Dear Mythology Kids,
I hope you have a great weekend! If you missed class, we completed the following:
1. We read the following previous student's "Is Mythology a Lie" narrative. PLEASE READ THIS EXAMPLE.
HOMEWORK:
1. Plan on taking the "QUEST" covering the Greek Pantheon on Thursday. Review by taking the practice quest, which is in my previous post. In addition, transfer the information from your yellow sheet to flashcards.
2. Your "Is Mythology A Lie" personal narratives are due on Thursday....at teh beginning of class.
I hope you have a great weekend! If you missed class, we completed the following:
1. We read the following previous student's "Is Mythology a Lie" narrative. PLEASE READ THIS EXAMPLE.
Kristen
Hanson Hanson
1
Mrs.
Crampton
Mythology,
B4
4
October 2011
Shattered Mirrors and the “Naked”
Eye
I
was late for school this morning; I hate that feeling, especially when I have a
significant assignment due that involves me giving a presentation. I considered wearing my pajamas, but then I
changed my mind because they are slightly too small in areas where they
shouldn’t be; consequently, I knew that the school’s “dress code police” would
require a change, so I settled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had grown
accustomed to my floor. I knew that attempting to do something with the “clay”
that was my face would end up being useless. I usually spend time “molding” it
into a beautiful piece of art, but today it would be a unformed.. I kept
checking the time, and decided that I could put my mascara on during a “may I
please use the restroom” moment in one of my classes. I didn’t even brush my
teeth, comb my hair, or use deodorant. I know, gross! I grabbed some gum and threw
my hair in a ponytail.
“Can
I fix you a piece of toast,” my mother asked, as I ran down the stairs
frantically throwing the mascara into my backpack.
“No,
I’m fine. I don’t have time. I’ll see you after school.”
“Don’t
bother with the mascara; it’s not worth it. Be free today, sweetheart,” my mom
yelled to me as I pulled my car from the garage.
I
kept thinking, Not use mascara? I need the
mascara. I NEED THE MASCARA!!!”
I
had 15 minutes before the bell rang, and my home is located 10 minutes from the
school. I felt confident that I might be able to apply my mascara before first
period, at least that way no one would notice my poor wardrobe choice. I pulled
into the school parking lot, just as the five minute bell rang for first
period. I can do this, I thought to
myself. I used the mirror from my compact and started hurriedly applying the
mascara as I started speed walking to class.
I
could feel the anxiety begin to build as the one minute bell rang for first
period. I had only put mascara on one eye! I
can do this. I’m going to appear as if I am put together, I thought to
myself.
I
ran down the hall tightly holding the mascara tube, and entered first period,
just as the bell rang. A feeling of relief consumed me, but then I remembered
my “naked eye.”
“Do
you mind if I finish putting my mascara on?” I asked my teacher. I thought
about using the bathroom excuse, but I was too weary from my attempt to make it
to class on time.
“You
don’t need make-up,” he replied, “but if it makes you feel more comfortable
then go ahead.”
“You
wouldn’t happen to have a mirror I could borrow? I have my compact, but it’s
too small.”
He
promptly went to the cupboard in the back of his room, and pulled out a hand
held mirror, which reflected the whole of my face. I didn’t notice myself at
that moment, but I should have seen the beauty that reflected back at me.
“This
is perfect; much better than my compact.”
As
I held the mirror in my left hand and started finishing the “dressing” of my
other eye with mascara, the fire alarm went off, and the surprise caused me to
drop the mirror; it completely shattered. The worse part was that my eye was
still naked!
I
looked at the shattered mirror on the floor. My reflection was distorted; yet,
at the same time beautiful.
An
announcement came over the intercom explaining that the alarm was a mistake. I
started collecting the pieces of glass, and suddenly realized something: I
did not need the mascara!
The
shattered mirror offered me a different perspective on myself. I was beautiful without
the mascara! I was that broken mirror. In fact, all people are like broken
mirrors. They are flawed but beautiful fragments throwing images in a million
different ways. People are like walking mirrors. Most of them are shattered. We
are flawed on the outside and marred on the inside. We throw our image in
different ways. Contrary to what many believe, everyone and their broken,
flawed, dysfunctional way is beautiful.
