Sunday, April 17, 2011
April Blizzards Bring May... ?
Yeah... This adult is a reflection of me now-a-days. I think some of you can relate.
Click to and zoom to enlarge image.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thoreau, Ms. Alcott, and Christopher McCandless
When I read Louisa May Alcott's "Transcendental Wild Oats", I didn't think it was very funny. After reading these serious philosophical pieces by Emerson and Thoreau, I wanted to take her piece "Transcendental Wild Oats" literally. Needless to say, after discussing the article during class today, I gained a better understanding of the many different levels of humor in the piece. After discussing Alcott's article more in class with Chris, I think that my favorite line from it was:
"'I shall wait till it is made clear to me. Being in preference to doing is the great aim, and this comes to us rather by a resigned willingness than a wilful activity, which is a check to all divine growth,' responded Brother Timon.
'I thought so.' And Mrs. Lamb sighed audibly, for during the year he had spent in her family Brother Timon had so faithfully carried out his idea of 'being, not doing,' that she had found his "divine growth" both an expensive and unsatisfactory process."
As we were discussing in class on Wednesday, I know that others and I believe that simply "being" is not enough. This philosophy made me think of the wonderful non-fiction book (and movie) "Into the Wild", which chronicles the life of Christopher McCandless. I remember from the book that the main character Christopher McCandless believed in many Thoreau-esque transcendentalist ideals throughout high school and college, and Louisa May Alcott's satire about "being, not doing" made me think of a particular passage from "Into the Wild" similar to this one. There's a passage in the book (which I cannot seem to find online) about McCandless's high school band teacher. He said that his teacher would tell the students statements such as "now imagine yourself playing your instrument. Imagine yourself playing this piece." Now anyone who's ever tried to become an accomplished musician knows that this notion is utterly ridiculous because practice is ultimately key to improvement. The irony is that McCandless eventually quit band even though his teacher obviously had similar philosophies to himself. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that it's nearly impossible to live Thoreau's standards even if a person desires to do so. And in my mind, simply being, is not enough.
Also, please read "Into the Wild"! It's a great book that displays the life of a modern-day transcendentalist.
^Can't we just all be friends?
"'I shall wait till it is made clear to me. Being in preference to doing is the great aim, and this comes to us rather by a resigned willingness than a wilful activity, which is a check to all divine growth,' responded Brother Timon.
'I thought so.' And Mrs. Lamb sighed audibly, for during the year he had spent in her family Brother Timon had so faithfully carried out his idea of 'being, not doing,' that she had found his "divine growth" both an expensive and unsatisfactory process."
As we were discussing in class on Wednesday, I know that others and I believe that simply "being" is not enough. This philosophy made me think of the wonderful non-fiction book (and movie) "Into the Wild", which chronicles the life of Christopher McCandless. I remember from the book that the main character Christopher McCandless believed in many Thoreau-esque transcendentalist ideals throughout high school and college, and Louisa May Alcott's satire about "being, not doing" made me think of a particular passage from "Into the Wild" similar to this one. There's a passage in the book (which I cannot seem to find online) about McCandless's high school band teacher. He said that his teacher would tell the students statements such as "now imagine yourself playing your instrument. Imagine yourself playing this piece." Now anyone who's ever tried to become an accomplished musician knows that this notion is utterly ridiculous because practice is ultimately key to improvement. The irony is that McCandless eventually quit band even though his teacher obviously had similar philosophies to himself. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that it's nearly impossible to live Thoreau's standards even if a person desires to do so. And in my mind, simply being, is not enough.
