Gorey

In the beginning of the article Maria Popova claims that Gorey's alphabet book "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" inspired kids to learn and took a genre to a new level.  I only wish this kind of thing made it to my school because I'm sure I'm not the only one who could have used the laugh or a little change of pace.  While it is a little grim, I bet the kids found humor in other things in the works and that helped make it acceptable.  there should probably be more strategies like this used considering it actually made kids enjoy learning.

He uses dark humor the whole way through the work, by showing kids fall down steps or get thrown out of a sleigh.  Kids reading this can relate to that because surely most of them have had both happen to them,  All of the ideas he uses for each letter are closely related to common accidents that happen to kids, and kids will laugh at anything, especially accidents.  It is part of their innocence. The visual technique he used put me off at first, but later I enjoyed it because the shading and coloring he used kept it in a dark mood, so that it was a little spooky, but there is still humor to be found in the situations for each letter. I really liked this piece because it said the kids enjoyed it and it is not a traditional way of teaching. I don't have kids so I don't have an answer, but for people who do have kids, would this be something your kids would enjoy? 

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Entropy

Entropy was definitely not one of my favorite stories of the semester, as I was waiting for it to pick up but it never did.  Out of Meatball, Saul, and Callisto, I don't know who I side with most because I side with each of them a little.  I like Saul's passion, Callisto's drive for knowledge, even though I believe he is crazy, or at least a little nutty, and I like Meatball's dry humor.  That being said, all of them have their major flaws as well.  I don't think this story was based on good characterization because we never get to know any of the characters in my opinion.  We get to see a little piece of a short time frame where they all happen to be near.  Never do we get to fully understand the real Meatball, Saul, or Callisto.  We are able to judge and make our assumptions of them, but I don't even know if that is what was meant.  When Meatball says the people who got their tongues ripped out was because of a "Language barrier", that was the closest I felt to any of them, not for the grotesque way he joked, but because I see he is an easy going guy.  The way the story transitioned from Meatball's apartment to Callisto's was strange to me for such a short story, because in order to transition like that I feel we need more time or information on the characters or at least a better picture of the setting to get a little more comfortable.  Is it just me, or did this story need more substance?

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Essay #1 steps 1-3

The story begins talking about people drinking too much, and feeling the effects on Sunday. 

It was a fine day in the summer time, Neddy wanted to swim.

Massive clouds in the distance, a storm is coming- for his life.

Cheever describes Neddy as the last hours of a summer’s day.  Does that mean the best times for Neddy are in the past?

Lucinda asked Neddy where he was going on page 2, he said he was going to swim home. This is where his life went into turmoil?

First party he goes to they gladly offer him a drink.

Later on page 3 Cheever discusses a few people hear or see him swim buy, but can’t tell if its him for sure. Does this mean he is starting to change?

2/3 of the way down page 3 he hears thunder.  The storm is coming. His storm

Page 5 the leaves are changing, the weather cooling. It’s fall, and his situation is darkening

He found the welchers pool dry and he was disappointed.  No alcohol

Cheever writes “was his memory failing or . . . he had damaged his sense of truth?” Denial

Bottom of page 5 he begins getting shamed on the highway with trash and beer cans on the ground around him. He is just trying to cross the highway, but I think there is more to it.  This is where he gets real bad with his problem, and everyone is starting to notice he is falling apart.

Page 6 “at what point had this prank, this joke, this piece of horseplay become serious?” he realizes he has a problem?

Bottom of page 7 people tell neddy they are sorry for his problems. He either doesn’t remember them or is in denial.

Page 8 he notices weight loss, wonders how it could be in one day

He is getting cold, needs a drink to warm him up.

Notices his memory is shot again

Page 10 people talk behind his back about his problems

Page 11 he starts crying, he knows things are wrong

He gets into his last pool, but doesn’t dive for the first time, but went down the steps into the pool.

Gets home to an empty home. Family gone. No life. It’s over.

Cheever shows Neddy being lost in a world of alcohol and abandonment. 

