound very different, but they are actually quite similar. They both set out on adventures with aspirations of success. They both are successful in their endeavors, and they both set out on their journey for someone they love. Even though one hero is real, and one is fictional, They both are heroes in their own unique ways.

I enjoyed this project. I thought it was challenging trying to come up with heroes. I went through a few different options before I settled on these 2. I finally chose them because they both had pretty clear connections to the hero's journey. I think the most rewarding part of this project was seeing it come together as the last action project of  my class Stories.

The Fox, the Owl & the Rabbit.

For our second unit in our humanities class Stories, we learned all about fables and moral lessons. We read and analyzed Aesop's Fables. We also did character analysis discussing personification on different animals. I really liked this activity. We were given a list of animals and had to think of keywords that describe their personality. We studied genre as well. We though up of what made different iconic books and movies their genre. We also were asked to make a list of characters that stood out to us in books, movies, and TV shows, and why they did stand out. For me, this was just the whole cast of Grey's Anatomy. The last thing we studied was symbolism in stories.I thought it was interesting to find hidden symbols in books and movies. For the Action Project, we were asked to write out own fable. I was excited because this kind of writing came a lot easier than the creation myth, which I really struggled on. We had to think of animals and give them their correct personification, as well as a lesson to teach and a symbol to represent a deeper meaning in a story.

CM. The Fox & The Owl. Drawing, (2017)

The Fox, the Owl, and the Rabbit.

One day, there was a Fox who lived in a forest in a den below a tree on the far side of the forest. There were 2 rivers on the other side of the forest that the Fox had to walk to every day to get water. The Fox always felt very confident about crossing the 2 rivers. Even though many of the forest animals would not cross the river, the Fox always had confidence that he would never fall even though the other animals told him to be careful. The Fox was lonely. He didn’t have any family or friends. The other forest animals wanted to be the Fox’s friend, but he would always deny them. The Fox’s favorite food is rabbits. The Fox would set out every day and go hunting for rabbits. He would cross the small creek and the big river and get a drink of water along the way.

The Fox would always see the other forest animals. They would always say hello, and the Fox would always ignore them. The other animals all know that the Fox was rude, but they still tried to be friendly to the lonely fox. One of the most persistent animals in the forest was the Owl. Every day, the Owl would hoot, “Hello!” to the lonely Fox. The Fox would merely look up at the Owl and ignore him. The Fox and the Owl had had troubles in the past. They both liked to eat rabbits. Even though the Owl knew there were enough rabbits to go around, the Fox was always greedy and would shout at the Owl if he got too close to him while he was hunting.

One day, the Fox woke up in his dark den. Sleepily, the Fox walked out of his den and set off to get himself some breakfast. The Fox walked along his usual path. Up the hill, over the ravine, and through the first river. The first river was smaller and was always easier to cross. The Fox just had to step on some rocks and jump to the other side. The second river was much bigger and had a much faster current. The Fox knew the shallowest part to cross.

Before the Fox got to the second river, he heard the familiar hoot of the Owl.
“Good morning!” said the Owl cheerfully.
“Morning.” said the Fox.
“Out to get some breakfast I see.” said the Owl.
“Yes I am.” replied the Fox “And I don’t want you to take it from me!”
“Why would you think I would do that?” asked the Owl
“Because! You're always following me!”
“Very well.” said the Owl. “But I think we can become friends.”
The Fox felt upset. He was just trying to get some breakfast on his own. He didn’t need a silly Owl following him around.

After a while of not seeing any rabbits, the Fox wondered if the Owl was going to give up and turn back. All of a sudden just as they were approaching the big river, with their bellies grumbling, and both wanting a rabbit, they saw it. A rabbit just across the river. The Fox and the Owl both looked at each other. They took off. The Owl was flying as fast as he could and the Fox was running as fast as he could. The only problem was that the Owl could fly, and the Fox had to cross the river.

As the Fox scrambled across the river he slipped. The Fox felt his heart drop as he was submerged under the rushing water. The Owl then noticed what was happening to the Fox. As much as he wanted to catch the rabbit, he felt it was more important to save the Fox. The Owl swooped down and grabbed the struggling Fox from under the rushing water. He pulled the Fox to shore.

“You saved me!” exclaimed the Fox. He then remembered the Rabbit. “I didn’t get the rabbit!” He shouted.
“But I saved you!” said the Owl. “Are you not grateful?” The Fox thought about what the Owl said. He was more focused on the rabbit than he was at the Owl saving his life.
“You know,” the Owl said. “I could have had that rabbit but I chose to save you! Even after how you have treated me, I chose to save you.”
“I have treated you very poorly” said the Fox. “I am sorry. If you had treated me like that I would have not felt for you as you had for me.
“I am glad you are ok.” said the Owl. “Just remember, treat others how you want to be treated.”

