The Rise of Leicester City

One of the greatest moments in Barclay's Premier League history happened not that long ago. You see, there once was a football team (real football, not American Football) who did what some would consider impossible. Leicester City is this football team. They play out of King Power Stadium in Leicester, England. This team started at the very bottom of the league, having just been bumped up from the lower league into the Premier league and having just barely avoided relegation back to the lower league. No one really thought of them, they didn't have any major star player, well except maybe James Vardy. Over the course of season, however, they just about became one of the most known and at the top of the Premier league.

No one would have thought Leicester City would win the Premier League that season. They did though. Having only one somewhat well known player didn't convince anyone they could do what they did. They started from the bottom of the table, put in a lot of hard work and wound up at the very top with a trophy to take home with them. Leicester City beat a 5,000 to 1 odd by winning the Premier League. That's absolutely incredible. It almost seems mythical. In fact, their journey to victory is very similar to a heroic journey in mythology. They rose from the ashes of the bottom of the table and became champions, just like a hero rises from conflict and defeats the issues in order to become of better person.

I really love Leicester City's story. It shows that even the underdogs can win. All it takes is hard work, dedicated players, working together, and confidence in your team. Leicester City's story could easily be a mythological hero's journey to success seeing as they did something so many thought would be impossible to do in one season. It would have seemed plausible over several seasons of course, but not over the course of one season. We can learn something from Leicester's story, another similarity to mythology. Leicester taught us exactly what you need to win and it isn't about having star players.

The Mythical Land of Florida and the Florida Man

Florida is known to many as the sunshine state. We have beaches, theme parks, and year-round sunshine. Tourists fill the streets of Florida, especially Orlando, to see all the joys our great state has to offer. However, all this sunshine still cannot mask the absolute absurdity and ridiculousness Florida residents are or deal with.
Often, Florida is known as the United States version of Australia. We are a state filled with scary animals, such as the Floridian Swamp Cat (Google it, I promise you won't regret it) as well as crazy people, aka the Florida Man. In fact, my favorite description of Florida is, "Florida is a godless place. I went there once, got in the ocean, and immediately had to evacuate because a bull shark was swimming right towards me. There was an alligator on the side of the freeway. Meth addicts and men on tractors roam free. Florida is America's Australia." Promptly after this description someone responded with "Leave us alone." Florida has quite the reputation for being a mythical and crazy place. One of the most well-known characters being the Florida Man. The Florida Man will quite often pop up in headlines linked with absurd crimes and a not so pretty, if not terrifying, mugshot. From getting into brick fights, dancing on police cruisers to ward off vampires, throwing alligators at fellow citizens, and most famously: eating faces off of people while on baths salts (happened not once, but twice now). There is no end to the madness of the Florida Man.
In the end, Floridians are really in their own world. We do crazy things, have crazy creatures, and inhibit some weird, crazy people. We are a land of strange, often making people think if we are an actual place of existence and not some mythological land of crazies. Floridians, however, will most liking never change. We are a diverse culture that really doesn't know what to do with its self. We will keep loving up the sunshine and keep doing what we do best: being the stupidest and craziest people in all of America.

For more crazy headlines read this article:
https://mic.com/articles/107372/49-tremendous-things-florida-men-accomplished-this-year#.vEqYWigps

Devi: The Great Goddess

Devi, The Great Goddess, is all around one of the most complex goddess I have ever read about. She is also my favorite. Devi is embodied in many different forms and has very many different aspects ranging from cosmic force to woman saint. Some of her various forms are monster slayer Durga, Kali, the black one, and the manifestation of the anger of Parvati. She is known as "the gentle and approachable mother" and helps her people when and where she can. I love how she ranges in her various forms. In some cases she is a protector and in other cases she is a destroyer, although most of the time she is destroying something that would harm her people. There is no one side of Devi, which makes her a very powerful goddess. While traditionally, Devi has not been interpreted as a role model for women, this idea could be changing. Her strength and variability are inspiring for women of today and for the future. As women progress and advance in today's world, Devi could become more of an icon for Indian women. Devi is my favorite not just for her versatility, but also for the message she could give for women to come. Being a women is not just about child bearing. It's about being strong and helping others around you. Devi shows just that.

Moana

Despite losing an interest in Disney movies lately, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I truly enjoyed Moana. It was a very well done movie and it had a ton of mythological aspects which was fun to dive into. I have never really delved deep into Pacific Island Culture, however after watching Moana, I find I may do just that.

