Special Post #2

1. “They were fourteen- two years older than she was-but neither of them was bright, which was why they had been sent to the convent… The child decided, after observing them for a few hours that they were practically morons and she was glad to think that they were only second cousins and she couldn’t have inherited any of their stupidity.” The child and the two girls are totally different. The child is always alone and sticks by herself. The child thinks that the cousins need for love as signs of stupidity. The child sees herself as being alone as smartness.

2. The text needs to be interpreted because it is not clear at first.  You have to understand that the crucifix is a Christian symbol which tends to represent both repentance and suffering. Christ had to suffer for our sins by dying on the cross. In the text the nun ended up hugging the child which meant that the child was able to let go of everything and repent of her sins. The child was able to let the suffering just because of a hug.

3. The story is about an unattractive girl who is lonely. Her two cousins Joanne and Susan visit for a weekend. The cousins ignored the child and focused mainly on the boys in the neighborhood. She looked down at her two cousins because they wanted attention and needed to feel love. In the story the Holy Ghost is the love of God. God does not care what we look like whether we are pretty, poor, lazy, fat, or ugly. The child was considered ugly in the story and the cousins were the pretty ones. We are all human beings and we need to treat each other with respect, love, and care. The child ends up getting a hug from a nun. This hug from the nun shows the nun’s love for the child. With the child getting a hug she was able to accept love and realize she was in the presence of God. The central theme of this story is the child is able to become aware of her sins and that God will reach out and help us when we ask for help.

4. The mother, child, and the cousins went to the benediction. The child at first refused a hug from the nun, but then when leaving was forced to hug the nun. Before the hug I interpreted from the story that the child had her ugliness as a wall not letting her be able to receive and except love. The reason why I thought that was because first she did not accept the hug, but then later the child accepted it. “As they were leaving the convent door, the big nun swooped down on her mischievously and nearly smothered her in the black habit, mashing the side of her face into the crucifix hitched onto her belt and then holding her off and looking at her with little periwinkle eyes.” My interpretation of this text was that the child was seeking help from God. The child had a choice to refuse the hug from the nun which I saw a connection with us as we refuse God in our life. The child had the choice to let the nun hug her without moving away. In this quote I saw a connection with nun’s hug as a sign of love which the child was struggling the whole entire story for. Therefore, I look at when the nun gave the child a hug in this quote that she was able to let go over her suffering. The nun went out of her way and took her suffering like God did for us. So I look at the nun as an example of God. I look at the child like she was lost in the story, but she wanted to go home (in the kingdom of God), but she needed guidance and help. The reason why I believe so is because of this quote in the story. “You put your foot in the door and they got you praying, the child thought as they hurried down the polished corridor.” Then in the end of the story my interpretation was that the child began to feel the love in the end. This quote is the quote that led me to that assumption. “The sun was a huge red ball like an elevated Host drenched in blood and when it sank out of sight, it left a line in the sky like a red clay road hanging over the trees.” From this quote I took the host as being transformed into the body of Christ. I took this quote as the child was letting go of her envy and pride.

5. This interpretation matters the most throughout the story. The reason why is because if you did not understand Christian or catholic views of things you would not understand the story or the plot. You would not understand how the child turned its life around. In this paper I tried to break up the main points so you can understand my interpretation of the story, both just common sense ideas and a little religious background of certain things. Without understanding or getting the fact that the nun was significant in the story you would not have understood the story. The nun is the one that pretty much brought back life to the child by sacrificing herself. You have to understand what the spiritual revelation was, which was what the child experienced throughout the story. Spiritual revelation was emotions including faith, love, and repentance. Most of my interpretation came from the bible as well. Being fluent or knowing the bible and scriptures helped me understand the story at a whole new level. For example a reader could be informed that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is located in the bible in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Therefore, understanding my interpretation of the story can help you understand the main plot and all the details of the story.

The Temple of The Holy Ghost

At first I did not really get what the story was trying to say until I read the story twice. I had to really think about God and how it can relate because I think that any story can really relate to God. This story really helped me realize and lot. The temple of The Holy Ghost was about an unattractive girl. She has two convent-schooled cousins who visit for a weekend. I feel like the child learned a lot about faith and being accepted. She looked at her two cousins as being stupid and not having their head on straight, which in our life I think we can all point out someone that is like that. The cousins and her were like the total opposite. I think the child used her pride as a protective shield because she was always lonely. Everyone wants to be needed and want love. No one wants to be ignored and not get any attention. The child’s mother had some problems trying to entertain the girls, but the child tried to help. This ended up causing Miss Kirby to be extremely embarrassed. This story really made me think back about how we need to seek God for help. The child is like us and cannot do things on their own. I think the child was being tested a lot by God. For example God’s message to us is to always love one another. Therefore, even a simple hug could make a difference in someone’s life. When the nun gave the child a huge hug it was almost like a symbol of love. You have to give out love to receive it as well. Her ugliness in the story was like a wall not letting her be able to give and receive love or at least that is how I saw it. I could be wrong and way off by that. I really liked this story because I think we can all relate to humans to this because we all want attention and want to be loved by someone even if it is just a friend or boyfriend or girlfriend. No one wants to be rejected or left alone all the time. I think we all need to realize where our sins are and learn that we can always look to God. God is not going to give us anything we can’t handle. We just have to accept his help! So what I got from the story is that we can ask God for help through anything.

