How does one of the poems relate to your life?

Our Deepest Fear - This poem is incredibly significant in my life actually. This poem was read numerous times at my boarding school in southern Virginia years ago. It was specifically read right before this thing called "Ades Acies." (it means standing on the edge in latin) Once you have been at the boarding school for awhile and you have gone through the four out of five workshops, you do this thing called "Ades Acies." From an outsider's point of view, it looks like a talent show by some of the oldest kids in the school. However, each student is assigned what they have to do in front of the whole school - and the staff who know them very well pick it. its usually a really emotional experience - audience is crying, sometimes the people doing it are crying. it can be anywhere from dancing to singing to a skit or just anything they want. MY POINT is that this poem is read right before the entire performance by one of the main staff Andy Coe. He sets the stage for the whole ades acies by inspiring everyone with this piece. By reading this poem, he is speaking to everyone in the audience, and everyone who is about to do their ades acies - allowing everyone to be themselves, to be who they truly are - to let their own light shine. This is precisely what everyone is about to do for their ades acies...who are they to hide their light, hide who they are, conform, blend in? As Marianne Williamson says, who are they not to be beautiful, gorgeous, fabulous? Ades Acies gives these students who have worked their asses off for months to have their own moment to shine - to share themselves, even if they are scared to do so. My assignment was to sing a song written by Christina Jezioro. She was like a "big sister" to me and graduated a year before me, and she was a musician. She made a record after i graduated. I had to sing a song by hers. I wasnt necessarily scared of singing, and ades acies didnt necessarily have to be something you were scared of - but i was given the opportunity to be liberated from my fear of the judgments of others and share myself. it was one of the most rewarding overwhelming feelings and i will never forget it. By sharing my light, i even brought tears to people's eyes. I liberated their fear as well. 

The Lady or the Tiger blog

i did like this story. what did she pick, the lady or the tiger? would she rather have her lover be eaten by a tiger, or be married to some bitch that she hates. in other words, would she pick to live with jealousy and hatred, or the despair of her lover being dead/killing her lover. it is hard to say what she door she picked. i honestly dont think that the story told us enough information for us to decide from this princess personally. judging from the human heart though, as the story bluntly says, what would the human do? save his life or have him be eaten by a tiger. if the women picked the tiger, than she obviously does not love her lover i do not think. i could be wrong, but i think it is just too selfish to kill someone because you cant bear to see them with another woman. it is presumed that life is much more precious than that, and should not just be thrown away. i really do think that if this woman truly loved her lover, she would save his life and have him be married to this woman. THough she would be in despair and jealous, atleast she did the right thing. atleast she saved a life. the answer to this question comes from the person that this lady is...does she truly have love and altruism in her heart?

i think this story tried to get really deep but it didnt. the last page of it literally discusses how this is a story of the human heart, and it thoroughly discusses the question it is being asked. it just kind of throws the whole story off, and makes it kind of tacky. i just wasnt very impressed, and it is hard to know what the woman would choose. it is a good question though i tihnk. 

King Lear Act 1 Question 2

It is obvious that Regan and Goneril are entirely selfish. and even, monstrous. but inside their heads, they do not see it as monstrosity. Looking at them and their lifestyle, their father is a king. they were raised surrounded by wealth and gold, always wanting more. By living a royal life, there is a strong focus on material possessions. To add onto that, their father obviously does not have a very truthful character. Even when the girls are older, he uses them in order to make himself feel better, to flatter him, and make himself look and feel better. in some ways, this is all the girls know - living through greed for material possessions and control and power. Just like how they were raised and who they were raised by. Since their father does not seem to "love" them for who they are and truly, only by a means of control, than they seem to do the same thing to him. looking at this, is that so bad? so they manipulate him, they play his game, and they get his land. once they have gotten what they wanted, they turn against their father in order for them to keep their power and take his kingship. Their father obviously doesn't love them fully, and they were not raised surrounded by honest love, so they do not really know how to show love. so it really doesnt even phase them when they are scanning against their father. in some ways i guess i can relate to the sisters in terms of being consumed by material possessions and wanting to keep that power - sacrificing morals or honor in order to keep certain  things or reputation.  i understand. and i understand the effect that the family and how you are raised has on a child. but it does not change the fact that what they are doing is wrong and "monstrous." 

