My Hero's journey

In the last unit in the Stories class, which is called Journeys, the class went over and learned about the steps that make up the journey of a hero. For our last action project, the class was asked to analyze a fictional hero and also interview a real life hero. We created a slideshow on paper presenting all the steps to the fictional hero’s journey, and created a transcript that holds the interview of our real life hero. Like my previous projects, it was tough choosing a hero to analyze, but after brainstorming many qualities that a hero needs, I easily was able to choose one. I was actually surprised that I enjoyed watching my hero’s movie all over again, all while writing about the different steps in her journey. While going through the steps I think I’ve noticed many things that I hadn’t noticed before. In the process of creating this project I had a tough time with the slideshow and trying to present the steps of the hero’s journey because I didn’t want to inaccurately represent what the hero went through. I got over that situation when I carefully went over the different steps and just took some time to focus, which is something that I’m proud of. Before this unit I didn’t even know that a hero had steps in their journey in order to become the hero they are today. Thanks to this unit and project I now have a better understanding of how an extraordinary journey can shape a person into a hero.

The two heroes who I chose were Mulan and my aunt IA, with Mulan obviously being the fictional hero and my aunt being my real life hero. I chose Mulan because although she is very clumsy and silly, she is still very brave. She stood up when she knew she needed to. Mulan was scared, but her courage gave her a chance to prove who she really was on the inside. Being surrounded by men who thought little of women must have been tough for her while fighting a battle, but at the end she ended up winning the battle and gaining victory for China again. I chose my aunt as a real life hero because of what she had to go through while battling Leukemia at a young age. Just like Mulan, my aunt was young when she had to become strong. Both were also very scared, but both were also very courageous.They went through many tough events before things got better, and it was because they both believed in themselves. Just like Mulan, my aunt won a battle that she didn’t think she would win in the beginning.

Below I have the slideshow on paper showing Mulan going through her journey into making her a hero. Which include the 8 steps of The call, Mentor, Crossing the threshold, Trials, Infinate Despair, Rebirth, Atonment, and The Return.

RD. Mulan's adventure. Photography. 2014 

Real life Hero Interview:

Q:What are some other reasons why others look up to you?

A: People look up to me because I'm a 2x cancer survivor. I started fighting cancer at the age of 19 and I didn't realize until then how strong of a person I really am.

Q:Who would you say most helped you decide what you wanted to do?

A: Dealing with what I went through being around nurses, doctors, and just being around the healthcare industry  helped me decide that I wanted to pursue a career in nursing, which is why I'm in nursing school now.

Q:Do you think this new job is for you?

A: I think nursing is for me because I know what is expected from a patient because I used to be one. It will be easy for me to empathize with other patients, and I want to give back to others what was given to me.

Q: Along your way, did you know anyone that was going through the same thing as you?

A: I never knew anyone going through the same thing I was going through, which made it pretty scary because I didn't know what was going to happen. But I had to remain strong and positive and hope for the best.

Q: What were the greatest challenges you’ve faced throughout your life?

A: The biggest challenge I faced was fighting for my life.

Q: How did it change you for the better?

A: It changed me for the better because it made me realize not to take life for granted. I saw this challenge as a little blessing in disguise, it made me appreciate everything in my life so much more.

Q: What did the challenge consist of?

A: The challenge consisted of fighting for my life, staying in the hospital for months, getting different treatments, all while trying to stay positive.

Q: What skills have you held on to that still help you today

A:Its taught me to keep my head up and to stay positive through everything. Not everything is as bad as it seems, and that other people are going through worse things.

Citations:

Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Prod. Pam Coats. 1998.

Mulan10. Mulan. Photograph. 2012

The-Corngobbler. Mulan Poster. Photograph. ND

Hazelnutsandcream. Mulan and Ling Shang. ND

Mulan in Armour. Photograph. ND

"Who's laughing now?"

In unit 2 for the Stories class, which is called Lessons, the class learned about the many lessons that stories carry. We learned that these type of stories are called fables. Throughout the class, we read many different fables and tried to figure out the morals that they hold. For our second unit action project, we were assigned to write our own fable, choosing a moral that is personally important. I decided to write about a blue-tailed skink, who has a hard time adjusting, and getting along with her peers, because of the way she looks. We were also assigned to illustrate our main character in the story. At first I had a hard time thinking about an animal I can use to send out the message of my moral, but with a little help from my teacher I was able to choose a unique and perfect animal. It also took me awhile to come up with a moral that I find important, but once I chose my animal, a moral that I care about came easily to me. The purpose of this project was to give us a chance to send out a message while still making it entertaining to read about. I’m proud that I chose a moral that is important to me, and how I chose an animal that is unique, which can be harder at times. I enjoyed reading the different fables we went through in this unit, and figuring out the morals they hold. It was also fun getting to hear how my classmates interpreted the stories, because some were different from the way I saw it. Thanks to this project, I now enjoy reading fables, and know what the essential parts are, in order to write a fable.