Happiness

    In the story “The ones who walk away from omelas” was sort of confusing to me. For the most part I did not understand exactly what it was trying to tell us and who the narrator was, but I related most of the story back to us as humans. I took us as humans as we have a bad habit as really recognizing or making happiness. This really makes me think about how we always as humans take everything for grantee. I mean this whole intro to lit class made me realize how much humans (and myself) do not really appreciate a lot. I mean that starts with just nature to the basic of happiness. I mean before this class I know I did not really look at nature and let that give me a chance to be happy! Now however though I can make peace in my mind to let the joy come and put a smile on my face. We have such high limits for trying to be happy all the time. Happiness can just come from us sitting by our self, but yet it is a mind thing. We have to open our minds to not just what we want, but from a broad perspective. We cannot just cancel out ideas before even listening to them. Or close our ears to new ideas. “Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive.” I liked this quote because it is yet a simple quote but can mean so much. We can make happiness out of anything. Yet it is the choices me make that determine that! I think in our generation we are always looking for happiness no matter who we are. We all want happiness! One thing that really stuck out to me was how we could probably make a difference to someone each day in our lives and make someone happy, but do we? We have the choice to help someone out or talk to someone that dosent has friends, but will we? What is the cost to make someone else happy? If we could just really try and let Jesus be an example in our life and show his true happiness when someone else is down or needs it how much different do you think the world would be? But the question that sticks to my mind is will we? Will we go out on a limb to make someone happy?

A Very Old Man with Enoromous Wings

            Gabriel I guess you could say was different. He was a unique character. I mean you could tell people impacted him like his Grandmother stories. I did not understand the story really. I do not know If I ever well or not, but I was trying. I think I understand some parts, but some I did not get. I really did not understand the main point. I understood sections of this story though. I did not really understand the parts about the crabs. They were constantly talked about and I did not quite see why they were so significant. But what I thought was there defiantly have to have a significant point because they are mentioned several times.

One quote that stood out to me was “She kept watching him even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him, because then he was no longer an annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea.” I guess the reason why I liked this quote was because it really made me think of a lot. I mean you can at this quote and take if from so many different angles almost like poetry, but you do not know which one is right. For me I took this quote as you can always make someone a disturbance but you have the choice to remove them. An annoyance from your life can be taken any way; I mean it is your choice to let that person annoy you. Therefore, you can always walk away from a situation or even just get away. I look at the onion being cut as so many different problems in a life. Therefore, you can always choose to stop cutting at anytime.

Pelayo and Elisenda seemed to be ungrateful in this story especially when they were cursing at the angel saying “hell full of angels.” This honestly made me think of all the times we as humans cursed and sinned. I know that must be really frustrating to God. Plus it really must upset him how much we take him for grantee. After knowing that he died for us! We know can always ask for forgiveness so sometimes we use that to our advantage.

Hopefully I will learn more about this story.

Poem- Lake Bonny Park

“Of course I have always known you are present in the clouds, and the black oak I especially adore, and the wings of birds. But you are present too in the body, listening to the body, teaching it to live, instead of all the touching with disembodied joy.” This quote in “Six Recognitions of the Lord” really stood out to me! This to me was powerful. Just thinking about how God is always here for us no matter what. This quote to me just keeps telling me that I have to constantly trust in God because he is always going to be there for me no matter what. I should always know this, and I should not have to feel him touching me or see evidence to believe this and he is going to constantly be teaching me everything I need to know. Then in “Messenger” the quote that was, “My work is loving the world” was just such a refresher to me! God is always telling us if that we are with him we are going to love everything. “One cannot truly love and be present to God without being led back to loving the World.” It is such an example to other people. A lot of times I forget about that and just want to do my own thing, until I have to remember who I am representing and going to follow. Then when reading “Poetry as a spiritual practice for Mary Oliver” really made me think about a lot. I never really realized how poetry can be a spiritual practice. I always thought of poetry as something I could never get and how boring it was reading it. I never really looked to poetry as anything religious until now. I guess when reading things and not blocking ideas out and opening them to myself and trying to get what Professor Corrigan is trying to say really gets me to grasp a lot about poetry. When reading this it made me realize how conversation can really be two meanings as well. I really liked the quote that was explained by Oliver. Plus reading about the quote gave me a different perception for the quote. I really enjoyed reading “Poetry as a spiritual practice for Mary Oliver”. I taught me a lot and gave me a lot of knowledge and refreshed me on things I needed.

"I went to Lake Bonny Park for this field trip, and I stayed there for at least 45 minutes."

