Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Last Post
This class has been one of the most thought provoking and interesting classes I've taken in all my 4 years at MSU. I took a Literature 101 class my freshman year from Dr. Sexson, and when the opportunity came to take this class, I knew that I had to do it. It's a decision that I don't regret at all. I've learned so many things that related to my life in this class. Some of the most important things I learned were that there is a story behind everything, there is no such things as an ordinary day, and that everything comes back to mythology. Thank you Dr. Sexson for everything you've taught me! Mythology is now something I'll carry with me everyday.
Another Coincidence
It seems like all these things having to do with mythology are happening at the end of the semester. I just wanted to tell you about a little coincidence that happened this weekend. I wrote last week about a nightmare that I had in which my boyfriend tried to kill me with his object of choice- a screwdriver.
On Sunday, we went on a Walmart trip to pick up a few random things. We picked up some laundry stuff, some dish soap, new speakers for the truck, and then my boyfriend said he needed to go pick up one more thing. We headed over to the tool section and he began to search for the one thing I hoped he wouldn't- a set of screwdrivers. I thought to myself "Oh hell no! Why today out of all days does he choose to buy a screwdriver?" It's almost like it was fated to happen this way. Of course I told him about my dream and he thought it was funny, and now jokingly pretends like he might attack me with a screwdriver.
Anyways, it was interesting how one of our assignments was to have a dream and the other was to have a coincidence, and both of these became related for me.
On Sunday, we went on a Walmart trip to pick up a few random things. We picked up some laundry stuff, some dish soap, new speakers for the truck, and then my boyfriend said he needed to go pick up one more thing. We headed over to the tool section and he began to search for the one thing I hoped he wouldn't- a set of screwdrivers. I thought to myself "Oh hell no! Why today out of all days does he choose to buy a screwdriver?" It's almost like it was fated to happen this way. Of course I told him about my dream and he thought it was funny, and now jokingly pretends like he might attack me with a screwdriver.
Anyways, it was interesting how one of our assignments was to have a dream and the other was to have a coincidence, and both of these became related for me.
Heart Attack
The other day I was driving around in my car, mindlessly listening to the radio. I was listening to the top hits today for some reason, i'm not sure why because I usually listen to country. I often think that alot of the popular music today has meaningless lyrics and is basically just dance music. I was listening to another one of those catchy songs, and was about to change the channel when I heard a couple lines of lyrics that struck me.
I googled it later and the song is called heart attack. It's basically about her not wanting to fall in love with this guy because she knows she'll just end up getting hurt. One of the verses is:
The feelings are lost in my lungs
They’re burning, I’d rather be numb
And there’s no one else to blame
So instead I’ll take off in a run
I’m flying too close to the sun
And I’ll burst into flames
At first I wasn't sure if I had heard correctly. Was this popular pop song actually referencing Greek mythology?! I believe that it actually was. The reference of flying too close to the sun clearly has to do with the story of deadalus and icarus. Icarus was told to not fly too close to the sun, but he did and burst into flames. I think that in this song, rather than being a literal reference to it, is a metaphorical reference to the myth. I figure that in the song, this girl knows that she should not be with this boy, yet she is still tempted, just as icarus was tempted to fly near the sun. She has probably been told not to be with him, but yet she still has that desire. It appears in this song that the girl does not give into her temptations. In mythology, there is a common theme of people doing what they are told not to do, and that theme seems to also be in this song.I was just surprised that this reference to mythology showed up in current pop music!
I googled it later and the song is called heart attack. It's basically about her not wanting to fall in love with this guy because she knows she'll just end up getting hurt. One of the verses is:
The feelings are lost in my lungs
They’re burning, I’d rather be numb
And there’s no one else to blame
So instead I’ll take off in a run
I’m flying too close to the sun
And I’ll burst into flames
At first I wasn't sure if I had heard correctly. Was this popular pop song actually referencing Greek mythology?! I believe that it actually was. The reference of flying too close to the sun clearly has to do with the story of deadalus and icarus. Icarus was told to not fly too close to the sun, but he did and burst into flames. I think that in this song, rather than being a literal reference to it, is a metaphorical reference to the myth. I figure that in the song, this girl knows that she should not be with this boy, yet she is still tempted, just as icarus was tempted to fly near the sun. She has probably been told not to be with him, but yet she still has that desire. It appears in this song that the girl does not give into her temptations. In mythology, there is a common theme of people doing what they are told not to do, and that theme seems to also be in this song.I was just surprised that this reference to mythology showed up in current pop music!
