Allison Bruning's Blog, page 11

#Indy'sIndie: #Summertime is the best time for #authors

#Indy'sIndy: #Summertime is the best time for #authors

Who are the #Shawnee: Shamans and #religion

The Shawnee Shaman
Welcome back to the "Who are the Shawnee" series. Last week, I introduced you to the village leadership duality of the Shawnee peace and war chiefs. Another important person in the Shawnee village was the medicine man or healer. The Shawnee were considered by many of their neighboring tribes as the best healers on earth. In fact, many neighboring tribes believed the Shawnees had been blessed with magical healing abilities because they were able to heal many wounds and ailments whose cures alluded outsiders. 
The most powerful of all healers among the Shawnee were the shamans. It was very rare for a Shawnee to ever encountered one. Most of the neighboring tribes believed Shawnee shamans were the most powerful shamans to walk the earth. 
The Shawnee shaman was believed to be specially created by Our Grandmother (the feminine deity believed by the Shawnee to have created everything) to remind her people how to live by her creeds or laws. Our Grandmother, the guides and spirits had pity upon the Shawnee because they were believed to be like children who needed constant reminders of how to live their lives. If the Shawnee faithfully followed the creeds then their lives would be good. If they did not then something bad would happen to them such as illness, mistakes and natural disasters. It was the shaman's job to remind the Shawnee how to behave according to Our Grandmother's will. 
Despite how important they were to the people some Shawnee divisions did not fully support shamans. Shawnees were very conservative. So much so that they were rarely influenced by their neighboring tribes. The Shawnee were very superstitious people who believed in witchcraft. A Shawnee witch was able to transform into the image of someone or something to influence their victim and was able to cast spells. The Kishpoko division believed shamans were not the creator's messengers but were witches. Thus, it was rare for a Kishpoko to follow a shaman. They were not opposed to following a medicine man or healer, though.  Some Shawnee warriors did possess shamanic powers. These warriors were able to transform into large, ferocious beasts who could win any battle or they would become tiny insects in order to escape from dangerous situations.

There were different organizations within the Shawnee culture. Each organization had their own membership requirements and served an unique function within the Shawnee culture. The shaman of the Shawnee were members of the Juggling Society. Membership into the Juggling Society could be quite deadly if the initiate was not a shaman. An eight year boy was clubbed unconscious then his body would mutilated.  Afterwards his head would be removed and set aside. The shaman would carry the boy's head back to the sacred lands while wild dogs fed on the rest of the boys body in the wilderness. The shaman would lay the boy's head on leaves inside the lodge. The wild dogs, full of the child' remains would gather next to the head then vomit everything they had consumed. The remains and the head sat in the leaves. The shamans would dance around and chat until the boy's body was renewed as if nothing had happened to him and his spirit once again dwelled with his body.

#ExpressYourself: Allison Bruning wants to.....

It's Wednesday! This week has gone by so fast yet it's been so long as well. It's raining AGAIN as I write this blog post. It's been raining so much in Indianapolis that I'm starting to think I live in Ireland. The Weather Channel says we won't get a break in the rain until next Wednesday. The city has already declared Flash Flood Warnings cause the White River, Eagle Creek and other waterways are out of their banks. So if I end up in Kentucky or further south then you know I was carried away by the flood waters. LOL!
This week is also a new month of the Express Yourself blog meme hosed by Bouquet of Books and Entertaining Interests blogs. I'm so excited! So let's get started. 
July 6 - 10, 2015
Name three things you wish you were better at. Oh, that's an easy question. 
1) Figure Skating
When I was little I wanted to be just like my hero, Kristi Yamaguchi. Thing is, I have the worst coordination in the world. I have no idea how I ever danced or played sports without killing myself in the process. 

2) Time Management
There's so much to do and not enough hours in the day for me to get it all done.
3) Sword Fighting
Who doesn't want to be the heroine? There just aren't that many princesses in history who can take charge and win her own battles. 

#Supernatural #Texas: The Mysterious Marfa Lights

The Mysterious Marfa LightsStrange things have always had their way of happening in the Big Bend region of West Texas. Stories of ghosts, demons and other supernatural phenomenon have been told throughout generations from prehistoric times. One of the most talk about supernatural events that occur every year are the Marfa Lights. 
Marfa, Texas is an interesting small town deep in the desert that started as a cattle town but has become a hodgepodge of artists and local families. 


One of the most famous attractions in Marfa is a supernatural phenomenon known as the Marfa Ghost Lights. The Marfa Ghost Lights were discovered cattle hand, Robert Reed Ellison, in 1883 who reported he had seen flickering lights while driving cattle across Mitchell Flats. He assumed the lights were Apache campfires. Many settlers reported seeing the same lights that night. When Ellison went to investigate where he believed the Apaches were located he never found any remains of a campfire. Two years later, settlers Joe and Sally Humphrey's reported seeing the same lights. There has been a long history of recorded sightings of the mystery lights. Anytime someone goes out to investigate just what the lights are they never find any evidence of what they lights actually are. 


There have been many local legends told to explain what the Marfa Lights actually are. Native American legends claim that the lights are linked to the souls of the great chiefs who roamed the land, especially Chief Chinati. One Mescalero Apache legend claims that the Marfa Ghost Lights are two Native American lovers who were torn apart and are trying to find their way back together. In fact, when you do see the Marfa Ghost Lights they appear as a single yellow or white orb the size of a basketball then split apart to form two smaller separate orbs that bounce up and down in the air. The come back together again then disappear. Another Native American ghost that is attributed to the Marfa Ghost Lights is the Apache chief Alsate. Chief Alsate was a powerful Mescalero Apache war chief that was born in Mexico across from Lajitas, he roamed around the entire Big Bend region. Chief Alsate like to camp by the Chinati Mountains outside of Marfa. He frequently lead his band of warriors into Mexico to raid the border communities. The Mexican authorities chased after him for years. Eventually, they caught his band in Presidio where he was executed and his warriors were sold into slavery. Local legend claims the lights are one of many apparitions of his ghost. 

#LTW: #gifted students and #memory problems

Memory is very important when it comes to learning anything new and storing it away for future use. Sometimes gifted students have problems with their short term memory, especially the spatially gifted learner.

Memory            Although the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes have their own distinct functioning in the brain, they all contribute to the learning process through memory acquisition and retention. The occipital lobe, located in the back of the brain, is responsible for the processing of incoming information. The temporal lobe, located in the lower part of the cerebral cortex, is responsible for controlling the information transfer from short-term to long-term memory. When a student learns something new the information is first processed through the short-term or working memory then stored in the long term memory after the temporal lobe transfers the information to the hippocampus Bruning, Schraw & Norby found that people can hold large amounts of information with in their memory when information is presented in chunks. Chunks are meaningful units of information presented to the learner. A learner cannot hold more than seven chunks of information at one time. Monru (2013) found gifted students are able to process larger chunks of information at one time. They also are able to retain more knowledge within their short-term memories than their peers. Geake (2009) found gifted children’s working memory has a higher efficiency rate than their non-gifted peers. Gifted children are able to achieve this through the use of a high-level frontal cortex with a bilateral frontal-parietal network.The parietal lobes, located near the crown and rear of the head, constructs spatial maps and mental images. Munro (2013) found gifted children begin with a higher prefrontal activity but as they progress into their teen years the enhanced activity transfer to the parietal lobes. Thus the student loses their advanced abstract thinking and gains the ability to learn more quickly through mental images and spatial reasoning. Some gifted students excel in mental images and spatial reasoning more than others. These gifted students are known as gifted visual-spatial learners.
Sword (2011) identified two types of gifted visual-spatial leaner; 1) children who are identified with extremely high IQ’s on an IQ test because they have a greater ability completing tasks with visual-spatial and auditory-sequential thinking process. And 2) bright children who are often are not identified with a high IQ on a standardized IQ test because they have a great visual-spatial with a lower than normal auditory-sequential thinking process. The later are after “at-risk” because they are not identified and/or receive the extra support that is required for them to become academically successful. Sword (2011) found gifted visual-spatial learners possess poor auditory short-term memory and think primarily in pictures. Thus, when teaching a gifted visual-spatial learner the educator needs to be aware that these gifted students need to visualize the material in order to learn. Sword (2011) also found gifted visual-spatial learners experience oversensitivity to physical stimuli due to their supersensitive nervous systems.   
ReferencesAsher, J. (2006) Cortex Matures Faster in Youth with Highest IQ. Retrieved from National Institute of Health website: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2006/cortex-matures-faster-in-youth-with-highest-iq.shtmlBruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Norby, M. M. (2011). Cognitive psychology and instruction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.Butnik, S (May/June 2013). Understanding, Diagnosing and Coping with Slow Processing Speed. Retrieved from http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Arti..., J. (2009). The Brain at School: Educational Neuroscience in the Classroom. Retrieved from ttps://books.google.com/books?id=jwNFBgAAQBA..., G. (2013, October 21). Who is the gifted Child [Web log post]? Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail... Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Anatomy of the brain. Baltimore, MD: AuthorLaureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). Connectivism learning theory. Baltimore MD: Author.Monru, J. (2013). High-Ability Learning and Brain Processes:How Neuroscience can help us to understand how gifted and talented students learn and the implication for teaching. Paper presented a the Research Conference, AustraliaMrazik, M., & Dombrowski, S. C. (2010). The Neurobiological Foundations of Giftedness. Roeper Review, 32(4), 224-234. doi:10.1080/02783193.2010.508154Sword, L. (2011). I think in pictures, you teach in words: The gifted visual-spatial learner. Tall Poppies Retrieved from http://www.giftedchildren.org.nz/national/article4.php Treffinger, D (Ed.). 

#WUWA: VLOG, FOOD and SALE #free #books

What's Up With Allison?Hello readers! I hope you had a wonderful July 4th weekend. Today my husband and I spent the majority of the day at the Taste of Indy Festival at White River State Park. We had a great time. Here are some pics of the food we had. 




