Claire Corbeaux, Kat Johnson, Joshua Mora, Corinne Scanlon, Taylor Tisdale, Analiese Vasciannie
Franz Anton Mesmer was an Austrian doctor in the 18th century. He had great interest in astronomy and believed that the moon and the planets could induce disease in humans. Human diseases caused by the cosmos could be healed using his technique of “animal magnetism” or mesmerism. Mesmer incorporated magnets into his experiments as a way to disrupt gravitational tides that caused sickness in his patients. However, Mesmer found that magnets were not the true cause for his success and believed that it was his own animal magnetism that healed his patients. Mesmer achieved hypnosis in his patients by gazing at them intensely and making passes, or strokes, usually on the patient’s arms.
In I am Not Sidney Poitier, Not Sidney discovers a book in his public library that details the process of “fesmerization.” Fesmerization is a lesser known type of hypnotism that lacked notoriety due to its similarity in name to the “debunked” mesmerization. Not Sidney describes Fesmerism as “the perfect form of self-defense.” (Everett, 16) In contrast with mesmerism, which requires extreme physical intimacy, fesmerism can be accomplished by simply making eye contact with one’s subject. Furthermore, the process of mesmerization depends upon mutual consent between patient and practitioner, but fesmerization allows for its practitioner to gain control over its “patient” without said patient’s awareness. Additionally, fesmerization differs from traditional hypnosis as subjects can be forced into doing things that they would normally find morally abhorrent.
Lyndsey Prince, Molly Byrne, Darby Nagpaul, Emma Mandella, Daina Almonte, Chaim Green
Franz Anton Mesmer was a German-born Viennese scholar with many different educational backgrounds. He studied philosophy, law, theology, and eventually medicine. After practicing medicine for ten or so years, Mesmer realized in his forties that he did not like the concept of medicine in his day, and thought that it’s solutions to health problems were too painful and unnecessary. Using all of his previous knowledge and experience, Mesmer created a new study of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is a state of consciousness in which someone voluntarily gives up control, and becomes more prone to suggestion and direction. Growing from this idea, Mesmer began practicing new therapeutic techniques such as hypnotherapy or animal magnetism as ways to cure illnesses. He altered modern medical practices, such as draining blood from the body. Mesmer was able to cure one patient, Fraulein Oesterline, by creating that same sensation with animal magnetism and taking the illness away without the intrusiveness of the physical procedure. Additionally, to cure one of his patients, Mesmer used a magnet to disrupt the gravitational tides that he believed were affecting her. In his novel I am Not Sidney Poitier, Percival Everett introduces a new concept similar to this called “Fesmerization.”Continue reading “Fesmerization and Control”
As a biology student, I have learned that there is a right and a wrong way of understanding something. I read textbooks to memorize different cycles, reactions, and functions until I know them well enough to explain them to another person or I can repeat them on a test. Although this can sometimes seem frustrating, I love biology. I love learning the mechanisms of how proteins move across the cell, or how birds evolved from dinosaurs, or how our brains can even understand anything at all — everything happens because of a specific chemical reaction, one that can be seen and understood. Unfortunately, this means there is very little room for interpretation — the reaction, the function, or the placement in the phylogenetic tree that is taught by the professor is the way how it should be answered on a test, and if it’s not, it’s wrong. As a scientist I’ve learned that it’s important to question things when it comes to research, but not when studying for a test.
I have been contemplating apathy quite a lot recently. A theme that is relevant in my reading of Percival Everett’s novel _Frenzy_. The character of Dionysus has an abundance of apathy. He feels little and cares even less. Throughout my reading of _Frenzy_ I felt familiar with the apathetic mindset of Dionysus. Yet, for the life of me, I could not figure out why Dionysus’s apathy felt familiar.
The reason why I decided to take this course, regardless of not having any sort of academic English background, is because I genuinely enjoy reading Percival Everett’s literary works. Some may argue that Everett’s style is too complex and all over the place. I agree; however, Everett writes this way to include important messages underlying from the main plot of his stories. He doesn’t necessarily spell out what he wants the reader to take away from his stories, but he does stress the importance of researching the meaning of certain things for the reader to unlock a new level of epistemology, so to speak.
As human beings we often have expectations for many things in life, whether they are high or low, we still have them. For instance, have you ever gone to the movies and as you’re sitting in the theater watching the movie you find yourself creating this picture perfect, ‘happily ever after’ ending in your head? Then in most cases, but not all, you are surprisingly disappointed when the movie doesn’t end the way you had expected it to.
This doesn’t just happen with the movies we watch, it happens with the television shows we watch, the books we read, and almost anything that goes on in our lives. Expectations surround us and consume our everyday life. Continue reading “Expectation v. Reality”
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”
Some content in this blog post may be sensitive to some readers.