Also, please read "Into the Wild"! It's a great book that displays the life of a modern-day transcendentalist.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Bleeding Kansas
DeAne brought up the history of Bleeding Kansas today in class because of its strong connection with the Civil War. Although our class will not be reading a book about Bleeding Kansas, I thought that I would take some time in my blog to discuss the importance of Bleeding Kansas in American history. Growing up in northeast Kansas, Bleeding Kansas is particularly significant to the morals of the people that live in that area today. Bleeding Kansas divided the state during the civil war era between pro and anti-slavery (eventually becoming a "free state" in 1861). Although today Kansas remains to be mostly conservative, "the state embodies a curious blend of the Religious Right’s “culture wars” with Koch Brothers free-market fundamentalism," as stated in the Lawrence-Journal World. Kansas was John Brown's propaganda territory (Thoreau was a supporter of John Brown). Today, the history of Bleeding Kansas has created some moral issues via abortion laws. Two years ago, infamous late-abortion Dr. George Tiller was killed at a Lutheran church in Wichita, KS. Abortion laws have become hot-bedded issues in Kansas today. Other remnants of Brown's influence remain in the rivalry between University of Kansas (KU) and University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). Lawrence, KS (home of KU), was the place of the pro-slavery raid in an anti-slavery town. Western Missouri was stereotypically pro-slavery during this time while eastern Kansans were strong abolitionists.
So there is a bit of the history behind pro/anti-slavery in Kansas and its effect on today's society! And here is a mural of the controversial John Brown, which can be found inside of the Kansas state capital building:
So there is a bit of the history behind pro/anti-slavery in Kansas and its effect on today's society! And here is a mural of the controversial John Brown, which can be found inside of the Kansas state capital building:
Thursday, April 7, 2011
More Emerson: Nature
What a wonderful piece to read on a beautiful spring day! This piece made my happy because it emphasized nature which made me think of all of the wonderfully nice spring days that we've been having lately :)
"As when the summer comes from the south; the snow-banks melt, and the face of the earth becomes green before it, so shall the advancing spirit create its ornaments along its path, and carry with it the beauty it visits, and the song which enchants it; it shall draw beautiful faces, warm hearts, wise discourse, and heroic acts, around its way, until evil is no more seen."
This is a quote drawn from Emerson's "Nature", which I found a particularly strong personal parellel with. Nature, according to Emerson, connects to God, art, landscape and science. It is the soul and spirit found, untouched by man, which gives life and beauty to mankind. Ahhh... As I read this, I can't help of think of Emerson's work as a love poem devoted to nature. It evoked natural landscape images that made it visually beautiful to read. I thought that in addition to being a poem devoted to nature, Emerson's "Nature" was inspirationally speaking to mankind with philosophical advice. Well done, Emerson, well done.
"As when the summer comes from the south; the snow-banks melt, and the face of the earth becomes green before it, so shall the advancing spirit create its ornaments along its path, and carry with it the beauty it visits, and the song which enchants it; it shall draw beautiful faces, warm hearts, wise discourse, and heroic acts, around its way, until evil is no more seen."
This is a quote drawn from Emerson's "Nature", which I found a particularly strong personal parellel with. Nature, according to Emerson, connects to God, art, landscape and science. It is the soul and spirit found, untouched by man, which gives life and beauty to mankind. Ahhh... As I read this, I can't help of think of Emerson's work as a love poem devoted to nature. It evoked natural landscape images that made it visually beautiful to read. I thought that in addition to being a poem devoted to nature, Emerson's "Nature" was inspirationally speaking to mankind with philosophical advice. Well done, Emerson, well done.
Emerson
Yesterday in class we discussed authors Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne's opinions on 19th century trains. I found that although each author spoke about similar aspects of trains, their interpretations were quite different. When we formed groups of three with each person representing a certain author that they focused on, it became clear that each author had their own thoughts about trains and what they mean for the future. Although I focused on Thoreau during the assigned reading, I found Emerson to be more interesting and certainly more positive about the future of trains in America. Emerson presented a unique look at trains because he felt that their existence proved the correlation between trains and nature. I thought that Katie brought up an interesting perspective when she said that she didn't think that Emerson would like the influence on internet on today's society. Most other groups in our class (mine included) thought that Emerson would have a great appreciation for the social connectedness found in today's civilization. Even though the internet does not seem to incorporate nature, it psychologically connects us to other people across the world. I think the true question is whether Emerson would consider nature or connectedness of people to be more important for society.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Bronx Zoo Cobra
Just something to lighten a case of the Monday's...
