Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Inspiration
It startled me to read in Annie Dillard's For the Time Being:
I had the opportunity to speak with an extremely inspirational man this weekend as a result of the Engineers Without Borders Mountain Region Conference. This man from Kenya goes by the name Ronald Omyonga, and he is the person responsible for initiating the project that EWB-MSU has now worked on for a decade in Western Kenya. Hearing him tell his story of how he moved from poor, rural villager raised by a single mother to attending one of the best high schools in the nation to going to college to become an architect and now working for Habitat For Humanity spoke volumes. I kept thinking, now here is a man whom the fire of the world is blazing within.
Here is his story: Ronald was one of four boys, raised in a village in Western Kenya called Khwisero. It is very rural; most of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. They are mostly subsistence farmers, and boys inherit property from their father so they may carry on farming the land. However, Ronald grew up without a father, so his mother told him over and over again that "his book was his land and his pencil his jembe." A jembe is a Kenyan hoe. His mother somehow always made sure he had paper and a pencil and something in his stomach to eat before going to school. So Ronald worked extremely hard, never wanting to disappoint his mother and scored the highest marks in the district, earning him an invitation to a top high school in the capital city of Nairobi. He was no longer the top student, and that humbled him, but he kept studying hard and placed into the architectural school at the University of Nairobi. He finished his degree and when he went back home to see his friends he used to play with, he realized he could not even relate to them anymore; they didn't even understand what an architect was (there is no word for architect in the tribal language). It was at that point Ronald realized the importance and power of education. That's when he sent in the proposal to Engineers Without Borders USA to start a project in his home village. He wanted everyone, girls and boys included, to have the same opportunity he did without obstacles like dirty water and inadequate sanitation to stand in their way. After initiating the EWB-MSU project, Ronald continued to do aid work while working as an architect, and has been very successful. He is the core of EWB-MSU and the most incredible human being I have ever met.
Sorry for the aside, but I wanted you all to have the background story. I can't do his story justice, but I can tell you why he is an inspiration to me, and why I think he has the worlds fire within himself. When I first met him in Nairobi, Kenya, the first thing he said to me was something along the lines of, "welcome, thank you for the great work you are doing," without even knowing my name or my story. How many people do you know that can do that? He appreciates people, and most of all the people that have allowed him to LEARN. He thinks the world has been opened up to him because of his education, and this is how the fire inside him was ignited. It continues to burn, and I can tell. When he spoke at his keynote speech last Sunday, he had the audience crying and laughing at the same time as he lit a fire inside each person in that room, if only for one hour.
Think back to the times you have been inspired. Whether it is by a person, a place, an idea, does it not feel like at that moment, the world is on fire around you and you are enveloping that flame until it burns within you too? Like the world has something to offer you, and you just keep soaking it all in? For Ronald, education lit that fire, what will light it for you? The world itself is inspiring, we just have to choose to notice it, and let the fire spread within us.
""Throughout my whole life," he noted later, "during every minute of it, the world has been gradually lighting up and blazing before my eyes until it has come to surround me, entirely lit up from within.""After reading this passage, I remember a smile beginning to pull at the edges of my mouth. I think it startled me so much because it reminded me that yes, we are all a part of this huge universe and it is hard as an individual to believe we have an affect on it, but at the same time the world can have a huge affect on us. This quote reminded me to slow down, take a look around me, and get inspired.
I had the opportunity to speak with an extremely inspirational man this weekend as a result of the Engineers Without Borders Mountain Region Conference. This man from Kenya goes by the name Ronald Omyonga, and he is the person responsible for initiating the project that EWB-MSU has now worked on for a decade in Western Kenya. Hearing him tell his story of how he moved from poor, rural villager raised by a single mother to attending one of the best high schools in the nation to going to college to become an architect and now working for Habitat For Humanity spoke volumes. I kept thinking, now here is a man whom the fire of the world is blazing within.
