The Last Blog

As the end of the course nears I find myself looking back at everything I have learned. Before this class I considered myself a part of the lowbrow group, being too afraid to venture to the highbrow end of things. And now, at the end of it all, I find myself at a new beginning with an urge to explore all the wonderful readings that the highbrow world has to offer. With the gibberish rhythmic workings of Finnegans Wake constantly bouncing around in my head, I know that I am not the same person I was at the beginning of this class. I do have to admit that my favorite reading from this class is T.S. Elliot's Four Quartets. I am not much of a poetry person, but for some reason those poems have reached me. From Haroun and the Sea of Stories to The Following Story, this class was filled with a wide variety of literature, yet it all was linked as one in the end, with the five themes of the class jumping out at us from every novel. Who knew that lowbrow and highbrow could actually be connected and that you cannot have one without the other. Throughout the weeks of this course I have been filled up with the makings of this class and now, I fear, it is time to empty myself out and to begin the process over on my own.

Thank you Dr. Sexson for opening up the world of highbrow literature to me!

Nearing the end

Monday's presentations were amazing as usual. The song and dance were amusing and very mind opening. And I liked the connections to the comic books, I thought that was very original. As I was going through the newly written blogs this morning I came across Bizz's and found it very interesting. She talks about not being able to fill ourselves up until we empty ourselves out. And then she compares everyone to a toilet paper roll, how interesting. She then goes on to say that because of this we are able to flow between highbrow and lowbrow literature rather than just being polarized to one end. I found that to be the most interesting, because that is how I feel about literature now after taking this class. I once only focused on lowbrow literature, but now I am able to flow between the two and experience what both worlds have to offer.

Presentations

So far I have been amazed at all the interesting things people have been talking about in their papers. I really like how Bri did a rap about hers. I also really liked Sarah's story, very powerful. And everyone else has brought up many interesting thoughts and ideas that they gained from the class that hadn't even crossed my mind yet. Much like the blogs, every person's paper offers a unique understanding of the class and by being able to hear them, like we are able to read the blogs, allows everyone to experience each person's point of view on the class. Although I dread presentations and always manage to screw mine up some way or another (much like I did today) I think that they are a helpful and fun way to end the class and I am glad to have mine done :-)

Presentations

I really enjoyed the first presentation today. How they each picked different clips from movies to demonstrate their parts from The Four Quartets, I thought that was really interesting and a unique approach. The movies ranged from ones that I have seen to ones that I have heard of but not seen to ones that I have never even heard of and I thought that each of them really captured what was being read at that time. Overall I think they did a really great job. The second group's presentation today was very unique as well. I thought it was awesome how they each wrote their own lines and how they captured the meaning behind their theme. Both groups did a great job today and I really enjoyed them both.

First Group of Presentations

The first day of presentations was highly entertaining. I was in the first group that went, which was the theme World as Myth and Dream. Even though we had a few technical glitches, I think it went pretty well. I was nervous to get up and preform our skit, but I was glad that the class found it amusing as well.
As for the group that did the theme Life as Fiction was amazing. It was so entertaining and well put together. I loved the movie and all the little quirks it had to offer. My favorite part was where they were putting the stones in their mouths, that was really well done. They really set the bar high. And I can't wait to see what everyone else does.

Pg 148

This is the page that I did from Finnegans Wake. As I was reading it over and over I began to notice a lot of references to bedrooms and sleep. In the first couple lines it states "Tell me till my thrillme comes! I will not break the seal...", this makes me think of someone having a dream until it reaches that one climax moment (thrillme) like when one starts falling and they suddenly wake up from their dream. And she is staying that she "will not break the seal" which, to me, means that she won't wake up and ruin her dream. One line states "ye author, to explique to ones the significat of their exsystems with your nieu nivulon lead..." Ye author, to me, sounds like you author, explique (or explain) the significat (significant) of their exsystems (this makes me think of dreams) with your nieu (new) nivulon lead (maybe livelong lead?) but basically it is the author trying to explain the dreams to the dreamers, or at least that is what I got from it. It also states "river again" which makes me think back to the beginning when it is talking about the "riverrun". It also makes makes a reference to "dark nets" which makes me think of night and being asleep. Then further on it states something about a "white life" which makes me think of light and being awake. There is also the reference to the twinkly stars she has painted on her ceiling, much like I have twinkling stars on my ceiling. It is interesting how there is a little piece of everyone hidden throughout the book.
I feel like I could spend years working on this one page and still not get everything there is to get out of it. It is packed full, just like every other page in the book, with interesting metaphors and references. I feel that I have just begun to scratch the surface of what this page has to offer to its readers.

Paper Topic...Possibly?

So I have been toying with different ideas that we have discussed in class trying to come up with a topic for my paper. This has led me no where except back to where I began and unlike the Alchemist I did not find what I was looking for and I sit here empty handed. Yet, while I was working on another blog earlier this evening I came across some lines in the Four Quartets that really stuck out to me. They are "What we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. And every phrase and sentence that is right (where every word is at home, .....) Every phrase and every sentence is a end and a beginning, every poem an epitaph." I think that I would like to base my paper around this idea of our beginning being our end and that we must start from where we ended. I was thinking that I could relate this idea to that of the theme of Dolce Domum and the book the Alchemist (for all his ends lead to all his beginnings). I am not really sure if this idea will work or if I will stick with it, but for now I think it sounds like a good place to start.