A Lil' Bit of Randomness

Valentine's Day

2007-02-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Valentines Day is a week from tomorrow. It's interesting to me to see hearts and chocolate and teddy bears and roses everywhere I go. Like one of the girls in R.S. laughed, for all you girls who are single, this is just a reminder! :) Yeah, it's a little bit true. But you know what? It's okay.
I figure I've got enough going on to keep me busy for at least another year and a half w/o a boyfriend. I have to make the disclaimer that I am not opposed though, just so I don't sound like I'm in denial. :)
Anyhow, the whole point of this is that Valentine's Day does not need to be Singles Awareness Day (although, parenthetically, if you live in the dorms, good luck w/ that one). Suggestion: buy a couple roses and take them to random people. Maybe that sounds corny, but really, it is such a great feeling. I think one of the best feelings comes when I forget about myself and my problems for a while, and try to focus on helping someone else have a good day.
So there's my Valentine's spiel. :)

One of those moments

2007-01-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

I totally had one of those moments today- you know, those illuminating moments where you realize that, unequivocally, you are an idiot? I hate those. Mostly because they come when other people are around to witness them. Sighing now. Anyways...

It's that time of year that I have already set my New Year's resolutions- now I'm to the point where I'm trying to actually keep them. Just a one of several: get 8 hours of sleep at least 4 nights a week. Yeah... It's definitely something I need though. For some reason when I'm at college it's so much harder to do. I read once that at college there's three things you can do- your homework, sleep, and have a social life- and that it's only possible to do two of those at a time. It's kind of true. For me, the first to go is usually sleep. But I'm working on balancing it all out. I'm just about to start my second semester as a junior, so we'll see if I get it figured out this round. :)

So yeah, this is kind of a pointless entry, but I'm gonna do some work on my blog, so maybe it'll turn out to be somewhat useful. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (a few days late)

The Creation w/o God

2006-11-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

When I was back in Eng. 212 (Biblical and Classical Lit.) one of my classmates posted this story. I liked it so I figured I'd post it in my blog since I'm redoing a lot of it, and the links to my fellow 212ers sites probably won't be up too much longer. I'll give you fair warning- it's pretty ridiculous. Here's the story of the creation w/o God:

Okay, now sit down now, boys and girls - it's story time! Shhhh.... Once upon a time, billions of years ago, there was nothing. Suddenly, magically, the nothing exploded into something. That something is called hydrogen. Can you say "hydrogen?" I knew you could.

This hydrogen eventually cooled down enough to condense into solid rock. It was magic rock. Inert and lifeless, but still magical. And then, magically, water formed in the sky above the rock. The waters rained on the rock for, oh, let's say billions of years. Some of the rock broke down into minerals, and these minerals washed into a pool of water.Then one day some of these minerals magically formed into a kind of goo in the pool of water. Can you say "goo?" I knew you could.

Well do you know what happened then? That's right! The goo magically became ALIVE. So anyway, this bit of magic goo magically found something to eat. Then, magically, it found another bit of magic goo to marry, and they had a whole bunch of magical little goos. Eventually - millions of years later - some of this goo grew up into all the plants and animals in the world around us. If it's alive, it came from that first bit of magic goo!

Well, more time went on. Finally some of this goo magically evolved - can you say "evolved?" I knew you could - some of this goo magically evolved upwards and upwards, growing ever more advanced, bigger, stronger, smarter, until it became a kind of magical hairless ape with thumbs. And do you know who those apes are? That's right! They're YOU and ME! We are the magic rock apes! And you know what else? Someday we'll evolve enough that we'll become the God we all know doesn't exist. Now take a nap.

Dirt Class

2006-11-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting in my room pondering the vast subject of dirt and colloids and pH and all that jazz because of a paper I need to write which is due at an unfortunately soon point in time. Not surprisingly, I'm having issues focusing and so I decided to recreate my blog. Which might switch over to MySpace pretty quick, just cause the whole point of having a blog is so that people read it, and if I stay here, the odds of that are probably somewhat reduced. So... yeah. We'll see what happens with that I guess.

