I just thought of something I wanted to share with the class that I had forgotten about until now. Last year my Fiancé studied in Europe. For one of her trips she went to Delphi and spent a few nights there. Normally she does not remember her dreams very well, she knows she had a dream, but does not know what is was about. When she was in Delphi she remembered her dreams like they were a movie. She said they are crystal clear. I find this very interesting, maybe the oracle was not a stoned teenage girl who was snuffing natural gas that came out of the rocks. There might be something special about the land there that causes people to have better dreams. I dunno it is just interesting to wonder about.
I really liked the importance of being Earnest. When I read it I felt like I ad watched some shitty sitcom on TV like Friends, the people in it were so fake, and the story was pretty cheese. Yet there was so much more to it than that. There were some pretty deep meanings to the story, like the importance of identity, and finding one’s self. Reading this and some of the other books from the class, and reading about Alice I really started thinking about the question the Caterpillar asked Alice, “Who are you?” And I don’t have a good answer to this. I don’t think any one really has a good answer, for me I might say “Jason” yet there are millions of Jasons in the world. I know two or three here in Bozeman, and there were four of us in my grade school class. So then I might say “I am a Air Force ROTC student, who is studying Premed and wants to be a doctor in the Air Force.” But again this is not a good answer, this answers the question of “What do you do?” The only answer I can come up with that might get close to answering this question is “I am me.” No it does not really answer the question very well, but it is better than the alternative answers. I think the reason stories like the Importance of being Earnest, Oedipus Rex, Great Expectations, and Mr. Pip are written is to help people come to terms with this unanswerable question. If we can read about people who are going through similar struggles of trying to find their identity then it helps us come to term with the question. Me, I’m happy not knowing who I am. It makes life much more interesting, and every day I discover something about my self and this world we live in and that’s what makes me happy to be ignorant. As the say ignorance is bliss. How I see it is I have my set personal values that I live by and every day is a new adventure that I get to experience. And any ways no matter how bad I have it someone has it worse. Like right now some of my friends are at basic training for ROTC. Or Matilda’s mom was fed to pigs, or my favorite, I’m not about to marry someone so superficous they can only marry a person named Earnest. (I think that is the biggest tragedy in any of the books we read in this class.)
Friday, August 8, 2008
I enjoyed this class. A few things that have changed in my life since the beginning of this class is, I know how long it takes me to read a book, and it is not as long as I thought it was before. I have bought a new bookshelf in my bedroom so I can buy more books. And I have met a bunch of people and learned about their lives, and their stories. I have also learned how important a story is in ones life. For example last night at work there was not much to do, we had a very slow night. If it had not been for the Mad Hatter I would have fallen asleep on the job, or gone crazy. As I sit here writing this blog I can really only think about how I wish I were reading about the Queen who wants the chop off everyone’s head, and find out what this world is that Alice is stuck in. six weeks ago I would be writing this blog thinking about how I want to play Gears of War on my Xbox. So yes this class has changed how I look at books, and I know how wonderful they are. If only more people would read there might not be as many problems in this world. If people had a way to escape they would not turn to drugs and other bad things like that. How I see it is if you wan to have a mind altering experience just go down the rabbit hole with Alice and it is pretty much the same as doing something like Acid. That first day of class when Prof Sexson came into the room and said, “I called my self Pip and came to be called Pip” I knew this class was going to be like no class I have ever taken in my life. And I was right. It was an exciting adventure and I feel like I learned more about life and myself in the last six weeks than I have in any of my other classes. I think stories have an amazing power on people and they can help people when they are on hard times. They show you that you are not the only one going through a problem. If any one has seen the movie Bucket List my grandfather was a lot like the rich old man. My grandfather also died of cancer. I think he would have done the exact same things the man in the movies did if he had more money before he died. When I went to this movie I went to the late showing, and on my way home at about 12:00 I had to call my mom and share this movie with her. Yes I woke her up but it did not matter, I had found a person like my grandfather who has been dead for about 4 years now, and was able to see him again. It was wonderful.
Thanks for a great class.
Thanks for a great class.
In class on Monday we talked about comedy and tragedy. And the differences and similarities between the two of them. Here is what I think about the two. First the Comedy is much more important then the tragedy. In the tragedy there are always outlandish characters that do outlandish things. Comedy also has these same characters, and they do the same thing. The only differences between the two are in comedy they do not take them selves seriously. In a tragedy they are taking them selves very seriously. So because of this I think the comedies are much more important in life because they can teach you more and are more relevant to our lives.
When we were talking about the papers on Wednesday some one said that Mr. Watts would do what ever he needed to do, when they needed a teacher they got a teacher when they needed some one to die he died. (I think it might have been a quote from the book, but I’m not sure) the first thing I thought of when I herd this was the new Batman movie. Batman does this in the movie; he becomes what Gotham needs. And that was when I realized that Mr. Watts was a super hero in this novel. No he did not wear a cape or anything like that, but he was still the outcast that is not apreacheated by the people, but he still saves the day when the day needs saving. And that comes back to one of the main themes of the class. Every story is a retelling of another story. Yet each book is a new collection of words on the page that makes a wonderful experiences.
When we were talking about the papers on Wednesday some one said that Mr. Watts would do what ever he needed to do, when they needed a teacher they got a teacher when they needed some one to die he died. (I think it might have been a quote from the book, but I’m not sure) the first thing I thought of when I herd this was the new Batman movie. Batman does this in the movie; he becomes what Gotham needs. And that was when I realized that Mr. Watts was a super hero in this novel. No he did not wear a cape or anything like that, but he was still the outcast that is not apreacheated by the people, but he still saves the day when the day needs saving. And that comes back to one of the main themes of the class. Every story is a retelling of another story. Yet each book is a new collection of words on the page that makes a wonderful experiences.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Term Paper
The Savior of Matilda,
Her Mom, Mr. Watts a Story
Jason Burchett
Fiction and reality are important aspects of a person’s life; a well-rounded person must understand both reality and fiction. Lloyd Jones uses reality and fiction in his novel Mister Pip to shape a young girl, Matilda, who lives on a war torn island in the southern Pacific in the 1990’s. She learns how important stories are in her life through two people, her Mom and her teacher Mr. Watts. As the story progresses there is a “battle” between Matilda’s mom and Mr. Watts over the idea of fiction and reality that teaches Matilda about hope and in the end saves her life.
Mr. Watts is the only white man left on the island after the war starts. He takes on the responsibility of teaching the children on the island. He has two methods of teaching the children: the first is bringing adults from the island to tell stories or explain practical skills to the students; the second is by reading Great Expectations by Mr. Dickens. Mr. Watts teaches the students about a fictional story and Pip in 19th century England. He teaches the children the importance of having an imagination and the importance of literature. He shows Matilda she can escape into a world of fiction even despite the horrible things are happening around her. “At some point I felt myself enter the story… I wasn’t identifiable on the page, but I was there, I was definitely there.” (46-47) Mr. Watts teaches Matilda that there is a way to escape reality imagination and literature. This helps her keep her sanity through the blockade and the war, as well as gives her a place to go. Stories also give her a way to survive the mundane days and fear filled days she is living on the island.
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to their village and destroy all of the villagers items, Mr. Watts teaches the children an important lesson about imagination. Since Matilda had written Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person on the island, which they cannot find. This causes them to get angry and burn all the villager’s property and houses. After this the children go back to school where they are taught an important lesson by Mr. Watts about imagination and fiction. Mr. Watts says: “We have all lost our possessions and many of our homes,’ he said. ‘But theses losses, severe though they may seem, remind us of what not person can take away, and that is our minds and imaginations.” (123) Mr. Watts shows Matilda that even thought all her property was lost and destroyed, she still had something, and it was more important than her property. This gave Matilda hope for a better time, and helped her survive her time on the island.
Mr. Watts teaches Matilda how to save herself when things in life seem bleak. He is able to give her a friend, and another world she can escape to. He also shows her how to hope for better times. “What did I hope for? Just hope itself, really but in a particular way. I knew things could change better because they had for Pip.” (51) The story of Great Expectations gave her hope on the island, the courage to survive the ordeal, and become a better person.