Nature is blue

Nature can cling to you like glue

Especially when they do not know anyone and are new

Nature is always like jell-o

Nature is always mellow

And can turn into different colors

So you can never tell what it thinks

Or what it says behind your back

At times it can turn out wack

But nature can do you wrong

Disasters can be long

But you can come out of the disaster with strength

The strength of nature is like the kiss of death

It whispers to you in your ear

And does many ordinary things

You have to be prepared for anything

Especially all the different wings

You never know what to expect

So you have to watch what you let get close

And it’s normally the closest that hurts you the most.

Field Trip- Professor's notes- State of the Planent

            Our field tip to Circle B Bar Reserve, “State of the Planet”, and “Notes on Nature and Poetry as Spiritual Practices” were all very interesting. First of the Circle B Bar Reserve was defiantly an entertaining place. I liked how we had the chance to ride on the bus and be able to look at different animals. I wouldn’t say picking weeds was my favorite part though. When we were able to get off and just walk around silently it made me really thing about how God created each individual thing that was around us. It was kind of hard to grasp at first. Then when reading the notes on nature and poetry it really made me think about our trip. I mean one of the steps was to read poetry under a tree which made me kind of feel like I was actually in nature and connected to it. Plus one of the steps was to journal about nature. When we went to Bonny park and this field trip I felt a little bit on a connection. The connection was just relaxing and enjoying looking at animals and people walking around. It was like the whole world was moving, but you were standing still. From reading notes on nature and poetry really just made me realize that a lot of times when I read I need to slow down. I do not always have to be in a rush. There is no point in rushing because I will just miss things. Even rereading and rereading many things over and over again is not going to help until I slow down with my reading. Most of the steps Professor Corrigan started off with said to slow down or calm down. Basically meaning that we need to relax our mind and let new ideas be able to flow within our mind. One quote that really stood out to me in “State of the Planet” was “Poetry should be able to comprehend the earth”. Within our talk at Circle B Bar Reserve really made me look at this quote a lot differently the first time to when we talked about it. At first, I was just thinking wow this is kind of like literature how it relates, which made me thing back to how literature is so much in our world today. Then at our field trip when discussing it made me think how the earth is huge and how God put together the earth, which means that we should never be able to comprehend it. It is kind of like trusting in God. This quote I guess you can say just really makes me think about  a lot of new ideas.

State of the Planet

         At first when I looked at this poem I was just thinking man this is going to be really hard to understand I never really get poems. Or I think the poem is saying one thing and then it is saying another. But when reading this poem over and over again I felt like I was able to comprehend and understand some of it. This poem at first was kind of confusing. When I first started reading the poem a lot through me for a loop, but then looking up certain words really did help. The following words that Professor Corrigan told us to look up really gave me a better understanding towards the poem. The first line that caught my eye that I did not understand was “Lucretius, we have grown so clever that mechanics in our art of natural philosophy can take the property”. I was just wondering what the poem was talking about and was so off guard when reading. Then I looked up who Lucretius was which it told me he was a roman poet and a philosopher then it made more sense to me.  My favorite quote throughout this poem was “Your people, you know, were the ones who taught the world to love.” I liked this quote because it is true people really do control a lot. What people do and say can have a huge effect on anything. People have a huge impact on anything in life therefore you have to be careful what you say and do. Another quote that stood out to me was “People have been arguing for centuries about whether or not you thought of Venus as a metaphor. “ This was a quote that was confusing to me in the poem. I was able to better understand this quote when looking up Venus and understanding it was a Roman Goddess which represents love, beauty, and fertility. Still though, this quote is still confusing. One line that I liked in this poem was “Poetry should be able to comprehend the earth.” This quote really made me think of literature and how literature can be seen in real life it is not just a reading. We can actually be doing literature. With this quote is made me think of poetry and what affects it. Then it made me wonder if literature and poetry conflict at all. I guess I can just say that this quote really made me think a lot more just about poetry and literature.

Field Trip / Play

Our field trip to me was defiantly a trip to take! At first, I wasn’t really too excited about going. I was just thinking, man, we got to get up early. Then when being there I thought it was a great experience. Just talking to people with disabilities was pretty neat! My favorite part was interacting with the students. I honestly thought it was going to be really hard to have a conversation with them. Even one student was telling me about what was going on in Japan. This was a huge shock to me. I did not think they could contain a lot of knowledge. Another thing I thought was cool was when we first walked into the room where the students were the teacher told them to raise their hand and we would sit by them. Majority of the students all raised their hand. I feel like we could really make an impact on their life. We probably even made their day by just interacting with them. Next, another thing that caught my eye was when we were buying stuff from the disabled students. I mean those adults behind the counter really knew their math. I just think it is neat because they can do a lot of things that we can do. I think a lot of people, including myself, just kind of block them off of life. They think that they cannot do anything. I know before I went on this trip that is what I kind of thought that, until experiencing being with these adults. It was a life changing experience. In the classroom, I was happy we had the chance to talk to the lady in charge because she really educated me on a lot of knowledge I was not aware of. One thing that she mentioned was that all the disabled adults were different. They all had different things they not capable of and were working on. Without this home for these kids I do not know who would help them. This is a great chance for them to be taken care of and to learn important skills. I mean a lot of people that have kids like this need help and a break. We should be trying to help people like this as Christians, not turning our back on them. They are one of God’s children too. Another thing I thought was really neat was that some of the adults there were capable of having a job. This is a great opportunity for them because they can do things if people will let them. I like how publics work with them. One thing that was helpful before going to this home was reading the play we read in class. It was easy for me to have a better understanding on how people with disabilities act and sometimes it is not controllable. Without reading this play I would not of really known at all what to expect. Not even looking back at the play I can relate what I saw. It was defiantly a field trip I would want to go on again.