Music
In this class, music has been a big theme. It seems like music can be related to almost anything. I'm a huge fan of country music, and I don't know what I would do without it. There are so many songs that I can relate to, and you grow to have a personal connection with some of them. This just shows how great the power of music is.
I've often found it interesting how you learn something random one day, and then suddenly it is relevant. For example, this happened alot in high school. I would learn a random fact that I thought would never be useful and then later that night it would be a question on jeopardy. This happened multiple times and each time I was just as amazed. I've noticed that something similar happens with music. When I'm feeling in a certain mood, I turn on the radio and somehow the radio seems to know exactly what i'm going through and is playing the perfect song. Sometimes when I'm sad and I turn the radio on, I have to change the channel because the song playing just makes it worse. I guess like Ovid knowing that I would be in this class in 2013, the radio knows what I'm going through in my life each moment.
Its also interesting how there is no such thing as originality, and surely every note of music has been played before, yet people keep on making more music. Its all about your unique interpretation of the music I guess. Overall, music seems to be a force so strong that it unites people. Everyone can relate to a certain song and put their own spin on the lyrics to make it personal to them, just like you can make nearly every Ovid story personal to you.
I've often found it interesting how you learn something random one day, and then suddenly it is relevant. For example, this happened alot in high school. I would learn a random fact that I thought would never be useful and then later that night it would be a question on jeopardy. This happened multiple times and each time I was just as amazed. I've noticed that something similar happens with music. When I'm feeling in a certain mood, I turn on the radio and somehow the radio seems to know exactly what i'm going through and is playing the perfect song. Sometimes when I'm sad and I turn the radio on, I have to change the channel because the song playing just makes it worse. I guess like Ovid knowing that I would be in this class in 2013, the radio knows what I'm going through in my life each moment.
Its also interesting how there is no such thing as originality, and surely every note of music has been played before, yet people keep on making more music. Its all about your unique interpretation of the music I guess. Overall, music seems to be a force so strong that it unites people. Everyone can relate to a certain song and put their own spin on the lyrics to make it personal to them, just like you can make nearly every Ovid story personal to you.
Annabel Lee
Last week in class we talked about the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe. I happen to love this poem and never thought that it would be a topic of discussion in mythology class. The poem goes as follows:
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
The poem is just so beautiful it takes my breath away to read it. The way it flows when you read it is amazing. Aside from that, there is a deep meaning behind it. It is about a man mourning the death of his wife, who died far too young. I'm sure many people can relate to the death of someone young. Death in itself is tragic, but the thought of a life cut too short may be even more so. If you've lived a full life and died of old age, death seems logical. However, a life cut short is left with so may open ended questions like "Why?" and "What if?".
A couple of years ago in my photography class we had to choose a poem and do a series of photos interpreting it. Coincidentally, I chose Annabel Lee and my photos portrayed a feeling of solitude and loneliness and overall sorrow.
I must admit when I first heard this poem at a young age, I didn't understand the meaning behind it, but I still knew it was beautiful. Now that I know the meaning behind it, it is still beautiful. I guess tragedy can have some kind of beauty behind it too.
Pygmalion
The story of Pygmalion was very interesting to me. I feel like it can relate to many peoples lives . Alot of times, when people are in a relationship, they try to change the other person somehow. In the story, Pygmalion constructed his idea of the perfect women into a statue and fell in love with her. He had all the control in creating her. Many times in relationships it seems like one person thinks that they can change the other somehow. So, they spend time trying to change them and are often times disappointed that they can't. As humans, we are not pygmalion and cannot completely change another person.
I found a quote from the book "No Man Is a Island" that says "The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them."To me, this quote is relevant to the idea of people trying to mold others to fit their own image of the perfect person. Its true that often times in love people change and they change each other just by being together, but i'm not so sure if the complete essence of a person can change in a relationship. For example, my sister and her boyfriend have an agreement. They each have an issue that the other is not so fond of. My sister is a vegetarian and her boyfriend smokes. So, they have the agreement that is he stops smoking, then she will start eating meat. This doesn't seem like a drastic change in what defines them, but rather just a little something that might help their lives in someway.
I've often heard that people put the ones that they love on a pedestal and sometimes refuse to see their flaws. If you're in a bad relationship, somethings you might be the only one who doesn't see it. You may be so in love that it blurs your vision and it takes all the people around you telling you how bad it is for you to finally realize it. Love is tricky.
