WTF

I say, wtf

as "why the funk"?

Funk, as in different, odd, wierd writing style.

I have only read about 1/2 the story, and found it difficult to say the least. Admitedly, it is an engaging storyline. Woman has lover, woman disengages with lover, gains new lover (husband), hears from past lover (ok he is dead but he speaks from the grave in his will and legacy), gains new lover. Shrug, it seems that she is a slut. But that in itself, should lead to a whole series of predicaments and social commentaries. (Hence the engaging aspect.) The concept is similar to much of contemporary rock and roll actually.

The funk part of my critisism, comes in the form of the style of writing.

Long, disjoined lines strung togather, with plenty of run on sentences, commas, commas, commas, (many parentheses); colons, semi-colons, , , , , , , , , , , , , with every type of ? < > ** & % and/or $ (not sweraing here.) Attempting to convey that the writer is giving us a discombubulated continuation. Almost as if this was a surrealistic paiting by Salvador Dali. Strange, and almost dreamlike.

To further confuse the reader, the story is rif with grammer that is intellectual and fewly utilized wording. One must have a dictionary at hand just to read the story.

Both aspects of the style, grammer as well as punctuation; if used by any one of us students in any English class here at CWI, would result in that paper being returned with a failing grade and a request by the instructor to rewrite the paper.

So, the big question here becomes....

WTF ?

Why does the author do this?

Some possible answers include.

The author is attempting to appeal to a select readership. A sort of high brow intelectual set that is the minority that "get it." If this is the case, I suggest that if when taking an English class and a paper comes back that is red marked up, simply return it to the instructor with an added note telling him/her to change your grade to an A, because "they just don not get it"

The author is trying to place us inside a dream world.

The author is placing the readership in an off balance position to more readily connect with the message and the characters.

other ideas? I am all ears

Decker
Decker

The South, True Blood indeed

I should look harder, because I am not finding a moment where a character made a successful “moment of grace”. There were opportunities galore. Such as when the son was poised to rush the Misfit, but didn’t. When the Grandmother could have pleaded for the lives of her grandchildren, she didn’t. Instead, she choose to play the “you would never shoot a woman” card, a fat lot that did for her. Reading back, I do find a surprising character of that of the cat, making a graceful decision, albeit a selfish one, at the end of the story by snuggling up to the Misfit. Does the cat care that it’s family had just been horrifically murdered? No, perhaps the family would have been better served if they had a pitbull.

Q: 6, idea of “good”. If a definition of “good” could be described sans religion, then that definition would include selflessness. Evil, as it’s opposite, would be the epitome of selfishness. I felt that the story and title were slightly at odds, since the story was more about what people do for themselves, at any cost or suffering for those around them.

Misfit killing group of people to avoid detection.

Grandmother bringing her cat along.

Grandmother complaining of Florida, but first in the car.

Grandmother failing to even attempt to save the lives of her son or grandchildren, instead pleading for her own life.

Grandmother freaking out when she realized she made a mistake, causing the accident which lead to the deaths of the car load at the hands of some rough men.

Buddies of the Misfit killing for the power and “fun” of it.

When the Misfit makes his quote at the end, referring to the grandmother, he is really saying that the grandmother would never make a free conscious choice to be good unless there was an external inducement to do so.

Gothic literature always focuses upon setting a mood. (Regular “Gothic” setting a dark, mysterious, magic, slightly erotic world. Southern Gothic follows a similar idea, highlighting odd occurrences, weird characters and localized flavor setting the stage for the reader to be immersed in “The South”. Ok, I have a theory that everyone in life is a few puzzle pieces short. The story simply takes this to new levels, depicting a “normal” dysfunctional family on it’s way to a disaster as a direct result of that dis-functionality arising from choices made along the way. The very realness of the characters and their actions, conjure up that southern mood. Everything from their dialect to the scenery, (such as driving by a “pickaniny” on a dilapidated porch) leads the viewer on a merry journey into the seeder parts of the “Gothic South”.

Decker

          Clay @ play

Eenie meanie minie moe

I’ll bet you thought I was to say

To catch a nigger by the toe

Innocent boys with much to grow           

In games we friends so liked to play

Reaping soon what we have sown    

  

Faggot, slut-spic and nasty ho

Mom paid no mind; it was the way

To catch a nigger by the toe

Youthful slang, just words to blow

Unless of course it was; Lord’s day

Reaping soon what we have sown

Sticks and stones, may break my bones

Hateful small words DO hurt, they say

To catch a nigger by the toe

Eenie meanie minie moe

Echoes my own child’s voice; my clay

To catch a nigger by the toe

Reaping soon what we have sown

                              - Decker     

The Waking by Roethke is a complete paradox in terms.

sleep/waking

cannot fear

think by feeling

dance from ear to ear

(At first.)

Oh, how I enjoy stating the obvious, but then refuting my own statement. (which i hate)

The simple yet convoluted idea of "wake to sleep" immediately conjures up a type of puzzle in my mind as i read this poem. I have often slowly risen to wakefullness, and i thought that this was where Roethke was taking this. The the second line of "fate"  creeps into the poem. Coupled with fear, well both fear and fate go hand in hand with death. As does the last line of "going", go. The concept of, I am here, but sleeping will take me somewhere else, somewhere i am supposed to  go.

Perhaps, it is the passing of my father that has me so sensitive to the ideas of death, fate, travel. The notion that there is somewhere we are all going. Is it my hopes? My own fears? This poem conjures up things that, strangely enough I also cannot fear. Or rather, the idea that i have things to learn, and fear only keeps a person from action "going" which keeps them from learning.

The third stanza is particularly enlightening and right to the point. By being a clear statement, rather than a confusing paradoxical one, the author slaps the reader in the face with the concept that

"learn by going where i have to go."

Obviously, the subject of the story has not learned or gone where they need to so far in life, perhaps a trip through the afterlife (sleep) will aid him.

"Who can tell us how?"

Who can tell me wtf the worm is doing? are we the worm? is the worm part of the decaying process? is the stairs the worm is climbing the stairway to heaven?

Why introduce a character the second from the last line?

Decker

P.S. I may figure it out by the time Tuesday's follow up comes along, but feel free to enlighten the dim.

....................................... (I n v i s i b l e t i t l e )

                                       
                                                                   What color am I?

The drama spelled out in "The Invisible Man" all centers around race.

Blacks vs. Whites

Interestingly, since so much of the story line concerns one group of people subjegating another group based upon a difference of color, that the subject (and author) lables himself "Invisible".

Obviously, there is more to the eye.

Speaking of eyes, Scott brought to my attention the aspect of seeing or eyes in the story.

Going back to admire the sleek design of the cover, (very graphic atrs oriented) rife with subliminal messages all concerning "seeing"

Eyebrow misdrawn and misplaced.

Eye drawn counter to the style of the rest of the piece.

Even the words "a novel" are placed in such a way as to draw the viewers eye to the lack of an eye on the other side of the face.

Going back to the novel, looking for the part where the black youths were shown a naked dancer.

re-reading, watching for catch phrases in this one section. (second paragraph of page 1139)

"sea of faces" "price of looking been blindness", "eyes hollow", "would have looked", "looked in spite of myself", "eyes brushed slowly over her body", "see the fine texture", "cover her from my eyes", "eyes of the others", "hide from her", "she saw only me with her impersonal eyes"

how many is that? (counting)

11

Eleven references to seeing or being seen in one paragraph. Obviously, Ellison is wanting us to "see" something indeed.

Apparently, there is an invisible women along with the invisible man. one may scratch their heads at this, since the sexy blond woman was there to be looked at. (By both whites and blacks) How so, "invisible"?
To further counter the invisibility notion proposed is the notion that her whole purpose in being there was to be shown off and lusted after, dancing for the men, showing them things that their wives would never do for them. soooooo... invisible?

I would propose that the men, of both colors, saw her as a thing. Much as the whites saw the blacks as a thing. Something to be used. However, the text alludes that the woman hides her true self showing only what she wishes. there is a detachment there from the room and situation.

"impersonal eyes" - she is not about to connect
"fixed smiling lips" she wants paid as well right?
"terror and discust in her eyes" - need i say more?

The boy relates to her terror, not realizing that he soon, will be center stage.

Decker

Invisible Man (message)

Why is it that cats and dogs just can not get along?

Ok, more to the subject.... The Invisible Man

Just because one can not readily see something, does not make it non-existent.

We have all heard similar thoughts before. Perhaps that is why it was an easy leap to couple this thinking with The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The whole notion of something/someone being invisible, yet tangible is a fascinating concept. I exist, therefore I am, however, if no one notices, if no one is affected by my actions or simply my existence, then what good am I?

As much as I admire the "invisible" concept, I have to admit that when I read it, it seemed disingenuous. That is to say, it was difficult story to believe. Not from the view point that a bunch of folk would persecute another group of folks because of their differences. (I was going to say "color" but people have been destroying each other over many differences, including race, for, well as long as history has been recorded. The unbelievability of the narrative is more a reaction to how it was written. I apologize for not being able to be citation specific, it was more of a feeling that I was reading (or hearing) a tall tall by a young person that has anger issues.

