I've never read a "farewell post," so I'm not really sure what one is supposed to look like. In fact, I'm not even really sure if a "farewell post" a real thing. Well, I'm writing one now, so... if it wasn't a real thing before, it is now. Here goes...
If I wasn't required to blog for my English class this year, I probably would have never started, but now, I'm stuck in the blogosphere. I write, I follow, and I even comment from time to time. It's May, so I'm about to take a nice, relaxing blog-cation, but before I depart, I want to make sure that you know me well as a blogger. So, because it's my favorite thing to do... here are some LISTS:
Five Favorite Blogs (in no particular order)
1. Smitten Kitchen - interesting recipes, and beautiful pictures of food
2. Grilled Cheese Social - Just like Smitten Kitchen, but only grilled cheese sandwiches
(can you tell I'm a huge foodie yet?)
3. The MindBlog - It's neuroscience, but in the most interesting, easy-to-understand way possible.
4. Playbill - OKAY, it's not really a blog, but thanks to Google Reader I always get great little newsflashes or fun facts when I check it.
5. The Disney Blog - 'Nuff said.
Five Most Valuable Blogging Lessons
(greatly in part due to Liz Strauss and her Blogspertise [Blogs. Expertise. Get it?])
1. Links are everybody's friend. A blog that never links to other blogs or sources is a dead end. It has nowhere to go, and will probably not be linked or referenced often because it does nothing for the networked blogging community. Don't be afraid to link often. You'll lose nothing; it can only help you.
2. Cool-looking blogs are cooler in general. I love posts that include photography, pictures, diagrams, etc, and when blogs are visually unique (no templates) and easy to navigate with the eye, they make me want to read them.
3. Make sure your blog represents your voice. If you can picture the blogger physically saying what he or she has posted, it makes the blog so much more readable.
4. When blogs have a clear theme, when all the posts connect to some common interest, such as technology or music or eating or Japan, it ups the "followable" factor incredibly.
5. Talking. Real talking. Yeah, bloggers are real people who communicate with other real people in the real world. They live beyond their blogs. Sometimes, learning about exciting new blogs happens off the computer. This is definitely true for me.
Four Things I Still Need to Work on:
1. Draft more. I tend to crank out a whole post in one sitting, and I probably should proofread or outline a little more (THIS post WAS proofread... yay me)
2. Try to get readers. Usually I never get around to publicizing my posts on REddit or Facebook, but it's reallt not that hard.
3. My theme. If I ever get back into blogging, I need an over-arching idea that holds my posts together, because this time around, it didn't quite happen.
4. Returning the favor. Maybe the reason I don't have more readers is because I have terrible blog karma. I read plenty of posts but rarely comment...
Finally...
Seven Songs I Will Be Listening to All Summer (you should, too):
1. Sweet Pea
2. Someone You'd Admire
3. Sleep the Clock Around
4. Blue Skies
5. This Bed
6. Lux Aurumque
7. Sweet Talk Sweet Talk
...okay one more...
Have a fantastic summer, and thanks for reading!
Showing posts with label Nelson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nelson. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Silence
Ever heard of Day of Silence? Today, my school honored it, and I participated for my fourth year in a row... and it was great! For the first year ever, nobody demanded me to defend my silence, and nobody started playing see-how-annoying-I-have-to-be-to-get-Melanie-to-talk! The high respect for this year's Day of Silence put me in a really good mood.
Now, it's probably because I had a free period where I spent a good hour "studying" by myself, but I also reflected on why I was silent this year more than I have ever before, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts.
And now, "a few things that I thought about because I had a lot of quiet time to myself because I couldn't hold a real conversation with anyone because I was silent today" or...
"Eight Silent Thoughts"
1. Three other people in my Academy class were silent, and during Social Studies, we all had someone read "statements" giving our reasons for participating in Day of Silence. Their statements were touching and articulate, and I want to give them a shout-out... so, uh... Woohooshoutout!
2. I remembered the people who first asked me to participate in Day of Silence my freshman year. I am so grateful to you for getting me involved.
3. I was wearing my old Day of Silence shirt (from 2008), which does not look like the 2011 edition at all. I would like to acknowledge all the people who asked me, "Why is your shirt different?" and proceeded to wait for a response. You guys are so entertaining...
4. I admired my wonderful friends who have not allowed intolerance or ignorance to inhibit them from being exactly who they were meant to be.
5. I prayed for the people I know who aren't as fearless in the face of prejudice.
6. I won't name names, but my first Day of Silence, a certain someone saw my shirt and said something along the lines of "That's so gay. I bet I can get you to talk." Today, he saw it and reacted with a "You haven't said a word all day? That's really great." Thank you for growing up :)
7. Finally, I reflected on all the hate, stupidity, and homophobia I still see. As much as I like to think that I surround myself with tolerance, I have to admit that there are people I know and love who just don't get that "gay" is not a synonym for "stupid." And, in most cases, I don't want to speak up when I hear someone I'm close with rattle off some unacceptable phrases because I don't want the conflict.
8. #7 is a disgusting truth. I have a choice, so I'm making a resolution to no longer "let it slide."
Song Recommendation: "The Painter" by I'm from Barcelona
Monday, April 11, 2011
The Thaw
In English we've been talking ecocritical. We recently had to reflect on our relationship with nature. At the time, my relationship with nature was going through a rough patch. April was windy and cloudy and forty or fifty degrees, which is completely unfair after one glorious week of sunny seventies in mid-March. Thus, in my reflection, I had decided that I was not very close with nature.
But wait! Yesterday, after my silk training (*cough*shamelesspromotion*cough*goseeCHICAGO*cough*) yesterday, I noticed that it was in the high seventies; It was sunny; It was breezy. I went for a short walk outside before driving home, and even after the thirty-minute drive back home and the lunch I ate indoors, I went back out to my yard to relax (instead of hide in my air-conditioned house like I normally would). Now, my relationship with nature is in a honeymoon period. The weather is being very good to me, so it's easier for me to love the weather.
In our class discussion of relationships with nature, I figured out that I'm not driven away from nature out of fear of giant animals or fear of dangerous people hiding in the landscape. Instead, my biggest problem is adverse weather... specifically... the cold (i lived in 95-degree, sunny, humid, muggy Italy for three weeks this summer and it honestly hardly bothered me!). If my feelings toward nature strongly depend on the temperature, then where does my role with the great outdoors stand? I believe that I'm not the only one who has a constantly morphing, fluctuating relationship with nature. I bet yours changes frequently, too. What's the factor that affects how you feel toward nature? Weather? Terrain? Bugs?
Finally... earthy song recommendations... it's almost Earth Day, and I think there's no better way to celebrate (anything, not just Earth Day) than with a lovely playlist. Enjoy!
•"Down to Earth" by Peter Gabriel
•"Sprout and the Bean" by Joanna Newsom
•"Woods" by Bon Iver
•"Thistled Spring" by Horse Feathers
(if you have song recommendations, GIVE THEM TO ME =] !!)
But wait! Yesterday, after my silk training (*cough*shamelesspromotion*cough*goseeCHICAGO*cough*) yesterday, I noticed that it was in the high seventies; It was sunny; It was breezy. I went for a short walk outside before driving home, and even after the thirty-minute drive back home and the lunch I ate indoors, I went back out to my yard to relax (instead of hide in my air-conditioned house like I normally would). Now, my relationship with nature is in a honeymoon period. The weather is being very good to me, so it's easier for me to love the weather.
