Since starting the course Lives and Times, i have come to reevaluate myself as a writer. In the beginning of the course I decided that I needed to work on my thought processes and the ways in which I approach the ideas that I need to write about. As of the beginning of the course, I was very close minded. My language was colloquial and I blame my High School English teachers for not correcting my grammar and style when they could. I believed that I was writing past a college freshman level according to my High School and Lived and Times proved to me how far I could take my abilities still. I have found new ways to approach analytic papers, artist statements, and narrative adaptations. The front door is not the only way!!
As this course comes to a close, I believe that my strengths as a writer have increased. I now come at all assignment topics form every angle possible. I have found much more faith in my abilities to cohesively put together any type of essay.
In the future, I need to improve my grammar and some of the language that I use in my writing. I would like to continue developing the cohesiveness of my writing, especially the transitioning from one sentence to another.
All-in-all I enjoyed myself in this class and would recommend it to anyone looking for a W.
Here is a video that I found today that may help any of my readers that need help writing...
Rudyard Kipling said that "words are, of course, the most powerful drug by mankind." I don't believe he knew how true those words were.
I agree completely with Owen about not changing the Gaelic language. I do not agree however, with the way that he handled the situation. His country is being invaded! His hometown being torn apart by people who cannot even speak to him! How then , is he so calm about everything that is happening. The "visitors" cannot even pronounce his name and he is trusting them with his country's history and traditions? Lt.Georgehad no other foundation for forcing the language change other than his own frustration with what he could not understand, couldn't we then just call him lazy for not learning the language himself rather than forcing an entire country to change for him. to this day only about 120,000 people in ireland still speak Gaeilge. It is now simply a lost treasure of the Irish community. it is not taught in schools as a primary language as it once was nor has it been truly passed down from family to family. Some Irishmen can't even understand it in it's full context.
I believe that what the United States is doing right now is right. Our government has not officially, but somewhat underhandedly, said that if an immigrant is to live in this country he/she must also speak the language. This is proper because we are not taking anything away from them. It is obviously their outright choice. However, the idea that Owen is allowing to be presented is preposterous because it is trapping them in a country they once thought of as home and not letting them live in it. Imagine how many lives had to have suffered because of the linguistic change instead of the one that could have made the decision freely an ask yourself if you would have accepted it as well.
Slan a fhagail ag duine
p.s. here's a funny little skit from translations in a school classroom that made me laugh
In the Taiga tribe, Omishto is simply a girl who sees things that no one thinks about. But to the American Government she is a witness.
Omishto was named "the one who watches" for a reason. She grew up seeing the real truth about Ama and her mother and her necessary decision between the tribe and her mother, but now she is faced with another sight.
Omishto said many times that she only wanted to tell the truth, whether it be to the American government or to her tribe's council, she swore she would only tell the truth about what she saw. Being a witness inserts many hard decisions on top of her already confusing lifestyle. She must now use what she saw and what she was born to see to convict the one person that she thought was invincible. She uses her sight in a way that is unnerving to her and therefor is uncomfortable with herself and feels guilt beyond recognition. With her mother still pushing her to abandon the Tribe and their way of life, she herself feels abandoned because of what she has had to do to the one person she trusted most of all. Her sight, what was once her gift, is now what she hates the most.
Omishto may have been destined to see what she saw so that she could become a stronger person. She uses her unique situational sight to uncover the truth behind many scenes that pay out before her. One day she will look back on this instance and see that she has done the right thing and that the guilt is on the wrong shoulders. She will see the reflection of her actions in everything she says and does for the rest of her life and that will make her a more conscious, selfless, and brilliant person. She is able to see the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, guilty and innocent, and she feels the impact of that sight everyday.
Omishto is used as a witness to both the Taiga tribe and the American Government in different ways. She is a witness to the Taiga people because she was there with Ama. She saw what really happened and the driving forces/spirits that led to the actions. She can defend Ama in a way that no one else can while still giving evidence against her. For the American Government, Omishto is simply a witness because she can provide the fact that Ama was there, the fact that Ama killed the panther, and the fact that there was no provocation from the endangered animal.
