I took this class because I read a lot and I have always been interested in medieval Celtic literature, at least what I thought was medieval Celtic literature. I also needed an elective. I knew what I had been reading were not just from someone’s imagination because I had done some fact-checking and because so many different authors had similar facts and ideas. I was not prepared, however, for what I began to read in this class. I did not realize there were so many different stories involved in Celtic literature. I was truly surprised, in a good way, when I first started reading the Mabinogi. It was so different from what I am used, and it was something real. I had always wondered where the ideas in the books I read came from. I am happy to finally know. I was also surprised, and not in a good way, with the amount assignments I had to do regarding all the reading I had to.
I have mixed feelings about this assignment. Part of me really likes the commonplace because it challenged me, and it made me look deeper into the cultures. The other part of me is very frustrated and confused to the purpose of this assignment. I know those contradict each other, which is why I am so conflicted. Like I said, I have always loved to read, and I still do, but I have always hated writing. I think faster than I can write/type and I lose track of my thoughts hast than it takes me to formulate a complete thought. So, having an assignment the based solely on writing frustrated me. I came in believing this class would be mainly reading because it was in the literature portion of classes available for me to take. Which it was, I just forgot the other part of literature and English, which is the reflection and writing portion. I am not a quitter though, so I tried to stick out. By the time I was truly overwhelmed it was actually to late to drop the class (sorry for my bluntness). I refused to do anything less than my best, so I have put my full effort into this assignment, like I try to do in all my other assignments. There was a lot of components involved in this project, which again is very overwhelming to me. I truly tried to keep on track by doing one or two “posts” a week but unfortunately, I was not able to do so. I didn’t wait to the last minute to complete the posts, but I did have to complete several in one sitting. College is always about accountability and learning time management and self-discipline, which I have an abundance of all previously stated, but it is still hard to keep on track. I tried to make sure I did not wait to do all the hard posts until the end, but I tend to overthink my work and I tried to hard on some of these posts is seems.
I truly like the elective posts. I chose to do three “found poem” posts. This made me reread several stories multiple times. I had to take my time to break down what was being said and find the best way to re-say what was said. I truly enjoyed taking the time reread some of the stories. I read everything given to us, but how through can be debated. By forcing myself to take the time to reread the stories made me look deeper into what is being said. I had to reread several stories, not just the three I chose, to find the ones I liked the best and the ones I understood the best. It might have taken me longer than it should have to choose my stories, but I was unwilling to compromise on an assignment I enjoyed. I took the same mentality when choosing the weekly responses. I wanted to choose the responses I was passionate about and truly believed in what I was saying. If I believe in something, no one get me to stop talking about it. It can be very overwhelming to the listener, but I want to make sure what I am saying is heard. That is how I approached the responses. I was worried each time I wrote my responses because I feared I would have an opinion that was completely opposite to my classmates. I do not understand the point, however, of reposting the same responses we posted to Canvas. It seems a little redundant. I like that is made my life a little easier for this assignment, but I didn’t get anything more out of it after my initial post. Makes me curious if I missed something.
Something I know I missed, or rather over thought was the track-a-theme posts. I am someone who has to excel at what I do, and I wanted to do to much for the assignment. I did not realize I was trying to hard until it was to late. I wanted to better understand how magic impacted Celtic cultures and the significance of it, which did not work out in my favor. I wound up going in circles and not finding the information I wanted, when all I had to do was look at the readings, I was given for all the information I needed. I only had to look a little harder and think more about what was being said instead of taking the written word for face value. The cultures values and history were incorporated with the fairytales and magic. Once I became aware of my error, I was able to better appreciate the assignment. It does not take away from my frustration of my mistake.
When it came the sport light assignments, I enjoyed learning about different people that were important to Celtic culture, however it did not give me a better understanding of the reading we were given. The connection between real life people and the folk talks was not made for me. I tried really hard to find a connection. But no matter how much I would tr to research I could not make a connection. I wound up writing about people I wanted to know more to try to learn more about Celtic history, which was very beneficial. It was difficult to find things to reference when trying o find out more information about authors or fictional characters and their importance in Celtic culture, which is what guided my decision towards historical figures. I used to think I was good at research, but this class me question my ability to perform simple research. I was tested and challenged which has made me a better student, but I was also very frustrated.
I was also challenged when it came to the formatting of this assignment. I have never written a blog, which puts me at a disadvantage. I am used to writing very formal responses and essay because of the profession I am going in, and from what I now bogs are not formal. I don’t think it is fair, if you want my honest opinion, to have this assignment as a blog. Granted, I took this class as an elective and I know majority of those who take this class are not going into the medical field. However, I struggled, and I think it shows, on how to word my posts to best suite the platform I had to use. I don’t read blogs either, so I have no experience on how blogs are supposed to be formatted. Overall though, I found this assignment interesting. It made me look beyond what was given to us to read and it made me think harder about what I thought I knew about Celtic literature.
Cassandra's Celtic Blog 