In our class discussion of relationships with nature, I figured out that I'm not driven away from nature out of fear of giant animals or fear of dangerous people hiding in the landscape. Instead, my biggest problem is adverse weather... specifically... the cold (i lived in 95-degree, sunny, humid, muggy Italy for three weeks this summer and it honestly hardly bothered me!). If my feelings toward nature strongly depend on the temperature, then where does my role with the great outdoors stand? I believe that I'm not the only one who has a constantly morphing, fluctuating relationship with nature. I bet yours changes frequently, too. What's the factor that affects how you feel toward nature? Weather? Terrain? Bugs?
Finally... earthy song recommendations... it's almost Earth Day, and I think there's no better way to celebrate (anything, not just Earth Day) than with a lovely playlist. Enjoy!
•"Down to Earth" by Peter Gabriel
•"Sprout and the Bean" by Joanna Newsom
•"Woods" by Bon Iver
•"Thistled Spring" by Horse Feathers
(if you have song recommendations, GIVE THEM TO ME =] !!)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Hope is My Philosophy
I will love you more than me and more than yesterday.
If you can but prove to me, you are the new day.
Sounds like a pretty straightforward love song, right? The audience is the speaker's beloved, and all the speaker has to say is, "Hey, I love you."
Thoughts that we as humans small could slow worlds and end it all
Lie around me where they fall, before the new day.
That's from the exact same song. So now you probably think I've got it all wrong. Honestly, I'm not sure...
Express just combined with the lovely Chamber Ensemble of Glenbrook South at the Techny Concert, (for anyone who cares, we worked on FANTASTIC SONGS this year) and we sang John David's "You Are the New Day." When we first received the music, our choir director told us that he honestly didn't know what the song meant. After spending more and more time on it, I began to realize that the meaning is so much more complex than just a simple love song. Our guest conductor, Mrs. Moe, told us that it's very likely that each person who knows this song will find different meaning in it. She told us her interpretation, and one of the members of our choir also shared her ideas. I, too, began to find meaning in this song.
The different (extremely abridged) interpretations:
•The speaker is loves his or her live, even knowing that humans are small and powerless.
•This is a proclamation of love to another person. The speaker feels that nothing else matters beside spending a whole lifetime with the person he or she loves.
To me, this song is a surge of gratitude. Some lyrics are frightening: "When I lay me down at night, knowing we must pay," and "We... could slow worlds and end it all," and "One more day when time is running out," and they make me think about how finite and fragile our lives are. Even so, the speaker loves the life he or she has had, and realizes that although his or her only power is to hope for more days, that's enough, because just being able to continue living is what the speaker desires.
I'm mildly obsessed with this song.
So, here are the lyrics, and here is the best version I could find on YouTube. I want you to experience this beautiful piece, and tell me what it means to you.
Thank you!
If you can but prove to me, you are the new day.
Sounds like a pretty straightforward love song, right? The audience is the speaker's beloved, and all the speaker has to say is, "Hey, I love you."
Thoughts that we as humans small could slow worlds and end it all
Lie around me where they fall, before the new day.
That's from the exact same song. So now you probably think I've got it all wrong. Honestly, I'm not sure...
Express just combined with the lovely Chamber Ensemble of Glenbrook South at the Techny Concert, (for anyone who cares, we worked on FANTASTIC SONGS this year) and we sang John David's "You Are the New Day." When we first received the music, our choir director told us that he honestly didn't know what the song meant. After spending more and more time on it, I began to realize that the meaning is so much more complex than just a simple love song. Our guest conductor, Mrs. Moe, told us that it's very likely that each person who knows this song will find different meaning in it. She told us her interpretation, and one of the members of our choir also shared her ideas. I, too, began to find meaning in this song.
The different (extremely abridged) interpretations:
•The speaker is loves his or her live, even knowing that humans are small and powerless.
•This is a proclamation of love to another person. The speaker feels that nothing else matters beside spending a whole lifetime with the person he or she loves.
To me, this song is a surge of gratitude. Some lyrics are frightening: "When I lay me down at night, knowing we must pay," and "We... could slow worlds and end it all," and "One more day when time is running out," and they make me think about how finite and fragile our lives are. Even so, the speaker loves the life he or she has had, and realizes that although his or her only power is to hope for more days, that's enough, because just being able to continue living is what the speaker desires.
I'm mildly obsessed with this song.
So, here are the lyrics, and here is the best version I could find on YouTube. I want you to experience this beautiful piece, and tell me what it means to you.
Thank you!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Art.
I just finished reading Shakespeare's Hamlet.
THAT is a work of art.
However, I also watched (most of) The Fellowship of the Ring last night at a friend's house. (except for the thirty minutes in the middle where I fell asleep. NOT MY FAULT! He put on the extended edition), and I consider that, too, is a work of art.
They're both classic works of literature, yes, but the makeup, costumes, sets, special effects, cinematography, and score in the Fellowship of the Ring contribute just as much to its "art" status as the script. Similarly, the lighting, staging, and acting (among other components) bring Hamlet to life as a play and, yes, give it artistic value.
So, film and theatre qualify as art. Okay, painting, photography, sculpture, and music are all "art," too, right? But wait...
What are the limits to what can be considered "art?" Is every poem, painting, drawing, or photo a work of art? Is every song a work of art? I'm pretty sure this piece qualifies as art, but I have reservations about calling this one "art." Then there are unconventional forms of expression that some people may or may not artistically value, like interior decorating, dance, cooking, or even makeup.
So, what am I deciding? To the artist, if you have the creativity to express something unique or beautiful or unsettling or just interesting, your art can come in . To the beholder, you can decide what is or is not art. This means that there will always be conflicts, because not everyone sees the same way.
How would you define art? And, with that much said, what are some of your favorite works of art? Please share :)
THAT is a work of art.
However, I also watched (most of) The Fellowship of the Ring last night at a friend's house. (except for the thirty minutes in the middle where I fell asleep. NOT MY FAULT! He put on the extended edition), and I consider that, too, is a work of art.
They're both classic works of literature, yes, but the makeup, costumes, sets, special effects, cinematography, and score in the Fellowship of the Ring contribute just as much to its "art" status as the script. Similarly, the lighting, staging, and acting (among other components) bring Hamlet to life as a play and, yes, give it artistic value.
So, film and theatre qualify as art. Okay, painting, photography, sculpture, and music are all "art," too, right? But wait...
What are the limits to what can be considered "art?" Is every poem, painting, drawing, or photo a work of art? Is every song a work of art? I'm pretty sure this piece qualifies as art, but I have reservations about calling this one "art." Then there are unconventional forms of expression that some people may or may not artistically value, like interior decorating, dance, cooking, or even makeup.
So, what am I deciding? To the artist, if you have the creativity to express something unique or beautiful or unsettling or just interesting, your art can come in . To the beholder, you can decide what is or is not art. This means that there will always be conflicts, because not everyone sees the same way.
How would you define art? And, with that much said, what are some of your favorite works of art? Please share :)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Understanding Gertrude (Plus, a Musical Study Guide!)