Here is his story: Ronald was one of four boys, raised in a village in Western Kenya called Khwisero. It is very rural; most of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. They are mostly subsistence farmers, and boys inherit property from their father so they may carry on farming the land. However, Ronald grew up without a father, so his mother told him over and over again that "his book was his land and his pencil his jembe." A jembe is a Kenyan hoe. His mother somehow always made sure he had paper and a pencil and something in his stomach to eat before going to school. So Ronald worked extremely hard, never wanting to disappoint his mother and scored the highest marks in the district, earning him an invitation to a top high school in the capital city of Nairobi. He was no longer the top student, and that humbled him, but he kept studying hard and placed into the architectural school at the University of Nairobi. He finished his degree and when he went back home to see his friends he used to play with, he realized he could not even relate to them anymore; they didn't even understand what an architect was (there is no word for architect in the tribal language). It was at that point Ronald realized the importance and power of education. That's when he sent in the proposal to Engineers Without Borders USA to start a project in his home village. He wanted everyone, girls and boys included, to have the same opportunity he did without obstacles like dirty water and inadequate sanitation to stand in their way. After initiating the EWB-MSU project, Ronald continued to do aid work while working as an architect, and has been very successful. He is the core of EWB-MSU and the most incredible human being I have ever met.
Sorry for the aside, but I wanted you all to have the background story. I can't do his story justice, but I can tell you why he is an inspiration to me, and why I think he has the worlds fire within himself. When I first met him in Nairobi, Kenya, the first thing he said to me was something along the lines of, "welcome, thank you for the great work you are doing," without even knowing my name or my story. How many people do you know that can do that? He appreciates people, and most of all the people that have allowed him to LEARN. He thinks the world has been opened up to him because of his education, and this is how the fire inside him was ignited. It continues to burn, and I can tell. When he spoke at his keynote speech last Sunday, he had the audience crying and laughing at the same time as he lit a fire inside each person in that room, if only for one hour.
Think back to the times you have been inspired. Whether it is by a person, a place, an idea, does it not feel like at that moment, the world is on fire around you and you are enveloping that flame until it burns within you too? Like the world has something to offer you, and you just keep soaking it all in? For Ronald, education lit that fire, what will light it for you? The world itself is inspiring, we just have to choose to notice it, and let the fire spread within us.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
I'm Possessed
I think I have become possessed by this class.....actually I think this class has possessed me. I've been trying to formulate this post for the longest time, but in class today I finally just decided what the heck, I'll write it anyway, even if its fairly jumbled. Dr. Sexson did say this blog was supposed to be like a journal, so here is me journaling.
What I mean when I said I have become possessed by this class is that the discussions we have and the points that are brought up keep reoccurring in my daily life. Coincidences, so to speak, keep happening. And it's quite honestly freaking me out! Yet at the same time, very "awesome." Here is a list of the coincidences I've had.
1. After class one day, I talked to Dr. Sexson and he asked if the light bulbs were beginning to go off in my head, and I said that I think they're getting there, they are more flickering right now though. Immediately afterward I went to the bathroom, and as you all know, the light in Quad F's bathroom flickers before it comes on. Coincidence........?
2. An entire class period was dedicated to the "Art of Attention" and how we are always getting distracted. In another class of mine (Construction Practice, sounds exciting I know), the professor talked about how we need to "listen" instead of just "hear." Coincidence.........?
3. This is more just hilarious to me: we talked about Schrodinger's cat, and literally my favorite television show has a scene about Schrodinger's cat that explains it perfectly: (bear with it, the point is made at the end)
4. Superposition. We looked at this topic from a literally standpoint. Well, I'm an engineer, but it just so happens that this past Monday, we were talking about loading on beams and support conditions, and in engineering superposition can be used as a tool to solve really complex problems by simplifying the problem: breaking the problem into different parts, solving these parts, then adding them back together. Coincidence.....?
5. Yesterday, I was having a discussion with someone very "special" to me about "everyone being special." And he also believes no one is "special," and that pulled at me. Then today in class we have the exact same discussion. I liked the way Brooke put it, because it seems awful to say we aren't special, that we're just this tiny little piece of a massive puzzle, but that doesn't have to be frightening. It can be humbling and invigorating. Anyway......coincidence.........?
So all of this has been going on around me, and the best part of it I think is that I've paid ATTENTION to it. I have begun to notice the parallels between all my classes, and with my life in general. The past few class periods, I have really paid ATTENTION. Meanwhile, I have been having this inner battle with myself about several different things. What is important in my life? Who is important? Is what I'm studying really what I am going to do for the rest of my life? How am I supposed to know? When Dr. Sexson said today that life is just smoke and mirrors, I knew exactly what he meant. I feel like I'm in a giant room with walls of mirrors, reflecting myself back at me, as if saying, "well don't look at us, we don't have any answers for you." And every other minute a giant puff of smoke fills the room and makes me blind to everything, including myself.