Have I made you hungry yet? LOL! 
Summertime in Indianapolis is a great time for everyone. There is just so much to do! 
This weekend has been a time of great surprises. My publishing house announced on July 4th that they are having a month long sale on all my books. All my novels are only $1 and my short stories are free on Smashwords. The sale will last all month long. See the banner below for more information.

I've also converted my YouTube account into a VLOG. I'll be hosting a weekly VLOG every weekend called Indy's Indie. You never know what I might be talking about. I'll be posting my VLOG on my website, my blog and on YouTube. Here's the first VLOG. 

See you tomorrow for Lightening the Way.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

It's July Fourth!Happy Birthday USA!

I'm so excited! My publisher has decided to surprise my readers with a great treat. All my books are on sale for $1 the entire month of July. 

Best part? 
All of my short stories are
 FREE when you use the code in the promo. 
Run, my readers, and get yours today.

#writingprompt Summer Writing Camp #4

Summer Writing Camp #4I was blog hopping today and came across a blog game known as Summer Writing Camp at the Journey to the Finish Line blog. The goal is to write a story using the prompt that was provided. The deadline for this posting is July 17th but I thought I would work on it today. So here it goes. Here's the prompt and below it is the short story. 


Di knew better than to let her sister fall asleep in her lap while reading a story to her. Dangerous, strange things could happen in her sleep. Usually it was stupid stuff like the time she floated up to the ceiling and licked the paint until her tongue was swollen. Or the time she decided to walk the goldfish and feed the dog in the bathtub with his food underwater. It never failed. Something, uncontrollable would happen and her little sister was the cause of it all. You see, her four year old sister didn't know any better. I mean how do you control a magical being who doesn't understand how to tell the difference from her imagination and reality? 
Di slowly pushed Su away from her and slid out of the bed. Her little sister whimpered then fell back to sleep. She hoped whatever she facing in her dreams wasn't dangerous this time. Di looked at the book she had just read to her sister. Every time she had read a book to her sister Sue would dream about it and then she would have to face it in the real world. Thankfully she had chosen a simple book to read. What could go wrong with a book titled Raindrop, Rainbow? 
Suddenly lightening struck the neighbor's house and thunder roared through the sky. Di ran to the window. Flashes of gold and red flickered in the clouds. Shadows danced in the clouds with every burst of thunderous lighting. A large creature with wings roared as what looked like knights fought it in the clouds. Di picked up the book and flipped through the pages. She was quite certain the book didn't say anything about dragons and knights. She turned her gaze upon her sister. She didn't are wake her sister before the dream was over. The last time she did that the house exploded and she was grounded for three months for interfering with her sister's magical journey. She was her sister's guardian after all. As the eldest sibling it was her duty to make certain her sister completed her entire training. 
Di turned back to the window and watched the firemen try to put out the neighbor's house with...what the...with a hose full of chocolate syrup? The house was on fire with green flames? What kind of fire was that? The dragon roared above her head. She had just turned her head in time to see the dragon descend upon her house with it's nostrils flaring! Su laughed as her spirit rode on the back of the dragon. The dragon blew seltzer water all over Di. She shook her hands downward with a gasp. Her  entire body drenched from head to toe.  
"That's not funny," Di yelled at her sister as the dragon passed the house by. 
"Ah, your no fun," the ramboncious young girl teased. 
"How are you going to explain that," Di yelled pointing to the neighbor's yard. 
"Oh, that. Well...uhm....I don't know. You figure something out."
"Why you," Di yelled then jumped out of the window onto the yard. Marshemallows and M&M's fell from the sky. "Droplets of chocolate and marshmallows. Of course, it would be ...." A lightening bold of thick, nacho cheese collided with the tree. She jumped off and ran across the yard. The rain grew thicker but this time it was pouring down gumdrops so fast and thick it hurt every time the rain fell upon her. 
THIS WAS GOING TO BE A VERY LONG NIGHT...........At least this time she would enjoy tasting the rain.

#ExpressYourself: #school pranks

Welcome back to the Express Yourself blog meme. This week I was asked to share with my readers the best prank I have ever pulled on someone. I'm not much of a prankster but I have had some pretty amazing ones that I managed to pull off when I was younger.

The best prank I think that I ever pulled off was when I was in fifth grade. My fifth grade class went to the annual science camp. All the girls were in one cabin and across from us was the boys cabin. The boys had pranked our cabin the night we arrived. So I and a few of my friends decided it was time for a payback. We also didn't like the class snob/bully and we decided to pin it all on her. I went to the boys and told them the girls were planning to put toothpaste on their doorknobs and window ledges. Once they believed me I went back to the girls and told them that the boys were planning to prank them. Everyone in my class was scrambling to out do each other's pranks. It was a huge mess. I may have out done myself because the teacher ended up calling social services and my mom, the CPS worker for the area, was sent out to investigate. I didn't own up to that one until we moved to Texas while I was in high school. She told me she knew it was me the entire time.