Week 4: Famous Last Words

This semester. Oh my gosh. It's quite the whirlwind. A month in, I'm still in the energetic-busy phase rather than stressed-out-beyond-measure-busy, which is nice. I'm able to focus and stay on top of assignments much better this semester than in some previous ones, and it's reducing my stress level a crazy amount, actually, just to mostly have things done on time. Hopefully this feeling will continue as I get into the time to research and write papers... I keep thinking I'll have time to get ahead, but this semester keeps throwing curveballs, mostly exciting ones. With this being my last semester in Oklahoma, I'm trying to prioritize friends and some extracurriculars over almost exclusively focusing on school, and I think this actually both makes me mentally healthier, to have something fun breaking up the studying, and better at time managing and therefore more efficient.

I enjoy the readings for this class more each week. The Ramayana was a lot of fun to read, and I'm looking forward to starting Narayan's version of The Mahabharata in the next few days. Sita Sings the Blues went way beyond my expectations. It's trippy, creative, catchy, thoughtful, deep -- so much more than the simple visualization of the epic that I expected. I love Nina Paley's open-ended but insightful conclusion that finally brings focus to what Sita is feeling and experiencing during this story that so often centers on Rama's perfection rather than his crappy treatment of his wife. I kept showing one of my friends various scenes from the film as I was writing my Storytelling post this week and kept recalling my favorite parts. I keep getting the song that Sita's sons sing about Rama stuck in my head, with its snarky verse criticizing Rama's behavior. :)

still from Sita Sings the Blues

source: On the Human