The Spirit of God Hovered

This story about disabilities really put my mind to think. It brought many questions to my head and made me really break things down. I could not imagine having a kid with a disability, but at the same time I would always keep it and take care of it to my best ability. I really liked in this story about how they related it to God because honestly I have never thought of this situation being able to be related to God. This was a great learning experience for me. The question that really stuck with me in the first page of the story was what is normal? I mean no one can really tell you what exactly normal is. The quote I liked was when the said, “normal is simply being created in God’s image.” Then with this it made questions pop into my head! What makes a person a person? Which is one of the questions that were asked. “We are told that we (the disabled) have an obligation to be cured by the prayers of the church rather than healed by people’s acceptance of us as we are.” I liked this quote because I really think that this is great to trust in God. Of course, whenever someone goes through circumstances it is going to be really hard to put your trust there. This can just be an example to anything in life. In the beginning of the story, I really liked how the parents did not blame God once for their child that was disabled, but rejoiced about the matter. Instead they were always positive about the matter. To me, these are the kind of parents I would love to have. I remember back in my childhood, after I was born, my parents were told that my sister was supposed to be handicap. The doctors told my parents to get rid of my sister because she would be a lot of work. Both my parents told the doctor they did not care and they are going to have her. Later in life, she turned out just as normal as every other kid. The doctors were wrong. This story really helped me in better understanding kids like this and gave me an idea of what people go through. I think it would take a lot of love and care to really take care of them. With God thought anything is possible!

Act 2

After reading Act 2 I had a better chance to really get to know the characters at a better level. Some of the characters surprised me in their actions while some made me laugh. One thing I thought was funny was when Norman was talking about how he would do the dishes when his Dad came. Even though his dead was not alive. One thing I noticed through this Act was how no matter what they lived their life and always tried to have fun. Never did they ever use their abilities be an excuse for anything they did. They always were laughing, trying to pick up girls, going to the library, and so on. One thing that was sad to me was how Lucien poured out his struggles to the senate. It really made me feel bad for people that have to go through this, but at the same time it gave me a lot of motivation towards thing. I mean I am watching people before me with handicap disabilities step out and do things I would not even do. Now when I see people with this case it makes me really want to help them out because I know they struggle. One thing that I really liked in this act was how Sheila visited Norman. They were just so excited to see each other. Even when Sheila crushed the flower that Norman gave her she wasn’t upset because she cared about him and knew it was an accident. This just shows how much she really does care about each other. I felt bad for Barry throughout the play though. Just knowing that his father wasn’t the best example for him and he was abusive was just sad to hear. Being brought up around that must really not be fun. I have never been in those shoes and could never imagine what he had to go through, but I know I would not want to go through it. In the end, I still respected Jack for doing such great work with the kids. It really takes a lot of heart and love to care for people.

Boy Next Door

The Boys Next Door was very entertaining to read. I think what I really enjoyed was the characters mainly because I really had the chance to get to know the characters at a totally different level. At times the characters started to sometimes remind me of my friends so I felt like I could relate which I thought was pretty neat! I actually enjoy reading a play like this because it makes me feel like I am part of the  play and was there. Whenever I normally read stories like this it always keep me interesting and wondering what the characters are going to do.

            One character was Lucien. I thought Lucien was a really motivated person. He was always trying to work himself and better himself. I liked this about him because I think that is important. He never really settled for just being him but always strived for better.

            My favorite character was Jack. The thing I really liked about Jack was how he really showed how he loved people. I mean not every day you see people like him, you have your couple out there, but he was different. Jack won my heart over just when he started to take over seventeen mentally handicap adult men. This would just be so much work and I don’t know if I could ever do that. Although, I understand that he was not perfect and did do some stuff that I did not think was cool like going crazy on Arnold. Then it really made me think about how everyone is not perfect though.

            Another character was Barry that I enjoyed reading about. I like his love for golf. One thing I like about him is how he tries to make people fall in love with golf. He tries to teach people. One thing that I noticed about him was that his behavior and things he does is not really controllable.

            Through the whole story I must say I liked it! This play made me laugh a couple times. I must say that I want to engage in the story more now. When reading this it made me realize how literature is so broad. I mean I strongly thought that literature was coming to life which I have never experienced before.