According to Emile Durkheim’s sociological theories of suicide, the level to which someone is integrated into society will determine their actions. For example in a small town like Geneseo, and specifically the student body of the college, people are not very integrated into the larger aspect of society. Durkheim says that this one of the reasons people look for a way out, something he calls egoistic suicide. Continue reading “The Pursuit of Ecstasy”
A mindset is an individual’s perception on their ability and qualities such as; our intelligence and creativity. As a class we watched a YouTube video introducing us to fixed and growth mindsets. Within the video we learned the two different aspects on what people are like who are a fixed mindset and for others who are a growth mindset. There are different ways at looking at the two different types of thinking. However, after reviewing the YouTube video, and taking notes, a fixed mindset is more the negative way of thinking and growth is the positive.
If you are person who experience a fixed mindset you have distinctive ways of thinking that make you this way. The main objective to people who have a fixed mindset is they want validation. They believe as a person they have no control over their abilities. The skills you currently have you are born with and they can’t change. This type of person tries to prove themselves, but is very sensitive to mistakes. When engaging in work they focus on the results instead of progress. People with a fixed mindset are known to do this because they don’t want to look bad. They view having to put effort into their work as a negative. If they have to put effort in it must mean they are bad at what they do. Many even avoid all challenges; they don’t want to face the process of possible feedback. Instead of taking feedback as a way to improve for future assignments, they take in personal. They interpret feedback in this negative way because they see their mistakes as a threat rather than taking it for improvement. As a result, a person with a fixed mindset, may lack confidence and may always feel anxious or stressed when it comes to criticism. Now for the growth mindset, it is about achieving proficiency. A person may take these aspects and apply them in a positive way. The way growth mindset works is that they think that you have control over your own abilities, and these abilities can be learned or developed over time. Growth mindset thinkers start by working through challenges. They view their personal mistakes as feedback on how to get better, and not as a judgment or a personal attack. A person with this way of thinking is eager to learn because they want to improve, and they are not sensitive to criticism or afraid of their mistakes. Many research has shown that teachers now can start changing the way students think to more of a growth mindset, by just the way they approach students outcomes.
Leonardo da Vinci ( one of the many famous procrastinators—I could not find an image of Hesiod)
Think back to a moment in your life when you have avoided starting an assignment, then think of the stress you accumulated attempting to complete it several days before its deadline, and finally think of how fast you ultimately completed that assignment in order to get it done right before the deadline. Sometimes, people tend to avoid tasks that appear large and difficult, because of the amount of time they anticipate it will take; this large amount of time required for the assignment may appear intimidating and create a negative sensation or feeling of stress within an individual causing them to avoid the work and procrastinate. Fortunately, procrastination is a habit that all people share and has existed for an extremely long time—procrastination can be seen as far back as 800 b.c, with the Greek poet named Hesiod who cautioned individuals to not “put your work off till tomorrow and the day after”—, which implies that you are not alone in your procrastination and that there are methods to improve work efficiency and decrease procrastination, though methods may differ slightly individually; the methods vary from change in perspective of work to different work practice strategies.
Of course, while everyone participates in some form of procrastination, not everyone is a procrastinator and not everyone procrastinates to an extreme where it may impact their livelihood—this insinuates that these ideas surrounding procrastination do not entirely apply to everyone. I believe that some individuals are inevitably afraid of large investment, in regards to their time which is limited; alas, the self-awareness of our own finite time impacts our out view on activity negatively and sometimes causes us to put certain activities off with the intention to complete them at a later date—there are several issues with this approach and outlook. Individuals who procrastinate will most likely use their time in an attempt to rid themselves of the negative feeling that arrives with the commitment related to an assignment by watching television or completing another task that may reject stress. The problem is that in temporarily alleviating stress, they create the opportunity for even greater stress as they approach their deadline.
People avoid work, alongside the negative sensation associated with overwhelming work, at an early time and then deal with it later under the pressure of a deadline and actual limited short time to complete the assignment. While they may complete the assignment and get a good or sub-par grade on it, alleviating that unnecessary high level stress they built, it would have been much more efficient and less emotionally draining to start earlier—they have to learn that commencing the assignment is the most difficult task when doing work, once you begin most negative emotions leave you, and if not then you’ve at least built some foundation for yourself to begin work. And in contrast to the negative emotions you may feel while procrastinating, you might feel extremely fulfilled and content while working and completing the assignment at an earlier time. In terms of assignments, this can correspond to school, work, or even someone’s own personal life; procrastination is quite interdisciplinary.Continue reading “An Idea On Procrastination And An Attempt To Combat It”