I enjoyed this project. I thought it was fun to come up with animals for characters and make their own personifications for them. I liked how we could really get creative with the story. I thought the most challenging part was figuring out a lesson, and working backward to tie the lesson into the theme of the story with the animals. In the end, I am most proud of how the story itself came out because I really like the plot and I am proud of it.

An Original Creation Myth...

For our first humanities class of the Sophomore year, called Stories, we studied stories and specifically creation myths. In this class, we had to study creation myths and made them into stories. We had a professional storyteller come in on an FE and tell us creation myths. She also explained to us how to write a good story and what makes stories interesting and engaging. We also went to the Field Museum and visited the Ancient Americas exhibit as well as the Ancient Egypt exhibit. We went through the exhibits and took notes on specific creation myths from each culture. For our action project, we were asked to create and write a creation myth of our own. We had to describe our planet's name, and how it got it's name, as well as some features of our planet. My art piece depicts the great lake Glace. I used watercolor pencils and soft pastels to create the image. I wanted to create the dramatic bright look of the landscape. I used the watercolor pencils to create the bright shifting look of the water. I used watercolor pencils and soft pastels to create the bright green lush rolling landscape. My story is inspired by the Japanese Creation Myth, with Inzanagi and Inzanami. The myth depicts gods in the heavens who create a world by using water droplets from a sacred river.

CM "Lake Glace" Painting. (2017)

Once upon a time, there was a Demigod in the heavens. His name was Glace. Glace longed to create a land of his own. He was the youngest of nine sons under their father Kas. One day, Glace was ready to create his land. Glace went to his father and asked if he was ready to make a land of his own. Kas refused him the right saying he was not mature enough. Glace was upset. He thought he was old enough and mature enough to create his own land

Glace hurried over to the river and dipped his sword into the water. He went to the edge of the heavens and watched the water drip down into the nothingness. The water droplets formed into three different land masses that morphed together. Glace watched in amazement as his land came together. He had seen all of his brothers create their own lands. He sent his wishes down to the land and spawned the first human on the planet named Oran.

Glace was overcome with excitement. He ran back to his father, not remembering that he had disobeyed him. Kas looked at his son as he ran up with excitement on his face.

“I have created a land! It’s the most beautiful land I have ever seen!” yelled Glace.

“You what?” roared Kas. Glace realized his mistake and started to cry. “I will punish you for what you have done.”

Kas banished his son to his own planet, which he knew would not survive because he was not mature enough. Glace begged for forgiveness, but it was no use. Kas struck Glace with his sword and he fell down onto his planet.

Glace fell for what seemed like forever. He finally landed with a loud thud on his planet. Oran hurried over to the site where Glace landed.

“What has happened to you?” exclaimed Oran.

“I have been banished from the heavens, I am going to die here.” Before Oran could say anything, three huge chunks of the earth where Glace had landed came loose. They erupted into light and became the deities of Fire, Water, and Air.

“Who are you?” exclaimed Oran.

Glace responded with his dying breaths. “I am Glace. You need to show my father that this planet can survive.”

“How?” said Oran, but there was no answer. Glace cried and filled up the crater with tears. He then died right on the ground. His body dissipated and the magical lake filled with his tears formed. Oran sat there stunned. He was determined to make his planet survive.

In honor of the great demigod who created his planet, Oran named the planet Glace. Oran needed to make his planet habitable. There was a crater as big as the heavens themselves where Glace had landed, filled with glistening blue water. Oran decided to drink from the lake to gain strength. He submerged himself in the cool water. When he got out the water, droplets rolled off his body and formed more humans. The lake stood in the middle of the planet like a mighty ocean. The royal blue water splashed against the shores shimmering in the sunlight.

The people of the planet needed places to live, to shelter from the anger of Kas raining down on their planet. The people dug up the ground and threw it into mounds around the lake. They built the mounds so high they towered like skyscrapers guarding the lake. These mountains stood above looking down on the lake with a watchful eye. The mountains were rugged, steep, and smelled of wet mud and sand.

The people dug into the side of the mountains to create caves to shelter in. Oran built the biggest cave. It loomed in the sunlight like a mighty landmark. The rest of the people built their own caves on the sides of the mountains. The mountains were dotted with dozens of caves all around. The people prospered in their dark caves. Soon the planet was massively populated. Even more so than any of Glace’s brother's planets.



In the end, I thought that this project was actually very difficult. I thought it was one of the toughest projects I have ever done. I am a very prolific writer, but I am really bad at writing fantasy. I struggled with coming up with a world and a story, and I went through 2 other worlds before I finally settled on this world. Once I got into the groove of things, it got easier, but I still think the project was very difficult. I am happy with how it came out and I hope for people to read and enjoy my creation myth.