Assignment 11

I chose a portion of my memoirs from the story “Even Inmates are Treated Better”  I just think it’s funny and reflects my very accident prone nature.  It also shows the funny relationship that I had with my grandfather.

“The next thing I know I am attempting to get out of the floor.  I soon figured out that it wasn’t working.  I could roll all over the place, but I soon realized that getting up was nothing but a pipe dream.  Finally my dad picked me up and carried me out the door to the car.  I think that the only reason that he did this was because he felt sorry for me.  Of course I will admit that I did look like a turtle stuck on his back.  Imagine this if you will, a young girl going outside, in the middle of winter, in a gown and underwear and nothing else. Not a pretty picture is it?  Yeah I about froze my butt off.  My parents couldn’t help but laugh at me in the backseat with my leg and arm up in the air.  I swear that was the longest trip to Jasper that I have ever taken in my life.  Even inmates get to sit down with both legs in the floor. 

When we got to the jail, my grandfather walked out with key in hand thank goodness.  As soon as he got to me he let out a laugh that rung through the parking lot.  I was not amused myself.  He finally took off the cuffs and the only thing he could say through the laugh was, “It could’ve been worse.  Think what would’ve happened if you had gone with the rocking chair idea.”

Assigment 10

Wow, that is an amazing video!  It was a very inspirational video set in Asia, and had three main characters.  There was a deaf violin player that was a guy, and a deaf violin player that was a girl.  Then there was a piano player, and it infuriated her that a deaf girl could play music better than a hearing one. The old man tries to explain that music comes from the soul the inter most part of people.  It’s not only about sound but the beautyof movement and fluidity.  At the end of course the protagonist won the competition and the irony was where as the antagonist got a thundering applause, when the protagonist played and finished they were stunned into silence!

Assignment 9

I thought that the theme of Hamlet was definatley revenge. My pictures are really wide-spread but I am proud of it.  By the way I hope you enjoy the video of gilligans island!

Enjoy!

Assignment 8

I chose this picture because it really takes Hamlet trying to be crazy to the extreme.  Even though I seriously doubt they knew what a paperweight was during the time Hamlet was written, in a funny way it shows how far he is willing to go to prove that he is crazy.  In a way it also shows Hamlet’s hesitation. Instead of saying hey yeah this is my fathers skull, he’s like you want this it would be a great paperweight.

Assignment 7

I was surprised while doing research on Elizabethan superstitions, I was surprised to find that a lot of our superstitions we have today originated from that time period.  For instance, did you know that the commonly used phrase, “God Bless you” after a sneeze originated from the superstitious Elizabethans?  They thought that opening your mouth after a sneeze would allow the devil into your body, God Bless You, would supposedly be a blessing to keep the devil away.  The superstition about throwing salt over your shoulder also originated from the period.  It was bad luck because of how expensive the minerals were.  Which this, in my opinion, means the people of this time invented this because they were to cheap to buy more.  I don’t think we have really invented any new superstitions, most of what we have are passed down from generation to generation.  Even though it seems as more shows are on today that deal with the supernatural, like Ghost Hunters, which I love.  Also through the years you never see a shortage of horror movies, the supernatural is usually a guaranteed way to lure people into the movie theaters.

I think every family has some superstitions or ghost stories.  For me personally, my Grand mama Simms was a very superstitious woman.  She would never go the same way twice and if she saw a black cat while driving, she would stop, turn around, and find another way. There is only one more I can think of, but it’s not really a superstition, it’s more like a joke.  When my grandparents and mom first moved up to North Georgia from Newton County, they lived in an awful house in Cherry Log. Doors would shut by themselves throughout the house all the time and they came up with a ghost named Mr. Payne.  So from then on whenever the door slams from the wind or something we say, “Hello Mr. Payne.”  In my opinion it seems like, Europe is ten times more haunted than America, they have some freaky stuff over there.

I think the main reason that the supernatural is so popular in our time is because we love what we can’t explain.  The “other” side is a mystery and face it, until you get there it remains a mystery.