In English we've been reading Hamlet, but we've also been analyzing scenes from different critical approaches. It's eye-opening. We see that certain lines can mean different things, or certain characters can serve entirely different purposes depending on what perspective you take when reading Hamlet. In a previous post, I wondered what makes Hamlet such an influential piece, and I think this is it. This play can be taken a thousand ways.
Rather than just assume you'll believe me saying "You can look at Hamlet from so many perspectives" over and over again, I'm gonna prove it to you. Here's the case of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, from just a few approaches:
1. The Feminist Approach: Gertrude's okay! Feminists could argue that Gertrude is innocent because there is no concrete text that proves Gertrude knew that Claudius was her husband's killer. She may have married Claudius only as a way to keep herself close to power and able to continue to serve her kingdom.
2. The Mythical Approach: Gertrude is a bad mother. She betrayed her son, Hamlet, by marrying Claudius. She also represents an archetype of an evil woman: sensuous, eager to stay close to power, incestuous, and unfaithful.
3. The Psychoanalytic Approach: Ever heard of an Oedipus complex? Hamlet could have tamed his animosity toward his father for having Gertrude, but when his father dies and Claudius takes her hand, Hamlet gets all worked up again. His hatred for Claudius is fed by the fact that someone besides Hamlet Junior or Senior (in the prince's mind, the only two people he could accept being with Gertrude), married Gertrude.
Believe me now? Hamlet's mother could be an unfaithful and selfish mother, an innocent and responsible woman, or a character to show off Hamlet's psychological problems, all depending on what approach you take when reading Hamlet. What other approaches could you take when reading this play, and how would Gertrude's role in the story change?
SONG RECOMMENDATION: Hey There, Ophelia by MC Lars. Who needs SparkNotes when you can just listen to a 4-minute rap summary? (I wouldn't call it the finest piece of audial artwork, but it is entertaining.) Enjoy :)
Rather than just assume you'll believe me saying "You can look at Hamlet from so many perspectives" over and over again, I'm gonna prove it to you. Here's the case of Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, from just a few approaches:
1. The Feminist Approach: Gertrude's okay! Feminists could argue that Gertrude is innocent because there is no concrete text that proves Gertrude knew that Claudius was her husband's killer. She may have married Claudius only as a way to keep herself close to power and able to continue to serve her kingdom.
2. The Mythical Approach: Gertrude is a bad mother. She betrayed her son, Hamlet, by marrying Claudius. She also represents an archetype of an evil woman: sensuous, eager to stay close to power, incestuous, and unfaithful.
3. The Psychoanalytic Approach: Ever heard of an Oedipus complex? Hamlet could have tamed his animosity toward his father for having Gertrude, but when his father dies and Claudius takes her hand, Hamlet gets all worked up again. His hatred for Claudius is fed by the fact that someone besides Hamlet Junior or Senior (in the prince's mind, the only two people he could accept being with Gertrude), married Gertrude.
Believe me now? Hamlet's mother could be an unfaithful and selfish mother, an innocent and responsible woman, or a character to show off Hamlet's psychological problems, all depending on what approach you take when reading Hamlet. What other approaches could you take when reading this play, and how would Gertrude's role in the story change?
SONG RECOMMENDATION: Hey There, Ophelia by MC Lars. Who needs SparkNotes when you can just listen to a 4-minute rap summary? (I wouldn't call it the finest piece of audial artwork, but it is entertaining.) Enjoy :)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!
I got home an hour ago, and I'm still in Valentine overdrive. Things that have made me smile today:
1. Poems. Not just anyone can crank out a Shakespeare-caliber sonnet, but my friends in AP Statistics can really show their love in sweet couplets:
Snowflakes are white, but slush is just grey.
I hope that you'll be my Valentine today!
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
This class is so hard. I don't have a clue.
Sudafed, Claritin, Crack, Tylenol...
Your love is the drug that I need most of all.
Roses are red. Violets are purple.
Not blue...
Needless to say, this was a productive class today.
2. Food. Baking food. I bake ALL the time. I just made these for a party tomorrow. However, I'm quite partial to blondies, maybe because I'm, well, blonde, but also because they are so easy to make, and so easy that I can make any variations (banana blondies>banana bread). And yesterday I was baking for a while, too (but I can't say WHAT I was baking because that would spoil a surprise for someone who might read this post.)
3. Songs. In honor of it being Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite LOVE songs:
•Make You Feel My Love. Yes, I know it was originally Bob Dylan's, but Adele sings it soOoOo beautifully
•Whistle for the Choir. It just makes me smile.
•This is what my choir does for Singing Valentines. I was serenaded with it my freshman year, and today I led my group around the school singing to other people :).
•I know the French Edith Piaf version is the classic, but you canNOT tell me this rendition isn't good.
4. My AP Psychology homework. I have to write something nice about each person in my class. Tomorrow everyone gives their compliments (typed on pieces of paper) anonymously.
5. Reading for fun. I'm in Group Interpretation again! This year we're doing Coraline, so I'm reading the book again, even though I know the story, even though I've seen the movie and received the script, because I want to!
6. Recommendations. PLEASE. Give me some poems, songs, recipes, or book titles that have made you smile. Happy Valentine's Day!
1. Poems. Not just anyone can crank out a Shakespeare-caliber sonnet, but my friends in AP Statistics can really show their love in sweet couplets:
Snowflakes are white, but slush is just grey.
I hope that you'll be my Valentine today!
Roses are red. Violets are blue.
This class is so hard. I don't have a clue.
Sudafed, Claritin, Crack, Tylenol...
Your love is the drug that I need most of all.
Roses are red. Violets are purple.
Not blue...
Needless to say, this was a productive class today.
2. Food. Baking food. I bake ALL the time. I just made these for a party tomorrow. However, I'm quite partial to blondies, maybe because I'm, well, blonde, but also because they are so easy to make, and so easy that I can make any variations (banana blondies>banana bread). And yesterday I was baking for a while, too (but I can't say WHAT I was baking because that would spoil a surprise for someone who might read this post.)
3. Songs. In honor of it being Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite LOVE songs:
•Make You Feel My Love. Yes, I know it was originally Bob Dylan's, but Adele sings it soOoOo beautifully
•Whistle for the Choir. It just makes me smile.
•This is what my choir does for Singing Valentines. I was serenaded with it my freshman year, and today I led my group around the school singing to other people :).
•I know the French Edith Piaf version is the classic, but you canNOT tell me this rendition isn't good.
4. My AP Psychology homework. I have to write something nice about each person in my class. Tomorrow everyone gives their compliments (typed on pieces of paper) anonymously.
5. Reading for fun. I'm in Group Interpretation again! This year we're doing Coraline, so I'm reading the book again, even though I know the story, even though I've seen the movie and received the script, because I want to!
6. Recommendations. PLEASE. Give me some poems, songs, recipes, or book titles that have made you smile. Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hamlet in Disguise
I really like writing these list-format posts... Anyway, I'm reading Shakespeare's Hamlet for English right now. On Day 1 of this unit, my teacher informed the class of a few instances where this plot has inspired other works of art, so instead of talk about a play you might not have read, I thought it would be fun (yeah, this is what I consider "fun") to find popular movies, songs, or just anything you've probably encountered that are actually based on the famous tragedy.
1. Tchaikovsky wrote an Overture in F minor, called (drumroll, please) Hamlet Fantasy Overture. If you're not a classical music buff, you may have still heard this song if you've ever seen A Christmas Story.
