1. Yoga: I am currently
pursuing my yoga teacher training certification and with this comes intense
studying of the subject, which originated in India. I have already seen a lot
of overlapping of ideas between yoga and our literature in Epics of India. Dr.
Laura Gibbs also suggested that I look at a previous student’s project, IE:Yoga Studios: Pose Origins Workshop. The project is laid out so that the viewer
feels as if he or she is actually present in a yoga class, which I found very
interesting! I was so impressed by how well the author explained some very
complicated ideas; I know how hard it can be to break down such complex ideas,
but this author didn’t seem to struggle at all with this.
2. Nina Paley’s Sita Sings
the Blues: I am very interested in watching Nina Paley’s contemporary animated
film, Sita Sings the Blues. I think that I might be able to come up with a
project around her beautiful animations. I would love to research more about
her art and learn just how Indian culture really influences her work,
specifically in Sita Sings the Blues. I
am also interested in how Nina Paley got involved in such an original idea for
a cartoon. She is obviously very talented, having been written about in the New
York Times.
3. Animals characters: I really enjoyed our Week 1 StoryRetelling Assignment, where we were asked to incorporate animals into our new
story. I took this opportunity to play with a symbolic animal, the deer. I
think I am drawn to this idea because animals are universally symbolic, defying
culture or geography. I would like to learn more about their meaning. For
example, a turtle might be an interesting animal to focus on. I would also like
to learn which animals are specifically important to the people of India.
4. Karma is another topic that I might want to pursue in my
project. I think I could incorporate this idea with another one like animal
characters, for example. Karma is something I have always been a believer in. I
would love to create a beautiful project around this idea that what comes
around goes around. I would also like to learn more about how this idea affects
the culture and literature of India. I do believe that every action has a
consequence, like the butterfly effect. This butterfly effect could be an
interesting starting point for a project!
Butterfly. Source: Flickr