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Monkey House

I believe Vonnegut is criticizing  Christianity and religious beliefs in general.  At the end of the story when Billy talks directly about this how the world can afford sex, just not reproduction. I believe the bible says sex is only for reproduction.  He also criticizes other laws made in the name of God.  Depending on where each person stands, Billy could be considered a hero or a villain, for the same reason.  He made Nancy and countless others realize they don't have to live the way they were born and raised to believe they had to.  She had other freedoms, although I believe in the story they were illegal.  I think Vonnegut is giving science credit when it comes to the birth control pills. He left them on the table for her at the very end and said take one a month and you wont have kids. They were the pills originally meant for the monkeys at the monkey house.  When it comes to Vonnegut using sexual assault to free her up, I think everyone has their own opinion on it. I don't think it's problematic because I can understand this is story and he is making a point.  Hopefully people can realize that, but also some people might take offense to that because it is a touchy subject.
I don't lean either way on his argument, but for his side of the argument he brings good points to the table. I think his point had to do with more than just the freedom of sexuality, and maybe it went further he was saying the government limits each of us in many ways.

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Where have you been

Joyce Carol Oates' "Where are you going, where have you been", was an extremely uncomfortable read.  Connie seemed at first like a typical pretty high school girl.  She would look at other people to guage how she looked or felt herself.  Her mother was a bit on the unloving or unfriendly side, maybe because she wasn't as pretty as her daughter, and had some jealousy because of it.  The line about her having to sides to everything, one at home and one everywhere but home gave me the sense that she was always hiding something and always putting on a front.  At the end of the story, when the two men are threatening her and she wants to call the cops but knows by their tone that they will do what they have to in order to have their way with her.  This is where Oates draws the line of Connie going from child to adult.  She wanted to let her family remain safe, and in turn gave the man what he wanted, we can only assume.  I guess at a situation like that, considering that the most heroic thing she can do is basically volunteer to get sexually abused, I  don't know what to think.
Arnie Friend is a lunatic who found out everything about Connie so he would know just when to come to her house and do what he wanted.  He was a master manipulator who eventually got what he wanted, and likely ruined Connie's life for self pleasure.

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Robert Lowell seemed to have a pretty stressful and crazy life, and his poems were pretty odd to me as well. In Skunk Hour, I think I liked the meaning behind this poem, or at least appreciate what he was saying about what New England was, and what New England is turning into. "Nautilus Island's hermit heiress" was buying up property around her so she could be alone, private, live her life according to her. She had the right to do this, but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, and Lowell thought not. She wasn't helping the problem his part of New England was facing, she was adding to it. After she bought the property, she didn't fix them up in order to keep the area nice, she only bought them in order to keep people away from her. I think "we've lost our summer millionaire" refers to the rich people living up there for the summer have moved back home for the fall and winter, and now the "season's ill" because there isn't money left in the town. The town he once loved is changing for the worse, and turning into a tourist attraction, and when the season is over, it's only the locals left over, and they need the tourists to survive . When he talks about only seeing skunks looking for food, I believe that is further showing the emptiness of the town he once knew and loved, only to see it depleted without seasonal tourism. Is he asking what happened to the time when the locals could survive on their own? Was skunk chosen to paint a picture of the towns current state?

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Fear and Loathing

Believe it or not, I have never read Fear and Loathing before, nor have I seen the movie.  I know it is super popular but I have never seen it.  I have never heard of Gonzo journalism before this, and I like how free and honest it is. He really didn't hold back, said what he thought, told the REAL story with no filters or editing. There were times I couldn't stop laughing, picturing how freaked out the kid in the backseat in the beginning of the story must be.  "Thanks for the ride," he yelled.
"Thanks a lot. I like you guys. Don't worry about me." He was probably never more scared or at least uncomfortable in his life.  The drug filled bender they were on was chaotic to say the least.
As for effectiveness and fairness of America's war on drugs, the sign saying 20 years in prison for having possession of pot in Nevada is remarkable. I would imagine it was true then, but that's amazing. Probably not the fairest of laws at any point in time.
What is American? The line in close reading from page 9 talks about the possibilities of life in America, and like it or not, their trip was American. They got to do what they wanted, being drug filled on a long trip through the desert to get to Vegas and make an ass of themselves, while having a hell of a time and meanwhile getting freaked out from the drug hallucinations.
I have to think his drug use definitely broadened his creativity, you can't make this stuff up.