Samson and Delilah displacement

2005-12-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

“It’s been going on for years,” Noah spoke dejectedly. “And it’s just gonna keep on going. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
His friend looked up from his steaming cup of black coffee and sighed. The old wooden chair creaked as he leaned back on it.
“It doesn’t matter that we can’t change it. All that matters is that we try. It’s our duty as enforcers of the law that we keep trying.”
Noah glanced back at him. “Yeah, well, all it seems like is we’re leaving our kids in a worse mess that we started with. The drug dealers are takin’ over this whole part of the town. No one wants to leave their houses. It’s a dang scary neighborhood.”
His friend’s reply came slowly, and with a slight smile, “Good thing we’re here, eh?” He paused as though something had just caught his attention. “Did you just say “our” kids?”
“Yeah,” Noah shrugged modestly, although he looked pleased.
“I thought your wife-”
Noah cut him off, “Guess the doctor was wrong. You’ll be the godfather, you know.”
His friend held up his mug in a mock toast. The ceramics clinked as they met. Both men took a long drink of coffee.
“So, when’s it due?”
“Few months.”
The café was silent for a moment, and then Noah’s friend spoke as he slid his chair back and stood up to leave, “Call me crazy, but I got a feeling this kid’ll change things. Catch ya on the other side.”
* * * * *
The doors to the field opened and, holding his helmet underneath his arm, Sam jogged out onto the perfectly painted, green field, followed by the rest of his team, the Warriors. They were greeted by the roar of the crowd and the blinding lights that shined down on them. As the team met in the center of the field before running through their warm up drills, he happened to look up and over at the sidelines, where the cheerleaders were performing their acrobatics. All it took was that one look to make up his mind.
As they came out of the locker room after the game he interrupted his friend, who was carrying on a monologue about the game.
“… the Lion’s were a lot better of a team than I figured they’d be- that was actually a good game- but we still beat them, and now we’re going to the playoffs. We should-”
“I’m going to date her.”
His friend looked blankly back at him.
“What?”
“I’m going to date her.”
“Who?”
“Del.”
“Del? As in cheerleader on the sidelines, drug dealer dad Del?”
“Yeah.”
His friend whistled out his air.
“You do remember your dad is a cop, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
“No reason. Just checking.”
They kept walking toward the parking lot with the rest of the football crowd. With the cover of the noise Sam looked sideways at his friend.
“You know there’s a party down at Phil’s house tonight? Everyone is supposed to be there.” The word everyone was heavily weighted.
His friend sighed. “Everyone, huh? Alright, let’s go.”
* * * * *
“Man, I don’t know how you do it. You just decide you’re gonna date her, and then you show up the next week dating her. How did you manage that one?”
Sam shrugged. “It just happened.” He looked around to make sure no one was listening. “It’s kind of weird though. I’ve only known her for a couple days, and she’s kind of got this obsession about how much I bench press.”
His friend laughed. “That’s weird? Dude, chicks dig that kind of stuff.”
Sam just looked at him. “Maybe… but she keeps asking me how I got that strong. Most people’d leave it at steroids, genetics, and hard work.”
“So she’s a little weird. She’s still hot. Give her a break.”
Sam shrugged noncommittally, “Maybe.”
As they split to go down different hallways, he looked at the ring on his right middle finger that he had had for as long as he could remember. He couldn’t remember where he had found it, but the strange part about it was that it had always fit him. It seemed to grow with him. Even stranger, he knew that if he lost it, his bench pressing record would be history.
* * * * *
“You still haven’t told me why you’re so strong,” Del complained as she gave him a hug at the end of the day.
“Why does it matter?” Sam raised his voice unintentionally in exasperation.
She looked irritated for a moment, and then with innocent sweetness spoke, “I just want to know.”
Sam mentally rolled his eyes. What can it hurt? She’ll either think I’m crazy or…. think I’m crazy… At least she’ll leave me alone about it.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Alright, fine. This is going to sound dumb, but…”
She leaned in eagerly.
“I think it’s the ring.”
Del looked taken aback. “The ring?”
Sam looked her in the eyes. “Yeah, the ring.”
She was quiet for a moment, and then, “Can I look at it.”
Not thinking, he pulled it off his finger and handed it to her. Almost immediately he could tell something was different. And he knew something was wrong. Looking around himself, he realized that on their walk home, he had removed his one source of protection in the worst part of their neighborhood. A myriad of expressions flew over Del’s face and she started backing away, still holding the ring.
“I’ve got it,” she spoke, with a tinge of triumph underscoring the words, and Sam was suddenly surrounded by people, who seemed to have come from nowhere.
Before he could make sense of what was happening, he forced to his knees and blindfolded. He could hear the telephone call made to his father to tell him that his son was now a hostage of the drug dealing ring he had been fighting for so long. The terms: give it up, or your son dies. Sam knew that in his father’s mind, there wouldn’t really be a choice. He would never make a decision that would result in the death of his son. For a moment, Sam almost smiled at the memory, but his thoughts continued to the realization that he would be held as a hostage for an indeterminable amount of time. Why would they let him go when they could control his father by holding Sam where he couldn’t be found.
When they arrived at the headquarters of the ring, Sam was led down the stairs and tied to a pillar in what he assumed was the basement since he was unable to see past the strip of cloth bound around his eyes. Before the door slammed shut, a voice taunted him, “How does it feel to be the downfall of your father?”
He put his head down and wept.
How long he stayed in this state, he did not know, except that it seemed like an eternity. He woke up from a state of despair, some time later though, and realized that, once again, the familiar feeling of the ring was back. He had no idea how it could have come to be there, and he never did find out, but all he thought about was that that his strength had returned. He slowly tested his muscles by flexing them and straining against the heavy chains they had bound him with- another mockery. And then, he did not know how, but he knew what to do. He strained against the chains, and the whole house came down.
He never knew, but it was during a meeting between all the leaders of the ring. He never knew, but his father remembered.