2. More in the vein of classical music... Hamlet is an opera!!! Actually, Wikipedia told me there are seven operas based on Hamlet. In Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, all of Act 4 is Ophelia's "Mad Scene," and Maria Callas, the queen of opera, sings it incredibly.
3. If you're a Disney fan, or have experienced any sort of childhood at all, you've probably seen The Lion King. Guess what. It's Hamlet! Simba is Hamlet, sans insanity. Scar is Claudius, the evil uncle who kills his brother to take the throne, and then grossly abuses his power and tries to take the queen's hand. Timon and Pumba? They could be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, encouraging a responsibility-free lifestyle.
4. Then there's Sons of Anarchy, yes, a whole television series based on Hamlet. Clay is Claudius, Gemma is Gertrude, and Jax, who communicates with his dead father, is (you guessed it) Hamlet. This is not speculation... The show's creator, Kurt Sutter, has admitted that there is Shakespearean inspiration at work, and the storyline will probably follow Hamlet until the end of the series. (Oh, spoiler alert... oops...)
5. The Second City explores the possibility that Ophelia's suicide could have been avoided in this short scene.
6. Now for (not even close to) everything that's not based on Hamlet, but just couldn't keep its hands off the play:
• Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes recites the "to Be or not to Be" soliloquy to a bowl of green mush. Then the mush starts singing and Calvin eats it...
• Legally Blonde the Musical quotes "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man" in its finale (1:30).
• Find the Hamlet quote or reference in these 2 T.S. Eliot poems! "Wasteland" "The Lovesong of Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock"
• An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is called "Hamlet."
• Okay I'm getting kinda sick of looking for all these... Last one! Lines from the play are quoted in movies: (500) Days of Summer, Clueless, and Shakespeare in Love, to name a few.
So, what does this mean? Hamlet is everywhere now, even though it's 400 years old. So far I've only read Act I, but this piece is just so influential. I want to do a good job reading it. Have you read Hamlet? Do you have any tips for me that could help me get the most out of reading? Finally, have you found any Hamlets in disguise that I haven't mentioned?
1. Tchaikovsky wrote an Overture in F minor, called (drumroll, please) Hamlet Fantasy Overture. If you're not a classical music buff, you may have still heard this song if you've ever seen A Christmas Story.
2. More in the vein of classical music... Hamlet is an opera!!! Actually, Wikipedia told me there are seven operas based on Hamlet. In Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, all of Act 4 is Ophelia's "Mad Scene," and Maria Callas, the queen of opera, sings it incredibly.
3. If you're a Disney fan, or have experienced any sort of childhood at all, you've probably seen The Lion King. Guess what. It's Hamlet! Simba is Hamlet, sans insanity. Scar is Claudius, the evil uncle who kills his brother to take the throne, and then grossly abuses his power and tries to take the queen's hand. Timon and Pumba? They could be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, encouraging a responsibility-free lifestyle.
4. Then there's Sons of Anarchy, yes, a whole television series based on Hamlet. Clay is Claudius, Gemma is Gertrude, and Jax, who communicates with his dead father, is (you guessed it) Hamlet. This is not speculation... The show's creator, Kurt Sutter, has admitted that there is Shakespearean inspiration at work, and the storyline will probably follow Hamlet until the end of the series. (Oh, spoiler alert... oops...)
5. The Second City explores the possibility that Ophelia's suicide could have been avoided in this short scene.
6. Now for (not even close to) everything that's not based on Hamlet, but just couldn't keep its hands off the play:
• Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes recites the "to Be or not to Be" soliloquy to a bowl of green mush. Then the mush starts singing and Calvin eats it...
• Legally Blonde the Musical quotes "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man" in its finale (1:30).
• Find the Hamlet quote or reference in these 2 T.S. Eliot poems! "Wasteland" "The Lovesong of Mr. J. Alfred Prufrock"
• An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is called "Hamlet."
• Okay I'm getting kinda sick of looking for all these... Last one! Lines from the play are quoted in movies: (500) Days of Summer, Clueless, and Shakespeare in Love, to name a few.
So, what does this mean? Hamlet is everywhere now, even though it's 400 years old. So far I've only read Act I, but this piece is just so influential. I want to do a good job reading it. Have you read Hamlet? Do you have any tips for me that could help me get the most out of reading? Finally, have you found any Hamlets in disguise that I haven't mentioned?
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
I Like Lists. I Like POV. I Love Music.
Five Different Ways to Look at MUSIC:
1. In Deric Bownd's MindBlog, he discusses the chemical processes that give music the ability to elicit reactions from us.
2. Seth Rudetsky is a Broadway accompanist, performer, and "music deconstructor." He will focus in on the most minute details of someone's performance, analyzing sometimes half a second of a note. I've seen him conducting deconstructions live, and he's both hilarious and very knowledgible. Here's one of my favorites.
3. Music (spoecifically musicals here) is a way to interpret other media. Books, movies, historical events, and even people have served as the inspiration for a full-on stage spectacular. Some stories fit seamlessly into musical format... But then there's Jekyll and Hyde (the ROCK musical), Spiderman: Turn off the Dark ($60 million budget WHAT?), Moby Dick, and soon, an adaptation of American Psycho.
4. Ever heard of aromatherapy? Like, lavender makes you sleepy, grapefruit perks you up, etc... Well there's music therapy, too! I discovered this when I was searching for college majors to pursue. Involvement in music actually can benefit patients! In a sense, music can be considered medicine!
5. How YOU see music. What purpose does music serve to you? Has it helped you?
1. In Deric Bownd's MindBlog, he discusses the chemical processes that give music the ability to elicit reactions from us.
2. Seth Rudetsky is a Broadway accompanist, performer, and "music deconstructor." He will focus in on the most minute details of someone's performance, analyzing sometimes half a second of a note. I've seen him conducting deconstructions live, and he's both hilarious and very knowledgible. Here's one of my favorites.
3. Music (spoecifically musicals here) is a way to interpret other media. Books, movies, historical events, and even people have served as the inspiration for a full-on stage spectacular. Some stories fit seamlessly into musical format... But then there's Jekyll and Hyde (the ROCK musical), Spiderman: Turn off the Dark ($60 million budget WHAT?), Moby Dick, and soon, an adaptation of American Psycho.
4. Ever heard of aromatherapy? Like, lavender makes you sleepy, grapefruit perks you up, etc... Well there's music therapy, too! I discovered this when I was searching for college majors to pursue. Involvement in music actually can benefit patients! In a sense, music can be considered medicine!
5. How YOU see music. What purpose does music serve to you? Has it helped you?
Monday, January 3, 2011
Buzzing About...
Over winter break I started cleaning my room by taking all the old books out. I came across my dogeared copy of The Secret Life of Bees and realized that I had never finished it. That's my "reading for fun" style: Starting a book, getting through as much as I can in one sitting, and then losing interest. Admirable, right? Well I finally finished this one, and I caught on to so much more literary brilliance than I had when I was reading it sophomore year, such as the narrative style Sue Monk Kidd uses.