Sonny's Blues

            This story really caught my attention. Out of all the stories I must say this one was my favorite. The reason why it was my favorite was because I think people can really relate to it. I mean this is stuff that happens in everyday life. In the beginning of the story it really kept me on my toes. I had no idea what was going on and it encouraged me to keep reading. Honestly, for me I do not like reading at all, but this was actually entertaining. “I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all the light in his face gone out, in the condition I’d already seen so many others.” This quote really stood out to me because I think so many people go through this every day especially with loved ones. I mean I don’t know how many times I can recall being in this exact place wondering why someone did someone and there was absolutely nothing you can do to help them. The worst part is watching someone you love being taken away from you for something they could have easily avoided. It does not even matter if they are being accused of something or just simply they did it. The state of mind you are in is totally different. Another thing that really shocked me in this story was how his brother found out about him through the newspaper. This would honestly hurt me! I could not imagine not hearing from anyone not even relatives, no one about your brother and you find out by opening the newspaper. There were also things that really upset me in this book and made me happy. One thing that I liked was how the two brothers reunited through letters. It just showed that he still has hope and encourages him to keep trying. One thing that I did not like was when he found out about his brother getting into trouble was what his friend had told them. I mean you can already tell he is in a different state of mind and as a friend I think people need to be very careful with their words. They do not understand the kind of impact you can really have on someone.

Graveyard experience

"I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this fieldtrip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes."

 

 

Before visiting the Cemetery I was kind of creped out. I was thinking what could I possibly do here and I kind of thought it was really creepy. After being at the cemetery I had a change of heart. After sitting there for a while really had the chance to gather my thoughts. I am not going to lie at first I just sat there wondering what I was doing there, but after a while I started to take my thinking to a higher level. I started to think of how my Grandpa died and about all the happy times I had with him. I thought back to my childhood and remembered all the times growing up to last year we spent time together. Part of the time I was depressed about it, but towards the end of the forty minutes there I really started to be happy with God blessing him into my life. I thought about the book we read “A Grief Observed” and realized how sad it would be to lose someone you spent every day with. I thought of the times it would be hard to go through these circumstances. Then I started to think about how lucky you are to have a person so long in your life. This made me realize the importance of relationships.

After reading this book it really made me open my eyes to a lot. In class I was wondering why we have to go to a grave. I thought honestly at first this was a dumb idea. I did not seem to see the point of it. I just thought we were suppose to think of suffering, but when I started to read the chapters Lewis made some really good points that stood out to me.  First, he talks about suffering. He pretty much is saying that everyone is going to suffer at some time. We need to be comfortable talking about suffering because we as humans are all going to go through it. After reading this book I think I have an open mind to engage what Lewis was really trying to teach me. For a Christian stand point I feel like I was able to relate to him. I never really liked reading, but when I feel like I can relate it to things I am going through I actually started to enjoy it. I really feel like I am learning more just about Christianity and opening my mind to new ideas in this class than any of my classes so far.

A Grief Observed

Throughout the whole story I felt like it really revealed more and more as I read the story. At first, I did not quite understand until I really looked deeper into it. I must say reading this really made me value the relationships that I do have. I must say that I can relate to Lewis because last year I lost my Grandpa last year. This was probably one of the most difficult times of my life.  I really like how he talks about how God is involved in his life still. I mean you have to figure losing a wife is not going to be the easiest thing to go through. It would be really hard to focus on God going through tough circumstances but I guess that is the test we go through. You do not realize how much the things you go through can really affect other people by you just telling them your story.  I look at it like God is not going to put you through anything that you cannot handle.  Of course going through this you are going to have a different set of mind through these situations though. As I read this I just thought of all the people that are probably going through this right now. It made me really think about how I can help people and tell them how I dealt with it. The story reminded me of “Joel” just because of how sad and depressed it was.  I can also relate the story to the Blessed House” just because they both are in a relationship. Both relationships have problems, but different problems. I mean in the story though you really have to look at how we are looking at H’s side. We never really had the chance to get into deep conversation with Jack. I mean there are always different views from each person.  At the end of the story I felt like they just kind of left you there. I was engaged in the story and still wanted to know more. This story really made me think about people that lose someone in their life every day. I could not image the people that lose siblings or parents. I mean I lost my grandpa, but I think that losing someone closer would really be devastating. I guess what I am trying to say is reading this just really made me appreciate all the close people in my life.

