Hello Brenna! I just want to start off by saying I loved your story! While I read the Ramayana, I never really pictured Sita as the type of warrior that enjoyed getting covered in guts and slaying anything that stands in her way! This story has totally changed my perception of her! I also enjoyed the part of the story where she was analyzing her options! Haha "option 0" cracked me up when she vetoed it! Also, have you seen the movie Sherlock Holmes? While everything was in slow motion and Sita was analyzing her options, this reminded me of the movie when Sherlock performed the same action! However, overall I believe you wrote a fantastic story! I can tell you put a lot of work and imagination into your writing. I hope you have a great weekend, and I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your semester!
Hi Brenna, I think you did a great job of painting the backstory of Sita, and you do a great job of introducing her upbringing as a woman that is becoming more used to reacting to any adversity that is thrown at her. You did a good job of showing us how prepared she was for life in the forest if she was to be banished, and I'm very excited to learn more about Sita as a whole. One thing that would be interesting is to see how she reacts to being in the forest and being tempted by Ravana. She seems like she has been raised well to resist his propositions to her. I hope that as the story moves on, you continue to develop her character as well as you did in this story. Finally, it might be interesting to see how she reacts to being banished to the forest by Rama after she has been in his care and waiting for him to rescue her. She has been shown to have Moxie, and it will be interesting to see how you write her thought process and how she perceives many different conflicts.
Hey there Brenna! First of all I love the topic that you chose for your portfolio! I chose a storybook myself, and so I am very interested to see how a portfolio is different from the style that I chose. The title of your site is precise and to the point, allowing the reader some information prior to reading in deeper into your site. I love the images that you chose, and I felt that you were able to proved a sort of modern language that made it very easy to read the information that you already have down on your first page. Im curious to see how far in depth you will go with each woman individually, as well as how you continue to incorporate the story of one into the next. When it comes to visuals, I enjoy the fact that you kept your site looking very clean and not too heavy with background graphics. This allows the reader to really pay attention to what is more important, the text.
Hi Brenna! I like that you have chosen to focus on the women in Indian Epics. They certainly deserve the attention. I know in the past, like in the Myth-Folklore class, people have done very interesting things with the women of Greek epics so I am interested to see what you will be doing!
On the Home Page, I think you could jazz it up and make it a little more obvious that the storybook is about the women (but that is probably just my love of aesthetic talking) so it isn't relying solely on the title for information. You can convey a lot with just a few pictures or an image! I really like the image you have on there now, but I just love art so I think it would be perfect if you had more! Also, on the home page, I wasn't sure what that link was for? Is it the image information or something else? I think if you could clarify that, it would be awesome.
I was missing your introduction. Before jumping into the (wonderfully detailed) stories, I would have loved to hear about the storybook as a whole. I felt like I was jumping into a pool with my socks on - a little unprepared! The introduction would just prepare the reader for the type of stories that are going to be presented, giving hints to characterization, and also telling the reader what is going to be the focus, what might be learned in these stories. You could also give background about the importance of females in Indian Epics, to their roles in stories and their roles in real life if you had the time or the inclination to do that much research.
When I opened your first story, I was a little worried it was going to be a bland rant about Sita's importance but it was an amazing story and I loved it so much! Sita is such a badass and her characterization was spot-on and interesting. I could probably go on for hours about the different techniques that you used to make it so entertaining, but I have to admit that the "options" were my favorite. They showed how smart Sita is, especially her knowledge about fighting, and her courage! Good work!
Hey Brenna! I really enjoyed your portfolio and reading your first story! I think you did a good job describing Sita and how she's a warrior. I feel like Sita is always just in the background and so it was fun to read about her as a strong independent women. In fact, I'm doing my project on her, so it was nice to read you story on her background. I really enjoyed the part where you described her options on handling the rakshasa. It was very clever. You did a good job using descriptive words, which made it easy to picture the story. Also, I'm excited to see how you're going to focus on the different women in Indian epics. A suggestion to add more to your project could be a banner picture to capture readers. Overall, you did a great job on showing Sita's character, and keep up the good work! I can't wait to see more of your stories.
