Baba Yaga is the ultimate witchy crone. She flies straight out of Slavic folklore on her mortar, looking for children to kidnap and bring back to her chicken-leg hut.
I read about her as a kid. I'd love to read more about her now. You can't go wrong with creepy-wise-evil-awesome witches!
Okay, so technically an albatross is a real bird, not a monster. But if you've ever read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," you know it's a bad idea to kill one.
Long story short: the albatross is an omen of good fortune. The ancient mariner shoots it. Their ship gets becalmed, he has to wear the dead bird around his neck, and Death ends up winning the lives of the entire crew in a game of dice. Except the Mariner, who is cursed with Life-in-Death and wanders around feeling sad he ever killed the big sea bird.
(My favorite quotes from Samuel Colderidge's "Rime:"
Water, water everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink.
Water, water everywhere,
nor any drop to drink.
Also,
They groan'd, they stirr'd, they all uprose
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.)
Sorry for the silence on Friday--I went to The Hunger Games, which was sad and well-done and exciting. Oh, and my four-year-old got pink eye on Thursday, and a horrible sore throat cough bug that I managed to catch as well. Yay for teaching my immune system new things?
Anyway, I realized that I have a much higher tolerance for reading about death games than seeing them. I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to movies. I had a professor at the University of Utah, one of the best teachers ever, who had us watch Pulp Fiction for a Critical Theory class. I ended up shutting my eyes during most of it and asking my husband to tell me what was happening. Except during the one scene in the car, which I thought was safe. Oh, and I saw the shot-to-the-chest scene, too. And the gun store owners. And...other violent stuff. Needless to say, even though the structure was brilliant and I'm glad I saw it, I haven't seen it since.
I don't know what this has to do with me missing Friday, except maybe I can claim I was too traumatized. This is a lie, but it's Monday, and Mondays are good days for lying. Also, pirates!
I think this week I'm going to try and post videos with minimal writing so I can get some research papers graded (yay?), and maybe (if I'm super good) prepare a bit more for the A to Z Blogfest in April. So...I like history. I know United States history the best. And this video, made by teachers, makes me smile:
