Topic Brainstorm: Choosing Topics for Our Semester-Long Project

Topic 1: Urban Legends – Weddings

When I clicked on urban legends, the sub-topic of weddings caught my interest. I work in the wedding industry, so I know a lot about putting together a wedding – from the florals to the decor to planing – but I've never looked into urban legends that surround weddings. Looking into urban legends with weddings, I would just like to learn why they came to be and what they are, as I do work in the industry and one day will (hopefully) be getting married. For a class I took in the fall, we looked into the advertising surrounding engagement rings, and how they're not necessarily a needed part of the whole proposal and engagement part of getting married – essentially, a money scheme the world has fallen into. That would be one topic I would be interested in looking into for a story. An urban legend I found was the "bride and go seek" – The corpse of a hide ‘n’ seek-playing bride who disappeared on her wedding day is found in a locked trunk years later. I would try to re-tell these urban legends in a modern tone, maybe coming from the perspective of a current bride actually living it out at her wedding or through her wedding planning experiences.

Photo of a bridal bouquet on a chair

(Taken by Kelly Jean on Unsplash)

Topic 2: Bible Couples

I'm interested in this topic because I've grown up in the Christian faith for my whole life, and diving into the topic of couples in the Bible is something I've never explored before. I have lots of pervious knowledge of Bible stories, and in philosophy/theology/worldviews, just through my high school and growing up in the church. With this topic, I would like to learn more specific information about Biblical couples and the stories that I've grown up learning connect back to them. I would like to re-tell the stories in my own words, some from their perspective and some on the outside, some in a narrative in the past and modify it to fit in the present. Adam and Eve has always been the most fascinating Biblical couple to me, and they would definitely be a story I would re-tell in my project. 

Topic 3: Bible Stories

Going off of the topic of couples in the Bible, another topic that interests me is simply stories in the Bible. Like I mentioned above, I grew up learning all of the stories of the Bible, and with this topic I would like to re-tell them from a more grown-up perspective then when I was taught them. My Bible story foundation was built from when I was little, so I have a very "little kid" view of stories from the Bible. With Bible stories, I don't think I would want to switch characters or change the plot, just because that goes against what I believe about the stories of the Bible. This section would focus on re-telling, with keeping the same characters and same outcomes. One of my favorite Bible stories is Noah and the Ark, and seeing it with a fresh pair of eyes in a new perspective would be refreshing, more from the side of the characters themselves.

Topic 4: Native American Traditions

Native American traditions, origin stories and culture are a topic I find extremely intriguing because they're so different from my own and offer such a new perspective to life. I have little to no previous knowledge of Native American Traditions, besides some knowledge pertaining to mainly Oklahoma Indian Tribes and some traditions/origins with their traditional dances and wardrobe. I would like to learn more about how and why Indian tribes do what they do and believe. My stories would focus on re-telling while also maybe inserting myself into a story and re-creating it from an outside perspective. One popular Oklahoma Indian Tribe is the Cherokee, so one of my stories would focus on a story pertaining to them.