Monday 4.26.10... THE FINAL BLOG

This class has been very fulfilling for me, even if it was hard to grasp concepts at times. I will look at life and my surrounds in a whole new way now, relating everything back to literature and retellings. This class opened my eyes up to the world of literature and how it surrounds us in our every day lives.

Wednesday 4.21.10/Friday 4.23.10

The other groups presented these two days. The one that really stood out to me was the group that made the cookies out of elements of stories. I thought it was really clever. Plus, getting a cookie in the end didn't hurt either :)

Monday 4.19.10

We presented our group project today in class. It was a story about Cinderella from the Sister Uglies point of view. I think it went pretty well - we had a powerpoint background and props that added to the effect. And we had Garrett, who seems like he knows more about lit than all of combined.

Friday 4.16.10

Group projects are coming up..we're in the process of getting together and getting a presentation together. Group projects aren't my favorite thing to do..it just seems like a lesson on what we were suppose to learn in elementary school - how to work together. N0t that I don't enjoy working with anyone in my group - you guys were awesome :) - but I just prefer to be an independent worker.

Wednesday 4.14.10

For my paper thesis, I'd like to discuss the occurrence of retelling in all forms, not just literature. You can find retold stories in paintings, music, sculptures..the possibilities are endless. I chose this as a thesis because I'm an art major and have seen many connections between art and literature and would like to discuss that in my paper.

Monday 4.12.10

Well my Graphic Design portfolio review is coming up in less than 10 days and its rather nerve racking. I'm planning on spending the next week and 1/2 staying up until 3 a.m. to get this thing done. Bring it on.

UPDATE: Sadly, I didn't make it into the program. I know there's a couple graphics majors in this class and my advice to you for next year is not to procrastinate. I didn't procrastinate as much as I usually do, but it still wasn't enough to get into the program. Hope I have better luck next year :(

Friday 4.9.10

Today we had the test, which didn't go that well for me again. I'm just not that strong of a test taker. When I have to take them, it seems like I always have mental blocks and forget the stupidest answers that I could answer any other time.

I think another reason I'm bad at test taking is because I rarely have to take them. Since I'm an art major, I rarely have to take tests. I think I've taken less than 4 this semester and I'm a full time student.

Wednesday 4.7.10

Professor Sexson brought up the book The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. In it, a town is very happy, but holds a deep secret that is told to you when you come of age - that, for your happiness, a child is tortured and is suffering.

This story reminded me of a game I played when I worked at a camp on Flathead Lake a couple summers ago. We'd sit around the camp fire and play this game similar to Would-You-Rather. We'd make up things like if you could have a new pair of socks every day for the rest of your life if a small child got punched in the face, would you do it? Then we set up rules like if you knew the kid, if you had to watch, etc. It kept us entertained for hours.

Monday 4.5.10

I was actually gone for this class, but my reason for absence works out perfectly with the theme of this blog. In class we talked about how Sexson's friend always travels places but never reads books. Sexson said that the fufillment of reading a book can often be as rewarding as traveling to the place, if not more. I agree that reading books can be personally rewarding, but sometimes you just have to go to the place to actually experience it.

I was in Seattle this weekend visiting my boyfriend. We've been trying to date long distance for about three months now, seeing each other about once a month. I don't think any kind of reading could substitute actually going there to visit him. I think that's where the grey area begins in the controversy of reading books vs. visiting the real thing. If you're visiting a place to experience something that wouldn't necessarily take place in a book, then I'd say that going to that place is more rewarding then reading a book about it.

Wednesday 3.30.10

A while back, when were reading Antigone, we discussed how women and children with deformities were brought up to the top of a mountain and left to die. For the most part I agree with this but at one point in greek history, around the time of Alexander the Great, Greeks were fascinated with deformities, especially dwarfism. You can find the subject matter in many works of art from the period.

Monday 3.28.10

In class we discussed tragedies we've personally experienced. I haven't experienced a loss of a family member since I was around three, so I don't remember much. Something that really affected me recently is the loss of our van, Big Red. I grew up driving Big Red. She handled anything great - snow, rain, mud..anything. I have many fond memories in Big Red - from using her as the "party bus" to driving up to Glacier Park to go fly fishing. Big Red was special to me...she almost had a mysterious power behind her - I've never gotten in an accident and I think that's partly because of her. When my mom called to say they had taken her to the junk yard I actually stared crying. Not only was it the end of great memories, but the end of an era.

Friday 3.26.10

This week we discussed the true sense of tragedy and how are lives are all tragic. We were suppose to talk about a terrible day we've experiences recently. For the most part, my life hasn't been tragic. I've grown up in a good family and haven't suffered any major losses in my life. The only events of semi-tragedy that I think of revolve around relationships. When ever relationships have gone south, it seems like I'll fall into a bout of depression for a couple of months afterwards. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that initially you think that your life isn't a tragedy but when you think about it one bad even leads to another and you just have to live through the tragedy.