Joel- moving and vivid

Honestly majority of Joel really seemed to be moving to me. Some of the texts I was not exactly sure what it meant, but I enjoyed reading it. One quote that seemed moving to me was “The LORD utters his voice before his army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? This quote was really vivid to me and moving because I feel like the quote is telling us that God is the one in charge and only him. To me, this moves me because it is a just reminder that the Lord is always good no matter how much you change he will stay the same. When it says the Lord utters his voice to the army I think that means like God is speaking to his people, which would be all of us. I feel like he speaks to us and never forgets us not matter how much we sin. I mean how can that simply not move you? When it talks about the camp being great I relate that to the people and for the people who carries out his word means to always talk and tell about the Lord. You should not just keep it as a secret but yell it to everyone to hear. This is such an encouraging statement to me because once again it is a reminder. It’s like a line of encouragement for all of us who are Christians. Then it tells about how the Lord is great and awesome. I mean he has done everything for us. When it asks the question who can endure it I feel like we can never endure it all, but we can take his love whenever. This quote was really moving and vivid to me and inspired me about the Lord’s great love. Honestly, we as his people cannot just sit there and hear this without being moved.

Joel

Joel has probably been one of my favorites to read in class. I guess I can say that because it just seemed to me it was the easiest to understand, but I guess to some people that are not Christians it would be more difficult to understand. One quote that really was beautiful to me was “Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”To me this quote really stands out to me because no matter where or what time it is you should always be calling out to God for the good and the bad. We can never control anything that ever happens to us in life and that is why we have to rely on God and people from the church. “And rent your heart and not your garments Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness And relenting of evil” was another quote that was beautiful to me. I mean we can always look at God as having unconditional love for us. He shows that to us by our actions. I mean I cannot even think of how many times I have sinned and God probably wants nothing to do with me, but he is so slow to anger and gentle with us. To me I look at this quote as an example of how all of us should be to our brothers and sisters. Of course it is hard and we are going to struggle but this quote is a constant reminder of how we ought to act. This quote was probably the one I really liked the most which was, “Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons the next generation.” This quote was beautiful to me because I thought it was really significant and powerful. Of course we as Christian people have to constantly spread the word about God and Jesus. If we do not then many generations that come down will not know about it. I think that by telling people about God will end up making more and more people turning their ways and beliefs. Of course people will constantly sin but they can always repent. By telling people about the father can make such an impact on many people’s life today. It can really start to affect the whole world. If you just image if a friend would tell a friend every day about what God has done for us how many more people will realize things. The problem with people today, including myself, is the fact that we constantly change how we are by the people we hang out with. We hide majority of what we think about God and do not really talk about him as much with Christian friends as much as non-Christian friends.

The Colonel

Hass’s writing seems to be like he is writing from his past. The things he says and reflects back to makes me think of him as having moments that pass by too quickly. I honestly think about this all the time. Just like in school and college everything passes so quickly. I never really get the chance to just sit back and think about it. I mean each day by day just goes so slow but in reality when you look back it years you always just sit and wonder what happened to it. I mean just this last year the semester flew by like crazy. I feel like I just started but yet almost done. It makes me just really appreciate time and the people that are in my life at the time. Especially when you have friends come and go to different colleges you really start to value your time.

 This short story made me really think about all the relationships that I have had and sometimes I just take them for grantee. It is hard to realize a lot what you have until it is gone. Especially close friends because sometimes you just get so use to them being there. I mean of course I always have appreciated the people that were in my life. Sometimes though people need to be told that they are appreciated because they think you just take them for grantee. With friends I mean image you be told you are appreciated everyday by a friend it is going to make you feel good. The other people that never get told anything though have to sit there and wonder and really think about things. I mean I think it is really important to tell people how you appreciate it just makes the other person feel good.

story

Mark was always a shy timid guy. Most of the guys in his neighborhood always picked on him because they knew he could not stick up for himself. Growing up Mark was always quiet no one could ever understand why. I mean we all knew that his parents had passed away a couple years ago, but ever since then we didn’t hear a peep out of him.

No one on this street seemed to care about his feelings. It was mainly every man for them self. If you were caught walking around by yourself you were pretty much asking for it. They got the joy they wanted picking on him because that was their fun throughout the day. Even the days when Mark was not at school people just missed him because they had no one to laugh at.

Mark always walked with his head down. Mark was a cute guy a lot of the girls thought he was attractive. Even girls that were the most popular ones in school had tried to talk to him at one point. Mark would occasionally have a conversation with them, but it was no more than, “how are you doing?” No one really got more out of Mark at all.

Until it was his senior year in High School, Mark loved science and was really into his science class. His Professor Larry always tried to interact with the students and make them talk. He believed in dialogue for his teaching. Professor Larry was the hardest teachers to get an “A” in. For Mark though it was like the icing on the cake. He was naturally smart. The thing that really pulled his grade was talking to Professor Larry. A couple days a week Mark would stop by his office just to ask him questions on the papers. He tried his hardest in this class.

Once students started seeing this they wanted to be friends with Mark. They wanted him to tutor him. Mark of course refused to help out people. He did not want to interact with the other students in the class. Not only were those but the majority of the students that wanted his help were the ones that picked on him every day.

