Overall Thoughts On the Class (Last Blog!)

This is my last blog.  To finish up, I'd like to summarize my thoughts on the class.  I started out this quarter being excited to learn more about Literature.  As the class went on however, I began developing a deeper understanding of Literature, not just the entertainment value of it.  It came to mean something to me.  I'd give an example but every poem, short story, or any other piece of literature we read for this class has had a completely different impact on me and will forever shape how I see Literature as a whole. 
Overall, a fun class in which I learned a lot and met a lot of cool people, some with my safe values, some I disagreed with. 
-Thanks for a great quarter!- :)

"The Lottery"

I couldn't think of nything to blog about but I know since this is a literature class, somethingliterature-related is always welcome.  I'd like to just take a minute and talk about my favorite short story "The Lottery."  I had to read a lot of different poems and short stories for my English 113 class last quarter but surprisingly, "The Lottery" was one that was not required, just suggested.  I thought I'd give it a try even though I don't care too much for most short stories (yet I'd still rather read a sort story than a poem anyday).  I liked "The Lottery" so much because it moved me to think about serious issues that are currently upon our society today in a new way.  This short story shows us just how seriously people follow tradition, even to the point of killing a close freind or family member.  It's a very moving short story and I encourage anyone who has not yet read it to do so. 

Quick note on "The Starry Night"

The poem I recited for class, "The Starry Night" by Anne Sexton, is hard to wrap your head around at first and almost sounds like pure gibberish the first time you read or hear it.  Buy since I had to completely memorize it, I had to read it quite a few times.  After reading it a couple dozen times, you start to understand it more.  It is truly a very dark poem.  Sadly, it doesn't revel much on the "why" Sexton wanted so badly to die, only the "how."  I encourage you all to re-read it if you enjoyed it.

Peer Review in Class

I enjoyed doing the peer review and I also found it extremely helpful.  Before class, I was trying so hard to figure out what the paper as a whole was supposed to turn out like.  After the hour and fifteen minute of class, however, I came out knowing exactly what was wanted, expected, and required.  This is also largely due to the sample paper we read in class.

In-Class Disscusion We Ran Out of Time For (Part 2)

The other thing I would lik to mention is the creationist view versus the veiw of evolution that was breifly mentioned in class.  Again, I'm a Christian and I believe that God created all that exists: the earth, the sun, all the planets and stars, everything.  I'm not completely denouncing evolution here.  I believe that God created the world, and then certain plants and animal evolved, to a degree!  I'm not saying God put a fish in the sea and it crawled out and a million years later became a snake.  That's called macroevolution, the belief that all organisms that exist today started from single-celled organisms or some other species entirely.  This I do not believe.  I believe in microevolution, the belief that organisms put in certain environments can develope certain physical traits that help them to survive this new environment.  So yes, I believe in evolution, to a degree.  And I believe that all the species of organisms on this earth today (some having a few minor changes due to microevolution), were originally placed here by God. 
Even evolutionists have to have a theary of where it all came from.  And don't just answer the big bang.  A mixing of chemicals is not a valid answer because a mixing of chemicals would mean there would have to be cheicals to mix.  And where did those come from?  If you are an evolutionist, I'm not saying you're wrong.  I'm saying you're missing part of your theory.  I believe that God holds the answer.  If you don't believe this, that's fine.  It's your choice.  We all have a free will.  I'm simply saying you should make sure you have the whole picture.

In-Class Disscusion We Ran Out of Time For (Part 1)

I would like to address two things said near the end of class which I had no time to respond to. 
The first is the mention of a scientific reasoning to the parting of the Red Sea.  As a Christion, I believe that God parted the Red Sea to saved his people.  True, there's no evidence for this.  That' why what Christians have is called "faith."  We believe what God tells us through His word without question.  The parting of the Red Sea is one of these instances where at first we had no reasonable explanation, but we believed it regardless.  We went on faith.  But now, with this scientific discorvery of how theRed Sea was naturally parted (by the way, we see in this alone that scientists admit what the Bible tells us is true about the parting of the Red Sea), those who don't have a great faith or non at all can see realistic evidence of God's power. 

Entropy - Thomas Pynchon

I enjoyed this story.  I loved how two different stories are going on at the same time and the confussion we get from that.  It interests me and makes me want to read it further.  Most short stories I can bearly manage to finish, but this one held my attention. 
I like hois w the party on one floor, then the extremely well-kept rainfoest is right above it.  And when that window was broken and that rainforest-like environment which is supposed to be held at a constant temperature mixed with the outside air, it caused maddness. 
Again, very well-written story that held my ttention very well.  And hats off to the team that presented on it.  You did great! :)