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!

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 :)

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 :)

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?

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?

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.

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!