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Door wide open

"Yes I will come to Mexico!"
Johnson starts off this reply with an enthusiastic expression seemingly desperate to go somewhere that isn't where she is now.  Immediately after though she takes a different tone, scolding and comforting Kerouac for calling himself a bum while assuring him he is not.  Hobo is better put, as said in previous works. Traveler, journeyman. This adventure she is about to embark on really is making her excited about what the future holds, and thinking of the past and how things ended up for her and her friends gets her reminiscing and missing her old friends who have gone off to different parts of the world.  All of that seems to not matter because she is excited to get to Mexico, where she doesn't know what the weather is like.  It is clear how much she likes him, when she writes how only he can make her feel safe in an otherwise "bad neighborhood". He puts a change in her, something only he can do.

I don't really get where she fits in with the Beat style, I see that she is "cool" compared to Ginsberg and the others, but I'm not sensing beat in these writings.  When describing the marriageable middle-class white woman, she makes it out to be a negative thing, or at least that is what I am getting.  Can't it just be "not for everyone" instead of all around bad? I am sure lots of women don't want or consider to get out and write on their own.  I do see the pros of being able to be out on your own, make your own rules, live according to no one but yourself, but lots of people like structure in their lives.

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America

After reading this poem I thought Ginsberg fit perfectly the San Francisco hippy persona of that time.  The first line "America I've given you all and now I am nothing" sets the tone for the whole poem because he feels like he is an outsider who doesn't fit in with the American Way.  He would rather get high and be be on his own than conform to traditional ways.  The way he wrote the poem painted a perfect picture of his feelings, values, and attitudes, and whether someone agrees with him or not doesn't matter because he probably doesn't care.  He wants to live his way and thinks that America failed him in the past, or at least that's what I got from it. In this poem, Ginsberg's view of America is everything he doesn't like just about.  His view is that America is going in the wrong direction, getting to complex, moving too fast.  "Your machinery is too much for me".  "I'm sick of your insane demands".  I would imagine he is speaking for a lot of people at that time, especially in his city.  Accuracy is probably not the main goal, his point is to call out the American lifestyle, and that it is too confined, as in "you must do this, not that".  Validity in his mind is more important I would say,  He wants to get a point across.  He is speaking for his own lifestyle, and underworld.  What life is better? The "normal" Americanized way of life, or his view of the way life should be, making his own rules, setting his own goals and ways.

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Ulysses

All in a days work is how I would describe this poem.  It starts out (to me) up beat and positive, like this is a happy do well family, then the truth is told about the family, then it ends with a depressing "and we sing Hallelujah".
In a weird way I enjoyed this poem, because it tells a tale of so many people and families who are completely fake.  "Then we go into the real world" is the line where the family shows who they really are.  People find ways to shield who they really are, but for what. Acting one way to make themselves feel better doesn't make up for who they really are. Why not embrace who you are and live truly.
Or on the other hand, maybe this family absolutely needs prayer in order to stick together because of the lies they are living.  I think the author is basically bashing religion in general, showing that they can be fake and act holy together but then the parents go cheat on each other and the kids are delinquents, and then when it is time to reunite they are back to their fake selves.

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Filling Station

Elizabeth Bishop was a little more hidden or discrete in these poems than the other authors we have read so far.  The poem I liked the best was Filling Station.  I interpreted it a little differently than the presentation hinted at, but there were still similarities.  I like how different the poem ended, compared to its beginning.  "Oh, but it is dirty!" changes to "Somebody loves us all".  I like how it basically went from "this is a crappy station with disgusting workers" to "it's kind of nice here".  The first glance made this station seem not properly maintained, and the workers themselves were gross.  But by the end when the viewer had seen it all and realized "this is how it is", they realized it wasn't as bad as first thought.  Is the filling station a way that people look at other people? Instead of judging someone within 5 seconds of meeting them, take the time to get to know them and you might have a different opinion.

