Sunday, May 6, 2007
Waking Life
In class, we have been watching a very interesting film, Waking Life. Release in 2001, this film is one which without out, gets people thinking.
In a broad scope, Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like appearance and reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life. Along the way the film touches on other topics including existentialism, posthumanity, and the film theory of André Bazin. The young man eventually comes to the realization that he is dreaming and that he is unable to wake up. By the end of the film, he fears that he might be dead. In this way, it may have been influenced by Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (wikipedia).
The above quote pretty much somes up the moving perfectly. When seeing it in class for the first time, once I saw that it was an animated film, I really did not think that it would be that interesting. Little did I know at the time however, was that this film would be one of the most interesting films in a long, long time.
In a broad scope, Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like appearance and reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life. Along the way the film touches on other topics including existentialism, posthumanity, and the film theory of André Bazin. The young man eventually comes to the realization that he is dreaming and that he is unable to wake up. By the end of the film, he fears that he might be dead. In this way, it may have been influenced by Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (wikipedia).
The above quote pretty much somes up the moving perfectly. When seeing it in class for the first time, once I saw that it was an animated film, I really did not think that it would be that interesting. Little did I know at the time however, was that this film would be one of the most interesting films in a long, long time.
Growing up
Throughout our days in class, a lot of what we discussed had to do with growing up, voice and the reasons behind why each person is the way they are. In my beliefs, the following is about my voice, explainging why I have become the way I am.
Growing up, as the daughter of an avid fly fisherman who made his career as a Fishing Guide, I spent a lot of my days on the Yellowstone river. In the movie A River Runs Through It, there is a famous quote that is said: “In my family, there was no clear division between religion and fly fishing.” Well, this quote reminds me of my family very much.
With my father having the career that he did, I was able to learn and appreciate the greatness of the Yellowstone River. In fact, I would consider the perfect day for me one which included floating the Yellowstone with my family and friends. I have countless memories of my family and I being on the Yellowstone, whether we were fishing or simply relaxing. Just as many Montanans would, I consider myself to be a person who loves the outdoors. I love the mountains that I am surrounded by day after day. I love how at night I am able to see the starts and feel safe.
My mom is a teacher, and someone who loves to help other people. She is a caring and compassionate woman, and from her, I have learned a lot about life. My mom taught me how important it is to help out others when they are in need. Growing up, a couple times each month we would volunteer at the local soup kitchen. She showed me it is important to give back to others.
I have two older sisters, and just like my mother, they two decided to become teachers so that they could help other people. I am not exactly sure what I want to become when I grow up, however I do know that I want a career where I can make a difference in the lives of other people.
All in all, I would have to say that I grew up with a wonderful family. Through my family, I was able to learn how important it is to lend a hand to and care about other people. I was also able to learn about and appreciate the greatness of nature and the outdoors.
Growing up, as the daughter of an avid fly fisherman who made his career as a Fishing Guide, I spent a lot of my days on the Yellowstone river. In the movie A River Runs Through It, there is a famous quote that is said: “In my family, there was no clear division between religion and fly fishing.” Well, this quote reminds me of my family very much.
With my father having the career that he did, I was able to learn and appreciate the greatness of the Yellowstone River. In fact, I would consider the perfect day for me one which included floating the Yellowstone with my family and friends. I have countless memories of my family and I being on the Yellowstone, whether we were fishing or simply relaxing. Just as many Montanans would, I consider myself to be a person who loves the outdoors. I love the mountains that I am surrounded by day after day. I love how at night I am able to see the starts and feel safe.
My mom is a teacher, and someone who loves to help other people. She is a caring and compassionate woman, and from her, I have learned a lot about life. My mom taught me how important it is to help out others when they are in need. Growing up, a couple times each month we would volunteer at the local soup kitchen. She showed me it is important to give back to others.
I have two older sisters, and just like my mother, they two decided to become teachers so that they could help other people. I am not exactly sure what I want to become when I grow up, however I do know that I want a career where I can make a difference in the lives of other people.
All in all, I would have to say that I grew up with a wonderful family. Through my family, I was able to learn how important it is to lend a hand to and care about other people. I was also able to learn about and appreciate the greatness of nature and the outdoors.