Remember how at the beginning of the class I said I've never been able to remember a dream I've had? Well that was true, until now. I had a dream the other night, and it is a dream I know I've had before, but I remembered it into the next day, and wrote it down! It wasn't as clear, but I remembered to main parts. It went something like this: I am back all of a sudden playing soccer for my old high school coach and I am about to take a corner kick, or maybe a goal kick, I can't remember. Anyway, I take the three or four steps back, pause, and am about to run forward and strike the ball when all of a sudden I fall down on my back and cannot move. It is like my whole body is paralyzed, I can still move my eyes and think, but nothing of my body moves. I can feel the eyes staring at me, and I am embarrassed, confused, hurt; so many emotions run through me........I remember having this happen to me in dreams before, maybe that's why I remembered it this time. But why do I keep having this dream that results in me lying helpless? I've been trying to connect this dream to my life, and cannot figure it out. Is it because this is my deepest fear: to be helpless and unable to move, to be a bystander of my own life? I have no idea. Yet, maybe there is more to this dream, another room in my mind that I have just barely opened the door to. Or perhaps there are no answers, because to find an answer would be to kill the idea. If that is the case, I'm happy I have no answers.
What I mean when I said I have become possessed by this class is that the discussions we have and the points that are brought up keep reoccurring in my daily life. Coincidences, so to speak, keep happening. And it's quite honestly freaking me out! Yet at the same time, very "awesome." Here is a list of the coincidences I've had.
1. After class one day, I talked to Dr. Sexson and he asked if the light bulbs were beginning to go off in my head, and I said that I think they're getting there, they are more flickering right now though. Immediately afterward I went to the bathroom, and as you all know, the light in Quad F's bathroom flickers before it comes on. Coincidence........?
2. An entire class period was dedicated to the "Art of Attention" and how we are always getting distracted. In another class of mine (Construction Practice, sounds exciting I know), the professor talked about how we need to "listen" instead of just "hear." Coincidence.........?
3. This is more just hilarious to me: we talked about Schrodinger's cat, and literally my favorite television show has a scene about Schrodinger's cat that explains it perfectly: (bear with it, the point is made at the end)
4. Superposition. We looked at this topic from a literally standpoint. Well, I'm an engineer, but it just so happens that this past Monday, we were talking about loading on beams and support conditions, and in engineering superposition can be used as a tool to solve really complex problems by simplifying the problem: breaking the problem into different parts, solving these parts, then adding them back together. Coincidence.....?
5. Yesterday, I was having a discussion with someone very "special" to me about "everyone being special." And he also believes no one is "special," and that pulled at me. Then today in class we have the exact same discussion. I liked the way Brooke put it, because it seems awful to say we aren't special, that we're just this tiny little piece of a massive puzzle, but that doesn't have to be frightening. It can be humbling and invigorating. Anyway......coincidence.........?
So all of this has been going on around me, and the best part of it I think is that I've paid ATTENTION to it. I have begun to notice the parallels between all my classes, and with my life in general. The past few class periods, I have really paid ATTENTION. Meanwhile, I have been having this inner battle with myself about several different things. What is important in my life? Who is important? Is what I'm studying really what I am going to do for the rest of my life? How am I supposed to know? When Dr. Sexson said today that life is just smoke and mirrors, I knew exactly what he meant. I feel like I'm in a giant room with walls of mirrors, reflecting myself back at me, as if saying, "well don't look at us, we don't have any answers for you." And every other minute a giant puff of smoke fills the room and makes me blind to everything, including myself.
