Fundamental Authenticity

December 20th 2011

The lecture about fundamental authenticity was I could really relate too.  I choose this lecture because fundamental authenticity is something that affects me daily.  The concept of family loyalty is interminable.  My brothers and I have grown apart since we are all doing out own thing, but I love them in a way that is so different than how I love my boyfriend, or how I would a best friend.  And that goes on this notion of fundamental authenticity.  That is why Antigone buried her brother.  I know I would not be able to live with myself if I did not do the same for them. My family is definitely dysfunctional but I would not trade them for the world.  No matter how upset I get by them and what they choose to do, at the end of the day will pray they wake up from their illusions of reality.  I'll defend them like I will defend no one else. Even when I am talking to someone I am close with as soon as they even agree with what I am saying, I am ready to pounce.  Just like Antigone proved, fundamental authenticity is not something that is easily shaken.

Poetry

November 17th 2011

Poetry is meant to be listen too, not read 

I really enjoyed the lessons about poetry.  I love the poets ability to master language, and make sense to human emotions.  This is a talent that I truly envy. For as long as I can remember I have loved poetry.  I spent hours when I was younger searching blogs, reading quotes and poems just because symbolism and diction is so beautiful.  I also love music, and am one of those people who love a song just because of the lyrics.  That is why I loved the incorporation of "Loose Yourself" into the lesson.  I understood the meaning behind the song before I listened to it as a poem, but it did not impact me the same.  As a song it motivates me, but as a poem it brought chills to my back.  I  loved the poem "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Harden. It truly depicted the indifference we feel to our parents when we are young.  I know now I appreciate everything my parents do for me, but back then, it was never enough.

"Those Winter Sundays" is posted in my pages to the left

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

November 3rd, 2011  

     This lesson about beauty and perfection that was introduced on 11/03 was definitely one of my favorite.  I enjoyed this one so much because again it is something that we as human beings all struggle with, this desire to be perfect, or ideal.  But in reality it is impossible, and the quest to "ideal" is agonizing.  We are introduced to this premise of perfection basically out of the womb.  Why aren't there any chubby barbie dolls?  Also, I find perticularly ironic about this quest in terms of the opposite sex, is just how skewed our ideas of "ideal" really are., is when it comes to the opposite sex and our skewed visions of what they find more attractive.  In my intro to pyschology course at Albany my professor gave a lecture about a survey asking both men and women to pick certain body ratios that they find most appealing in the opposite sex.  Then they asked them to pick what ratios they thought the opposite sex perferred.  It turned out that they were both wrong.  The studies showed that men actually like women heavier then what women think.  And women like when men are not as muscular as men think they should be.  To me that says it all.  So who put these thoughts in our heads then?  Who decided what was beautiful?  Because it clearly was not a majority vote. 

             Another reason why I enjoyed this discussion is because this is something my mom always told me growing up.  She always told me that beauty was in the eye of the beholder and that is something I hold with me to this day.  And she always told me there was someone for everyone.  Personally I think the most beautiful things are not perfect.  Flaws make someone beautiful,  they make them unique.  We are always striving for perfection, it is part of our human condition.  To many people let it get the best of them, and that is when they loose themselves. 

Reflection

          I don't even know where to begin...I'll start with this, I absolutely adored this class.  I can honestly say I looked forward to 9:30 Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  Not only do I love literature, but the overall atmosphere in the class, generated from Professor Migano-Brady, was as involved as a high school class, but covered college material.  Because of this I had a driving force to become involved.  I knew from the first day of class that I never wanted to miss a class.  I did not want to feel left out.  I was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm to get involved.  Even some days I would go to class in a bad mood and leave feeling like I just won the lotto.  I always had an urge to get involved with the discussion.  I had so much to say about every topic we discussed, and truly could connect.  I definitely feel like I improved significantly from this class.
            From this class, not only do I feel connected to the literary community, but I also feel more connected to myself and the world around me.  That is because the works we covered all deployed the notion of "The Human Condition."  Although I have heard about a multitude of times before, I was never asked to interpert it like we were in class.   I also learned factual stuff, such as time periods, authors, and facts about certian works of literature. But most importantly  I aquired the skill to critical think.    I learned not only to memorize the facts of time periods, like you would in a history course, but how to connect the meaning in literature produced to the society around it at that time. This caused me to grow intellectually as a thinker but also a writer.
         Before I took this course, when I was writing a paper I always had writer block because I was constantly trying to sound smart.  Now, when I write a paper my thoughts flow through my brain like a melody.  I no longer find myself struggling for hours on how to start an introduction.  And when I reread my paper marked with a red "A" and "Brava!" I am amazed at how "smart" I actually sound.  I learned the importance of becoming an active reader, and actually understanding the vocabulary.  I also reopened my love of poetry, and music.  I realized that the reason I memorize song lyrics and interpert them involuntary is because I am a human being.  I get frustrated and almost insulted by people who don't feel the meaning of the words and claim to "only like music for the beat."  It is inhumane of them.  That is why I find this quote is so simple, yet so substancial.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."