Omishto has the gift of a very honest, very real sight and unlike before when it would have helped her choose between her mother and Ama, it is now killing her because she will not lie about her sight. Omishto watches everything, but now she has actually seen; and what she saw could hurt her more than she imagined.
"Two worlds exist. Maybe it's always been this way, but I enter them both like I am two people. Above and below. Land and water. Now and then."
Omishto has a problem, and at such a young age she shouldn't be forced to choose. She has a mother, who loves her in her own way and is trying to force her to be someone that she doesn't know if she can be. She also has an "aunt" who would not, and will never force her. However, her aunt hopes that she will stick to the old ways and stay with her tribe.
Omishto is torn between these two women, each of which have such power over her life and way of thingking. She describes her situation as being two different worlds as if she is two people. She doesn't know which way is the right path and I believe that she is too young to chose.
This situation is very familiar for millions of young people. It could be as simple as wanting to be like you father but being drawn to the ways of your mother. It could be very complicated, like being a celebrity but wanting to attend your first day of high school. We are faced with life-changing, heart-breaking, and sould-clenching decisions every day, howev er because we are young it makes life that much harder. There is so much pressure on us to make good decisions and decisions that will lead us to a better and brighter future that it makes it that much harder to make the decision in the first place. Colleges are another giant decision. If you think about it we have already decided where our future is going and who we will become to a great extent.
I can sympathize with Omishto as many of us can because I understand how hard her decision is. If she makes one wrong move her future could be demolished. She has to choose and that part is the hardest. We are all young and we all can take great advice from this similar girl in what she says, does, and thinks about as we move foreward with our lives. I really do love this book and I am anxious to see what comes next.
The cover of Lucy incorporates many foreshaddowing pictures and colors from the story itself. The painting on the cover depicts a woman who does very much look how we would imagine lucy to look. Her hand is placed in the middle of her chest and looks as if it is pushing something away. Her head is turned away from the light source, which I took to mean that she was trying to turn away from the bright source in her life and toward something that she was not ment to be involved with. The daffodills on the cover not only tell the reader that there will be daffodills in the story, but also that the daffodills will be a large part of the story. The colors on the cover reflect back on the place to the place she came from. The bright oranges and different greens make the reader think about bright exotic colors and tropical islands. However, the colors in the painting are very drab and colorless. The various browns in the painting on the cover reflect New York, where she currently is. Her life traveled from a colorfull paradise to a very monotone city. It is as if the reader can see how all of the color in her life drained because of her new "adventure".
Lucy's hatred of the daffodils is ironic because of her relationship with her mother. Daffodils are known as a flower of cheer and happiness and are often given on mothers day or when a woman becomes a mother. The irony of choosing a cheerful flower to commemorate a mother figure is not lost on readers in this story. Because Lucy resents her mother so much her hatred of the flower makes perfect sense. Daffodils also stand for new beginnings which may or may not be a situational coincidence in the story when Mariah shows Lucy her garden. Lucy is in an entirely new place, of which she had great expectations. The shock of the Upper New York class must have been a shock for a young girl coming from a tropical island filled with fresh ingredients, vibrant colors, and unimaginable poverty. Instead of having the expected reaction and loving the change, she resents the actual move in the first place. This could also explain her hatred of the simple flower. The color and simplicity of the daffodil may have also been contributors to her aggrivation. The island she came from was most probably filled with every type of rich color, including yellow, the yellow may have triggered a memory of why she wanted to escape her previous life. On the other hand, the simplicity of the flower may relate to her expectations of what awaited her in America. Most immigrants have these fabulous, dream-like ideas about what America will be like when they get here and it could be inferred that she was expecting more out of her life once she arrived.
Here is a small poem by William Wordsworth that may help you understand Lucy's perspective on the daffodils a bit more...enjoy!
In the film adaptation of the Shakespearean play Othello, "O", there are many interesting interpretations of the text by the director, the writers and the actors themselves.