 
Aqua, a blue-tailed skink ,was a very clever, but introverted girl. She was named for the color of her tail, a bright, yet soothing blue. It’s something she should flaunt, but since it stood out so much , she would get stares and dirty looks. So when she moved to Baja, California, she had a rough time adjusting. Aqua is not very social for a 16 year old - something she was okay with - but she wanted some excitement. I want to have fun this summer, she thought, as she looked in the mirror. When she went downstairs to the living room where her mom was sitting, she told her what she wanted to do about herself. “Well ,why don’t you go to Camp Reptilia?” her mom suggested, “It’ll give you many opportunities to break out of your shell.”

Aqua mumbled to herself in a sarcastic tone, “that sounds like a perfect idea, except that I’ll look like a freak with a small body, yet flashy tail, next to all the big, mean looking western chuckwallas.” Baja, California is heavily populated with western chuckwallas,something that Aqua was afraid of, because they’re not the friendliest of reptiles. Aqua went to her room to seriously think about it. Her mom could even tell she was considering the idea, so she printed out an ad for the camp, and slid it under Aqua’s door. It was a basic, cheesy ad cover, with western chuckwallas laughing while planting some flowers. The fake cover, matched their fake, “welcoming”, personalities. 

After hours of debating, she finally made up her mind. “I’m going to go!” she shouted to her mom. Her mom crawled her way towards Aqua with a huge hug. “I’m so proud of you!” her mom exclaimed.

RD. Blue tailed skink. Photography. 2014

The next week was chaotic, while preparing for camp. The next thing Aqua knew, she was in front of Camp Reptilia. Nervous and excited, she stood there with her bags, already feeling unwelcomed by the western chuckwallas passing by. ”I got this!” she thought to herself, letting them pass by, while she had a sassy, but nervous smirk on her face. There weren’t any blue-tailed skinks in the camp, so she was alone.  Aqua was used to being alone, so she enjoyed having her own company.But of course she still wanted to have fun because that was the point of joining camp. The only problem is that everyone seemed the same to her. All they do is sit and talk about pointless subjects, and make fun of others. Aqua  crawled by and heard nothing but whispers, laughs, and see the smirks of the others. But she still didn’t understand why.Her tail protected her, and she thought it was a nice color, in fact she loved it. Her tail is what made her Aqua. It was just the selfish thought of being laughed at and judged that bothered her.

Her mind got so stuck on the thought of being like the others, that she bought a skirt that would cover her tail. But of course this time she gets more stares. Even she knew that she looked foolish. Aqua crawled back to her room with no luck of socializing with someone interesting. She was just about to watch some TV when all of the sudden she heard some screams. Startled, she quickly crawled outside and saw that the rival camp, Camp Snake, had barged in. All the western chuckwallas ran as fast as they could hiding , and letting out cries, like chickens. They weren’t laughing, or making fun now. When a snake saw Aqua, he was determined to eat her. “Sorry, but no way!” Aqua yelled. She didn’t scream or cry. She simply used her unique power of being able to pop her tail off. The snake was so surprised and mesmerized, that he just sat there not knowing what to do next. Aqua was feeling proud, because that’s exactly what she expected from the snake. It was almost silent, she could still hear some sobbing from the western chuckwallas, while they were all staring at her. They were envious of her t escape. As they were sitting there feeling salty and embarrassed, they were thinking about all the times they had made fun of her for her tail, and for the times they would give her an uneasy time when she was trying to get to know them. “Who’s laughing now?” she asked, as she casually crawled back to her dorm.

RD. Western Chuckwalla. Photography. 2014

Luna's Land

In Unit 1 in the Stories class which is called Creations, the class learned about different ways we can read a story and went over adverbs and adjectives, which play a huge role when writing a story. For our first action project the class was assigned to create our own mythological world, using descriptive language, adjectives, adverbs and just our imaginations to get readers feeling like they were actually in the setting that they are reading about. To get a closer look at what our minds were picturing while writing, we were also asked to illustrate our world. Through this first unit/project I learned the importance of using adverbs and adjectives correctly, how helpful descriptive language can be, and how to dig deeper when reading or writing a story, and I think I connected well to the purpose of this project, because I dug deeper while writing, I made sure I included descriptive language, I also made sure that my creations also made sense, but with all that, I  also made sure I was having have fun by letting my imagination run free. I decided to write about a world that I decided to name Luna’s Land, which follows a young girl’s adventure creating a world that the moon dreamed of. It took me awhile to come up with this story, but I was determined to come up with something that I would be proud of. I’m also not that great of an artist, but I tried my best, and I am very happy at how my drawing came out. I’m very proud of how I handled all my frustration, which was to keep trying and to keep using my imagination. Thanks to this project, I now have a better understanding of what makes a story a good one, and I definitely will use the knowledge I gained from this unit throughout my years in school.

