My Last Blog

This class was the most eye opening experience I have ever had. This was my first class with Dr. Sexson and I have to say...it was incredible. I learned more this last semester than I have learned in any subsequent classes and I want to say thank you to Dr. Sexson and thank you to my classmates. My favorite books were The Following Story and The Four Quartets, which I intend to carry with me for the rest of my life. I could not possibly summarize this class in one blog but I will explain my paper, which was my summation of the class.

A girl's mother dies and she is blamed by her father for the tragedy. He locks her in her room because he can't stand the sight of her and she sits there through seasons, looking out the window. Finally, the pain becomes to great and she jumps from the window, ending her life. That is the forward. I was trying to capture the changing from one state to another, where the girl, as the rose petal has fallen from the rose, falls from her life. In the moments she is falling to the ground she flashes through everything that has happened in her life, but through the experiences of the rose petal. When her fall ends, she is then home, in a different sense of home. Since her room, her space has become her coffin, she jumps into a new beginning, and ends her old one. But since she falls at the feet of her mother or the rose and becomes the earth, she then begins again and the cycle renews.

This is a very sad story, obviously, and I certainly hope it is not depressing. I was simply trying to capture the themes of the class in the fashion of a story.

I would also like to compliment everyone on their final presentations. They were so dynamic and so entertaining. From dancing to singing to rapping, I think the past few days have been the most entertaining I have ever experienced in a class. I love how you poured your hearts into your work and I am really really glad I had the opportunity to see how your papers became what they were.

I am sad the class is over, but on the bright side Bible as Literature and Mythologies next semester!!! I am actually embarrassed by how excited I am for those classes but I have a feeling alot of you feel the same about classes with Sexson...or should I say Mr. Jones. =) And as a note that I think is wonderful and daunting at the same time, I have made an endless list of books I need to read. This class has made me realize what is out there for me to experience and I am ready to begin again and again and again and read every book on my list.

Group 5 Presentation

I thought your presentation was really interesting and I enjoyed the mingling of high brow and low brow material...and I also enjoyed watching some movie clips. After you explained it further, I understood the themes you were trying to capture much better and it made alot of sense in relation to the class.

Eternal Return

Your skit was very interesting. I have to admit, I wasn't a huge fan of the constant flatulence, but I understand the point you were trying to make. I am really glad you incorporated The Four Quartets, since it repeatedly covers the theme of the eternal return. Now, it's our turn. I hope we live up to the standard you have set for us...I guess we'll see on Monday!

Life as Fiction and Language

Your skit reminded me so much of the Alchemist. Especially the twelve-step program part. As a fellow blogger said before, Coehlo's novel reads just like a self-help manual, as did your skit. I thought you played your parts well and the idea of illusion was really prominent. Every one of your characters was under some illusion, sure that they were playing the leading roles of their lives. The self-help program seemed to me to represent the reading of the story, the eradication of the illusion, or the realization that what they were performing was, in fact, fiction.

Group Presentations!

Wow! I feel a little overwhelmed after watching The World as Myth and Dream and 20-Minute Lifetime groups. Their performances were phenomenal.

The first group to go, Myth and Dream, kept me laughing the whole time and portrayed their topic perfectly. Watching Biz and Jon trek across about thirty different slideshows of scenery was hysterical and thier dialogue switched between high-brow and low-brow, which was also cause for some entertainment. The ending, I thought, was perfect, very Tempestesque.

The second group's presentation was also awesome. The time and effort put into making that movie had to have been extensive, and it definitely showed. I tried to describe it to one of my friends and they didn't quite get my fascination, but I plan to acquire a copy and let her see it for herself. You guys really did set the bar and watching your film was a high point of my day.

Monster of the Sea April 11th

The excerpts, an interesting array of science and romanticism, focus on the idea that the whale is the "monster of the sea". This is understandable, if you ask me. I can't imagine sitting on a boat the size of a car (1987 Cadillac Brougham that is), holding nothing but a harpoon to bring about the demise of a mountainous being submerged beneath the waves. The feeling in that moment could be something near sublimity, but in my case, the terror may outrun the sublime (just as "reality outran apprehension"). I, personally, can't even imagine the immensity of such a creature, or, for that matter, the immensity of this text. The last quote in the excerpts hit a chord:

"Oh, the rare old Whale, mid storm and gale
In his ocean home will be
A giant in might, where might is right,
And King of the boundless sea."
Whale Song

This poem, in every aspect, reflects the intricacies of the novel Moby Dick. Capitalizing the word 'whale', first of all, sets it at the level of God, in which all his denominations require capitalization. Why not, then, capitalize the god of the sea? "Where might is right..." Could there be a better way to address the massive depths of the ocean. Although subtle, this suggestion says it all.

"But I have swam through libraries and sailed through oceans..."

These words, once again, encompass the entire novel. I am beginning to beleive that if I choose to blog on every instance where a line, phrase, paragraph, or chapter represents the novel as a whole, I will be blogging for all eternity. This novel is so involved with itself, it is almost astounding. Obsessively, I read every line looking for a vast meaning, which I yet have failed to find. It seems every word swims with suggestion. Libraries, oceans, words, waves, poems; they all flow, undulate, blow our minds and wash away our land-locked blues (Bright Eyes).

My fave bloggers

Sorry I'm late but I've struggled with this, since I hate to pick favorites. As far as a wealth of useful information goes, Rio and Sam have been infinitely helpful throughout the entire semester. I missed one class and listened to the entire recording of Rio's smart pen posting and read the notes from Sam's blog and I felt like I didn't miss a thing. Thank you much...

Apart from those blogs I found Shelby Seoule's to be beautifully written and she had some great insights. Rachel's was also a delight to read and I loved her posts about The Following Story. Christina, also, was awesome, with her illustrations...very artistic. Thomas's conistent blogging about his struggle with FW was also really helpful and comical at times.

Thesis

For my term paper, my subject is going to be "little did he know". I will focus mainly on The Four Quartets, The Following story and possibly FW, interweaving my paper into every theme of the class, in story form. My main character, name undecided, will immerse himself in the themes of the class while I simultaneously show what I have learned from Emergent Literature.