Group 3 Presentation notes

2005-12-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

K- first of all, I just have to say AMAZING job by all the other groups who we have seen so far. Props to ya all!

I have already typed the entire script for David vs. the people once, and my computer has already destroyed it once, so I'm just going to write a summary of David vs. the people and also for Judas vs. Jesus (I don't have the script for this one). If anyone actually wants the whole script for David, let me know and I will get it to you.

David vs. the people: David is on trial for the murder of Goliath. The defense claims that it was done in self defense, while the prosecution maintains that Goliath, although big, was really a kind and gentle man. The defense and prosecution both show reenactments (with sock puppets!) of the incident.

Prosecution's version

Defense's version

David is found to be guilty by the judge do to a verse out of Proverbs, and when asked what he thinks of the outcome, David's reply is, "Horrible, the judge was taking the Bible too literally!" Key word, literally :)

Judas vs. Jesus: Judas is on trial for slander. He declines representation and in the opening statements, Jesus' lawyer reminds everyone that he is representing the Son of God. A reenactment of the last supper (with sock puppets!) is shown.

Judas cites being overcome by Satan as his reasoning for betraying Jesus. While Jesus is on the witness stand, Judas becomes beligerant and has to be escorted out of the courtroom. The judge pronounces Judas guilty, again using a verse from Proverbs.

At the board again

2005-11-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

Seven stages of Bible: 1. creation 2. revolution 3. law 4. wisdom 5. proverbs 6. gospel 7. apocalypse
Old Testament: gospels, apocalypse, epistles
New Testament: about one personality
Kerygmatic- New Testament- evolution of prophesy
Mark- earliest, shortest, uses the word "immediately" 42 times, urgent
Paratectic- raises everything to the same level like with the use of the word "and"
Mark 13: When will the 2nd coming be, and what will the signs be?
--two types of answers: literal and realized
literal eschatology: the world will end
realized eschatology: the kingdom of God is right here, right now

On eschatology... I'd have to say that I've gotta go with the literal theory. I would kind of hope that is what will happen. All in all, I'd say that a lot of aspects of the world are getting progressively worse, and somehow I don't foresee much change in that. It'd probably be a good thing if we all got blown up (or to a lesser extent, saw the end of the world as we know it) before we create our own personal Hell that we would be forced to continue living in. How could that be the kingdom of God?

screed- an argument
Hebrew Bible- what haven't you done (i.e. thou shalt not kill)
New Testament- what have you done (love your enemies)
A gospel is not factual biography- it is kerygmatic testimonial
Mark 13- the little apocalypse
Apocalypse- to remove the veil- a destruction of the way of seeing of the order associated with two things

Happy Thanksgiving weekend

2005-11-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Saturday, and because of the storm, my parents decided to kick me out of the house a day early. Maybe it was a good thing- I just checked the road report, and apparently the road I live on is now closed. Hmm. Anyhow...