          There is so much I am taking with me from English 102.  The life lessons portrayed through the literature I already use.   I'll always remember the significance of light, that everything looks better with the lights off, from "A Street Car Named Desire."  I'll always remember the fact that life is a stage, and everyone is trying to play off an image. And although I inevitably do the same, not to let it get the best of me.  Because even the strongest and most beautiful people in the world,  can be broken.  Just because someone is smiling and laughing on the outside,  doesn't mean they are not dying on the inside.  In five years I hope to take my understanding of myself, as well as the world around me and be a solider in order to find my place in the world.  In five years I see myself on the way to become a sucessful CPA, but this is merely a fantasy.

Manifesting Our Destiny Through Fantasy

We live in a fantasy world. As human beings we have no other choice but to. How would we be able survive if we all succumbed to our realties? Just like Dr Seuss said “Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.” If we didn’t repress our emotions of depression, neglect, or betrayal, how could we live with our selves? If we realize it or not, we all fantasize. There is no harm in fantasies. In fact they are an essential notion that marks as human beings. How else would there be competition in an aspect of life? The practice of “fantasizing” can be simple as thinking about what your having for dinner after work one day, or planning your college courses in order to major in the field of a career you can see yourself having. It is inevitable, but when it causes someone to become delusional it is not longer healthy.
Everyone is guilty of trying to portray a certain image. You can think you know someone your whole life, just to find out it was all a lie. Some people try to trick people into not seeing them for whom they really are, and create a mirage around their entire entity. In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams evoked the two major themes, Isolating darkness, and fantasy verse reality. Tennessee Williams utilizes the rhetorical devices motifs, symbolism, and characterization to deploy these themes.
In “A Streetcar Named Desire” Blanche represents this struggle with her own reality by repressing her past and trying to keep it that way by staying out of the light. The essence of light is its ability to expose the blatant truth. That is exactly why Blanche avoids it. Tennessee Williams uses the reoccurrence of Blanche’s reluctantly to be seen in the light to portray the theme of isolating darkness throughout the work. It is evident from the beginning when Blanche first arrives at Stella’s apartment in white dress misrepresenting innocent. After Stella compliments Blanche’s appearance she says, “Daylight never exposed so a total ruin,” (Williams 1170). Blanche is an insecure, apprehensive individual, who lives in a perpetual panic about her fading beauty.
The essence of bright light remains throughout the entire work as well as Blanche’s effort to swindle everyone around her. This is seen when Blanche is speaking with Stella about Mitch and says, “I want to deceive him enough to make him want me” (William 1203). This relates to the theme of isolating darkness because Blanche completely avoids going on dates with Mitch in the daytime or to a place that is well lit. The fact that she continuously lies about her age also demonstrates her efforts to deceive Mitch.
Unfortunately for Blanche her past could not stay in the dark forever. Stanley researched her past in Belle Reve and warns Mitch about Blanche’s deceitful nature, as well as her lurid, and promiscuous past. On that note, Mitch says to Blanche “I don’t think I ever seen you in the light. That’s a fact,” (Williams 1223). Blanche attempts to protect herself and says, “”I like it dark, and the dark is comforting to me,” (Williams 1223). It becomes clear that Blanche’s inability to tolerate light is a true indication of her lost grasp on reality.
That brings forth another theme throughout the play, the conflict of fantasy world, verses reality. Throughout the work Blanche is a representation of illusions. Like many of us Blanche creates an image for herself that she wants others to believe. But since she was in such denial, unfortunately, she even starts to believe it. Blanche believes that magic rather than reality is the way life ought to be. Blanche says to Mitch that, “I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth,” (Williams 1224). She refuses to accept the hand fate had dealt her. Blanche creates a protective shell to protect herself from her reality. But her reality is never far. She is reminded of her husband’s suicide the turning point of her life, by the dreadful Poka tune that plays every time she is on the verge of loosing it. To cleanse away the impurities Blanche spends hours soaking in the hot tub. Blanche says to Stella after a dispute with Stanley, “my nerves are in knots is the bathroom open,” (Williams 1185).
Polar opposite of Blanche is Stanley Kowalski. Stanley is practical, and a matter of tripe of guy. He represents the reality within the world. He does everything in his power to dissect Blanche’s fabrications down to the truth and expose her for who she really is. Her flakey nature is apparent to Stanley from the start. Stanley, as a pragmatist; refuses to play along with Blanche’s fantasy world. Blanche describes Stanley to Stella as, “like an animal. He has an animal’s habits. There’s even something subhuman about him,” (Williams 1198). Stanley and Blanche inevitably crash head on. The tension between the two is inescapable. Blanche’s fanatical rituals such as her bathing are not something Stanley tolerates. The sarcasm is evident in Stanley’s tone when he says to Stella, “temperature 100 on the nose and she soaks herself in a hot tub,” (Williams 1212). Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois represent the theme of reality verse illusion entirely.
Tennessee Williams developed the powerful themes of isolating darkness, and fantasy verse reality through the usage of rhetorical devices to vividly create such opposing characters. Like it or not but there is a little Blanche Dubois in every one of us. We are all guilty of wanting to be more appealing. Weather physically, or mentally, we are all trying to create an illusion that we wish was the truth. Rarely do you come across a person as disconnected from social standards as Stanley Kowalski. And think about it, really, who the hell was he to rain on her parade?