After school one day a couple kids named Jerry, Louis, and Josh were walking home. They lived a street away from Mark. When they were about half way to their house they saw Mark sitting on a bench starring off into space. They walked over to him slowly just staring at him. Josh whispered to the other guys, “Watch this, this is going to be funny!” Louis and Josh just chuckled at each other. Not knowing what was going to happen Mark looked up frightened not knowing what was going to happen. Josh went and sat by Mark and asked him, “How have you been?” Mark just glanced at him and simply replied straight and started to get up. Right when he was about to stand up Josh grabbed the back of his shirt and asked him where he was going. Mark started to turn red and told him he was going to go wherever he wants to go. Josh got upset with his slick mouth and punched him right in the mouth. Mark, with blood dripping down from his face, told him he was going to regret that and walked away. Josh just simply laughed and though it was hilarious what Mark just told him. As Mark walked away he continued to mock what Mark said. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just started laughing so hard that Mark could hear him.

Later the next day the boys all had the same lunch. A couple girls were talking about Mark and asked a group of guys what had happened to him. Of course, no one knew exactly what happened to him because Mark never talked. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just sat there and chuckled. Sally, which was one of the most popular girls in the school, asked Josh what happened to him because she said his lip looked really busted. Josh without answering the question just told her that if he watched his slick mouth then maybe he would not look like that. Right then Sally knew he had something to do with it.

After school that day the four boys ended up running into each other trying to walk through the door. Josh saw Mark out of the corned of his eye and decided to shove Mark right into the poll that was by the lockers. Mark hit the poll so hard he fell on the ground. He laid there for a couple seconds and could not get up for a couple seconds. Everyone that was around was laughing hysterical. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just walked away chuckling talking about how Mark claimed that Josh was going to regret it. Right when Mark heard this he got up quick to his feet and ran from behind and tackled Josh right into the ground. Mark jumped on top of Josh and hit right in the jaw. Before Mark could take another swing Louis and Jerry drug Mark off of Josh and began to punch Mark in the face. Right when Josh had the chance to get up Josh kicked Mark right into the ribs. Before they could get another hit in a teacher split all the boys up and told them to get out of here. The teacher held the three boys and let Mark leave first. Then about fifteen minutes later let the other boys leave and let them know they were lucky they were not getting sent to the principal’s office.  

The next three days Mark did not show up for school. Pretty much the whole school had heard about Mark getting beat up, but no one heard from him. The couple people that saw the fight said that Mark was probably in the hospital because he was so badly hurt.

The next day Mark showed up to school with bandages all over his face. Not knowing that everyone had heard about what happened to him. When Mark walked anywhere around the school people were constantly laughing at him. One guy came up to Mark telling him he should never mess with Josh again. Mark ended up leaving school early that day and never came back.

The next day of school Mark showed up with a smirk on his face. Josh was walking through the hall going to the bathroom with all his buddies. When Josh came out of the bathroom all people heard was BAM BAM BAM! Mark chuckled and walked away! People screamed and Mark walked away satisfied.

Character Trait

I choose to write about Twinkle for my writing analysis. I think Twinkle is a sensitive character. The reason why I think this is because she cried about the statue. This obliviously means that statue means a lot to her though. Twinkle is motivated as well though. She shows this throughout the story because she argues with her husband about the statue. She understands that his religion is going against this but she still pushes for her way. Not once does she try to understand his side, but she fights for what she wants. I would not really consider Twinkle as an understanding person. I think once Twinkle wants something she is not really willing to compromise, but I think this is not a good character trait especially in a marriage. You have to have at least one person giving in or else you are going to be like this couple and fight the whole entire time. On the other hand though, fighting for what you believe in is a good trait because at least she will get what she wants or at least attempt too. I think Twinkle likes to be controlling with the situation as well because even when the statue is in the house and her husband explains to her how people will look at him with it in the house she puts it behind the door. To me that kind of seemed like a joke in a way because it is like she is willing to remove it, but only to a certain way which is the way she wants it done. Of course hiding it behind a door is like it is not even there so why not just remove it. That part of the story kind of really did not make sense to me at all.

This Blessed House

This story was mainly about a couple with a statue. To me I think this is really like a situations that happens every day in the real world. I mean everyone is going to have issues and certain problems that you are going to go through. Basically no one is going to agree with each other because you are always going to have different opinions on different circumstances. The real problem is really how you handle the problem I believe. You are going to have to give in take in anything you do. You are always going to have many things that you disagree with in life, but the real problem is how you are going to handle the situation. Many people chose to handle these situations in a negative way which will affect many relationships. People have to learn how to compromise and fix their problems. This is not just in this story as a relationship with two married people, but with people in general as friends or anything. In the story I think both people have to be understanding to each other. If you know your husband is completely trying to be Hindu and not have Christian things around because it would be bad for his religion they need to talk about that. At the same time he has to be understanding to her feelings as well. I mean she is balling her eyes about the statue. She obviously really wants that statue to be there and is affected by it if it is gone. Therefore, they both have their own individual side that they need to sort out together. By him going and throwing out the statue though is only going to make things worse with their relationship. All it is going to do is upset her and not only that but cause more problems. This should not be the solution to their problems. I think this story really taught me how communication is a huge step just with everything. I didn’t realize how the things you do in your everyday life can really affect people. Not only that but the way you communicate with each other as well.