The school is one of the most obviously adapted to present day times. The kingdom-like qualities are translated into a community-like form where there is status, where money and power take their toll, where race is still a very controversial topic and where all of it is very relevant just like in Othello's time. The uniforms that the students have to wear very accurately imply the uniforms that soldiers would have to wear right down to the suit that Desi's father wears that gives him a sense of power, and the uniforms that the girls wear showing their status and separating them from the boys they are with. The kingdom that is the school is clearly run by popularity much like any other school, everything is handled by Odin. When Hugo (Iago) starts to try to change the status quo everything went to hell. The students all but went insane with the new developments and any viewer could tell that nothing would ever be the same .
Rodger's (Roderigo) character is depicted in more of an exaggerated form of a used character than he is in the play. His money and status are more blatantly used against him and there is an aspect of physical abuse that is painfully obvious within the first hour of the film. Hugo is the character that we all love to hate, however, in an interesting twist he is the character we all feel sorry for because he is so unloved.
The "marriage" between Odin and Desi is also very interesting. In Shakespear's play there is a large controversy over whether the marriage between Othello and Desdemona is consummated. However, in the film the director and the writers take it one step further. The film raises the idea of whether or not the marriage was actually valid by filming the scene where Odin puts a rubber band of Desi's finger and asks her to "pretend for a while". While Desi is shocked and awed by the proposition she gives into this child like mentality of prince charming without thinking about the consequences of her decision. Her "marriage" to Odin didn't make any sense and both in the film and the play both were too naive and young to devote themselves to that type of relationship and commitment.
Just a little clip that I could not resist. Think of the small red car as Desdemona's and the larger black car as Othello's....and then just enjoy.
Every person is capable of love, trust, loyalty, and devotion. There are those who chose not to honor those qualities, we see them with basements full of Ramen Noodles and a rainbow array of cats pooling at their feet. There are those who disregard those rules for a night, and experience, or the thrill of the game. They are those that we see in their mid-forties sitting in bars by themselves. There is nothing in writing stating that a person can only survive a relationship with a military-type discipline. Live your life and love who stays along for the ride.
For Desdemona, the story was a little more tragic. We have all been in the position of not being able to convince others that we were in the right. We have all been back ed into dark corners even when we were originally the ones in the light. Whether a person chooses to accept that fait or not is their choice to make. Desdemona is normally viewed as a determined heroin. She fought for her marriage to Othello countless times and proved her independence as well as her loyalty. So why must we feel sorry for her in the end?
Desdemona was a pawn in Iago's game. She was the perfect piece to play not only because she was so close to all of the power that Othello held, but she was also was a woman and her reputation was easily damaged by the simplest of misunderstandings. No one will deny that Iago was smart, and those same people will not deny wanting to hit him over the head with a shovel.
The similarities between the story of Othello and Desdemona and the tale of Romeo and Juliet are also definite. Both tragic love stories, both young couples falling in love too quickly, both end in disaster with a misunderstanding to blame.
"A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh."
- Leonard Cohen.
A scar is with us for eternity, it is burned into our skin with a brand so iron hot that even if the flesh could forget, the mind never will. A single word having the effect of thousands seems almost unthinkable, however things like "hope" "faith" "remember" and "forget" are words that bring thousands to mind.
Language used to "bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is often used in fictional writing to cover the skeleton of the story. Skeleton's are rough, scary, uncomfortable, and unseen in normal everyday life, as are the intended meanings of fictional writing. Writers as a general unspoken rule do not leave their writing in bear-bones-format. They cover it up.
Adjectives, sensory verbs and nouns, among other things are the "flesh" of most stories. It fills in the gaps left by the harsh surface of the skeleton and helps the reader view the story in a more socially acceptable light. Writers in the post-modern era liked to get down to business, if you will. The idea for them was not to cloud their ideas with useless facts and words that would be inconsequential to their argument either way. Whereaspre-modern writers found it more enlightening to generalize their works with pretty words that would get them remembered.
If the mind was taught to think in one way for it's entire existence then what would make it necessary to switch gears. To be able to feel your writing was the goal of pre-modern writers, but to be able to sympathize with it was the idea of the post-modern technique. We have all had those moments while reading a quote, a book, or even a magazine where we sat back and thought "Oh My God.....that is soo true." Which way of thinking does that for you...to feel...or to be?
