Urban Legends

Summarize the legend: The legend was about a bunch of people who thought dialing an emergency line would charge their phone battery

Why is it relevant today: I think it’s relevant today because a lot of people do prank calls and publicity stunts that deceive people that it’s capable of working. The legend is proof that even today so many fallacies are actually believed rather than forgone.

What’s it trying to tell/warn society about: its trying to warn society don’t believe everything you hear or see and we shouldn’t dial emergency lines because someone says it charges your phone

What does it mean to you: It doesn’t really mean anything honestly

Ashoke means strong and wholesome. it relates to him because he is good with Gogol. He's quite wise and isn't really strict with Gogol. Like he is quite laid back with Gogol because he doesn't suspect a thing about him and he even encourages Gogol on a career path of engineering showing his fatherly character. 'His father presses him to pursue engineering, perhaps at MIT ' p.93

Ashima means boundless/limitless which shows she is not fixed to certain things but rather flexible. Ashima is a flexible character subject to movement to India and America because she misses her family and is extremely homesick. She doesn't feel she fits in at Cambridge. Like on pg.54 despite the fact she was pregnant, she still got up to make food for Gogol which shows nothing stops her.

Nikhil means strange and nerdy. This is Gogol's second personality and it is strange because he is quite nerdy. He introduces himself to Kim as Nikhil showing his different character outside of his home. He mentioned that he didn't have a girlfriend and didn't date. He's nerdy for maintaining his A average and being influenced by his dad to go to MIT.

Sonali means refined and nerdy. Sonali is related to this because she has these qualities. Following her brothers footsteps, she would have got some part of nerdy. In reality, she is popular and cultured, related to being refined. She gets benefits from her brother and has an easier time than Gogol. She has an easier time with her name than Gogol because they only picked one.

Mary means natural, wholesome, simple and refined. I think I possess all those qualities because i'm such a simple person and that can be dangerous sometimes. I am natural when it comes to authenticity. My sister's name Idara means Joy and its kind of true because she's always so loud and positive when shes not on campus grounds of her university.

Family History

I don't know much about my family history. I was told only once by my mom that my dad is of royalty but that's the only thing I know.

Metaphor: Friendship is like pottery, hard to make but very easy to break

Is say this metaphor because it's exactly as it sounds. A lot of friendships I have made in my life were really hard to make and maintain because I'm not really outgoing when it comes to approaching people that are different than me. An example is coming to Webb and having to make friends with people from many different countries. I try but I can't be good with making friends with too much people. The easy to break part. So much people lose lots of friends and cut them off because of simple things like sabotage or going against their friendship codes. Like some people say 'sisters before misters' because they put their friends before their man. Personally I've lost some friends because I had to move a lot, and with migration comes frustration. Frustrations of leaving really good bonds behind that you may never see again and learning new things to adjust to that environment. People are so caught up and there's so much distractions in this world taking people away from being genuine. Social media can make people envy each other because they flaunt different things in different ways. Pottery is precious and takes lots of work to make. There's so much different stages and effort required and its easy to break it. A simple gesture like kicking a soccer ball in a house can break it. After its broken, it will never be the same again.

I think a lot of these stories would shape society negatively in 2 major ways:
- A dependent woman, particularly on a man
- Happy ending that aren't 100% guaranteed

The first part about my point is that these stories always show some sort of dependence on men as a key point in the story, like if they didn't exist, the 'princess' would live miserably. I feel that it sort of shows women in these cases as frail because shes waiting for her prince to come. I mean imagine if no one shows up, will she keep waiting forever? she really expects this guy to come and kiss her to somehow wake up and he does it in one go, perfectly. And of course, she wakes up. why did she need him for those activities to happen? Why couldn't she be an independent woman?

My second point is about happy endings always deceiving people. Most times the princess gets together with the prince and they live 'happily ever after', like who started that trend? Society would definitely be mad if fairy tales kept telling them that and they think they're gonna get that but instead they get a depressing or miserable life. These young people are taught that they're gonna live in a hakuna matata kingdom, basically a fool's paradise, so they don't work as hard or worry as hard because they know the ending will be bright. This would drag society backwards.

All in all, I don't really lean towards the side of disbelief because most people nowadays know it's fake so it doesn't matter as much. In addition, people are hitting reality quicker.

A fairy tale is a children's story about magical and imaginary beings in imaginary lands e.g Hansel and Gretel, Little red riding hood, Goldilocks and the three bears etc. If I were to be in one I think I would be in Rapunzel because I can relate with her struggle of having lots of hair. Also, I would be Rapunzel because our moms are quite similar, although I don't live in a tower. I 'let down my hair' to wash it. I could not really see prince charming coming because as large as it is, it's not that long to carry him up. I kind of feel like Rapunzel sometimes because when I don't leave my house I feel like her being trapped in the tower. During summer I did not go anywhere except driving school so I felt  trapped.

Origin of Ants

I think the story is one that is very creative but obviously not realistic because it's folklore. The main character, all of a sudden, had a great sense of smell he discovered after his wife sends him away, like how? It is quite interesting I think, the way it's set out. Like the sharp and the Dyer are like helpers but they don't want him to betray the emperor guy, so they're not actually evil after all. All of a sudden, he flies to space and comes back as ants. I didn't really know why but I thought it was cool.