Remember how at the beginning of the class I said I've never been able to remember a dream I've had? Well that was true, until now. I had a dream the other night, and it is a dream I know I've had before, but I remembered it into the next day, and wrote it down! It wasn't as clear, but I remembered to main parts. It went something like this: I am back all of a sudden playing soccer for my old high school coach and I am about to take a corner kick, or maybe a goal kick, I can't remember. Anyway, I take the three or four steps back, pause, and am about to run forward and strike the ball when all of a sudden I fall down on my back and cannot move. It is like my whole body is paralyzed, I can still move my eyes and think, but nothing of my body moves. I can feel the eyes staring at me, and I am embarrassed, confused, hurt; so many emotions run through me........I remember having this happen to me in dreams before, maybe that's why I remembered it this time. But why do I keep having this dream that results in me lying helpless? I've been trying to connect this dream to my life, and cannot figure it out. Is it because this is my deepest fear: to be helpless and unable to move, to be a bystander of my own life? I have no idea. Yet, maybe there is more to this dream, another room in my mind that I have just barely opened the door to. Or perhaps there are no answers, because to find an answer would be to kill the idea. If that is the case, I'm happy I have no answers.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
On the Question of Quality
When I sat down to write about the idea of "quality," I was at first stumped. What is quality? I could give you a dictionary definition, or better yet, the etymology of the word (it is Latin in origin, if you were wondering, originating from the word "qualis" ) but that probably wouldn't do you very much good. So I started wandering. After reading Pirsig's Wikipedia article, the one quote that stood out to me was "Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all things, as the objective idealists and materialists would say. The Quality which creates the world emerges as a relationship between man and his experience. He is a participant in the creation of all things. The measure of all things..." (Chapter 29 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). Then I looked at my notes from in class, and what I had written down was literally: Quality: the idea that we do not "see" it, but "experience" it. This is how I would like to look at quality:
I reflect back to when I was looking at colleges my junior year of high school. I was essentially examining the "quality" of the university. How did I do that? By looking at "qualities" such as what the student to professor ratio was, what kinds of opportunities there were for research as undergraduates, how did employers view the graduates from the program, what kind of scholarships did the school offer, how the program I was interested in ranked nationally, and the list went on. Before I even set foot onto the university campus, I'd judged the school for its "quality." But are these measurable "qualities" superficial or can they be used as a measurement to view "quality."
Now after attending the university for the past few years, my perception of how I view its "quality" has drastically changed. I do not mean to say the "qualities" listed above do not matter, but they are perhaps not the most important. They are what I would deem the surface of the matter, and we must dive deeper. I remember talking to many of my friends back home who were going to a "fancy" school out of state, and they made it sound like I was "settling" by going to Montana State University. Does a school have more "quality" because it has a big name like Northwestern?
I am a true believer in the phrase, "the experience is what you make of it." Like Brady said in his blog, you can't judge a math student for his quality of writing, so how can you? I would say we look at the quality of a student based on their influence on society as a whole. Now this is a broad and nebulous statement I know, but isn't that what its all about? When a graduating student applies for scholarships for graduate school, what do those scholarships generally look at? They look at how the student has influenced the society around them, and if the student has that potential for the future. Making a jump to the professors, we could say the same about them. When a professor is getting tenured, many universities look at how that professor is active in the community around them, i.e. how they influence the people around them. Based on this, their "quality" is judged from the experiences they've had and make themselves. I think this is what "quality" is all about: the experience. You don't "see" quality, but "experience" it.
I reflect back to when I was looking at colleges my junior year of high school. I was essentially examining the "quality" of the university. How did I do that? By looking at "qualities" such as what the student to professor ratio was, what kinds of opportunities there were for research as undergraduates, how did employers view the graduates from the program, what kind of scholarships did the school offer, how the program I was interested in ranked nationally, and the list went on. Before I even set foot onto the university campus, I'd judged the school for its "quality." But are these measurable "qualities" superficial or can they be used as a measurement to view "quality."
Now after attending the university for the past few years, my perception of how I view its "quality" has drastically changed. I do not mean to say the "qualities" listed above do not matter, but they are perhaps not the most important. They are what I would deem the surface of the matter, and we must dive deeper. I remember talking to many of my friends back home who were going to a "fancy" school out of state, and they made it sound like I was "settling" by going to Montana State University. Does a school have more "quality" because it has a big name like Northwestern?
I am a true believer in the phrase, "the experience is what you make of it." Like Brady said in his blog, you can't judge a math student for his quality of writing, so how can you? I would say we look at the quality of a student based on their influence on society as a whole. Now this is a broad and nebulous statement I know, but isn't that what its all about? When a graduating student applies for scholarships for graduate school, what do those scholarships generally look at? They look at how the student has influenced the society around them, and if the student has that potential for the future. Making a jump to the professors, we could say the same about them. When a professor is getting tenured, many universities look at how that professor is active in the community around them, i.e. how they influence the people around them. Based on this, their "quality" is judged from the experiences they've had and make themselves. I think this is what "quality" is all about: the experience. You don't "see" quality, but "experience" it.
Monday, September 23, 2013
How the Past Possesses the Present in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
What are humans constantly trying to do? Avoid temptation. Everyday, people make the choice to do one thing instead of another which is what they really want to do. Whether that choice was made due to an obligation, to pass a class, or to maybe live a healthier life, humans avoid temptation in their daily life. Some are better at it than others, but no one can hide from it completely. In the short story by Carol Oates, she puts temptation out on the table where everyone can see it, and understand how it possesses us.