Maui's character as a demigod is rather intriguing and as we have mentioned in discussions, very similar to Prometheus from the Greek Pantheon. Maui in his lifetime does so many things to help humans and his people to thrive. Similarly Prometheus, does what he can to help humans even going as far as stealing fire from the gods in order to protect and help humanity. Maui, in the movie Moana, attempts to steal the heart of Te Fiti, which is said to give the power to create, in order to create good things for his people. Both of these deities wanted to do something to help their people, and both were punished for it. Prometheus, ordered by Zeus, was chained to a rock  where an eagle would eat his liver everyday as punishment. Maui was banished to an desert island after the earth monster Te Ka struck him down and the heart was lost at sea. Two very similar stories in two different cultures.

Moana is also an epic journey led by the heroine Moana herself on her quest to find Maui and make him return the heart of Te Fiti. These two heroes embark on a crazy journey that takes them to many places, faces challenges, learning new things, and defeating major monsters along the way. Another similar tale can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. These myths involve a demigod/king, who, with his friend Enkidu, go on many adventures, defeating monsters. In his death, Enkidu helps Gilgamesh cast away much of his vanity and pride in order to search for the meaning of life and death. Moana and Maui's quest are very similar. Maui at the beginning holds a lot vanity and feels very highly of himself. Moana ultimately humbles Maui, however in this case without dying. Maui does help Moana learn more about herself as well. In the end, Maui and Moana learn about the importance of life and creation. Once again two similar mythologies, from two different cultures.

Moana is a wonderful movie and the story within it is even better. Just like many mythologies, Moana teaches you about life and the values we live by. For me, it is a refreshing taste to finally see something more culturally different than the typically Disney movie. I look forward to seeing more branches out by Disney and hopefully more stories with mythological similarities.

Why Zombies?

Post Apocalyptic novels and movies are some of the most intriguing and unsettling stories out there. For centuries, people have been creating apocalypse myths. Why? Well the answer is probably very similar to the reason why we have creation myths. The human mind, as I said before, does not like to deal with the unknown. Humans have a drive like no other to discover anything and everything there is to know about the world. Seeing as the creation of our world has already occurred, it is much easier to come up with why and how we were created. Our demise, however, is not so easy seeing as it hasn't happened yet. I find the apocalyptic myths vary greatly. In some cases such as Judgement Day, God comes and takes believers to Heaven while others wait to find out where they shall go. Whereas, today, a major theories could be the sun burning out, complete natural destruction of our planet, and most popular Zombies.

I have always wondered: why Zombies? While I still really can't answer this question, I do have at least a guess. Due to our technological advancements and scientific discoveries, it would seem very possible that a disease could be created or could be spread very rapidly through our world. Hundreds of years ago, traveling across seas wasn't that easy, nor was it common. This would have made a zombie apocalypse much harder to happen at such a rapid pace that we see in the movies where overnight it seems almost everyone in the world has become a zombie. Today, with airplanes and cruises, a zombie apocalypse at such a rapid speed, could very well be possible.

Another rather interesting thing you may notice in Zombie movies, is that they end with a ray of hope. A hope for humanity to prevail after such tragedy can be seen in several zombie movies. For instance in World War Z, Brad Pitts character ultimately discovers how to become immune from the disease and stop it from spreading. This, while doesn't completely solve the fact that millions of Zombies are still running around killing people, does shine some hope to at least prevent further infection and begin the new start for those still living on Earth. In I am Legend, the alternate ending not the original, it ends with Will Smith's character realizing that the infected still have some form of humanity seeing as the alpha male who is after him just wanted to get the female infected that Will Smith had taken at the beginning of the movie. This leads to Will Smith giving the girl back and being spared by the infected alpha male, unlike the original where he blows himself up to save the other two survivors. Even non-zombie apocalyptic movies have hopeful endings, Hunger games, ends with Katniss having a family and living happily ever after.

So why do these "myths" end with hope? What if the human mind just can't comes to terms with the ultimate demise? Hope is ingrained in our system. Even if the world ends, we like to think there is some light at the end of the tunnel. This explains why in you go to heaven or hell in some mythology after the world ends. So that you have something to look forward to or hope for even when you are gone. We will never know what will happen when the world ends or why it ends until it happens. My hope is that we as humans can find it on ourselves to want to save our world and try to live on it as long as possible. Our world won't last forever, just like we won't, but if we can give ourselves a few more hundred years, then why not?

