Week 11 Story: Jemmy Dawson

Image Information: Jemmy Dawson before he turned too bad. Web Source: flickr.

Jemmy Dawson. I'll never forget that name.

I grew up with Jemmy. We were the same age and went to the same school all of our lives. Well, there's only one school around here, really. We're from a small town in Texas. And by small, I don't mean lack of wealth. Jemmy's family had lots and lots of money.

Growing up, he was an ornery kid and nobody liked him at all. I knew him but we were not friends. In fact, he was really mean to me growing up. I never really saw him bully any of the boys. Instead, it seemed to be just us girls that were the problem.

I remember he pushed me on the playground one time when we were younger. After he pushed me down, he yelled, "You ugly piece of crap! You look like a dog, Reagan!!!" Reagan, that's my name. I remember I cried so hard after he said those terrible things to me. He got sent to the Principal's office after that. Of course, he got out of it though. Jemmy's parents owned about half the town so they had a lot of power. Jemmy could get away with anything.

This only got worse as he grew older. He had friends that were boys because he was still nice to them for some reason. His verbal and physical abuse only ever happened with girls. I don't know why but that's just the way it was. He started getting more violent the older he got. By the time we got to high school, some women had made sexual assault claims against him. But before the story could spread too far, the girls would suddenly claim they were wrong. They would say that they had made a mistake. This made a lot of us very suspicious as to his parents' involvement in the situations. We all thought they must have paid them off.

He also got arrested a couple of times for physically assaulting women. But, of course, the charges were dropped against him. I remember the one time his mother was a victim of his aggression. Obviously, she didn't press any charges, but she did end up in the hospital.

I'm not sure why his parents always covered for him. Maybe it was because they wanted him to take over the family business one day. Or maybe it was the hope that he would follow in his father's footsteps and go to Harvard. If the latter was the motive, I'm sure they were very relieved when he finally got accepted to Harvard.

The town was nice and quiet when Jemmy was away at college. Women weren't afraid to go out on the town with him gone. They didn't have to worry about getting knocked out cold at a bar for no reason. I could tell that everyone felt at peace.

I thought about what might happen to the girl Jemmy married. If he ever married. Most people in the town never even thought that was a possibility. They figured no girl would be that brave or stupid, for that matter. You can imagine how everyone felt when Jemmy came back from college and announced that he was married. The whole town feared for her.

Author's Note: My original source was very short. It consisted of four lines: 

BRAVE news is come to town;

Brave news is carried;
Brave news is come to town
Jemmy Dawson's married.

From this, I interpreted that it meant that the fact that Jemmy Dawson is married was a bad thing. I gathered that it meant that whoever married Jemmy Dawson must be brave. The inspiration from my story just came from my attempts at understanding what it was that the original source meant. In order to bring better understanding, I chose to write a back-story to Jemmy Dawson. More specifically, why marrying Jemmy would be such a bad thing. I did not have much material to work with so it gave me a lot of room to be creative. I knew I wanted him to be a troublemaker. However, I decided to take it one step further and make him violent towards women and only women. I also wanted to make it even worse that he was never punished for his actions because of his parents' power and wealth. I chose the image of a young boy who appears to be very angry. I used this to portray the violence and aggression that dwells within Jemmy Dawson.

Bibliography: Nursery Rhymes-Love and Matrimony by Andrew Lang, link to the reading online.
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Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part B

Image Information: the curious cat that wants to meet the queen. Web Source: free stock photos.

BRAVE news is come to town;
Brave news is carried;
Brave news is come to town
Jemmy Dawson's married.

From this story, I gather that Jemmy Dawson is a terrible guy. I think it is saying that whoever would marry him must be brave. I could maybe tell a story about why Jemmy Dawson is someone you must be brave to marry.

Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?
PUSSY-CAT, pussy-cat, where have you been?
I've been to London to look at the queen.
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you there?
I frighten'd a little mouse under the chair.

Maybe I could tell a story of a cat who has always wanted to go to meet the Queen. Maybe he had a lot of plans for when he got there but all he ended up doing was scaring a mouse and getting kicked out.

Bibliography: Nursery Rhymes by Andrew Lang, link to the reading online.

Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part A

Image Information: cover for The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.

NEEDLES and pins, needles and pins. 

When a man marries, his trouble begins:

I could tell a story about a man who encounters trouble after marrying.

IF you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, see your sweetheart to-morrow.

I could tell a story of all of these things happening throughout the week to a man.

EARLY to bed, and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Tell a story of a man who lives out this Proverb in his life.

ONE misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
There I met an old man
Clothed all in leather;
Clothed all in leather,
With cap under his chin,—
How do you do, and how do you do,
And how do you do again!

A story of a forgetful old man who cannot remember anything. Maybe include why he has such bad memory.

THREE blind mice, see how they run!
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with the carving-knife;
Did you ever see such fools in your life?
Three blind mice.

Tell a story of why they all ran after the farmer's wife and why she cut off their tails. Or maybe how they lost their sight.

Bibliography: Nursery Rhymes by Andrew Lang, link to the reading online.