Never Let the Hand You Hold, Hold You Down

“It was we the people, not we the white male citizens; nor we the male citizens; but we the whole people, who formed the union…men, their rights and nothing more; women their rights and nothing less.” – Susan B. Anthony

Throughout history men assigned and defined women’s roles. Women were expected to be the caregivers for the family. They were expected to be religious, and pure, as well as dependents of their husband. In the twentieth century this prevailing view was introduced as the Cult of True Womanhood. Although women’s rights have come a long way since the 1900’s a lot of the virtues within this “cult” are still very prominent today. Women still make 80 cents to every dollar men make. Women are still the primary care givers of a family as well as being dependent on men. In the works of literature; The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemmingway and the song “I’m Just a Girl” by No doubt; the submissive, inferior role of women is prevalent from the ninetieth century to the twenty-first.
Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s story, “The Yellow Wall-paper” was published in 1892 as a motivation outlet for women during this era. In the late 1800’s early 1900’s the Domestic Ideology positioned American middle class woman in their homes as house wives, and care givers. But this began to change as the women’s rights movement progressed. Many people believe “Yellow Wall-paper” to be a narrative of Gillman’s own struggle with depression and “hysteria”.
Throughout “The Yellow Wall-paper” Gillman utilizes distinct diction, to vividly express the major theme of patriarchal oppression. It is evident that women were not taken seriously or even respected by their husbands in this era. To portray that, the narrator says, “John Laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage,” when speaking about her husband (Gillman 315). The woman in the story is completely dependent on her husband John. She does not have any authority to her own life. She “takes phosphates or phospites-whichever it is, and tonics and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until she gets well again,” (Gillman 316). Even though she disagrees with these ideas. Gilman uses the wallpaper as a motif as a representation of all women. On a personal level it represents a woman’s inner self, and her internal struggle to conform to societies norms. Gillman makes this connection clear when she shows Jennie’s fascination with the wallpaper as well. The narrator says “I caught Jennie with her hand on it once,” (Gillman 323). In the end of the story, as well as with Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s own struggle the woman is free and discovers herself, and taking part in the transition of “The New Woman.”
Women did gain some freedoms in the twentieth century, but still remained almost entirely dependent on men, and still were far from being considered equals. In Ernest Hemmingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” the control and authority of a man over a woman is demonstrated. Hemmingway utilizes characterization in order to portray this. Jig is seen as a very weak character, and cannot make any decisions for herself. She can not decide for herself what to drink, as seen on page 114, nor can she decide if she should keep the baby or not. It is also clear that Jig is very emotionally unstable, and insecure. She needs constant reminder from the man that if she does it he will “be happy and things will be like they were,” and he will still love her (Hemmingway 115).
On the other hand, the man in the story is clearly the dominant figure in the relationship. The woman is clearly trying to send him a message by references the hills to white elephants; an extended metaphor derived from Southeast Asia representing a gift of royalty, and strength, that is cumbersome and not worth it to maintain. The man is ignorant to her feelings about the subject, and constantly insists, “It is an awfully simple operation… It’s not really an operation at all,” (Hemmingway 115). The control the man has over Jig is also evident by how little she cares about herself in comparison to him. She says, “then I’ll do it. Because I don’t’ care about me,” this blatant remark truly illuminates the extremes she is willing to endure in order to please him (Hemmingway 116). Hemmingway’s work, “Hills Like White Elephants” exposes the inevitable control men have over women, and just how far women will go to please them.
Although a lot of progress has been made in regards to women rights, it is still a prevalent issue within society today. No Doubt’s hit single “Just a Girl” was written by Gwen Stefani in order to publicize her exasperation over female stereotypes. It aired in 1995 and became an instant hit. Gwen Stefani’s message is clear when she says “I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite, so don't let me have any rights.” Even though “I’m Just a Girl” came one hundred years after Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “Yellow Wall-paper” Gwen Stefani says “I’m just a girl living in captivity,” just like the woman in the story.
The three works, “The Yellow Wall-paper,” “Hills like White Elephants,” and “I’m Just a Girl” portrayed women are inferior and dependent on men. Although women rights have come a long way since 1800’s we can still see today that they have not come far enough. White males are still privileged; just take a look at our political system. And women are still earning less than men. We can only hope that one-day sex will not determine our fate.