Parable- unfamiliar, uncanny, sacred, disrupted expectations, sacred
Expectations- seem familiar, ordinary, mundane
Hebrew Bible= Tanak- Torah (Law), Anavian (Prophets), Ketobim (Writings)
Canon- established sacred writings- canonized
Messiah- annointed
New Testament- 1. gospels (good news) - narrative, life of Jesus, sayings, meaning of Jesus- Luke/Acts 2. epistles - letters to a community - many by Paul 3. apocalypse (Revelation)
1. exclusive Yahwism - montheism 2. Social Justice
Mark (1st written), Matthew, Luke - synoptics
John - latest of the gospels; not synoptic because more spiritualized
Thomas - rediscovered 20th century/ placed anywhere from earliest to 4th century- mostly a collection of Jesus' sayings (reason for earlier view)
Esoteric- a secret saying- secret/ mysterious/ unnameable
Mashal- proverb

Bits and Pieces

2005-11-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

Displacement of myth - the predecent behind every action
Tragedians- what is the worst that can happen? (Shakespeare)
Deus ex machina- God fro the machine
Life is fleeting- basis of voodoo-> all is fleeting, nothing lasts
Turn to the day, enjoy your lot in life
Eschatology
Parable- an attack/ turning upside down of the structure of our expectation
We suffer so that poets/bards will have something to sing about
Hope
"You will never win me over with your honeyed words. I will resist you forever, you tyrant." Prometheus-- what doesn't kill me makes me stronger
Job 31- Job challenges God- Job 38- God answers- God tells Job that he was right and his friends weren't

Everything is futile?

2005-11-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

I can't say I agree with that. I'm a firm believer that everything has a point: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Every good thing that happens has a point, and every bad thing we suffer through has a point (and it's not, I repeat, NOT all because we deserved it). I've heard (and I believe!) that there are three reasons why bad things happen: first off because of the choices that someone else has made. No one can control that-why would you want to?! Individuals always have their agency, and that is such an important thing in life- it gives it meaning!!- henceforth dispelling some of this futility of existence problem. And a person can't blame the "futility" of one's own existence on another's actions either, since we can decide for ourselves how we act, either in response, or personal initiative. One of the best teachers I have ever had said something that has stuck with me ever since (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing it): "You can either act or be acted upon. It's your decision."
Second: because of choices you make. I should not be surprised or frustrated that there is something (I haven't decided what yet- right now it's more of a bush, but it is well on its way to tree status) LIVING on my counter if my roommates and I take the chili out of the fridge and leave it sitting on the counter for a few weeks. Scary? yes. Scarier-we left it over Thanksgiving break. Yuk. Suffer the consequences.

Third reason: we need to learn something. I've noticed that when a negative situation in my life consistently keeps happening, it is best to try and see what I could learn from the situation and go from there, because whatever it is will persist until I get it right. And then I guess I need to add a semi-fourth reason: because it is just a natural law and it is something that happens. I have a friend who recently had his wisdom teeth out and he was absolutely miserable for about a day. I'd say he suffered some pretty extreme pain, since he is anti-pill and refused to even fill his prescription of Vicadin. I guess that could fall into the second category of suffering because of a personal choice, BUT wisdom teeth are also a natural phenomenon. Pretty much everyone has them and has to deal with some degree of suffering incited by them just because it is natural to have them. It is just something that happens just because.
Since I've already gotten this far in, I guess I'll just keep going. I've already written my thoughts on Ecclesiastes: I've heard that at least part of it was written to show what the world would be like if it wasn't for Christ. Everything we do would be pointless. Because there would be no reason for us to be here other to exist for whatever time we are alloted, or else we would not have a chance of making it anywhere but Hell, since there would be no one to save us from our sins. Anyhow, random tangent aside, Ecclesiastes could possibly be saying that because of Christ, life is not futile? I've already said I don't believe life is futile. I believe it has a point, and I think it is a gift, and what we do with it is up to us as individuals.

from Calvin & Hobbes- Bill Wallace**sidenote- if you have never read Calvin & Hobbes... you need to : ) check it out at:
http://www.ucomics.com/calvinandhobbes/

Click on the comic for a clearer view of it

Types of Wisdom

2005-11-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Wisdom: 1. insightful understanding of what is true, right, or enduring; 2. native good judgement

Polonious wisdom is more common sense stuff (like Proverbs and the second definition), while Hamletian wisdom is speculative and not quite so concrete (think definition one and Ecclesiastes and Job). Hamletian wisdom makes you think a little bit more, and is more adaptable to the individual. Polonious wisdom is pretty set (not many people would argue that if you play with fire, you are gonna get burned sometime).