My failure to "believe" made me search inside. Is it cultural bias? (We all have them, get used to it.) Was I reacting to the story as a "white" person. Saying,,, ahhhh, those nice white fellas would never do such a thing. Balderdash. White people can have a cruel streak, just as anyone of any other ethnicity is capable of atrocities. Then, if I was not taking sides, what was it?

It really bothered me.

There are sections that if really occurred, would have been even more dramatized than they were. For instance, when someone is truly beat up, one hears in detail every bump, scrap, blood smear. now yes, there was some of that, but not nearly as much as if they really were so denigrated. As well, there would be an extreme (if private thoughts only) anger directed at the humiliation and injustice being perpetuated. Yes, there was some of that, but not nearly so much as would happen if the story was an actual accounting. (Just turn on the news about any racial crime, naturally, this type of act pisses people right the hell off) I would believe that even if a black man felt that he could not speak up, at least he would have more internal musing about it all.

Then it occurred to me. perhaps, just perhaps, the story is not meant to be taken literally. Perhaps, it is a series of metaphors for how racial tensions were affecting the lives of both whites as well as blacks. Could one go back and tie certain events occurring in the story and tie them to cultural feelings perpetuated by events happening at the time?

For instance, the showing of the white dancing female to the blacks. Is this whole scene about interracial marriage?

The giving of the scholarship a hidden message that we want some of you to be able to communicate with us at our levels, but certainly not all of you.

Perhaps, the message is invisible. Tangible, present, influencing, yet not seen easily.

Decker

with a little help from my friends

Friends, not to become confused with the entourage.

MY friends, or peers rather, of which a couple this week joined in my bewilderment of Picasso by Stein.

Outside of my normal discussion group, I am breakin the rules and am including a couple comments from others in the class pertinent to Picasso. Good to broaden the circle,

Meagain's blog begins to break down the details of what is going on in the poem. What IS going on?

Follows, something to gain by following, leaders getting something, or working towards something else entirely,

all notions that speak to my initial friends vs. entourage theme. Obviously, Stein observed much the same pandering and ass kissing we see in our own Art(rock) Stars of today. It is comforting to know, that as much changes, some things do remain the same. Huh, interesting notion, Historical personages are people too.

Decker

Oh, and I gather, that Hanna Is just as confused as I

it is, perhaps after all, a simple matter of perspective

Cubism, that wacked out confusing jumble of images portraying different aspects of a thing or person, is a visual invention made famous by Picasso. Most anyone viewing his work will find themselves either loving it or hating it,  few remaining unaffected. Picasso garnered a following that crossed many professional boundaries, with more than a few taking bits and pieces of his fragmented style incorporating it into their own work. 
Picasso developed  a way of viewing the world around us. Seemingly bits and pieces are more of angles and representations of different aspects of the thing that he was depicting. (Usually paintings, but there are quite a few sculptures as well.) Many of the individual parts and pieces in the art were repeated over and over again in the same painting, slightly changed. 


Gertrude Stein’s “Picasso” is certainly more than a commentary of Picasso himself. It is also a homage to that repeated fragment style of perspective. At first, one read the text as simple repetition of the same line over and over. Lines upon lines of identical phrases are laid out, in a sort of hypnotic pattern. But then one realizes that the lines are NOT the same, but rather, slightly changed in subtle ways. A sentence would be repeated word for word, with only one word changed, omitted, moved in the sentence to create a slightly different meaning or reinforcing the meaning. 


Over a series of lines, the meaning changed more and more revealing more and more, as well as less and less. Over a series of lines, the meaning revealed more and more changing more and more, as well as less and less. Over a series of meanings, the lines changed more and more revealing changes more and more, as well as less and less.


Sort of like the telephone game we played as children, and the exaggerated story telling we play as adults, Steins prose repeats and alters at the same time, leading the reader down a merry chase until, at the end, it is revealed that Picasso’s work, works for some, while some work, for some, very little.  


The beginning lines speak of Picasso’s charm, as well as the effect that charm had upon the viewers. By the end, the narrative spoke towards the influence of Picasso’s work upon the viewer. How their own perceptions had changed over time and how time had changed their perceptions and how their perceptions changed their perceptions. Does time change time? Or does change change time? Or is it, that how we view things/time differ from our perception of that time/change?


If I have confused you; 
made you think, 
then right back at ya, 


because at times, 
the best of times,
you do it to me


             - Decker      

big 2 hearted followup

This weeks class work was engaging to say the least. Interesting how a few short stories can elicit such stimulated conversation. Then again, if these stories failed at such, then they wouldn't be included in a survey right?

