Post for 9/30

The short story or poem that we read before class and reread in class was a strange one in my opinion. The main lady seemed to come off like an old washed up famous person who is living in their past. But this may just be because she was being interviewed, but I would tend to think that the issue of who she is now would be more prevalent in the interview than nonexistent. In relation to character it at first seems like Madame Descartes was a very dynamic character and changed throughout the story however when looking back upon the story it seems like she is a static character because she does not change at all throughout the course of the story, it just seems like she does because all the time she is talking about change but this was all from the past. But there is one point in the story where it could be considered that Madame Descartes changes, because at the end of the story she turns the table on the interviewer and takes his picture. This could be considered a change in her character because it could show that she is moving away from self interest and becoming more interested in others, but this is about the only spot that I saw where she changed. However when we look at the person interviewing her we don’t really get much information on him so he is thought of as a static character due to the fact that he just lays down in the shadows of the story until the end of the story when Madam Descartes turns the table on him by taking his picture. Up until this point we see him as a very calm reporter who is just listening but when Madame Descartes takes his picture he all of the sudden gets very nervous. This was just my outtake on the discussion in class and the reading.

Painting

This is my painting from class. I painted a scene where it was talking about the devastation of the locusts and this is how it turned out. My masterpiece : )

Post for 2-27

When we painted in class Thursday I was quite unsure what I was going to paint about when I came into class. Then I started to reread the book of Joel and it seemed to me that when I read about the devastation of the locusts that everything was probably very miserable and morbid when that was occurring. I saw a scene playing in my head and a rather morbid one at that. The scene was like the one from the movie, The Mummy Returns where they are in the desert and the small little beetles start flying around and craw under everyone’s skin. So with this movie clip rolling through my head I painted a masterpiece of little locust devastating everything around such as the crops and the single person that I had room to fit on my page. Although my work maybe a little short of an actual masterpiece it did help me to dig a little deeper into the story and really think what it was about rather than just reading idle words on a page. Even though it seemed like a very strange activity at the time it may actually be a helpful way of understanding more of what literature has to say. However I seriously doubt that the next time I get out my Bible that I will whip out the painting supplies and paint a picture of Jesus getting crucified, but maybe that would actually be a helpful activity for some children/teens so that they can really dig deeper into what Jesus really went through. All in all for me it was a very enjoyable activity and helped me in digging deeper into the text, but it would be too unpractical for me to do outside of class because all the mess and the cleanup maybe crayons would be easier.

Matt Davis 9/21/10

                Well I went outside with the rest of the class and decided to talk to the lake and the little ducks about the book of Joel. Well I guess it wouldn’t be considered talking to them it was probably more like preaching and listening to the sound of the wind and the quacks they had. Though I did realize a lot more about the book after I had read it out loud probably because I slowed down to read more into the text as I read aloud. When slowing down and reading aloud I ran over a passage that was all too familiar but I realized something about it that I had not realized before. The passage read, “It will come about after this. That I will pour My Spirit on all mankind…” What I realized is the beginning where it says it will come about after this meaning that after the troubles and the storms come then the happiness will come. I found this interesting because I feel that many people think that starting a relationship with God means that nothing bad will happen to them anymore. But this is not the case like professor Corrigan says, everyone suffers. And if you haven’t suffered you will suffer it is just a natural part of life. I think that people need to get it in their head that whether they are in a relationship with God or not they will suffer.  However I’m not a very gloomy person and don’t like all of this sad talk so I will say that I do think there are such things as happy endings. Because when all of the suffering is over then the real happiness comes and in the end all the suffering was worth the happiness. And I also do believe the Bible when it says that all good things work for the good of those who love the Lord. So In my opinion there is suffering in life but there will be a happy ending for the followers of Christ whether it is in this life or the next.

Matt Davis 9-20

Okay so I will be the first to say that I am not the deepest of people. I’m pretty chill and maybe to a fault don’t really contemplate life enough or much at all. Also I’m not one who like to stay in a sad state or dwell over things, and usually when I get upset I try to think of something that makes me really happy. So when we started reading the poems in class my mind kind of just went out the door to my “happy place” and didn’t really dig that deeply into the meanings. So Thursday I guess I didn’t get that much from the poems but I wouldn’t say it was because I wasn’t paying attention, it was that I honestly do not understand poetry at all in any way. I know another girl in class spoke up about this but I’m right there with her. My mind does not think on these very deep levels of pain and sorrow. Now the people reading this are probably thinking it’s a sad thing that this kid isn’t that deep and probably doesn’t really know who he is… blah blah blah. That’s not the case. There are some things that I do think deeply about such as theological issues. Now I’m no religion major but I spend some time thinking and reading about different theological issues, evolution in particular. This probably comes from my dad being a pastor for many years and being a pretty deep thinker. Now back to the poems. I guess what I’m trying to say is that these poems didn’t really mean anything to me, but I wish they did. I feel like if I’m going to take the time to read something I want to be able to enjoy it for what it is worth. Maybe I need to spend more time reading poetry that I can relate to in order to gain a grasp on how these writers think.

Matt Davis 9-15

Again I will blog about Lewis’ “A Grief Observed” because simply I find it intriguing and I simply have no clue what else to write about. Lewis says in one passage, "If, as I can't help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation (and this may be one of their purgatorial sufferings), then for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love." For me this is odd because I have always been told that there will be no pain in heaven and it seems like the pain of separation is one of the worst types of pain. However he does specify that it may be a purgatorial pain but this also strikes me as odd because I am no theologian but I thought that the current Christian doctrine was that purgatory did not exist and if I am correct it is the Catholics who believe in purgatory. Now I’m also not a huge C. S. Lewis fanatic but as I recall he was not Catholic. So this statement is very strange to me due to the fact that from everything I have heard, read and come to believe is that heaven is a place without suffering. In my opinion I don’t even think I will remember those who are still living here on earth because the very memory of earth will be painful to think of due to past sins. To me it seems like the only way the dead could remember the living is if they were in Hell. But what makes my mind twirl even more is that God grieves over us and our sin. So maybe heaven is a completely different type of place then I have always imagined. Maybe we will feel pain for those we love as God does.