Matilda’s Mom is the opposite of Mr. Watts. She believes real things are important, and there is no reason to look to fiction. When she finds out that the children are learning about a “fake” person (Pip) she becomes hostile towards Mr. Watts and Pip. To counter Mr. Watts she tries to teach Matilda about her family tree, and makes her write the names of her ancestors in the sand. Matilda does this next to where she had written Pip’s name in the sand. When her mother finds this she becomes livid. “What was the point of sticking the name of a make-believe person next to her kin?” (76) Matilda’s mom believes there is no reason to look to fiction; and does not understand the point of reading a story that does not teach you a practical skill.
Matilda’s Mom goes to the class to tell the students there are things more important in life than fiction. She tells them about real things like her faith, and how to predict the weather by looking at crab holes. When she is done, “…she gave him (Mr. Watts) an unfriendly nod to show she was finished with us, and swept out of the class into the afternoon furnace…” (45)
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to the village and see Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person. When the children tell them he is a character from a book they want to see the book as proof. The book cannot be found because Matilda’s mom stole it. The soldiers burn all the property and houses of everyone in the village. Matilda realizes she is stuck in the battle her Mom created and knows she will have to choose between reality and fiction. “I knew that orphaned white kid and that small, fragile place he squeezed into between his awful sister and lovable Joe Gargery, because the same space exist between Mr. Watts and my mum. And I knew I would have to choose between the two.” (47)
Matilda finds out she will be taken off the island with her Mom and Mr. Watts. She is scared her Mom will not want to come and she will have to make a choice. But the night before she is supposed to leave the Red Skin Solders come back to the village. Mr. Watts had called himself Pip and they thought he was lying to them earlier, so they kill him in a gruesome manner. When they ask if anyone saw the murder no one at first replies because they know what will happen to them. Then Matilda’s mom speaks up and says, “Sir. I saw your men chop up the white man. He was a good man. I am here as God’s witness.” (205) When Matilda’s mom says this she is able to save Mr. Watts dignity and after they try to rape Matilda she sacrifices herself to save her daughter.
The next day Matilda is caught in a flash flood. She is swept away by the river. She grabs a log and starts calling it Mr. Jaggers, because Mr. Jaggers saved Pip, and the log was saving her. “Better to cling to the worldliness of Mr. Jaggers than the slimy skin of a water soaked log. I couldn’t talk to a log. But I could talk to Mr. Jaggers.”(216) Yet the log was not really her savior. She had two saviors, Mr. Watts and her Mom. Mr. Watts was able to save her from her own mind and the boredom and fear that comes when one is stuck on an island during a war. Her mom was able to literally save her from the Red Skin soldiers when they threatened to rape Matilda.
Mr. Watts and Matilda’s Mom both say similar things, and have the same goal; they just do it in different ways. Matilda’s Mom says: “Stories have a job to do. They can’t just lie around like lazybone dogs. They have to teach you something.” (86) Mr. Watts and Matilda’s mom believed the same thing, but they both looked at it differently. They both understood the importance of a story. Mr. Watts understood that a fictional story could save you from the reality you are in and give you hope. Matilda’s Mom looked at this idea more literally. She believed a story needed to have an obvious point or lesson. She knew the importance of things being real, and in then end was able to save Matilda where Pip had failed.
Her Mom, Mr. Watts a Story
Jason Burchett
Fiction and reality are important aspects of a person’s life; a well-rounded person must understand both reality and fiction. Lloyd Jones uses reality and fiction in his novel Mister Pip to shape a young girl, Matilda, who lives on a war torn island in the southern Pacific in the 1990’s. She learns how important stories are in her life through two people, her Mom and her teacher Mr. Watts. As the story progresses there is a “battle” between Matilda’s mom and Mr. Watts over the idea of fiction and reality that teaches Matilda about hope and in the end saves her life.
Mr. Watts is the only white man left on the island after the war starts. He takes on the responsibility of teaching the children on the island. He has two methods of teaching the children: the first is bringing adults from the island to tell stories or explain practical skills to the students; the second is by reading Great Expectations by Mr. Dickens. Mr. Watts teaches the students about a fictional story and Pip in 19th century England. He teaches the children the importance of having an imagination and the importance of literature. He shows Matilda she can escape into a world of fiction even despite the horrible things are happening around her. “At some point I felt myself enter the story… I wasn’t identifiable on the page, but I was there, I was definitely there.” (46-47) Mr. Watts teaches Matilda that there is a way to escape reality imagination and literature. This helps her keep her sanity through the blockade and the war, as well as gives her a place to go. Stories also give her a way to survive the mundane days and fear filled days she is living on the island.
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to their village and destroy all of the villagers items, Mr. Watts teaches the children an important lesson about imagination. Since Matilda had written Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person on the island, which they cannot find. This causes them to get angry and burn all the villager’s property and houses. After this the children go back to school where they are taught an important lesson by Mr. Watts about imagination and fiction. Mr. Watts says: “We have all lost our possessions and many of our homes,’ he said. ‘But theses losses, severe though they may seem, remind us of what not person can take away, and that is our minds and imaginations.” (123) Mr. Watts shows Matilda that even thought all her property was lost and destroyed, she still had something, and it was more important than her property. This gave Matilda hope for a better time, and helped her survive her time on the island.
Mr. Watts teaches Matilda how to save herself when things in life seem bleak. He is able to give her a friend, and another world she can escape to. He also shows her how to hope for better times. “What did I hope for? Just hope itself, really but in a particular way. I knew things could change better because they had for Pip.” (51) The story of Great Expectations gave her hope on the island, the courage to survive the ordeal, and become a better person.
Matilda’s Mom is the opposite of Mr. Watts. She believes real things are important, and there is no reason to look to fiction. When she finds out that the children are learning about a “fake” person (Pip) she becomes hostile towards Mr. Watts and Pip. To counter Mr. Watts she tries to teach Matilda about her family tree, and makes her write the names of her ancestors in the sand. Matilda does this next to where she had written Pip’s name in the sand. When her mother finds this she becomes livid. “What was the point of sticking the name of a make-believe person next to her kin?” (76) Matilda’s mom believes there is no reason to look to fiction; and does not understand the point of reading a story that does not teach you a practical skill.
Matilda’s Mom goes to the class to tell the students there are things more important in life than fiction. She tells them about real things like her faith, and how to predict the weather by looking at crab holes. When she is done, “…she gave him (Mr. Watts) an unfriendly nod to show she was finished with us, and swept out of the class into the afternoon furnace…” (45)
When the Red Skin Soldiers come to the village and see Pip’s name in the sand, they think Pip is a real person. When the children tell them he is a character from a book they want to see the book as proof. The book cannot be found because Matilda’s mom stole it. The soldiers burn all the property and houses of everyone in the village. Matilda realizes she is stuck in the battle her Mom created and knows she will have to choose between reality and fiction. “I knew that orphaned white kid and that small, fragile place he squeezed into between his awful sister and lovable Joe Gargery, because the same space exist between Mr. Watts and my mum. And I knew I would have to choose between the two.” (47)
Matilda finds out she will be taken off the island with her Mom and Mr. Watts. She is scared her Mom will not want to come and she will have to make a choice. But the night before she is supposed to leave the Red Skin Solders come back to the village. Mr. Watts had called himself Pip and they thought he was lying to them earlier, so they kill him in a gruesome manner. When they ask if anyone saw the murder no one at first replies because they know what will happen to them. Then Matilda’s mom speaks up and says, “Sir. I saw your men chop up the white man. He was a good man. I am here as God’s witness.” (205) When Matilda’s mom says this she is able to save Mr. Watts dignity and after they try to rape Matilda she sacrifices herself to save her daughter.
The next day Matilda is caught in a flash flood. She is swept away by the river. She grabs a log and starts calling it Mr. Jaggers, because Mr. Jaggers saved Pip, and the log was saving her. “Better to cling to the worldliness of Mr. Jaggers than the slimy skin of a water soaked log. I couldn’t talk to a log. But I could talk to Mr. Jaggers.”(216) Yet the log was not really her savior. She had two saviors, Mr. Watts and her Mom. Mr. Watts was able to save her from her own mind and the boredom and fear that comes when one is stuck on an island during a war. Her mom was able to literally save her from the Red Skin soldiers when they threatened to rape Matilda.