She shows how events in the story are all connected by having Lily tell sequences of events the way she sees one happen immediately after the next. For instance, June's stormy relationship with Neil permeates everyone's life at the hot pink Boatwright house. Lily tells us about how she creeps downstairs and hears Neil leave angrily and June begin to sob. In another scene, Lily sees a June-Neil argument take place while she's working outside. The way we see subplots progress through Lily's eyes (rather than receiving the narrative from one of those "invisible" speakers uninvolved in the action) gives us Lily's perspective (rather than letting us see the events as outsiders).
I also liked the sense of closure we got at the end about Lily's feelings toward her mother. When August and Lily first discuss Deborah, Lily suddenly feels unloved and abandoned, but she eventually decides to believe her mother did love her. It's so optimistic! Why choose to remember her mother as unloving when she could just as easily decide to believe her mother did love her very much, that leaving her behind during one visit was not an indication of hate or disaffection? Lily discovers she has grown just fine without her mother, for she had Rosaleen to care for her, and she even cared for herself to an extent. Finally, the community of caring women Lily finds confirms that she can find people who care for her and love her even if her biological mother is gone.
I heard there's a movie version of this novel. I don't have time to watch it now because I'm in tech week for a show now (I feel like I'm always busy with a show...), but I am curious to see how the narrative style translates to film.
Are you familiar with the S.L.o.B? What other examples of these intertwined narratives (such as the June-Neil observations) do you see in the story? Do you see similar narrative styles in other authors?
She shows how events in the story are all connected by having Lily tell sequences of events the way she sees one happen immediately after the next. For instance, June's stormy relationship with Neil permeates everyone's life at the hot pink Boatwright house. Lily tells us about how she creeps downstairs and hears Neil leave angrily and June begin to sob. In another scene, Lily sees a June-Neil argument take place while she's working outside. The way we see subplots progress through Lily's eyes (rather than receiving the narrative from one of those "invisible" speakers uninvolved in the action) gives us Lily's perspective (rather than letting us see the events as outsiders).
I also liked the sense of closure we got at the end about Lily's feelings toward her mother. When August and Lily first discuss Deborah, Lily suddenly feels unloved and abandoned, but she eventually decides to believe her mother did love her. It's so optimistic! Why choose to remember her mother as unloving when she could just as easily decide to believe her mother did love her very much, that leaving her behind during one visit was not an indication of hate or disaffection? Lily discovers she has grown just fine without her mother, for she had Rosaleen to care for her, and she even cared for herself to an extent. Finally, the community of caring women Lily finds confirms that she can find people who care for her and love her even if her biological mother is gone.
I heard there's a movie version of this novel. I don't have time to watch it now because I'm in tech week for a show now (I feel like I'm always busy with a show...), but I am curious to see how the narrative style translates to film.
Are you familiar with the S.L.o.B? What other examples of these intertwined narratives (such as the June-Neil observations) do you see in the story? Do you see similar narrative styles in other authors?
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Strata
I just changed the name of my blog.
I hope that it doesn't confuse my few readers to the point of losing them.
I hope that it does put my blog on an earlier page when I search it on Google.
Yes, I search my blog on Google. Don't make fun. You know it's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened.
A silver lining is a nice image, but it wasn't exactly the most original title, and it's not totally accurate to my blog. My posts aren't daily reports of how I look on the bright side. "Today, Melanie tripped over her feet and fell on her face. Then she smiled because she could see the flowers better from the ground." No.
Without completely changing little bloggy's identity, I tried to think of something that could have silver linings. Clouds have silver linings, and stratus is a type of cloud, and "Silver-Lined Stratus" does not sound terrible. But why stop there? Stratum sounds like stratus, and that basically means "layers." In ecology, strata are layers of vegetation. In society, they're layers or levels of social class. Geology - layers of rock. Biology - layers of tissue. You understand? "Strata" can be used in so many different contexts.
One thing I've found most interesting to blog about is different perspectives. When I read The Poisonwood Bible, I always kept in mind which of the narrators was speaking and how her perspective affected the readers' perception of the discussed event. Now, I'm in the midst of Reading Lolita in Tehran, and I'm always thinking of how the students Nafisi teaches see this literature differently than I, an American student. For instance, Nafisi's students connected with Lolita. They knew she was a prisoner and victim of Humbert, but they also understood that she could not leave him. After her mother's death, Humbert was the only person Lolita could associate as any sort of family. The revolution in Iran was oppressive, the students' Humbert, but Iran was their home, where their families and culture were rooted.
And the whole time I just thought Humbert was a slimy creep and that was it! I was baffled by the amount of time Lolita stuck around that guy. See how eye-opening it can be to explore others' perspectives?
So that's why I like "strata." I love to explore other people's perspectives, especially when they contrast with my own. I love observing that different individuals feel differently about things like a piece of literature, a story that everyone reads in the same words the same way (with the exception of translations). Then, identifying what factors have influenced these people's varying perspectives is rewarding, for it allows me to better understand their views. "Strata" is an applicable term in linguistics, biology, geology, sociology, and ecology, so why not make it applicable to my blog, too? Instead of looking at layers of rocks or social classes, I'm looking at strata of outlooks.
I hope that it doesn't confuse my few readers to the point of losing them.
I hope that it does put my blog on an earlier page when I search it on Google.
Yes, I search my blog on Google. Don't make fun. You know it's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened.
A silver lining is a nice image, but it wasn't exactly the most original title, and it's not totally accurate to my blog. My posts aren't daily reports of how I look on the bright side. "Today, Melanie tripped over her feet and fell on her face. Then she smiled because she could see the flowers better from the ground." No.
Without completely changing little bloggy's identity, I tried to think of something that could have silver linings. Clouds have silver linings, and stratus is a type of cloud, and "Silver-Lined Stratus" does not sound terrible. But why stop there? Stratum sounds like stratus, and that basically means "layers." In ecology, strata are layers of vegetation. In society, they're layers or levels of social class. Geology - layers of rock. Biology - layers of tissue. You understand? "Strata" can be used in so many different contexts.
One thing I've found most interesting to blog about is different perspectives. When I read The Poisonwood Bible, I always kept in mind which of the narrators was speaking and how her perspective affected the readers' perception of the discussed event. Now, I'm in the midst of Reading Lolita in Tehran, and I'm always thinking of how the students Nafisi teaches see this literature differently than I, an American student. For instance, Nafisi's students connected with Lolita. They knew she was a prisoner and victim of Humbert, but they also understood that she could not leave him. After her mother's death, Humbert was the only person Lolita could associate as any sort of family. The revolution in Iran was oppressive, the students' Humbert, but Iran was their home, where their families and culture were rooted.
And the whole time I just thought Humbert was a slimy creep and that was it! I was baffled by the amount of time Lolita stuck around that guy. See how eye-opening it can be to explore others' perspectives?
So that's why I like "strata." I love to explore other people's perspectives, especially when they contrast with my own. I love observing that different individuals feel differently about things like a piece of literature, a story that everyone reads in the same words the same way (with the exception of translations). Then, identifying what factors have influenced these people's varying perspectives is rewarding, for it allows me to better understand their views. "Strata" is an applicable term in linguistics, biology, geology, sociology, and ecology, so why not make it applicable to my blog, too? Instead of looking at layers of rocks or social classes, I'm looking at strata of outlooks.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I'm reading some great literature in English, but that is something I can usually count on having around. Instead, I'd like to take a festive break.
So I've been listening to a whole lot of Christmas music lately. No, I'm not one of those people who prepares for Christmas the second Halloween ends... I'm worse. I was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Halloween. I'm not sorry.