On another note, I would kind of like to argue that the book of Ecclesiastes is not pessimistic. I've heard that at least the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes was written to depict what the world would be like if Christ did not exist, and if that is the case, it is not pessimistic, it is realistic. Because we would then be stuck on a chunk of dirt floating around in space for no apparent reason, or else just automatically condemned to fire and brimstone for all eternity. Regardless of the meaning, I don't think it's a bad thing. Just a different perspective...

"We suffer into the truth"

2005-11-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

"dike" means justice
obscene- off stage, things that take place off stage
en-theos- possessed by the gods
pietho- translation/persuasion
polonian wisdom- Polonias from Hamlet- traditional-(Proverbs)- more obvious
Hamletian wisdom- speculative wisdom-(Ecclesiastes, Job)-less obvious, speculative
wisdom personofied by a female
theocracy- ruled by the gods
Doctrine of Retributive Justice- no one suffers who does not deserve it
hebel- fog, mist, breath
futile
do not confuse wisdom literature with Proverbs

Examples of proverbs used in my family:
-Monolithic biavicide- it's Latin- it means killing two birds with one stone
-To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.

"Wisdom" -electronic painting

Nothing in particular

2005-11-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

Matricide- killing your mother
tragedy- how do we deal with suffering?
Calasso's origin of tragedy is the "dance around goats" or the "dance of goats."
The function of Dionysus/wine: drive people out of their minds
chthonic- of or pertaining to the underworld
The Furies- the Greek spirits of retribution (blood crime)
Epiphany- sudden manifestation of the energy or power in a realm beyond your understanding
The Furies represent a personification of the psyce- thoughts of guilt
Metaphors of nets, yokes, chains, ropes
chthonic->underworld->maternal->witch->Medea->cunning->Hecate (Shakespeare)->the eye that men w/ in a patriarchy look at women and see the demonic
Euminides- the kindly ones- the Furies become the Euminides in the 3rd book of the Oresteia
Pg 171- Clynemestra: "What we did was destiny."

A couple notes

2005-11-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

Ethnocentrism
What is consistent through all four chapters (Mountain, Cave, Garden, Furnace?) -> Movement along the Axis Mundi, which is the center of the world
All of these things are metaphors of ascent (mountain, garden) or descent (cave, furnace)
Tragic literature- people better than they are
Comedies - people worse than they are
Drama comes from "dromenon" which means something that is done
Ritual -> Dionysus
3 tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
Hubris- arrogance
How do we put an end to the cycle of blood guilt and revenge as in the Oresteia?
"Clytemnestra Slaying Her Husband" by A. Russell

Here is a link to a painting of Orestes and the Furies:
http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/huma/oresteia.html

Oresteia Question

2005-11-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

This might be one of those "softball questions" that we keep talking about in class, but I am still a little bit confused as to why Aegisthus is even at home during the Trojan War... I don't know why, but I kind of had the idea that pretty much all the guys in that culture during that time went to off to war whenever there was a war... Let me know if there's something I'm missing.

Quick Thoughts

2005-11-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

K- this is going to be a short post, but since I recently got the internet I'm hoping my posts will be more regular (as opposed to twelve posts every couple weeks).
So, first of all:
"Sarke" means "no exit" That's a pretty intense word when you think about it.
Frye -> Hell is how you experience time.
So to answer the question posed way back on October 21 (how can it be the middle of November already?????) on a time when I experienced time as Hell... I had a couple few weeks in high school that are probably as close as anything else I can come up with. And I know Hell has to be a lot worse than high school could ever have been, so I'm working on not going there. High school was bad enough. Anyhow... there's my thought on eternally repeting time.

