Comment Wall
Hello! This is my comment wall for my storybook project about Venezuelan indigenous myths. Hope you enjoy learning about my country!
Image Source: Know Your Meme
Existential Crisis: An Introduction By Me
Personal picture of me before cutting my hair Hola! Hello! That's me on the left, Antonieta Hernández, but everyone calls me Anto. I am from Caracas, Venezuela, which means I am an international student. I am here at OU in my junior year to get my bachelor's in psychology and a sociology minor. Something everybody always asks is why I am here at OU, well, that is an interesting story. In 2015 I applied to something called the United World Colleges , a two-year international program where students from all over the world attend to. I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Venezuelan national committee, and I spent two amazing years studying in Italy. After that when it was time to apply to college I went looking for schools that support international students, and OU happened to have a great scholarship program for UWC alumni, so I applied and here I am! As I mentioned, I am studying psychology and sociology. I love my major and I am incredibly passionate about
Hi Antonieta. This is fantastic!!! First I love the pictures you've selected. Venezuela looks amazingly beautiful! Tepuy is especially breathtaking! Being a standard, dumb American, I know very little about Venezuela but am looking forward to learning more about your country through these stories and your writing. I am so curious and excited to learn about the myths and folklore from Venezuela! Does your country have a central tradition of myths and folk tales? Have you noticed and similarities between the stories from your home and other stories you've read this semester?
ResponderEliminarOne a side note, there is a fantastic band from Brooklyn, NY that has some Venezuelan roots called MakeWar. The singer / guitarist Jose Prieto was born in Miami but grew up in Venezuela. He's a super nice dude (at leased based on our online correspondence) and the band is fantastic. They put out one of 2019's best records in 'Get It Together.' I especially love the song "Oh, Brother."
Hey Antonieta! I would like to start off by say the introduction to your storybook is amazing! The pictures and descriptions give me an insight on where you come from! I instantly pulled me in and I can not wait to read your stories! I think it is cool that you are using your heritage to tell the stories! ( I am also doing the same!) I think it is important to tell people about where you come from! Anyways, good job and keep it up!
ResponderEliminarHi Anto!
ResponderEliminarIn my Spanish classes at the university, we obviously focus on the political and social happenings in Spanish speaking countries. It is always difficult to hear the continual chaos that occurs in some countries in south america, especially in Venezuela and Colombia. I can't begin to imagine how that feels for you as a native with so many more beautiful experiences than what has recently occurred. That being said, I am excited to see your perspective of Venezuela; of the rich cultural history and diversity that exists there.
I think your introduction was very informative. It establishes a good basis of understanding traditional aspects of the culture, like language and connection to the land and animals. Adding links to additional resources is beneficial as well as I can learn more about the specific elements that interest me. My only suggestion is a quick re-read of the text as there are just a few grammatical errors. Nice work so far!
Hi Anto!
ResponderEliminarWow, your introduction was amazing. It really made me curious about Venezuela, and you did a good job instantly capturing my attention by bringing up an inherent assumption that people who have not been to Venezuela might have. Additionally, it is very astute of you to realize that most people reading your stories will not know about the traditional Venezuelan words representing the different tribes, places, or things in your story. However, it is important to use those Venezuelan words as it makes the story adds a level of authenticity that translating everything would take away. Therefore, explaining the Venezuelan terms allows for us as readers to understand them in the context of your story while not detracting from the genuineness of the setting and creating a deeper atmosphere. I am really excited to see how you will be able to take your unique perspective on your home country to help show and educate the rest of us about what Venezuela is all about!
Hi Anto!
ResponderEliminarI really appreciate what you are doing with this project! Your introduction gives us a much different perspective of Venezuela than that of the news and media. It looks so beautiful! I thought the two rivers that meet to create the line was so cool and interesting. I think as a society we often get caught up in all the bad things surrounding certain countries and regions of the world. There are many problems in the USA too! But I think we often forget about all the good things happening in these places too, the beautiful scenery, the dancing, the food, and the wonderful people (most of the time). Your introduction really helps display the parts of Venezuela that are often forgotten.
I enjoyed your first story! The links for the words were very helpful and I appreciated them. I can see how it would be difficult to find a lot of detail for a story that is historically told orally. I often wonder how much these stories have changed over the years. It is kind of like a game of "telephone" played for many centuries. But I thought you did a great job with what you had and staying true to the original, but with your own taste. I am excited to see what you do next!
Hi Anto,
ResponderEliminarI love how you are using your culture to your advantage with these stories and making them your own. I enjoy how you embody who you are through the course of your writing. One thing that stood out to me was how you use photos to describe what you are writing to give a presence. It helps me understand about what you are conveying through your story. I also like how you choose to use some Spanish words. I have taken Spanish yet, I still find myself reading the words and saying "ooh what's that mean." I am thankful for the context clues to truly understand what you are saying through your stories. I like them, keep doing you and embracing your culture.
Hey, Anto!