Annually, I'm faced with a very serious problem. Because I listen to Christmas music nonstop for two months straight each year, I'm always desperate for something new. I can only tolerate hearing Jingle Bell Rock so many times before, well, I start doubting it's really such a swell time to go riding in a one-horse sleigh.
Anyway, I went on a hunt. First I felt disappointed in Bob Dylan. Then I studied for AP Psych (which helped me get a 95% on that chapter test!). Then I turned off the iPod and did some homework...
I've begun to pay much more attention to perspective lately. In class today, we touched on Otherism. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, there's a scene where a stereotypical Muslim girl is compared to a stereotypical Christian girl. The professor says that one of these girls is a virgin, and the other is not. You might ask, "Which girl is which?" or you might say, "Huh, why would he point out that girls of his own religion are not virgins?" (like I'll admit I did. I went to Catholic school for nine years. According to all the teachers, nuns, priests, and fellow parishioners, a Christian woman better be a virgin, unless, of course, she's married.) According to Yassi's professor, because the Muslim girl is a virgin and the Christian girl was the "other," then the Christian girl must not be a virgin. I made the same mistake, but reversed the roles. Unsurprisingly, we each named the girl who is "one of us" as the virgin.
Then I began to think about other layers of otherism... What about people you categorize as "us," who don't actually fit every characteristic on the checklist of "us"-ness? This is how my post is all related to Christmas. From the point of view of us Christmas-celebrators who have heard the story time and time again, the "joy to the world," "glory to the newborn king," and "tidings of comfort and joy," make us believe that everyone's happy with Jesus arriving. The lyrics from this song, from Joseph's perspective, offer the possibility that someone wasn't overjoyed by this situation, or rather, that this poor guy felt pretty insecure about it all. Joseph's wife-to-be was expecting a baby, and all he knew for sure was that it wasn't because of him. Rather than assume that Joseph believed Mary easily and "heaven and nature sang" and "all was calm and all was bright," "Joseph, Who Understood" made me stop and think that it might be more difficult to believe that the son of God is being born when, from your point of view, it just looks like your girlfriend is unfaithful. Just like it's hard to believe that a girl of a different religion, whether it's Islam of Christianity, values abstinence as much as you do, because she's "the other."
So I'm ready for the holidays. I found new music, I analyzed it more than any normal listener should, and then I made these and brought them to my Express concert last night! I replaced all the butter with applesauce, poured the batter in a brownie pan instead of formed cookies, and baked for 20 min instead. Yummy and fat-free cookie bars! I hope you've all had or are having great holidays!
So I've been listening to a whole lot of Christmas music lately. No, I'm not one of those people who prepares for Christmas the second Halloween ends... I'm worse. I was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Halloween. I'm not sorry.
Annually, I'm faced with a very serious problem. Because I listen to Christmas music nonstop for two months straight each year, I'm always desperate for something new. I can only tolerate hearing Jingle Bell Rock so many times before, well, I start doubting it's really such a swell time to go riding in a one-horse sleigh.
Anyway, I went on a hunt. First I felt disappointed in Bob Dylan. Then I studied for AP Psych (which helped me get a 95% on that chapter test!). Then I turned off the iPod and did some homework...
I've begun to pay much more attention to perspective lately. In class today, we touched on Otherism. In Reading Lolita in Tehran, there's a scene where a stereotypical Muslim girl is compared to a stereotypical Christian girl. The professor says that one of these girls is a virgin, and the other is not. You might ask, "Which girl is which?" or you might say, "Huh, why would he point out that girls of his own religion are not virgins?" (like I'll admit I did. I went to Catholic school for nine years. According to all the teachers, nuns, priests, and fellow parishioners, a Christian woman better be a virgin, unless, of course, she's married.) According to Yassi's professor, because the Muslim girl is a virgin and the Christian girl was the "other," then the Christian girl must not be a virgin. I made the same mistake, but reversed the roles. Unsurprisingly, we each named the girl who is "one of us" as the virgin.
Then I began to think about other layers of otherism... What about people you categorize as "us," who don't actually fit every characteristic on the checklist of "us"-ness? This is how my post is all related to Christmas. From the point of view of us Christmas-celebrators who have heard the story time and time again, the "joy to the world," "glory to the newborn king," and "tidings of comfort and joy," make us believe that everyone's happy with Jesus arriving. The lyrics from this song, from Joseph's perspective, offer the possibility that someone wasn't overjoyed by this situation, or rather, that this poor guy felt pretty insecure about it all. Joseph's wife-to-be was expecting a baby, and all he knew for sure was that it wasn't because of him. Rather than assume that Joseph believed Mary easily and "heaven and nature sang" and "all was calm and all was bright," "Joseph, Who Understood" made me stop and think that it might be more difficult to believe that the son of God is being born when, from your point of view, it just looks like your girlfriend is unfaithful. Just like it's hard to believe that a girl of a different religion, whether it's Islam of Christianity, values abstinence as much as you do, because she's "the other."
So I'm ready for the holidays. I found new music, I analyzed it more than any normal listener should, and then I made these and brought them to my Express concert last night! I replaced all the butter with applesauce, poured the batter in a brownie pan instead of formed cookies, and baked for 20 min instead. Yummy and fat-free cookie bars! I hope you've all had or are having great holidays!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Metaphorever
I hope everyone's had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I enjoyed my pie (the green bean casserole was too salty, and the turkey and ham were too... vegetarian unfriendly). But the pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies were there to make sure I didn't go hungry! I also tried a new recipe this year, and it turned out great, if you wanna try it! I loved spending time with all my family. We don't often ALL come together, and I truly enjoyed the company of loved ones, as I hope you did, too.
But now back to school... We've been talking a great deal about metaphors in English class lately. What I found interesting was that there are several categories, or tiers, of metaphors. We all know what makes a metaphor (if you don't, please educate yourself before reading on!) The stars in the sky are diamonds. My homework is poison.
HOWEVER, metaphors aren't just things we come up with to make a point. Conventional metaphors are things we use every single day. So yeah, when you win an argument or run out of time, you're METAPHORING when you say so! The first conventional metaphor my class dealt with was "Argument is War." Then we learned that life is a flame or a day or a year, and how death is a departure, people are plants, and romance is fire. These metaphors affect the way we think about these things! Our brains are just wired to think this way. The way we form moral opinions on something depends on the language we use to describe such things.
Simply the way we communicate ideas in our language affects the way we think about the concepts. In Spanish, to give birth, dar a luz, literally translates to "give to light," indicating that the "life is a fire/light" metaphor rings true in both our language and theirs. However, not every conventional metaphor reaches across languages. In English, time is money. We waste it, we try to save it, but we're always spending it on something. The same is simply not true in Spanish. I'm not claiming to have found a different metaphor (In Spanish, time is an elephant!... just kidding...), but I do know that you pass time instead of spend it (pasar tiempo). Now compare how Americans treat time to how the Spanish do. In Spain, stores close in the middle of the day for siesta. More people are out later in the night. They're not as stingy with their time as we Americans who work from 9-5 (or stay a school from 6:55 to 2:55, then rehearse til odd hours, then go home and do homework until even odder ones).
