Religion Blog

Wow unbelievable. Reading the trial of Ann Hutchinson was a mind blowing experience. She believed a different way and unfortunately she followed the man whom she saw as a leader within her church and someone she respected with like beliefs until she crossed him with a thought.. Religion has kept women down for ages. Men in power are so afraid to be questioned and ESPECIALLY if it is by a woman. Many stories of women being smart and well educated and dare I say enlighten were hushed by the men of the church, this was done in part I believe out of fear. Ann was expressing her beliefs and views when she stepped a little to far over the line, in her community the men ruled and she was seen as a threat. I do see how they argued their points, however, I do not see how she would have ever been able to be quiet about how she felt in regards to the God of her own understanding. She did not feel that expressing her point would lead to her being abolished from the community and the brutal murder of herself and her family by Indians as a result. Today things are changing in many ways, women are seen as an asset in many families and churches. There have been many situations that have begun to turn the role of the woman around.  I personally thank the women that have gone before me, without women there would be no population to speak of! We are important to the planet ladies !! Keep up the good work.

Gender .... say whaaa

Gender is a funny thing, are we male? Are we female? Why? Who made the rules? More importantly, what are the individual beliefs you have? Do you really care what role some lives throughout their own life? Do you really care who they love or are attracted to? Our society has us judging and hating when maybe we wish for love, tolerance and peace for everyone....

The gender struggle has been around since the beginning of time, for example, Indian women worked the land, lead the soldiers, traded at the market place, they had babies and a vast knowledge of medicine. They planted herbs and knew from the land which herbs would cure what illness.  This is amazing knowledge and their remedies are still sought after today. European men it seems refused to trade with women and so in America It began, the change which would over time little by little the value of the women began to diminish. This decline is what changed the thought process of the public about women. In many Indian cultures a "homosexual" person is viewed as a twin spirit, the are revered as a god or goddess, the have automatic respect within the community, one source describes the process as asking the individual to remain in the hut while a fire is lit as the hut begins to burn the person runs out and which ever basket they grab is their dominant "gender". Each basket is filled with either male or female tools, ie knitting/basket weaving supplies or knives and hunting supplies. This practice was to determine the significant strengths of the individual as well as how this great spirit would best serve the community as a whole. This practice was used and accepted by the community and the individual was relieved to know their strengths.

In our American culture, we hate and discriminate against people before we even know their story! A practice that would indulge a ritual like this would not be tolerated in our society, we are taught to hate and judge first.  We do not tolerate different !!

 I love the practices used in past cultures to embrace the differences within human beings. I may not understand someones life path, however, I will always try to listen and understand to the best of my limited brain space..


 

Blog 10 poetry

Option 3 "My Papa's Waltz" This poem is about at boy who has an unusual time being close to his  Papa. The terms used are contradictory because the description the "Waltz" seems almost abusive. "Every step you missed / my right ear scraped your buckle" Indicates that the father is very drunk and has a grip on the boy, the boy's ear is as tall as his father's belt buckle and he is insisting on doing this dance which drags the boy around. Also there is reference to the mother being very angry with this behavior, "My mothers countenance / could not unfrown itself" she is clearly upset from this statement and the boy is aware of that but he holds on. Although its hard he enjoys it because it makes his dad happy. The last stanza is rather sad because there is a longing for the boy to be close to the father however painful it may be

You beat me on the head
with a palm caked hard with dirt
Then waltzed me off to bed
still clinging to your shirt

the beating on the boys head is to the beat of the music and the reader understands that loving this man is painful but to the boy its worth it, he does not want to let go of him all the way to his bed he holds on to the father's shirt and does not want to let go. 

Blog #9 Poetry

Loved these poems this week. I am blown away at the beauty. Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 is an English Poem and Abba rhyme scheme. It is, at first glance negative and the comparisons are strange, "My mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun / Coral is far more red than her lips /".  This could not be a flattering poem about the love of a man for a woman! However we soon see that although she is not perfect compared to some things that are seemingly perfection in their discriptions of beauty, he loves her and she is perfect to him. "I grant I never saw a goddess go / ... and yet by heaven I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare".   He sees her and he loves her for everything she is.
Donne's Holy Sonnet 14 is an Italian poem it is Abba rhyme scheme. The meaning of "three-personed God is father-son-spirit and that is catholic in nature. Donne's sin is such that his god must "....break, blow, burn and make me new" however, at the same time he states to god "I am betrothed to your enemy..." which is to say he is a sinner and that makes us know that he cannot be without sin and in order to be united with God he is hoping to be changed and made a new. The only way to make him new is for God completely take him over "take me to you, and imprison me,for I / Except you enthrall me, never shall be free " This indicates that he will never be without sin while he is human. His humanness causes him to commit the same offenses again and again. 

