opps...

Sorry I forgot this...


"I attended Southeastern's production of The Imaginary Invalid and watched the entire play."

Imaginary Invalid

Imaginary Invalid was quite different than I expected. I really had no idea what is was about before I went, besides that it was a comedy. When the dancers came out before the play started I was confused by their make up, hair, and costumes. It reminded me of cirque de soleil.

In my opinion the first scene was confusing and seemed to drag on. Once more characters came in, it got better. I don't know if I missed something, or if I'm not thinking right, but the story didn't seem very in depth, or exciting. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone did a great job, but the script was a bit boring. The dancers were my favorite. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a background in dance and cheerleading, but they kept my attention the entire time. They did the most random, "stupid" things, but were so funny!! My favorite actor/actress was the maid. She played the part perfectly, was made me laugh a lot. I wondered if that is how she always talks, or if she was doing it for the play; if so, she was amazing.

Honestly, afterward a friend and I were talking, and she mentioned that it seemed as though the writer of the play might have been high while writing it. Later we found out that Nixon added his own style with all the "crazy stuff", and it made so much more sense. He did a great job! I think I would have had a hard time watching it if he didn't add stuff. Does he always put the plays together? It would be interesting to go watch other "versions" of this play. I would like to see the original, and then see what others have done with it.

Silence

I have not yet written about my experience at the cemetery, so I guess I will talk about that in this blog. I will say that I didn't expect much out of the trip. I thought it was weird and a waste of time. This experience again made me slow down and think things through. Reading the headstones was sad to me. It's sad to think about how busy life gets and how we don't take the time to slow down and enjoy the little things, when I'm looking at headstones of peoples whose lives were cut short.

We have done multiple activities that have caused me to "slow down" or to
re-read." They all had the same idea, but worked differently for me. My two favorite would be reading outside by the lake, and the cemetery. Both were outside and with nature, which I love, but the cemetery trip related to the story the better. It was so quiet there, everyone and everything was silent. One line stuck out to me relating to this and that was..."The night in silence under many a star." It made me think of how at night time when everyone is asleep and quiet, but yet there are so many noises outside (at least at my house there were, because I lived on a farm). There were multiple things and noises going on around me, but in that moment it was quiet, like when you enter the cemetery everything else is blocked out.

I don't know if that will make sense to anyone else, but it sure did to me. Reading this story each time I was able to get something else out of it. I realized new things, of thought of a line in a different light. Going to the cemetery still scares me a little bit, but it did help me out, and I’m glad I went.

I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this fieldtrip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes.

Lilacs...

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, was a very difficult piece for me to read. I had no clue what was going on. Whitman seemed to drag thing on. I prefer more of the straight to the point stories. I know that with poetry authors like to stretch things a bit, but not for nine lines! Readers, well at least with me, get bored when stories go on and on. These are the times I need help breaking down what the author is really trying to communicate. Maybe it will make more sense when I read it tomorrow at the cemetery, I don’t know.

Some lines that I enjoyed were, “Song of the bleeding throat, Death’s outlet song of life, (for well dear brother I know, if thou was not granted to sing thou would’st surely die.)” I am not quite certain what all that means, but I liked the way it was written. I also liked, “…with every leaf a miracle-and from this bush in the dooryard, with delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green, a sprig with its flower I break.” Again, I don’t think I really understand this, but I love nature, and this section contained ‘nature words.’

Overall, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d is very well written, and definitely advanced. I feel like I need notes at the bottom of the page describing what he’s talking about, the way some bibles do. I am a little nervous, but never the less anxious to finishing reading it tonight, and then again tomorrow. Graveyards creep me out, as I’m sure they do many people, but it will again give me time to slow down and really try my best to break it down by myself. I pray that God would open up my heart to this idea.

Painting

Okay, so to be honest I’m not much of a painter. I have always liked the thought of painting, and wish I could paint, but I’m just not artistic. So going into class on Wednesday, I was nervous, but I enjoyed it a lot. It again gave me time to sit and take apart the story. It made actually think about what was going on.