Mr. Watts and Matilda’s Mom both say similar things, and have the same goal; they just do it in different ways. Matilda’s Mom says: “Stories have a job to do. They can’t just lie around like lazybone dogs. They have to teach you something.” (86) Mr. Watts and Matilda’s mom believed the same thing, but they both looked at it differently. They both understood the importance of a story. Mr. Watts understood that a fictional story could save you from the reality you are in and give you hope. Matilda’s Mom looked at this idea more literally. She believed a story needed to have an obvious point or lesson. She knew the importance of things being real, and in then end was able to save Matilda where Pip had failed.
Monday, August 4, 2008
The ATV story gets better.
So as you may or may not know I work up at the hospital, I have a s story that ties well into this class about something that happened to me up there this weekend. The names of people have been changed so I do not loose my job. We had a patient come in on Saturday when I was working named Jon. Jon is an elderly gentleman who has pancreatic cancer, and because of this has dementia. He was brought in because he was found driving his car through a park, I’m sorry to say I do not know which park it was. Well Jon knew he was at the hospital, but did not think he needed to be there, so he decided it was time to leave. The hospital has a legal responsibility to protect people, and if a person is not in a proper state of mind then we are responsible to keep the person there. So we knew we needed to keep him in the hospital long enough to treat the problems he had and find an assisted living option. The nurses asked me to try and stall Jon from leaving wail they grabbed a shot of something that would calm him down. So I went into his room when he was changing and stared to talk to him. I decide to give prof Sexson’s story idea a try to see if I could get him to slow down wail I waited for the nurses. So I told him the story about the ATV crash. I made sure to put in all the details I could think of to keep him around. He was immured by the story. He did not relies the nurses were coming into the room and gave him a shot. Before he knew it he was back in bed.
So as you may or may not know I work up at the hospital, I have a s story that ties well into this class about something that happened to me up there this weekend. The names of people have been changed so I do not loose my job. We had a patient come in on Saturday when I was working named Jon. Jon is an elderly gentleman who has pancreatic cancer, and because of this has dementia. He was brought in because he was found driving his car through a park, I’m sorry to say I do not know which park it was. Well Jon knew he was at the hospital, but did not think he needed to be there, so he decided it was time to leave. The hospital has a legal responsibility to protect people, and if a person is not in a proper state of mind then we are responsible to keep the person there. So we knew we needed to keep him in the hospital long enough to treat the problems he had and find an assisted living option. The nurses asked me to try and stall Jon from leaving wail they grabbed a shot of something that would calm him down. So I went into his room when he was changing and stared to talk to him. I decide to give prof Sexson’s story idea a try to see if I could get him to slow down wail I waited for the nurses. So I told him the story about the ATV crash. I made sure to put in all the details I could think of to keep him around. He was immured by the story. He did not relies the nurses were coming into the room and gave him a shot. Before he knew it he was back in bed.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
I like looking at the similarities between plays, it is fun. First I’m going to give my rendition of a comedy, here is how almost every comedy ever written goes.
Guy loves Girl
Girl loves Guy
Girl and Guy can’ get married because of ____ (usually some social thing like class, or a different lover that goes in blank)
Every one switches places, and when it all comes out guy is able to marry girl.
Pretty much this is how every comedy play goes. When I was younger, (Middle, or High School) I had to read “The Importance of Being Earnest” for my English class. I think it was one of the few books I read for those classes because it was short. A few days after reading this book I went to a play with my mom in Denver, I don’t remember what the play was, all I remember was they had a big sailing ship on the stage like from the Disney ride and the story was identical to “The Importance of Being Earnest.” So at this point in my life I realized that all comedies are the same.
After reading Oedipus Rex I realized that tragedies are the same as comedies, only here is there outline
Guy is married to/loves Girl
Girl is married to/loves Guy
Some problem arises
The solution of this problem either ends with every one dead (Romeo and Juliet) or, a major reason for Guy and Girl to not be together.
So there you have it that is what you can expect from any drama you pick up, one of those two story lines.
I think it is interesting how important the orphan figure is in books, just off the top of my head I can think of quite a few stores that have this as a major part. The ones mentioned in class, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Huckleberry Fin, Tom Sawyer, The Golden Compass series, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, the bible is full of them, Star Wars, almost all comic books …ect. (I’m sure if I had read as many books as Luke or Prof Sexson I would be able to fill pages of books with this element). And so I started thinking why is this a common theme in all these stories, and I can only think of one reason. These people are more interesting, and they have more interesting stories. Take Huck Finn. How boring would that story be if he did not leave his father, or if he lived with a normal family I think it would go something like this: Huck when to school, he learned a bunch of stuff, then he came home, did his home work, ate dinner, did his chores, and went to bed. The next day Huck woke up…rinse repeat. This is lame, sounds like my day I had today, and the only difference is my name is not Huck. So the reason orphans are so important in stories is they make interesting stories, which help us escape from the rinse repeat of our days. The also allow for exciting plot twists in the stories, for example who saw that Vader was Luke’s dad, it makes them more exciding to read and make apart of your life. Now that I have brought this concept into the conscious part of my brain, i don’t think ill find many stories without the orphan, and the ones that do not have this aspect sound a bit more boring than something like Great Expectations, or Harry Potter. The other reason people like to use the orphan is it allows them to bring the personal battle that all people face when they are asked the question by the caterpillar, “Who are you?” and since they have an orphan they can make the orphan decide the answer to this question on their own, and it becomes a more important part of the story. This gives the author more malleable clay to work with.
Now for some house keeping, I have not sent the sonnet I wrote yet because I don’t know my friend’s dad’s address, and keep forgetting to ask.
The other day we were asked to find a line from a book that was profound yet did not have a moral lesson in it. The first one I thought of was from “The Importance of Being Earnest” it was in the first act and it went like this: “Devoices are made in heaven” not sure if it has a moral or deeper meaning, I just think it is funny. But then I decide I would look in one of my few books I have so I found George Orwell’s 1984 on my shelf and one line popped into my head with out even looking at it, and of course that line is: “Big Brother is watching you”
I just wanted to tell you a quick story about Delphi. My Fiancé studied abroad last year in Europe, one of the cities she visited was Delphi. She said normally she has trouble remembering her dreams when she is asleep, but the few nights she was in Delphi she said her dreams were crystal clear, and when she woke up she remembered them. So maybe, there is something special about that city, and the oracles were not just doped up all the time.
And one last thing then I am going to go to bed. After class one Weds. I went home and took a nap, during my nap I had two dreams, the first one I don’t remember all of it all I know is there was a fair in Bozeman, a Fair in Livingston, a bank drive up window that looked like it was advances enough to be out star wars, and I think I steep mountain I had to climb down, with a part of the trail that gave out to a sand pit type thing with big septic tank like things full of sand. I don’t know how these things went together, but I also know the second dream was the most important one. This summer I am in Math 170, and we have a test tomorrow morning. I thought I was prepared for the test, but I had the classic get to test and not know any thing dream. So I knew what that meant so I woke up and studied for my test.
Guy loves Girl
Girl loves Guy
Girl and Guy can’ get married because of ____ (usually some social thing like class, or a different lover that goes in blank)
Every one switches places, and when it all comes out guy is able to marry girl.
Pretty much this is how every comedy play goes. When I was younger, (Middle, or High School) I had to read “The Importance of Being Earnest” for my English class. I think it was one of the few books I read for those classes because it was short. A few days after reading this book I went to a play with my mom in Denver, I don’t remember what the play was, all I remember was they had a big sailing ship on the stage like from the Disney ride and the story was identical to “The Importance of Being Earnest.” So at this point in my life I realized that all comedies are the same.
After reading Oedipus Rex I realized that tragedies are the same as comedies, only here is there outline
Guy is married to/loves Girl
Girl is married to/loves Guy
Some problem arises
The solution of this problem either ends with every one dead (Romeo and Juliet) or, a major reason for Guy and Girl to not be together.
So there you have it that is what you can expect from any drama you pick up, one of those two story lines.