Kevin Hart's Journey to Save his Daughter

One of my favorite Super Bowl Commercials is the one where Kevin Hart keeps track and a watchful eye on his daughter while she is on a date. The idea behind the commercial is that Kevin Hart uses his new Hyundai to track down his daughter and her date. As their rather extravagate date night goes on Kevin Hart pops up in places only the boyfriend/date can see ultimately scaring the guy out of doing anything Kevin Hart felt was inappropriate for his daughter. By the time they wrap up their date, the guy is so scared he races the daughter home and leaves jumping at the sound of the car locking. It is a truly brilliant commercial.

The interesting thing about the commercial is the similarities it has to mythology. Kevin Hart could be looked at as a hero on a long journey to ultimately save his daughter from impurity or the evil of the world that has taken shape as a attract male. Seeing as Kevin Hart goes to so much trouble as even getting a helicopter at the end to scare the guy once and for all, you could surely see how epic this story really is. The daughter and the guy have a rather extravagate date night. They start at the movies where Mr. Hart is waiting just a few rows behind eating popcorn. From there they leave for what appears to be a state fair with Mr. Hart hiding in the plethora of stuffed animals as the guy wins a game for the daughter.  Hoping to avoid anymore pop ups by Mr. Hart, the date decides to take his girl all the way to a beautiful "cliff" area where one would think no one would think of even going. However, Mr. Hart succeeds in finding them using a helicopter as he dangles with a megaphone to insure that the date understands he has messed with the wrong father. The date now most likely fearing his life hastily drives the daughter, who is now rather disappointed, home where he very skittishly hands Mr. Hart his keys back and briskly walks away jumping as Kevin Hart locks the car. This is no doubt quite an epic tale with the heroic father, struggles to track them down, goes to great efforts, and ultimately conquers in his feat to save and protect his daughter.

There are many myths in many different cultures who in some way, shape, or form have featured a similar story, although it was more likely a hero saving the love of his life and not his daughter. This could easily be a modern interpretation of those myths. The cultures of the past and the cultures of today share much in common, maybe even more than we like to think. One of those is the love a father has for their daughter and what that father will go to in order to protect her. Kevin Hart is no different in that aspect as I am very sure this is something he would actually want to do as his daughter, who is still too young for a boyfriend, ultimately gets older.

Why Floods? (plus chinese zodiac)

There could be several reasons why flood myths exist. Flooding could just be frequent in that culture, they story could be a way to guide people, or maybe someone just wanted to tell a good story and it was just a coincidence that many cultures have one? While the last option is plausible, it is most unlikely. If I were to guess, the answer would more likely be one of the other options.

In different regions of the world, flooding may be a common thing that happens every once in a while, like how we discussed in class about Egypt where the Nile would flood every so often. That could be a very likely explanation to their flood myth. What is interesting about their flood myth is that, the God Ra ultimately decides against Hathor killing all of the people. In reality, floods from the Nile river most likely did not end up killing all the people, just how Ra stops Hathor from killing all the people. The climate and environment of the Nile river could have very much affected this myth. The same could go for some of the other myths. Places where flooding was very uncommon could explain why almost all of the people died in those myths just like how a society unaccustomed to floods would experience more deaths.

Stories often have themes or moral ideas within them. I feel myths are no different. The flood myths could easily be a way for elders, parents, or even government like structures to mold their people's morals. In other words, by telling a story about how a god decided to kill almost every one but say a few people because humans have become corrupt and terrible, you could easily persuade a group of people to behave, especially children. If children grow up hearing about their god nearly destroying humanity because they became bad, those children may be more inclined to be good and stick to their moral compass.

I actually found the flood myths very intriguing seeing as how several seem to be very similar yet they were documented at different times and places. For instance how Israel's flood myth is very similar to the Greek flood myth.

Chinese Zodiac

I am a tiger, specifically an Earth tiger which slightly disappointed me since I wanted to be a water tiger. I actually found that most of the characteristics of the tiger were not very like me. For instance, the tiger is said to be brave, cruel and forceful, which I am not entirely. I can be brave sometimes but the cruel and forceful is no where close seeing as I am shy and way to nice sometimes. I personally really like the zodiac signs that we are more accustomed to. In those signs, I'm a pisces, which are said to be compassionate, gentle and wise. I am gentle for sure, I don't like being aggressive unless it is necessary. I love helping others, which is the compassionate side of me. I would be curious in seeing if anyone else agrees with what their Chinese or even constellation zodiac says about them.