I found myself reviewing what I wrote in my blog prior to class in an effort to see what we learned from Scott as well as each other would influence a followup. Finding lots and little, (meaning that I like what i wrote, and that there was a seemingly overwhelming amount of additional information gleaned from class) i wandered over to my small group blogs to see if their thoughts could add some clarity.

kassie's blog mirrored many of my own thoughts; a good place to gain some perspective. She has some good questions specific enough to attempt to answer.

i was interested in her questions about the significance of the grasshoppers. I too was struck by Hemingway's use of a simple creature. Is it so simple? Having read some Hemingway, especially when I was living in Sun Vally one year down the way from his old house, as well as spending the following spring in the Bahama islands drinking at one of his old houses now turned into a bar, led me to some of his stories; he is not as simple as he leads on.

I am going to cut and paste part of Kassie's blog, inserting some comments about her observations

My other pondering question is the grasshoppers.  What do the grasshoppers represent?   do they represent other people? or us the reader? hopping through life, no genderal direction or goal other than to survive another day? In the beginning he is stretching his legs and having a smoke when he sees a grasshopper but it’s black.  He picks it up and inspects the grasshopper and it has absolutely no color.  Later he walks on and when he sets up camp he goes and gets grasshoppers so he can use them as bait.  Was he just inspecting them for bait or do they have some symbolic reason for the description and how much detail Hemingway goes into when he is fishing?   only the ones that were black or adapted to black amongst the ashes of the fire live on. Birds have obviously eaten the light green and white ones. Survival narrative? Nick goes to get the grasshoppers and they are cold and the dew is still on the grass so he is grabbing them and putting them into a bottle.  Bottle seems to represent a prison for the grasshoppers. One which each attempts to escape from as Nick plucks them from it to bait his hook. Most find the business end of that hook and are used to obtain something larger and more nourishing. One does indeed escape, but is sucked into the depths, eaten by a fish. Does this speak to the futility of avoiding one's fate? A useful fate? Is Hemingway saying that it is better to have a use even if it is a doomed one? Nick finds a log and there is a grasshopper lodge where there are hundreds.     we all seem to hide amongst our peers. Much good that it does us when the hand of God, (or his representative) reaches down and plucks you from your existence to begin a new function.

 

I would add one grasshopper idea for comment.

 

When Nick shoves the fishing hook up the grasshopper's body. he describes the grasshopper reaching around it's hands in a sort of prayer. is the hook religion? is religion then a tool and trap of some other force with which to utilize us?

 

Decker

 

 

 

 

 

Boyz 2 Men

This week’s readings were all about the concept of boys becoming men. A virtual coming of age narrative reflected in the writings of Hemingway’s “Big Hearted River”, Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” and Wright’s “Almos’ a Man”. Each focused upon a male character going through a rite of passage defining themselves as a man. Self awareness. Who I am and whom do I want to be?

Reading the stories in order, I found myself quickly and easily enjoying Hemmingway’s “Big Hearted River.”  I found common ground with Nick with similar experiences upon wooded rivers far away and untouched by civilization. He, in Michigan, myself in Montana, differed only in geographical location and the fact that he was an accomplished fisherman while I catch lots of snags.  Looking deeper, I realized that the story wasn’t about catching fish, but more about making changes to one’s self adapting to one’s environment. I have a habit of “filling the room”, as my father would have said, exerting my own perspectives upon my surroundings, changing them to suit my wishes. Self awareness and experiences similar to Nick’s have taught me that it is not only easier to change one’s self, but is enlightening.

Nick changes and adapts in a myriad of ways that may seem hidden at first. To begin with, he goes to the wilderness. The storyline gives the reader nothing to reflect about the why’s about this trip, other than that Nick has visited before. I suppose, that to catch fish, one must go to where the fish live. Arriving, he manfully struggles to move all of his stuff, in one trip, to his camp. Is Hemmingway implying that we all have baggage? Heh, of course he is.

Once set up, our hero pulls from his surroundings the items he requires for success. The catching of grasshoppers takes me back to my childhood. Hemmingway does a terrific job of explaining to the reader that taking from nature respectfully is acceptable. There is PETA remorse for using another life as bait for another life to feed yet another life. Death is part and parcel to life. He takes what he can use, then places the log back for future grasshopper collections. Ouch. How many times have I failed to take care of my surroundings respectfully?

Nick fills his day with the pursuit of big trout. You will notice that I say big, but not BIGGEST. The really big one gets away, but instead of relentlessly pursuing it, like Ahab would have in Moby Dick, he reflects, relishes the experience then moves on to catch two other fish that may not be as huge, they are certainly large enough to suffice as his coming dinner and breakfast. This idea of, take what you need but no more. Excess food is a waste. Excess pride is equally wasteful. For instance; I have to ask myself; If Nick had pursued the trout (whale), who had easily defeated him already and would most likely do again, what would he do for meals? I suppose he could live off his civilized fare, but that would defeat the whole meaning of the trip now wouldn’t it? Instead, he adapts his methodology.

