My Farewell to College Lit

When we walked in on the first day we were like

But Kunkle soon took the floor like

and we were ready to learn.

But now it's

 

and time to reflect on what we've learned and experienced.

We started out hating things like annotating and blogging, but now we feel enlightened by the knowledge they've brought us.

 

We've watched movies

we've read books,

(which is harder to find a gif about than you'd think...)

We've blogged.

We've hated people during discussion,

and we've made new friends.

We used to be afraid of college exams and lectures

But, now that we've stared deep into the souls of good college literature

we're just excited because we'll be smarter than everyone else.

Because who's learned something in College Lit?

 

That's what I thought.

Happy summers everyone!

REEEEMMIXXEDDDD

My Remix:
http://Pixton.com/ic:wrbvvqbx

Ali's Original:
http://www.pixton.com/comic/p2x387di

My Pixton

The Adventures of Ryan Krattiger:
http://Pixton.com/ic:xy8dyjsv

The Perfect Graphic Novel...

Well..thus far anyway, and I guess my opinion isn't too important because it's the 2nd graphic novel I've ever read. But besides all that, Watchmen is awesome. And this blog is going to make me feel like even more of an outsider because no one else is reading this, but here's my opportunity to completely suggest it to you.

Watchmen is the shiz.

I love the complexities of all the characters and the plot. Rorshach is one of the greatest characters I've had the pleasure of reading about in a long time. He's complexly considerate, humorous, and mysterious. I'm only on the second chapter and I feel completely intoxicated by the pictures and writing. I was a huge fan of Persepolis, but this takes graphic novels to a whole other level-- at least for  me, which I repeat, isn't saying too much.

But read this. Seriously.

It is not that day

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

We all know the grand story of Frodo and the Ring , but we never seem to see it as a war story. It is instead seen as a story of a journey, or a story of man, but it does have its fair share of intense wars. The Return of the King is where we see Frodo's journey come to an end. Gandolf the White returns, Gollum leads Frodo and Sam closer to Mount Doom, there is the siege at Minas Tirith, and finally the men of the west versus the orcs at the Black Gate. There are two main wars in this film, and they both represent different things. The initial battle at Minas Tirith is to obtain land and destroy people. The Orcs are brutal, and the Gondorians are simply fighting to survive and protect their land. This suggests that war is only a loss of men (and/or Orcs) and nothing is achieved by it in the end. However, the battle at the Black Gate is for something huge. It is to destory Sauron's power, and the Ring forever-- to change Middle Earth. This suggests that war can lead to good things. Aragorn sends his men to battle telling them that they can rebuild the world, and change does occur.

However, I think that Vonnegut's goals and Tolkien/Jackson's were fairly different. While the battles in Lord of the Rings are based on large goals, they do not contribute to the larger goal of the story. However, the war stories provided in Slaughterhouse-Five, contribute to the themes that Vonnegut is trying to convey. Without the Pilgrims' war experience, there would be little for us to go off of. On the other hand, without the wars in Lord of the Rings, we would mostly just miss out on intense action and hearing the absolute best line of the film: "Throw the dwarf!"

Mary O'Hare would like this film because it's one of the most beastly, most epic stories of all time. But she may not like that war is all over the place, and makes it seem like a necessary, exciting thing. She might not dig that, but she'll for sure like Gollum.

Fin.

People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden...

I know I'm breaking the first rule here, but...damn I love Fight Club. And as I sit here watching it, it occurs to me, that it stands as an interesting portrayal of "groups," which we've been talking about a lot in class. The main character belongs to a number of groups. First of all: his job. He works at a "job he can't stand to buy shit he doesn't need." Today our jobs become a way of defining ourselves, our key group. However, the main character in Fight Club learns that "You are not your job." Therefore, he becomes an outsider in that group.

Secondly, the main character becomes involved in numerous support groups. The groups were for tuberculosis, testicular cancer, parasites, etc. However, the main character doesn't have any of these problems; therefore, he would be considered an outsider. But it's ironic, because these groups are the one place that the character can let go. In this case, maybe being an outsider to the group is exactly what's freeing about it-- "Bob loved me because he thought my testicles were removed too."

