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.