Hey Brenna! I am so in love with the topic you chose for your portfolio, as there is no shortage of amazing women in the stories that we read for this class, but I feel like there isn't enough time taken to ponder their feelings and emphasize their acts of bravery. I just read your Sita and Viradha and I love how you put more emphasis on the things she did rather than just what she looked like. I think it would be really cool to hear more about how Sita felt about her upbringing and being a daughter that is destined to be married off to the man of her family's choice. One suggestion that I have is cleaning up the layout of your cover page so that it is easily navigable and you can also include a link to your comment wall there if you would like!
Hi Brenna! I just wanted to first say that the picture you chose for your banner is beautiful and is quite captivating! I really like the language and tone that you’ve used for your story, especially when you mentioned “growing out of her Uni brow”, I dont know why but I smirked at that. The way that you portray Sita is intense and she really truly is an epic woman, I literally visualized the entire story in my head as I was reading! I look forward to coming back and reading more.
Hi Brenna! First off, your website is great, i love the pictures you have used. I really enjoyed the different stories of sita so i was excited to read this one from the beginning. you do an amazing job of describing sita and making sure all of her emotions and actions are captured through your writing. I was very interested by the story you chose to write about and it only left me wanting to know more about sita and about how her feelings were in many other scenarios. It is nice to see a portfolio about women and i loved how you made your story particularly about her experiences rather than detailing what she was looking like all the time. Great job!
Hi Brenna! You did such a wonderful job! So far, your website looks on point. I definitely like how you made the title of your website, “The Epic Women of Indian Epics” because it draws people’s attention that are considered about this topic. I definitely love how you added pictures to your home page because it gives the readers a better imagery. One of your stories that I liked, “Sita and the Slaying of the Shapeshifter seemed fascinating! I am glad that you added a lot of descriptions about the characters that makes the reader feel more intruding. It was also awesome that you added options to your story which makes it more intense. Overall, these imaginations from your stories are too creative. I don’t think I have any suggestions so far, but to keep up on the great work you have! Thanks again for sharing, Brenna! Good luck with your semester.
Hi Brenna! Your stories are so wonderful at creating such amazing and detailed characters. I felt like I could really understand both of the women in your stories, as well as some of the minor characters. The story lends itself to giving so much information, establishing aspects of the story like character and setting, with such ease. In the first story, the background information quickly told me that Sita was going to be a badass and easily established where the story was going to take place by using the backstory to lead up to the marriage and exile of Rama and Sita. It would be awesome to see that same type of backstory work in the second one about Draupadi. Good work on all the details!
Hi Brenna! I love your story with a revamped Sita. I completely agree with you. They portray her through an idealistic lens of ancient India. So, it is great to see someone put a modern twist on it. A lot of people do so by taking an old folk story and moving it to today's time. However, I like that you put today's values into the original story. I particularly enjoyed the part where the men holster their weapons, because they know Sita is fine and will take care of it. I wonder what life was really like for women back when these stories were originating. What if you had her beat up some guys that were trying to come on to her? I know you stated she became more adept at combat to deal with suitors. I would enjoy a part where she actually kicks some guys butt who hits on her. Overall, this was a fun read and was very well done.
Hey there Brenna! To start I think you did a great job of telling the backstory of Sita, as well you do a great job of telling her story and how she comes up in her life, adapting to the adversity that is thrown at her. This was a great topic for the story book, because in most stories Sita is a secondary character, yet in this was she is the primary character, so a lot more light is being shined on her. I enjoyed how descriptive you were in the section where you described her opinions on handling the rakshasa. Maybe something to think about that would be good, is shine more light on sita and how she felt about being brought up destined to be married off to the man of her parents’ choice. Finally, maybe clean up the cover page just a little bit at the base, and this might make it a little bit more navigable. But it is a great Story book and I look forward to reading more from it!
Hi Brenna! I like that you gave a powerful voice to the powerful women that we read about. I just finished reading your story over Sita and I loved it! The way you start the story by making it known that Sita, just like everyone else, had awkward years. And you made it apparent that she wasn't the type of princess that waited her whole life for her prince. Instead, she made herself into something that she could be proud of. I like the way that you described her marriage to Rama because even though Sita was fully capable of being alone, she knows that loving someone doesn't make her weak. And then she goes through that whole fight scene like a boss! Good for her! I'm looking forward to coming back next week to read your Draupadi story!