King Lear Act 1 Question 3

I am not sure if Lear truly loves Cordelia. Maybe this is too philosophical but i believe if someone gets mad at their loved one for telling them the honest truth about how much they love them. I understand if a child, Cordelia, was disrespectful to Lear about it. But she wasnt. She was  honest and realistic, and she was not manipulating her father to get what she wants like the other daughters. She is honest, loving, and respectful. Lear obviously does not truly "love" Cordelia that much, maybe a sort of love and care in a familial way, but it does not seem true. He simply only wants control over her. i do not think Cordelia was dumb in doing what she did. Yes, her sisters manipulated their father in order to get what they wanted- and in order for the father to hear exactly what he wants to hear - how great he is and how much his daughters love him. i dont think that she is unable to speak - i just think that she is "better' than her two sisters. she is not the type to manipulate and lie to her father in order to compete against her sisters. that does show true charactor. i dont think it is a sign of inability. just a sign of honerable choice. However, i think Lear is unable to hear the truth. he simply wants control and wants flattery. he wants his daughters to serve him and worship him, and when Cordelia says that she loves him a healthy and practical amount, he is flabbergasted and offended. he wants to hear good things abbout him, not the practical truth from his own daughter. Cordelia definitely knows what she's doing, she just has the own character to live by truth rather than greed and lies. she obviously is not like her sisters who are willing to "play the game." as for "the game, " i understand this very well. i used to, and still now, manipulate my parents into getting what i want. especially my mother, i will lie and do what i can, no matter what, to get what i want. it awful. but some of the time, these manipulation tactics do not work. unlike Lear, my parents will want the truth rather than flattery and manipulation, and thats when my game does not work. 

Brave New World blog 4

Why is this society so bad?

I think the world is a scary place when all natural morals have been eradicated. A world without God and without Truth. A primary example of this in the novel is the utilizing of sex. Naturally sex was made to reproduce and to create more humans. Here, sex is being used in giant orgies - to feel good and feel happy all the time. Drugs are used to do the same. So what, people are happy all the time and are having sex all the time- so why is this so bad? This makes me ask myself, why is it so bad to go against my morals or more so, not have any? What does it do to me? Even if there is a God, why worry when all my needs are satisfied and taken care of? I know that personally I dont feel purpose. i dont truly have a purpose. i am not fully satisfied. i am not content with my surroundings if i am always trying to fill something up. in this society - they use pneumatic chairs, the feelies, somas - they are constantly using these distractions. 

Where is the individual mind??? The world has come so far up to this point due to the individual mind - whether it be through science, culture, religion, gender, race, literature, art. With this new world, people do not grow - they do not learn - they do not see the world outside of themselves. Everything remains static. Though it may be a "happy" world, it always remains the same. and people do not live to their full potential. humans are capable of so much! the human mind is capable of so much! 

John claims that he DOES stand for tears, laughter, disease, sin, goodness - he wants it all. Because he knows what is natural to the human. Because he believes that there is so much more that comes from complete peace and contentment that goes beyond instant gratification. Working, achieving, experiencing the hard and awful times so that one can see the greater times is so much more personally rewarding than having everything easy. it gives purpose. 

It is also bad, though it is hard to fully explain, of a government actually controlling the world. controlling how people are made. Like I said, the human is so complex, and to have some other person forming and conditioning every human life to fit their needs and their ideas of the world is plainly just messed up. Without the free human mind, the world remains static. What is the point of a world that has so GROWTH. no learning. Why not just end the world pretty soon? for it will always be just the same like this - and people will just be filling their necessary bodily desires. its messed up. 

BRave New World Blog 3

I think this is probably the best chapter of the entire book. I think it really sums up the arguments that Huxley is trying to point out. Which would you rather have?

I will try my best to sum up Mond's argument. Monds argument is completely focused on the present. Truth, such as God and goodness and unhappiness and emotion may be out there, but why mess with it and touch it when you don't have to. when in this new world, there are so many things that keep us prosperous and youthful, disease free and genetically balanced, that we have no need to even worry about anything having to do with Truth - the natural way of the human being. We can achieve all that we need to achieve - people do what they ought to do - people are designed to LIKE what they ought to do - when people are sad, they are able to eliminate it. Because they have everything they physically and emotionally need and to be satisfied with - Truth is unnecessary. Stability and happiness are ultimately already there. 

The savage's argument stresses the importance of emotions, tears, Truth, God, poetry, individualism. The reward from working. He is saying that everything is too easy - when things are too easy, people do not live to their full potential. there is so much that comes to life from working, from learning, from growing, PERSONALLY growing. Mond eliminated the idea of God - though it may be true - people have no need for God or the knowledge of the past or anything of the sort. the savage is argueing for what is natural. for what is REAL. and he states that feeling that there is a God is real. searching for "answers" - searching for something else and feeling weak and worthless in this enormous world is natural. even though false happiness and instant gratification is right at his hands, the savage believes that the happiness, the connection to the world, the power and growth of the individual mind, the reward from truly working, is worth fighting for. so he claims ugliness, disease, war, sadness, the fear of tomorrow, all of those - for the intangible reward that it gives. yes, things can be taken care of - what is natural can be altered and fixed. however, it truly is not the same as experiencing what is truly natural. 

Something to add on about Blog number 1 for Brave New World

I think it is incredibly relevant in today's society about the absence of God. In Brave New World's society, the controller has completely eliminated the idea of God in this world. I think this is also slowly happening into today's world. All over the world, America specifically, people want less and less to do with a higher power or any sort of God. They may have a God in their minds - but only one that suits their primary urges and desires and personal beliefs. The government, the media, socially, culturely, people want to eliminate the talk or presence of ONE God, so the government, and everyone under that government, can do what they please and remain happy. With one God, there is guilt. There is self control and restrictions. People don't want to deal with that. It stops them from feeling happy and feeling good all the time. this takes place in both Brave New WOrld and in today's society.