An Introduction to Me
For starters, I am a history major and a German minor and I greatly enjoy the fact that I get to learn about different people, places, and cultures in my field of study. I love the fact that several people can see the same event so very differently and that we can read texts today that were written thousands of years. I enjoy the fact that history shows us great changes in human civilizations all across the world and offers methods for better understanding these changes, while also showing similarities that arise from simply being human, despite vast distances in time and space between individuals. In the same vein, the best course that I took last semester was Imperial Russia which covered a region I had never before studied. I was determined to take at least one Russian history course before graduating in May 2019, so I am quite happy that I was able to do so and greatly enjoyed learning about the formation of the Russian empire and the eventual destruction of the imperial Russian
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI had so much fun browsing through your storybook project website, and wow you are off to a great start. The first thing that caught my eye was the image that you chose to use on your first page. This image of a tiger is truly beautiful and majestic. It is welcoming to your readers. Your title is also very intriguing. I also enjoyed the image of the tiger on your introduction page. Your choices in images were definitely my favorite part. You did such a wonderful job in providing background information on tigers in your introduction. Many of the facts were totally new to me as my tiger knowledge is admittedly pretty limited. That being said, I am very eager to learn more about tigers while reading your stories in the future. I cannot wait to see what kind of stories are going to be published. I am also eager to see more tiger images.
-Andy
Hey, Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteYou've got a really great start on your site! Your imagery is striking and appropriate and your title is clever -- it made me laugh.
Also, I really appreciate you adding a link to your comment wall on your homepage. That's a small touch, but it makes it that much easier when people are trying to leave feedback. Thanks!
What if you edited your site theme a little bit to give a more "jungle-y" feel to your project? Your writing is solid -- you've got no problems there -- so I think that the only thing left to do is make your portfolio itself even more immersive to your audience. Maybe if you picked your favorite tiger-appropriate setting and gave your portfolio a similar theme (e.g. dark colors and greens, elements of foliage, maybe some sort of ambient audio element, etc.) your audience would feel as if they'd stepped into the tigers' world as soon as they landed on your homepage.
I'm looking forward to reading more!
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI love your tiger pictures in your story book, and the title of your storybook is full of wit! I love the pun that you made! I really enjoyed your introduction because I did not know a lot about that of tigers. The facts about tigers that you gave introduced the topic well because I feel like it characterized the tiger well or that's what I got from it. It shows how independent and strong a tiger is, yet their numbers are declining. It is sad that humans are causing it. I am excited to read the stories that you write about them, showing their true, majestic beauty. Are they going to be fables, poems, or what kind of story will they be? Is there going to be a trend between them or it just based on just tigers? You can add maybe an introduction to the whole story book with some dialogue that can lead into the book if you want. I can't wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteHey Rebecca!
To start off, I loved your title and the play on words! The picture of the tiger and the jungle background really helped set the scene and feel like I was in the forest with the tigers. Also, the history you gave, has helped set a tone of gravity for the rest of the stories. I am eager to read them and see where you go from here.
I wonder if you bolded the words if they might show up a bit better. With the forest background they were a bit harder to read at some places. I know you are limited on fonts due to the site but you could at least bold them to make them a little bigger.
If you are going to focus on myths and tales, you might talk about that a little more on your intro. I am not sure what kind of stories you are going to tell. Are they going to be facts or fiction? Also, you might check your comment wall link because it said I didn’t have permission to visit the page. I had to find it manually.
Overall, great job so far, I look forward to seeing how it all progresses!
-Elyse
Hey Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteYour introduction in your story book is really good, in my opinion. I enjoyed how you gave a brief intro about tigers as a whole. It was very different in comparison to my introduction, but it really opened me up to a new approach I had not considered.
The only critique I would suggest is maybe take a look at background and font options for your page. The jungle background is a really cool feature to your site, and it adds character. However, it does make it slightly difficult to read. By no means is it too hard to read, it just makes it a little more difficult!
All in all, you did a great job. Keep up the great work!