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A Good Man is hard to find

"Been in the arm service, both land and sea, at home and abroad, been twict married, been an undertaker, been with the railroads, plowed Mother Earth, been in a tornado, seen a man burnt alive oncet".   These are the words spoken by The Misfit, and after reading the story I assumed, or wondered, that this was the writers way of saying evil is everywhere. The Misfit was Evil, and his ways were brought about him through life experiences.
Evil is in a lot of places, and a lot of people do a lot of bad things, but is this a harsh way of saying that people are bad at the core, or is she saying that people don't do enough good, or is she saying that the only reason people act good is because that's the way society is.  I wondered if the writer was trying to say if everyone had it their way, they wouldn't obey the law, and instead take every matter into their own hands and deal with it the best way they saw fit.

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Week 3- Neddy the Swimmer

When I read the Swimmer my idea of what was going on changed quite a bit throughout.  When he started out on his journey to swim the county and got to the river he named Lucinda after his wife he seemed coherent and able.  Quickly when he constantly was showing up to different houses having parties and swimming the pools it became apparent that this was only happening on the same day in his mind.

I believe he lost his family, job, and house and he was a drunk that couldn't remember a thing.  He started out on his journey in the middle of summer, maybe soon after he lost everything he had.  Next it became fall, then winter, and over and over again he was going through the motions still thinking it was the same day because of mental illness or alcohol, or both.  By the end of it I felt bad for him and his family, or the idea of his family since we never meet them.  

I wonder if he was just a drunk who never got help or if he was mentally ill.  Either way he ended up alone, probably right around the holiday season, with no money or family or home. Regardless of why he became the way he was, it is a sad situation that made a family man with a house and career end up broke, drunk, and alone.

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American mentality

Many people in America can relate to the story of Willy's life because in so many ways there is direct correlations to the way we live, and the way our friends and family live.  The direct relations people have to him could be through him or his wife or kids.  He thought he was living the dream, leaving his mark on life, but after going full speed for so long he never got a chance to slow down and actually LIVE. Someone wrote in another post how success is happiness to them.  Willy clearly didn't get that memo, and so many people in America in the past, present, and future have or will also not realize this.

Another part of Willy's story is how is wife wasn't treated with respect, and his kids couldn't stand him. While I didn't like the disrespect given to her, I wished the whole time that the kids would realize what Willy was trying to do for them, or at least what Willy thought he was trying to do. 

Lastly when Willy killed himself he thought he was making life easier for his family by letting them receive his life insurance money.  Throughout his life Willy drove himself to death, then he literally drove himself to death.  While I believe in hard work and having a career, everyone needs to take the time and enjoy the truly important things.

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Week 2

The beginning of the play shows the Mother and father talking after work, talking about what a drive he has day in and day out.  This talk turns into him reminiscing on his past, remembering good and bad, and his wife assuring him everything is alright.  When he starts to talk about his kids he seems distraught and sad, complaining about being lazy, then he starts going on about how he wants great things for Biff. Once he starts reliving Biffs past, I start to realize what is going on here.
To me he is obsessing over Biffs past because he can't focus on Biffs present state of doing nothing.  Even when Biff was a great athlete in school, he ignored his academics, thinking his ticket was through football.
Willy's inability to live in the present is pretty depressing.  He is constantly living in the past because of denial and regret.  Once his wife begins talking about his suicidal actions this just gets even darker.  His mind is lost and to him his life was a failure.
This play made me uneasy because of how realistic it is.  These things happen in real life and I'm sure a very high percentage of people can relate to someone in this play.  I personally had a friend whose parents let him do whatever he wanted in high school because he was a good athlete, they thought he was on top of the world.  Last I hear about him was that he was in and out of rehab for drugs. As far as Willy, I know that people really do work themselves to death, and by the time it's too late they wished they did things differently.
It makes me rethink how to live a balanced life.  When family, friends, work, money, and stress are all taking up time, at what point does happiness need to be the driving factor in life.

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Intro

My name is Landon Tatum.  My favorite book is The Hobbit.

The only reason I read it was because my brother basically forced me to, and I had no interest in it at all.  By the time I was done with it I loved it.  I chose this class because I am not too familiar with this subject in  general, and it is something I decided I want to learn about.  I am currently getting my bachelors in Health Information Management at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and have a degree in Health information Technology from STLCC.

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