#08-313: Bigfoot

Could this be Bigfoot? From a trail camera capture (Wikipedia)

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Note: "Bigfoot" is the subject of fairly recent urban legends, and was most likely born as a hoax, or a series of them. But that doesn't stop the true believers from truly believing!

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Get Ready: Do you think Bigfoot exists? How about the Yeti ("Abominable Snowman")? Or the Loch Ness monster?

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#08-204: Cabeza de Vaca

Cabeza de Vaca crosses the desert
(Wikipedia)

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Note: Few works of fiction rival the Relación of Cabeza de Vaca, a supposedly objective report of explorations in North America.

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Get Ready: Is there any rational explanation for stories of healing by means other than traditional medicine, such as "faith healing"?

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#08-150: The Last of the Mohicans

Hawk-eye, disguised as a bear, fights Magua
in the cave where Alice is held captive.
(Wikipedia)

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Note: James Fenimore Cooper captured the historic imagination of America--and in the process irritated Mark Twain. Let's see if we can figure out why.

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Get Ready: Do you prefer stories that are simple and straightforward? Or would you rather read one with lots of complications and "twists and turns"? Why?

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#08-143: Rabbit Tricks Coyote, a Native American tale

Coyote pushed his paws against the cliff...
(SacredTexts.com)

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Note: Many cultures have stories about a character who likes to play tricks on others, called a "trickster." But some tricksters aren't as clever as other ones, as we learn in Native American stories about Coyote.

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Get Ready: Why do you think ancient peoples told stories about tricksters and other humorous characters? What purpose could such stories serve?

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#08-125: The Song of Hiawatha

"Hiawatha's Friends" by Remington
(Wikipedia)

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Note: Meet one of the most famous culture heroes from Native American mythology--and American poetry!--and visit the shores of Gitche Gumee in this lesson.

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Get Ready: Why do you think ancient peoples attributed progress--the creation of writing, or the growing of crops, for example--to a single individual, instead of seeing such things as processes taking place over many generations?

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#08-110: Ramona, a Tale of Mission Days

Mission San Gabriel, where Ramona's parents were said to be married
(from page 60 of the novel at Google Books)

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Note: Helen Hunt Jackson's novel Ramona tells of the trials of a half-Indian orphan girl in the days of the California missions.

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Get Ready: Do you know where California cities like San Francisco, San Diego, and San Jose get their names?

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#08-083: Call of the Wild

Buck fights Spitz
(Wikipedia)

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Note: You never know what a pampered pup can do until he faces his feral fellows, and emerges as a leader.

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Get Ready: Have you ever considered the close relationship between our pets and their wild forebears? There's a wolf lurking in every dog!

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#08-079: Moby Dick

Ahab and Moby Dick
(Wikipedia)

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Note: Melville's epic story of the revenge of mad Captain Ahab on the great white whale that took his leg off below the knee.

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Get Ready: What obsesses you? Is there a "quest" that drives you forward--for better or for worse?

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#05-050: Thanksgiving

A typical Thanksgiving dinner
(Wikipedia)

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Note: They used to tell us that our Thanksgiving dinners went back to "the Pilgrims" in an unbroken chain. Not so!

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Get Ready: Do you have an autumn celebration of the "fruits of the earth"? If you do, what is it like?

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#05-047: Columbus Day Myths

The landing of Columbus
(Wikipedia)

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Note: No, Columbus was not "Italian," he did not "discover America," and he didn't even touch the North American continent!

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Get Ready: Do you think Columbus's "discovery" was overall a good thing or a bad thing?

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