Good luck,
Brady
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI just had the opportunity to read your first story and it was fantastic! I absolutely love that you decided to tell it from the tiger’s point of view. I think this adds such a unique aspect to the story and allows the reader to connect to the tigers so much more. It adds such a deep level of characterization that I think is so beneficial in the telling of these stories. The only difficulty I had was the contrast between your background and the letters on the screen. It was a little difficult for me to read and I found myself having to read very slowly to ensure that I was not skipping over words or reading words incorrectly. Other than that, I think the devices that you used in your story work very well like the small usage of dialogue. Maybe you can think about using even more dialogue in the next story? Great job and I can’t wait to see what else you write!
Hey Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for picking such a different topic--one that many would not choose to tackle. It's an admirable intent that you have. Choosing to write about tigers would seem difficult at first, but the background information and the other tidbits throughout your introduction post set the foundation for your storybook well.
One primary issue arose for me when going though your website and its presentation: the background images and how it affected readability of the main text. I love the idea, and I wouldn't recommend tossing it out. I just think it'd look better if the jungle backdrop had a faded effect or had a layer of transparent gray over it. Without it, it's almost like you want the reader to focus on both that and the text at the same time; the two clash. Doing so would also not make you have to bold your intro and story text. I hope you are able to find a solution that works, as your story and direction you are going with your storybook is great.
Best of luck!
-Lance J.
Hi Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time seeing your project so I'm excited to get to leave feedback on something new! I love the images you chose for the homepage of the site. They definitely set the tone and prepare me for some stories about tigers and the jungle.
I like how you kept your introduction more factual in order to give the readers a more in-depth background on an animal they're definitely familiar with, but probably don't know very many specifics about. It's also neat that you addressed tigers' status as an endangered species in your introduction. Maybe it will inspire some social change and conservation efforts! I think the concept of showing the complexity of tigers in folktale is really interesting and I'm excited to read your stories.
One comment I have about your introduction is that the first sentence is really long! I don't know if it's a run-on or not, but there's so much information in that first sentence that I think it would be easier to read if it was broken up into two or maybe even three smaller sentences.
I thought it was interesting how you flipped your first story around to tell it from the perspective of the tiger. One thing I was confused about was what a Brahmin was, since I'm not really familiar with Indian culture. Maybe you could find a way to explain that in the story?
Also I'm not sure how much I find myself sympathizing with the tiger. I did find the ending tragic, but I still saw the tiger as the villain, just more confused/misunderstood than intentionally evil. I think if you described ways the tiger showed his love to his wife, then he might become more sympathetic, since right now he just tricks his wife into marrying him and then expects her to cook and clean for him everyday.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of your stories!
Hi there Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting topic to choose for a storybook! I’m interested to read all about tigers throughout mythology and folklore. I really enjoyed the stories that you have published so far. In the first story, I thought it was interesting to shift the perspective of the story to be more sympathetic to the tiger’s point of view. This seemed to fit really well with the overall theme of your storybook. I also liked the format of your website for the most part, although my eyes found it somewhat difficult to focus on the text for the story. I wonder if adjusting the font or the opacity of the foliage in the background would make the story pages a little easier to read. Overall though, I really like the “jungle” feel that the leafy background gives your site, so I definitely wouldn’t want you to lose that altogether!
-Kate
Hey Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I am a really huge fan of exotic animals (well, exotic to someone from Oklahoma) and I have loved tigers since I was a kid. Plus, my high school mascot was the tigers, so even more reason to have a vested interest in your storybook! Your writing was really captivating and the way you developed your characters and describe the setting was really well done!
The formatting of your website is really interesting and I really enjoyed looking at its aesthetic! There are a few patches where it's tough to see certain blocks of text due to font color and the background color clashing with one another, but the images and themes you used really fit with the purpose and ideas of your storybook really well, so great job there! I really feel like I'm in a jungle looking at the site! Keep up the incredible work, and have a great rest of the semester!
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your story. It was a truly interesting read, and I even felt quite a bit of sympathy for the poor old tiger. It made me genuinely sad when they killed his baby, much less his wife's betrayal. I was hoping that in your version he was going to get some sort of revenge on the wife and her brothers. I suppose the tiger will get to avenge his death as some sort of spirit, as mentioned at the end of the story. My questions are what does that revenge look like? Is he going to kill someone? Or will he just make their lives miserable? I look forward to reading the rest of your stories through the last few weeks of this semester! I don’t have any sort of critiques for you. Your story was really good, and I wish it was longer so I could hear about what the tiger does!