Connie is a pretty fifteen year old girl who only cares about how other people see her. We all knew someone like this when we were that age; perhaps we were that person. From the very beginning, Oates sets up a character we can all relate to and understand. Then one day, Connie is confronted by a man named Arnold Friend, the epitome of temptation.
The notion of temptation can be traced back to several myths and stories throughout history. It is also central to many religions. In the story of Psyche and Eros, Psyche is convinced by her jealous sisters to give in to temptation and look upon the face of her husband and captor. Another tale, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, centralizes on this theme. When Orpheus has been granted his plea to Hades to return his loved one Eurydice back to him, the one condition Hades sets before him is disobeyed because Orpheus could not stand the temptation. In Rapunzel, the same theme arises. In the Bible, Jesus goes out into the desert and Satan tempts him. Over and over again, the notion that we cannot overcome the temptations laid before us is present. Carol Oates portrays this through her story, from the perspective of a young girl.
Not only does Oates' story centralize on our willingness to succumb to the temptations laid before us, but she focuses on the desire of love. The myth of a demon lover. Connie knows she should not be with this man, or much worse want to be with this man, but something inside her is curious, lustful almost. The story plays on the ancient myth of Demeter and Persephone, where a confrontation between love and death occurs. Connie is confronted by both love and death from Arnold Friend, as he confesses his love for her, but then comes on to Connie in a sexual, stalker-type way. Connie is horrified, yet the reader is perhaps more horrified when the end of the story comes. The end begs the question: are we supposed to just give into temptation? Or does that depend on the kind of temptation? Because love tempts us all, all we have to do is give in.
Connie is a pretty fifteen year old girl who only cares about how other people see her. We all knew someone like this when we were that age; perhaps we were that person. From the very beginning, Oates sets up a character we can all relate to and understand. Then one day, Connie is confronted by a man named Arnold Friend, the epitome of temptation.
The notion of temptation can be traced back to several myths and stories throughout history. It is also central to many religions. In the story of Psyche and Eros, Psyche is convinced by her jealous sisters to give in to temptation and look upon the face of her husband and captor. Another tale, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, centralizes on this theme. When Orpheus has been granted his plea to Hades to return his loved one Eurydice back to him, the one condition Hades sets before him is disobeyed because Orpheus could not stand the temptation. In Rapunzel, the same theme arises. In the Bible, Jesus goes out into the desert and Satan tempts him. Over and over again, the notion that we cannot overcome the temptations laid before us is present. Carol Oates portrays this through her story, from the perspective of a young girl.
Not only does Oates' story centralize on our willingness to succumb to the temptations laid before us, but she focuses on the desire of love. The myth of a demon lover. Connie knows she should not be with this man, or much worse want to be with this man, but something inside her is curious, lustful almost. The story plays on the ancient myth of Demeter and Persephone, where a confrontation between love and death occurs. Connie is confronted by both love and death from Arnold Friend, as he confesses his love for her, but then comes on to Connie in a sexual, stalker-type way. Connie is horrified, yet the reader is perhaps more horrified when the end of the story comes. The end begs the question: are we supposed to just give into temptation? Or does that depend on the kind of temptation? Because love tempts us all, all we have to do is give in.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
3 O'clock Class
3 O’clock Class
Desere dragged her feet along the curved pathway. She had no one to walk with as she made the journey from her 2 o’clock class to her 3 o’clock. Tuesday and Thursday were the days from hell—and for one reason only. The lecture hall she walked into sloped downward, with rows and rows of arched tables facing the projector screens. Massive black leather seats lined the arched tables, and they should have been inviting, but she couldn’t enjoy their splendid comfort. She chose a seat, third row from the back, eyes searching. Where was he?
Setting down her backpack, she began to pull her notebook and pencil out, not looking at what she was doing. The projector screen had the topic of lecture for the day: “Understanding the Brain”. She was starting to think he wasn’t there when suddenly a student that was standing sat down, and then she saw it. It drew her eyes to it, distracting her from everything else. She completely focused on the image in front of her. It was the epitome of ugly, yet strangely enchanting. This thing on the back of his neck haunted her. She wanted to look away, to concentrate on the words coming out of the professor’s mouth, but she could not stray her eyes from it.