I find the quote that I said earlier to even be relevant in my life. When people start dating, its usually a happy beginning and you only see the good things about the other person. However, as time goes on, you start to see the negatives. If you try to change all the negatives to fit your idea of the perfect person, the other person may begin to resent you and then they are not themselves anymore- they are just the person that you created. Sometimes this can be good, like if they have a bad addiction or something, but other times its best to let the person be themselves and love them for them.
Anyways, I feel like the story of pygmalion, even as old as it is, can still be extremely relevant to everyones lives today.
I found a quote from the book "No Man Is a Island" that says "The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them."To me, this quote is relevant to the idea of people trying to mold others to fit their own image of the perfect person. Its true that often times in love people change and they change each other just by being together, but i'm not so sure if the complete essence of a person can change in a relationship. For example, my sister and her boyfriend have an agreement. They each have an issue that the other is not so fond of. My sister is a vegetarian and her boyfriend smokes. So, they have the agreement that is he stops smoking, then she will start eating meat. This doesn't seem like a drastic change in what defines them, but rather just a little something that might help their lives in someway.
I've often heard that people put the ones that they love on a pedestal and sometimes refuse to see their flaws. If you're in a bad relationship, somethings you might be the only one who doesn't see it. You may be so in love that it blurs your vision and it takes all the people around you telling you how bad it is for you to finally realize it. Love is tricky.
I find the quote that I said earlier to even be relevant in my life. When people start dating, its usually a happy beginning and you only see the good things about the other person. However, as time goes on, you start to see the negatives. If you try to change all the negatives to fit your idea of the perfect person, the other person may begin to resent you and then they are not themselves anymore- they are just the person that you created. Sometimes this can be good, like if they have a bad addiction or something, but other times its best to let the person be themselves and love them for them.
Anyways, I feel like the story of pygmalion, even as old as it is, can still be extremely relevant to everyones lives today.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Improbable Life
The presentation that Tyler gave in class today really got me thinking about how each decision effects your life so drastically. Sometimes its just a coincidence meeting people, and sometimes that coincidence can change your life. All of these small changes in life provoke larger changes that effect the course of our lives. Dr. Sexson said that life is improbable and that "all chances are against it". I could be so many other places right now, in the company of so many other people, yet here I am. Every choice i've made in life so far has led me here, and if I'd made even the slightest different choice in the past, everything could be different. That's such an interesting thought to me. How if I'd said hello to a different person or not gotten to know somebody, or made a different choice, how different would my life be? I guess it's true that the smallest choices add up to big changes.
It was also interesting to me how Dr. Sexson spoke about how improbable it was that we are even alive and in this class. If my parents had made different choices and never met, I would not even exist. All chances were against me not existing, and yet here I am. This got me thinking about my life, and all the people who've come and gone and how my life has changed with each person i've known. There are millions of people out there who I don't know, but I'm sure i've had the chance to get to know alot of them and that chance just slipped away. John Steinbeck once said "I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen". This quote speaks to me so much because the important people I have in my life now, I met by chance. There are so many people who i've walked by, and just by saying hello or giving them a smile I could've gotten to know them better, but I didn't. And it was choices like these that make all the difference in my life.
Dr. Sexson said that there are 4 things we need to learn, and those things are "memory, miracle, music, and myth." I thought about this and realized how perfect these 4 things fit in with my current relationship. About two years ago, my old boyfriend and I broke up. In the months that followed, I could only think about him and did everything in my power to forget him, but his memory kept haunting me. This is where the first M comes in. Then one day in August, after the sweet pea festival, my friends wanted me to go country dancing at the SOB barn. I wasn't going to go at first, but it was my friends birthday and so I was convinced to go. See, fate was already fighting against me. I got to the dance, and to be honest there were a bunch of strange people there. Then, the second M (Miracle) came into play. This handsome cowboy came up and asked me to dance. We danced and he was a bit drunk and one of the worst country dancers ever, but it was so much fun dancing with him. In my past relationships, music has been a huge point of conflict. See, I love country music and need to be with someone who also loves it. So as we were dancing, this boy starts singing along with the song, and then we begin to test each other on country song lyrics and turns out he knows just as much country as me. I'd never met someone like that. It seemed to be a miracle! So as we're dancing, we're both singing the song "Dust on the Bottle", and sadly the dance ends and we go our seperate ways. I walk over to my best friend, and she points to the boy and says,"Amber, I have a feeling thats your future boyfriend." A few songs go by, and suddenly "Dust on the bottle" comes on. This is where the third M (Music) comes into play. So this boy rushes over to me and asks me to dance again, and the rest is history. We've been together ever since. It seems like everything and all the powers of the world were working against us meeting that night. I almost didn't come to the barn, and he said he almost didn't come either, and that it was just by chance. I'd been dwelling over the memory of my past boyfriend and needed a new beginning, and I found it in a place I never expected. It was a miracle I met him that night. Our love of country music brought us together. All of these things combined are myth. Now everytime I hear "Dust on the Bottle", I think of our meeting. Myth is the precedent behind action, and I believe it played a part in bringing us together. If I hadn't of gone to the barn that night and made a different choice, my life would be on a completely different path right now. It really is true that life is so improbable.