Max Ernst painted this Two Children Are Threatened By A Nightingale in 1924 using oil on wood and adding wooden figures to the picture and the frame itself. Interestingly the colors of the sky do not blend, rather they are staggered giving the viewer a realization of the looming darkness and how fast it is moving. The entire painting is surreal in feeling. The girl with the butcher knife, the fainted girl, and the man with the baby are all painted in black and white seeming to be from another time; they belong in this painting by character only not by appearance. Though the colors of the building, fence, and background are in contrast they also compliment each other in that they are faded to pastel. There is great definition in foreground and background which adds to the surreal effect of the painting .
Ernst has a very unique quality of design in this piece. Not only is he very blunt about what is real and what is not (aka. the foreground "real" objects and the background "imagined" objects) but he also gives a very blunt assessment of fantasy and reality to the viewer. Having the fence, the house, and the knob as actual physical objects outside of the painting and physically hanging off the frame gives this perception of moving out of a dream and being able to feel what is around you. The way the painting is organized can make the viewer read it in one of two ways. It can be read from the open fence gate through the yard and the background to the house and the man who is running away. Or, the painting can be read from the dark sky down, fading from the darkness of night into the light of dusk and the imaginary scene below only adding to the surreal effect of the image.
After researching Max Ernst and Two Children Are Threatened By A Nightingale I interpreted the meaning of this painting to be that of a nightmare. This piece was painted after Ernst' sister's death in 1897. After the tragic loss Ernst had hallucinations of an eye, a nose, a bird's head, a spinning top, and a menacing nightingale. All of his hallucinations can be found in separate works created by Ernst and collectively they weave the tale of the traumatic time he had after his sisters' death. I believe that in this painting Ernst was trying to tell the story of a nightingale that frightened a family of sisters and as one tries to fend off the nightingale with a butchers knife he gets away with the youngest of the group, a baby, while the middle child lay unconscious on the ground. I believe that having the objects gives depth, reality and fantasy to this piece.
Information taken from website of The Museum of Modern Art
I look at a violin and see wood and strings. I take a peek again and see how smooth the wood is, how tight the strings are pulled, and I try to imagine what it must mean to the person it belongs to. Every object, person, and building on this earth looks different at second glance. How then, one might ask while reading Invisible Cities, could anyone possibly know that Marco Polo is not simply traveling around the same city and describing it from several different perspectives.
Could Marco Polo just be acting lazy by only traveling to one city? Is he just trying to boost Kublai Kahn's ego by telling all of the elaborate details. Marco Polo seems to be trying to ease Kahn's fears about his "destructed" kingdom. By telling the ruler about how well his cities look he is boosting his moral and easing his way into the end of his empire.
It is strange however that Marco Polo never mentions the people of these cities that he supposedly visits. Perhaps it is because the people are no longer in favor of their ruler. Perhaps it is because the faces of the inhabitants portray a more bleak nature than Polo is willing to share. Perhaps it is because Polo wants to preserve the natural beauty that Kahn would have seen in his younger age.
I wonder what could have possibly possessed Italo Calvino to write about these cities in such a way, however, as always, I have a theory.
I believe, as many others have already studied, that Calvino wrote about these cities in such an order that it shows the repetition of Polo's views on said cities. For example Dorthea, a real human woman's name, is one of those cities that Polo ventures to. He divides the city into several views; Memories and Desire are two of those sections. Going back and describing those cities in sections is representative of Marco Polo reviewing the cities that he visits.
Though I am not thrilled with reading the novel, I am learning so much from it. The writing style is phenomenally convoluted which fits in perfectly with the nature of Italian Culture. It is a blend of intuitive and underhanded writing techniques.
Below is a YouTube Video entitled Italian Art and Architecture, a little something I have left you to think about. Try to look and relook at the buildings and surroundings and see if you can notice something that you didn't before. Become Marco Polo.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A little demonstration that even Virginia Woolf would be proud of...The freedom of movement in the most public of ways.
