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For the sake of...
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FOR THE SAKE OF SCHOOL
I am in the middle of my junior year of college and I feel like I am drowning sometimes. All the work and stress that comes with it. While I must admit I do enjoy the rush of stress, but only after I have dealt with it. I guess its more a sense of relief then. I was committed to writing at least once a week but I have failed on doing that. I think it was because I told myself it had to be a story about something, a whimsical tale or a social jest. Instead, I’ll just tell my story and rant or just type if I want to. I enjoy writing and typing. The clicking of the keys is just so soothing to me especially when I get to flowing and I here the space bar *tap* more often then not. So stay along for the ride or keep on scrolling and moving on because I frankly, and petely, and jeffly, don’t care. (Also I forgot about the gifs you can post with these things. GIF not jif, with a G!)
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NEW SHORT STORY. Link in my bio. I am writing and I want people to read it Lols. #writing #shortstory #madeofmoney #horror #fiction #enjoy #creative #easyread. (at JWU Denver) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bncp9lilGzO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oh1u3gqxkicj
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Landing flips is pretty cool too. #flips #tricks #curlsforthegirls (at APEX School of Movement, Denver)
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The best kind of pain is when you feel it while doing what you love #parkour #callus #gripstrength #tear #imokay. (at APEX School of Movement, Denver)
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People will say it is fake. @keztheman #magic #shityeah #apple #inhalf #fruitninja #highscore #irl #whaaaattttt (at JWU Denver)
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BLOG POST 16 (FOR THE SAKE OF MIXED RACE RELATIONSHIPS)
Critical Question: How do mixed-race relationships affect peoples view on race?
I have no business talking about race and the struggles people go through being African, African-American, Mexican or mixed race in the U.S. However, the complexities of dating in Junot Diaz’s “How to Date a Brown Girl(Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie” I can whole-heartedly understand. Doing the right thing, acting the right way, and behaving correctly on a date is certainly challenging. Although, the aspect and social construct of race often cause several problems that should not exist. Everyone is a part of the human race. What I believe Diaz was attempting to show is that in different communities where races are living together one acts a certain way around one race as opposed to another. Which is just the way society works. Granted, it should and needs to change, but that will take time. Anyway, when people see mixed race couples in public they should be viewed just a same race couple. Additionally, it should show society and the world that no matter the race, people can care for one another. We are all a part of the human race. If anything, mixed race couples should break down stereotypes that people have created of the decades. It does not and should not matter when looking for a partner in life or for a relationship that race comes into play.
Moreover, by dating and subsequently dating out of your race makes your children stronger because of the mixed genes. It is like any other animal on the planet. If you mix gene pools you are more likely to have stronger and healthier animals. Humans are animals just like cats, dogs, and bears. I can not state this enough, it does not matter what race you are, we are all apart of the human race. I am not saying abandon your culture or heritage, but don’t make someone’s skin color the reason you don’t date them.
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BLOG POST 15 (FOR THE SAKE OF TRAVEL)
Critical Question: How is a piece of literature defined as historical or fictional?
Evliya Celebi’s The Book of Travels is one of, if not the most, widely renowned piece of literary text from the times of The Ottoman Empire. However, after the death of Celebi, the exact genre of the text was not known. Subsequently, it opens the discussion for this blog post, to figure out what defines a written work as either historical/accurate or fictional. Similar to, Herodotus’ The Histories all we have as readers is his word about what people did in ancient times hence he is often referred to as the father of history. While reading the excerpt from The Book of Travels, Celebi makes sure to use plenty of descriptive words to take the reader to lands he travels to. Yet, one has to decide to trust Celebi’s description of these people, places, and things, as fact or if he simply based it off of what he had read previously. Furthermore, as discussed in class on how to define literature/masterpieces, religious texts were brought up. The Bible, The Qur’an, and The Torah are the texts for Christianity/Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism, respectively, but why those texts? What I stated in class, and what applies to the controversy around Herodotus and Celebi, it is up to the people. It is to what degree a people/culture allows a piece a literature to shape how they live their lives. When a piece is written that can change how people think, it is impossible for it not to have an impact on the future.
Ancient cultures were a lot like children, any young culture is. Highly impressionable and willing to listen to something that sounds inspiring. When pieces such as Celebi’s come out, they can be seen as spotlights on far away lands for those who cannot spend the time/money getting to said place. It is honestly hard to take anyone’s word on history because the only people who know 100% truth about, lets say 3rd century France, are dead.
