Feedback Thoughts

The two articles I read for Articles on getting feedback.

• Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head
• Why Rejection Hurts and What to Do About It

The two articles I read for Articles on giving feedback.

• The Difference Between Praise That Promotes Narcissism vs. Healthy Self-Esteem
• Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback

Giving Feedback

I think the article that I took the most away from is the Key Characteristics of Better Learning Feedback. I felt like this article clearly explained the ways to give great feedback. It broke it down into seven key things that make some feedback better than others. I appreciated how he explained in detail how each of the key points contribute to making better feedback. Anytime I give feedback it usually comes in the form of a “good job”, “nice try”, or even “I think this aspect could be different”. Reading this article made me realize that my input is important, and I need to make an effort to give valuable feedback. I think his advice on giving “actionable information” is something that I need to make more of an effort doing. Instead of just giving advice on what I didn’t think worked, or what I liked, I need to give more detailed feedback to help the person see how they can improve or what made their work good. I need to work on not only giving feedback but receiving feedback. In high school when we were given back essays or stories that we had written, I never looked at the comments and feedback that the teacher wrote throughout the paper. I know that I am not a good writer and it makes me self -conscious when people point out my spelling or grammar mistakes. So I need to listen to the article when it says that feedback isn’t an attack on the person, but a guide to helping them improve. 

Week 2 Story Planning: Cupid and Psyche

For my story, I’m thinking of setting it in modern day Hollywood. Venus would be a well-established celebrity. Psyche would be a new girl on the scene who quickly steals Venus’ spotlight. Through the tabloids, Venus will find out that she is going to be replaced with the newer, prettier Psyche. To get revenge and to keep her title Venus sends her son Cupid to try and ruin Psyche image. I’m not sure how he will do this yet. I still need to figure out what exactly he could do to ruin Psyche reputation. After Cupid starts to do this though, he falls in love with Psyche and wants to be with her. Psyche at this point knows it is Cupid who she has been hanging out with, but she doesn’t know his motivations. Soon Cupid proposes to Psyche and Venus finds out that he hasn’t been pretending to like her this whole time. Venus also finds out that Psyche is pregnant with Cupid’s baby. Even with that news she becomes angry and tries to hurt Psyche. At first Cupid doesn’t stand up to his mother and he breaks off the engagement with Psyche. However, after a while he does talk to his mom, and he gets back with Psyche and goes through with the marriage. Soon after they get married Psyche has the baby which is a girl.

 

(Cupid and Psyche)

Maybe is could write this as a series of tabloid articles. Each title would represent a new event that has happened in the story. Underneath that would be an article going into more detail about what happened. It would all be stylized after how magazines and tabloids write their articles. If that doesn’t work out then I would try to write it from Cupid’s perspective since he is kinda on both sides, and he is the one who changes his mind halfway through Venus’ plan.

Bibliography: Cupid and Psyche, written by Apuleius and translated English by Tony Kline. A fairy tale included in the novel The Golden Ass.

