Writing, like any other creative process, is something that requires structure, order, and practice. While some might argue that writing is merely a matter of talent or innate ability, my experiences in this class have taught me that this is far from the case. Over the years, I have dabbled in writing but found myself held back by bad habits. I used to suffer from periods of supposed “writer’s block” and if I did not have a deadline for a piece, it would never get done. The blogging assignment, however, has completely changed my perspective. This assignment forced me to develop a more efficient creative process in order to complete this assignment and develop my skills as a writer. I believe that the structural framework that I developed benefited me by forcing myself to break bad habits and find healthier ways around my problems. I found that as I overcame these problems, both my writing and my engagement improved significantly. Continue reading “Joy from Order (English 203 Final Paper)”
Meaning in Strange Places
Now that the blogging process is almost over, I want to briefly reflect on some of the things that I have learned.
When I started this assignment, I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t quite sure what exactly the course material was trying to say and I did not really understand what was expected from me. But as the year went on, I was reminded of an experience that I went through several years ago. Continue reading “Meaning in Strange Places”
The Strangeness of Meaning
“…how strange is it to be anything at all?”
This quote is a line from the 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by the indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel. Aeroplane is a concept album that draws heavily from The Diary of Anne Frank as well as lead singer Jeff Mangum’s lucid dreams. The album uses extensive surrealist imagery as well as bizarre, eclectic instrumentation, making for a jarring but deeply fascinating experience. When I first listened to this album, I was taken aback as I had never heard anything quite like it and for the next few days, I scoured the internet, trying to learn all I could about this iconic recording. Continue reading “The Strangeness of Meaning”
Quantifying the World
Have you ever wondered where systems of measurement come from?
Whether Metric or English, these systems are more or less taken for granted. For a long time, the thought of where these come from never occurred to me. Meters, feet, pounds, and kilograms all seemed quite simple and I never thought of where they came from. However, Dr. McCoy recently shared an article from Atlas Obscura that made me rethink this. Continue reading “Quantifying the World”
Projecting Order
In one of my previous blog posts, I explored the concept of order and how we as human beings create it to keep ourselves sane. While that post mainly focused on the categorization of people, that is only one way that human beings impose order on the world around them. This week’s reading in Interdisciplinarity by Joe Moran touched on a different way that human beings try to impose order; the categorization of land. Continue reading “Projecting Order”
Who is it For?
A couple weeks ago, Dr. McCoy raised an important question about the 1963 film, Lilies of the Field:
“Who is this movie for?
While the question initially eluded me, I believe that I have reached an answer. Continue reading “Who is it For?”
The Problem of Order
I want to begin this post by asking a question:
What is order?
Now, I realize that some of you are probably rolling your eyes at this statement. To be fair, it is about as aggressively “college student” as Bob Marley posters, cup noodles, or crippling debt. It is a question that your friend who reads Nietzsche slurs out during a drunken rant. A question that sounded much better in his head. Yes, this question is clichéd; but I still believe that it is worth asking. Continue reading “The Problem of Order”
The Jim Crow Museum and Original Sin
Last Monday in class, we watched a documentary about the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. The museum collects racist items from American history and displays them to the public to raise awareness. In this film, Dr. David Pilgrim, the museum founder, talks at length about how guests in the museum try to psychologically distance themselves from the hateful things they see. Pilgrim mentions how people look for the least offensive things they can find and question why they are in the museum. He says that people also argue that the things featured in the museum are simply part of the past and that we as a society should just forget about them. This sense of denial permeates the film and is reflected in many of Pilgrim’s interactions with sellers. Continue reading “The Jim Crow Museum and Original Sin”
Fesmerization: Understanding the Absurd
Toby Youngman, Jessica D’Antonio, Madison Jackson, Kaila McKiernan, Connor Skelton
Franz Mesmer was a German doctor that lived between 1734-1815. This was a time of great change within European history. Ideas from the Enlightenment prompted social upheaval and changes in scientific thinking across Europe. Embracing these ideas, Mesmer theorized the concept of animal magnetism. Mesmer believed in a living natural force possessed by all animate beings that could be manipulated to cure people of disease. To further his understanding, Mesmer conducted strange and intimate sessions with patients that resulted in tremblings, trances, and seizures. Mesmer gained a reputation as a talented physician and was sought out by many important figures in Enlightenment-era Europe. However, rumors began to spread of his unconventional practices leading to a formal investigation by King Louis XVI of France. This investigation badly hurt Mesmer’s reputation and led to his exile. His successor, Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, continued his work despite criticism. Today, Mesmer is considered one of the founders of modern hypnotism, also affectionately called “mesmerization.” Continue reading “Fesmerization: Understanding the Absurd”
Unzipping the Suspicious Pants
If I had to choose anything that stuck out to me the most when I first started this class, it is without a doubt the “suspicious pants” conversation. In this discussion, we were asked to dissect and analyze the meaning of a particularly suspicious pair of pants from Twitter. Needless to say, I never expected to do something like that in a college-level English class. In fact, that was probably the most time I have spent talking at a pair of pants that looks it has eyes.