What I've learned

It is kind of hard for me to pinpoint one specific thing that I've learned in this class.  This was definitely one of the odder classes I've had in my school career, especially with my generalized expectations for a lit class. This class helped me break my assumptions of what a lit class can be, which I used to assume was just "learn how to write a paper and then write the paper." The class taught me how to use applications I've never had to use (lots of the ones within google and how to edit Wikipedia) as well as developed my critical thinking skills more.  Most other classes left little room for for interpretation outside of what was already established by scholars, but this class helped push the envelope on coming up with my own thoughts on the reading.

Others Doc 3

"Metamorphoses was a pain in the butt to do a project on." -- Dante

This describes my experience with my project overall.  I decided to focus on chaos/order in Metamorphoses and having either of those being explicitly mentioned in the entire poem once made it difficult at first to find info.  I realized I had to think on a broader scale, interpret a lot of the information and be more specific when it came to research.  There were also very few articles that references order and chaos in the Metamorphoses.

 "Chronic procrastination is the biggest factor that hinders my progress on Doc3 and basically every other assignment as well." -- Aubrey

"I am a horrible procrastinator I would be one of the people that would complete the assignment the night before it was due."  -- Logan

I can identify with this a lot.  I procrastinate/have procrastinated on many projects in all the time I've been in any level of school.  Procrastination is the one thing that seems to stick with me throughout my school experience.  Honestly, I'm procrastinating right now as I do this blog post.  I waited to do my project and my finished product seems rushed and took more effort on my part to stay focused to get the work done.

 

Experience with Doc 3

I feel like Doc 3 was probably on par with other papers I have written in the past for other lit courses.  My two biggest problems with papers are usually how to start them and then how I want to structure the essay as a whole.  Having all the info from the wiki really helped to facilitate the content portion of the paper since most of my past papers I would have to find the info as I was writing it. This honestly doesn't feel like any other paper I have written.  Just the structure that I chose when writing through me for a loop.  I was never told about the use of headings and such for a greater sense of organization.  I knew I couldn't really do the typical three body paragraphs just because of the breadth of information i needed to talk about, (i didn't want to condense all my thoughts into three paragraphs, it would be too hectic/ probably unorganized).  The headings helped me organize my paper so there was no confusion about what I was specifically talking about in each paragraph.  I kind of regret not having any of it done for the first peer response, but that motivated me to kick it into high gear.  I procrastinate a lot, even when I tell myself I shouldn't be doing that.  That's just something I have to fix about myself, especially when the classes/assignments are only going to get more difficult.  

Postception

Honestly, trying to figure out two people to pick posts from is sort of difficult.  There is a good bit of the class that is behind in their posts, limiting my ability to see their view on some of the topics. 

The first person I'll talk about is Will, who I've known fairly well since elementary school.  Out of all the topics a World lit class talks about, religion is always the one I like to shy away from.  I have very little ties to religion and only stepped into a church for my first time last year for an extra credit opportunity for my music app class and for a band concert last year.  I've never been religious, but I've always tried to be respectful to my friends who are on the opposite side of the religion spectrum from me.  I have had a few moments of accidental offensiveness when it came to certain friend's religion and I'd prefer not to have that experience repeat to people I barely know (the one I have in mind: i apologized afterwards and we were cool, but it still made me feel terrible).  Anytime Will brings up religion in his blog, he makes it seem easy to understand and easy to see the affect it has on his outlook of life.  He says in his Nov 6th post how "God's blessings are the beauty in my life" which illustrates to me the magnitude God and religion has on his life for the better (plus, we both play the drums, that's always cool).

  The second person I want to include in this is Aubrey, who I only really have known/interacted with from one random project from this class.  Her blogs take the purpose of everything to a different level. I can identify with some aspects of her, like having religion being abundantly around your life but not being religious or which ethics are important for a president. She essentially uses it as a tell-all, which I find very brave and shows strength.  I originally was going to use this thing as an outlet for some of the personal stuff that did/is going on in my life, but I never really had the courage to post about my issues and negative things that have gone on in my life to (essentially) 20+ strangers, two relatively new friends and two friends I go fairly far back with.  I commend her for being able to be so open with those parts of her life.  She said in a recount of her 2014 that "being numb was much better than dealing with my life" which I certainly have days that I can identify with that in some ways.  I just felt(/feel) like I was wasting away, not achieving what I wanted or even feel like I was on the right path to make the dream accomplished (which it does not help when my main dream has a time limit on it.  