I think it is interesting how important the orphan figure is in books, just off the top of my head I can think of quite a few stores that have this as a major part. The ones mentioned in class, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Huckleberry Fin, Tom Sawyer, The Golden Compass series, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, the bible is full of them, Star Wars, almost all comic books …ect. (I’m sure if I had read as many books as Luke or Prof Sexson I would be able to fill pages of books with this element). And so I started thinking why is this a common theme in all these stories, and I can only think of one reason. These people are more interesting, and they have more interesting stories. Take Huck Finn. How boring would that story be if he did not leave his father, or if he lived with a normal family I think it would go something like this: Huck when to school, he learned a bunch of stuff, then he came home, did his home work, ate dinner, did his chores, and went to bed. The next day Huck woke up…rinse repeat. This is lame, sounds like my day I had today, and the only difference is my name is not Huck. So the reason orphans are so important in stories is they make interesting stories, which help us escape from the rinse repeat of our days. The also allow for exciting plot twists in the stories, for example who saw that Vader was Luke’s dad, it makes them more exciding to read and make apart of your life. Now that I have brought this concept into the conscious part of my brain, i don’t think ill find many stories without the orphan, and the ones that do not have this aspect sound a bit more boring than something like Great Expectations, or Harry Potter. The other reason people like to use the orphan is it allows them to bring the personal battle that all people face when they are asked the question by the caterpillar, “Who are you?” and since they have an orphan they can make the orphan decide the answer to this question on their own, and it becomes a more important part of the story. This gives the author more malleable clay to work with.
Now for some house keeping, I have not sent the sonnet I wrote yet because I don’t know my friend’s dad’s address, and keep forgetting to ask.
The other day we were asked to find a line from a book that was profound yet did not have a moral lesson in it. The first one I thought of was from “The Importance of Being Earnest” it was in the first act and it went like this: “Devoices are made in heaven” not sure if it has a moral or deeper meaning, I just think it is funny. But then I decide I would look in one of my few books I have so I found George Orwell’s 1984 on my shelf and one line popped into my head with out even looking at it, and of course that line is: “Big Brother is watching you”
I just wanted to tell you a quick story about Delphi. My Fiancé studied abroad last year in Europe, one of the cities she visited was Delphi. She said normally she has trouble remembering her dreams when she is asleep, but the few nights she was in Delphi she said her dreams were crystal clear, and when she woke up she remembered them. So maybe, there is something special about that city, and the oracles were not just doped up all the time.
And one last thing then I am going to go to bed. After class one Weds. I went home and took a nap, during my nap I had two dreams, the first one I don’t remember all of it all I know is there was a fair in Bozeman, a Fair in Livingston, a bank drive up window that looked like it was advances enough to be out star wars, and I think I steep mountain I had to climb down, with a part of the trail that gave out to a sand pit type thing with big septic tank like things full of sand. I don’t know how these things went together, but I also know the second dream was the most important one. This summer I am in Math 170, and we have a test tomorrow morning. I thought I was prepared for the test, but I had the classic get to test and not know any thing dream. So I knew what that meant so I woke up and studied for my test.
A side story before I talk about stuff from class. Tonight I was talking to my mom on the phone and I mentioned that I had the read some of the Arabian Nights for the class. It turns out that she used to read the stories to me when I was a little kid. I can’t say I remember the stories from it, but I do have a vague recollection of my mom sitting in the rocking chair next to my bed, with me either in the bed or sitting on her lap reading me a book that after all these years I can still see the cover. (I’m not sure if this is the Arabian Nights or a different book). But when I go back home after the summer session I am going to try and track down this book and add it to my small collection of literature that I have. Just so every one knows I have three shelves on my bookshelf. The top row is half filled with lititure and has a few cookbooks on it. The next shelf is mostly full of textbooks, or the tall ones, but I’m pretty sure they are all textbooks, exciting things like Organic Chemistry, and Genetics. The bottom shelf is full of all of my history/ non-fiction books. And most of them are military history books. I am currently working on expanding my litutare collection. When I go home in a few weeks I am going to steal books from my parents so that way I will have more to read. And now, one on the list is that hard back copy of the Arabian Nights with the colorful Genie on the front, and I think maybe a fisherman…
I want to talk a bit about Mr. Pip, from last Monday, (my cat has been sick so I have not had much time to blog until now, and she is doing better). The most obvious theme I noticed in the book was this battle between reality and fiction. There is a movie that came out less than a year ago from Disney of all people that has this as a major theme in the movie. The movie is “Enchanted.” It is a cheesy Disney movie about a cartoon princess who gets banished to the real world of New York because the evil step mom does not want her marrying her son the prince. Of course she meets a man who has a daughter and is planning on getting engaged to his girlfriend. And then like any other comedy (like The Importance of Being Earnest) it all works out in the end, and this story has two weddings. (So not quite as funny as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” because that has three weddings, but back to my main point). The man the princess meets in New York is not a literature, imagination person. He works as a divorce lawyer and his ex-wife leaves him. So this man is a single father raising his 10year old daughter and he does not let her read fantasy princess story books to her, because he does not want her thinking the world is a “happily ever after” type of place. Of course when he meets the princess she is all about the fantasy books because she is from one. There is a clash between the two worlds in the move and in the end there is a hybrid of the two world that all three (the princess, the father and the dad) characters believe and live their lives. This seems like an unlikely place to compare an award-winning book to, but they are the same story. One is just oriented towards kids a little better. So this goes back to every story is a retelling of another stor
I want to talk a bit about Mr. Pip, from last Monday, (my cat has been sick so I have not had much time to blog until now, and she is doing better). The most obvious theme I noticed in the book was this battle between reality and fiction. There is a movie that came out less than a year ago from Disney of all people that has this as a major theme in the movie. The movie is “Enchanted.” It is a cheesy Disney movie about a cartoon princess who gets banished to the real world of New York because the evil step mom does not want her marrying her son the prince. Of course she meets a man who has a daughter and is planning on getting engaged to his girlfriend. And then like any other comedy (like The Importance of Being Earnest) it all works out in the end, and this story has two weddings. (So not quite as funny as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” because that has three weddings, but back to my main point). The man the princess meets in New York is not a literature, imagination person. He works as a divorce lawyer and his ex-wife leaves him. So this man is a single father raising his 10year old daughter and he does not let her read fantasy princess story books to her, because he does not want her thinking the world is a “happily ever after” type of place. Of course when he meets the princess she is all about the fantasy books because she is from one. There is a clash between the two worlds in the move and in the end there is a hybrid of the two world that all three (the princess, the father and the dad) characters believe and live their lives. This seems like an unlikely place to compare an award-winning book to, but they are the same story. One is just oriented towards kids a little better. So this goes back to every story is a retelling of another stor
Monday, July 28, 2008
Over all I had mixed feelings about Mister Pip. I liked the overall theme of the story, imagination vs. reality, or literature vs. non fiction. Yet there were a few things that I did not like about it. My biggest gripe is I did not feel the characters fear when they were on the island. When I read a book about a war, where at any moment some one could swoop out of the air and kill every one in the village I expect to fell the fear from the characters. But I did not get this in this book. Ok enough of the negative, now onto the good stuff. I think this book is prefect for this class. It shows how important reading in no matter what the cermcumstances is. In this book Matilida was able to escape to 1800 London when there was no hope for her in her home town. This brought the tension between her teacher Mr. Watts and her Mum. This then brings one of the biggest controversies of the book, literature vs. reality. Mr. Watts represents the literature and the Mom is the reality. I think this book does an amazing job of solving the tension between the two in the end where the Mom stands up for Mr. Watts, and ends up being killed because of this. One of the big ironies of this book is that the mom’s reality that she wants the kids to be thought is the Bible, and in these modern times most people conceder the bible to not be literary true; and in fact is a work of fiction.
In class we were talking about Randy Pausch, and his last lecture series. here is a yputube link to one of his lectures and his story.
In class we were talking about Randy Pausch, and his last lecture series. here is a yputube link to one of his lectures and his story.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Concerning Sesquipedalian’s
As you may or may not know I am in Air Force ROTC. On of the things they teach us how to do is write for the Air Force. An like any thing elce in the military every thing is very structured. We have a book that is over 250 pages long that tells us how to write memos and all sorts of fun stuff like that. In this book is a story that I would like to share about a sesquipedalian. I hope you all find it as amusing as I did, here it is:
“As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company’s training programs and materials. In the body of the memo, one of the sentences I mentioned the “pedagogical approach” used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director’s office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she could not stand for “perverts” (pedophilia) working for her company. Finally, he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired, and the word “pedagogical” circled in red. The HR manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not the worry. He would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out, directing us that no words, which could not be found in the local Sunday news paper, could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.”