The Bronx Zoo Cobra is the funniest thing I have paid attention to in the past week. The zoo's Egyptian cobra went missing last week and was widely publicized in the national news, and rightfully so: The snake's venom can kill a human in a mere 15 seconds. Yikes! The good news was that zoo's officials had said that the snake did not escape the Reptile Room of the Bronx zoo. Regardless, one individual took time last week to make the Bronx Zoo Cobra a Twitter account that made light of the situation. The Twitter account, which has an unrevealed account owner, created several tweets throughout the week chronicling the snake's faux adventures using the hashtag #snakeonthetown. Tweets such as "Getting on the ferry to Ellis Island. Let's hope that this goes better than that time on the plane. #snakeonthetown", added hilarity to the situation.
If you have some extra time or need a good laugh, click on the link to the Twitter page posted above. Although the snake has now been found (thankfully in its reptile room perimeters), #snakeonthetown no longer exists, but the hashtag has cleverly been renamed as #snakeatthezoo.
The Bronx Zoo Cobra is the funniest thing I have paid attention to in the past week. The zoo's Egyptian cobra went missing last week and was widely publicized in the national news, and rightfully so: The snake's venom can kill a human in a mere 15 seconds. Yikes! The good news was that zoo's officials had said that the snake did not escape the Reptile Room of the Bronx zoo. Regardless, one individual took time last week to make the Bronx Zoo Cobra a Twitter account that made light of the situation. The Twitter account, which has an unrevealed account owner, created several tweets throughout the week chronicling the snake's faux adventures using the hashtag #snakeonthetown. Tweets such as "Getting on the ferry to Ellis Island. Let's hope that this goes better than that time on the plane. #snakeonthetown", added hilarity to the situation.
If you have some extra time or need a good laugh, click on the link to the Twitter page posted above. Although the snake has now been found (thankfully in its reptile room perimeters), #snakeonthetown no longer exists, but the hashtag has cleverly been renamed as #snakeatthezoo.
Trains and Democracy: What's the Connection?
Today we spoke of trains as a major symbol of 19th century American life. To my American Conversation group, trains were the leader of the industrial revolution and aided in the rise of urbanization in America. In Mary Klein's article, she spoke of trains with admiration for their developments of several cities, such as Chicago and the entire Rock Island area. As we stated in class today, I agree that it that trains provided an economic development during the 19th century for many cities/towns not surrounded by a waterway. This machine could transport agricultural goods across the country at a whopping 20 MPH! The railway system was obviously a huge innovation for Americans because it created a bridge between agriculture and industry.
With the rise of the industrial age and the U.S. railway system, the people controlling the train stations gained high status in society. Many of the systems were run by the wealthiest people in the country, such as the Vanderbuilt's, and created monopolies of the economic system. Although these economic gaps between citizens do not seem to foster democracy, they did help to create the rise of unions in America. The actions of the workers fighting for their rights at their train station jobs is certainly a demonstration of democracy at work in America. The grand scale of the railway system across America's territory helps to literally unify the country as a whole, instead of dividing it based on the many state boundaries.
Not a 19th century train, but regardlessly still an awesome one!
With the rise of the industrial age and the U.S. railway system, the people controlling the train stations gained high status in society. Many of the systems were run by the wealthiest people in the country, such as the Vanderbuilt's, and created monopolies of the economic system. Although these economic gaps between citizens do not seem to foster democracy, they did help to create the rise of unions in America. The actions of the workers fighting for their rights at their train station jobs is certainly a demonstration of democracy at work in America. The grand scale of the railway system across America's territory helps to literally unify the country as a whole, instead of dividing it based on the many state boundaries.
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