The reasonable and the rational

2005-10-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

"The voice of reason is often weak and ineffectual, however, because of the difference between the reasonable and rational."
Well, I looked up reasonable and rational in the dictionary, and they have basically the same definition. Even so, I think most people have a slightly different picture in their heads when they hear the two words. To me, the word reasonable reminds me of times when people have been trying to convince me of something, and all of their arguments are great, and completely REASONABLE, but I still don't really believe them. Sort of the, "Yeah... but..." syndrome. The word rational, on the other hand, reminds me of arguments that I have actually bought. As in, "Yeah, okay, that's RATIONAL. I'll accept that." In Frye it also says, "The reasonable is aware that every rational argument is a half truth, and that the other half should be included within a more tolerant and flexible compromise." I'll agree that the reasonable seems to be more specifically truth and facts, but I don't know if I can go for the rational being partial truth, unless it is taken to mean that the rational is not only made up of truth, but also of persuasion, emotion, and influencial outside factors. That would explain the need for tolerance and flexibility, because if the rational factors in more than just the plain facts, it would have to vary from person to person.
RATIONAL
REASONABLE

"...on the level of belief alone..."

2005-10-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

"...on the level of belief alone, it is not possible to distinguish what we believe from what we believe we believe; our actions alonge show what we really believe." That is so intense. I kind of want to skip over the whole believing we believe thing for the immediate moment, just because that has such huge potential to be one of those circular thought processes where I never really get anywhere and eventually my brain just crashes. But about our actions alone showing what we really believe: basically it all come down to the fact that you can say you believe something, and you can even believe you believe it (crud, I was trying to avoid that), but it doesn't mean ANYTHING unless you act on it. Or maybe it means nothing? Anyhow, now matter how much you tell others you believe, or how much you tell yourself you believe you believe, you can't really know for sure until you actually LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. Not really a hard concept in theory. Out of theory, it's a slightly different matter, just because outside of theory, there are other influences to consider. Which is why it is so hard to distinguish true believing from thinking you believe, etc. And I'm starting to see the circle, so I'll just stop there

Freedom of Speech vs. Tyranny of Words

2005-10-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, here's another Frye lightbulb. It's probably more on the level of one of those blinky Christmas lights than a regular lightbulb, but that's okay. At least it's there.
K~ in Frye it says "The cause of freedom is not quite hopeless as long as someone realizes that the voice of tyranny is misusing words, that is, lying." The ability to recognize the power of words to control, then to refuse to be controlled by the misuse of that power is so incredible, and so important. As human beings, we (or at least I!!!) am constantly in search of true freedom. Definitions of that particular word vary slightly from person to person, but in general, the same basic idea is applicable to most people. Most definitely no one wants to be completely controlled by something or someone, or especially by lies. Which brings up another thought/question. By lying, we sort of create and force ourselves into our own tyrannical system. But what is controlling us? Is it the lies? Or is it ultimately ourselves? Because, once we realize that we are slaves to our self-created lies, we then have the power to change our status from "under control" to "in control." And yet we don't always, and therefore remain "under control." So.... why? And under the control of what?

Power of words

2005-10-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

"The narrative becomes an argument, and argument is designed to exert a compulsive force on the reader, evoking such responses in both writer and reader as "I am forced to think,""I am compelled to accept," and the like"..."A question is thus raised which is implicit in the title of this book: the relation of words to power." (pg 9 of Frye) Words, if written/spoken/expressed in the right way ("The difference between the right word and the wrong word is that between lightening and a lightening bug." Mark Twain) have the power to cause us to change, or at least consider a change in the way we think. After all, Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin sparked the Civil War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom

Conspiracy theory ; )

2005-10-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Frye lightbulb pg 7: "The authority of open science is recognized in theory in both democratic and totalitarian societies, but both still try to controll openness in historical writing by hiding or destroying the relevant documents." We can have different beliefs, and therefore a different system of government than some, BUT no matter what type of government we have, we are still subject to what those who have knowledge are willing to share with us. No matter what system we are under, it is a fact that we are controlled by the information that others provide to us, regardless of whether or not it is true, partially true, or completely false (the media, anyone?).

