Week 1:Introduction- Around the World

Hello everybody! My name is Anthony Clark and I am a Junior at The University of Oklahoma. I plan on majoring in Supply Chain Management. I don't know what it is about supply chain that interests me so much. Maybe it is just the mechanics of it all. I find it very interesting to be the guy "behind the scenes" of a business or cooperation trying to find the best technique for saving money or allocating funds. I am just really excited to lean the ins and outs of how things work. Next semester I will be taking my first Supply Chain class so hopefully everything will turn out great.

Anyway, I'd like to say that I am from Edmond, Oklahoma, but I find this statement to be a bit bit misleading. I am actually from all over the place!

I'll start from where I was born. I was born in San Antonio, Texas. My parents are both in the Air Force (my Dad just recently retired) and this is where they met. I lived there for about 5 years then I moved to Panama City, Florida. I do not remember much about that but there are still some things that I can never forget. The first thing is the abundance of wildlife. There were many different colorful frogs and animals. It was so cool to see them: except when they were inside of your house! The next thing I could never forget is the huge paper mill. It was a factory that constantly makes paper. I don't know why but it constantly smelled so bad just like a sewage. Every time I walked outside I could smell the paper mill. I lived in Panama City for about 2 years then I moved to Moore, Oklahoma. Here, I went to Mid-Del Christian School for about 3 years. It is now called Destiny Christian. Living in Oklahoma at the time was much different than Florida. I never experienced tornadoes until coming to Oklahoma. After 3 years in Moore, I then moved to Okinawa, Japan. This, by far, was my favorite place to live! I was about 9 or 10 so I was young, but I still remember everything. I lived on Kadena Air Force Base, so I basically went to a regular school like you would in the US. Even though I lived on base I could still go off base. My family would always go off the base and experience all the wonderful things such as all the Japanese malls, the many different aquariums, and the amusement parks. Another perk from living in Okinawa was that it was a island! On certain parts of the base you could look out in all 4 directions and just see the vast ocean. It was a beautiful site to see! There is one thing though that was bad about japan and I will never forget. It was the spiders!

Scariest Spider Alive  (picture taken by Seule at Lamma Island)

More information about the spider: Wikipedia

Let me tell you that I have never been scared of anything else more than spiders. Spiders just freak me out more than anything. Again let me emphasis my fear for them! I had a hard time just finding and uploading a picture of one. I had to look away constantly. Putting up this picture was about a 10 minute process! Anyways, I was not always terrified my them. I was just afraid ha-ha! My friend and I used to find these banana spiders in their webs and throw grasshoppers in them and just watch the spider take off and roll up the other insect. The next day there would just be a corpse or legs of the grasshopper. We did this all the time and I don't know why it was fun. Until one day a banana spider got on me... It didn't bite me or anything ,but I don't want to talk about it. Lets just say that it changed my life forever. Overall Japan was an awesome place and I if I could go back I would in a heartbeat. 

Finally, after Japan, I came back to Oklahoma and lived in Edmond were I would spend the rest of my regular grade school. I went to Deer Creek High School where I played basketball. I loved my school and met tons of great people there. I still go to Edmond about every other week to visit my girlfriend McKenzie.

Week 1: Choosing my Storybook Favorites

The First Story that Grabbed my Attention was Trapped in a Closet: Again and Again. Just the title alone instantly grabbed my attention because It brought up memories from the music video series made up by singer R. Kelly. I had to just see what the storybook would be about no matter what. The title just completely caught my attention as I wondered how he could relate a story to these music videos.

The Introduction was great! She describes the story of Trapped in the Closet. Basically, the story is broken up into 30 chapters or music videos and it about a man who is witnessing many different relationship problems while hiding in a closet. She then explains how she would use different stories to match the setting and effect of the music videos by R.Kelly. I think this storybook is well done and one of my favorites by far!

The next fascinating storybook I found was Greek Gods Galore. Well first off, my favorite topic to read about is Greek Mythology so it was just natural that I gravitated toward this storybook. It actually has some elements within the storybook that I would even like to do on my own. Gods and Goddess are so interesting to me that I could make up stories and write about them forever. In this storybook the Author decides to take different stories within Greek Mythology and turn then into a college setting. He has the setting on a college campus on Mt. Olympus. Also, all the Gods and Goddesses are part of fraternities and sororities. This makes it easy to relate stories to people especially within a community like this one at The University of Oklahoma.

Last but not least the storybook I picked and a top favorite was Odysseus Goes Shopping. Who doesn't find this storybook cool? This storybook takes the legendary story of the Odyssey and put a twist on it. In her introduction she explains how she will take the many different trials Odysseus faced and turn then into a grocery list that he makes. He needs to go find each thing which is similar to the old story. It's nice way to tell a story and funny! I really like the design of this storybook as well as the pictures to go along with each story.

Week 1: Adventures with the Un-Textbook

My Five Choices for Reading Units

1. Classical Greece: This was my absolute favorite thing and immediately grabbed my attention. Anything related to the ancient gods and goddess just intrigues me. Especially Homers:Odyssey.

2. Biblical: This unit interested me because I used to go to a Christian school for about 6 years so I know a bunch about biblical stories. It would be interested to review or learn some new stories that I have never seen before. The story of Adam and Eve grabbed my attention. 