Science and Mythology

Can it be possible for both mythology and science to coexist?  I think so, I mean why couldn't they?

It was interesting that this topic came up seeing as a few days ago I read an article from 2014 in the Washington Post on Pope Francis and how he stated that he did not necessarily disagree with evolution. In fact, Pope Francis was basically supporting evolution saying "Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve." Essentially, Pope Francis was saying that both science and the religious belief in a god can coincide. Both science and religious beliefs can be true. So while evolution is how we change and evolve as a species, Pope Francis would say that it is God who created what allows us to evolve. I myself am not very religious and do not associate myself with any religion, however I do respect and find intrigue in the beliefs of religions and mythology. I very much believe that something is out there greater than us, but I also believe that science is one of human natures greatest tools in achieving answers that we have yet to discover.

Mythology and Science are very important to our society. Which is more important would be up to your own opinion. I feel that these two ideas balance our society. Without one, our society would be imbalanced. Mythology gives us the ideas and stories that intrigue and spark new innovations in our minds. Science gives us the right tools to investigate and try those innovations, whether it's proving mythology right or wrong or just to explain why people have created mythology. For example, in the legend of the minotaur where people believed the ground would shake due to the minotaur's roar under the earth in the labyrinth, it was science that ultimately discovered that those "shakes" were actually earthquakes. Science helped us understand why these people created the minotaur myth. With out the myth, Science wouldn't have anything to explain. Without Science, people would most likely still be thinking there was a minotaur under the earth causing the ground to shake.

One of my many hopes for our world and society is that one day, everyone could except each other's ideas and opinion. I find that we as a society have become very closed minded to others and that needs to change. We all don't have to agree, however we should all be able to get along in this world. Agreeing to disagree with respect for the other person's opinions and ideas would be the first step to solving many issues we all seem to be dealing with.

Creation Myths

Myths are one of the most amazing pieces of literature to read. The creativity in them is beyond most other forms of writing. Myths bring you to an entirely different way of thinking about the world through it's creativity. To think that it was people who thought of these stories and the imagination they had to have is crazy. Is it though?
Everyone at some point in their life has thought about why they are here. Why are we in this world? Are we made to be here, or are we just a coincidence? I have no doubt that those who created these myths thought these questions as well. Humans are curious creatures who want answer to all questions. It can be extremely unsettling no knowing things in our lives. To put to rest the unrest, I believe these people used myths. Having an explanation, whether plausible or not, settles the feeling of not knowing . It is much easy to have stories that explain natural phenomena than to go about life not knowing. Creations myths are one of the many examples. These people didn't know how the world started, even today we can't give a hundred percent correct explanation. In order to settle the unrest of these unanswered questions, they created stories to explain them in ways that made sense and were natural to them. So many different cultures have their own creation myth that explains to them how the world started in a way that reflected their culture as well. This is why the Icelandic creation myth has frost giants. Other cultures, such as the Native American and Meso-Americans probably would be in a different climate in which a frost giant would not make sense and so it isn't in their creation myth. The themes of creation myths, however, tend to cross paths.
Many creation myths, and myths in general, are very good at providing morals to those that hear or read them. Often times the theme of good vs evil is presented, such as how good and evil came about. I find this as not only the most interesting theme of myths but also one of the most important. All morals are surrounded by the idea of good vs evil. We are nice to each other because the opposite would to be mean. We help others because the opposite would be being rude or neglectful to someone. If we didn't have myths such as creation myths to tell us good vs evil, how else would we learn it? How else would people know that being good is better than being bad? Creation myths give us a society with ideals and morals of which that can be passed down and taught. They greatly affect ourselves individually and as a whole. Our morals or lack of thereof guide us in life.

My name is Emily, I am a sophomore at Valencia and planning to graduate after this coming summer semester. My goal is to eventually become a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner after attending UCF and graduating with a doctorate degree. I'm a huge soccer fan and love working with the Orlando City soccer team volunteering at the games when I can. I am extremely fascinated by mythology and chose to name my blog after the lunar goddess Achelois. I love the moon so much that I actually now have a tattoo of it. I love going to new places and learning about the different areas. I want to travel to many places, especially Europe. I look forward to this semester and everything to come.

This is a photo I took at Red Rocks in Denver, Colorado on a trip for my uncle's wedding.