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche: Part B

Cupid was at his mother’s (Venus’) house after Psyche accidentally burned him with candle wax. Venus heard about her son being hurt, though what she was told was greatly overstated. This is exactly what Hollywood tabloids do with celebrity news. They take a simple story and twist it so much that it seems like a bigger deal than it actually is. With Cupid gone all dealings that have to do with love and kindness were lost. Venus is extremely angry when she finds out that Cupid is in love with Psyche. This makes her dislike Psyche even more. Venus wants to get revenge on both Cupid and Psyche. Psyche seeks the help and protection from the goddesses Ceres and Juno. Ceres cannot help her because she is such a close friend to Venus. Juno is unable to help Psyche as well. Since they were of no help, Psyche decides to confront Venus herself. So, she tries to find a way to get to Venus’ house. Venus sets a reward for anyone who can tell her the location of Psyche. Psyche is soon found and brought to Venus. Venus has Psyche beaten and tortured by her servants. Maybe this could be represented as Venus’ friends slandering her name in the tabloids. Venus thinks that this is all funny. Now Venus is putting Psyche to the test by making her sort out piles of different beans and grains. Ants quickly came to Psyche’s aid and helped her sort out the pile. Now Psyche must get golden fleece from sheep that graze in a field nearby. Psyche didn’t want to try and complete this task so she decided to throw herself off a cliff. However, as she went to do this she was given the advice to wait till the sheep cool off in the evening and look for their wool and branches. Even still Venus didn’t give her approval. So, she told Psyche to go to the river Styx and the river Cocytus and to get water from them. With the help of Jupiter’s eagle, Psyche was able to get the water from the river into a vial. Even after this Venus is not impressed so she wants Psyche to go to the underworld to meet Proserpine. She needed to ask her for a bit of her beauty. Even though she was told not to look in the jar, she was too curious. When she went to look she instantly fell asleep. However, Cupid found her and was able to wake her up. He asked Jupiter for help to get back at Venus. Jupiter called for a meeting of all the gods and told everyone that Cupid and Psyche were going to get married.

(Psyche, by Waterhouse)

Now we are back to the old woman who was originally telling the story. The robbers packed up their stuff and went to a cave to get more. The robbers want to kill the donkey because he is not very helpful. The donkey is now thinking of how to escape his death. As he tried to escape the old woman caught him and pulled him back. The kidnapped girl helped the donkey escape and rode him to safety. The donkey finally turns back into his human form.

Bibliography: Cupid and Psyche, written by Apuleius and translated English by Tony Kline. A fairy tale included in the novel The Golden Ass.

Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part A

The narrator is a man turned donkey, who is traveling with a bunch of thieves. Why is this guy a donkey, and what does he have to do with the plot? The thieves kidnap a girl from a wealthy family. The girl was going to get married the day she was taken by the robbers. She was getting married to her cousin. An old woman is with the robbers, she is trying to comfort the girl by telling her a story. Why is the old woman with the robbers in the first place?

(Psyche Transported, by Giordano)

The story starts with the youngest daughter to the king and queen, her beauty is indescribable with mortal words. Many people speculated that this girl could be the goddess Venus herself. People stopped worshiping Venus and started worshiping the princess. Venus became very angry at the thought of being replaced by a mortal. Venus is going to get revenge on Psyche stealing her spotlight! This kinda sounds like celebrities these day, always jealous when a new star comes into town and steals their spotlight. I can see the headlines now “Psyche, the new Venus?”. Maybe I can set my story in modern day Hollywood were Venus is a well-established A-Lister, and Psyche is a new star to roll through town, and she quickly steal Venus’ fame. Venus wants Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the worst guy there is, the unluckiest guy on earth. Even though Psyche was such a beautiful no one wanted to marry her. An oracle told her father that she will get married, but it will be the death of her. She was taken to the palace of a god. There are invisible servants at this palace. Everyone back home thinks she is dead and her sisters are going to go to the cliff where Psyche was left to mourn. Psyche is told that she can’t respond or even look at her sisters or it will bring her a lot of pain and misery. Psyche convinced her husband (who is also invisible) to let her see her sisters, but he said she shouldn’t listen to their advice if they tell her to try and reveal his true self to her. When her sisters saw all that she had, they became jealous and angry. They are going to plot to harm or even murder her because they don’t think she deserves her riches. She revealed her husband to be Cupid himself. Maybe this could tie in to something online, where neither see each other face, but Psyche can’t help but find out who she is talking to. She goes to her sisters and makes up a story that Cupid wants to take one of them as his wife, that sister, without second thought, jumps from the cliff and dies. After that she goes to her second sister and says the same thing, and the same outcomes happens.

Bibliography: Cupid and Psyche, written by Apuleius and translated English by Tony Kline. A fairy tale included in the novel The Golden Ass.