Narcissus, wandered to the clear
and polished pool. The silver waters were as clear and as smooth as a polished
mirror. Narcissus knelt down, tired and
overheated from his hunting. He lay down upon the grass and quenched his thirst
from the spring. Soon another kind of thirst arose within him. He gazed into
the still water and beheld a from which gazed back at him. He became completely
distracted with love for the reflection. (Stoddard, pg. 1)
I
never considered the reflection in the mirror with its clean canvas, and one
“mascaraed” eye as beautiful. Why was I so consumed with myself? The shattered
reflection offered me a different point of view.
If Narcissus had only turned
aside, the reflection would have faded away, and he might have known that his
own reflection was what he loved---that his love had no independence from
himself. (Stoddard, pg. 2)
The
shattered mirror helped me realize that we are all flawed, though many wear
masks, ashamed of their flaws. Without
flaws the world would be vacant. Without that snore in the night, it would be
too quiet. Without that random snort, laughter would seem empty. Without that
smack of the lips during meals, eating would be insistently dull. Flaw defines
us and that is what makes us beautiful.
I
believe that we are lost in our plunder for perfection. Women are expected to
have flawless skin, ample breasts and tiny waists. Men are expected to be
strong, handsome and athletic. We set these standards ourselves. No man or
woman has ever said, “Hey! You have to be unflawed and beautiful or I won’t
love you!” The people who couldn’t live up to those perfections went down an
alternate road. Mascara is a sham,
muscles are over rated, and perfection is pointless.
Gazing sadly upon his image
again, his tears created troubled circles upon the water, which made his image
distorted and eventually vanish. He begged it to stay and beat himself upon the
breast. Seeing this action reflected in the water, he could no longer bear his
sorrow. (Stoddard, pg. 1)
I
believe that there is not just one you inside you. The fact is, there are many personalities and
characteristics that define me, one little mascara label could never cover it
all. As much as I would like to be unique in my ability to be undefined,
everyone is like that. We are all just different blends of each other. No label
could ever cover a human being. Girls slap layers of makeup and clothes on,
fixing themselves up to today’s standards. Guys wear baggy pants with their
hats turned sideways and flex their arms rather pathetically. Give it up; the
only people you are fooling are yourselves.
Then Narcissus lay down and
Death’s cold hands shut his self-admiring eyes. When the funeral pyre was
built, no one could find Narcissus’s body. In its place was a yellow flower
with tufts of white petals, which seemed to be called the Narcissus blossom.
The flower’s face was lovely, but it was flawed in that it never brought its’
blossoms to the sky, but rather tilted its head toward the water as if admiring itself.
I
believe in shattered mirrors and eyes without mascara. I believe we are all
broken in the most beautiful of ways. Accidents happen. Sometimes we trip and
skin our knee. Like a mirror we are knocked over and clatter to the floor;
sometimes shattering into pieces. However, we are all beautiful in our own
ways. We throw images of ourselves; thousands of different personalities and
characteristics bouncing off one another. I believe in beauty and its flawed
amazing ways.
2. There were several of you that were gone on Friday. So, rather than choosing two myths for all of you, what I did was pull two myths from the "bag." Those myths are "ARACHNE" and "DAPHNE." Those of you that were absent, the focus for your TWO NARRATIVES are those myths.
- You must include dialogue
- You must connect your personal story to the moral theme of the myth, by including text from the myth.
- You must include a Works Cited page, as you are using text from the myth.
- 500 words double spaced is the minimum lengh
HOMEWORK:
1. Plan on taking the "QUEST" covering the Greek Pantheon on Thursday. Review by taking the practice quest, which is in my previous post. In addition, transfer the information from your yellow sheet to flashcards.
2. Your "Is Mythology A Lie" personal narratives are due on Thursday....at teh beginning of class.