I picked out the part that said the fields turning green, and the trees baring fruit. I painted, the best I could, a green field and some trees with fruit on them. I also painted the sun, and clouds, and rain falling. I don’t know why, but I guess I figured in order to grow and turn green the fields and trees need sunshine and rain. It reminds me of the different things we need to grow, both physically and spiritually. So many people think that to get to heaven they just need to be ‘good’ and do ‘good’ things. They do not understand that we need to have a personal relationship with God. We cannot grow without seeking Him and His will for our lives.

It was interesting to hear what other people painted and why they chose that. We all get different meanings out of stories. Some people drew actual objects and some drew abstract paintings. I would have liked to hear form more people describing what they painted. I would like to do the painting thing again. I think it is a great way to get emotions going, and to draw more out of the reading. I would like to do it with a story that maybe I can relate to better. I may try to do this again on my own. I mean I do have all this painting supplies now Maybe if I need some down time or something.

The Wonders of Nature

Oh my goodness, I absolutely loved class on Monday. Besides the dead fish and the smells. I grew up on a farm outside of town, so we had fields, trees, and a huge yard all around. I love nature…walks outside, sitting in the grass under the sun or stars, and just playing. When I was younger, anytime I got upset I went out to our tree fort and just sat there thinking, and most of the time crying.

Re-reading parts of Joel outside did help me out a lot. For the most part, it gave me a break from the busyness of life to actually sit down and take in the story. To be honest, the first time I read it I was in the middle of getting ready for class. I usually don’t wait till last minute, but I’ve had a lot going on. I was able to think more about what was going on and what Joel was about.

The second time around, I noticed more phrases having to do with nature such as, “For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.” At first I thought we were reading outside for a different atmosphere and it seemed more “poetic??”, but then I realized that it had much more meaning than that. Joel mentions nature multiple times.

I was very nervous after the first day of class when we were told of everything “different” we would be doing. I knew it was going to stretch me, but so far I really enjoy the different approaches to literature. This class is not like any other boring literature class. I am learning to take out pieces of a story and figure out meanings, instead of just skimming over the book or story.

Themes in Literature

Chapter 3 was about the different themes literature can have, and how they work or what they mean. Themes are ideas that communicate meanings. There can be different ways to read a text. I believe everyone views a story differently, and will take different things away from it. Depending what experiences we have been through. I liked what someone said in class about trying to figure out what the author wants the reader to get out of the story, or what they want a reader to feel. In my opinion, a great author is one who tries to pull different emotions out of their readers. The books or stories I like to read are ones that I can relate to. I do however understand that an author cannot try to relate to everyone in one book.

I especially liked reading the different stories of Little Red Riding Hood. I have always known the story, but I do not remember the last time I read the story. The Girl and the Wolf was a little bit funny. It did not contain as much detail; it just got right to the point. Some stories need the detail though. Like when Professor Corrigan told the two stories in class, the second one was much more interesting. It brought out more emotion and made us want to continue listening. Now The Wild Man of the Green Swamp was harder for me to read. I felt as if it may have had too much detail. It was confusing to me. I did not really understand the point of it. I started reading 90 Minutes in Heaven, and I feel it also does this. The author tends to repeat himself a lot. I hate reading the same ideas over and over again. But I guess it all has to do with what the author wants the reader to get out of the story.

Love Shack...built of cards

A Grief Observed was a heavy reading, but I enjoyed it, if that's possible. In many ways I was able to relate or see where he was coming from. I have never had someone close to be pass away, but I have been through bad break ups, or loss of friendship.
Yesterday in class I found it very interesting that we build card houses, well tried to. It helped me understand better what he was saying. I have hear the phrase "a house of cards" before, but I had never really stopped to think about it. I liked where Lewis says," if my house was a house of cards, the sooner it was knocked down the better." There are many ways to take this, but the way I see it is that while we were trying to build that house with cards we were so nervous. The cards would shake and we would have to be so careful around them. It's like we were afraid to do anything. We were always worried the next move would send it crashing down. Why would you want a love, house, or family built like that. It's like you would never be able to move forward, because you would be too afraid to mess things up. We were meant to have solid foundations.
I like being able to brings topics out of the story and do an activity with them to help better understand what the author is saying. I am not much of a DEEP thinker. I like things clear cut and all out in the open. In my opinion if you are going to say something just put it all out there, but if literature were that way if would probably be more boring. So, this activity really helped me out, and I definitely enjoyed it.