Tech Tip: Canvas Profile

For this week's Tech Tip, I decided to explore personalizing my Canvas profile page. Surprisingly, all of my classes are on Canvas this semester so I figured it would be helpful to add a little bit of information about myself. I included my major (Health and Exercise Science/Pre-Physical Therapy) and added a picture. The photo I chose is one of my favorite headshots that my friend Emma, who is a professional photographer, took and I picked it because I felt that it was the most professional picture of me to display. I'm glad to know how to personalize my profile!

Week 3 Storytelling: Saint Comgall and the Friendly Mice

There once was a friendly and loving Saint named Comgall who lived in the beautiful green hills near the town of Bangor. Even though the hills were luscious and filled with beautiful flowers and ancient trees, Comgall never felt quite right living on his own because of those he saw in the town. He felt badly for the orphans and poor children of the land, so he opened his own monastery where they could all learn, laugh, play, and be together forever. He taught the eager students to interact with nature and to love all animals they encountered, from the swans in the lake and the bears in the forest to the rabbits in the field and the mice in the monastery. Saint Comgall showed his students to look out for these dear animals and to perform small acts of kindness for them whenever possible because one day, these small animals may return the favor. In this way, the pupils continued for several years.

(Comgall's Monastery in the hills near Bangor. Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Unfortunately, one winter, it became much colder than it had ever been in the past, which limited the amount of food that the town or monastery could gather and prepare. Comgall gave up his most of his own rations each day so that his pupils could eat and have full stomachs while they tried to learn. At last, however, the rations were so small that even Comgall's meager portions could not feed the poor children. They began to starve, growing weak and thin, with sunken faces and a diminished light in their eyes. Comgall could no longer stand the sight of such hunger in his precious children, so he decided to visit Prince Norbert, the monastery's neighbor, to ask for more portions of food. It was rumored that the Prince had more than his fair portion of grains and Comgall believed that he could appeal to the goodness in the Prince Norbert's heart by telling him about the children.
Comgall walked to Norbert's palace and knocked on the door, hoping to convince him to help the young pupils of his monastery. Instead, he was surprised to see a wicked, old woman crack open the door, peering through with one eye. She instantly slammed it in Comgall's face and then he heard a loud voice.

(The harsh winter they faced. Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

"Lurch! Dear, Mother Lurch! Who was at the door?!" a man shrieked in a high-pitched voice. The door immediately swung open to reveal the ugly and cruel Prince Norbert with a half-eaten loaf of bread in his hand. "What do you want?"
"My sir, Prince Norbert, my name is Saint Comgall and I own the monastery just next door. Our poor students are starving and they are but young children. Could you spare a loaf of bread or two?" Comgall pleaded.
Without hesitation, Prince Norbert responded, "No, Dear Lurch and I will have all of the bread to ourselves and, mind you, we will enjoy it!" as he slammed the door in Comgall's face yet again. Comgall was devastated and stood still for a moment before thinking to himself.
"Hmm...I know the world Lurch... it means "mouse"... and I know a few mouse friends of who would love to help me out..." Comgall pondered as he walked home to the monastery empty-handed.

As soon as he entered his home, he ran to the dining hall and clapped his hands twice- the cue for all of his mouse to run out of their holes in the wall. Over one hundred mice soon surrounded him, scampering around and on top of him, as he explained the monastery's plight. Each mouse, angered by the words of Prince Norbert and his mother Lurch, vowed to help Comgall however they could. They schemed into the late hours of the night before they settled on a plan and returned to Prince Norbert's palace. Comgall led the mice up to the door, where he pointed to a small hole in the wooden door he had noticed earlier, and let all of them scurry in one by one to overtake the palace.
Norbert and Lurch each awoke with screams as they felt furry bodies surround them and heard small squeals in the night before realizing that they were being carried out of the palace on the backs of a wave of small animals. They grasped at the doors and furniture to keep from being taken from the palace, but the mice were too fast and dashed to the door, still carrying the Prince and his mother. Comgall smiled with delight as he watched how Norbert and Lurch were so kindly escorted from the palace and into the dark of the early morning, leaving the door wide open and the grains unattended.

(The mice scheming all night to help Comgall. Photo from Pexels)

At sunrise, Comgall rushed home to the monastery to wake all of the hungry children and lead them to Prince Norbert's palace. When they arrived, he flung the door open to show the magnificent meal he had prepared after the mice had taken Norbert and Lurch. There were bagels, toast, fruits, oatmeal, apples, oranges, nuts, and anything else the children desired. They screamed with joy and swarmed Comgall to embrace and thank him while he stood at the door smiling at his happy students. And when he glanced out the door, he caught the eye of one of his mouse friends, who smiled at him before scurrying back into the forest to make sure that Norbert and Lurch never returned so the children of the monastery could fill their empty bellies at last.

Author's Note:
For this story from Saints and Animals, I kept the basic plot the same with Comgall owning the monastery, his kind and friendly interactions with animals, and when all of his students were starving during the harsh winter. When he asked for the Prince's help, he was turned away and asked his friends, the mice, to help him. However, in the original, the mice actually eat all of the grains and leave Prince Croadh and Lurch with nothing. I wanted to change the ending so that the children actually got to eat the food rather than only the mice being fed. I thought it would be a little happier of an ending for the young children to be happy and full! I also expanded on how evil and cruel the Prince and his mother were as well as changed the name of the Prince to Norbert, which I found to be even uglier and nastier than Croadh. I had fun trying to make this story sound like a children's book as well as making my own additions!