I really like your topic that you have chosen to write about. The focus being on a women, and that too fist one being Sita is great. I loved getting to read more about her through your stories. You have shown a new light on her and shows her as a brave person. We don’t really see this in the epics so I am glad you are writing about this. I also like how you focus on more women and not just one person. Your page looks nice and simple and that is the best part. If it had to much going on it would not look classy. You do a good job writing and introduction all the women. I liked seeing the forest story in your writing because I could really compare the story from the epics and to your story. I am looking forward to reading what all you will be doing with your stories and your characters and how you choose to develop them.
I absolutely love the idea of writing stories about the women in the Indian Epic stories. I admire Sita so much and when I saw you were writing about women, I thought to myself, "she has to write a story about Sita." I felt like I could relate to Sita in the story that you wrote. I never pictured Sita as a tomboy and I like how you created the unexpected in your story. That is very creative. The story that you wrote about Sita left me wanting to know more about sita and about how her feelings were in many other scenarios. I hope you write another story to about her. Or make a story to be continued type of thing . Also, I want to applaud you on the authors note. You went into great detail. Was able to figure out exactly what you wanted me to get from the story and how you changed the story around. Greta job!
Hi Brenna! I am so happy to see that there is. project that is focusing on the women of the Indian epics. It makes me angry/sad for the women in these stories because they are constantly being taken advantage of, mistreated, or undervalued. In particular, Sita's story drives me nuts. She literally walks through fire for Rama and he still turns her away. Your spin on Satyavati was really intriguing and fun to read! I love that you had her use economic principle to weigh the pros and cons of sleeping with the RIshi. In your second story, I love the strength of will that you give Amba. I think you bring up a really great point in your author's note about intellectual strength being an important tool and trait for a warrior to have. Overall, great job with this! I think it is great that you’re allowing the women to be individuals in their own right!
Hi Brenna! Firstly, I want to tell you that I love the topic of your portfolio. I feel like the epics we have read throughout this class have had many powerful women so I love that you decided to focus your stories on them. The images of the women on homepage are nice touch! It helps bring the characters to life so we can imagine them while we read your stories. Sita is one of my favorite characters in the Ramayana. I love that you portrayed her as this warrior queen. The first line in that story: "The fair queen of the noble Rama was anything but a trophy wife." That was epic! That was such a great start to your story and I was pulled in right from the beginning because of that. One of my favorite lines from that story is towards the end when you wrote about how Rama and Lakshmana were used to being benched by warrior women. I actually chuckled at that. I think you're doing an amazing job with these stories! Keep up the good work!
Hey Brenna! Went through and looked at your portfolio project website. First off, I absolutely loved reading through your stories! They were all so great, and I especially loved the way you tell the story. You did a great job at adding humorous details, adding childhood anecdotes to further characterize the women, and most importantly, creating twists so that these women could devise their own ways to get out of whatever pickle they were in! I really enjoyed how you told all of the stories in different perspectives (like as though they were more modern day women); it made the stories very easy to read. The only thing I would add is that I actually wrote a story about Draupadi as well, and as I was researching, I found out that Yudhishthira could not turn down a dice game because he was of the caste kshatriya. This made the original story make a lot more sense, because I also did not initially understand why he kept on playing!
Hi there, Brenna! Your portfolio website is set up so well. I do not know how you got your pictures for each story to line up side by side, but I love it. It is awesome that you have all four stories up already. I just finished my project myself. I think you did a fantastic job adding more to your characters. Often in these epics, women are described as helpless, and you changed that. As I stated before, I love that you've continued to put today's values into these stories. A lot of people "mix up their stories" by moving those tales to a more modern setting. I prefer the way you do it. What if you include a story where a man is in desperate need of a woman's assistance? I love all the female ass-kickery. Might as well add in some more role reversal by making a guy the "damsel in distress."
Hey Brenna! Your project site is so well done! You have obviously put a lot of work and time into this project to make it flourish. Your writing is so well done and I love what you have done to these stories to make them your own. I love that you chose to focus on the women bring a little power back to females. I love it when people kick the "damsel in distress" archetype to the curb and show how badass women really are.