To end things, I have a quote that I love by William Shakespeare. It goes "When I saw you I fell in love. And you smiled because you knew". I don't know if I could fall in love with someone at first sight, but in all reality a look and a smile is all it takes to start to get to know someone. How many people could I have loved if I had just smiled at them and gotten to know them? I'll never know and I don't think it matters at this point. It was by fate that I met Aaron at the dance that night. All it took was his smile and him asking me to dance. At that moment I was skeptical of it becoming anything more than a dance, but maybe, just maybe, deep inside I smiled back because I knew I just might fall in love too.
It was also interesting to me how Dr. Sexson spoke about how improbable it was that we are even alive and in this class. If my parents had made different choices and never met, I would not even exist. All chances were against me not existing, and yet here I am. This got me thinking about my life, and all the people who've come and gone and how my life has changed with each person i've known. There are millions of people out there who I don't know, but I'm sure i've had the chance to get to know alot of them and that chance just slipped away. John Steinbeck once said "I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen". This quote speaks to me so much because the important people I have in my life now, I met by chance. There are so many people who i've walked by, and just by saying hello or giving them a smile I could've gotten to know them better, but I didn't. And it was choices like these that make all the difference in my life.
Dr. Sexson said that there are 4 things we need to learn, and those things are "memory, miracle, music, and myth." I thought about this and realized how perfect these 4 things fit in with my current relationship. About two years ago, my old boyfriend and I broke up. In the months that followed, I could only think about him and did everything in my power to forget him, but his memory kept haunting me. This is where the first M comes in. Then one day in August, after the sweet pea festival, my friends wanted me to go country dancing at the SOB barn. I wasn't going to go at first, but it was my friends birthday and so I was convinced to go. See, fate was already fighting against me. I got to the dance, and to be honest there were a bunch of strange people there. Then, the second M (Miracle) came into play. This handsome cowboy came up and asked me to dance. We danced and he was a bit drunk and one of the worst country dancers ever, but it was so much fun dancing with him. In my past relationships, music has been a huge point of conflict. See, I love country music and need to be with someone who also loves it. So as we were dancing, this boy starts singing along with the song, and then we begin to test each other on country song lyrics and turns out he knows just as much country as me. I'd never met someone like that. It seemed to be a miracle! So as we're dancing, we're both singing the song "Dust on the Bottle", and sadly the dance ends and we go our seperate ways. I walk over to my best friend, and she points to the boy and says,"Amber, I have a feeling thats your future boyfriend." A few songs go by, and suddenly "Dust on the bottle" comes on. This is where the third M (Music) comes into play. So this boy rushes over to me and asks me to dance again, and the rest is history. We've been together ever since. It seems like everything and all the powers of the world were working against us meeting that night. I almost didn't come to the barn, and he said he almost didn't come either, and that it was just by chance. I'd been dwelling over the memory of my past boyfriend and needed a new beginning, and I found it in a place I never expected. It was a miracle I met him that night. Our love of country music brought us together. All of these things combined are myth. Now everytime I hear "Dust on the Bottle", I think of our meeting. Myth is the precedent behind action, and I believe it played a part in bringing us together. If I hadn't of gone to the barn that night and made a different choice, my life would be on a completely different path right now. It really is true that life is so improbable.
To end things, I have a quote that I love by William Shakespeare. It goes "When I saw you I fell in love. And you smiled because you knew". I don't know if I could fall in love with someone at first sight, but in all reality a look and a smile is all it takes to start to get to know someone. How many people could I have loved if I had just smiled at them and gotten to know them? I'll never know and I don't think it matters at this point. It was by fate that I met Aaron at the dance that night. All it took was his smile and him asking me to dance. At that moment I was skeptical of it becoming anything more than a dance, but maybe, just maybe, deep inside I smiled back because I knew I just might fall in love too.
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