*Check journey-journals
*Recap: So far, how does Gilgamesh's story fit the stages of the hero's quest?
*HW: Read Chapter 6 and keep adding to journey-journal
*OBJECTIVE: Analyze the patterns and structures of various archetypal characters and events.
Sam B. 4th hour
ReplyDeleteToday’s mythology class started with the usual bells and hustle and bustle. I had completely forgot I had to do scribe notes today until my friend reminded me, relieved that he told me I took out my notebook and prepared for notes as the bell rang. As Mr. Becker got up to speak I realized he was back with a vengeance. He gave us his usual greeting and got going. He went around the room checking our journey journals. Everyone looked apprehensive since this was our first time getting it checked. As he passed the people you could see the relief or irritation on everyone’s faces. As Mr. Becker took the stage to begin some intense discussion you could see a fog settle on most of the class as they prepared to drop off the cliff of inattentiveness. He opens the discussion with some hard hitting discussion topics, but very few people feel like participating, most just sit and listen barely. As discussion starts to get much father along several discussion leaders start to appear and steer the discussion in the way of their own observations. The discussion ends with the feeling of disappointment not very many participated as much as they could so it felt to be lacking. As it wraps up Mr. Becker prepares to give us our dreaded assignment telling us to read chapter six of the story. He leaves us to our own devices for the rest of the hour be that reading the chapter, or sleeping. As the hour wears on and the class starts to become restless the bell rings releasing us to the rest of our day and to look forward to the end of the day.
Andrew Donahue
ReplyDelete2nd Hour
It was 8:23 a.m. central time in Mr. Becker's 2nd hour mythology class. Like usual I was one of the first knowledge hungry students to enter the class room. I sat perched on a stool in a corner of the room watching as students one-by-one trickled in. Standing next to me was my friend Shawn Moore. "I wish I could sit in this stool for the whole class; it would be chill," I explained to Shawn. He quickly agreed with my statement. As the the warning bell, and soon after the final bell rang all of the students were seated in their desks. We were now ready to embark on the path of knowledge. "Mornin'," piped Mr. Becker. "Let's take out your journey journals," he continued. As he prodded about the room he soon came to the conclusion that not everyone had completed the infamous journey journals to his expectations. "You need this credit, and you're not gonna get it without doing the work," he reminded the class. And with that statement the discussion of the chapter began.
Mr. Becker explained that he had not meant for us to read into the Gilgamesh story without first having discussed it. As the discussion began I realized that I had a long 50 minutes ahead of me. Many students, including myself, found themselves in a sleepy stupor as the rest of the knowledge hungry students discussed the adventures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The discussion raged on for a large portion of time covering topics ranging from Gilgamesh to the spiderman movie series, which Ian informed the class was going to be rebooted in the near future. As the discussion came to and end I took a quick peak at my fellow scholars and discovered that heads were slowly starting to drop. This grogginess was quickly ended as the discussion was wrapped up with 5 minutes left in class. Mr. Becker then assigned the next chapter to read and record in our journey journals. The final bell rang letting us know we were permitted to make our way to our next class, wherever it might be, it was chill.
Miles B., 6th hour.
ReplyDeleteThe awful sound of that ringing bell five minutes into class. A clear and obnoxious notion of a what seems like weekly fire drill. That is how we start off our class of sixth hour mythology on October 19th, 2010. We exit the building with no hurry. If one were to see from a distance, they might think we were just getting some fresh air, or smelling the daisies perhaps. As I take my first few steps outside I feel a trickle of sweat on my lower back. I then become completely baffled as to why I feel this sweat over half way through the month of October.(And people try to tell me Al Gore did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.)
As we get back in approximately 12:46 pm Mr. Becker begins to check our progress on our Journey Journals. I then sit back in my seat with an awkwardly sweaty back. We then all realize that our sub yesterday played a perfect Wheel of Fortune game host. Outfit, hair, size, personality, everything. Our discussion begins in the first letter of the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph of the first chapter of the first story EVER WRITTEN IN HUMAN HISTORY. So with this is in mind I decide it's probably a good idea to not daydream today :) We begin with the big story of our hero's journey. Gilgamesh's journey of life is ironically, conquering death. To become immortal. All eleven levels, or steps of this journey are discussed in detail. From Gilgamesh's internal struggles consisting of never being fully satisfied on this earth. To his external struggles such as defeating the evil humbabas. We decide he has smaller hero journey's inside his larger one. These are from slaying humbaba to his journey after Enkidu dies.
Then to a major event happening in the story where Gilgamesh's BFF Enkidu dies because Gilgamesh decides he doesn't wanna get with no goddess that opps on not only sleeping around, but killing them after. Ishtar decided that because she couldn't have what she wanted, she would eliminate Gilgamesh's best friend Enkidu. For she could not kill Gigamesh because he was a king. By the end we decided he has not quite reached his long term ultimate boon of conquering death or refusal of the return. We get assigned reading chapter 6 and editing/adding to our hero journal.