Shy
I have learned a lot in this class throughout the past three or four months. Last semester, I didn't really have any smaller classes where there was open discussion. This past semester however, has been much different. Through having the smaller, more community like classroom experience, I feel like I have progressed a great deal as a college student of the past semester.
I have been a shy person my entire life, as far back as I can remember. In fact, I can even remeber coming to college thinking I was going to have no friends becuase of the fact that I am such a shy person. During my first semester as a college student, I rarely spoke in discussion during class, or better yet, to my fellow classmates. Through having a smaller class, such as English 121 or University seminar, I feel that I have grown quite a bit. Although I am still a rather shy student, I have opened up a lot in the classroom. Nowadays, I commonly find myself talking amongst fellow classmates that I have gotten to know. It still takes a lot of courage for me to speak up in a class discussion, but I am working on becoming more involved in those discussions. Once again, through this class, as well as my other small classes, I have really come along way with my speaking abilities.
I have been a shy person my entire life, as far back as I can remember. In fact, I can even remeber coming to college thinking I was going to have no friends becuase of the fact that I am such a shy person. During my first semester as a college student, I rarely spoke in discussion during class, or better yet, to my fellow classmates. Through having a smaller class, such as English 121 or University seminar, I feel that I have grown quite a bit. Although I am still a rather shy student, I have opened up a lot in the classroom. Nowadays, I commonly find myself talking amongst fellow classmates that I have gotten to know. It still takes a lot of courage for me to speak up in a class discussion, but I am working on becoming more involved in those discussions. Once again, through this class, as well as my other small classes, I have really come along way with my speaking abilities.
Freshman Year
As the final week of my first year of college comes to a close, I can not help but to be filled with a million different emotions. Just eight months ago, I came to this place as a rather different person than who I am today. Now, less than a year later, I am forced to leave my friends, move back home, and live exactly the way I used to. For me, this school year has gone by too fast. I have quite a few friends who absolutely cannot wait to go home. They cannont wait to be back in a place they are all too familiar with. They want to be with their families and the friends whom they grew up with. For me however, I am not ready to leave this place. I have met some amazing lifetime friends who I know I will stay in contact with for the rest of my life. I have falllen in love, learned so much about myself, and am not ready to leave this place. Posted in the bathroom of my dorm, I read something that explains freshman year quite perfectly for a number of different people. Unfortunately, I do not know who wrote it:
We now know the meaning of true friendship. We know whom we have kept in touch with over the past year and whom we hold dearest to our hearts. We've left our high school worlds to deal with the real world. We've had our hearts broken, we've fell in love, we've helped oru best friends through the toughest ties of their lives, something their even best friends at home couldn't be there for. We've stayed up all night just to be there for a friend. We've parties the night away, doing stupid stuff, but we were always there for each other afterwards.......
Freshman year is coming to a close and I am not ready to leave. Leave this place, but especially leave my friends whom I have come to love over the past year.....
We now know the meaning of true friendship. We know whom we have kept in touch with over the past year and whom we hold dearest to our hearts. We've left our high school worlds to deal with the real world. We've had our hearts broken, we've fell in love, we've helped oru best friends through the toughest ties of their lives, something their even best friends at home couldn't be there for. We've stayed up all night just to be there for a friend. We've parties the night away, doing stupid stuff, but we were always there for each other afterwards.......
Freshman year is coming to a close and I am not ready to leave. Leave this place, but especially leave my friends whom I have come to love over the past year.....
Escape
Escape
Often times throughout the course of one’s life, a person may go through various stages. One particular stage a person may go through is one in which they feel the need to “free themselves” or escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Today’s society is one where down time and personal time is seldom able to take place. People get so caught up in so many other things that they are hardly ever able to just sit down, relax and enjoy their time. Not only that, but people frequently take part in activities not because they themselves want to do so, but because society thinks they should. There are simply times in which people need to take a break from everything and just enjoy what comes to them and be free.
In Wallace Steven’s The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain, and Jon Krakauer’s account of Chris McCandless’s journey in Alaska, Into the Wild however, men take a path that is not usually taken in today’s culture. In both of these accounts, men take the time to escape, to be free and to simply live off the land. They are doing what they want to do, and not what others think they should do.
