Down to the wire.

As it gets down to the wire here in reflecting what this class has been like.  I would like to say that as a student, we really need to be mindful of how we budget our time.  This has been a wonderful class and I know I will pass.  Although, I will say taking an eight -week English course has proven to be very challenging for me as I have been out of the academic world for some time.

 You all should be so lucky to have an instructor such as Paul Gasparo.  He has proven to be very creative and original yet, maintaining a discipline that is to be expected of someone in his position.  This has been a very good experience and I hope that future students can appreciate what our instructor has to offer.  I have yet to meet a teacher that has such zest for his art in such a way to encompass his own personality and making it become a reality for everyone in the class in creating real works of art.

            As the semester comes to a close I feel that I can tackle any project that comes my way so long as I take my time.  As I do have a tendency to be hasty at times and as the old’ adage says “Haste makes waste” and I will try my best to make best use of my time in reviewing any materials that I may have in question.  If something I have done is incorrect I have only myself to blame, but feedback is very important in the learning process, and maybe it is just my personality, but I need feedback whether it be good or bad.  I would hope that all feedback be constructive.  So, I am looking forward in reviewing what it is that I finalized in turning in for our last assignment.  The class in this sense has yet to end.  And I will have to remember to keep a portfolio or journal of what it is that I need to work on.  Yes, this is something I will be working on doing.  Taking things one day at a time.

            Why is it that many students wait till the last minute to get things done?  I don’t think this was the case for me.  I could use a bit of turbo or something.  Having to return to a college campus after so many years of being in various lines of work has proven to be a challenge.  One of the things that I never really like about the educational systems is that they are general very institutional like, unless you are in a school for the arts where they want you to be expressive and well, it really is all the same.  Actually with the internet and new learning mediums it seems to have made some expansion from the ridged way it was years ago pre-online classes.  Yes, it sure has been a while.  I am a life long learner.

            So, I say this.  What made this class stand out from any other schools that I have attended was the instructors originality, I’d say his youth, but I can almost bet you all some money that he’ll be just as unique in his teaching ten years from now.  What new comic books have you read lately?

 

 Thank you.

FAHRENHEIT 451 by: Ray Bradbury. Reviewed by: "JJ"

Fahrenheit  451, was indeed a pleasure to read.  I'll admit I hadn't read any fictional books this winter.  I am glad that I choose this book to read as part of an English assignment.  Otherwise, I may never have come across this mind-provoking piece of literature.  

The story takes place in a suburb area very similar to that of Waukegan, Illinois.  It reminded me of when I lived and worked in Waukegan. We would ride the "Metro" or train transit into the city of Chicago, as Mr. Bradbury describes his characters in Fahrenheit 451, riding the train to work. 

 The Protagonist in this book is a fireman named Guy Montage.   Montage and a young girl named Clarisse McClellan, quickly get to know each other as they ride the train to work every morning.  Clarisse, as a young curious girl would likely do, approaches Montage in his uniform and engages him in conversation about his job.  It so happens they are neighbors and start to walk towards home together.  Clarisse; “You know, I’m not afraid of you at all.”  He was surprised.  Montage; ”Why should you be?”  Clarisse; “So many people are.  Afraid of firemen, I mean.  But you’re just a man, after all…” (Bradbury, 7)

Montage soon starts to reflect as the young girl’s free spirit and curious questions get him thinking about why do the firemen burn the books.  Clarisse had asked Montage if he had ever read any of the books that he burned.  His mind starts to wonder and has a sort of hunger for knowledge to know what it would be like to read a book that is considered to be against their societies law.  (Bradbury)

  I am able to see how the author pulled some of his real life experiences, views and feelings into this story. In reading I got a sense for his style as the author himself was a lover of books and this was made apparent in his story Fahrenheit 451.  During the time that this book was originally published 1953 Mr. Bradbury was around the age of 33 years. Mr. Bradbury was born, August 22, 1920.

 Back in history: “ May 1933, Nazi sympathizers in Berlin burned 20,000 “degenerate” books, many of them written by Jews and anti-fascists such as Albert Einstein, Bertolt Brecht and Franz Kafka.  Here at home, slaveholders were so frightened by the power of the word that throughout the antebellum South legislatures made it a crime to teach slaves to read and write”. (21^st Century Book-Burning, Ross)

In Fahreninheit 451, the fireman’s job was that of authority.  They had the authority to burn all books.  That was their job description.  Only the opposite of our present view on firemen as our “hero” who is there for us in time of need when we need a fire rescue and “not a book burning.”  If it had to be done it makes perfect sense to have a fireman be the burner.