Hello Brenna! I just want to start off by saying I loved your story! While I read the Ramayana, I never really pictured Sita as the type of warrior that enjoyed getting covered in guts and slaying anything that stands in her way! This story has totally changed my perception of her! I also enjoyed the part of the story where she was analyzing her options! Haha "option 0" cracked me up when she vetoed it! Also, have you seen the movie Sherlock Holmes? While everything was in slow motion and Sita was analyzing her options, this reminded me of the movie when Sherlock performed the same action! However, overall I believe you wrote a fantastic story! I can tell you put a lot of work and imagination into your writing. I hope you have a great weekend, and I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna, I think you did a great job of painting the backstory of Sita, and you do a great job of introducing her upbringing as a woman that is becoming more used to reacting to any adversity that is thrown at her. You did a good job of showing us how prepared she was for life in the forest if she was to be banished, and I'm very excited to learn more about Sita as a whole. One thing that would be interesting is to see how she reacts to being in the forest and being tempted by Ravana. She seems like she has been raised well to resist his propositions to her. I hope that as the story moves on, you continue to develop her character as well as you did in this story. Finally, it might be interesting to see how she reacts to being banished to the forest by Rama after she has been in his care and waiting for him to rescue her. She has been shown to have Moxie, and it will be interesting to see how you write her thought process and how she perceives many different conflicts.
ReplyDeleteHey there Brenna! First of all I love the topic that you chose for your portfolio! I chose a storybook myself, and so I am very interested to see how a portfolio is different from the style that I chose. The title of your site is precise and to the point, allowing the reader some information prior to reading in deeper into your site. I love the images that you chose, and I felt that you were able to proved a sort of modern language that made it very easy to read the information that you already have down on your first page. Im curious to see how far in depth you will go with each woman individually, as well as how you continue to incorporate the story of one into the next. When it comes to visuals, I enjoy the fact that you kept your site looking very clean and not too heavy with background graphics. This allows the reader to really pay attention to what is more important, the text.
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! I like that you have chosen to focus on the women in Indian Epics. They certainly deserve the attention. I know in the past, like in the Myth-Folklore class, people have done very interesting things with the women of Greek epics so I am interested to see what you will be doing!
ReplyDeleteOn the Home Page, I think you could jazz it up and make it a little more obvious that the storybook is about the women (but that is probably just my love of aesthetic talking) so it isn't relying solely on the title for information. You can convey a lot with just a few pictures or an image! I really like the image you have on there now, but I just love art so I think it would be perfect if you had more!
Also, on the home page, I wasn't sure what that link was for? Is it the image information or something else? I think if you could clarify that, it would be awesome.
I was missing your introduction. Before jumping into the (wonderfully detailed) stories, I would have loved to hear about the storybook as a whole. I felt like I was jumping into a pool with my socks on - a little unprepared! The introduction would just prepare the reader for the type of stories that are going to be presented, giving hints to characterization, and also telling the reader what is going to be the focus, what might be learned in these stories. You could also give background about the importance of females in Indian Epics, to their roles in stories and their roles in real life if you had the time or the inclination to do that much research.
When I opened your first story, I was a little worried it was going to be a bland rant about Sita's importance but it was an amazing story and I loved it so much! Sita is such a badass and her characterization was spot-on and interesting. I could probably go on for hours about the different techniques that you used to make it so entertaining, but I have to admit that the "options" were my favorite. They showed how smart Sita is, especially her knowledge about fighting, and her courage! Good work!
Hey Brenna!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your portfolio and reading your first story! I think you did a good job describing Sita and how she's a warrior. I feel like Sita is always just in the background and so it was fun to read about her as a strong independent women. In fact, I'm doing my project on her, so it was nice to read you story on her background. I really enjoyed the part where you described her options on handling the rakshasa. It was very clever. You did a good job using descriptive words, which made it easy to picture the story. Also, I'm excited to see how you're going to focus on the different women in Indian epics. A suggestion to add more to your project could be a banner picture to capture readers. Overall, you did a great job on showing Sita's character, and keep up the good work! I can't wait to see more of your stories.
