Introduction to a WGS Major
Hello everyone! My major is Women’s and Gender Studies. I am aiming to graduate this summer (knock on wood). The best class I took last semester was called Contemporary Feminist Thought because it was really interesting, and it changed the way I thought about a lot of things. I would say my biggest accomplishment last semester was getting an A in my Contemporary Feminist Thought course! There was so much writing involved. There was a reading response on two readings due every week, and at least three big papers, plus discussion posts! And of course, I think keeping my head above water last semester is an accomplishment given all the craziness that was going on. Kudos to all of us! I am living at home with my parents and my brothers. We have three dogs. Shadow, Seph, which is short for Persephone, and Echo, who is my dog. Echo is kind of an oaf. He loves to jump onto my ribs when I am not expecting it. Given that he weighs upwards of eighty pounds, this is not exactly the most fun thing
Hi! I also decided to write my project over women who were overlooked, only mine centers on women in the Bible and women saints, so I really like where you're coming from with this idea! Great job already specifying who you are going to write about. That immediate clarity really helps the reader hone in on what is important to you and what is to come. Also, I love how you already give insight, like little sneak-peeks, into their stories!! Great job - that's something that Laura suggested that I do and is harder than it seems! While reading those I did get a little lost though. I haven't read anything about the Odyssey or the Iliad in a long time, and the names began to swarm before me. Maybe try to use more relational terms, like the father of ___ or the son of ___ instead of names in some cases just so we can still track the women through the intro. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Cady, I read your introduction to your storybook and really enjoyed it. I remember reading some of Homer’s tales in high school, specifically the Odyssey, and I honestly don’t remember the women in the story getting any highlight, so I think that it is quite cool that you are sharing some of their stories. I really enjoyed all of the information on the women that you will be focusing on in your stories as it lets us know a little more about the characters beforehand. One thing that kind of confused me while reading the introduction is the names. While I know the names of some of the people such as Hera and Aphrodite, I didn’t really recognize any of the other’s names as I do not know much about the Trojan war or much about the details of Homer’s stories. Therefore, I think that either adding more information about these other characters or adding the relations of the characters to the main story would maybe help clear up some confusion.
ReplyDeleteHello! I do not know the women of Troy and am interested to read the women's stories. After reading your introduction to these three women and why you want to write about them I am intrigued to find out more about them. I also agree that the only people that I know from your introduction are Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. I would definitely like to hear more about the women you are wanting to focus on just to better understand them. I also am curious as to why you put the same thing on the home page and introduction? I think that it would be helpful to change something on the home page to help capture people's attention. Overall, your introduction is wonderful and has me looking forward to reading what you have to say about their stories. I definitely will be back to read your stories and leave more comments in the future!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the concept behind your storybook - giving a space to women that have historically been cramped and not had room to breathe their own lives is a really beautiful and noble storytelling-pursuit, and one that resonates with me deeply. I was wondering if perhaps you could incorporate their own voices into these stories more? There's no pressure whatsoever, but I think it could be a really fruitful practice in creativity to breathe some more life into the characters, trying to imagine what may have been going on in their heads as opposed to what was happening to them (how do you think they felt? responded? would have said, or did say?). I was wondering also why you chose the opening line that you did - "the most common beginning" sounds more like you're talking about the stories than telling a story to me, where a story might instead start with something like "it has been said by many..." or something like that!
Hi Cady!
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of homer's stories, and was excited to read them in the weekly readings and now I get to read about the lesser told but equally important parts! The introduction solidified the reasonings as to why the stories of the women are as important as the well known heroes. It also gives the reader a good sense as to why you selected each woman as being important to the reader. For readers not well versed in the Iliad, the introduction in Helen's story served to give adequate background, and to know that the tragedy that follows is not her doing. A detail that I never picked up in the Iliad was that Helen was seven when she was first stolen away, how disgusting and vile. But I am wondering if this was common practice during this time?
It was a pleasurable read from start to finish! I loved learning about background to my favorite ancient stories! Keep up the good work!
Hey Cady!
ReplyDeleteI’ve actually been reading the Iliad and the Odyssey for another class of mine, so it’s really cool to see someone doing a project over the women from some of these ancient Greco-Roman stories. Your introduction does a really good job in summarizing who the three women you chose to focus on were. The little links to pictures and other resources are also nice to supplement when reading! I’ve never heard the version where a copy of Helen was taken to Troy instead. Your writing is very clear and concise, and very entertaining! I’ve also never heard of the story of Helen’s kidnapping when she was a child, even though I’ve heard stories of Pirithous and Theseus. I’m really looking forward to the other installments and new knowledge of these women I’ve never encountered before!