The third group the main character belongs to is the "Slaves of Ikea." Now this is a much broader group-- the materialists, which is a world wide group. The main character of Fight Club begins the movie as a regular member of this "group," but learns a "better" way and then becomes an outsider of that group as well-- " You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."

Finally...the main group he belongs to: Fight Club. Fight Club is his group. He started it. He led it. He created the rules. He finally became a true insider. However..(SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen Fight Club, don't read on) it's interesting that this is the one group that he becomes a true insider, because it's the one group he becomes a part of while also becoming Tyler Durden-- his other self. Therefore, the one group he is a true insider in, he can't even be himself-- he has to create an alternate ego. This alternate ego then creates Project Mayhem, a group in which his regular self is completely left out of.

So what is Fight Club trying to say about groups?

This is officially the cheeziest post I've ever produced.

Six dancers. All from different schools. Two that are sophomores, two that are juniors, and two that are seniors. Palmer, Alison, Leah, Marisa, Erin, and Rachel-- their names spelling Palmer. It was a group that was meant to be. Our mandatory dance classes being on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we ended up being there almost every other day of the week together. This was the kind of group that no one ever got left behind. We were some of the best dancers the studio had ever seen because we worked together to put on an amazing show. Going to the dance studio became the one part of our day's that we could be ourselves. It was a freeing experience where we could relieve all of our stress, laugh, and dance. Being apart of that group was the experience of a lifetime. At the final recital, we came together in the dressing room for our final speech of the season. Our dance teacher put her arms around us and told us that we were thee group. We topped anything she had ever seen before. That we changed the studio, the advanced class, and even her, forever. This is cheezy and terrible, but one of the most amazing things that's ever been said to me (us). Once the season was over, we all predicted that we would never be able to dance again. But our group was too strong to let that happen. We still meet weekdays to choreograph, dance, and just be together. It's a group that I'll always consider myself apart of even when we're all miles and miles away from each other.

A story about College Lit

When I started College Lit, I was like 

Because I already knew that College Lit was awesome, and that the "Shit Jeff Kunkle Likes" College Lit might even top Jane Eyre.

When we started reading Fences I was like

I felt like nothing was happening, and I wasn't very engaged with the story.
I also wasn't a huge fan of Troy.

But then after further discussion in class...

It's cool how the conversations in College Lit make you realize things that you would've never realized just by reading the book by your lonesome.

Then we started this whole online collaboration business, and I was like

because we got to go on a field trip and eat Five Guys and stuff!
And then I found out that my book had no words in it, and I was like









However, then the whole collaboration started and I realized we couldn't discuss too much, which I thought was the fun part of College Lit. So then I was like

But "The Arrival" was very awesome so in the end I was

We then went on to start reading Metamorphosis. I had high hopes for this book because I've heard great things. From the first sentence I was like

Because it was so good, not that I was afraid of it and had to hug my pillow.

And then I finished Metamorphosis and I was like

I was really hoping for something huge and climactic, but it was just like...

However, I'm sure we'll discuss it in class tomorrow and Kunkle will unlock the magnificent secrets of it, and I'll be like

So far College Lit Part 2 has been a fun adventure. When it ends I'll probably freak out.

But it'll be okay.

The End.

A big tall tree.

When Rachel Stetenfeld woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, she found herself changed in her bed into a monstrous tree. When her eyes opened and peered above her house, she knew there had to be a problem. She felt the stretch of her wooden limbs underneath her and felt the wind all around her. She wished to simply pull her blanket above her head, but looked down to see it sitting beside her stump. She shook her arms in frustration as leaves fluttered all over the floor.

Walking was impossible. She couldn't look behind herself-- only able to gaze into the blank sky. Unrecognizable to family, friends, and even herself. But she grew taller everyday-- stronger, more alive. With new great heights, she discovered new things. She looked over the world and saw new things to enlighten her.