While there are some additional examples of large adaptions, such as his decision to wait before exploring the dangerous depths of the swamp, there are a myriad of little changes that Nick makes in his realation to his enviroment. Instead of fishing from stream, he wades right into the river. No waders, nothing to keep himself from immersing himself fully into nature. He uses his hat to drink  from; excess water running back into the river.  Utilizes the tree trunk as a cutting table. Heck, he uses it first as a blunt object to knock out the two fish he caught before gutting them. This idea of respect for everything living. He even takes the offal from the fish flinging it onto the bank for the mink to eat. Sharing…. What a concept.

His actions are deliberate. His responses to things that do not go as planned are calm. His motions are actually a combination of good habits and muscle memmory (such as how he doesn't even have to think about how to make the perfect fly cast) freeing up his mind to observe his surroundings. How many of us simply go through life, absorbed in details and drama, head down, oblivious to what is going on around us? For myself, overly so.

There is little in the way of PAST. Even fewer references to the FUTURE.  Mostly, Nick is experiencing the PRESENT which is of his own creation. Is it any wonder that critics have labeled Hemmingway a narcissist? I always found that word to be negative, but perhaps, just perhaps.... a little "self-narcissism", (I just made up that word), defined by - the ability to change one’s self to fit one’s environment in an effort to create a perfect moment. Maybe that self divinity is a meaning of life. (I say "a meaning" rather that "the meaning" since I get the feeling that there are multiple meanings out there. But then again, what do I know, I have difficulties most times catching fish.......

maybe, I need to refine my grasshopper catching skills first..... ya think?

Decker

opps

I say, opps, because this week my posts are all out of order,

by all rights, this should be one post down, as it concerns the essay. (So if you are looking for my answers for this weeks questions, move one post older and voila, or viola, mmmm which is the stringed instrument and which is the exclamation?)

Things have a way of working out; uninspired lately, I was in limbo about what to discuss in a 7 page essay. However, reading Frost’s poetry this week got my mind awhirlin. (I know that “awhilrin” is a made-up word, MSOffice even underlined it in red for me however, awhirlin describes my mind quite well; which is the intent of literature right?)

Years ago I fell in love with Frost. The spiritual and physical connectivity between Man and Nature with little inclusion of standard religion. Sure, there are a great many religious allegories present, the essay would identify as well as highlight attempting to explain Frost’s references.  Nature as God/goddess. Man as part of Nature. Connections existing between mankind through nature.

I would propose looking at several of his works, attempting to ferret out that “connection”. Attempting to find out, where I am headed, what I am doing, who am I, who do I wish to become?, with whom? and for how many jelly beans.

All art seeks to convey a message; good art makes a connection between the artist, the viewer as well as the subject matter. Sort of a Ménage à trois love triangle. Literature, being a visual art in it’s own right, seeks just this ideal. I would enjoy delving into what message(s) Robert Frost is attempting to say to both ourselves as well as himself. Look for commonalities in structure, theme, metaphors, analogies as well as some of his biographical history.

Decker

Frosty

                                                                 picture credits

Robert Frost’s “the road not taken”,

wait, I will not take that road,

instead I will take the road less traveled by exploring “After Apple Picking”

As I read the poem, I could not but help but being caught up in the same dreamy and surrealistic feelings generated whenever one reads just about anything by Frost. Recurring themes of nature coupled with man’s place (both intended as well as unintended place) within nature. What am I doing here, where am I going, was it all worthwhile? Questions that haunt Frost’s work, “After Apple Picking” being no exception.

He begins by coupling man with heaven then sliiiiides into the synonymy of heaven and nature being one and the same. It is the man’s perception of these places that differs. Tools begin to pop up in the poem. Work (man’s labor towards a goal) begin to dot the poetic landscape. I use that artsy term “landscape” since it implies a very larger than life very real place, that for the most part is taken for granted. It is there in the background, we look at it in passing, but rarely appreciate it fully, not even realizing that we and our immediate surroundings are a landscape for others that are far away and looking towards us. The landscape kind of sneaks up on a viewer at times, whilst other times it exerts a powerful spiritual and emotional impact. Much like Frost’s poetry.

Close read questions

1.    The title is kind of boring. I suppose that it implies work of picking, not the fun of eating the apples. However, when one reads the poem, it IS actually about the labors and efforts with not much about the rewards. “After”? why after? To be literal, it should read “during” or ‘the process of”. But then, frost could be tricking us, with post tense used to imply that it really IS after, with the speaker dreaming or remembering past exertions.