Hi Cady!
ReplyDeleteI love how on your first page you have a picture of the different types of the Iliad! It was a great illustration for you to use to introduce this concept! I think adding the pictures of the women you are talking about is such a good idea and helps to visualize the characters! I also think it is really important that you mentioned a TW as well just in case! I think the fact that you took this storybook in order to do justice to women mentioned throughout history is really important as well. The fact that you decided to credit them and allow their stories to be heard is interesting. I totally agree that Cassandra's story is not considered as important as her brothers Hector and Paris. Their stories are WAY more often told, and I think that giving her a voice is so important, you did a good job of explaining that. I love how you are giving these female characters better arcs and allowing for them to be seen as main characters more than before.
Hi Cady! I’m actually from the Indian Epics class, but this week I decided to check out one of the Myth and Folklore storybooks, and yours caught my eye! My storybook for Indian Epics also focuses on the Greek Epics like the Iliad except mine combines them with Indian Epics as well. I even wrote a version of the phantom Helen story in mine, so I was thrilled to see you included that little-known twist! I’m a bit of a Greek epics geek, and I thought you did a great job shedding light on some of the overlooked women in the epics. I especially loved Cassandra’s story because you really captured her frustration at not being believed. It’s so sad what happened to her, but you end the story on a bit of a bittersweet, hopeful note, which I liked. I loved the narrative style that you wrote in, and I wonder if you might want to break up some of your longer paragraphs into three or four shorter paragraphs. That would just help the reader’s eye follow the story a bit better, and it helps keep a reader interested because they don’t get lost in a big paragraph. Your website looks really great, though, and I cannot wait to come back and read about Andromache!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your stories! It's nice to see a breakdown of characters that are often not given enough credit in their stories. Your style of writing it's easy to read and understand. I was always aware of what was going on. I haven't really read the stories that you're writing about so I didn't even know who Cassandra was. You did a great job of explaining. I can't imagine having the curse that she did. To be able to see prophecy but not have anyone believe me would probably drive me crazy. Her determination to protect those she cared for is respectable. I think you did a great job of showing her struggle and including the cursed chest was a good example of that.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I really enjoyed reading through your storybook and I'm interested to see what you add to it in the future!
Hi Cady!
ReplyDeleteThe header on your homepage showing off the different Iliad copies was a nice touch! I think it looks really nice and gives a bit of insight into how many versions there are. Focusing your stories on the women of the Iliad was a new and interesting take, but one that was much needed, as after I read your stories I realized how skimmed over their characters were in the scope of the whole story. For Helen, I wasn't even aware she was unwillingly taken, and had always been under the assumption she had just been woo'd by the price of Troy. I do think your stories could benefit from some paragraph breaks, as the story for Helen was an entire block of text. There was no way to distinguish changes in topic or dialogue as there was no indentation either. Otherwise, keep up the good work! Your stories are fun to read and the website looks good.
Hi Cady,
ReplyDeleteGreat job with your storybook! I didn't read any of the Greek stories for the class this semester, so it was nice to see them in your storybook. For the Helen story, I really liked how you included the eidolon copy, because I'd also never heard that version before but it was a good twist. Moving to the Cassandra story, I liked how blended details from the first story into the second—everything seemed continuous even though it was a different story about a new person. I also like how you showed Cassandra's inner frustrations, just like you described Helen's thoughts in the first story. I liked seeing your thought process in the author's notes, because ending on a hopeful note and avoiding words like "see" when not in reference to telling the future were both really smart choices. For the design, just make sure to standardize the font between stories and maybe think about centering the images. Overall your storybook is very well-written and I enjoyed reading it!
Hi Cady! In my advanced English class in high school we had to read the Odyssey and Iliad which is why your portfolio stuck out to me to read! The background with the different versions of the Iliad on the home page was a very nice touch. This story has been told and re-told many times. Greek stories are one of my favorite types of stories to read. I felt really connected to your characters when you described in detail Cassandra's feelings and what Helen was thinking. This is what separates a good story from a great one. Your stories kept me entertained and intrigued with what would happen next. I also liked how you put all of the authors notes together! I have not seen that in any other portfolio so far. Great job this semester Cady, and great job with your portfolio! I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do in the future!
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