"When Love is not madness, it is not love" - Pedro Calderon de la Barca

        As Percy Bysshe Shelley said, “Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.” Poets take human emotions and experience them to words that we can relate to. Through their poems they express the feelings that we so badly want to say, but cannot find the right words to. This is true for music as well. Music and poetry focus on the evocation of human emotion. Artists and poets connect the self to the world we live in. They are capable of this through their ability to master language, known as redirect. Surprisingly, many classical poems and contemporary songs, share common themes and tones. The fact that poets from hundred of years ago are speaking about the same concepts in current songs, truly demonstrates the persistent, uncontrollable feelings we posses as human beings. The poems “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare, and “A Ditty” by Sir Phillip Sidney, and the song “Crazy in love” by Eminem, all express similar tones and themes of the nature of the strength and nature of unconditional love.
      In the poem by William Shakespeare, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” the speaker uses a declarative tone in order to present the theme of the nature of love. The speaker’s serious, and factual tone is in order to define what true love actually is. The speaker truly underlines the theme when he or she says, “love is not love which alters when it alterations finds,” (Shakespeare 472). Meaning that the love you have for someone does not change just because something else changed. The speaker is saying that if you love is true, it will be eternal. That is because “it is an ever fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken, (Shakespeare 472). Meaning no matter what storm, or hardship that comes your way, if it is truly love, then it will still remain, because love is endless. The last two lines of the poem the speaker’s tone is facetious when he or she says, “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved,” (Shakespeare 472). This last statement truly saying that love does exist, because if it did not, that is like saying he never wrote and the poem “A Ditty” written over a hundred years later, shows William Shakespeare was never proven wrong and this phenomena known as love truly transcends time.
    The poem, “A Ditty” by Sir Phillip Sydney conveys the theme of mutual, bona fide love. The speaker uses a confident tone in order to describe the nature of their joint love. The speaker’s sureness of the genuine nature of their love is presented in the very first line, “my true love hath my heart and I have his,” (Sydney 1). Simply supporting the mutual quality of their love. When explaining the trade the speaker and his or her lover made, the speaker says, “There was never a better bargain driven,” (Sydney 4). This is really saying that there is nothing in the world that could compare to the certainty in having each other’s hearts. This consistent theme of this essence behind the notion of love is not only seen in poetry, but also in music, especially rap.
     Marshall Mather’s, otherwise known as Eminem is one of the most prolific, and poetic lyrists of his generation. In his song “Crazy in Love” Eminem uses a fanatical, and hypocritical tone in order to present the theme of love’s ability to seem seismic, but in reality is interminable. In the first verse of the song Eminem says, “Can't you see what you do to me baby? You make me crazy; you make me act like a maniac. I'm like a lunatic, you make me sick; you truly are the only one who can do this to me.” The significance of the last line in that verse is paramount. The person who this song is about is the only one who can make him act or feel that way because she is the only one he truly loves. And the overwhelming emotions that correspond to love, like jealousy, are to a whole other extreme. That is why the cliché “love makes us do crazy things” is so sound. In the second verse of the song Eminem uses metaphors such as “you’re the ink to my paper” in order to show that she is his “reason for being, the meaning of my existence.” Eminem also shows how love has the ability to build you up by saying “the only reason I am able to stay so stable is you’re the legs to my table,” but also it’s ability to break you down, “if you were to break I’d fall on my face.” The message in Marshall Mather’s song, “Crazy in Love” is yet another form of evidence supports Shakespeare’s claim about being proved wrong on the everlasting nature of love.
     Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German Playwright, poet, and novelist once said, “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” Poetry and music makes sense to the emotions we as human beings all share but can not put into words. There is a reason why when you’re feeling “high on life” you blast “I’m walking on Sunshine” as your driving down the highway. And when everything is wrong you sulk to the song “Look What You’ve Done” by Jet. Music is poetry put to rhythm. Yet most people think they do not like poetry because they read it like a book. And that is their mistake. Poetry is supposed to be heard, like music. This notion of poetry and music is evident, especially in the poems “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare, and “A Ditty” by Sir Phillip Sidney, and the song “Crazy in love” by Marshall Mathers. All of these pieces share similar themes of the nature of true, undying love.