ResponderEliminarCan I just say, wow. Your website is just gorgeous. I did not realize how much you can do with Google Sites. Your site is just so clean and well organized. I am definitely taking notes. Also, I just love everything to do with your theme. I love that you have a cultural connection to your theme. It is almost personal writing, you have a whole other lens to write from. I love your story, and as for your introduction, I am excited to see where storybook is going to go. I think your ideas are super cool and exciting. I love that you are able to embrace your culture and incorporate your own life into your storybook. Overall, you have done some amazing work so far with your storybook, and I will certainly be checking back to see where it goes.
Best wishes,
Mikayla
Hey Anto!
ResponderEliminarI came back to read your first story! I was so excited after all the information you incorporated in your introduction. Spending time exploring all the information there definitely led to a better understanding of this first story. I really enjoyed this story! I have always been a fan of origin stories, so it was cool to see how this culture explained the occurrence of Angel Falls. I liked the storytelling approach as omniscient because it is an origin story. However, I think some dialogue could really establish Auyán's character; especially in his interaction with the bird. Some insight into his inner thoughts or a direct conversation between the two could really portray his compassion and empathy. I also think some expansion on the ending could be beneficial. Instead of just saying he had god-like reflexes that saved him, you could really paint a picture of exactly how he managed to save himself from plummeting off that cliff. This was a really great story and my suggestions act as possibilities for elaboration into personality and capturing more visual images. Great job... looking forward to these next stories!
Hey Anto!
ResponderEliminarI'm so glad that your storybook came up on my random feed this week! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your introduction and first story. I think your introduction was the best of any introduction I've read so far (Including my own!). You related your stories and your reasons for writing them to such a personal and emotional motivation, and it makes me even more excited to read them. I also loved how you included so many pictures and key terms to help us really visualize and better understand the stories that you will tell us. I really appreciate it! Those pictures were absolutely gorgeous too.
Moving on to your first story, I definitely got the sense and feel of that sort of oral tradition from your version. I think that you definitely found an appropriate way to lend motivation and reason to the actions and adventure of Auyán. I love a good origin story (My storybook is nothing but origin stories!) and I think that this story's ability to explain the creation of Angel Falls was great! Nothing felt forced or confusing and the flow and pacing of the story felt good. I can't wait to read your next story! Bookmarked for sure!
Hey Anto!
ResponderEliminarYour story is coming together very nicely for sure! After reading the first story I am so ready to read the next! Something I did for my story is included a small translation box at the bottom of the screen for people who don't know the tradition language! Just an idea that could help! However, I do like the links that help explain the different words! Keep up the good work!
Hi Anto,
ResponderEliminarThis week I am mainly going to focus on your pictures and provide you feedback on those. I think it is awesome that you did this over Venezuelan myths to teach people about your culture and where you are from. I was born in Bogota, Colombia and I wish I had thought of doing a storybook about my country. Have you thought about making the banner image large to where it will take up the whole screen when someone opens your storybook? I think that will look better to where readers have to scroll down to see the information that you provide below. As far as your introduction page, this is by far the best introduction that I have seen. It is so vivid and bright which makes it very appealing to the readers eye. I love how you provided pictures for each of the things about your country that you described in detail! Overall all of your pictures were great and the views that are seen in the pictures are absolutely breath taking.
Hello Anto!
ResponderEliminarFirst, I to start with applauding you for your introduction! It is the best story book introduction that I have seen. It has everything, great explanations for what we will be reading, information about Venezuela’s culture, information about things that we will come across in the storybook, breath taking pictures (not just in intro but throughout the whole storybook). I loved that you made your storybook about what Venezuela is to you as a Venezuelan. Also that you are showing a Venezuela that is beyond what we see in the news and the beauty that the country has to offer because sadly a lot of the times countries social and political issues overshadow the beauty of the country. While is important for us to know what is happening around the world is also important for us to not fully judge a country fully based on what we hear on the news.
Hey Anto,
ResponderEliminarLoved your storybook! As I was reading your introduction, I realized that I completely agreed with you. I know practically nothing about Venezuela, so it was really fun to read a storybook all about your home country (and yes, your stories were so good I decided to read them all!). I really liked that you took the time to explain and use some indigenous words in your stories. I study linguistics, and so, as cliche as it sounds, I know that words have power! Using those words seemed to pay a great homage to your cultural roots, and injected your stories with tangible sense of legitimacy that really came across to the reader. Plus, I just loved learning a bit of a new language :)
Like I mentioned earlier, I thought your stories were great and fantastically well written, but I thought that they seemed a bit short. That isn't necessarily a bad thing (because being concise is important), but since you probably attract a lot of people who know nothing about Venezuelan indigenous culture, I would look into adding a few more sentences about the cultural background of the stories. For example, in the story 'Caribay and the Five White Eagles,' I would have loved to hear just a bit more about the village that Caribay starts in! Overall though, your stories were so good that this is my only critique and its pretty nit-picky! Really good job and good luck with the rest of this class!