Hey Brenna! I am so in love with the topic you chose for your portfolio, as there is no shortage of amazing women in the stories that we read for this class, but I feel like there isn't enough time taken to ponder their feelings and emphasize their acts of bravery. I just read your Sita and Viradha and I love how you put more emphasis on the things she did rather than just what she looked like. I think it would be really cool to hear more about how Sita felt about her upbringing and being a daughter that is destined to be married off to the man of her family's choice. One suggestion that I have is cleaning up the layout of your cover page so that it is easily navigable and you can also include a link to your comment wall there if you would like!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! I just wanted to first say that the picture you chose for your banner is beautiful and is quite captivating! I really like the language and tone that you’ve used for your story, especially when you mentioned “growing out of her Uni brow”, I dont know why but I smirked at that. The way that you portray Sita is intense and she really truly is an epic woman, I literally visualized the entire story in my head as I was reading! I look forward to coming back and reading more.
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! First off, your website is great, i love the pictures you have used. I really enjoyed the different stories of sita so i was excited to read this one from the beginning. you do an amazing job of describing sita and making sure all of her emotions and actions are captured through your writing. I was very interested by the story you chose to write about and it only left me wanting to know more about sita and about how her feelings were in many other scenarios. It is nice to see a portfolio about women and i loved how you made your story particularly about her experiences rather than detailing what she was looking like all the time. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! You did such a wonderful job! So far, your website looks on point. I definitely like how you made the title of your website, “The Epic Women of Indian Epics” because it draws people’s attention that are considered about this topic. I definitely love how you added pictures to your home page because it gives the readers a better imagery. One of your stories that I liked, “Sita and the Slaying of the Shapeshifter seemed fascinating! I am glad that you added a lot of descriptions about the characters that makes the reader feel more intruding. It was also awesome that you added options to your story which makes it more intense. Overall, these imaginations from your stories are too creative. I don’t think I have any suggestions so far, but to keep up on the great work you have! Thanks again for sharing, Brenna! Good luck with your semester.
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! Your stories are so wonderful at creating such amazing and detailed characters. I felt like I could really understand both of the women in your stories, as well as some of the minor characters. The story lends itself to giving so much information, establishing aspects of the story like character and setting, with such ease. In the first story, the background information quickly told me that Sita was going to be a badass and easily established where the story was going to take place by using the backstory to lead up to the marriage and exile of Rama and Sita. It would be awesome to see that same type of backstory work in the second one about Draupadi. Good work on all the details!
ReplyDeleteHi Brenna! I love your story with a revamped Sita. I completely agree with you. They portray her through an idealistic lens of ancient India. So, it is great to see someone put a modern twist on it. A lot of people do so by taking an old folk story and moving it to today's time. However, I like that you put today's values into the original story. I particularly enjoyed the part where the men holster their weapons, because they know Sita is fine and will take care of it. I wonder what life was really like for women back when these stories were originating. What if you had her beat up some guys that were trying to come on to her? I know you stated she became more adept at combat to deal with suitors. I would enjoy a part where she actually kicks some guys butt who hits on her. Overall, this was a fun read and was very well done.
ReplyDeleteHey there Brenna!
ReplyDeleteTo start I think you did a great job of telling the backstory of Sita, as well you do a great job of telling her story and how she comes up in her life, adapting to the adversity that is thrown at her. This was a great topic for the story book, because in most stories Sita is a secondary character, yet in this was she is the primary character, so a lot more light is being shined on her. I enjoyed how descriptive you were in the section where you described her opinions on handling the rakshasa. Maybe something to think about that would be good, is shine more light on sita and how she felt about being brought up destined to be married off to the man of her parents’ choice. Finally, maybe clean up the cover page just a little bit at the base, and this might make it a little bit more navigable. But it is a great Story book and I look forward to reading more from it!
Hi Brenna!
ReplyDeleteI like that you gave a powerful voice to the powerful women that we read about. I just finished reading your story over Sita and I loved it! The way you start the story by making it known that Sita, just like everyone else, had awkward years. And you made it apparent that she wasn't the type of princess that waited her whole life for her prince. Instead, she made herself into something that she could be proud of. I like the way that you described her marriage to Rama because even though Sita was fully capable of being alone, she knows that loving someone doesn't make her weak. And then she goes through that whole fight scene like a boss! Good for her! I'm looking forward to coming back next week to read your Draupadi story!