Montage the “burner” fireman burns books daily.  He is a dedicated fireman having started at the age of 20, that was 10 years ago. (Bradbury, 8) Guy Montage, having never read any of the books for 10 years being in the “burning” business, after meeting with the young free spirit Clarisse.  He finds himself slowly changing.  He starts stealing a book at a time to read and stashes them away in his home.  The suppression of knowledge is apparent as books are filled with knowledge.  Without knowledge we are ignorant.  With the burning of the books the society in Fahrenheit 451, the firemen are not completely successful in preventing the spread of knowledge and free speech as an there is an underground society of outlaws.  Mildred, the homemaker of Montage is a good example in the story of loosing a sense of free speech as she finds herself submersed in a scripted dialog daily in the parlor with the “televisors” (Bradbury)

            The “outlaws” memorize the books to protect them so that one-day possibly they would be able to put them down on paper once again.  With their own “War” starting, outside of their efforts to preserve the book stories, there lies hope for a positive change through the purging of the current governing body.

Watching the "X-men" from a student's angle.

We had a fun assignment to watch modern day film of the "X-men".  If you have never seen the "X-men" film 2000 release, I'd recommend it.  It can get a little gross or rather freaky when you actually see the visual "human" change their forms into their mutations throughout the movie.   The image projected marked my brain as something dark and evil.  They are strange mutants. The director uses pathos in the film in the very beginning with a young boy, was taken from his family during a conflicting time in history. Seeing the young boy being ripped away from his family we are left with the impression that he was to never see them again  sadness and grief is dramatized a moment in time.   Which seems to be a key note in the film as I was drawn to believe that the young having survived one day would seek to avenge his family; either as  a good character or evil character all depending on how the child allowed the effects of what it was that happened in his life effect him and how he was able to cope, actually however the writer wanted the story line to read.  

Through out the film there were several suspense filled conflicts.  One of the interesting dynamical conflicts I found somewhat appealing was the relationship with two main characters.  The two main characters being that of "Rogue" also known as Mary and that of "Wolverine"also known as Logan.  These two seemed to have a very taboo relationship to begin with as Rogue tries to runaway from society and the realities of her mutation.  On her venture to run away from her recent tragic experience where she was the main instrument to destruction of her first boyfriend.  (This story is to be continued as it is part of my reflection in class.) -Thank you.

*The artwork is that of the CD/Film cover slip for X-men downloaded from undisclosed online source.

Rhetorical readiness/ Classroom presentations

The class gave their rhetorical presentation analysis in class last week. I was fortunate that I did not have to go first or last. My presentation was somewhere in the middle. Let's just say I was excited and nervous at the same time. It's crucial to make sure that you are prepared for class and that your presentation will work correctly. I say this because I will admit that this was my very first power point presentation and I used my "Mac" computer book to create my presentation. Funny thing, my rhetorical analysis presentation was "David Letterman, PC vs. Mac" I really can relate to some of the challenges of compatibility those computers have. It is and can be very frustrating when the we speak many different languages.

I was rather impressed with many of the powerpoint presentations as they did look very professional. But, that was not really the main goal of this class at this time. That will be something that I will myself focus on for our final argumentive presentation.

In reflection the presentations that stood out in my mind were not the ones that were done in class, but the class before where our instructor was showing us slides and examples of rhetorical analysis of his own choosing. The image that stands out in my mind is that of what appeared to be a homeless person holding up a sign not wanting coins, but change.  Apparently these images can be seen in many areas where there are the homeless.  Check out this article where I found this image.  -Creative Urban Furniture: Convertible, Inflatable & Portable Homeless Shelters

Okay, back to the class presentations. I keep jumping around in my thoughts as I am actually doing this blog in a classromm setting as a group. The first and last time I think we will be doing this as a class.

Their was a photo rhetorical anaysis presented by one of my classmates that was a photo text.

It was of a boy in what appeared to be in a third world country. He was pissing on a wall.

