class rock

i have had the class rock for a day now. When i first held this rock months ago, when it was found outside and was handed around class, i noticed that it smells. Our class rock smells of dirt. Thick, gritty and ugly dirt. When i smell this rock and put it close to my nose i can smell the dirt but i can also taste the grit and the bugs that once crawled around in the dirt that also covered this strange rock. The rock is translucent, almost, and has opalescent coloring deep inside. It glimmers and shimmers and has three distinct layers. The base being dark grey, translucent and with flecks of orange in the bottom. The second layer is while. Opaque white with bits of dust and dirt embedded in the rock slits. The top layer is clear and shiny with the colors of the rainbow like a prism. This rock is cool, it has so many shards and pieces that seem like they do not fit together but are somehow perfectly in place. I hope that everyone else enjoys this rock and can see how wonderful it is too.

essay on Ovid

I have not been so wholly taken by one piece of work as I have been for the past few days reading and re-reading An Imaginary life by David Malouf. The child, who is the child? Is he real, is he a dream that Ovid has created in his desperation of exile. Each moment for Ovid is new and can teach him a lesson; capturing the child, becoming the child. Has Ovid become the child and regressed to his youth in insanity? Or is he alive and well, living in the wanders of the abyss with a little boy who has not yet reached his man hood, his peak of life. The ending is so simple, along with the beginning. Each is beautiful and full of light and lovely language. The child is all consuming for Ovid, he is friends with the child, tries to teach him about life and finally he is learning from the child. The transformation for Ovid himself was in his journey with his child. It was in his growth and in his own mental and physical transformations that were similar to the Tales From Ovid. This book was a personal journey that is relatable to our own lives today in the relationships of the family and tribal members. The story behind this book is fanciful and plays with the idea of imagination and connecting with nature, which is a theme that is present still today. But it was so much more and holds so many more lessons about life and learning that are like nothing I have read before.

For me, this book has touched different heart strings which have already been plucked through the duration of this class. While reading the Trojan Women by Euripides the queen of Troy has to put her grandson in his grave. Make him at home in his father’s shield; his last resting place now that Troy has fallen to Achilles and the Greek Kings. In An Imaginary Life, the old woman must also watch her grandson and care for him because he is on the verge of dying. However, he does not die and becomes well in the end it is her son that dies. The old woman is forced to bury her son and watch him die before her; being possessed by an animal spirit. Why is it that watching a child die before their time and before their parents is one of the hardest losses of human life? Life, it means to live with one’s self and the generations before and after, or so my grandmother tells me. But when I asked her what would cause her the most pain in this world she told me that loosing her daughter would be the hardest test of her life. To have to bury her body and watch her life end before hers is close to being over. That would be the hardest for any mother to endure. But I wonder if the pain of a mother losing a child is the same for a father? Is the suffering of men the same suffering of women?

class 3/23/09

I may not be able to say when my last pet died because i have yet to loose any pets beyond my little sister's gold fish which she continuously fed cheese. But my great grandma Ruby died recently. She was 94 years old and was living up in an assisted living home in Gladstone, Mi. She is tall, five feet and nine inches with a curly grey wig and a great smile. Ruby was the nicest and softest woman i have ever known. I remember going to Michigan each summer since i was about 5 and playing cards in her garage while my uncles drank miller lights and ate venicin jerky. those are the best memories from my child hood. As i have gotten older she had a little more trouble walking, reaching for things in the cubbord and a couple years ago my Grandpa Don put her into the assisted living home. Now she would just play cards there durring the week with friends and does puzzles when she is alone. I never thought she would leave. I couldn't make it to her funeral and I am glad that i did not go but i wish that i could've seen her again before she died. I did not know her that well but I know that i want to and i miss her. I have not creid yet but i know that when i have to go to Michigan this fourth of july and see my family there without her it will be hard not to miss her and want her there. Life is not fun all the time and i wish that all was happy and all was lasting.