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BLOG POST 14 (FOR THE SAKE OF GENJI)
Critical Question: Why is The Tale of Genji, considered to be the first novel ever, not discussed in lower forms of education?
I truly did enjoy reading this piece. Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji is long and dense but that does not and should not mean that it is kept out of younger minds reach. I have never heard of this story until this week in my Sophomore year of college. Yet, it was never mentioned in middle school, or high school. Consequently, this brings in a wider discussion to the table about the lack of world literature in high schools across the U.S. After all, we are called a melting pot of culture, last time I checked literature and culture were easily intertwined with one another. Shikibu’s piece brings up issues of gender roles, and the impact they have on a person’s life, she specifically focus’ on the various female characters related to Genji and their struggles in the story. Anyway, I believe that this story is not analyzed, let alone brought up, in lower forms of education because of the permeated theme across all schools in the U.S., focus primarily on American/European literature. I wish I was exposed to these different cultures at a younger age. They share the same values as most of the literary pieces discussed. Asian Literature also has the same overarching human thoughts that are in Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and British literature. However, it is a fairly graphic in terms of sex and multiple partners. On the other hand, students in high school learn about the World Wars, the Holocaust, Vietnam, and the other human atrocities. The importance of Shikibu’ s piece cannot be overshadowed, most importantly because it was a she who wrote it. Most ancient societies woman were treated as second class citizens, in Shikibu’s story they seem to be in the upper parts of this second class, but second class nonetheless.
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BLOG POST 13 (FOR THE SAKE OF DEATH)
Critical Question: How does death influence people and cultures? (FOR CLASS ON 05/02/2018)
Death in any story is the end of a character. Regardless of immortality in said stories, death is experienced in some way, shape, or form by characters in any given piece of literature. In the case with this weeks assigned readings, Leo Tolstoy’s “Death of Ivan Ilych” and Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice”, the main characters both die at the end. In Tolstoy’s story, it is for unknown causes that Ivan dies save an unexpected force to the side that continually gets worse. My guess would be something to due with his appendix. Anyway, what is fascinating and what separates Ivan’s story from others is not focusing on his death but how people deal with his death. The wife trying to get every penny/ruble possible from the government and alternative grave plots was especially interesting. Furthermore, the character Gerasim, a peasant servant to Ivan, becomes closer to Ivan in the weeks leading up to his death than anyone Ivan ever knew. On that point, dying/death influences people in so many ways and can lead people to reveal their true selves now that they do not have to put on a show for the who they are not for the deceased. Death is treated differently across the globe, Ancient Greeks and Egyptians believed it was a journey to the afterlife. They would have elaborate ceremonies surrounding death. Yet, in the U.S.A. we still have a ceremony, compared to the ways of old, seems to have simplified it. Perhaps to make it easier for those attending, rather than the one going in the ground.
In Mann’s story we see the main character, Gustav von Aschenbach consumed by obsession, which ultimately kills him. In my mind, this conflicts the views of death of Tolstoy’s piece. It is not a man struggling to find his own mortality but his desire for a boy, an Adonis in his mind, named Tadzio. I want to know Gustav’s final thoughts if he thought about anyone in his life but Tadzio.
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BLOG POST 12 (FOR THE SAKE OF HUMAN BEINGS)
Due to the grand philosophical influence of this assignments readings, I am switching things up a bit. I will be dissecting a piece from the Satakatryam or The Three Centures/Three Hundred Poems by Bhartrhari.
[A human being]
A human being/is allotted a span/of a hundred years./Half of it/passes at night;/half of the other half/is consumed by childhood,/old age;/the rest is spent/in serving others--/with illness, separation, grief/for companions./What’s happiness, then,/for living things,/in a life that’s like/the bubbles in the froth/on ocean waves?
