Assigned 9/30

Oedipus frustrated many of us. I just felt like starting this reflection out this way. Not that we didn't like it; the characters just didn't act the way we wanted them to. Proof of popularity of frustration? Well I counted. I took the opportunity in class today to survey the 'Reader Responses' of my fifteen/sixteen mates (classmates).

Different Reader Responses and number of those who hold this primary response.

Thought of the downfalls of Pride/Anger: 1
Parental Responsibilities: 1
Thought the drama was hard to relate to (Superstitions, etc): 1
Sad: 1
Thought it was aggrevating/frustrating: 7
Yuck: 2
Creon pulling strings: 1
Focus of who's to blame: 2

Again I want to clarify. We seven agree that the story is frustrating, but I doubt we 7 hated the story, just didn't have control over the Oedipus or Jacasta, not understanding their motivations for action.

out.

#11 Assigned 9/28

Oh Drama,

Protagonist goes from being in a good status to entanglement in a conflict that results in a reversal of fortune. Often, there is a paradox of the fortunate fall: the protagonist gains a higher level of personal awareness. Sometimes the sufferings of the hero are like a sacrifice to cleanse society.

All of this surrounds our buddy Oedipus.

Oedipus and his Chorus.

Today's class was a little different than most English classes...How? Well, we all stood up and marched back and forth across the room, speaking out chorus lines. Very interesting and weird. It did give us a better understanding of the role of the chorus. Apparently, the role of the ancient dramatic chorus was to establish the drama's tone, mood, and even offer advice foir characters. When I hear the word 'Chorus' I think of the refrain in a song or of my role as a background singer in "Grease" back in highschool.



We were asked to reflect for Thursday on the critical themes presented in the drama. A few come to mind right off the top of my head: fate as an inevitable force, parental obligations, the pitfalls of absolute power.

In discussing the different elements and themes expressed in Oedipus, it's apparent many other renowned story-tellers might have taken from this drama. Better put, issues within this drama sparked the genius of many great monumental story-tellers' works:

Incest leads to destruction also for Edgar Allen Poe.



Protagonist is left blind at the end of Shakespeare's tragedy, yet somehow sees truth for the first time, just like Oedipus.



Lucas also runs with the thought that son must kill father.



out.

Assigned 9/23

Today we capped off our English Literature focus. A main conclusion we came to, which I agree with, is the importance of studying the progressive English Literature movement as a big picture. This opposed to individual authors and stories. In doing this, we might better understand an author's context for writing such a dark, violent fictional piece. In looking at the big picture, we could save ourselves from concluding the author was simply depressed and to a more enlightened conclusion...that the author wrote in such a realistic stream of thought in order to exaggerate his rebellion from the romantic notions within victorian works.

On my previous reflection blog over future and favorite books, I mention two by Francis Schaeffer. Francis Schaeffer, theologian, philosopher, and philanthropist, died in the late 1980's after living in Switzerland. He and his wife started a halfway house for the less fortunate. I love reading his books, for he defends the Christian Worldview in the midst of taking cultural trends and philosophies, looking at them as one big picture, one unified stream of knowledge. It's incredible.

Here is Francis and his wife Edith:



The next topic I found very interesting in class today is how iPads and Kindles are to affect literature. Although paper books are becoming less popular and logical (size and money), I believe the popularity of literature will grow. With these new inventions, all kinds of literature are available to people everywhere. I do mean all kinds of people from all over the world. And yes, I have been to third world countries. There are Internet Cafes meet peoples' desires to read. Here in America, these portable readers make reading all types of literature accessible. I acknowledge the parts within me yearning for hands on reading experiences. However, if I could choose to travel throughout the day with five good reading options versus one, I must embrace the decision with options (five options, or six, or twenty).

Of course, many other variables weigh in on this debate: Readability of these "portable readers," interaction with the book (no more margin note-taking), cost of books, the smell of turning crisp paper versus the hum of a hard, metal box. I'm torn, and I digress.

#13 Assigned 9/21

Books: Favorite and Future

Favorite:











and new additions:





Future:

















Out.

Assigned 9/16

Poetry.

Our group disected Ode on a Grecian Urn in class today. It's a very simple poem.

sike (kidding). The only thing quite simple about it is the iambic pentameter, but even that is not stable. This rhythm only lasts a few lines and then takes on a mind of its own. Actually, the poem takes on the mind of the author, changing with purpose. Here's an interesting video I found that pairs with Ode to a Grecian Urn:



What I found rather interesting in class today was discussed towards the beginning of the period, the similarites between Dover Beach and The World is Too Much With Us.