So just remember if you are going to be a sesquipedalian be careful, because not only can you looses friends, but you will find out how big of an idiot you work for…
Pedagogical- the art and science of teaching
Pedophilia- sexual desire of an adult towards a child
“As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo reviewing our company’s training programs and materials. In the body of the memo, one of the sentences I mentioned the “pedagogical approach” used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director’s office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she could not stand for “perverts” (pedophilia) working for her company. Finally, he showed me her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired, and the word “pedagogical” circled in red. The HR manager was fairly reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not the worry. He would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out, directing us that no words, which could not be found in the local Sunday news paper, could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting words together from the Sunday paper.”
So just remember if you are going to be a sesquipedalian be careful, because not only can you looses friends, but you will find out how big of an idiot you work for…
Pedagogical- the art and science of teaching
Pedophilia- sexual desire of an adult towards a child
My Sonnet
Jason Burchett
The Wreck
On a warm Saturday we headed out
Accelerated up the trail real fast
The dust flew everywhere with out a doubt
Had to keep up for I could not be last
Ripping through the forest we all went
Cut across the hill I tumbled down
My hip my arm my bike my pride all spent
The bike lay hundred feet down on the ground
As I pushed I felt an awful POP!
They winched and pulled a quarter of the day
They finally got it up upon the top
This was not a satisfying delay
Bouncing down the trail it was such a sight
I think I’ll have a Tylenol tonight
The Wreck
On a warm Saturday we headed out
Accelerated up the trail real fast
The dust flew everywhere with out a doubt
Had to keep up for I could not be last
Ripping through the forest we all went
Cut across the hill I tumbled down
My hip my arm my bike my pride all spent
The bike lay hundred feet down on the ground
As I pushed I felt an awful POP!
They winched and pulled a quarter of the day
They finally got it up upon the top
This was not a satisfying delay
Bouncing down the trail it was such a sight
I think I’ll have a Tylenol tonight
Monday, July 21, 2008
Found Poetry
The Derivative
Conceder the motion of the maglev
Observe that the graph of f rises slowly
To discover a yard stick that will measure
The steepness of the curve
So this is my found poem, I’m sure most of you have the first line committed to memory. Just a few words about it: I think I liked the poem more when I did not know what a maglev was, (sorry Steve) but I felt it left more to the imagination. I felt it gave the poem more depth because there is this mysterious thing moving, that we should conceder called a maglev. But that being said I still enjoy the poem and like how simple it is. It almost seems like a haiku, but I know it is not.
Some suggestions for the sonnets we all are supposed to be writing there is a web site called rhymzone.com that helps when you are having troubles finding a rhyme for the poems. It has helped me out a bit.
Conceder the motion of the maglev
Observe that the graph of f rises slowly
To discover a yard stick that will measure
The steepness of the curve
So this is my found poem, I’m sure most of you have the first line committed to memory. Just a few words about it: I think I liked the poem more when I did not know what a maglev was, (sorry Steve) but I felt it left more to the imagination. I felt it gave the poem more depth because there is this mysterious thing moving, that we should conceder called a maglev. But that being said I still enjoy the poem and like how simple it is. It almost seems like a haiku, but I know it is not.
Some suggestions for the sonnets we all are supposed to be writing there is a web site called rhymzone.com that helps when you are having troubles finding a rhyme for the poems. It has helped me out a bit.
Book Abuse
I have a story to tell, and this one is why I will now be keeping my Steven’s book at the end of the class. Last Thursday I went to poor boy Thursday at Old Chicago to eat and drink 1$ beers and $1 slices of pizza. When I was there I met a bunch of friends and we decided to go see the midnight showing of the new Bat Man movie. So we stayed out for a few hours killing time before the movie started. Since the beers only cost a dollar I decide to leave my truck at the bar and figured I would get it the next day after our English test. So I went to the movie and then home. The next day I rode my bike to school for our test. After the test it looked like it might storm, but I figured I could beat the storm and get to my truck before the storm hit, and even if I did not then I would be riding in the rain. Well it started to rain right as I got off campus about a block north of college street. But then the hail came at the same time. so I figured I would wait the storm out from under a tree. Well I waited, and the storm just got worse. My shit was completely saturated with water and I was worried my bag might be full of water. So I decide to brave the weather and try to find a place that was not as soggy. I found a carport to hide under until the storm passed. When I opened my bag most everything in it was wet, the worst, the Stevens book. The black lettering on the spine came off the Stevens book and the sonnets book. I found it funny that the book that was the most damaged was the Steven’s book because the weather is such a big theme in all the poems Stevens wrote. I thought about it a bit more and it reminded me of the snow man poem, according to that poem I could be angry that every thing is wet, of in the poem’s case cold, or I could enjoy it for what it is, and be grateful that I was alive to be stuck in the rain and as the French say, “Ce la Vie” (not sure if it is spelled right) or “that’s life”
So to help every one in the class out i am going to put a link on this Blog so you can check the weather if you are going to ride to school on a bike, of course according to Mr. Pip we might want to just look at crabs in the sand....
Weather link
So to help every one in the class out i am going to put a link on this Blog so you can check the weather if you are going to ride to school on a bike, of course according to Mr. Pip we might want to just look at crabs in the sand....
Weather link
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Antidote of the Jar
I placed a jar in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
The wilderness rose up to it,
And sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And tall and of a port in air.
It took dominion every where.
The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee.
First I am going to write what I said in class, after that I’m going to explain some things I have come up with after the class with more thinking about the poem.
In class
This is a poem about the complex nature between humans and nature. The poem is written in a confusing way to show that the relationship is confusing and not well understood. The Jar represents Humans, and the Tennessee, is a place so it and the wilderness represent nature. The poem goes back and forth between who had power over the other. This shows that human’s relationship with nature is always going back and forth, for example people use nature to build things and eat food, yet nature gets at people when there are natural disasters like a hurricane. There are two lines that show people depend on nature to survive, the first is “the jar is round upon the ground” This shows that without the ground the jar would not be able to be placed and it is dependent on the nature. The second line is “and tall and of a port of air” The key part of this line is the Air, air is made by nature but and humans need it to live.
Most of the information for this I got from http://academic.regis.edu/jkarpins/Writings%20for%20Hu201%20Fall2000/anecdote_of_the_jar_by_wallace_s.htm and came up with my self. I am a bit shamed to admit that after I read this paper about the poem I found it difficult to come up with any other meaning than what I read about, but did not realize this until I was in the middle of my presentation in class. So after thinking about it a little bit more I have more to add to what this poem means.
I think it is defiantly about the complex relationship between nature and humans, yet it is more one sided. First, I would not have noticed this if Prof. Sexson did not point it put but the meter breaks down when the wilderness is introduced, but after the jar comes back it is “tamed and put back to normal. This shows how humans tame nature. Something else I did not know was that there was something called the TVA. When I was looking up this poem on Wiki I found that it was first published in 1919. The TVA was formed in the early 1930. So there was a 10 year gap between the two, but I think the poem might have been one of the first protests to building the dams in Tennessee, my guess is (could not find any facts) the TVA was talked about in the 1919’s, and Stevens did not think the rivers should be dammed, so he wrote this poem. Because of his job there was a good chance that he would have herd about this project proposal.
My final observation on Stevens is I don’t think you can read one poem by it’s self and understand it. To begin to understand his poems you need to read and study 6 or more, this way you see the different themes that he has written about and stuff starts to appear more than once. The poems make more sense when more than one is looked at. This I think is the reason that we had that goofy picture on the board during class.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Well I finally finished Great Expectations on Monday this week, and now have time to write about it and it made me relies something. The day in class where we talked about the book almost every one in the class said they did not like Pip. They said he was a jerk because he did not ever talk to Joe after he went to London. I strongly disagree with people who have this opinion if Pip and believe they did not understand one of the main themes in the book. I liked Pip. I thought he was a very realistic character, who did not mean to hurt anyone, and when it was all said in done did not hurt anyone. For the most part I think every one got what they deserved except for one person (more to come).