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part B

Image Information: What I imagine Red-Woman looks like. Web Source.

I really liked the story "Lodge-Boy and Thrown-Away." I have to admit, I kept waiting for the young boys to encounter Red-Woman. I thought it might be cool to add on to the story and tell how the young boys killed Red-Woman as well.

I also like the story "The Son-in-Law Tests." This unit is filled with evil people especially family members. The more I read from this unit the more I consider writing my own new story of an evil family member.

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson, link to the reading online.

Tech Tip: Pinterest Browsing

Image Information: Baked Orange Chicken and Brown Rice. Web Source: Food Network.

I really liked using my new Pinterest browser button. I only got to experiment with it for a short amount of time but I am really excited to continue using it from now on. I absolutely love Pinterest and this will make updating my Pinterest boards a lot easier! I searched for healthy recipes on google and above is one of the recipes I found. It is a picture of a baked orange chicken and brown rice recipe. I found it at Food Network. I also found another great recipe for a parmesan chicken and rice casserole at Cooking Light.

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part A

Image Information: Native American heroes. Web Source: wikimedia commons.

I like the story of the jealous uncle. I could not believe that the father of the boy would not have put an end to the cruelty. I thought about writing a story where his father does something to end the cruelty. I also thought about writing some background information for this story. The title is "The Jealous Uncle" but the author never says why he is jealous. I figured I could write a story that gives some background to why the uncle is so cruel.

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson, link to the reading online.

Week 9 Story: Young Cherokee Journey

Image Information: young Cherokee boy. Web Source: wikimedia commons.

A long time ago, there was a young Cherokee boy. He loved to hunt and spend time with his family and the rest of his tribe. Most of all, he loved to hear stories and myths of the Cherokee tribe. His father told him many stories about the Cherokee tribe and their history. However, his favorite story to hear was about how the world came to be.

He listened as father told him about the earth. The Cherokee believed that the earth was once buried deep in the ocean and was discovered by a beetle. Eventually, someone unknown attached the edges of the earth to four cords. The earth still hangs in suspense to this day. The young boy's eyes were always filled with wonder and amazement at the thought of these four cords. He could barely believe it was true and always wished to see these cords for himself.

On the day of his thirteenth birthday, he decided he would set out to find at least one of these cords so he could put his wonder to rest. He knew the task before him was a dangerous one but he knew it had to be done. That night, he quietly packed a sack of his belongings and slipped away in the middle of the night.

He decided he would start by heading north. It was about to be summer time and he knew it would be the best time of the year to trek through the northern part of the earth. He also figured that the cords must be located at the "top" of the earth or otherwise everything would be upside down. And so northern bound he was.

The terrain was much worse than he expected but he trudged on. He traveled north through what is known today as Canada. When he reached Canada, he noticed there were many mountains. "Those mountains are my best chance at finding a cord," he thought to himself. He carefully observed the mountains that were before him. He searched to find the tallest one; that way he would be able to see the cords for certain. When he determined which mountain was the tallest, he began to hike to it.

It was much farther away than he thought. It took him almost two weeks to reach the base of the mountain before he could even begin to climb it. It took him another two months to reach the top of the mountain. When he finally did, he saw it. Right before him, he was able to see one of the four cords that suspend the earth like an island above the water. The young boy guessed that the cord was a mile around, for he could not even see around it. The cord was made of thick pieces of metal that were twisted together to make one cord. He reached out to touch it and could feel a vibration running through the cord. He knew that this was because of the sheer stress that the cord was under. He was proud to know that his journey was not a waste. Tears began to fill his eyes as he realized his people were right all along.

He could not wait to share his findings with the rest of his tribe. The journey home was a long and hard one. He arrived back home almost nine months after his departure. His family and tribe were so worried about him because they thought he had died.

After assuring them that he was in great health, he shared with them his wonderful news. The tribe praised him for his bravery and boldness. They had a huge gathering to celebrate the young boy. He was filled with joy because he finally knew the truth and he never doubted another Cherokee story again.

Author's Note: The original story talks about how the earth came into existence. The animals of the earth originally lived on Gälûñ'lätï but started to run out room and needed more space. Below them was nothing but water. A water beetle named Dâyuni'sï offered to travel below them to the water to see what he could find. The beetle dove into the water and found soft mud, which began to grow, and eventually became the island known as earth. The animals waited for the earth to become dry before they left Gälûñ'lätï and moved to earth. In the original source, they gave background for why there’re things such as mountains and the sun. To keep the earth from becoming water again someone unknown attached four cords to the cardinal points of the earth. These cords were attached to the sky vault, which is solid rock. From this sky vault, the earth was hung. The story mentions that the Cherokee fear that the earth will become overpopulated and the cords will break and the earth will sink into the sea again. I used the original source as an inspiration for my story. When I read this story, I imagined what young Cherokee children thought about this story. I also thought it might have been difficult for some to believe such a story. I decided to tell a story of a young Cherokee boy who had his own doubts about the validity of this story.
Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee: How The World Was Made by James Mooney; link to the reading online.