There is a world far and isolated from anywhere else, where by day it was very sunny, and by night the stars shined like diamonds. It’s called Luna’s Land. The people who lived here were all once from planet Mundane, a place with no beauty or excitement, just plain grass everywhere. One day the sun and the moon, two sparkling orbs, decided to run away from Mundane, because they were fed up with the lack of beauty there. They raced quickly to this new planet, and whoever arrived there first got  to name the new planet. The moon won, and as a  victory named  the new planet after itself, calling it Luna’s Land.The Moon and sun decided to bring some of the citizens of planet Mundane with them, so that they could have a say  on how Luna’s Land would look. Here, all you had to do was carefully imagine what you wanted and your mind would control anything, giving you the power to create anything. Since they hadn’t been used to using their imaginations anytime before, they were a little rusty at being creative, but the citizens, surprisingly and rather quickly began working their minds like computers, coming up with new ideas.

Although she shared the new world with the sun, Luna always felt like she had much more to offer and she found it ironic that although this planet was named after her, few really gave her much attention. She didn’t get why everyone was in love with the sun’s evil burn and dangerous heat, but she did give the sun credit for using her light and heat as an oven for everyone. Some people praised the sun so much, they would sit in front of her talking for hours. They would even tell the sun about all their bad deeds and lies, but the sun would punish those with bad tongues by burning them with a massive heat wave. These people, however, never learned and would keep going back to the sun. Some people were beautiful with their tanned complexion, others not so much, looking like tomatoes. 

One night, Lapeka went into the valley of secrets and wishes, where she and other people would quietly  sit on thick clouds of unspoken desires and thoughts. The valley was always dazzling and bright because of all the secrets it held.The rule is that you make a wish and throw it up in the air and watch it twinkle in the sky. But, you always had to be careful because your wish just might come true, and the way you knew it is that your wish would  become a shooting star. Lapeka was so used to her wish just sitting up in the sky giving her a twinkling glare, that she was caught off guard when her star flew up and away like a bird. Her wish? To get everyone to admire the angelic moon.

Signs of Lapeka’s granted wish were everywhere.The next day, the sun was out of business. No one was lined up to to talk to her, like they’d always done. Instead, they were impatiently waiting to talk to the moon. Everyone was in line on the stairway, and suddenly Lapeka found herself at the bottom, something that she was not used to because before she would be at the top alone. The line was so long, it was like the only payphone in a sea of people needing to make a call. By the time Lapeka slowly and carefully got to the top, the sun had stolen the show again with its sunrise, meaning that the moon had to go rest.

The day afterward Lapeka went through the same thing. No luck in talking to her soul-mate. She was heart-sick. “How can I be so stupid?”she asked herself as she thought about her wish. She had to come up with a plan to get the mysterious moon back into her life. Lapeka finally decided that she had to create something with her mind, which she didn’t really enjoy doing because her creations have never really worked. But, this was her only hope.

  She sat in her shady backyard thinking and thinking until she came up with an idea about hiding the moon or trying to block it. Lapeka imagined huge, steep, dangerous rocks glued together, something that her mind decided to call “mountains”. She impatiently waited until the night-time to use these scenic devils. When she heard people swiftly run to spill their hearts out to this dark goddess, she was ready to go. She carefully set her mind to start and little by little in the distance she heard the rumbling and roars of the rocks getting bigger and bigger. Feeling determined, she thought to herself “she’s finally mine again”. But, these dangerous, giant rocks were not big enough to hide the moon’s majestic soul. The mountains themselves were sitting there looking ashamed that they were of no use. They were so devastated that they  began to weep, and each time the mountains cried, pieces of rock would come crumbling off, until nothing was left but dust. Now people would go there to cry and weep because their souls felt so weak and worthless just like the dust, where the bold monstrous rocks once stood.

  Lapeka cried her eyes out at this failure, until the next thing she knew, she was sitting in a pool of water formed by her own tears. The puddle got so big that it became an ocean. She got the idea of giving energy to the ocean of tears, making some of the water run to scare the people waiting for the moon, whom she hoped would eventually leave. She named this powerful force “tsunami”. The water traveled in huge waves, but before its magnificent show of power, the waves quickly ran back like the ocean was racing away for its life. The salty, black water was afraid of the moon. This ocean was named Salty Tears, and sometimes people would go and leave their guilt to drown there,unknowingly mixing with Lapeka’s tears. It was like a mysterious black hole, that would go on and on, dangerously drowning you with your own guilt.

  After all her creative efforts, Lapeka gave up and ran to the pile of dust where she let out her own piercing cries. She realized she would never have Luna again to herself and that maybe her wish was not a good idea. Looking around and still sobbing, she noticed all of the natural beauty around her, some of which she had actually helped create. She saw the valley of secrets and wishes, the monstrous mountains that would roar every second, and the black ocean floating with guilt. Although the landscape contained some things that were good and not so good inside of them, the world around her was still extremely beautiful. Realizing that she had helped create just what the moon had wanted made her happy, and Lapeka understood with pride that although she was going to have to share her beloved moon with everyone else she would always be the closest person to Luna.

Below I have an image showing the outcome of Lapeka's distress,that includes the valley of secrets and wishes, the monstrous mountains,and the Salty tears ocean.

RD, Luna's Land (2014) Photography.