2.    The words I know. Some used little in this day and age, such as hoary or russet. But are fun to see conjuring images of an older age.

3.    There is a rhyme scheme, easier to pick up when read out loud. Abba ccded , but then it jumps, odd later it starts in line 14 with aaabcdcb as close as I can tell. Is it a mixture of a weird rhyme with free verse? I am no poet and could use some help please.

4.    Work dream. Most people have them. We takes elements of our everyday world, then inserts them as puzzles for our subconscious mind to sort out. Why am I doing this? What good is it? Where am I going? Couples our activities with more important “work” of even perhaps a divine nature. Could picking apples be saving souls?

5.    Images. This poem is nothing but images conjured from the speaker (dreamer) inside his own dream imaging in a surrealistic way, events from his day job.  Images set to conjure double meanings.

Ladder sticking in a tree – (journey towards heaven?)

Barrel - (unfilled, his work is never done)

Apples  still left – (also unpicked, more tasks)

Scent of apples –(scents conjure memories)

Hoary grass – (frost on the grass)

Pane of glass – (ice from the frozen water)

6.    Facts inferred

a.    The speaker is a dreamer. Later I found that he is a Pisces, or rather born just after this sign, like he almost is but not quite, we fish are notorious dreams, fail at times with the ‘doing”, but fabulous dreamers.

b.    Experience on the farm.

c.     Experience in nature. May sound the same, while a farm is rural, it is not always wild.

d.    Has had experiences with work that is never done.

e.    Has had this dream before

f.     Sets lofty goals

g.    Obsessive compulsive

h.    Wastes not. (even bruised apples have a place making cider at least)

i.     Harvest time is over, winter coming on.

j.     Loves his apples

7.     Tones – Frost uses words that are descriptive of nature, reality items that at the same time are metaphors for surrealistic ideas and ideals or spirituality. These well recognized forms such as apples coupled with everyday chores such as picking them gain a connection with the reader. For instance, if he was working at an electronics assembly line soldering connections on a circuit board, well most of us would not be able to relate.

a.    Reverent

b.    Weary

c.     Ambitious

d.    Philosophical

e.    Buddhist

f.     Dreamer

g.    Surrealist

h.    Lulling sounds of words

i.     Nature lover

8.    Structure – I can not pick up the formality of the poem. It sounds like water running, each sentence running into the next most of the time, then it rhymes like waves pounding on the beach.  Is this the poet trying to tell us that there is an underlying order to nature but that there is disorder as well? Chaos and order coexisting? Both have a role? Or am I reading too much into things?

9.    He falls asleep. Works in his sleep. This surrealistic world is like a puzzle that he is attempting to put together. The answers to his seemingly endless work is the tension, the release of that tension is sleep.

10. Images and sounds that resonate;

a.    Pane of glass. It is cold and blurry, OF nature, showing only part of what actually is. Reality showing a perception, a filter.

b.    Two pointed ladder in the tree. Journey towards divinity.

c.     Apple. Images of the garden of Eden. Temptation and life giving at the same time.

Reading, re-reading, writing about the poem has me in development. That is, my eyes are beginning to open that there is more to this dream. There is a great deal of religious overtones, questions about what we are doing here, nature of man, nature of god, nature of nature. Has my brain rolling almost to fast to put down on paper. Perhaps I should follow this train of thought and make it the topic of my essay.

Decker

Timing with Black History month (response

Reading  Kassies blog this week, I was struck initially by references to both of these men as "Conservative". At first I was,.... huh, isn't someone fighting for new ideas and social change usually considered a liberal? opps, now I have cast liberals as the militants. Ok, I am confused......  So, I went back and reread both her posts. I am getting the feeling that the conservatism she is referring to is that they were not even more outspoken and radical.

On a different note, Kassie mentions at the end that she likes Washington and what he had to say. What parts? I also liked what he had to say but my favorite was the "Let down your bucket" alluding to a more holistic approach to change, being that a persons answers are usually of their own devise. My grandfather used to say that he believed that when ever there was a problem, that the answer was within your grasp. Literally, if his car broke down, he would find/make/cobblestone a piece together to make it run. And usually something right out of his shop. Washington is appealing to the artisan and craftsmen mentality prevalent with people of any race that are hard working and survivors.

Onward to AJ's blog

Ok, I do believe that my classmates are in agreement, feeling that these men were not radical enough, which makes them conservative. I think that both men dress like black republicans, so indeed they are conservative.

Interesting comments and observation about Du Bois hostility towards racism. Funny, I caught that too. Interesting thing about hostility. Hostility perpetuates hate. Hate being the very thing that makes racism so particularization bad. Now if there was a word that described some one LOVING a person because of their race, well that word would be kind of opposite to racism right? If racism is evil then it's opposite must be good right? Is this called circular thinking? I am back to being confused. simple this,  when you hate the haters, you become just like them.