The narrators seem to be absent, distant from the view they present. Nature is fully content without the narrator, as clear in both poems. This is clear throughout the first stanza of Dover Beach: "the tide is full, the moon lies fair...the cliffs of England stand...[the waves] begin, and cease, and then again begin." Here, nature is fine by itself; life has its rhythm, not depending on the author. The same occurs in The World is Too Much With Us. Wordsworth starts, "Little we see in Nature that is ours...this Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours." The narrator is again viewing nature, yet can only conclude that nature is nature, independent of man. This realization pushes both narrators to realize their own mortality.

Here's another crazy video, this time for Dover Beach. The introduction is a little long; the good stuff starts at 1:49. The poem here is actually sung and accompanied by a stringed quartet.


I must agree with our inclass conclusion behind both pieces. Both narrators yearn to believe in something so hard and passionately, even to the extreme of pagan beliefs.

Out.

#10 Assigned 9/14

“A poem should not mean
But be.”

“Ars Poetica,” Archibald MacLeish

Defining poetry is very hard for me to accomplish alone. However it's made easier with the help of Hurst's identification notes:

We can say what it is not.
We can examine its elements.
We can contrast it with fiction and drama.
But poetry is hard to define in isolation.

Billy Collins' poetry is very entertaining. I especially enjoy "Sonnet."

Sonnet - Billy Collins

All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now,
and after this one just a dozen
to launch a little ship on love's storm-tossed seas,
then only ten more left like rows of beans.
How easily it goes unless you get Elizabethan
and insist the iambic bongos must be played
and rhymes positioned at the ends of lines,
one for every station of the cross.
But hang on here wile we make the turn
into the final six where all will be resolved,
where longing and heartache will find an end,
where Laura will tell Petrarch to put down his pen,
take off those crazy medieval tights,
blow out the lights, and come at last to bed.

I agree with the conclusion we came to in class; what makes this poem enjoyable is the playful language, the insightful puns. Collin's is describing what a sonnet is within his sonnet. This would be similar to me to poke fun at the haiku with a haiku:

"Haiku" By John Evans

Five syllables for
the outside of three lines to
make one sweet haiku.

"On Turning Ten" is a poem by Billy Collins that resonates deep within. The first stanza makes a reader think the author is much older. "Reading in bad light" and words like measles and psyche reveal an older narrator. However, as the poem moves along, one realizes the narrator is really only ten years old and is depressed about reaching another mark of life. The third stanza breaks into me the most:

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

All in all, I relate to the feelings paired with this stunning view of the past. Our narrator has come to realize life changes at a fast pace, and looking back he feels the weight of mortality for the first time. So deep is the mind of our ten year-old.

This makes me wonder if I ever thought about this change so early on. At some point, we all deal with the sting of death, and probably when we're all forced to read Donne's "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Carpe the Diem.

Assigned 9/9

Oh Bartleby...

I'm not ashamed to say I did not enjoy reading this not-so-short story.
I might have more sympathy for Melville if I'd never experienced the splash of Moby Dick. However, a few semesters ago I read his Bible in an American Lit class, surrounded by others who also were trying to stay afloat.

Today, we talked about the horror and hopelessness within Bartleby's tale. I don't buy it. You want to explore the darkness and depression within the human soul? Read Crime and Punishment. A better way to explain why this story is hard to read lies within the plot. It's a simple plot. In terms of action, little happens. The only conflict that occurs is within my mind (as a reader) after the chorus of the story: "I would prefer not to."

When talking out stories, meanings, author's intentions, background information, my mind checks out from group discussion. I can't help it; ideas of characters, plots, settings of my own take up all the space up there. I guess I'm confessing; in class today, my mind kept racing back to that Dead Letter Office. I couldn't get over what might happen within that kind of work space. And the mention of Melville and Hawthorne getting rained in together? What subjects were covered within their spontaneous conversation? Not the weather!

As to any more discussion on Melville's Bartleby, I would honestly prefer not to continue.

out.

#9 Assigned 9/7

Intro and A&P:

Key elements of fiction
• Plot
• Character
• Setting
• Point of View
• Theme
• Symbolism
• Style and Tone

All of these exist very nicely within John Updike's story. However, what consumes me the most is how a&P reminds me of my own first job. Sammy worked at the A&P; I worked at Johnny Rockets. That's right! Johnny Rockets, the 50's-style burger joint. And yes, I had to dance every fifteen minutes to songs that pre-existed my parents. Songs to forever cause my foot to tap. Legal prostitution at 2.15/hour, we lived off tips. And these tips depended on how happy our families were with our dancing...I know!

