NikitaMcClellan

A seocond Portfolio doesnt always mean a better one

2009-05-04T05:20:39Z

This is my second blogging portfolio. I feel that it is not quite as strong as the first. However, considering to course work load that I have with all of my classes, I feel that I managed my blogging to the best of my ability. I really feel that to the feedback on my blogs helped me to understand the novels and plays in a broader way. I did not only have my opinion to reflect back on, I have my peer's views as well. I believe their ideas have made all the difference.
Coverage
I did nearly all the blogs. I have one that is missing out of all that were assigned. I unfortunately do not remember enough now to go back and finish it. However, here is a list of the blogs that I do have.
Disease for emotion
Evil or just a threat?
Throw away everything you learned.
With out Manners
Will the real Roethke please stand up!
Child innocence
Primal Instincts
Cleansing?
Thank you for Confiding in me.
Choosing your own path
"Wacko" is your diagnoses
Art and Fruedian Sexual Ideals
Vein, Greed and "Perfection"
Timeliness

Most of the blogs that I did were on time. However, some were not. I have realized that I am a slow reader and sometimes I could not find something that I wanted to blog on until after the due date. These are the blogs that did get turned in on time.

Throw Away Everything You Learned

With out Manners

Will the real Roethke please stand up!
Child innocence
Primal Instincts
Cleansing?
"Wacko" is your diagnoses
Art and Fruedian Sexual Ideals
Vein, Greed and "Perfection"
Interaction
Interaction is lacking in my blogs for this portfolio. I unfortunately did not have as much time for the second half of this semester. However, I did find one blog that I did comment back to Carlos, but he never responded back.
"Wacko" is your diagnoses
Depth
As with the interaction, my in depth blogs are minimal. There is one that I feel that I took a great deal of time writing a thorough point of view about.
"Wacko" is your diagnoses
Discussion
I commented on many blogs throughout the second half of the semester. I feel that I honestly gave better comments than I did in the first half. Most of my earlier comments would mostly say "I agree". Later I began giving more in depth responses in hope of a reply back. Most did not reply back however. Here are the ones that I feel capture the best of my comments for the second half of this semester:
Aja Hannah: Mullments with Jesus
Matthew Henderson: Sex Isn't Sexy
`Jen Prex: The Blind Shall See
Other
I also wrote a blog about the interpretation project that we had to do on one of the works of literature we read this semester. In the blog I discuss how I and my partner, Jen Prex, came up with an interesting idea for the skin of our teeth . It discusses the equipment that we used and where to find the video on that we made on You Tube:

Tea Time with Mrs. Antrobus

Although my portfolio is missing one or two blogs, I feel that I did put my best effort into it with the time that I had. I enjoyed the blogging experience. It is something I probably would have never gotten into had it not been for American Literature. I actually own a live journal now which works a lot like these blogs, and I am looking into signing up for other blogging types of websites as well.
Over all, I enjoyed the class. It was hard work and it challenged me beyond belief, but in the end, that is always a good thing. It is an experience that I will never forget.
Back to class site.

Tea Time With Mrs. Antrobus

2009-05-04T01:05:18Z

For an Interpretation project, the class was supposed to choose one of the books, plays, or poems that we had read this semester and come up with a creative interpretation of it or add on to the story somehow. We could either work in groups or individually. I worked with Jen Prex on the project and we decided to use the play The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder.
In the play, Mammoth and Dinosaur come in to the house and Mrs. Antrobus says to them "Hm!... Will you be quite? They nod. Have you had your supper? They nod. Are you ready to come in? They nod. " The Mammoth and Dinosaur do not have much of a part other than that. We decided to make the Dinosaur and Mammoth come in covered in mud and track it through the house. Mrs. Antrobus becomes angry and tells them to leave the house. The children (Gladys and Henry), however, change Mrs. Antrobus' mind. The children love their two pets and cannot bare to see them go. Therefore, Mrs. Antrobus decides that as long as Mammoth and Dinosaur can learn proper etiquette, they can stay. She begins with lesson one: the proper way to have tea. Unfortunately, Dinosaur and Mammoth are unable to successfully learn how to have tea and Mrs. Antrobus tells them to leave and never return.

For this project, I did all of the art work and scanned it into my computer to put into a PowerPoint slide show. Jen did the music using a program called Finale. It is a program that allows you to place note on sheet music. You become a creator of an orginal piece that is copied down. It also allows you to play it back and make it into an mp3. We then had our friend Christine be Mrs. Antrobus and read the lines through a microphone that recorded onto my computer using a program called Audacity, a recording and editing software. It allowed us to put both Jen's music and Christine's voice together. We had to cut parts and slow down some of the music to allow Christine's timing to work with the music. When both tracks (Jen's music and Christine's voicing) were in sync, Audacity allows you to make it into a WAV or mp3 file. We then attached that file onto our PowerPoint. Using the rehearse feature, we synced the music with the slides. The end result was a creative story that is now on You Tube. I recorded my screen using a CamStudio 2.0 . This program allows you to make a video of anything that is going on directly on your computer. You canwe then upload it to You Tube or such websites.

Jen's Blog on our project.

Click HERE to watch the video.

Vein, Greed and "Perfection"

2009-04-22T00:13:54Z

"...I am convinced now apart from being fed, most human activity...has not other purpose than to deliver us into the realm of the imagination." Spoken by Henry in Resurrection Blues by Arthur Miller, Page 76.
I found this line interesting because it seems to set a bit of basis for the play. It is basically stated how vein and out of touch with reality the humans of this play are. Throughout the entire play, there seems to be a distinction made of those who are vein and greedy such as the General, and Skip. Money and power seem to dominate most of their decisions instead of morals. Emily seems to be torn both way and wants to try to be an individual but is often lead by others instead. Jeanine and Stanley are the followers of the god identity, "the good ones" if you will. However, that is ironic in Jeanine's condition since trying to commit suicide is something that is usually frowned upon. Henri is the only one in this story that tries to be on both sides at once. He wants everyone to come to terms and he really puts himself out there to do it. However, he is dealing with people who keep swaying one way and then the other. For Skip, as much as his morals disagree with the crucifixion, he wants the money and wants to try anything to keep it happening including convincing the entity (named Charley at that point) to go through with it. It is quite sickening that money would mean more than a life, but some people do come to such greed.
However, I was slightly confused at the end. I assumed that the entity did decide to leave and never return but I was not quite sure. What is your take on it?

Art and Fruedian Sexual Ideals

2009-04-17T03:46:23Z

"Suddenly we discover that sex doesn't have to look like sex..." How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster Page 136
I found this quote to be of interest because it does not only apply to literature. I also applies to art. Many artists in the early 1900's were very in Freud's Psychosexual view on dream and the unconscious thinking placed on images. Many paintings used different themes to resemble sex, but you would not know it was sexual at first glance. Instead you would only thing that it is portraying a dream, which it also may have been doing but Freud believed that dreams had to deal with sex. Actually, most things had to deal with sex when it came to Freud. Anyway, take for instance a paint that has a train coming through a fireplace (Yes, this painting actually exists but I cannot remember the artists name or the title of the work at this moment). Think of the sexual context. I just found it interesting that I could relate literature once again to my field of interest.

"Wacko" is your diagnoses

2009-04-17T01:55:03Z

"'After the performance she just gave what am I supposed to do? Henry can see for himself that she's wacko' he isn't stupid--'my voice is rising and Alicia opens her door and puts her finger to her lips.
'Your mother is 'wacko,' my father says sternly.
'Yeah, she is.' Alicia affirms, joining the fray."
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Page 186
At first, after reading this section, I was angry. I literally had to put the book down before I threw it. How could the daughter's of this woman be so insensitive to their mother's disorder? Manic- Depressive disorder, now called Bipolar Disorder does not make you a "wacko". Her mother would be considered ill. I could not believe that Clare and her sister Alicia felt like this about their mother. I thought that with all the money this family has, the mother should be getting help for her disorder. She should be going to therapy and possibly be prescribed medication to control the depression and the mania.
At that point it dawned on me that I was falling into a trap of think in the year 2009. I then realized that I needed to look at the situation in the perspective of the year 1991 which this part of the book takes place. Not much was known about manic- depression and there were very few options for medication and most were either ineffective for the side effects were so horrible. A person would basically be a zombie. The disorder still is not completely understood, but it has come a long way. Take for instance, if you look back to about the year 2003, the most that was understood in the way of treatment for manic- depression was the use of an anti-depressant and lithium (lithium also had that numb, zimbie like effect). Also, this the time that much research was going into finding other cures. About a year or so later, an experimental drug came around that was promising but not guaranteed and could be used in place of lithium. Now days, there are name medication that have been found to work, one being seizure medications such as Depakote.
Obviously as you can tell, I have looked into Bipolar a lot of the years. The reason is irrelevant but needless to say, it goes to show that sometimes, we just need to step back and think of the logic of what it being said in a book. Many times, it is the that you may be thinking in this time period and you need you think of it in that time period. Once I did this, I could actually accept that Clare and Alicia did not understand enough about the disorder and for that reason, in their eyes, their mother could very well seem 'wacko'.

Choosing your own path

2009-04-06T01:34:59Z

"...the most powerful obstacle to self-reliance is indeed our tendency to imagine ourselves beholden to our past statements and formulations, to imagine that we are simply what we once were, and that only." Eloquence and Invisible Man by Christopher Hanlon page 87.
This is like saying that you are just holding yourself back or that you are only limited to what you limit yourself to. Otherwise, the options are infinite. I found this interesting because I really didn't think about this in Invisible Man, but the narrator did only limit himself. He relied on others and what he was taught by them and then he did not progress into another direction until he had no choice. He stayed to blind to the actions of Dr. Bledsoe until he was made to read the letter and then he still did not want to accept it. Why? Because one: the person he looked up to would then seem like a fool and a fraud and two: Fear. Where would he go on now? He was not ready to take a new direction. He thought he had it all figured out and he wanted to stay in the ignorance of that one path. He had no choice to change that course because the one he thought he was on was already dead and gone. It is not always easy to accept a new direction on your own and this is precisely why so many take the narrator to a new path instead of him doing it for himself. But, in the end, he will not have a path that is right for him until he chooses the path that best suits his needs instead of what everyone wants from him. And that goes for any one real or a character. A personally chosen path is usually better.

Thank you for Confiding in me.

2009-04-06T01:15:26Z

"'And inside me I said yes; all that water and mud and rain said yes, and I took off.'" Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison page 378.
These words stuck out to me for the fact that it just shows so much emotion. I can sense the way it may have felt for Brother Tarp to experience this. It makes me picture him sinking into the mud and possibly falling a few times, but never giving up. He had such a strong will to be free; that is something that when one is broken down enough can possibly be lost. He instead tried his hardest and succeeded.
I also found it interesting that he had never brought the experience up to anyone else. He only tells the narrator. That takes a lot of trust to confide in someone, especially someone that one has only known for a short amount of time.
I cannot help but think that there is more to Brother Tarp telling his story. I am sure that it is a warning but about what I am not certain yet. As I finish read, maybe I will figure it out. Tell me your thoughts if you have any.

Cleansing?

2009-03-27T03:39:30Z

"And why does no rain fall through my recollections, sound through my memories, soak through the hard dry crust of the still so recent past?" Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Page 36.

I am impressed with the imagery of this book so far. Even though some of the scenes may not be something I particularly would want to picture, Ellison does do quite a good job portraying. I can picture every single detail so vividly.
I chose this quote however not only because of the imagery but because it seems so poetic to me. It is so emotional; it really makes you feel what the narrator is talking about.
To me, it seems that the narrator needs a bit of cleansing in his life. Could that be a possible reason for the mentioning of rain? His memories cannot come back to life for him and maybe a good cleansing would bring all that back for the narrator. Though at the same time, the memories that he does share thus far seem to be disturbing enough that many would not want to recall them at all. Does he possibly need cleansing to free his burdened mind? What do you think?

Primal Instincts

2009-03-23T14:48:59Z

"Western land barons relied on irrigation to accomplish the impossible and ignored or destroyed anyone or anything that interfered with their pursuit of that grail." Cassuto, David. "Turning wine into water: Water as privileged signifier in The Grapes of Wrath." Papers on Language & Literature. 29:1 (1993) 67-95. Page 85

This quote really put this article into perspective for me. The grail, being water, is all that the people wanted in The Grapes of Wrath. The drought was what made them have to move in the first place. It was all in search of water more than anything.

This quote made the idea interesting to me because it made me realize how barbaric people can act when faced with something that they all need. Humans by nature return to natural animal instincts when times are hard. As the quote said, they "destroyed anyone or anything that interfered" with the chance of claiming water rich land. Since resources were so scarce, it became every person for him or herself. Many lost the value of sharing and sticking together. Essentially, society unravels and becomes uncivilized.

Child innocence

2009-03-23T05:58:59Z

"Your clear eye is the one absolute beautiful thing." Sylvia Plath "Child" on page 216.
Plath gives me the idea that a child is so pure and she wants to give that child everything that is good. The only thing is, a lot of things in life are not so pure. The child as it stand at the moment is still pure its "clear eye" has not seem corruption. And that is what is beautiful to Plath.
She wants everything for this child it would seem to me but she will be unable to do everything. Unfortunately the child will grow and see both good and evil and the eye will no longer be clear. It will be filled with knowledge and no longer innocence.

Will the real Roethke please stand up!

2009-03-23T05:46:42Z

"Which I is I?" Theodore Roethke "In a Dark Time" on page 27.
With the history that is stated in the introduction to the section on Roethke, it leads me to believe that this poem was mentioning his disorder. Having had people in my life that were manic depressive and others with schizophrenia, I can understand this poem in a way. It seems to me that he is talking about be in and out of touch with reality. The line "Which I is I" makes me believe this the most. I have heard many times that when a person with a mental disorder goes in and out of episodes, they can feel like they do not know themselves anymore. It seems to me that Roethke could have very well felt this way and this poem was expressing that.

With out Manners

2009-03-23T05:20:50Z

I found it interesting how different manners are considered for today's society. I never gave this much thought until I read Elizabeth Bishop's poem titled "Manners" on page 48. To always speak to everyone you meet contradicts our idea of not talking to strangers. To "always offer everyone a ride" could get you killed. It is shocking to realize that society changes so quickly. As the poem says at the beginning "For a child of 1918"; the poem really does give you the insight of how it would be to learn manner as a young child of that time.
It is interesting to think that by the poems standards, we are rude and without manners.

Throw away everything you learned.

2009-03-19T03:31:33Z

"The rain is neither ironic nor not ironic; it's simply rain. That simple rain, however, is placed in a context where its conventional associations are upended." How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster chapter 26 page 239
When I first read this line, I was utterly shocked. I am used to Foster contradicting himself quite a bit but I had thought that he had completely gone nuts. How could everything that he had been trying to explain about symbols and signs all of a sudden be thrown out of the window?
As I kept reading the chapter, I began to find it interesting that the more irony there is in a story, the more Fosters whole entire book is basically useless. The fact that he even acknowledges the fact made it even better: "In other words, every chapter in this boo goes out the window when irony comes in the door. " I would have never thought of something like that. It almost makes me think that all the stuff that was previously learned was a joke to a point. If irony can wipe out of Fosters teachings, then what else can?

Evil or just a threat?

2009-03-15T03:42:35Z

Henry: "I'm not going to be a part of any peacetime of yours. I'm going a long way from here and make my own world that's fit for a man to live in. Where a man can be free, and have a chance, and do what he wants to do in his own way." The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. Page 110
Throughout this book it is obvious that references are made to a corrupt society as well as a society that is confined. Henry especially seems to feel this way as he shows in the quote above. He does not want to be any part of the life his father has set up. He does not feel free in the society and would rather move on and create his own way of life.
Though what I cannot understand why Henry is considered the Enemy. The only thing I can figure is that he threatens their way of life with the type of life he wants to live. Though is also known as Cain at the beginning of the play which makes me wonder if he is possibly just a very evil person.

Disease for emotion

2009-03-15T03:07:43Z

"Even knowing how disease is transmitted, we remain largely superstitious. And since illness is so much a part of life, so too is it a part of literature." How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. Page 215.
I found this particular quote very interesting because it seemed so true to me. Disease is the main tragedy that inflicts all humans daily lives but I never thought of exactly how much so until I read this. I began to think over some of the books I have read in my lifetime and it is quite true that many of them a death and disease somewhere in them.
Disease is something that is so relatable. Many people are lost every day to such unfortunate tragedies as cancer. Anyone who has ever lost someone close to any type of disease can tell you how much of an emotional experience it can be. Making a book with such a disease can make a book emotionally compelling for the reader. A reader can relate to the characters who lost the person that was close to them.