Assigment 6

The Wizard of Oz is definitely one of my all-time favorites.  I do agree that the characters do stand, like the characters in The Pilgrim’s Progress, for abstract ideas. This may be reaching a little bit but I compare the characters to the Human mind. Dorothystand for the part of the mind that is always dissatisfied, I mean Dorothy is in one of the most mystical places of all time, and yet she want to go home. The Scarecrow represents the part of the mind that holds the common sense.  The scarecrow, like all of us, is very smart but sometimes we don’t have the common sense to realize it.  The Tin-man, well, it’s very simple what part he stands for.  It doesn’t matter how bad or good a person is, there is always apart of them that wants love.  The lion is also a no brainer.  The most courageous person, is but a coward at heart, the lion stands for the scardy-cat in all of us.  The wicked witch, how many times has somebody been mad at you and called you a witch?  That’s what I thought! Not only does the witch stand for the evil in us all (although I have no evil in me what so ever! lol.), she also stands for the mean green sin of jealousy. Throughout the whole movie she wants the ruby slippers, she could have any slippers she wants but she wants those! OH, I almost forgot Toto, well, I know that secretly I always wanted to be a dog.

Assigment 4

Media has influenced the image of the perfect women and man since pen was first put to paper. However i’m not going to go back that far, I am going to start at the begining of TV.  For the most part I think that TV has been the major contributor to self-image. From the early to mid-twentieth century the main image that came across was the perfect housewife, which in my mind are the June Cleaver and Donna Reeds.  These were the wives that while the man went out and done the work, the women cooked and cleaned and set the supper table at exactly six o’clock every night. Then gradually in the sixties and seventies the bra-burnings, so to speak, started.  Even though not many bras were actually burned and in the seventies there was hardly any bras, you get my point.  As womens roles change in society they also do in the media.  You have families like the Partridge Family, where the women is actually driving somewhere! Then in the eighties women were in full blown, “You no where the kitchen is mode.”  Again as roles changed media changed.  The concept of models being thin has always been around, but today, however, in the twenty-first century things have gotten worse.  Now it leaks not only into the older womans mind but also into the younger womens mind also.  Now, I am not saying that all self-image in the media is bad, but most commercials, TV shows, and magazine’s show the ”perfect size” women and the ones that you think are good are just saying that to sell murchandise. It’s hard to know who to trust.

Assigment #3

The theme of Pride and Prejudice is to never base your opinion of someone based on first impressions or what someone has told you.  As we can clearly see, Elizabeth’s whole opinion is based on what she saw when she first meet him and what her boyfriend told her.  Mr. Darcy also does likewise towards Jane.  The only thing that seems inportant to the characters in this story is to marry rich and to be contented.  It seems Mrs. Bennet is soley commited to her daughters marrying rich, and she doesn’t care who she insults or bothers on the way.  It is very apparent that money and social standing is what motivates the people of this tale.  To these people social and marital standing are everything.  In the nineteenth century it sems no one married for love, or if you did it was a rare ocassion.  It is apparent when Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, and makes it quite clear that his family will dissaprove because she is beneath him.  In a way people are motivated in the same way.  I mean what young girl does not dream of marrying her rich prince charming?  If we wern’t motivated by money there wouldn’t be such thing as a golddigger.  However, in a way, more people marry for love today than in the nineteenth century.  So, I think it’s tit-for-tat.

Assigment 2

Francis Bacon was born in London on January 22, 1561, and the youngest of five sons.  At forty-five Bacon married the fourteen year old daughter of a local alderman.  He never had any children and some beleive him to be aither bisexual or homosexual.  Bacon was a published author and an attorney General, he also proceeded over the Essex case.  He died in April 1626 of a fatal case of pnemonia.

My view of the modern day rennisance man has to probably be Nelson Mandela, he spoke up against the South African government.  He was charged with ”Plotting to overthrow the government by violence” and jailed in1963 and was not released untill 1990.  Even while he was in prision he refused togive up his views to gain his freedom. Before being sent to prision he helped in a program called the ANC, which would give rights to the South Africans, such as voting rights.  After he was released he reinstated the ANC, and in 1993 recived the Nobel Peace Prize.  Then in 1994, Nelson cast the first ballot in the first South African election, and was voted the first president.  The definiton for the Rennisance man is a person who is well educated, or who excels, in a wide variety of subjects or fields.  Nelson Madela started out as a farmer’s son, who worked his way through school and then helped his people in everyway possible.  That’s a renisance man.

Blog, Good!

I have never used a blog before.  I think this will be a great way to express oursleves. i look forward to it.  I can surf and blog at the same time.