Last Core Blog Ever!!

Although I wasn't a fan of the whole blogging thing at first, you have to admit that it is a really great way to get more from the class. Before the required blogging, I would just read straight through the story without pulling much out from it. But having the blogs forced me to take the time to stop at those half formulated thoughts that occurred in the middle of reading and analyze them. Rather than quickly reading through, I began to make more connections and think more about what was being said in the text. The blogs also caused me to create more connections between things. I even started connecting things between other classes and would start thinking of what to say in my blog before realizing that neither of those classes were Core so there was no blog to write them down for. Overall, the blogs ended up being a good way to get me thinking more, not just about my Core books and discussions, but all the books and discussions that are taking place in all my classes.

You Never Know What to Expect

I knew that our ninth text was in the form of a comic book beforehand, but I had no clue what to expect. It was a really touching story, reading about this girl and her life growing up during that time. In the beginning, she starts off with such naiveness, such as how she would be the next prophet so that she old people wouldn't suffer anymore, which I believe is how kids should be. By the time the story is finished though, she has grown past those simple times of believing she could be the next great prophet. Although she still had things to learn, she was forced to grow up way too quickly, even leaving her parents and her country at the young age of fourteen. I mean, by fourteen, you have grown and matured, but not enough to be leaving your parents with the possibility of never seeing them again.

Brokeback Mountain

So I just watched Brokeback Mountain the other day and the whole time while watching it I just kept thinking about how similar it was to Giovanni's Room. Both stories take place about the same time, when homosexuality was not accepted at all, especially by Americans. So, the two characters in the movie, Ennis and Jack, as well as David from Giovanni's Room, all kept their homosexuality a secret from everyone else, or at least try to. However, both David's fiancé and Ennis's wife find out and end up leaving. David's bad decision making skills which end up making him a jerk seem to be split between Ennis, who drinks a lot, and Jack, who ends up having multiple affairs with both men and women. In the end, Jack gets killed and Ennis is alone. Sounds familiar...

Surprise!

I was a little surprised at the ending...because it actually had a concrete conclusion at the end! It's a first for this class, and a last. Although there are still things at the end left to discuss, we aren't left with the typical Core question of, "what just really happened??" White Castle leaves us wondering who is who, House of Mirth doesn't reveal whether Lily purposefully or accidentally kills herself, Sputnik Sweetheart never tells whether Sumire really returns, and The Age of Iron doesn't really tell if Mrs. Curren is dead. Baldwin does the best job out of these five books in wrapping up the basics for us. In the end, we know that Hella has left, Giovanni is either dead or about to be, and David is now forced to move on with his life with the freedom he dreaded from the beginning.

For Different Reasons

At one point in the story, both David and Hella want to be married to each other, but for different reasons. In the beginning of the book, David tells the reader that "nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom. I suppose this was why I asked her to marry me: to give myself something to be moored to" (5). Hella had a bit different thought process when deciding to marry David though. During a conversation between the two, she tells David, "I began to realize it in Spain-that I wasn't free, that I couldn't be free until I was attached-no, committed-to someone" (126). Interesting how David and Hella want the same thing, marriage, to obtain opposite results, one doesn't want the unbearable freedom while the other wants to be freed.

"Oh," said Giovanni, "nobody likes to travel, especially not women."

I would have to disagree with Giovanni and his belief here. It seems like any time the mention of traveling abroad comes up, almost everyone here at Richmond lists off all the places they have been to already. I think I'm right to assume that at least part of the reason we go on these trips is because of the enjoyment we get from going to see more of the world than what we grew up around, as well as seeing the places we have only heard of before. It's a completely different learning experience between reading about something like the Colosseum and actually walking around inside of it. This is also why Richmond seems to push studying abroad for its students at some point during our four years here. Travel is a great way to enrich our education and get a different and better perspective on many things, why wouldn't someone like to travel?

Restructuring the Building

I went to the lecture tonight by Ellen Bravo, expecting to be bored and not able to understand the speaker like all the other lectures I've been to this semester. However, she ended up having some very good points and kept the entire lecture interesting and somewhat entertaining! Although I've heard a lot of the feminist stuff before, she presented it all in a different way, rather than saying poor women are being beaten up by all the horrible men, she showed the change that is needed as a way to improve society for everyone. What really got me was that, out of the 167 countries in the world, there are only four that do not incorporate paid leave at most if not all jobs, one of these four is America. Supposedly America is such a great country, the land of opportunities, but people from other countries feel sorry for Americans that have to bring their children up in a society that doesn't allow for both family time and a good job. In class, we have been discussing the racial inequalities that affect our society, and while that is an important issue that needs to be solved, we need to realize that is not the only inequality taking place in our society.