That's about the only good comparison I could come up with due to my limited language skills. Anyone else know of interesting differences in conventional metaphors across languages? I'd love to hear them :)
But now back to school... We've been talking a great deal about metaphors in English class lately. What I found interesting was that there are several categories, or tiers, of metaphors. We all know what makes a metaphor (if you don't, please educate yourself before reading on!) The stars in the sky are diamonds. My homework is poison.
HOWEVER, metaphors aren't just things we come up with to make a point. Conventional metaphors are things we use every single day. So yeah, when you win an argument or run out of time, you're METAPHORING when you say so! The first conventional metaphor my class dealt with was "Argument is War." Then we learned that life is a flame or a day or a year, and how death is a departure, people are plants, and romance is fire. These metaphors affect the way we think about these things! Our brains are just wired to think this way. The way we form moral opinions on something depends on the language we use to describe such things.
Simply the way we communicate ideas in our language affects the way we think about the concepts. In Spanish, to give birth, dar a luz, literally translates to "give to light," indicating that the "life is a fire/light" metaphor rings true in both our language and theirs. However, not every conventional metaphor reaches across languages. In English, time is money. We waste it, we try to save it, but we're always spending it on something. The same is simply not true in Spanish. I'm not claiming to have found a different metaphor (In Spanish, time is an elephant!... just kidding...), but I do know that you pass time instead of spend it (pasar tiempo). Now compare how Americans treat time to how the Spanish do. In Spain, stores close in the middle of the day for siesta. More people are out later in the night. They're not as stingy with their time as we Americans who work from 9-5 (or stay a school from 6:55 to 2:55, then rehearse til odd hours, then go home and do homework until even odder ones).
That's about the only good comparison I could come up with due to my limited language skills. Anyone else know of interesting differences in conventional metaphors across languages? I'd love to hear them :)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Class
I've been hearing "class" a lot lately. But not always in the same way. Out of curiosity, I looked it up, and much to my surprise, "class" has twenty-nine definitions. TWENTY-NINE! So how do all these forms of class relate to me? Well, My choir is going on tour pretty soon, and we're flying coach class. The hotels we stay at won't be of the highest class, either, but it's okay because we're going to Disney World!
Most of all, I hear "class" at school. I'm a student, so I go to class every day. Even this blog is an assignment for my English class, and people in my class often read my posts. In statistics, I've heard of "classes of data," and in biology, I've heard of class as a group to categorize organisms. In social studies, I've learned about people in societies being ranked by socioeconomic class. Also, there are often merchant classes or artisan classes, or in some cases, religious classes.
Oddly enough, the first definition that pops into my mind when I hear "class" is an informal one, #14: "elegance, grace, or dignity, as in dress and behavior." This type of class never has a negative connotation. Sitting through class can be boring. Coach class flights can be uncomfortable. Your social class might not get along with another. However, the class I think of is something you can possess in almost any of these otherwise unfortunate situations. You can control the way you carry yourself and the way you react to situations, and this can make you "classy."
So, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "class?" Which definition do you think applies to you most, and why? Are there any other words you've been hearing a whole lot of recently? Any that apply to more than one context?
Most of all, I hear "class" at school. I'm a student, so I go to class every day. Even this blog is an assignment for my English class, and people in my class often read my posts. In statistics, I've heard of "classes of data," and in biology, I've heard of class as a group to categorize organisms. In social studies, I've learned about people in societies being ranked by socioeconomic class. Also, there are often merchant classes or artisan classes, or in some cases, religious classes.
Oddly enough, the first definition that pops into my mind when I hear "class" is an informal one, #14: "elegance, grace, or dignity, as in dress and behavior." This type of class never has a negative connotation. Sitting through class can be boring. Coach class flights can be uncomfortable. Your social class might not get along with another. However, the class I think of is something you can possess in almost any of these otherwise unfortunate situations. You can control the way you carry yourself and the way you react to situations, and this can make you "classy."
So, what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "class?" Which definition do you think applies to you most, and why? Are there any other words you've been hearing a whole lot of recently? Any that apply to more than one context?
Managing Lately
Last week Carl Wilkens came to speak to my class. Before his visit, I had a very basic understanding of the Rwandan genocide -- just dates, rough numbers, definitions of Hutu and Tutsi -- so, in all honesty, I hardly considered it important. But this genocide happened in my own lifetime; the years I associate with my early childhood, others will associate with that. Wilkens really did open my eyes to that piece of history, and I'm thankful for my new appreciation of this history.
You may wonder why Wilkens's visit resonated with me so much. Think of what he has done, and then compare my own experiences. I've never set foot in Rwanda. I've never lived the midst of a genocide. I've never taken on responsibility for an orphanage. On that level, I guess I can't relate to his stories. But I have looked at a situation with positive eyes, and seeing someone else do just that and succeed comforted me. I have had doubts about my optimism. Maybe I'm just stupid and naïve. Especially this week (Warning: Next five sentences may follow "irritating rant" format!) I've been pretty swamped. Yes, I finally got my first batch of college applications turned in, but the next deadline (November 15 for CC, for anyone who's curious) is creeping up fast, and school has not relented in the least. The end of the quarter was just a time for me to find out my current grades and feel the pressure of what marks I have to maintain. Express, one of the choirs I sing in, is starting Christmas Season, so I have 2-and-a-half-hour reheasals every day after school. On top of that, Variety Show auditions are Monday, and with so many different numbers (such as the ones I've just linked) to rehearse I haven't gotten home before 8 p.m. yet this week.
I was just going through blogs on my reader account, and I came across this one. Emily reminded me of Mr. Wilkens's visit, and how inspired I felt after listening to him. I'm gonna emulate Wilkens (very consciously this week, though it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do all the time). I'm going to accept some things that I cannot change and trust that I will reap the best possible results if I work hard. My schedule this week isn't gonna change, but I can get through it, and I can enjoy it if I look at the situation the right way. Thanks, Carl Wilkens, for making this all manageable.
You may wonder why Wilkens's visit resonated with me so much. Think of what he has done, and then compare my own experiences. I've never set foot in Rwanda. I've never lived the midst of a genocide. I've never taken on responsibility for an orphanage. On that level, I guess I can't relate to his stories. But I have looked at a situation with positive eyes, and seeing someone else do just that and succeed comforted me. I have had doubts about my optimism. Maybe I'm just stupid and naïve. Especially this week (Warning: Next five sentences may follow "irritating rant" format!) I've been pretty swamped. Yes, I finally got my first batch of college applications turned in, but the next deadline (November 15 for CC, for anyone who's curious) is creeping up fast, and school has not relented in the least. The end of the quarter was just a time for me to find out my current grades and feel the pressure of what marks I have to maintain. Express, one of the choirs I sing in, is starting Christmas Season, so I have 2-and-a-half-hour reheasals every day after school. On top of that, Variety Show auditions are Monday, and with so many different numbers (such as the ones I've just linked) to rehearse I haven't gotten home before 8 p.m. yet this week.