Online Collaboration

So for the past two weeks (I think it's been), we have been a part of an online collaboration While this hasn't been an excruciating experience or anything, I almost really hope that this isn't the way things go in college. I really like the idea of the classroom experience. I really like hearing others' opinions and having the teacher correct me when I am saying stupid things. With this whole collaboration thing, I feel very on my own, but not in a good way. What are others' thoughts?

Duties

I found it interesting that Kunkle put on emphasis on the idea of "duties" in Fences, because it's something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. Obviously, as a senior, it's coming to be that time that I have to make a decision for where I go to college, but I'm scared. I feel like I have a duty to my parents to go to college, get an education, then get a job, get married, and have kids. However, right now I feel like I'm only living for that duty, and college isn't necesarily what I want at this time.

Rose talks about how she has dreams but she's sacrificed them to be with their family and to be with Troy. This scares me because you see this theme in so many books, movies, and telivision shows: the idea that people settle down and there's so much they wanted to do but never did or will do. I never want to be that person that feels like she's held back. I don't want to settle at unhappiness becauseI'm afraid to try and be something greater.

What do you think? What duties do you feel you have (if any)?

A whole lot of "others."

I'm really lovin the theme of the class, because you can find alone as the theme of so many books, plays, and films. And lo and behold, I watched a movie last night that really had me thinking about being an "other." The film was "Babel," and it's plot holds four different stories of people from different cultures. The film follows the individuals by depicting them as outsiders-- one story following a tour bus of Americans in Morroco, another depicting a Mexican housekeeper bringing two american children to Mexico, another following a deaf-mute asian teenager struggling in a busy city full of sound, and finally a young Moroccan boy who has shot an American tourist. I think this film paints a realistic picture of our world's inability to communicate between cultures, and possibly suggesting that we are always an outsider out of our own culture. This is sad to me. Why can't people be more understanding? More willing to trust others? And especially, more willing to accept others? I foresee a lot of travel in my lifetime, and I hope that I don't spend that time as a constant outsider. Do you think this is the case?

This is what an About Me looks like.

Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I'm just crazy. Or maybe I'm just a girl...that is way too excited to start blogging for College Lit! So here I shall begin by telling you the main things that shape and mold me.

We shall start off with the description of my family and friends! I was adopted at birth into a family with my parents, Bety and Ernie, and my brother, Dan. We live in a small blue house with our cats Ginger and Oreo, and enjoy watching Woody Allen comedies together. Days spent with my family are usually good ones. My friends are also a large part of who I am. I have a variety of different friends from different towns, different states, and as of recently, different countries. Most of them have different cultures, religions, and opinions than my own, so I'm constantly surprised by the new things I learn. We partake in Jones runs, laser tagging, Flavor of Love marathons, and dirty dancing lifts.

The second most important thing to describing me are my interests! My main passions are dancing, singing, and acting. Besides my three main "subjects", I also have my side hobbies. I enjoy cup stacking, laser tagging, writing, beatboxing, crumping, eating string cheese and watching films. My faith is something that is also very important to me. My music tastes range from the indie sounds of Ingrid Michelson to the soothing sounds of Hall & Oats. Furthermore, I enjoy reading. Go figure, I'm in College Literature. My favorite writer being Chuck Klosterman, who writes humorous essays on pop culture (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs).

And finally-- my goals. You will find that I constantly have short term goals that I long to achieve. Most recently there was beat boxing, and now I long to learn to play the guitar and to skateboard. While these goals are slightly childish, I do strive for some pretty great things. I dream of going to either Luther College or St. Mary's University. I hope to study compartive religion, english, film, theater, dance, and maybe I'll find an actual major in due time..

 

The final truth is yes-- I have confused a dream with life, yes I've stolen something (bowling shoes...), I have indeed been blue, and I always think my train's moving when it's standing still. I might be a little crazy, but mostly I'm just a girl...that is excited to start blogging for College Lit (again).