After Pip left for London he never talked much to Joe, he only visited him once the entire time he was in London and that was when his sister died, and this was not much of a visit. This aspect of Pip bothered a lot of people in the class, I believe one person said he was an “ass hole” but I might be mistaken. I don’t see it this way. Pip is a generally nice person, a few of the things he did to prove this is he set up Herbert with the money to start his business, he helped try to free Magwithc, and he made sure Magwitch was comfortable when he died by telling him his daughter was still alive and had become successful to a certain level. Pip never does anything to anyone in the book that will intentionally cause him or her harm. He never sets out to cause a problem for anyone. But like all real people he is not perfect, he constantly runs into problems with his money like in William Wordsworth’ poem “The World is Too Much With Us” he neglects his best friend from before he was a brought to expectations, and there is a laundry list of other faults he has. The reason people do not like Pip is a reason they might not realize is there and it is what is brothering them, but Pip exemplifies the faults people have, and try to ignore in them selves. Ill tell you what I mean by this: no one is perfect; if they say they are then they are a liar. We all have faults, but part of human nature is to ignore our faults in our selves so we can make our selves feel warm and fuzzy inside. When we read a book like Great Expectations it makes us feel uncomfortable and prickly and cold inside because it brings out our own problems. Every one at some point in their lives does not get along with their parents; it is part of growing up. People show this in different manners, ranging from say yelling I “I Hate You” to Patricide (this being a bit more extreme). Since most of us are 20some years old when we go through these problems we are arrogant cocky people who know deep down inside we are always right. This is essence what happened to Pip, he was a 20 some arrogant cocky SOB who was ashamed of his childhood so he never went back, not realizing it could hurt those who had raised him. I think every one is like this, and the reason people do not like Pip is he reminds them of their flaws, and it makes them uncomfortable. So the real question you should be asking is do you not like Pip, or do you not like yourself?
Oh and just because you read this far the only person in the book that I thought did not get what he deserved was Mr. Pumpernickl the reason I say this is because he was a jerk at the end to Pip and should have had his teeth knock out, if you are looking for an Ass hole in this book look to him, he is your ass hole.
After Pip left for London he never talked much to Joe, he only visited him once the entire time he was in London and that was when his sister died, and this was not much of a visit. This aspect of Pip bothered a lot of people in the class, I believe one person said he was an “ass hole” but I might be mistaken. I don’t see it this way. Pip is a generally nice person, a few of the things he did to prove this is he set up Herbert with the money to start his business, he helped try to free Magwithc, and he made sure Magwitch was comfortable when he died by telling him his daughter was still alive and had become successful to a certain level. Pip never does anything to anyone in the book that will intentionally cause him or her harm. He never sets out to cause a problem for anyone. But like all real people he is not perfect, he constantly runs into problems with his money like in William Wordsworth’ poem “The World is Too Much With Us” he neglects his best friend from before he was a brought to expectations, and there is a laundry list of other faults he has. The reason people do not like Pip is a reason they might not realize is there and it is what is brothering them, but Pip exemplifies the faults people have, and try to ignore in them selves. Ill tell you what I mean by this: no one is perfect; if they say they are then they are a liar. We all have faults, but part of human nature is to ignore our faults in our selves so we can make our selves feel warm and fuzzy inside. When we read a book like Great Expectations it makes us feel uncomfortable and prickly and cold inside because it brings out our own problems. Every one at some point in their lives does not get along with their parents; it is part of growing up. People show this in different manners, ranging from say yelling I “I Hate You” to Patricide (this being a bit more extreme). Since most of us are 20some years old when we go through these problems we are arrogant cocky people who know deep down inside we are always right. This is essence what happened to Pip, he was a 20 some arrogant cocky SOB who was ashamed of his childhood so he never went back, not realizing it could hurt those who had raised him. I think every one is like this, and the reason people do not like Pip is he reminds them of their flaws, and it makes them uncomfortable. So the real question you should be asking is do you not like Pip, or do you not like yourself?
Oh and just because you read this far the only person in the book that I thought did not get what he deserved was Mr. Pumpernickl the reason I say this is because he was a jerk at the end to Pip and should have had his teeth knock out, if you are looking for an Ass hole in this book look to him, he is your ass hole.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
No Shit This Happened
Well I have a great story to tell any one who will take the time to read this.
I’m going to call this a sea story, and the reason for this is I like the way sea stories start, but I assure you this is a true story, and I probably could not make it up if I tried. ( I will show you proof of it on Monday.)
No shit this happened. So this weekend I had all planned out, I was going to catch up on all my English homework, and work on my medical school application. The most exciting thing that I had planned was going to church on Sunday morning. But my plan changed. On Friday night at about 8:00pm my friend called and said his dad, a doctor was coming down from Great Falls and had brought three ATV’s and wanted to know I wanted to go ATVing with him and one of our other friends. Well I could not say no, and decided my poems would have to wait a day, there were ATV’s to ride. So the next morning I woke up and went over to his house, we loaded up the truck and went off into the woods. The first trail we went to was closed to ATV travel, so we went to a different trail to ride. We started out with no problems; I was riding my friends Honda 250 sport ATV. We went down a road for about 5 miles when we hit the trail that goes through the trees. It was dust, and hot, but oh-boy was it fun. So we go through the trees some, when we came to a part of the trail that cut across a mountain this mountain was very steep, and the ATV was tilting to the side a bunch. Then all of a sudden the ATV and I tumbled off the trail down the side of the mountain. I flew through the air, but lucky the nice soft ground caught me. I stopped sliding just in time to here a loud “CRUNCH!” The ATV hit a tree way below me. The first thing I did after I sopped was I stood up. My friend’s dad had come around the corner just in time to see the ATV summersault down the hill. He asked “are you ok?” “yah I said, but I don’t think the ATV is.” His response was, “well it’s dead” I climbed back onto the trail and looked down the mountain, when I realized the ATV was way down there wedged between two trees. My friend’s dad went back to the truck to get ropes and a hand winch and me and my friends waited there for him . We climbed down to the ATV so see how bad the damage was. It was lodged between two trees, the back axel was bent, and the break and peg were bent, other than that it seemed to be ok. We waited for a bit for the ropes to get back so we could recover the ATV. Now at this point I might add how steep the hill was. I’d say it was any where from 45 to 70 degrees, or about as steep as the bowls up at Bridger. So we hooked the ATV up to the hand winch and pulled it out from the two trees it was stuck in, then started synching it up the mountain. From my original fall I had scrapped most of the skin off my forearm, and had a nice shiner on m hip. Well like any thing else, it had to go from bad to worse. I was helping push the ATV up the mountain when all of a sudden my left knee gave out, and oh boy did that hurt. So from then on I was not allowed to help very much, doctor’s order from my friend’s dad. Luckily he thinks it will be fine in a few weeks. So after six hours of watching my friends push and pull the AVT up the steep side of the mountain we finally got it back up. The amazing thing was it still drove. Of course it looked like a horse because of the axel bumping up and down, but it still drove.
I was thinking about the original question we had in class on the first day, “what possible value can a 19th century novel by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, have for a 21st century, computer savvy student…” And the answer for me came to my yesterday in the form of me being thrown off a mountain by an ATV. Let me explain. Mr. Dickens’ character Pip is a arrogant twenty some year old kid who things he can do just about anything and every thing, AKA he thinks he is invincible. I am a twenty one year old kid who is somewhat arrogant and thinks I can’t get hurt, or I think I’m invincible. By the end of the novel Pip relies he is not as invincible as he thought he was and that he does not get every thing he wanted. Yesterday I realized I am not invincible, and a stupid ATV beat the snot out of me. So yes maybe there is a great value to reading about Pip’s adventures through life, and his growing up.
I’m going to call this a sea story, and the reason for this is I like the way sea stories start, but I assure you this is a true story, and I probably could not make it up if I tried. ( I will show you proof of it on Monday.)