The Last of the Notations

2005-10-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Sacrifice- "fic"= make, "sacri"= sacred
heirogamy- "gam"= marriage, "heir"=sacred
"To look into the light is the sweetest thing for a mortal; what lies beneath the earth is nothingness." - Iphigenia, pg. 109

Homeopathy
"Anima"- spirit, soul
Everything is myth displaced
"mimesis"- imitation
"lacunae"- a gap or hole in the text
The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye
sparagmos- ripping/tearing of live flesh
women=social term; female=biological term

So, some extra thoughts- I really like the phrase "the educated imagination." I was looking up some quotes from that book and found one that pretty much sums up the whole idea, for me at least: "There are two halves to literary experience…imagination gives us both a better and a worse world than the one we usually live with, and demands that we keep looking steadily at them both." Imagination and education are both so important to have TOGETHER. I'm pretty much a fan of the theory that neither is much use on its own. You have to have the imagination to see all of the amazing possibilities that there are, but along with that, you have to have an idea about how to accomplish those things.

Blog posts are the sticky notes of the internet world

2005-10-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

The story of the judgement of Paris: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgement_of_Paris
*there's a picture on this site that might be a little bit offensive to some

The muses are 9 sisters who are the Goddesses of all the arts- they are the daughters of Mnemosyne ("memory")

The "F" word is "fall" and the "T" word is "truth"

"leth"= truth
"lethia"= forget
"alethia"= unforget

First there was Eros ("love") and then Uranos (sky) and Gaia (earth) came to be. Uranos tried to stop his children from being born by pushing them back into the mother. Chronos tries to stop his children from overcoming him by eating them. Zeus eats the mother Metis (wisdom) to stop his children from overcoming him.

Prometheus- forethought, thinks before- was sympathetic to humans and stole fire from the gods; refused to tell Zeus who would overcome him and was punished by being bound to a rock and forever having an eagle come eat out his liver during the day, and having it grow back during the night

Random is such a good word

2005-10-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

archetype- repeated over, and over, and over, and over.... Usually a story and/or symbol that has influenced everything after to be modeled after it.
----fugitive archetype sometimes called Cain archetype

apocryphal: of questionable authorship or authenticity; erroneous or fictitious
Story of the Wandering Jew: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Jew

etiology: how a thing came to be the way it is

Jacob's name was changed to Israel when an angel wrestles with him-- There's that whole "literal"/symbolic/misprision thing again. How does one interpret that? It seems pretty likely to me that the angel could have just zapped him with a lightening bolt or something.

More notes and random thoughts

2005-10-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Biblical literalism (check it out- it's way interesting):
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1332
My favorite quote out of the article is: "Literalism pays a high price for the hope of having firm and unbreakable handles attached to reality. The result is to move in the opposite direction from religious symbolism, emptying symbols of their amplitude of meaning and power, reducing the cosmic dance to a calibrated discussion." So true!!

Composed vs. written- a composition implies a work of art (think music!), while writing is just words that happen to be there

misprision- hearing something wrong... (Mairzy dotes anyone?)

prolix- abundant

synonymous parallellism and antethetical parallellism (synonymous ex: Genesis 28:3 "... and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee...")

Random notes and thoughts

2005-10-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Being in conversation is being engaged
Being engaged is to be fully receptive and responsive
Talmud- engagings of scripture; commentaries on scriptures
Canonical- sanctioned as the official- the Bible
Literary literacy- the choice to read something of substance
Iconoclastic- the breaking of images; icono=images, clasm= break
Arabesque:

Metamorphosis- change of transfiguration

metemphsychosis- transmigration of souls ("psyche")- the way they change or go from one place to another

Hesiod- theogony- the birth of the Gods-- How do the Gods get born? To be "born" you have to be in the womb at some point in time

BCE- Before Common Era

Greeks central event= Trojan War vs. Hebrew central event= Exodus

Hebrew story: 1. Creation 2. Revolution (Exodus) 3. Law (Torah) 4. Wisdom (Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs) 5. Prophecy 6. Gospel ("good news") 7. Apocalypse ("the unveiling", Revelation)

Simon Shaina- He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind. -- Actions have consequences.