It was a photo with very little color, it was black and white somewhat dreary in appearance and to the right side of the photo there was a red logo splashed very commercial looking which stated "just do it". This photo in my opionion was a good example of pathos in use. My classmate giving his presentation did a pretty good job. Pointing out that the boy was doing exactley what the logo was saying to do. As everyone has their own opinion as to what "Just do it" means. If you don't know it was the fortune 500 company "Nike".

"Franz Kafka is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century."--unidentified

Photo of Franz Kafka that was put on public display to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of one of the world's greatest writers.

Let's go frantic about KAFKA!

One of our reading assignments we had in our "English" class was to read Kafka-"Metamorphosis".    An ebook version  is available just by clicking on the highlighted title.  Read this for yourself.  You may agree with me as the first time that I read this science fiction writing of Kafka it was a very painful read.  What I meant by painful was it was rather long and drawn out.  I found it to be rather wordy and descriptive and somewhat too slow for my attention span at times.  But, I was able to lighten things up by supplementing the reading with a visual interpretation that I had looked up using YouTube.  

You will find that with the reading and the visual that I used as a supplement that there were a few details that may have been changed.  I think the person that did the visual version is "Carlos Atanes", an independent filmmaker.  He did a pretty good job in his interpretation I feel.  You may agree or not.

The purpose in reading Kafka-"The metamorphosis" was so that we could go over it in class and do a literary analysis and rhetorical analysis of his work, actually a synthesis of Metamorphosis and the film X-men.  The focus in the class seemed to have been distracted by life during this assignmnet.  "Life on life's terms".  Our countries "Presidential Election" hit home for everyone in our class as it was a historical time and it seemed as if politics and life views encapsulated our brains for days.  By the time our class actually got around to reviewing Kafka's work, it was as if the flame was barely there in the class, what happened?  Our instructor had to break it down for the class.  I think I was expecting something different from the class.  A group analysis that would bring to light something of a deeper interpretation of the book.  It's always so much more fun to learn when everyone is participating.  Not to have any sort of expectation would be a good policy.  

What it seemed that I got out of the book was that the Protagonist named Gregor found himself changing into something other than human.  Over time it was not only his personality that changed, but his whole being.  Why this was happening could be the fact that his family was at one time a very well to do family and fell under hard times.  This caused the family dynamics to shift from Gregor's father being the bread winner to Gregor manning the reins in becomming the bread winner and sole supporter of the family until one day he becomes sick.  The sickness that he becomes infested with is recognized by his family, but they show very little compassion for his situation as he was expected to perform and deliver services to provide for the family that of his mother, father, sister and various housekeeping help.

When outsiders of the family become aware of Gregor's handicap the father is shameful of his son or it could be that he is ashamed even of himself for allowing such atrosity to happen.  The father then takes out his anger and frustrations on Gregor who has become powerless and in need of help which none other than his sister seem to provide.  The family manages to make their own wages all the while Gregor remains confined to the home mainly in his small room where his sister would deliver scraps of foods and tidy up through Gregor slow path to death from his sickness.  All the while his sister slowly become resentful as each day passes on.  As she herself is transforming from a young girl to that of a young fruitful woman who chooses not to cary on the burden of caretaker for her older brother who has become fully dependent on her and the family at this time.  

All the while    

Author/Ethos:  Mr. Franz Kafka  "Everybody knows the face of Franz Kafka, whether they have read any of his works or not.  And that brooding face carries instant images: bleak and threatening visions of an inescapable bureaucracy, nightmarish transformations uncanny prediction of the Holocaust  But while Kafka's genius is beyond question, the image of a mysterious, sickly, shadowy figure who was scarcely known in his own lifetime bears no resemblance to the historical reality.  Franz Kafka was a popular and well-connected millionaire's son who enjoyed good-time girls, brothels, and expensive porn, who landed a highly desirable state job that pulled in at least $90,000 a year in today's dollars for a six hour day, who remained a loyal member of Prague's German-speaking Imperial elite right to the end, and who's work was backed by a powerful literary clique.  " - James Hawes a novelist and Kafka scholar with a PH. D. in German literature.  *The photo above is a book Jacket design and lettering by Steve Snider with illustration by Douglas Smith.

A really good site to view regarding Kafka-"The Kafka Project". by Mauro Nervi