BLOG #8 Poetry

Nov 4, 2012 (edited)  -  Public

Blog #8 Poetry
All Poems in this weeks reading were about death. That moment in time when this world ends and another begins. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Jarrell was disturbing when he quotes "When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose" the harshness of war is inconceivable and the clear disregard for human life is summed up in this sentence. The language Jarrell uses makes the point of this and the reader understands war better after reading it, there is a sad cold feeling to this poem.  In Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" she describes the journey of death while still earth bound and the sights she sees, she speaks of death being civil "We slowly drove--He knew no haste....my labor and my leisure too/for his Civility. This concept of sight seeing with death is wonderful. When we think of death we do not think of it as an individual who will takes us to sights we hold dear to us before we leave this world. This poem moves the reader and the feeling is joyful. Heading into Eternity on a carriage pulled by horses. The rhyme scheme was wonderful and made the poem stand out.

 

I did this the 4th of November but I just realized it was not on  my blog !! 

Fences -- blog # 7

This play speaks to trauma and overcoming hardships through forgiveness. The author August Wilson brings us into the life of a black family and their struggles. The time period for instance was tough and Troy's recalling his abusive childhood sheds light on his actions throughout the play. The fences referred to in this play are interesting metaphors. The first fence is clearly created to block out the beating Troy receives from his father this event was traumatic and life changing for him, he describes this by talking about his feelings when he was whipped with leather straps My dad was as evil as could be.... When he whipped on me, quite naturally I ran..." after the incident Troy at 14 left home and built the first fence to block out his trauma. Rose sang of a fence she hoped "Jesus would provide" to keep her and her sons safe, that is safe from her husband and his rage and safe from harm that often came to black men in that time and place.   Cory had a fence to keep out the fact that Troy never showed love and acceptance to him, in fact when Cory asks his dad Troy "why didn't you ever like me" Troy goes off on a rant about how a father owes his wife and children but he never agreed to like anyone. Cory builds a fence around himself to cope with the pain of this statement, we can see that one trauma in a persons life can effect many generations of people. Troy's time in prison and bond with his friend Bono proves to be a positive relationship, when Troy cheats on Rose and has a daughter with Alberta, Bono serves as Troy's conscience and asks him to tell Rose the truth.  Rose is aware that no fence can keep harm away and after Alberta dies during childbirth Rose takes the girl in and through forgiveness is able to raise her without hatred in her heart. At Troy's funeral many fences come down through Cory and Raynell interaction on the porch, they give each other hope and are able to allow the new family minus their abusive father a chance. They share a song their father use to sing about his dog and begin making new memories.Although much tradgedy occurs there are many life lessons in this play and much forgiveness and resolve.

Blog #6 Hamlet

Option 2
When the King speaks to his Queen Gertrude he is seemingly consoling her by saying that "sorrow comes in battalions" what he means by this is that bad news comes in multiples. At this point the King is still trying to clean up the mess made by Hamlet shooting Polonius he is trying to make everything seem okay by sending Hamlet away. Ophelia is going mad with grief and wants her brother to be by her side which will pose another problem because he has his own opinion about what should happen to Hamlet to avenge his own father's murder. Claudius has made many decisions that are not very smart. First,  he poisoned the King of Denmark, then he married the widow of the King on the day of the funeral, then he completely ignored and disrespected the requests of Fortinbras of Norway and that is not the proper practice of the King of Denmark. As a result these outcomes can be traced back to the King and completely rest on his shoulders. Hamlet on the other hand holds many responsibilities in this tragedy also, he shot Polonius and then left town,  he played with Ophelia's feelings and did not stay and man up to his responsibilities in the shooting of her father, he faked going mad because he needed to buy time to get enough courage to kill the King and he did this because his "ghost" father wanted revenge. Hamlet is just as mentally ill as Claudius each man wants what he wants and those types of egos can not be reasoned with and the outcome of everyone except Horacio dying is fitting for this whole mess. Norway is at the door, breaking it down and the focus of the court in Denmark is who did what to whom and this focus has nothing to do with the people of Denmark and protecting them against the army that is waging war. There is no one listening to counsel and when the King was getting counsel it was from Polonius who was a sneaky gossip that made matters worse from day one. Denmark is so much worse off than the beginning of the story. This is often the outcome when there are so many egos running around trying to get there way. This is not uncommon in politics to this day some things have changed but many things are the same. Most politicians care more about their ego than their public and so it goes....