No shit this happened. So this weekend I had all planned out, I was going to catch up on all my English homework, and work on my medical school application. The most exciting thing that I had planned was going to church on Sunday morning. But my plan changed. On Friday night at about 8:00pm my friend called and said his dad, a doctor was coming down from Great Falls and had brought three ATV’s and wanted to know I wanted to go ATVing with him and one of our other friends. Well I could not say no, and decided my poems would have to wait a day, there were ATV’s to ride. So the next morning I woke up and went over to his house, we loaded up the truck and went off into the woods. The first trail we went to was closed to ATV travel, so we went to a different trail to ride. We started out with no problems; I was riding my friends Honda 250 sport ATV. We went down a road for about 5 miles when we hit the trail that goes through the trees. It was dust, and hot, but oh-boy was it fun. So we go through the trees some, when we came to a part of the trail that cut across a mountain this mountain was very steep, and the ATV was tilting to the side a bunch. Then all of a sudden the ATV and I tumbled off the trail down the side of the mountain. I flew through the air, but lucky the nice soft ground caught me. I stopped sliding just in time to here a loud “CRUNCH!” The ATV hit a tree way below me. The first thing I did after I sopped was I stood up. My friend’s dad had come around the corner just in time to see the ATV summersault down the hill. He asked “are you ok?” “yah I said, but I don’t think the ATV is.” His response was, “well it’s dead” I climbed back onto the trail and looked down the mountain, when I realized the ATV was way down there wedged between two trees. My friend’s dad went back to the truck to get ropes and a hand winch and me and my friends waited there for him . We climbed down to the ATV so see how bad the damage was. It was lodged between two trees, the back axel was bent, and the break and peg were bent, other than that it seemed to be ok. We waited for a bit for the ropes to get back so we could recover the ATV. Now at this point I might add how steep the hill was. I’d say it was any where from 45 to 70 degrees, or about as steep as the bowls up at Bridger. So we hooked the ATV up to the hand winch and pulled it out from the two trees it was stuck in, then started synching it up the mountain. From my original fall I had scrapped most of the skin off my forearm, and had a nice shiner on m hip. Well like any thing else, it had to go from bad to worse. I was helping push the ATV up the mountain when all of a sudden my left knee gave out, and oh boy did that hurt. So from then on I was not allowed to help very much, doctor’s order from my friend’s dad. Luckily he thinks it will be fine in a few weeks. So after six hours of watching my friends push and pull the AVT up the steep side of the mountain we finally got it back up. The amazing thing was it still drove. Of course it looked like a horse because of the axel bumping up and down, but it still drove.
I was thinking about the original question we had in class on the first day, “what possible value can a 19th century novel by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, have for a 21st century, computer savvy student…” And the answer for me came to my yesterday in the form of me being thrown off a mountain by an ATV. Let me explain. Mr. Dickens’ character Pip is a arrogant twenty some year old kid who things he can do just about anything and every thing, AKA he thinks he is invincible. I am a twenty one year old kid who is somewhat arrogant and thinks I can’t get hurt, or I think I’m invincible. By the end of the novel Pip relies he is not as invincible as he thought he was and that he does not get every thing he wanted. Yesterday I realized I am not invincible, and a stupid ATV beat the snot out of me. So yes maybe there is a great value to reading about Pip’s adventures through life, and his growing up.
Consider the motion of the maglev
first off i would like to apologize for not writing in a while. Last Thursday i took the MCAT, this is a test that pretty much covers every thing i have learned in high school and collage. I needed to take this test so i can get into medical school. Since it is a big deal to score well i have been studying for that instead of working on my blog, I'm sorry. But the good news is now i am free. So I will start by looking back through my notes at some of the things I am supposed to write about that I have not yet. The first thing I found was to talk about how every thing is connected in the book Great Expectations. This goes back to the coincidences we talked about last week. For starters i would like to share a coincidence that happened with me in this class. Last week we were assigned our poems from Stevens. My poem was "Anicdoet of a Jar" I went home to read my poem and start trying to figure out what it means. and to my surprise, the little ribbon in the book was on the page that my poem was on. At first i thought "wow, what a coincidence." but then Prof Sexson, voice came into my head and said, " one in three" so i guess there was some divine reason for me to get the poem that i got.
So now i will move on to coincidences in the book Great Expectations. This book is full of them, just about every thing that happens happens for a reason and my seem like a coincidence. One example is the pale boy that pip beats up in the beginning of the book, he turns out to be Pip's best friend when he moves to London. So this book seems to be full of these coincidences, but this makes sense. What we have to remember when we are reading a novel is the author came up with the idea them selves and intentionally wrote the book the way they did. If things in the book did not tie back together the story would not be very interesting and the book would not be read by very many people. So Mr. Dickens did this on purpose to make the story have more depth and allow for a more interesting book.
The next think i found to write about in my notes was my most early memory of pain. At first i could bot think of much, i remembered my grade school, the play ground, some of the people i went to school with, some of my teachers, but no major events came to my head. Then when driving home from school the other day i remembered my earliest memory where I lost something that was dear to me. Any one who owns a pet knows that they become part of your family. I have always had dogs when I was growing up. Right now back in Colorado I have golden retriever and a golden doodle (cross between the golden retriever and a poodle, she is the one you all saw on my computer on the first day of class) So my earliest memory was one day when i was in kindergarten my mom came to school and picked me up early. She told me that we had to put Jake to sleep, he was the yellow lab that was older than i was. Well this confused me, because i knew he went to sleep every night and that was no reason to be pulled out of school. but then she explained to me what she meant ans that he was sick and was going to die. This is my earliest memory where i lost something and felt pain and disappointment.
Note i was asked to put the line on my blog from my calc book so here is goes, "consider the motion of the maglev"
Again i am sorry i have not been very good about posting my blogs, but now i am done with my test i will have much more time.
So now i will move on to coincidences in the book Great Expectations. This book is full of them, just about every thing that happens happens for a reason and my seem like a coincidence. One example is the pale boy that pip beats up in the beginning of the book, he turns out to be Pip's best friend when he moves to London. So this book seems to be full of these coincidences, but this makes sense. What we have to remember when we are reading a novel is the author came up with the idea them selves and intentionally wrote the book the way they did. If things in the book did not tie back together the story would not be very interesting and the book would not be read by very many people. So Mr. Dickens did this on purpose to make the story have more depth and allow for a more interesting book.
The next think i found to write about in my notes was my most early memory of pain. At first i could bot think of much, i remembered my grade school, the play ground, some of the people i went to school with, some of my teachers, but no major events came to my head. Then when driving home from school the other day i remembered my earliest memory where I lost something that was dear to me. Any one who owns a pet knows that they become part of your family. I have always had dogs when I was growing up. Right now back in Colorado I have golden retriever and a golden doodle (cross between the golden retriever and a poodle, she is the one you all saw on my computer on the first day of class) So my earliest memory was one day when i was in kindergarten my mom came to school and picked me up early. She told me that we had to put Jake to sleep, he was the yellow lab that was older than i was. Well this confused me, because i knew he went to sleep every night and that was no reason to be pulled out of school. but then she explained to me what she meant ans that he was sick and was going to die. This is my earliest memory where i lost something and felt pain and disappointment.
Note i was asked to put the line on my blog from my calc book so here is goes, "consider the motion of the maglev"
Again i am sorry i have not been very good about posting my blogs, but now i am done with my test i will have much more time.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Second day of class
Thoughts of Ex Libris:
I enjoyed this book, more than i thought i would. When i first looked at it it looked like a book about books, how boring. I was greatly surprised by what i read. Anne Fadiman has an amazing way with words. Her essays were thought provoking and entertaining. I don't there there is a person in this country that cannot relate to one of the things she wrote about in this book. An example is we all have gotten more mail order catalogs than we want, I think i could fill a bath tub with them in just a month. what i liked about the section on the mail order catalog is how she could take a sears catalog and find poetry in it. i bet she could make the value menu at Burger King sound like an epic poem. This book is defiantly one that makes you think about the world around you in a slightly different way. It makes me want to go to an old book store and buy as may old ratty books as i can find.
Thoughts on Class, 7/2/08
Today in class we talked about not using cliche in class. Ok this makes sense, no one wants to here the same thing over and over again, it is just boring. not 10 minuets after we had this discussion Prof. Sexson said, "easy as pie." I found this quite amusing. I started thinking about the saying "easy as pie" and it made me wonder why we say easy as pie. I don't know how many of you have cooked before, but to make a pie is a long and involved process, and is not too easy (unless you buy a frozen pie crust, but that's cheating) so why is it easy as pie? So like any person in this modern world i Googled it and here is what i found on http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-easy-as-pie.html
"How though, are pies thought to be easy? It seems that, while not being easy to make, pies are generally thought to be easy to eat. At least, that was the view in 19th century America, where this phrase was coined. There are various mid 19th century US citations that, whilst not using 'as easy as pie' verbatim, do point to 'pie' being used to denote pleasantry and ease. For example, the related phrase 'as nice as pie' was used in Which: Right or Left? in 1855" so there you go that is the origin of the saying, assuming Phrases.org is right...