Wednesday, 3.24.10

Dostoyevsky claimed that Dmitri took on a life of his own as he was writing the book. He said that it was an iteresting experience; almost uncontrolled. I'm not sure if I believe this experience completely. I feel like Dostoyevsky said this to justify something that he couldn't flat-out say. You can use your writing as a portal to something that you wouldn't be able to say on your own.

Monday 3.22.10

In class we discussed how we've become boring, not our literature. This was in response to some people in the class claiming that the Brother K is a "boring" book. I think for the most part, that we have become a boring, impatient society. It's not really our fault though. We've been raised to find a faster, easier method to everything. The exercise of reading was not pushed enough in schools when I was growing up. I hated reading when I was little and elementry school didn't do much to help change that. It wasn't until junior high that I decided I enjoyed reading. I don't think it was one particular book or anything, but I just realized that it was really relaxing and intellectually stimulating to sit down and enjoy a good book for a couple hours. Hopefully when I have kids, the joy of reading won't be completely lost in school.

Friday 3.12.10

Today, Sexson asked us to look up the meaning of 'theodicy'. Here's what I found:

Theodicy is an answer to the problem of evil. Specifically, Theodicy is a specific branch of theology and philosophy which attempts to reconcile belief in God with the perceived existence of evil. As such, theodicy can be said to attempt to justify the behaviour of God (at least insofar as God allows evil).

In The Brother K, I believe it was Ivan that said "It's not that I don't accept God, I just don't accept the world he created."

This book has one of the biggest questionings of God in literary history.

Wednesday 3.10.10

In class, we discussed works of literature that have changed the way we think. I thought back at the books I've read over the last couple years and the one that stuck out the most was Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I'm a very realistic thinker. I stick to what makes me feel safe and I don't often venture out of my comfort zone. This book got me to realize that if you want to live a full life, you have to step out of your comfort zone and explore the world around you, even if it's dangerous.

We also discussed how found poetry can be addictive. Everywhere you look, you'll find it. I'm a graphic design major and find occurrences like this in my major. I often find myself looking at billboards or other advertisements thinking of what they could have changed to make it better. It drives me crazy going down the interstate..I can't concentrate on anything else.

Monday 3.8.10

In class, Sexson brought up that we need to write our sonnets the best we can because they're going to our significant "otter". This an interesting concept, and I know I participate in it on a regular basis: We make/do thing the best when someone we admire is around. Why don't we just do it because we can? Just do it for ourselves? I'm going to keep this idea in the back of my mind from now on..

Friday 3.5.10

I'm writing my sonnet to my boyfriend who lives in Seattle. Hw moved there about a month and 1/2 ago, but we've decided to continue dating long-distance.

Though you've been away for over forty days,

It almost feels like a year or maybe more.

I miss your company in so many ways;

Miss what we had together to the core.

While you are all the way in Seattle,

I'm still here in Bozeman, Montana.

The space between us has been a battle,

Distance doesn't matter, know we can-a.

I really miss waking up next to you,

After dreaming all night of your cute face.

I know you miss that as much as I do.

Know this is hard, but we can win this race.

One day we will be together again,

No matter the amount of time its been.

We were also making found poems with what we found around us. I used a container of fish food, because it was with reaching distance of my bed, where I'm blogging :)

TetraFin Goldfish Flakes.

Diet nutritionally.

Gold water.

Gold health.

Gold fin.

Optimal color health.

Water flakes.

Garantee water flakes.

Gold.

Friday 2.26.10 & Monday 3.1.10

For these two classes we discussed what version of Lady With the Dog We preferred - Either the original by Anton Chekov or the newer version by Joyce Carol Oates. I liked the second one better even though it was a little harder to understand than the original. I liked it because it showed the emotional side of the story, not just what was on the surface. I think women sympathize with the emotional aspect of events rather than the physical.

Wednesday, Feb. 24

In class we were talking about archetypal female character. She's either the platonic ideal or the temptress. Sexson was asking the class (gearing the question to the boys) if anyone has had an infatuation to another person without the other person really knowing that the admirer even exists. I guess I don't understand why its suppose to always be that the boy is infatuated with the girl..I think it definitely goes the other way around...I'm saying this from personal experience.

In seventh grade, I had the biggest crush on a kid in my class..lets call him "Jimmy" because there are people in this class who I went to high school with. So my infatuation with "Jimmy" got a little creepy..like boarder-line stalker...I would even watch "Jimmy" in the reflection of a compact mirror while he played basketball during lunch recess. I think he knew I existed...but I was never actually able to attain the boy...and based on my actions..I think it was better that way.

This has happened to me again in college. There was a boy in one of my major classes that I thought was the cat's pajamas. Well everyday during this class I would imagine what it would be like if me and said boy were a couple. Every time I'd see him, my heart would flutter a little. I doubt this kid knew much more than my first name.

What I'm trying to say is that girls put boys on a pedestal just as much as guys do it to us. I think that guys are just more verbal about it.