3. Asia/Pacific: Well as you may know, I used to live in Japan, so the Japanese stories would be very cool to read about. Also The Monkey King seems like an interesting story. I have never read the story, but I see a lot (I mean tons) of references about Sun Wu Kung in many different settings from cartoons to documentaries. 

4. British Isles/Hero Legends: I read the play version of Beowulf in high school and wanted to learn more about the story. All of the stories in this unit seem like a blast to read actually. 

5. Continental Europe: The classic Fairy Tale stories that you see in Disney movies. It would be so cool to learn more about this great stories and even put a spin on them!

I couldn't find anything interesting within the Indian or African stories but who knows! Maybe I'll come across a great story within the Units. I think that the selections are great! There is such a vast variety of stories to choose from. 

Week 1 Storytelling: The Hunters

The hunters

Journal Entry #4: It has been 10 weeks since the outbreak and civilization was destroyed. Life as we know it was changed. Cities became wretched places filled with grass growing through the asphalt and buildings. Emptiness amongst the buildings gives you the feel that you were alone. The countryside was barren. All that remains on the planet was the survivors and the hunters…

The hunters were the main reason for the almost complete determination for the human race. Around 5 billion people have been killed already. What makes the Hunters unique is that the beings them selves are unknown. From what is known, the Hunters are a type of organism that can infect any type of life form. Some of which include, plants, animals, people, and fish. What is most recognizable about them is that once something is infected they receive incredible strength and intelligence. Their main goal is to pursue and kill so that they can pass on the infection to your corpse.

Journal Entry #5: I just stumbled across and old abandoned cabin in the middle of a forest. It seems like a safe place to stay for now. There is bedding here and also food. Looks as if there may be some kind of camp here.

“I have no time to worry if there or others I must focus on my mission.”  Saying aloud to myself.

Later that night, I was awoken by the sound of leaves crunching near the cabin. As I peeked through the window saw 2 figures coming toward the cabin. I couldn’t tell if they were bad but I decided to hide inside a closest in the room. As they all came into the cabin I could her one of them shout, “Finally! We are back from that supply run and got some great stuff. I’m going to go put up.”

“AHHHH!!” he screamed. “What the heck are you doing in here? You almost got yourself killed. What is your name!”?

I answered. “My name is Clem and I’m the daughter of Dr. Richard Murphy. Sorry to intrude. I just needed a place to stay they night before I go back out on my mission. “

“Mission? The man responded. “What kind of mission are you on? Aren’t you like 10 years old little girl?” “Actually I’m 12. What is your name?”

“Well my name is Kenny,” he responded. “Well anyways, what about this mission? What are you trying to do?

“Before my dad died. He found a way to kill of the Hunters forever. All I have to do is make my way up north east and find the castle that has the machine to detonate this special EMP bomb I have.” I said, with a bit of fright.

“Ok, lets go!” Kenny said, “I’ll help.”

As the two went start their journey, they headed north. A couple hours passed and there was still not anything in sight. Not knowing really where to go Kenny and I found a big bridge, which they could rest for the night. Once they there, as they started to sit down, a group of vampire bat came flying out. There were at least 200 of them and some of them started to circle us. We began to run. If they were to bit us then we could either die or become infected and turned into a hunter. We ran until they stopped chasing us. After, we came across a small cave where we stayed the night.

Journal Entry #6: After my crazy night with the bats, Kenny and I were forced to walk east because there was a big mountain in the way. We came across an abandoned laboratory 3 or so hours later. I thought for sure that this was the place I needed to be.

As we searched the Lab we continued to look for the machine needed to use, but it was nowhere to be found. I was split up from Kenny searching somewhere else. I went to go find him but he was gone. I raced to he entrance and I saw people tie him up and race on foot with him over the shoulder. There was nothing I could do they were so far away.

I am alone.

After walking for a few more days. I came across a huge house. It must have been the castle my dad was talking about but it looked strange. I walked up to the entry and opened the door. The squeak from the door echoed throughout the place. It was extremely dark and quiet inside.

Suddenly I heard a noise. It was a strange moaning sound. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but it was getting louder and louder. I tried to light up the room with a lighter I had but it was not working. As I keep trying to brighten up the room, the sound kept getting louder and louder!

“Flick…..Flick.. NO! Please! No! Flick…

Part 1

Winter Tree

(By: burzinski)

Authors note:

This story is inspired by Tom Gauld. He made the picture called the Map of the Area Surrounding Our Holiday Home. What I like the most about this picture is that many different stories can be told from it. In my point of view the area around the cabin looks almost apocalyptic to me. This is were I wanted to derive my story from, and with all the other random scary items in the area, It seemed best to make it a thriller. My story ends abruptly because I wanted to try and scare the reader. I wanted he or she to feel a sense of danger while reading. 

Week 1: Okinawa Japan My Favorite Place

My absolute favorite place is Okinawa Japan. Since my parents are in the military before living in Oklahoma I lived in Japan for about 5 years. It is so much different there compared to the U.S and I lived on the small island of Okinawa where one can go deep sea diving, hiking, visit one of the largest aquariums, and more! This picture is one of the many exhibits at the aquarium. I have been to this place many times and it is just jaw-dropping every single time.

Exhibit at the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa Japan

Photo Taken By: Jordan Emery Churaumi Aquarium