9/13/10

C. S. Lewis says in his book “A Greif Observed”, “What sort of a lover am I to think so much about my affliction and so much less about hers? Even the insane call, ‘Come back’ is all for my own sake.” Now when reading this I found this statement a little peculiar as I started to think more about it. Is it really so insane to wish someone who was dead would come back to life even if the reason is that we are suffering without them.  And so I continue to think if it is insane to wish someone back from heaven to earth to be with us then it would seem reasonable to wish that you’re loved one who have accepted Christ would die. It sounds very strange when I type it but in my view wishing someone dead so they can to go heaven and be ultimately happier is about the opposite as wishing someone to come back from heaven to have life again because for wishing them from death to life and out of heaven is the opposite as wishing them from life to death and to heaven. Honestly I would never wish a loved one of mine would die so that they could get to heaven sooner so in my opinion it really isn’t an insane call that Lewis is making when wishing for his wife to come back. I think there is nothing insane at all for wishing someone back to life just because life is a very short span of time compared to the eternal life that we are promised for being saved through Christ. Thus I believe that we should enjoy this state of existence for as long as we can because we have all of eternity to spend in heaven.

Cemetery 9/13/10

"I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this fieldtrip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes." I have a picture on my phone but was unable to upload it at this time I can show it in class if need be.

Matt Davis 9/7/10

Today at lunch we were all discussing the books we brought to class and as we started discussing the book I brought, The Silmarillion, I started to notice how many Biblical reference are in the book. This book is pretty much the lore the trilogy The Lord of The Rings and it gives all this history before the main storyline gets started. What most stuck out about the Biblical references was the origin of life in the book. In The Silmarillion the origin of all life comes from one creator and this creator makes all of the heavens and then the creatures in the heavens. And Tolkien continues to describe the heavens and the heavenly beings, and all of the heavenly beings play songs and there is one heavenly being who makes the most beautiful music but has a desire to be more powerful, as in making better music, than the creator. There is a conflict where they both play their music and then the creator overcomes the heavenly being named Malkor and then sends Malkor into the abyss. After sending Malkor into the abyss the creator puts the other heavenly beings in charge of certain aspects and one of the heavenly beings is put in charge of ruling over earth. To me this entire creation story and the discord with Malkor closely resemble the Christian creation story in that there is a single creator and that the devil became jealous over our creator and was thrown out of the heavens for this sinful jealousy. In The Silmarillion Malkor closely resembles the devil, and after being thrown into the abyss the creator lets him roam the earth and bring evil into the world. I just thought it was interesting how Tolkien started off his world with a creation story that clearly resembles the Biblical creation story.

Matt Davis 9/6/10

I was rereading the short passage called Happy Endings by Margret Atwood and it came to me that more often than not the story was depressing to read and even though it always reverted back to as it was in “A” there was always a rather large problem that arose. And as I was reading over “B” and come to the end where Mary decides to swallow a ton of pills hoping that John will come ride in and save her and I realized how crazy people are and the things that they do when they are in love. In my opinion people are really plain stupid when it comes to love, like in the case of “B” when Mary swallows the pills does she really honestly think that John out of all the times in the day will come and save her before she is dead. And in the story we read the other day, when the woman was talking about how her ex-husband loved her and beat her. It is like people just lose their sensibility when they fall in love. Now I am not saying that falling in love is a bad thing. I mean I’m in love with a woman and I think it’s a wonderful thing to have someone there to share everything with but I think that people need to keep a grip on reality too. And when I say they need to get a grip on reality I don’t only mean not killing yourself as I mentioned earlier I mean being sensible. Personally some of my friends need to get a grip on reality too, because they have decided to get married while they are still in college. Now I know it’s not a terrible thing to get married and for some people it’s a smart decision because of financial aid and ect. But I am just referring to the case that I know of. My friends are getting married and honestly they are stupid because both of them are still in school and only God knows what they are going to do after they graduate in an economy like this. One of the biggest reason they are stupid is because they aren’t going to have any money and once they get married it’s no more running home to mommy and daddy. I guess what I’m trying to say through this whole thing is people need to think straight even when their heads are stuck up in the clouds.

Matt Davis 9/2/10

In What We Talk about When We Talk about Love Mel claims that what happened to his current wife Terri with her past husband was not true love. Terri claims that even though her ex-husband beat and threatened to kill her that he really did love her in his own way. Now in my opinion I agree with the character Mel because truly loving for someone is at the very least caring for their wellbeing. And frankly if you care for someone else’s wellbeing you are obviously not going to beat them and drag them across the floor as described in the story and you certainly would not seriously threaten to kill them if you cared for them in any way at all. Nonetheless Terri claims that her ex-husband just had a very different way of sharing his love than other people do. I agree with Mel in this case because this is not love in anyway.


In my opinion Terri is not alone in her thinking. I think probably that many of the women who have been in an abusive or that are currently still in a abusive relationship have the common mindset, that their partner really does love them and that the reason they were beat was because they are just different than the rest of the world or just have a different way of expressing their love. Now I do not think that the only reason people stay in these relationships is because they feel loved when their beaten or feel bad for the person beating them. I clearly understand that many women stay in these relationships due to the fact that they are scared for their lives to leave especially in cases where the lives of the women are threatened. Here I am simply saying that this may be a reason that women stay in relationships with abusive men.