Reading for Transformation

            I am choosing to do my blog about “Reading for Transformation.” The first step it says is to begin prayer with silence. I think this is a good start because it really allows you to have a chance to be able to clear your mind. I think this is a good start to start a lot of your days off with. Just before doing most things or opening your mouth and you were just silent might change a lot of decisions that you are about to make. You would defiantly have more time to think about things and not regret a lot of decisions that are going to take place. The next few steps I believe can really help you. It says that you are supposed to slow read and then read out loud. I know when doing the onion experiment in class this really helped me better understand the text in more details. Plus it really gave me a better over view of the text. Just reading things one time can really affect the way you see the whole story. I think by taking some of these steps that you will really be able to grow for literature because most of it to my understanding is just your thoughts and opinions about text. You are never clearly wrong on certain things or ideas that come to your head. I believe knowing this will help people like literature as well. This quote I really liked that stood out to me the most was, “The encounter described here goes beyond the accumulation of new data or the enjoyment of aesthetic experience, to focus attention upon the reader’s reappropriation of self.” Basically what I got out of this was that you are always going to have your own opinion. I think this is a really good thing because it allows people to really be able to focus on what they think without getting criticized and be told they are doing something wrong.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

In the beginning of the book, Mel talks about how he thought real love was nothing more than spiritual love. I think there of course is a such thing as spiritual love, but I think there is other types of love as well, not just spiritual. I believe there is a friend love, passionate love, sexual love, romantic love, committed love, and infatuated love. I think Terri had a pretty rough situation with love. A person trying to kill you because they love you so much is not love. A couple can fall in love, but when you want to kill someone over it that is not love anymore your actions are speaking more now. Love might have caused you to do something crazy because you care about someone a lot, but I think that it is more your thoughts and emotions that determine what you do about it and that is not love. Terri getting beat up while they are saying I love you means there is something wrong with that person and they need help. Honestly, once you put your hand on someone in a relationship to harm them you truly do not love them anymore. Your actions are speaking more than your words. By loving someone you need your actions to meet up with your words. First, you are putting someone in danger. Second, if you truly loved someone you would want what is best for them and harming them is never a good answer. When Terri argues that he still thinks it was love, I one hundred percent agree with Mel that it is not love. I do agree however with Terri when he says that people are different because he is right. Everyone is going to have a different meaning of love. However, when things are taken out of love such as violence and abuse or anything else in that matter I do not think you can compare that to love.

What You Get Out Of What You Read

I one hundred percent agree with the statement. I believe you really can determine what you can get out of reading anything by how much you put into it. I think this because if you just skim through something you are only going to do the bare minimum which means you are only going to get the bare minimum out of whatever it is you read. By reading something one time there is going to be a majority of it that you are going to forget. Of course it would be more information you remember then just skimming it though. I think by reading your material several times you will remember more of the information because you are going to review it a couple times. As for me this is how I think it works. Whenever I read something a couple times I can always comprehend it at a better level. This tends to work for me whenever reading a story because majority of the time I think I understand it which I do, but I get more detail and a better understanding of what the author is trying to say. Therefore, the more you really focus on what you read and the more time you take reading something is going to affect how you understand the material. Focus is really important in reading as well. If you are day dreaming it is going to be really hard to understand what it is you read. You are really going to need a clear mind so you can take information in at any given point. I think reading really relates to writing in a way because the more you redo your work the better it is going to be in the end. As I was always taught practice makes perfect. Anytime I think of this I always relate it back to basketball. I am not going to make a shot the first time, but with practice I am guarantee to have a better chance the second time if I take the shot again.

Literature

            I would not really consider myself a reader. In fact I do not read much of anything unless I have to for a class. Majority of the time it is hard for me to just stay focused in reading just because it is not interesting. I would not consider myself as a strong reader. As for classes I remember reading “The Odyssey” which I thought was the most significant text that I have ever read, but I took certain ways to understand the text. As a class we read most of the texts and broke them down so we could understand what exactly was going on. This was easier for me to understand. One book I read that I enjoyed was “The Outsiders”. We read this book as a class. I was interested in it because it really related to everyday situations. Another book that stood out to me was “Torch Red”. This book I was forced to read when picking any book that I wanted and then was assigned a paper to write about it for one of my classes. This book really stood out to me the most because it related to situations that every girl would end up going through. It taught me a lot while reading this just about every day things. Out of all the literature that I read I must say each text really taught me something new and brought me through a learning experience. As for growing the only thing I can really remember as for nursery rhymes is “Twinkle Twinking Little Star”. This one was my favorite growing up! One thing about the essay that really stood out to me was when Professor Corrigan wrote “literature is a thing you do as part of your life”. This stood out to me because I normally would just look at is as something I would have to read and I am going to learn something. Literature is actually something that I do every day which is hard for me to realize. With reading this essay I feel like have a better understanding for literature.