Best of luck,
Brady
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a while since I have been at your page. Your storybook designs are beautiful and really go well along with the theme of jungle and tigers.
The first story was great. I love how complex you made the tiger because often, we simplify the personalities of animals, making them violent and animalistic. Poor tiger. He really changed, but his wife couldn't look past that. I wished there was more dialogue that showed maybe the wife's thoughts about the tiger and why she hated him so much.
The Bodhisattva story was wonderful. I would try to space it more because I kind of got lost with all of the descriptions. However, I loved hearing it from the tigress's perspective and your details were wonderful. It truly feels like a professional book. The beginning of your story always has a short narrative. I was wondering who was telling that part. Is it just a narrator, I'm assuming?
Can't wait to read more!
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, your website is absoutely gorgeous. I can tell that you spent more time going above and beyond the required, and your efforts really show off. You should be very proud of what you've created! All three of your current stories are so well written, each is like its own piece of art. You combine dialogue with storytelling very masterfully and I enjoyed reading each one. Something I really want to commend you for is your ability to ignite emotion and empathy in your readers with the characters in your stories. I also really like how different the tiger characters are across your chapters. This just shows how diverse your writing is, and also how emotional the tigers are. The only suggestion I have it adding more space between your author's note and main body, or italicizing it or something. It would just give a little more separation from the amazing world you create with your stories. Great job!
Hello, Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteI have yet to have the pleasure of reading your Storybook, but I am sure I am in for an incredible experience! I absolutely adore that picture/painting you have as the cover image for your title page. My comment today is going to focus on the author’s note you have included for us, but I am going to go ahead and say that I will most likely include some comments about the story itself if I am impressed (and I can safely say that I am very interested in your stories).
I really appreciate all of the details you included in your author’s note. I like being able to understand the writer’s mentality as their craft their stories. You did an excellent job in creating a sympathetic tiger and a cruel and ungrateful wife. The ending really was foreboding, and I cannot wait to see how/if you will elaborate on it in future stories!
Hi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI am from the Indian Epics portion of Professor Gibbs class. I love sneaking over to y'alls side of town and reading your stories. It is a lot of fun when you have not read the original story that sparked your story. I suggest giving it a go! I read your story The Ungrateful Wife and absolutely LOVED it. I was intrigued by a few things, first the beast made by the wife's brothers....it contained an ant. HAHA. I wonder what part the "ant" made. I also really liked how your portrayed the lion's pride in his son. Your story kept me interested throughout the whole reading. I also really enjoyed the background! It reminds me of this wallpaper I tried to convince my Fiancé into putting up in our home, so a course I loved the background of your story. This week's topic is about paragraphs. I thought you did a great job with your paragraph formation. It definitely helped the flow of the story. Your story was a great read, and I am glad I stopped by!
Hey Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteI am back to see how your project is going. I love the way your website is designed! The backgrounds on the stories makes me feel like I really am in a jungle. I can easily imagine a tiger there. Despite how busy the background is, the text of your stories was easy to read, which I appreciate. As far as the stories themselves go, I love how, even though they are all different, they are connected by the tigers. I really liked how it was in first person so the tigers could tell the stories themselves.
You've definitely done a good job of making the tigers sympathetic characters, even the one where the tiger was angry at his sister the cat. I could understand how he got angry and because he was regretful, I was able to pity him. The way you took stories about tigers and made them your own was really great. You were creative in the changes you made but you kept the plots similar enough to the originals so that they could easily be tied back to them.
Great job!
-Elyse
Hello, Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I have returned for more of those absolutely entertaining stories that you have written for us in your Storybook! I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but I really like all of the tiger pictures you have in your Storybook. In fact, I think that you would really have to go out of your way to find one that I do not like!
I am going to focus my comments on your most recent story “Sibling Troubles”. I am not sure what I was expecting when I first starting reading, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when I finished reading it. I appreciate the fact that the tiger admitted that it is his fault that his sister left him. I was not expecting hookah to get thrown into the fray, but you do address that point in your author’s note.
You wrote a fantastic story! Keep up the good work!