My link this week is from someone that is a different color from most and seems to love everyone despite some that hate and despise him.

Bar Nei'

Decker

Washington crosses Du Bois (the Delaware)

                                                                credits

Admittedly, this rendering is not of Booker T Washington, but rather George Washington Carver in the place of George Washington. I felt it apropos because both men are black and look the same…..

HA, got ya, I am kidding, lighten up. Besides, Carver wears spectacles (look close in the painting), and as everyone knows Booker does not, right?

It is included because I couldn’t find a pic of Booker crossing the Delaware in the place of good ol George Washington, but in the process found this wonderful painting by Robert Colescott (Oakland, 1925 – Tucson, 2009 which shows the typical stereotypes of black culture in the boat with Carver. This whole “in the same boat” mentality, speaks to the heart of the feud between Du Boise and Washington, while at the same time adds the element that there are more people in the boat, thus more responsibility to come up with plans for those people. Besides, good art, in an effort to stimulate thought and emotion takes risks at the expense of offending a few people.

I looked and looked for a blog prompt earlier this week, I thought I was having a foggy brain, glad to know that it was not cold medicine fogginess. Curious, that the prompt  ended up being pretty much what I thought it might be, a comparison of Washington and Du Bois.  The deeper twist with the prompt is the “first-class citizenship”. It seems important to realize that both men are after the same goal, they are at odds about the how and when.

Washington seems pretty straight forward. I assume that this is a legacy of being brought up as a slave. His basic premise is that the black mans salvation, now that he is saved from slavery, will come in the form of self reliance. The whole “Cast down your bucket” idea. Help yourself, the water is fine. He encourages self reliance through education (freedom of thought) as well as the cultivation of the desire to be financial free as well. Although highly educated, he believed that it was just as important to work one’s hands as it was to work the mind. “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

Du Bois lauds Washington by sucking up while compliments to him right before he takes a few swings at Washington’s ideals calling him “the most distinguished Southerner since Jefferson Davis.” A kind of back handed compliment if there ever was one since Davis the was President of the Confederate States of America who sought to keep black in their place. Is Du Bois saying that Washington is keeping the black man down? Of course he is. Ouch.

Re-reading both passages, I am struck by the connection that each author attempts to engage the reader. In an effort to relate, I find myself putting myself in the shoes of the downtrodden, now free, but uneducated ex-slave now worried about feeding and providing for both the present welfare as well as future opportunities presented to one’s family. Washington realizes that the typical black man in the South faces starvation and dislocation attempting to rectify that danger by encouraging the basics first. One must walk before running right? Du Bois, while right in pushing for higher more refined thoughts and education, is thinking to the future of his race. He is obviously worried that his race will stagnate.

Both rationales hold some merit, so I began reading the messages for over all content and found thus. Du Bois writes sort of like a used car sales man. There is a lot of pandering, a great deal of side ways compliments, then some zingers to get ones blood going, then a bunch of drivel. By drivel, I mean the blah blah blah, How does one argue with lines like “It is through Nature must needs make men narrow in order to give them force.” Reading that as, YOU CAN DO IT….. I have spent a lifetime listening to pitches, and I have become naturally wary of those that hold roses in one hand and a knife in the other all the while hiding behind smoke and mirrors.

Decker

AJ passes (some wisdom)

AJ’s Blog

“the Yankee man went down south and took a slave to Canada to free him. Little did he know he sacrificed his own freedom for someone else's freedom. After taking the negro slave to Canada he was placed into a penitentiary and died later on. So in freeing one man he was then without freedom.”

Is this more a what the classic Greeks would call “tragedy”? or is it the same thing? Hero sets out to accomplish something, but he missteps and suffers a similar fate from the one he is avoiding? The poor soul’s irony doesn’t end with his imprisonment/lack of freedom, but as Aj points out “His death, after the expiration of only a small part of the sentence, from cholera contracted while nursing stricken fellow prisoners.” `          

This fellow from Ohio must have really pissed Karma off. It is either that, of Chesnutt is using a literary club to drive home a point. No good deed goes unpunished. Is the message directed towards the Abolitionist theory that the black man needs saving? By white men, that by associated racial guilt, needs to do something? The fun underlying thought being conveyed by Chesnutt is, that ultimately, the slaves will need to free themselves if necessary.

One last item from the story, that I have never read before, it was a term applied near the end regarding Grandison and his family,   “Sable humanity”    racial term of color “sable” applied to a person “humanity” basically saying       black man.

Color, color color.

