Week 2 Project Brainstorming: Topics

Bad Girls of Mythology

• The word "bad" in this sense would not mean evil, corrupt, or wrathful. Instead, it would mean awesome, in-control, and owning it. This storybook would take the more modern usage of "bad" (as often is used in songs to describe bad b**ches) and relate it to seriously cool goddesses who know how great they are and expect to be worshipped. I might up the drama and make it similar to "Bad Girls Club," a television show where bossy, entitled women are thrown in a house to party together. I might have them live together and throw in some drama between them, but I don't want it to be full of catty behavior and rudeness like the TV show is. I want them to find a camaraderie in their shared boss-status and fierceness. 
• I feel like Persephone would be good for this storybook because she has a crappy fate, but ends up being a very powerful player. I think she would be an social media queen if she were a modern woman. I'd use her story from the un-textbook to show how she got where she is but use outside sources to show that she's really a bada** who is here to take the world by storm. I mean come on! She's the queen of the underworld! Her Wikipedia page along with information from Theoi Greek Mythology and Mythic Arts will allow me to give her more character, personality, and sass. Plus, it would help me characterize her in a more modern way.
• This storybook would likely be set in modern times and so I would have to do some real alteration to the stories, but it could be a lot of fun. 

Animals

• This would focus on gods/goddesses and their animal companions. It would highlight the relationship between animals and divine women. It would pain loving pictures of companionship, love, and awesome power. It would be like if you took the Disney princess Jasmine and her pet tiger, Raj, and gave her divine powers; sort of like princesses with powers, pets, and personality to spare. The Egyptian goddess Bastet would be a great example of someone I could include in this storybook due to her binding relationship with cats. In fact, most Egyptian gods/goddesses would be great to write about if focusing on relationships with animals. 
• The Santal Folktales and Khasi Folktales units of the un-textbook would be really great for this storybook. 

Finding Your Inner Goddess, A Guide Through Examples

• This would be part self-help, part storybook. It would use examples of strong goddesses to teach others how to find their inner goddess and become more confident, powerful, and strong. It would tell of these amazing, powerful goddesses and would choose a story for each goddess to use as an example of their awesomeness and why someone would aspire to be like them. Each story would aim to teach a lesson and help guide the reader to empowerment. It would be fun, but include some of the ways self-improvement could positively impact your life. It would be mostly geared towards women though, which could be boring for some of the male students in the class. 
• This would also be a fun way to do some self-evaluation and soul searching for me. I would have to think about what aspects of goddesses are positive and important and how I would want to incorporate that into my own life. 
• Isis might be a really good goddess for this. I could use her story from the un-textbook, The Journey of Isis , as well as further information about her from Egyptianmyths.net , Wikipedia , Britannica , and Goddessgift.com. After all, Isis is the Egyptian mother of all! She would be a great goddess to highlight the best of womanhood. 
• Britomart from the un-textbook might also be cool for this storybook and would become an honorary goddess. She was a female knight and faerie queen, but i'm not sure yet. Here's her Wiki page just in case though. 
• I bet I could also find some cool goddesses in the Japanese mythology reading unit too! 

Women Scorned

• This would be similar to a documentary-style TV show that is both entertaining and based on "true" events. It would profile the women/goddesses and what led up to them freaking out and exacting revenge or otherwise demonstrating their wrath and ending up in jail. It's kind of like the TV show, "Snapped" which is about women who just snap and kill someone, but with goddesses who demonstrated both their power and their fury after being mistreated.  
• One story that would fit in this category would be Venus and Psyche from my week 2 reading. Venus feels she has been wronged from the beginning by Psyche after people start worshiping her as an incarnation of Venus due to her beauty. However, things really go sour when Venus tells her son Cupid to screw Psyche over and instead, he falls in love with her and marries her in secret. I would use the Cupid and Psyche reading unit and tell the story of Psyche and Cupid's love affair and Psyche's beauty in third person, then have a section where Venus gets to give her input on the situation. I would pull information from Wikipedia, the Ancient History Encyclopedia, and Theoi Greek Mythology to ensure that I get Venus's personality right and can include more information about her in order to give some background about why she did what she did (her motive). 

The Bro Code 

• This would be a humorous storybook that would tell the tales of "true bros" and what all bros should learn from their stories. It would focus on friendship/brohood, how to treat your fellow bros, and what men of the past can teach men of today. I think it would be a pretty funny storybook and it would feature such names as Poseidon, Zeus, Rama, Sinbad, etc. 
• My knowledge from being in Indian Epics and reading The Ramayana will help me a lot, plus the Ramayana reading unit will refresh my memory. Rama would be a good person to include in this because he's seen as a great example of honor and manliness, but he is not devoid of emotion. Hanuman would also be good for this, maybe a story with him and Rama, a story of their strong friendship and loyalty, would be good! 
• Another male character could be Sinbad the Sailor. His Wikipedia page paints him as a great hero who goes on many wondrous adventures. Surely, he could lend some insight and advice to this storybook.