The Play

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

And I loved it!

I thought the actors did well, especially knowing what some of their personalities are like off the stage. I loved how they had the dancers come out and interact with the audience.
The set really surprised me; even though I had seen it was a house from chapel, I did not know it opened up like it did.

I went to the Thursday night showing for students, and I was a little surprised at how few people there were. It wasn’t empty, but I would have thought a lot more students would have wanted to come out than did.

Whenever I watch a movie or play or read a book, I always try to pick one character that I feel I relate the most to (I think this is pretty common for a lot of people), but in this play it was a little difficult. Mostly because I found that each of the characters were like me (or me like them; however you want to put it) but none of them was really what you call an “exact fit,” which I suppose is also pretty common.

When you look at the conclusion of the play, it really isn’t a conclusion. I didn’t think the problems were really solved. I mean, the dad became a doctor so he could take care of his “ailments” and the older daughter was able to be with the one she wanted, but it just didn’t seem like the right ending. If it was to have a healthy ending then the dad would have come to the conclusion that he wasn’t really sick and the step-mom could have sent the daughter to a convent where she would then proceed to escape somehow. Maybe the step-mom would have had something from her past come back to haunt her and she would be out of the picture anyway.
I am sure there are a million ways to end the story, and I am sure they are much better than the scenario I described above. I still thought the play was great, I just wish it had a different ending.

The Tower of Babel

In class one of the things we talked about was the fact that Wikipedia was an essential part to our society. I think this is very true. It is interesting how a society that has so many conflicts and differences can come together to create such a massive collection of knowledge. It is such a powerful tool that it has even been blocked in some countries. I think this just goes to show how much the people could do if they work together. Not that we didn’t know this already…

I think this is just a small step toward uniting everybody in one united community instead of this society we live in now. We worry about world poverty and hunger and homelessness and disease, but I think the truth is if we were all as worried about it as we say we are then there would be no problem. These things would not be an issue. So what is holding us back?

I have heard it estimated that the 25-30% of Earth’s population is Christian. Even if this estimate is a little off, shouldn’t that alone make a huge difference? My question is what are we doing with our life, our time, our money? Are we using it to further the Kingdom or our own intentions? If we can all rally together and hold each other accountable for keeping a website right and proper I think we can help a hurting nation. What if Wikipedia had been a site for helping feed the hungry? Can’t we still do that? We could use these major websites like Yahoo and Google and Wikipedia and promote even one worthy cause. The problem is even if we do this, ultimately it is up to each individual to contribute.

My goal isn’t to condemn, maybe convict a little, but isn’t that our job as Christians? Shouldn’t we hold each other accountable?

Could it be that Wikipedia is the Tower of Babel for today? Maybe it doesn’t blatantly defy God, but if it isn’t promoting His agenda, then maybe that is just as bad. Could it be?

There is no doubt it is a good resource, but maybe it could be better. Maybe it could be a resource of life.

blogging

In what ways can you see connections between the instructions for the blogging project and the activities we've done in class and, more importantly, the ideas about reading that we've discussed in class?
 I think it seems fairly obvious that the blogging project is matching what we are doing in the classroom: connecting with the reading on a deeper level.  All of the instructions for things on class have asked us to look at readings in ways we may not in other classes (e.g. is the onion a person?).  The blogs also ask us to look at readings and other activities in a new light. 

In class we are asked to work in small groups so we can better help each other learn.  After class, we comment on our classmates' blogs in order to provide either constructive criticism, statements of agreement, or even simply disagreement. 

In what ways does blogging extend the reading process? And, how well have you been able to make this work for you?
 Blogging extends the reading process considerably.  We aren't just reading something to get it done and over with, instead we are reading it, discussing it in class, then letting it linger in our minds to put in a blog after class.  Even more than: we are looking at other people's thoughts and connecting to them with our comments. 
I think my favorite thing is that it isn't formal.  So in a way we are writing a paper, but better.  Because it isn't formal I think students, at least for me personally, find it easier to express themselves because they aren't restricted to one format and that leads to them putting more effort into the assignment.  We can write poetry, a short story, record a dramatic reading, or even make a painting.  Really, any way that will accurately convey our understanding of the poem and what we have to say about it seems to be acceptable. 

Although I haven't really implemented any of the other ways of blogging, I certainly intend to in the future.  I have found that doing my blog the night before class instead of the night after class gets me ready with what we will be discussing in the morning.  The blog keeps my brain thinking about the piece we are studying throughout the week which makes it easier to remember the topics (being a college student is a busy occupation sometimes). 

I love having such an unorthodox way of demonstrating knowledge and participation in a class, I really think it is a much more effective method. 

cemetery visit

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

 

  

 

Joel Painting

 

"Indeed the rejoicing dries up from the sons of men"

Like a drought across the land, if the rejoicing if life dries up then there really isn't much life to be found.  You can see the evidence all around, you don't need to tell somebody you have no joy or peace in your life.  Rejoicing comes from the word joy.  We only get true joy from the Lord, so we need Him in our lives our we are essentially dead, at least spiritually. 

pass

Theme Parks

The United States is littered with theme parks; basically every single state has one. Most people have visited at least one in their lifetime. Some of these places might include Disney Land/World, Hersheypark, Dollywood, Universal Studios, and Seaworld. These places all have a lot of rides and attractions, and each of these things does their own thing within the park. Altogether though, the rides give the park a theme.

This applies to literature, too. In a work, there may be several subplots, but altogether they add up to what the story is about. Maybe it is a general, vague theme, but sometimes it is a very specific theme.

Literature is often a reflection of what happens in “real-life” so it makes sense that it would apply to us as well. We go through tragedies, sometimes there is comic relief, and sometimes there is just a plateau. Sometimes death can even play a theme in our life.

The Book of Joel

We are told such a beautiful story that shows God's love for his people. At first we see that God's people turn away, but once they start to see there are consequences for their actions then they turn away from these behaviors. God sees their hearts have truly changed, so He changes his mind about destroying them, and instead dwells with them forever.

We all have come from a place in our lives that was not acceptable in God's eyes. It could be something as major as drug addiction or murder, or even as simple as having that extra slice of pizza or sleeping past noon. Nobody is born a Christian, but God still loves us so much. We need to stop and recognize the things in our life that are destroying us, the things that are keeping us from getting even just a little bit closer with God.

Is it really worth it to let something that you have control over separate you from God? There is so much that we are giving up not being with Him, but we have it stuck in our head that we have to give up so much in order to be with Him.
Maybe it is time to realize that we are giving up so much more by choosing to let these things separate us from Him.

God offers us the opportunity to be rescued from condemnation and at the same time He offers us a life with Him. He will reside with us. Forever. If we just let go of the things holding us back.

Let go. Run to Him.

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

In the part of the text we get to read the narrator describes each man. He doesn’t necessarily go through and say, “…and he is six foot with brown hair, hazel eyes…” Rather he lets the reader connect with him. Sure, it is helpful to know what a person looks like, but when you think about the person you know best you don’t (at least I don’t think so) think of their physical features unless, maybe, it is something that affects their personality; a person is not his/her weight, height, or hair color. Instead that person can be described by the things they do, the way they act. Personality reigns over aesthetics when it comes to know a person.

In this particular text, we get to know each man by what he carried with him. The fearful man carried tranquilizers, the hygienic man carried soap, and the lovesick man carried letters from a girl. The list goes on, but in each of these snapshots we learn a little more about the personality of that man. We learn their weaknesses, their fears, their hopes, dreams, and desires. These things are what we really connect with as the readers. While it may be a sad story, it is one we can relate to. There are happy moments, sometimes small celebrations like not being chosen to crawl through the tunnels, or sometimes major successes like making it out of the warzone alive. Even in the midst of a war that isn’t fully supported from back home, these men still find comedy and pleasure. Even the camaraderie is seen as a positive light. They may have occasional spats, but in the end they know that there is still going to be somebody to share the load with, somebody to pass along a word of encouragement.

If these men can find joy in the middle of a life-threatening battle, surely we as Christians and well-fed Americans can find something to be happy with. Things may seem tragic on the outside, but dig deeper, you will find even in the darkest moments there is still a ray of sunshine.