Chris McCandless was a young man who set off to Alaska to make it on his own. “He didn’t want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization. He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help” (Krakauer 288). Many people dream of doing this, but sadly never get the opportunity to do so.
In Steven’s poem, he felt he needed a place to escape. Escape not only from society, but also from himself. Stevens realized he needed a place “to go in his own direction.” This feeling is understood by all of us. At times life gets us down. We realize that there are certain things that we need to get away from. Stevens used the mountain as his place for him to get away from everything.
All in all, it is evident that both Chris McCandless and Wallace Stevens were two very admirable people for doing what they did. To go to a place one knows nothing about and escape, simply living on there own in solitude, is something that many people wish they had the guts to do, but probably never will. Once again, there are times in life when a person gets down, and people need to merely break away from their daily routine; therefore by doing so, those two men were very honorable.
Often times throughout the course of one’s life, a person may go through various stages. One particular stage a person may go through is one in which they feel the need to “free themselves” or escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Today’s society is one where down time and personal time is seldom able to take place. People get so caught up in so many other things that they are hardly ever able to just sit down, relax and enjoy their time. Not only that, but people frequently take part in activities not because they themselves want to do so, but because society thinks they should. There are simply times in which people need to take a break from everything and just enjoy what comes to them and be free.
In Wallace Steven’s The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain, and Jon Krakauer’s account of Chris McCandless’s journey in Alaska, Into the Wild however, men take a path that is not usually taken in today’s culture. In both of these accounts, men take the time to escape, to be free and to simply live off the land. They are doing what they want to do, and not what others think they should do.
Chris McCandless was a young man who set off to Alaska to make it on his own. “He didn’t want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization. He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help” (Krakauer 288). Many people dream of doing this, but sadly never get the opportunity to do so.
In Steven’s poem, he felt he needed a place to escape. Escape not only from society, but also from himself. Stevens realized he needed a place “to go in his own direction.” This feeling is understood by all of us. At times life gets us down. We realize that there are certain things that we need to get away from. Stevens used the mountain as his place for him to get away from everything.
All in all, it is evident that both Chris McCandless and Wallace Stevens were two very admirable people for doing what they did. To go to a place one knows nothing about and escape, simply living on there own in solitude, is something that many people wish they had the guts to do, but probably never will. Once again, there are times in life when a person gets down, and people need to merely break away from their daily routine; therefore by doing so, those two men were very honorable.
Sherman Alexie
In Sherman Alexie’s story The toughest Indian In the World, it seems like he pokes fun at a lot of contemporary Native American issues. One such issue that he brings up comes about when he brings up various foods such as coca cola and deer jerky.
I may be taking these symbols a little too serious, however it seems like both soda and jerky have a great significance when trying to describe the changes that have happened to the American Indians over the past few centuries. You see, before the whites got to this continent, the Native Americans were people who were very self sufficient. As the white men drove them on to less and less land, and kept taking away more and more of their resources, the Indians had less and less to survive on. In the past, they were ones who would survive on goods that they gathered. They hunted deer and buffalo, and gathered fruits and berries. As times changed however, they were forced to survive on government subsidies. Instead of being able to go and provide for themselves, Native Americans were forced to simply go to a convience store and get what they could, perhaps coca cola?
It seems as though Alexie is a very humorous writer, therefore I may be far off in this interpretation of the deer jerky and soda symbols, however this seems like an important topic to discuss.
I may be taking these symbols a little too serious, however it seems like both soda and jerky have a great significance when trying to describe the changes that have happened to the American Indians over the past few centuries. You see, before the whites got to this continent, the Native Americans were people who were very self sufficient. As the white men drove them on to less and less land, and kept taking away more and more of their resources, the Indians had less and less to survive on. In the past, they were ones who would survive on goods that they gathered. They hunted deer and buffalo, and gathered fruits and berries. As times changed however, they were forced to survive on government subsidies. Instead of being able to go and provide for themselves, Native Americans were forced to simply go to a convience store and get what they could, perhaps coca cola?
It seems as though Alexie is a very humorous writer, therefore I may be far off in this interpretation of the deer jerky and soda symbols, however this seems like an important topic to discuss.
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