Bibliography: 
Link to Saints and Animals, based on Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown

Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part B

The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall:

• Saint Gudwall moved to a new home on the Welsh coast with his pupil in a deep cave where they could keep their books and belongings
• The sea became angry as winter arrived and washed out the cave and drenched them both
• But the fish of the sea built a barrier between Gudwall and the sea so he could still live there
• Could add some drama by having Gudwall's pupil swept out to sea with the waves and Gudwall and the fish must search for him in the angry and intense waves

The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe:

• A little Irish baby named Ailbe was abandoned by his parents and taken in by a kind mother wolf, who raised him as her own with her wolf pups
• One day, a hunter prince found Ailbe in the forest and took him home to his wife, despite the protests and pursuit of his wolf family
• He was richly raised in a castle, became the Bishop, and protected his wolf family from harm of hunters while providing food for them everyday
• Something to change would be to have his cruel first parents enter the story again and see how he would react to them

The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags:

• Athracta was a beautiful maiden princess who yearned only to be in the wild until she was bidden by the King to help build a fort without the help of a man
• When she had chopped enough trees, her poor horses could not carry it so she called to the stags of the wood who flocked to ger to pull the wagon
• When the chains broke, she fixed them with her beautiful hair and the King realized she was more powerful than he was 
• Could change it so that her hair didn't fix the chain, so other creatures of the woods came to help her carry the wood

The Ballad of Saint Felix:

•  In Italy, there was a cruel emporer persecuting Christians and Saint Felix, whose name everyone knew, hid instead of running away
• All dressed in disguise, a kind spider spun a web so thick that the soldiers couldn't find him
• He stayed in hiding, where a Christian woman brought him food everyday, until the danger was gone
• Could rewrite the spider's role as instead of helping Saint Felix, he was actually capturing him for his own and Felix has to try to escape

The Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer:

• A hermit named Saint Giles lived in a secluded forest far from everyone except his Deer friend
• When the deer was shot by hunters who stumbled into the wood, Giles lifted her up and took the blow of another arrow instead, falling to the ground to die
• The pagan King arrived and nursed Giles back to health and when he saw Giles' Christian lifestyle, he became a Christian himself
• One thing I could change would be that the hunters brought Giles back to the King's palace to heal and the sweet Deer ran to his rescue

Saint Francis of Assisi:

• Saint Francis was a poor, ill, and homeless man who lived his life as closely as he could to Jesus's life and had an almost magical ability to smile and bright everyone's day because everyone knew his smile
• Francis tamed and taught a terrible, vicious wolf (who had been devouring cows and men alike) to beg for his food everyday and play with the little children of Gubbio
• When Saint Francis went to dwell on Monte Alverno, they were greeted by a multitude of singing birds (as he had been before) and he felt blessed to live on the mountain top
• Could rewrite the story so that the birds didn't know when to stop singing and praising God and Francis, so one day he accidentally snaps at them and they run from him, ruining his name and reputation so that he must remedy the situation immediately

(Saint Francis preaching to his friends, the birds, from Wikimedia Commons)  

Bibliography: 
Link to Saints and Animals, based on Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown

Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part A

Saint Kentigern and the Robin:

• Kentigern was the smartest pupil in the school and loved by the fatherly figure Saint Servan
• All of the other schoolboys were jealous of Kentigern knowing all the right answers so they decided to prank him and get him in trouble, but their tricks go wrong and Kentigern becomes even more loved by everyone
• Could change it so that Saint Servan was on the schoolboys' side in hating Kentigern because he was smarter than the Saint himself

Saint Blaise and His Beasts:

• Saint Blaise was a Christian in a town of heathens who loved animals and prayed for all of them, even the wild ones in the woods and fields
• The soldiers of the town took Saint Blaise away from his animal friends and tortured him so that he would renounce Christianity
• The soldiers try to drown him, but instead he walks on water and willingly is beheaded
• Could add a small animal friend that follows him into the jail where he is kept and frees him

Saint Comgall and the Mice:

• Saint Comgall, the "goodly pledge" built a monastery with many pupils and friends nearby
• Comgall loved all animals and called to all the mice in the land when his monastery was starving to eat all of the grain that was stored at the evil prince Croadh's hall 
• Could rewrite the story so that the mice actually carried Croadh and his mother Lurch away from their hall so that Comgall and his pupils could then inhabit the place and eat all the grain (which is a happier ending!)

The Wonders of Saint Berach:

• Berach was a young monk learning from Saint Coemgen in a monastery when one day his favorite cow's young calf was snatched up by a hungry wolf
• Berach had great power over animals and nature, so when a young boy was sick, he turned the winter and snow into April and was able to collect juicy apples and salad for the biy
• He was summoned to court one day and mistaken as a beggar, so he performed several miraculous acts and the King noticed him, bringing him inside and giving him gifts
• Could change the part of freezing the naughty boys where Berach was unable to fix it after and the crowds were very mad at him, but the animals he saved came to his rescue

(The Monastery at Glendalough where Saint Berach was the Abbott)

Bibliography: 
Link to Saints and Animals, based on Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown