I just finished the first draft of an essay on Saint Augustine's Confessions and the tension between his love for language and the problematic nature of his relationship with words. It was easy to write. So how come the piece on the Conquest of Gwynedd is so difficult? Possibly because the prompt I received was confusing. Or something.
It's due a week from today (the Gwynedd one). I'm going to Pullman this weekend because we're having a massive family Ayyam-i-Ha gathering (Ayyam-i-Ha isn't for another two weeks, but the three-day weekend is an opportune time) and I really need to get all my work for the weekend done by Friday.
So. Essays. The Confessions piece I can edit over the next couple days; the essay on Beowulf is actually not due for another two weeks, so I could put it off; but there's this freaking analysis article. I have a lot to say about it, but I just don't feel that what I have to say falls within the guidelines of the questions I was given. More likely because I'm comfortable with the normal literary analysis that I'm doing with Confessions, but not so much with article review.
I guess we'll just have to see. In the meantime, I'll get to work reading.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
comedy or tragedy
On Friday night, I watched the Kenneth Branagh Much Ado About Nothing movie with Rose, Cassandra, Becky, and Emma. Rose, Emma, and I had all seen it before (about a dozen times in my case!) but Cassandra and Becky hadn't. Cassandra liked it so much that we watched the whole thing again last night.
We're reading Othello in Encounters this week, and I was thinking about how similar they really are: the difference is that in Much Ado About Nothing, everyone figures out what's going on, while in Othello, the evil guy doing the deceiving gets away with it.
Isn't that interesting, though? The only substantially thing different between the two is that one ends badly and one ends happily.
Although it's a pretty common opinion that things that end poorly tend to be more realistic than those that end well, in this case I don't think that's true. In both of them the conflict is very manufactured and hinges solely on miscommunication and sewing seeds of doubt. Much Ado About Nothing ends with it all being figured out, while Othello brings out psychotic tendencies in various characters and ends with lots of unfortunate deaths.
Both of them are pretty unlikely, but . . . Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare anyway, and it just feels more real.
We're reading Othello in Encounters this week, and I was thinking about how similar they really are: the difference is that in Much Ado About Nothing, everyone figures out what's going on, while in Othello, the evil guy doing the deceiving gets away with it.
Isn't that interesting, though? The only substantially thing different between the two is that one ends badly and one ends happily.
Although it's a pretty common opinion that things that end poorly tend to be more realistic than those that end well, in this case I don't think that's true. In both of them the conflict is very manufactured and hinges solely on miscommunication and sewing seeds of doubt. Much Ado About Nothing ends with it all being figured out, while Othello brings out psychotic tendencies in various characters and ends with lots of unfortunate deaths.
Both of them are pretty unlikely, but . . . Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare anyway, and it just feels more real.
Friday, February 5, 2010
mummy
I feel like I'm finally settling in.
Because it's a new semester, we have several new transfers in the dorm, people who've moved in from other dorms as well as "Jan starts", people who took last semester off. Initially I was afraid that the new people would have difficulty meshing, but everyone's incredibly great. We've got Keli, who's transferred from Lyman, and Becky and Emma, who are Jan-starts. Emma is in my Spanish class and a fan of Buffy, Bones, and Star Trek. The three of them are already totally a part of the group, which is really great - I'm amazed at how good Whitman is at matching people up.
This is all just buildup to the fact that yesterday was Becky's birthday, so I made her a cake. She announced to me that I will "make a really good mum."
Me: "Well that's good, because I really love kids."
Ha ha.
Because it's a new semester, we have several new transfers in the dorm, people who've moved in from other dorms as well as "Jan starts", people who took last semester off. Initially I was afraid that the new people would have difficulty meshing, but everyone's incredibly great. We've got Keli, who's transferred from Lyman, and Becky and Emma, who are Jan-starts. Emma is in my Spanish class and a fan of Buffy, Bones, and Star Trek. The three of them are already totally a part of the group, which is really great - I'm amazed at how good Whitman is at matching people up.
This is all just buildup to the fact that yesterday was Becky's birthday, so I made her a cake. She announced to me that I will "make a really good mum."
Me: "Well that's good, because I really love kids."
Ha ha.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
trash, trash, trash
Today I was bemusedly looking through old files on my computer and ran across the three Word documents of very. Bad. Poetry. The first is stuff I wrote between 2002 and 2005. The second is stuff I wrote between 2005 and 2007 and is very bad. The third is 2007 to 2009 and is very bad. Apparently the last thing I wrote was in June of '09.
It's all so emo. There are glimpses of cool phrases but in general it sets my teeth on edge. Somebody should have hit me upside the head and told me not to . . . .
But, no, that would have made me insecure about all my writing.
I was an odd little person. I thought about sharing snippets but after Spam you guys are all gonna be sick of it, and anyway, Spam was cool because it didn't take itself too seriously. This stuff takes itself VERY seriously.
In other computer-related news, you know how (on Windows machines, anyway) your "deleted" files all go to the "recycle bin" and stay there till you empty it? Yeah. Well, my recycle bin shortcut sits next to my Firefox shortcut on the taskbar, and I accidentally clicked on it today. I don't know when I last emptied it, but there were 6.63 gigs of deleted files in there and some stuff I'm pretty sure it's been a year since I've seen. Um.
Long story short:
Computers are no different than trash cans: If you don't clean them out, you'll get fruit flies.
Um, no. But.
Edit: I take it back . . . there was one that was amusing but not embarrassing, because it's pretentiously satirical. Essentially a conglomerate of as many bizarre and beautiful words as possibly. I think I blogged it about two years ago, but here's a repost:
Caesar
“Veni, vidi, vici”
Alliteratively Caesar proclaims
O Julius! Your transcendental stratagem
Your modus operandi
Your vociferous ensconcement
Is lyrical to us all
With great finesse
Staring down your aquiline nose
Articulating your archaic dispensation
We feel superfluous
In the face of your draconian ego
Living vicariously
Through your placebo
The scintillating facsimile
Sequestered, clandestine
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
Eternally Caesar declares
Above the cacophony
Of we sordid Anglo-Saxon masses
Supplicating him
Vehemence in their limpid eyes
With supreme disdain
He does not acquiesce
Slow as molasses
Citing the precedent
Of the aforementioned motive
His seething soliloquy
Ardently made
Does not capitulate
Acerbic through eons of schisms and scree
Now Caesar’s sepulcher
Stands degenerate and contrite
Before the syphilis that once harassed
A macabre convergence
Of weird and world—
Anthropomorphically intact
To stand before the great conglomerate
Yet concomitantly
Your appellation to all eternity
Will not be forgot
Convoluted though it seems
To the naked eye
Embittered though we be
Turgid, torrid, and forlorn—
“Veni, vidi, vici"
It's all so emo. There are glimpses of cool phrases but in general it sets my teeth on edge. Somebody should have hit me upside the head and told me not to . . . .
But, no, that would have made me insecure about all my writing.
I was an odd little person. I thought about sharing snippets but after Spam you guys are all gonna be sick of it, and anyway, Spam was cool because it didn't take itself too seriously. This stuff takes itself VERY seriously.
In other computer-related news, you know how (on Windows machines, anyway) your "deleted" files all go to the "recycle bin" and stay there till you empty it? Yeah. Well, my recycle bin shortcut sits next to my Firefox shortcut on the taskbar, and I accidentally clicked on it today. I don't know when I last emptied it, but there were 6.63 gigs of deleted files in there and some stuff I'm pretty sure it's been a year since I've seen. Um.
Long story short:
Computers are no different than trash cans: If you don't clean them out, you'll get fruit flies.
Um, no. But.
Edit: I take it back . . . there was one that was amusing but not embarrassing, because it's pretentiously satirical. Essentially a conglomerate of as many bizarre and beautiful words as possibly. I think I blogged it about two years ago, but here's a repost:
Caesar
“Veni, vidi, vici”
Alliteratively Caesar proclaims
O Julius! Your transcendental stratagem
Your modus operandi
Your vociferous ensconcement
Is lyrical to us all
With great finesse
Staring down your aquiline nose
Articulating your archaic dispensation
We feel superfluous
In the face of your draconian ego
Living vicariously
Through your placebo
The scintillating facsimile
Sequestered, clandestine
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
Eternally Caesar declares
Above the cacophony
Of we sordid Anglo-Saxon masses
Supplicating him
Vehemence in their limpid eyes
With supreme disdain
He does not acquiesce
Slow as molasses
Citing the precedent
Of the aforementioned motive
His seething soliloquy
Ardently made
Does not capitulate
Acerbic through eons of schisms and scree
Now Caesar’s sepulcher
Stands degenerate and contrite
Before the syphilis that once harassed
A macabre convergence
Of weird and world—
Anthropomorphically intact
To stand before the great conglomerate
Yet concomitantly
Your appellation to all eternity
Will not be forgot
Convoluted though it seems
To the naked eye
Embittered though we be
Turgid, torrid, and forlorn—
“Veni, vidi, vici"
Monday, February 1, 2010
Oh. Em. Gee.
I guest blogged this morning over at Mum's website - direct link here. Oh boy! Guest blogging! What will be next?
As I said over there, I am indeed working on Home and Haven. Specifically, a completely new plot resolution and once again I'm working out where it's going to end up. It's exciting and scary and so very strange; I wish I'd thought of it before, but that's how it goes. This is an opportunity to make it jive better with its sequel, anyway.
And, oh yeah, that school thing . . . well, it's another Monday.
P.S. And today is the first day of February; we're already 1/12 of the way through 2010 and two weeks (1/7) into the new semester. Eegad!
As I said over there, I am indeed working on Home and Haven. Specifically, a completely new plot resolution and once again I'm working out where it's going to end up. It's exciting and scary and so very strange; I wish I'd thought of it before, but that's how it goes. This is an opportunity to make it jive better with its sequel, anyway.
And, oh yeah, that school thing . . . well, it's another Monday.
P.S. And today is the first day of February; we're already 1/12 of the way through 2010 and two weeks (1/7) into the new semester. Eegad!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Spam, spam, spam, spam, 8: Summaries
THE CHRONICLES OF SPAM
Previous episodes:
Chapter One: A Cat Named Spam
Chapter Two: Trouble Cat
Chapter Three: Spam Goes Home
Chapter Four: Spam's Father
Chapter Five: Leslie
Chapter Six: Getting to Know Les
Chapter Seven: Spam - A Celebrity
Since the last chapters of The Chronicles of Spam don't exist in written format, I present to you the remaining pieces:
Chapter 8: Spam Moves
This is pretty self-explanatory . . . Spam and her family move into a bigger house because Sally is pregnant again, and there was a lot of description of her confusion at the cardboard boxes.
Chapter 9: Dropout
I have very little memory of this (it was 2002, okay?) but I’m pretty sure that Rick drops out of school. Somehow this connects to an adventure with Spam—although at this point the story became more about the people and less about the cat.
Chapter 10: Island Baby
Sally and Frederick go out tagging alligators and she goes into labor and has a baby on an island in the middle of the Everglades. Spam observes in confusion while tethered on the boat.
Chapter 11: Elise
This, I assume, is about Elise, Sally and Jess’s daughter.
Chapter 12: Stowaway
Oh! I remember this one really well! Jess comes home from work with two tickets to a soccer game, but Sally doesn’t want to go so Jess takes Rick instead. I can’t say I remember what team it was, but Dad would probably know. Spam stows away in the trunk of the car and when they get to the stadium they sneak her in. At the end of the game, they take pictures with the team (remember that Spam is now a national celebrity), and I remember Dad describing how one of the guys had dreads and put Spam in his hair.
Chapter 13: Goodbye
This chapter made Carew, Gareth, and I all cry when Dad told it. We were sort of furious, actually. Jess gets a job in Georgia and he, Sally, Les, and Elise move away, leaving Spam to live with Rick and continue going to the ranger station every day.
Thus ends the Chronicles of Spam. Brought to you by eleven-year-old Brynnie. Thank you.
Previous episodes:
Chapter One: A Cat Named Spam
Chapter Two: Trouble Cat
Chapter Three: Spam Goes Home
Chapter Four: Spam's Father
Chapter Five: Leslie
Chapter Six: Getting to Know Les
Chapter Seven: Spam - A Celebrity
Since the last chapters of The Chronicles of Spam don't exist in written format, I present to you the remaining pieces:
Chapter 8: Spam Moves
This is pretty self-explanatory . . . Spam and her family move into a bigger house because Sally is pregnant again, and there was a lot of description of her confusion at the cardboard boxes.
Chapter 9: Dropout
I have very little memory of this (it was 2002, okay?) but I’m pretty sure that Rick drops out of school. Somehow this connects to an adventure with Spam—although at this point the story became more about the people and less about the cat.
Chapter 10: Island Baby
Sally and Frederick go out tagging alligators and she goes into labor and has a baby on an island in the middle of the Everglades. Spam observes in confusion while tethered on the boat.
Chapter 11: Elise
This, I assume, is about Elise, Sally and Jess’s daughter.
Chapter 12: Stowaway
Oh! I remember this one really well! Jess comes home from work with two tickets to a soccer game, but Sally doesn’t want to go so Jess takes Rick instead. I can’t say I remember what team it was, but Dad would probably know. Spam stows away in the trunk of the car and when they get to the stadium they sneak her in. At the end of the game, they take pictures with the team (remember that Spam is now a national celebrity), and I remember Dad describing how one of the guys had dreads and put Spam in his hair.
Chapter 13: Goodbye
This chapter made Carew, Gareth, and I all cry when Dad told it. We were sort of furious, actually. Jess gets a job in Georgia and he, Sally, Les, and Elise move away, leaving Spam to live with Rick and continue going to the ranger station every day.
Thus ends the Chronicles of Spam. Brought to you by eleven-year-old Brynnie. Thank you.
Friday, January 29, 2010
hoaxes
The internet is an amazing place. You can find all sorts of truly bizarre stuff out there . . . like worlds that don't actually exist . . . and amusing little hoaxes that are fairly harmless but can make people feel like idiots.
Like the Male Pregnancy website. My teacher showed me this in my research paper class spring of 2008 - it looks semi-legit, containing references to all sorts of renowned websites, but it's been up for several years and the "Dwayne Medical Center" can't be found.
The same "medical center" hosts Clyven, a mouse who supposedly had Alzheimer's and in attempting to cure it by implanting human brain cells, the scientists not only cured it but also made it humanly intelligent. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH aside . . . HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The website also is home to a couple other medical hoaxes, which for your average American probably sound mysterious enough that they could be legit. But they're not.
Carew's favorite is DHMO. According to the website's FAQ, DHMO is a "colorless and odorless chemical compound" that can cause severe burns in its gaseous form, contributes to soil erosion, is a major component of acid rain, and is "found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions". It has been involved in every instance of violence in high schools. It can be used to improve athletic performance. And DHMO stands for Dihydrogen Monoxide, more correctly known as Hydrogen Hydroxide, aka H2O, aka water.
Today I found Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, a website dedicated to protecting a fictional species of octopus that lives in the trees of the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula. The site is run by "Greanpeas.org" and links to both real-life conservation websites but also "People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins" (PETPU). Still, I don't think the casual observer would notice.
I'm sure there are lots more. They seem in good fun - the octopus one, for example, tells you that the PNTO's biggest predator is the Sasquatch, and when the FAQ asks "Why are Sasquatch allowed to gather Tree Octopuses if the octopuses are endangered?", the response comes, "No one allows a Sasquatch to do anything; they just do it. Sasquatch have been gathering Tree Octopuses since before Humans settled in their habitats. They form a symbiotic relationship. We value our limbs and don't question this." It's pretty obviously a joke. Further, though they sell stuff on the website, they don't try to pretend that the money is going to protect these animals. It's for-profit and you can buy a bumper sticker to make people think you're crazy.
It's our generation's Loch Ness Monster!
Like the Male Pregnancy website. My teacher showed me this in my research paper class spring of 2008 - it looks semi-legit, containing references to all sorts of renowned websites, but it's been up for several years and the "Dwayne Medical Center" can't be found.
The same "medical center" hosts Clyven, a mouse who supposedly had Alzheimer's and in attempting to cure it by implanting human brain cells, the scientists not only cured it but also made it humanly intelligent. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH aside . . . HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The website also is home to a couple other medical hoaxes, which for your average American probably sound mysterious enough that they could be legit. But they're not.
Carew's favorite is DHMO. According to the website's FAQ, DHMO is a "colorless and odorless chemical compound" that can cause severe burns in its gaseous form, contributes to soil erosion, is a major component of acid rain, and is "found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions". It has been involved in every instance of violence in high schools. It can be used to improve athletic performance. And DHMO stands for Dihydrogen Monoxide, more correctly known as Hydrogen Hydroxide, aka H2O, aka water.
Today I found Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, a website dedicated to protecting a fictional species of octopus that lives in the trees of the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula. The site is run by "Greanpeas.org" and links to both real-life conservation websites but also "People for the Ethical Treatment of Pumpkins" (PETPU). Still, I don't think the casual observer would notice.
I'm sure there are lots more. They seem in good fun - the octopus one, for example, tells you that the PNTO's biggest predator is the Sasquatch, and when the FAQ asks "Why are Sasquatch allowed to gather Tree Octopuses if the octopuses are endangered?", the response comes, "No one allows a Sasquatch to do anything; they just do it. Sasquatch have been gathering Tree Octopuses since before Humans settled in their habitats. They form a symbiotic relationship. We value our limbs and don't question this." It's pretty obviously a joke. Further, though they sell stuff on the website, they don't try to pretend that the money is going to protect these animals. It's for-profit and you can buy a bumper sticker to make people think you're crazy.
It's our generation's Loch Ness Monster!
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