   

Presidental Candidates/Ethics

I believe when it comes to firm ethical standards I would have to choose between either Sanders or Carson.  Sanders has been very consistent with what he has been supporting politically and doesn't seem to change his answers with what is necessarily popular (he stands by what he believes).  Carson also stands with what he believes, especially in anything that possibly has to do with religion. I think probably all candidates, even the ones I mentioned about the firm ethics, have used or alluded to some form of situational ethics.  (one of) The main thing candidates think of is how they appeal to the voters, so that might mean altering ones view about a specific topic (something as serious as abortion or as dumb as no more Christmas decorations on the Starbucks cups) earns them a positive net amount of voters, then they'll probably do it.  I think ethical relativism can be applied to Trump in a more specific fashion than culture.  His mindset seems like he just thinks of  people that are in his level of income even if he seems like he helping everyone.  Machiavelli said that "a leader doesn't have to possess all the virtuous qualities . . but it is absolute imperative that he seems to posses them" which his probably why Trump is still currently leading and not out of the race like most people thought when announced he was running.  I think firm and situational ethics are more important because the candidate should be rooted in their own ideals and be somewhat resilient to change while also being able to adapt when the situation calls for it.  

My poem/beauty in my life

Music buzzing in the air around;

It moves to ears through leap and bound.

Captivating all near and far,

Always unique in every sound. 





A constant beauty in my life is music.  All the varieties of music coupled with the various meanings/lyrics/instrumentations/etc is something I find very beautiful.  I'd say a lot of my musical preferences can be connected back to high school in some way.  Conversations in percussion class always ended up getting into musical discussions and most of the guys who showed me music had a very good taste in different genres of music.  Before, my musical taste didn't extend far from stuff that was on the radio.  My iPod at the time was similar to a tracker of hits on the radio for a few years.  Now, besides those friends I mentioned, I highly doubt most anyone will have heard of the songs that I frequently listen to.  The discovery and experience of new, high quality music is what keeps music interesting and keeps me growing as someone who deeply loves music.

Pink Lemonade

I was going to pick one song out of this album, but the continuity between songs proved too much to separate.  A brief glimpse about the band, Closure in Moscow, before I get into the music.  Closure in Moscow is an alternative band out of Australia that currently has one EP (The Penance and the Patie) and two full length albums (First Temple / Pink Lemonade) out with their most recent being released April 2014.  The musical style of the group has pretty much changed each album, from a mostly rock feel to the very edge of a new alternative (kinda hippy) sound.

They touch on a lot of different topics throughout their 11 tracks on Pink lemonade, but most seem to blend together (in a good way) through musical ideas that carry over between the majority of the tracks.  The music is just very pleasant to the ears and different, sounding nothing I had ever heard before I heard this album for the first time.  They have a knack for beautifully combining harmonies and interesting phrases of the instruments and vocals to give a very unique feel and emotion to the songs.  If i had to pick a few favorites, my choices would be Mauerbauertraurigkeit and Happy Days.  They are kind of polar opposites in overall feel and message.  Mauerbauertraurigkeit basically translates to pushing any/everyone way "as if all your social tastebuds suddenly went numb, leaving you unable to distinguish cheap politeness from the taste of genuine affection, unable to recognize its rich and ambiguous flavors, its long and delicate maturation, or the simple fact that each tasting is double-blind."  The song is very relaxed and odd when you first hear it (weird phrasing since the majority of it is in 5/8) and I feel like I can identify with this because I feel like there were/are a lot of days that I feel like this, especially back in high school.  Lots of days of apathy and just not wanting to go through the motions of the day partly because I couldn't tell if my friendships had merit and weren't just because of "forced" prolonged proximity.   Happy Days, on the other hand, is more positive in a message of perseverance.  The cheery jazz/rock feel throughout evokes a feeling a personal feeling of joy.  Life has been hitting me hard within the past year or two, so it's nice to have a song like this to remind me to keep pushing forward.  I think the ability to relate to music and use it for personal benefit is another layer of beauty that can be found within songs.  These songs are multi-layered beauties for the message/feeling/sound they present to the audience.