Interesting side note, I once dated a girl, whom called me in tears when she asked her folks when they would like to meet her new boyfriend “Decker”, they declined since they were under the assumption that “Decker” was a black man’s name. I never did meet them.

Decker

Kassie's passing

Kassie’s blog (in regards to Chesnutt's Passing of Grandison)


“Dick is the heir of his father’s estate, why does he need to free another man’s slave when his father owns so many and one day they will all belong to Dick.  When that day come he could just set them all free, why does he need to steal another man’s slave when he will have them all one day. “

Why? I believe that the answer to that question, lies in the very first line in the story ""for what a man will not do to please a woman is yet to be discovered." Fitting line for Valentine's day eh? Dick spends enough time courting Charity that he simply wants to please here or impress her with his fortitude and moral character. Unfortunately for him, character is not simply a role to be donned as one would a garment. As hard as he tries, he does not succeed in freeing Grandison, in fact, Grandison ends by freeing himself, as well as his loved ones. Interesting, that if any woman in the story should be impressed by her man's action, it should be Betsy. Jumping to the end of the story, last line Grandison by rights should not have simply "waved his hand derisively", but also placed his other arm around Betsy.

Decker

                                                      photo credits

Nutts to Chesnutt

 “I’ve been courting you for over a year, and it’s the hardest work imaginable.” Dick to Charity. If he indeed has been at this for over a year, her parents should have named her Chastity. Nonetheless, the aptly named Dick (his name is even ironic) has been enjoying the presence of Charity, obviously with courtship not being an odorous detail whatsoever. "work" indeed.... If it was actually work, a gentile southern plantation owner would have had a slave doing it for him. He does ring a truer statement when he next pleads “Are you never going to love me?” What a complete and utter moron. Ignoance wins the day in the end, when he wins Charity(case's) heart.

The most obvious ironic hook comes late in the game, as most ironies do in the form of Grandison not only successfully escaping, but taking along with him the whole kit and caboodle of family members to the free country of Oh…. Canada…. Oh… Canada. There is a deeper more profound twist to this end. It relates to the beginning. Even before Chesnutt drops his first paragraph, there is the title. “The Passing of Grandison”  The author tricks us all. While “passing” many times serves as metaphor for “death”, the passing in this instance is the passing of a slave into a freedman. Final thought;  think  if the title had read, “The escape of Grandison”, gives it all away doesn’t it?

Oh, for anyone that has no time to read, us with such busy lives, there is a video rendition of this story.

Acted out by LEGO’s…….

One can learn a lot,,,, from a lego……

Decker

lego my Chesnutt's

Rain Rain go away, come again some other day."

As the old nursery rhyme goes, so one gets the feeling that in "The Storm" by Chopin that conflict may well return at a later date, but is not directly spoken. At the least, the storm represents many things that could be associated with conflict or danger and/or an affair of the heart. Kassie speaks well towards this:

Kassie's blog

       Through the wind and the rain there was this worry in her eyes and she was frightened for her husband and son who were not home and safe in the house.  I think with that old memories and sparks flew and with the touch of his embrace when he put his arms around her brought up the love they have always had for one another. 
o
She goes on to quote a line that I will have to admit I do not remember, but wish that I had since it speaks volumes about the after effect of the rain. The idea of a conflict washing away old dirt creating something new.

         The rain was over; and the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems. 


I am not positive, but from other readings about post civil war culture, there is indication that affairs were not looked at any kinder then as they are now. However, don't you think it interesting that Chopin would use such terminology as "palace of gems" to describe just what the storm/affarir would leave behind? Or perhaps ..... are the gems babies?

Literature, as opposed to simple pulp fiction, should at it's best seek to deliver a message. At it's worst, the story should be entertaining. I am with AJ that I tend to not wish to read horrifying accounts about children. I went on to agree with, and was intrigued by AJ's notion that Chickamauga had a contemporary theme, one of zombies...... 


AJ's blog
"A terrific horrifying story about the scarring of a childs life that I don't want to hear/read, and a Zombie apocalypse storyline. The reason why I bring the zombie theme up is because in a way this is very similar to that theme. Bierce is technically describing the end of this childs world as well as the one thing that could make a deaf mute make any form of noise what so ever."


Right on. Reflecting back on the story, there are strong images of grisly mute men crawling through the forest, faces half torn off, some missing even tongues.  Come to think about it, there is not a whole lot of dialog in the story now is there?


Besides the emotionally evocative imagery there is that underlying apocalyptic theme. The end of the world. Rather, the end of innocence or of the world as the little boy knew it. The boy I was interpreting as a general metaphor for The South. Well, this region, as well as it's sisters The North and The West would just have to grow up, rebuild and learn to communicate. 

http://community.imaginefx.com/forums/thread/74940.aspx