To be trapped inside your own mind must put dante's inferno to shame. To grow up in a place that cannot accept the fact that your mind contains to many thoughts for you to sort out must be a new kind of hell.
The main character of Girl Interrupted was not crazy by any means. She was confused. She was trapped inside her own mind with thoughts buzzing about and that did not make her insane, it made her understandably confused. Her headaches, her need to write...sometimes people like her are diagnosed with bipolar disorder or multiple personality disorder because no one can comprehend that they dont know how to sort their thoughts. She had swarms of thoughts buzzing around in her head and she could not handle them becausee she was so young. It's true that writing helps get those thoughts out in the open, thats why her warden told her to write them down or talk to someone. If her parents had cared enough to listen they would have found that things like talking, writing, finding some sort of an outlet would have served her far better than a mental institution ever would.
Those thoughts that buzz around inside her head could have swallowed her whole. They would have taken over every part of her only to use her body as an avenue to get them out. They say that crazy people say crazy things. I have seen crazy people. Some are dead silent. Others cannot stop talking. Their thoughts have either corrupted their mind to the poing of them retreating into their minds or they have exploded and cannot stop spitting their thoughts out no matter how conveluted those thoughts might be. Nevermind making any sort of sense.
The lead character was not crazy, but her condition was not handled well. She teaches a briliant lesson in the end. She tells viewers, using her actions, that when other people mess up you have the power to make it right. She went to her treatments, she told her story, she found an outlet for her thoughts. She made it better, she made herself better and that is all that matters.
Judith Shakespeare is an interesting character. To further Woolfe's arguement and to simplify the situation, she is a woman with talent that was passed up by overbearing parental authorities and was trapped inside a room of her own. Woolfe strengthens her arguement by giving life to this fictional woman. She goes inside and scopes out her inner musings, in a way being a psychiatrist to this unseen character. She shows sympathy to this trapped character because she herself was trapped. The irony of Women In Fiction and Woolfe's fictional character was not lost but rather added to her already growing list of iconic writing. Woolfe discusses the idea of writers, such as the college ones she was speaking to, having to write in the confines of a shared sitting room. She makes the very valid point of saying that the distraction of having a crowded room may have influenced their decisions to become novelists instead of poets. With that number of people surrounding me and telling me why being a novelist is so much better and more fulfulling than being a poet, day in and day out I would change my mind too. That also brings the subject back to needing a room of one's own. It's not just a place to think, it's a place to develop yourself. Without a little peace, as you would find in a deserted room, no one would ever have a coherent self-image. A room is just as necessary for Judith to figure out who she is as it is for all writers to find who they are. We need space.
As a writer I believe, it's only a belief mind you, that I can be very creative when the situation calls for it. Creating very abstract ideas (here's to all you Alice In Wonderland fans!), and explaining them through my sometimes very abstract thoughts seems to have been a clear routine in all of my incredibly disheveled notebooks.
To be writing, I must be in the mooood. I suppose someone could call my writing atmosphere romantic but.....whatever. I need music. I need music like I need coffee on Monday mornings, which brings me to the next item on my list of demands. Low lighting. Dim lights may add elegence to a formal dinner or mystery to a haunted house, but for me having a small light on in complete and utter darkness helps to focus my mind on what I'm writing and not on what is going on around me. Out of sight out of mind, they say.
For the duration of this incessant blogging, I would like to strive to reexamine my thought processes. I believe that when I think about certian topics my mind wanders too fast for me to actually comprehend my thoughts. I would love to be able to feel more confident about my ability to achieve a way of organizing a paper that works for me and not for just my professors. And finally I want to illuminate my perspective on writing. I seem to see specific angles on topics often and I would like to expand my way of thinking to come at a subject from ALL angles.
For me writing is like a release. When I write it is usually to let go of something that has been plaguing my life with too many thoughts. Sometimes it's nice to just not think for a while and writing helps me get to that point of clarity. To write is to answer all the questions you were never asked. To write is to get to the last cookie before your brother does. To write is to let go. We all need an outlet and while running may help you let go of calories and music may help you get rid of those buzzing thoughts in your head, writing makes you become your own shrink. How do you feel about THAT?