As soon as the clock said 3:50, she left. Standing straight up, she walked up the three steps and out the door, not looking back. She was done with class for the day, and it was time to go home. Desere didn’t live far away, but even the twenty minute walk bore at her mind. Why did this thing bother her so much? She tried not to remember the image now burned in her mind but focus on the homework she had for the evening: constructing organic molecules out of little colored balls. At least she had something to distract her mind.
Desere tried to settle into her evening routine. She enjoyed knitting, and each night sat in front of her computer screen, watching Gray’s Anatomy and knitting the gold scarf she planned to give to her mother for Christmas. Knitting was monotonous and she enjoyed watching the characters in the show obsess over their relationships. How petty it seemed. After a while, she made a cup of chamomile tea to calm her before bed.
As she drifted into the unconscious, Desere tried not the think of the image that tugged at her mind. That night, she dreamt of him. She was sitting in class, just as she did earlier that day, and he stood up and turned to look at her. It was like she had walked from inside a dark theatre into the bright sunshine of midday. She was staring at the most beautiful human she had ever seen, and he was staring back at her. The expression on his face was one she had only ever seen when her father looked at her mother. An expression of complete and senseless love.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Connecting the Dots...
In class, I keep writing down phrases or ideas that are brought up in class that are mind altering for me. The world of the myth and "reading into literature" is just now being opened up to me, and I'm starting to make sense of what is being said in class. If you looked at my notes, I literally (and yes I do actually mean literally) have arrows drawn between phrases, connecting the thoughts and making my own realizations. I guess you could say I've finally packed my bags and am headed down that "track to everything." So bare with me, this is a pretty twisted track. Also forgive me if you've already come to these conclusions.
Like Brooke, I was (and arguably still am) having a lot of trouble "reading into literature." It's always seemed to me that when you "read into literature," you're supposed to find one particular meaning, and I never seem to arrive at the same conclusion everyone else does. For example, in Night Sea Journey, I would not have arrived at the conclusion that it was talking about sperm had not someone told me. And a part of me wished I hadn't known. Then I realized that if I just went off of my own interpretations all the time, I wouldn't have seen many of the allusions and references literature makes. I think I expect the literature to tell me something--almost like I'm waiting for something to pop out and hit me in the head. Then Dr. Sexson the other day in class said we are all "lazy readers," and I now know exactly what he means. How's that for something to admit: I'm a lazy reader. The question that remains for me is that when do you stop "reading into things"? When you have gone completely mad?
"All literature is displaced myth." (Frye)
"The stories of your culture makes you who you are." (Dr. Sexson)
Another realization I came to the other day, call it an "ah ha" moment, was why we keep re-telling the same stories. I kept wondering if it's all the same story, why do we keep reading different literature and inventing new literature? My answer: because we need these myths to be understood by the people around us so they may be carried on to the following generations. At the end of the day: our culture defines us, and our stories define our culture. So we preserve them in our literature, writing the myths in different ways each time, because the likelihood of at least one person understanding what you meant is high, and that's one more person that then knows the myth.
Like Brooke, I was (and arguably still am) having a lot of trouble "reading into literature." It's always seemed to me that when you "read into literature," you're supposed to find one particular meaning, and I never seem to arrive at the same conclusion everyone else does. For example, in Night Sea Journey, I would not have arrived at the conclusion that it was talking about sperm had not someone told me. And a part of me wished I hadn't known. Then I realized that if I just went off of my own interpretations all the time, I wouldn't have seen many of the allusions and references literature makes. I think I expect the literature to tell me something--almost like I'm waiting for something to pop out and hit me in the head. Then Dr. Sexson the other day in class said we are all "lazy readers," and I now know exactly what he means. How's that for something to admit: I'm a lazy reader. The question that remains for me is that when do you stop "reading into things"? When you have gone completely mad?
"All literature is displaced myth." (Frye)
"The stories of your culture makes you who you are." (Dr. Sexson)
Another realization I came to the other day, call it an "ah ha" moment, was why we keep re-telling the same stories. I kept wondering if it's all the same story, why do we keep reading different literature and inventing new literature? My answer: because we need these myths to be understood by the people around us so they may be carried on to the following generations. At the end of the day: our culture defines us, and our stories define our culture. So we preserve them in our literature, writing the myths in different ways each time, because the likelihood of at least one person understanding what you meant is high, and that's one more person that then knows the myth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)