What I really treasure about A&P is Updike's description while his eyes follow the girls around the store. He states, "I look straight up this aisle to the meat counter, and watch them all the way. The fat one...fumbled with the cookies" (453). His imagery is pointed in endless ways, leaving a taste within readers of what exactly Sammy is experiencing here. Sammy continues on how the girls "shuffled out of sight behind a pyramid of Diet Delight peaches" (454).

What I find most ammusing is how Sammy romanticizes these girls into Virgin Mary status. Sammy seems to be in a daze describing these girls, however, they do not seem that beautiful, stunning. I guess within the A&P and following a dull day of swiping food, girls (any girls) half-dressed might appear so attractive.

This definitely happended to me at Johnny Rockets. I worked up to 10-hours during the week, receiving maybe 3 tables during these night-shifts. Girls I would not find so attractive in my right mind made my head spin as they ordered their greasy cow meat, dipped in cheese. Everything appears beautiful after standing unending hours over pools of grease, watching potato-wedges sizzle.

I can sympathize with Sammy.
Peace.

#6 Assigned 9/2

Issues In Higher Education:

The discipline of Literature and Language faces many uphill battles. Over the years, negative emotion has aimed towards the humanities, mostly from the scientific and mathematical side of the academic field, and questions of exactly how useful studying these subjects is to the individual, the United States, and humanity in general. All of this in light of camparing this discipline to the sciences or engineering.
After public scrutiny, funding for K-12 liberal arts education is another road block. "Students playing Catch-Up" brought up a shocking point; Texas Education asked for $30 Million yet received 5, right? Crazy.
And this lack of funding (and therefore research, teachers, improved lessons and texts) only starts a negative cycle within specifically the liberal arts education. The average student already dislikes the English and fine arts subjects, and the lack of funds to improve them is available yet hoarded for other areas of "governmental needs." This only causes further students to be unprepared in these subject areas. And these lack of skills causes further problems: no more students embracing their need to speak a foreign language, students without the ability to read, analyze and argue a position, students without a grasp of historical trends. These problems will inevitably spill into every area of life for most individuals, the United States, and eventually all of humanity.

Some questions we should ask to further this discussion/debate?
Why are Liberal Arts important? (Most might say "yes they are", yet live like they do not)
What life-values should we be pursuing? (money and riches only?)

TO become more informed on these issues, I suggest reading from all different points of view to understand the true nature of the discussion, all angles, and obviously keep discussion going.

Another ethical issue within higher education is plagiarism. I see plagiarism all the time while editing freshmen papers at the Student Learning Center. I can never call the student out on it, for I have no proof except that I've seen their previous papers; I edited their last draft, and it was nothing like this paper. I sit there wondering, "There's NO WAY they wrote this!" Many ethical issues continue to crowd into the higher education arena.

out.

#5 Assigned 8/31

Things I think should be said at:

i) a convocation:
Thanks
Jokes (break the ice)
Hopes of the future
Future Challenges
Stories, not neccessarily 'inspiring' ones (somehow relating speaker to audience)

ii) a commencement:
Opening and Closing thanks
Inspiring Stories (of success and risk-taking failure)
essentially "How I Got Here" from the speaker's P.O.V.
Something appealing to emotion

iii) my retirement:
Tales of adventure and risk
Fond Memories
Hopeful exaltation
Strong and Bold adjectives; Something to the extent of "John was and always will be ____________ (plug-in all the following: wise, important, intentional, courageous).

#4 Assigned 8/26

I) Academic Strengths and Weaknessess

A. STRENGTHS
1. Eager to learn
2. Have had much practice in disecting texts, comes rather naturally now
3. I'm currently an on-campus writing tutor. I interact with common trends of flaws in students' reading, writing, and thinking processes.
4. Huge perfectionist

B. WEAKNESSES
1. Not a risk-taker (Writing, Thinking, etc.)
2. Dislike group work (I'm too controlling)
3. Don't know much about Resumes or Microsoft Excel
4. Cannot always write/talk clearly or concisely (I agree with the Abraham Lincoln quote you dropped in class)
5. I suck at taking notes (written (spontaneous) organization)

In response to my weakness of working in groups, I suggest taking personality tests; Everyone in the class should take a Myers-Briggs' personality test. Therefore, when group-project time comes around (which it inevitably will), we can all look at the results of those within our groups and better understand giftings and personalities.
Sitting down and taking the time to edit a paper (idealy with another person at my side) will always help my clarity problem. And I recognize that...so maybe the problem is more procrastination. HA. Hearing the faults of my argument normally comes too late to change. Hearing them through another person's ears can highlight the problems easy.