class 3-10-09

I just finished the Trojan Women by Euripides. The beginning, where Poseidon and Athena are discussing the fate of the Greeks after they have destroyed Troy and desecrated the temple of Athena was amazing. But when I saw the pain and passion behind Hecuba and Andromache my heart ached. To have to loose your husband, sons, daughters and grandsons. That is a person's worst night mare and the worst pain for a parent and wife. I am sad that movies today and the stories have made the fall of Troy seem so epic and wonderful for the Greeks. And i am sure it was a great triumph and victory after 10 years, but to not see your enemy as human is the greatest error of human kind. To think that simply because an enemy is set up against you makes them less than deserving of respect and dignity is a true crime. I do not envy any of the Trojan women or the Greek women who have all suffered and lost loved one. But i am proud that Agamemnon will be recieving punishment for killing his daughter. A mother's rage is nothing to be compared to or dealt with.

class 3/6/09

When Jenny Lynn did her presentation of the ending of Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce I was blown away. the words were like music, full of emotions, passion and longing. It was overwhelming to feel the ending of a life and the beginning of a new one in the cyclical style of the book. I was stunned at how beautifully it was delivered and with such heart. I do wish however that Jenny could have danced, but i know that she tore her ACL earlier this year. I bet the interpretive dance that accompanies the speech would be amazing. The idea of remembering people that have passed is so prominent and important to the oral tradition and culture. before we had digital pictures, movies and books of tape people had to remember their favorite stories, they had to remember what their friends looked like in their youth to keep their memories alive. when someone dies it is important to remember them and i wish that our culture still believed in story telling, in more than the use for gossip. i wish we still recited epic adventures and poems, remembering every detail. I do love the idea of a Tally. to keep a friend close to your memory with a coin that you keep for 50 years! that is great. that would be a great story, to write the life of one of those coins and the hands that hey pass to over geneations and ages.

class 3-8-09

I think that after looking at my own movies, jokes that my friends tell and the t.v. i watch, my generation's style of comedy is more like oldcomedy than new comedy. Yes, there are cute, teen, movies that boys chasing girls they cannot have till the end but most of the t.v. shows like South Park, Comedy Central, Family Guy and several others are based on crude, vulgar humor. Movies especially are now old comedy styled. American Pie, Superbad, Knocked Up and others are defenitely vulgar, and full of sexual inuendoes. Personally, i like a little of both. I like that vular, cheap humor but i also like happy endings where the guys gets the nice girl and they live happily ever after. Forgetting Sara Marshall, Nick and Nora's infinate playlist and Driving Lessons are a couple examples. However, i do think that fantasy movies are making a huge come back for my generation. Happy Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia and Twilight are a few popular choices. I do wish that classics would make a bigger impact on my generation and the generations to come. Movies like Breakfast at Tiffanys, Tale of Two Cities, Pilgrim's Progress, Sabrina and so many others.

class 3/5/09

so, about having a bad day....well i just had mine today. it was not the worst day of my life but it sure was the worst for my self asteem. i am an RA on campus and we have to have at least 80% of our resididents fill out this on line survey of how we are doing as an RA each semester. i have a full floor of 55 residents and as of today i still need 22 people to fill it out. if i do not reach 80% by noon tomorrow i will be put on probation! awesome news. so i was thinking about that when my boyfriend came over. we were hanging out and having fun just watching t.v. and talk. well, then he started to check facebook and needless to say that led to a large arguement! great, we argued about my jelousy issues, my drama issues, and my inconsiderateness towards his needs with his friends. basically i was told that i am a terrible girlfriend even though yesterday was our anniversay. after a long "cool off period" i.e. i made him leave my room and did not call him for hours. when we finally did talk he again told me how horrible i am but how sorry he is for telling me that. then he said that it was all his accusations were lies and that he has changed his mind. i am great and he did not mean any of it. well, isn't that great. which is it? am i great or the devil reincarnate? i feel like Hermes after he has been accused of causing tons of trouble for Apollo and Zeus but at least he has an excuse..." i was born yesterday"