Back in the land of blogging

2005-10-15T12:34:00.001-07:00

Hey ya'll. After a LONG absence, I am finally back to the land of blogging! So... my first entry is going to be mainly notes, and then I will actually write something about Frye and all. So... notes!
9/9
repetetive parallelism- "Joseph was both handsome and good looking"
anthropocentrism and antheocentrism
paranomasia- word play
Mark Twain- "Puns are the lowest form of humor."
documentary hypothesis- pentateuc- 1st 5 books of the Bible

Question of the day: Are our lives a series of unconscious repetition? Historically, the answer would have to be yes, since history does repeat itself, and even for an individual the answer would probably lean towards the affirmative. So the next question: what happens when someone consciously upsets that pattern? Or tries? A great example of that would be Chronos/Uranus/Zeus trying to keep their offspring from overthrowing them. They come up with some pretty creative (if rather disgusting) methods of trying to prevent this. But just because they consciously try to disrupt the repetition, doesn't mean that it works. So what keeps pulling them back into the cycle?.....

Reading Frye

2005-09-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Still working on getting through Frye, but I swear I will have something besides class notes and assignments posted shortly!! : )

Notes 9/7

2005-09-07T17:19:00.000-07:00

9/7
1. Metaphor
2. Repetitive parallels
3. The four levels are:
---4) speculative/romantic/metaphorical/Kerygmatic- "pertaining to preaching, esp. as of the gospel (as opposed to charismatic, a "magnetic personality w/ the ability to attract")
---3) ideological/rhetorical- figures of speech
---2) conceptual
---1) descriptive- bare facts ( ex. NOT Northrop Frye)
4. Vico - understood origins of all human culture in poetry or metaphor-- "Everything is made up."
5. "Poesis" is Greek for "to make."
6. Everybody is a plagiarist
7. "Hieroglyphic" means "language of the Gods. Comes from "heir" (sacred) and "glyphic" (pictures). This made up the first age of language, and since we go from better to "worser" : ) the next age is the language of heroes, which is aristocratic/poetic (think Shakespeare). After this came the age of men and the language of economics (how we speak now). And then there is the chaos stage where all anyone speaks is gibberish ("... and he was like, 'whatever, dude.'")

Dates & assignments

2005-09-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

October 12 - quiz # 1
November 23 - quiz # 2
December 13 (Tuesday) - FINAL EXAM from 4:00-5:00 in AJM 222

group presentations are due towards the end of the semester

for the first quiz, have the first 4 chapters of Words of Power, the first 5 chapters of Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, and the intro to Freedman's Hidden Book in the Bible (The Book of J) read.

e-journals: try to get at least 12 "lightbulb" entries (insights, brilliant flashes of understanding, etc.) written down by the end of the year

Notes 9/2

2005-09-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

9/2
1. "Perfunctory" means doing only what is required. Perfunctory blog sites are probably not a great thing...
2. "Theodicy" is the actions of God that don't make sense to mankind. Made up of "theo" (God), and "dike" (justice)
3. We have inherited both secular (Greek, Roman) traditions, as well as religious (Christian, Jewish) traditions.
4. "Theocentric" means God-centered.
5. "Anthropomorphic" is the trait of having a tendency to assign human characteristics and motivation to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

Notes 8/31

2005-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

8/31
1. For every upside, there is also a downside. Henceforth :) beware of getting what you want-- every upside can also have a downside. But the good new is, bad things can be blessings in disguise.
2. Centripal vs. centrifugal reading. Centripal reading is the reader making sense out of the words (inside). Centrifugal reading is the reader bringing things outside of the text into play in the reading (outside). Centrifugal reading is partly why TEXTS INFLUENCE OTHER TEXTS.

Notes 8/29

2005-09-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

8/29
1. First thing to remember: repetition is a good thing!! Repetition occurs a LOT in the Bible, and is a great way to pound things into our heads : )
2. "Originary" means the first, and therefore the model for which every other subsequent thing is a copy
3. "In illo tempore" is Latin for "the beginning"
4. "Hyperborean" means from the north. i.e. the majority of our class.
5. The word "myth" comes from the Greek word "mythos" which translates to "story.
6. The Old Testament will always be referred to as the "Hebrew Bible" or "Hebrew Scriptures" as "Old Testament" implies that there is also a "New Testament," and not all religions believe this to be true.

Eng 212

2005-09-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

Just checking to see how this'll work. Updates to follow!!