So far i have to say my favorite part of the class is story time. it is too bad that the classes are not longer so in stead of reading the books Prof. Sexson could just read them to us. As one of my fellow class mates said in their blog (sorry I forgot who it was) listing to his is like listing to a book on tape, only better. I would defiantly buy a book on tape read by Prof Sexson.
Ok on final tangent about some thing in class that is kind of bothering me. It seems like every one in the class hates technology. i don't see it like this. Technology is cool, i mean think about it, i can go out buy an iPhone and have the whole world of information at my fingertips. I can see photos of my brother on the east coast seconds after he takes them. I can watch the web cam at my parents mountain House in Colorado. I can even do things like look up were the saying "easy as pie" came from. I mean that's cool. here is a good story where technology was a good thing. Over in Iraq an Army Sargent was stabbed in the head with a kitchen knife. The knife entered his skull blow the brain and went into a cavity of the skull that hold vital blood vessels that feed the brain. At first he did not know he had a knife sticking out of his head. He was taken to a medical unit where they x-rayed his skull to see what the damage was. They determined he needed surgery, by a neurosurgeon, and a good one at that. If they just pulled the knife out of his skull then he would have died. . Before he left the Army sent his x-rays, and his information to the top neurosurgeon in the Army. He was sitting in Washington DC rush hour traffic when he got the call. He was able to load the x-rays and the patient information onto his laptop, and determined the Sarg. needed to be flown back to the United States. The doctors in Iraq put him into a medically induced coma, that he might never wake from, for the journey. Before he did this he was able to call his wife and talk to her. He made a full recovery from his surgery, and is now back with his unit. Ok so technology is not a bad thing, it is really a great thing. Don't get me wrong people don't read as much as they used to, and should probably read more. But it is not the technology that is causing this, it is people. Think about it, a book can't read it's self, a computer and turn on with out a person plugging it in an pushing power. So do not blame Technology, blame your self. If your a parent (I'm not) then it is your responsibility to read to your kids. It is like Anne Fadiman said in her book, parents are the ones that teach their kids how to be. So I'm going to continue using my ipod, my computer, and watching TV. But i still read almost every night before i go to bed, so i think people should be able to find a balance between the two, because the technology is not going to go away, and neither are the books.
I enjoyed this book, more than i thought i would. When i first looked at it it looked like a book about books, how boring. I was greatly surprised by what i read. Anne Fadiman has an amazing way with words. Her essays were thought provoking and entertaining. I don't there there is a person in this country that cannot relate to one of the things she wrote about in this book. An example is we all have gotten more mail order catalogs than we want, I think i could fill a bath tub with them in just a month. what i liked about the section on the mail order catalog is how she could take a sears catalog and find poetry in it. i bet she could make the value menu at Burger King sound like an epic poem. This book is defiantly one that makes you think about the world around you in a slightly different way. It makes me want to go to an old book store and buy as may old ratty books as i can find.
Thoughts on Class, 7/2/08
Today in class we talked about not using cliche in class. Ok this makes sense, no one wants to here the same thing over and over again, it is just boring. not 10 minuets after we had this discussion Prof. Sexson said, "easy as pie." I found this quite amusing. I started thinking about the saying "easy as pie" and it made me wonder why we say easy as pie. I don't know how many of you have cooked before, but to make a pie is a long and involved process, and is not too easy (unless you buy a frozen pie crust, but that's cheating) so why is it easy as pie? So like any person in this modern world i Googled it and here is what i found on http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-easy-as-pie.html
"How though, are pies thought to be easy? It seems that, while not being easy to make, pies are generally thought to be easy to eat. At least, that was the view in 19th century America, where this phrase was coined. There are various mid 19th century US citations that, whilst not using 'as easy as pie' verbatim, do point to 'pie' being used to denote pleasantry and ease. For example, the related phrase 'as nice as pie' was used in Which: Right or Left? in 1855" so there you go that is the origin of the saying, assuming Phrases.org is right...
So far i have to say my favorite part of the class is story time. it is too bad that the classes are not longer so in stead of reading the books Prof. Sexson could just read them to us. As one of my fellow class mates said in their blog (sorry I forgot who it was) listing to his is like listing to a book on tape, only better. I would defiantly buy a book on tape read by Prof Sexson.
Ok on final tangent about some thing in class that is kind of bothering me. It seems like every one in the class hates technology. i don't see it like this. Technology is cool, i mean think about it, i can go out buy an iPhone and have the whole world of information at my fingertips. I can see photos of my brother on the east coast seconds after he takes them. I can watch the web cam at my parents mountain House in Colorado. I can even do things like look up were the saying "easy as pie" came from. I mean that's cool. here is a good story where technology was a good thing. Over in Iraq an Army Sargent was stabbed in the head with a kitchen knife. The knife entered his skull blow the brain and went into a cavity of the skull that hold vital blood vessels that feed the brain. At first he did not know he had a knife sticking out of his head. He was taken to a medical unit where they x-rayed his skull to see what the damage was. They determined he needed surgery, by a neurosurgeon, and a good one at that. If they just pulled the knife out of his skull then he would have died. . Before he left the Army sent his x-rays, and his information to the top neurosurgeon in the Army. He was sitting in Washington DC rush hour traffic when he got the call. He was able to load the x-rays and the patient information onto his laptop, and determined the Sarg. needed to be flown back to the United States. The doctors in Iraq put him into a medically induced coma, that he might never wake from, for the journey. Before he did this he was able to call his wife and talk to her. He made a full recovery from his surgery, and is now back with his unit. Ok so technology is not a bad thing, it is really a great thing. Don't get me wrong people don't read as much as they used to, and should probably read more. But it is not the technology that is causing this, it is people. Think about it, a book can't read it's self, a computer and turn on with out a person plugging it in an pushing power. So do not blame Technology, blame your self. If your a parent (I'm not) then it is your responsibility to read to your kids. It is like Anne Fadiman said in her book, parents are the ones that teach their kids how to be. So I'm going to continue using my ipod, my computer, and watching TV. But i still read almost every night before i go to bed, so i think people should be able to find a balance between the two, because the technology is not going to go away, and neither are the books.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
South Park
Just so you all know i posted a link to a web site where you can wath an episode of south park where they do their version of Great Expectation. it is funny, and i think might be loosely biased on the book, (the names are the same, and thats about it) but it is still pretty funny. if you get a chance it is a good reading break.
I find it interesting that the two blogs i have read thus far (Steve's and Krystal's) mentioned the same book that put them into a trans were the same book. (Harry Potter) Yes I have read all of these books, and they also did this to me. But when Prof. Sexton mentioned this Harry potter was not the first book that came to my head. There were two that came to my head right away. First is a book I'm guessing not many of you are familiar with, it is called On Call in Hell, A Doctor's War Story, Cdr. Richard Jadick DO. This book is about a Doctor who was in the battle of Fallujah, and set up an OR and ER in the battle field. The book is about his experiences in the Navy and what he did during the battle. This book puts me in a trans every time i read it (or listen to it on tape) i think i have read this book twice, and listen to it every time i drive home to Colorado. I think the reason this book speaks to me so well is because of my careerer goals. I want to be a doctor in the military, that is why i am in ROTC here at MSU, and am working on going to medical school. The other Book that i thought of that put me into a trans was 1984 by George Orwell. I enjoyed this book, and it makes you think. What i like about it is the whole time you are reading it it sounds like a horrible society that people live in, then at the end you find out why they live the way they do and it becomes a twisted utopia in kind of a sick and twisted way.
Well that wraps up my thoughts for now, if anyone cares there is a sale at Barns and Noble right now were Litutare Classics, are buy two get one free.
Well that wraps up my thoughts for now, if anyone cares there is a sale at Barns and Noble right now were Litutare Classics, are buy two get one free.
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