I have said it once, and I say it again. I am not a fan of poetry. From any century or culture but their are always a few gems sprinkled throughout history that catch my eye, “A human being” being one of them. I wrote the whole thing because, it is all of it that resonated with me. On a little side note, that is the power of literature. Anyway, Bhartrhari’s melancholy is highly relatable, especially in the current climate of the world both literally and politically. In Ancient India, people were thinking about their effect on the globe. Yet again, it returns to the very human issues brought up in the epics of Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and the heroes stories to follow. Although, with Bhartrhari’s piece there is no hero, no knight or demi-god to save the day. It is a blank stare and point and all people asking “What’s happiness” in a life so short and insignificant as “bubbles in the froth on ocean waves?” In the fifth century no less. This level of philosophical thought, questioning happiness, seems to be lost in the modern world. People seem to just flow through life with little to no questioning at all. In the end, I will ask the same question Bhartrhari asked over a millennia ago, “What’s happiness...?” Is it marching against a tyrant, climbing a tree, or sipping Lipton tea on a Sunday afternoon? It is one of the forever eternally human questions that can never be answered for everyone. People will come to their own conclusions, mine idea of it is just having people around you, that you care about, for all of your life. I hope that more “...human being[s]” begin ask more questions like Bhartrhari.
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BLOG POST 11 (FOR THE SAKE OF ANIMATION)
Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno is the inspiration behind the 2010 animated film Dante’s Inferno and the video game with the same name. However, we will focus on the film for this post. The stark differences between the movie and the text it is based upon are truly astonishing. Dante,in the poem,is a mere pilgrim following the poet Virgil and Beatrice is merely another guide at the end of The Inferno. On the other hand, with the movie Dante is a crusader and a sinner, he only travels through the nine circles to prevent Beatrice’s soul being lost to the Devil himself. Virgil is still Dante’s guide but Dante is not a observer as he walks through. He rampages and condemns the demonic creatures that cross his path. Additionally, as one watches Dante descend down into Hell the viewer sees the sin he committed that would put him in the circle he travels through. He also has interactions with different souls and beasts in each circle. My personal favorite being him fighting a deformed and demonized version of his own father who wields a gold/jewel encrusted cross in the circle of greed. This is the Hollywoodization of literature because very little people would want to buy a movie of two guys walking around even if they are just walking around in Hell. One could say a lot was lost in translation from page to screen but the movie still gives interesting visuals for the circles of Hell. The plot of the movie itself is fairly interesting as well if one has not read The Inferno beforehand. I recommend to watch the movie and play the video game, released around eight years ago they can not be too expensive.
(Above is a still when Dante is in the ninth circle of Hell, confronting Lucifer)
Fun fact: The studios involved making the move used different animators for the different circles so if you do watch it, that is why Dante and Virgil look different from circle to circle. It is also set in Hell so be prepared for graphic content.
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BLOG POST 10 (FOR THE SAKE OF RELIGIOUS TEXTS)
Critical Question: How do religious texts inspire people both for good and for bad?
Whenever I read something religious, I am already bias against it. A defined set of rules that you have to follow or else you will be punished in someway after death. While we only read small sections of The Bible and The Qur’an they are nonetheless apart of much larger stories. Although, the core beliefs of each religion, Christianity and Islam respectively, is “be nice, don’t be an asshole.” On the other hand, as I have stated in my previous blog post, people have fought and died because of these texts. The Crusades are my favorite example because it practically pit the two religions against one another for “The Holy Land”, A.K.A. Jerusalem. (Fun fact, I was Bensalem...Pennsylvania its real I promise). Entire European kingdoms of the 12th-14th centuries were so set on getting this land back that thousands of men fought and died to do so, and Muslim kingdoms were just as determined to defend it. What I still do not understand is that, why not just let people think they way they want to think? Declare a spot in Europe “The New Holy Land”. Furthermore, I find it interesting to swap out modern day texts for The Bible and The Qur’an. For example, The Lord of the Rings trilogy as The Bible and The Game of Thrones series as The Qur’an. People would then fight and die for the supposed birthplace of Aragorn or The Hound, follow the rules and ways of either series and kill the others on the other side. On the other hand, this can all boil down to the very human issues The Epic of Gilgamesh and the other stories we have read. Instead of love between fellow humans taking center stage it is the love between man and God.
Also, if a flying spaghetti monster can be perceived as God, then so can a printer, the underwear I wear, and a toilet.
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BLOG POST 9 (FOR THE SAKE OF 9 CRUEL CIRCLES)
I find it to be poetically justifying that my ninth blog post is about the nine circles of hell. Additionally, I will be discussing the media impact of Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno because I am doing my presentation on this literary text. The Inferno gives us a much more vivid, and albeit too real of what hell might actually be like. After reading it in high school and studying on it throughout the worldwide web, I became fascinated with how actions determine which circle of hell you are sent to. Several online tests have come about to which circle of hell I belong in, I get violence mostly. Boiling blood for me! Anyway, Dante’s work became more philosophical than religious to me. Don’t be an asshole and you should be fine is the moral in my mind. Furthermore, I loved the dramatizations of The Inferno both as a video game and a short movie. I recommend them both but the movie’s animation and action scenes are pretty badass. Take them with a grain of salt though because Dante is everything but a pilgrim in the movie/video game. On another point, Dante Alighieri seemed to be extremely political in his time, an Italian Jon Stewart because in The Inferno he refers to plenty of politicians, popes, and people he doesn’t like in the various circles of hell.