I was just going through blogs on my reader account, and I came across this one. Emily reminded me of Mr. Wilkens's visit, and how inspired I felt after listening to him. I'm gonna emulate Wilkens (very consciously this week, though it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do all the time). I'm going to accept some things that I cannot change and trust that I will reap the best possible results if I work hard. My schedule this week isn't gonna change, but I can get through it, and I can enjoy it if I look at the situation the right way. Thanks, Carl Wilkens, for making this all manageable.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Looking into the Eyes in the Trees
I just finished The Poisonwood Bible today! The last book really has resonated with me (if you need a summary of it, here it is) and I want to discuss that. First of all, Kingsolver does not identify the narrator right away. We do figure out that it's Ruth May eventually, for she explains, "I am your bad child now gone good, for when children die they were only good" (Kingsolver 537). Ruth May has a very different voice in this book, as if she had continued to grow up, even after her life on Earth ended. Earlier in the story, Ruth May suggested that if she were dead she would be one with the trees, so the title "The Eyes in the Trees" for the chapter she narrates dead is very appropriate, and the way she watches the events invisibly and inactively likens her presence to that of a tree, unable to act in a situation.
The best part of this final book, to me, was the closure it brought. In the sixth book, we get a final word from each living daughter, and whether we readers like what they've decided or not (Rachel simply sees what she wants to, and Adah gives up her medical profession), we know that they feel some sense of resolution. "The Eyes in the Trees" gives the reader a sense of closure with Ruth May and Orleanna. When the woman Orleanna talks to at the market says that Bulungu does not exist, it's an opportunity for Orleanna to move forward with her life. Ruth May tells her, "Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember" (Kingsolver 543), as if she is urging Orleanna to move past any pain she still feels. She can accept, without mourning, that Bulungu is gone while still acknowledging that it once did exist. We feel closure because Orleanna has guidance, but we also feel closure from hearing Ruth May once more, this time with a wider mind and greater capacity for abstract thinking, and she is content in her death (she even forgives her mother!)
P.S. I looked it up... Bulungu DOES exist! Look!
I just finished this book and had quite a few thoughts on it, but for you readers of mine out there, I've got some questions. Taking into account what the light/dark duality has signaled throughout this story, what does Ruth May mean by "Walk forward into the light?" Is the encounter with the okapi in book 7 the same encounter we first hear about from Orleanna but from a different perspective, or is it another event entirely? What is Ruth May telling her mother to forgive? Let me know your thoughts, and we can discuss!
The best part of this final book, to me, was the closure it brought. In the sixth book, we get a final word from each living daughter, and whether we readers like what they've decided or not (Rachel simply sees what she wants to, and Adah gives up her medical profession), we know that they feel some sense of resolution. "The Eyes in the Trees" gives the reader a sense of closure with Ruth May and Orleanna. When the woman Orleanna talks to at the market says that Bulungu does not exist, it's an opportunity for Orleanna to move forward with her life. Ruth May tells her, "Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember" (Kingsolver 543), as if she is urging Orleanna to move past any pain she still feels. She can accept, without mourning, that Bulungu is gone while still acknowledging that it once did exist. We feel closure because Orleanna has guidance, but we also feel closure from hearing Ruth May once more, this time with a wider mind and greater capacity for abstract thinking, and she is content in her death (she even forgives her mother!)
P.S. I looked it up... Bulungu DOES exist! Look!
I just finished this book and had quite a few thoughts on it, but for you readers of mine out there, I've got some questions. Taking into account what the light/dark duality has signaled throughout this story, what does Ruth May mean by "Walk forward into the light?" Is the encounter with the okapi in book 7 the same encounter we first hear about from Orleanna but from a different perspective, or is it another event entirely? What is Ruth May telling her mother to forgive? Let me know your thoughts, and we can discuss!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Not Alone!
In English class we are reading The Poisonwood Bible. This story has multiple narrators - all the female members of the Price family (if you need more information on the story, go here). Each girl has a distinct voice, and the way they narrate events reveals their varying personal outlooks on the world. The oldest daughter Rachel often pities herself, while Ruth May is too young to abstractly think and simply tells what she hears. Leah yearns to please her father, but her twin sister Adah prefers to develop independent opinions. Orleanna, the mother, feels trapped in her role as Reverend Nathan's wife. We readers receive so many opinions from these authors, but we also see Nathan's beliefs and the values of the Congolese people living among the Prices. One of the most crucial things for readers of The Poisonwood Bible to recognize is all the different viewpoints that are presented. While reading I've felt a faint curiosity to know what the author actually believes.
Today I had a speech team meeting. My coach had told me she had a few pieces picked out that she'd like me to read, and the first one she handed to me was the commencement address to Duke University's graduating class of 2008. The original speaker? None other than Barbara Kingsolver, the author of The Poisonwood Bible. Early in her speech, Kingsolver gives the traditional definition of success: "having boatloads of money." She goes on to name a large house, nice car, and spacious office as things that can be acquired with success. Later, she brings up happiness and its correlation to financial success, saying, "In the last 30 yeas our material wealth has increased in this country, but our self-described happiness has steadily declined. Elsewhere, the people who consider themselves very happy are... Mexico, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the kinds of places we identify with extended family, noist villages, a lot of dancing. The happiest people are the ones with the most community." To my gleeful surprise, I found that Ms. Kingsolver is an optimist like me! Her idea that financial security has no personal meaning, that it cannot bring happiness like a community can, resonated with me.
So how does this relate to The Poisonwood Bible? I now notice ways in which Kingsolver's optimism come out in her writing. Rachel is the most unhappy and most materialistic. When Ruth May falls ill, Leah and Anatole converse. Leah states, "Children should never die," and Anatole responds, "No. But if they never did, children would not be so precious... Also, if everyone lived to be old, then old age would not be such a treasure" (Kingsolver 231). Anatole does not have the power to prevent deaths, and rather than take sorrow in the helplessness, he cherishes children who survive - optimism! I'm very glad to have been introduced to Kingsolver's commencement speech. Analyzing Poisonwood as I continue to read it won't be as daunting as I previously saw it, because I've learned that the author and I are looking out the same window.
Today I had a speech team meeting. My coach had told me she had a few pieces picked out that she'd like me to read, and the first one she handed to me was the commencement address to Duke University's graduating class of 2008. The original speaker? None other than Barbara Kingsolver, the author of The Poisonwood Bible. Early in her speech, Kingsolver gives the traditional definition of success: "having boatloads of money." She goes on to name a large house, nice car, and spacious office as things that can be acquired with success. Later, she brings up happiness and its correlation to financial success, saying, "In the last 30 yeas our material wealth has increased in this country, but our self-described happiness has steadily declined. Elsewhere, the people who consider themselves very happy are... Mexico, Ireland, Puerto Rico, the kinds of places we identify with extended family, noist villages, a lot of dancing. The happiest people are the ones with the most community." To my gleeful surprise, I found that Ms. Kingsolver is an optimist like me! Her idea that financial security has no personal meaning, that it cannot bring happiness like a community can, resonated with me.
So how does this relate to The Poisonwood Bible? I now notice ways in which Kingsolver's optimism come out in her writing. Rachel is the most unhappy and most materialistic. When Ruth May falls ill, Leah and Anatole converse. Leah states, "Children should never die," and Anatole responds, "No. But if they never did, children would not be so precious... Also, if everyone lived to be old, then old age would not be such a treasure" (Kingsolver 231). Anatole does not have the power to prevent deaths, and rather than take sorrow in the helplessness, he cherishes children who survive - optimism! I'm very glad to have been introduced to Kingsolver's commencement speech. Analyzing Poisonwood as I continue to read it won't be as daunting as I previously saw it, because I've learned that the author and I are looking out the same window.
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