Wednesday, May 2, 2007

final post


i wanted to finish my blog with a great quote by Orhan Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. In his lecture he said these great and inspirational words; "I believe literature to be the most valuable tool that humanity has found in its quest to understand itself. Societies, tribes, and peoples grow more intelligent, richer, and more advanced as they pay attention to the troubled words of their authors." This statement holds true in our class as well. We are paying attention to the words of classic writers, but as we know, 'all that is past possesses the present.' Many of the presentations today focused on that concept-and how appropiately. I think we as a class have finally come to the understanding of just how true and tangible that statement is. yes, we are obcessed with language in its written form, being english lit junkies and all, but this statement touches people across the board. every country, group, tribe, family, person. every century, decade, and day. reading is the best way to gain knowledge of the world and human experiences. i hope we will all continue to cherish our love of reading and sharing it with each other.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

thoughts on scapegoats



i found myself very inspired by Monday's scapegoating presenters. the concept of a scapegoat is as old as the human race itself and that is very extrodinary. for centuries, since the dawn of time, we humans have been unable to admit our own fault and take responibility for our actions! that is absolutely incredible to me, yet the evidence is there...every single country at some point has placed blame on a certain group of people...the nazis blame the jews, the americans blame the blacks-the list goes on forever-everyday we let someone else fall for our doings...even drinking a beer after a long day of work or a bad day in general-we can't quite make it without letting someone else take the fall. i admit after a hard day, i will drink a beer without hesitation and feel better by taking out my frustrations on that beer. think about it, everything we use to de-stress is some-sort of metaphorical scapegoat, think about that next time you sip a bud or a scape goat pale ale from our very own big sky brewing...