dreams

"I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do. To dream, to live in the world of dreams- just as Sumire said. But it doesn't last forever. Wakefulness always comes to take me back" (p. 207).

This quotation can speak to those who think that ones dreams are based on your past or act as somewhat premonitions of some things to come. However, I have come to learn through psychology that dreams are the brain processing information from that day. It essentially is the process of turning short term information into long term information.

Environments

We opened class discussion talking about how our learning environments have an effect on how well we can pay attention along with respond in a teaching enviroment. I wonder how this may affect authors and where they choose to write their works. Would Sputnik Sweetheart have been different if written in a more pleasing environment?

Perspective on Life

On page 59 in Adrienne Rich's Prose and Poetry, the quote reads, "many sleep the whole way others sit staring holes of fire into the air other plan rebellion:night after night awake in prison..."
For some reason this quote caught my eye and reminded me of a picture that is displayed in my high school that reads, "old men dream dreams, and young men see visions." It to me, displays the perspective that individauls can take in looking at the future of their lives and the direction that they choose to take. But, both quotes seem to inspire action or a desire to move further in life. I am taking Rich's quote out of its context and comparing it to the painting at my old school. But, both represent different stages of a persons life, one conflates old and young men in the world and the other represents the attitude that we take in our everyday lives and we choose to do or not do throughout our lives.

Fitting In

As mentioned before in the class the issue of Adrienne Rich's display of keeping the fact that she is Jewish a secret so that she is able to fit into society. Its an example of acting in ways that do not resemble our real selves. At places all across the US and areas that surround my home I sometimes see individuals acting in ways that do not represent their background or area in which they come from. Instead of having a true representation of themselves they decide to try and act as though they belong to a different group that is poor. For example a teen who talks with a street-like accent and wears clothes that resemble those that are underprivileged. But, after talking to the individual I find out they are from an area that is a rich suburband attended private school since age 5. I do not have an answer to why individuals do so, but the point of the blog is to ask the question why we put up false illusions to try and impress and fit in with those around us?

devil

In most films and works there are instances that bring out the worst in people. In Othello the demon of Iago causes much uneeded harm because of the way he manipulates individuals. However, in stories the devil or demon may not be the form of a human but a luxury or other symobls that reoccur in a work. In current works that are comedies or a feel good story the main characters usually overcome the temptations of evil and rise above it. But, in Shakespeare's Othello we know going in that it will be a tragedy and most likely harm will engulf one of the main characters. But, usually the devils work may vanish for the time being, however, the thoughts and feelings of the demon live on.

trust

Women are not respected in Shakespear's Othello, this shows the sexism that occurs , Othello does not take the time to speak to Desdemona rather he takes the word of Iago. This process is the opposite of what usually occurs in today's society. If one of us were to have a problem or look for advice for our personal selves, most likely we would talk to an individual that we have the most trust in, rather than base it on gender alone. Manipulation would be at its peak in the present day, because of the competition of furthering oneself in society. Also, there are individuals that make a living manipulating people after gaining their artificial trust.

creating words

Also, to talk more about Monday's class, we learned that there are over 1000 words that are now in the dictionary thanks to Shakespeare. With the words being undefined I thought in some cases Shakespeare would feel mad or upset that his words have been etched in time by someone, who like Mr. Hamm said interpreted it themselves. There can be many instances that his words meant or had a completley different meaning than what others based their opinion.

Monday's class

In the past, my encounters with Shakespeare have been very uneventful and not very interesting. However, on Monday it the work even though we did not talk about it particularly, it seemed to make my past encounters more understandable. Meaning, that it was not what was on the page that was important, but i was how the words were interpreted and acted out on stage. While, this being the case, I now find it hard for it to be taught in a classroom like atmosphere. I would think that it would be best to watch a variety of renditions of the same play and examine each as there own and attempt to take away key points that are made. But, this would take up too much class time to do so, but i still feel that a showing from maybe a play that was well done or showed a different perspective of events that are occuring in the play would be both helpful and interesting.