I am not religious, but I do enjoy the works, both art and literature, that it creates with it’s influence. It is so incredibly profound that people continually sacrifice themselves for the religion they believe in. What is truly interesting though is that Dante has to go through hell to get to heaven, a phrase often used for theatrical purposes but Dante literally does it. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading The Inferno and cannot wait to present on it.
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BLOG POST 8(FOR THE SAKE OF CONFUCIUS)
Critical Question: How does literary philosophy begin to shape the way people thought?
Philosophy is such a wide umbrella of topics that adding literary in front of it helps to narrow it down. For example, Confucius’ work has influenced a variety forms of pop culture and culture of societies as a whole. What is interesting though is that he had a decent sized following but no ruler that would accept his teachings into their province. Yet, his work has influenced everyone from Ezra Pound to T.S. Eliot. This literary philosophy Confucius’ wrote about is stated to have created a large following which leads one to believe that it is not the person who gets a work remembered but word-of-mouth. As stated in my previous blog post, the importance of oral traditions can be seen here. If not oral traditions than, simply telling friends and family to read and appreciate the work Confucius did. His work deals with some of the same overarching issues humans face with their everyday lives but goes into much more specific detail. Furthermore, it is not from a main character point of view, rather it is Confucius looking at the world and finding what is wrong and what is right. Anyway, this literary philosophy began to shape the way people thought through its very human instincts. Such as but not limited to, being a good leader, parent, child, student, person and so on. Moreover, having such philosophical thoughts written down and preserved through history gives Confucius an advantage over other philosophers because he lived in a world less complicated but nonetheless dealt with corruption of governments.
Ancient China also had little to no connection with the rest of the known world until trade became more prevalent, i.e. through the creation of The Silk Road and trade routes like it. If one steps into Confucius’ shoes, similar to Ancient Greece, with the varying provinces and rulers with their own cultures, how he could see the disconnect between people. Ironically, Confucius’ work is open to multiple interpretations possibly creating conflict when conflict was the last thing in mind.
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BLOG POST 6 (FOR THE SAKE OF NATURE (IN ANCIENT GREECE))
Critical Question: What does Ovid’s Metamorphoses connection to nature do for the story?
The natural world often takes a background role to most epics and stories. It is interesting when an author/artist involves nature on any level of their created narrative. Ovid in his epic, Metamorphoses, people quite literally turn into trees, flowers and animals. However, what is the more interesting aspect is turning into something other than animals but trees and flowers. How people of Ancient Rome reacted to this. The Romans started to develop cities, Rome being the largest detaching them from the farm and being an agriculturally society. Granted, the cities depended on the farms for food but this transition from farm to city can even be seen in recent history. The Industrial Revolution is the best example by far. What one must notice is the shift in culture when people moved to the city. In the case of Rome and other cities at time people became less connected to the natural world because they had to focus on their own lives within the city walls. Hence, they become focused on their own personal lives rather than the gods or the world they rule over. This is more of a look at the life an history around Ovid’s work than the work itself. Anyway, the connection to nature in Ovid’s piece I believe enhances the story. Nature is naturally beautiful so using similes and comparisons to nature will make ones story appear beautiful, naturally.
The world, especially now, has become so detached from nature it has seeped away from most if not all of our culture. What movie or book that has come out recently deals with nature, has nature as a main part of the story, or deals with the issues nature faces? Documentaries can only do so much to bring the natural world into focus. If you can’t tell, I really like nature. Specifically, trees.
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BIG RICH PARKOUR PART 4, On YouTube now. Link in my bio. Like, comment, share, and subscribe.
#gopro#whatilove#stunts#dealwithit#hahstag#awesome#subscribe#iwannabefamous#forthelikes#like#parkour#youtube#whatido#jwu#pov#illstopnow#dealwithmyannoyance#dope#share#fortheviews#living#comment#noiwill#ninjabrandparkourgym#doingme#toomanyhashtags#maybe#filming
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