Hi Brenna,
ReplyDeleteI really like your topic that you have chosen to write about. The focus being on a women, and that too fist one being Sita is great. I loved getting to read more about her through your stories. You have shown a new light on her and shows her as a brave person. We don’t really see this in the epics so I am glad you are writing about this. I also like how you focus on more women and not just one person. Your page looks nice and simple and that is the best part. If it had to much going on it would not look classy. You do a good job writing and introduction all the women. I liked seeing the forest story in your writing because I could really compare the story from the epics and to your story. I am looking forward to reading what all you will be doing with your stories and your characters and how you choose to develop them.
Hello Brenna!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the idea of writing stories about the women in the Indian Epic stories. I admire Sita so much and when I saw you were writing about women, I thought to myself, "she has to write a story about Sita." I felt like I could relate to Sita in the story that you wrote. I never pictured Sita as a tomboy and I like how you created the unexpected in your story. That is very creative. The story that you wrote about Sita left me wanting to know more about sita and about how her feelings were in many other scenarios. I hope you write another story to about her. Or make a story to be continued type of thing . Also, I want to applaud you on the authors note. You went into great detail. Was able to figure out exactly what you wanted me to get from the story and how you changed the story around. Greta job!
Hi Brenna!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to see that there is. project that is focusing on the women of the Indian epics. It makes me angry/sad for the women in these stories because they are constantly being taken advantage of, mistreated, or undervalued. In particular, Sita's story drives me nuts. She literally walks through fire for Rama and he still turns her away. Your spin on Satyavati was really intriguing and fun to read! I love that you had her use economic principle to weigh the pros and cons of sleeping with the RIshi. In your second story, I love the strength of will that you give Amba. I think you bring up a really great point in your author's note about intellectual strength being an important tool and trait for a warrior to have. Overall, great job with this! I think it is great that you’re allowing the women to be individuals in their own right!
Hi Brenna! Firstly, I want to tell you that I love the topic of your portfolio. I feel like the epics we have read throughout this class have had many powerful women so I love that you decided to focus your stories on them. The images of the women on homepage are nice touch! It helps bring the characters to life so we can imagine them while we read your stories. Sita is one of my favorite characters in the Ramayana. I love that you portrayed her as this warrior queen. The first line in that story: "The fair queen of the noble Rama was anything but a trophy wife." That was epic! That was such a great start to your story and I was pulled in right from the beginning because of that. One of my favorite lines from that story is towards the end when you wrote about how Rama and Lakshmana were used to being benched by warrior women. I actually chuckled at that. I think you're doing an amazing job with these stories! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHey Brenna! Went through and looked at your portfolio project website. First off, I absolutely loved reading through your stories! They were all so great, and I especially loved the way you tell the story. You did a great job at adding humorous details, adding childhood anecdotes to further characterize the women, and most importantly, creating twists so that these women could devise their own ways to get out of whatever pickle they were in! I really enjoyed how you told all of the stories in different perspectives (like as though they were more modern day women); it made the stories very easy to read. The only thing I would add is that I actually wrote a story about Draupadi as well, and as I was researching, I found out that Yudhishthira could not turn down a dice game because he was of the caste kshatriya. This made the original story make a lot more sense, because I also did not initially understand why he kept on playing!
ReplyDeleteHi there, Brenna! Your portfolio website is set up so well. I do not know how you got your pictures for each story to line up side by side, but I love it. It is awesome that you have all four stories up already. I just finished my project myself. I think you did a fantastic job adding more to your characters. Often in these epics, women are described as helpless, and you changed that. As I stated before, I love that you've continued to put today's values into these stories. A lot of people "mix up their stories" by moving those tales to a more modern setting. I prefer the way you do it. What if you include a story where a man is in desperate need of a woman's assistance? I love all the female ass-kickery. Might as well add in some more role reversal by making a guy the "damsel in distress."
ReplyDeleteHey Brenna! Your project site is so well done! You have obviously put a lot of work and time into this project to make it flourish. Your writing is so well done and I love what you have done to these stories to make them your own. I love that you chose to focus on the women bring a little power back to females. I love it when people kick the "damsel in distress" archetype to the curb and show how badass women really are.
ReplyDelete