July 2011
66 posts
1 tag
From Innocence to Experience, A Connection to the...
Robert Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience was probably one of my favorite works during this four-week course. The first series of poems identifies with the innocence of children, while the second set centers around the experience that comes with adulthood. To simplify things, “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” are two poems within the work that demonstrate the dichotomy of Blake’s...
My Month at Walden Pond
Humanities 2 at Walden Pond was a risk for me. It was something outside the Geneseo classroom walls that I had heard a brief speech about and decided to pursue further. I am so glad that I did—this has been a once in a lifetime experience. I’m extremely grateful that my parents encouraged me to endeavor on this wonderful adventure. The texts we read gained more meaning surrounded by our country’s...
Civilization: Full of Discontents
Among most of our readings, I noticed a pattern of the negative qualities of civilzation and how it has affected people. In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, he discusses an ideal society in which everyone is free, even to the point of killing a thief if he tries to steal their property. However, in order to protect their property, one will enter into civilization and follow...
Advice to Next Year's Geneseo Concordians
From one student to another:
Go to Helen’s. A lot. Eat their frozen yogurt.
Establish a sleeping pattern early on, otherwise you will sleep all day and not see anything.
Read the course books ahead of time. They’re not bad, but they’ll cut into your leisure time a lot.
Best Clam Chowder in Concord: Walden Grille.
If you go to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, visit Author’s Ridge, but also say...
Eat Learn Love
One of my favorite books of all time is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. After a difficult divorce Elizabeth travels to Italy where she enjoys the magnificent Italian cuisine. Then Elizabeth goes to India where she visits her Ashram and learns the importance of devoting yourself to becoming a better person. Finally Elizabeth ends her stay in Bali where she falls in love with a wonderful man who...
Love Letter to William Blake
I’d like to give Blake a little shout-out. William Blake, I love you! Sorry, but I just feel like Will didn’t get much love in this class. Personally, I love poetry. I used to be an English major, and I miss it all the time. I love Romanticism (probably because all of its remaining burning embers are alive inside me!). I love Blake’s beautiful lyric poetry. And most of all, I love what Blake is...
My Advice to Mary Wollstonecraft: Shopping Therapy
I have something to say to Mary Wollstonecraft: “Mary, chill out.” Listen, I am a feminist. I really am. I am a hard-core, girl-power feminist. I can do anything I want to. I am woman, hear me roar. All of that, really. But I am also a woman who loves to bake. I am a woman who loves children, and the thought of being a mother. I like to take care of people. I want to teach. I like the color pink....
Take That, Freud!
I’m not sure why, but the Holocaust captivates me. It always has. Ever since I was little, my favorite books were about children hiding from the Nazis or memoirs of concentration camp survivors. I think one reason I find it so incredible is how it can encompass both the very best and worst of human nature.
Freud and Hobbes both argue that humans operate at the most base, instinctual level of...
Why Concord?
Throughout my stay in Concord I found myself constantly thinking, “Why Concord?” So many important events occurred in this small town, with so many important people to witness them. Prior to visiting Concord I had no idea that numerous inspirational people resided in the village.
The Wayside: During my stay I was able to visit the Wayside which was home to the Alcotts, Hawthornes, and...
Hippie Communist Propaganda
I know I’m not supposed to be a Communist, and I’m not, exactly, but I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t sound awesome because it totally does.
I love Marx and Engels. What great guys! I particularly love Engels. First of all, he gives up a life of ease and fortune handed to him, and decides to live for and amongst the poor. Does that ring a bell to anyone? St. Francis of Assisi? Buddha? All three...
Gee, Grandpa, you're being kind of racist...
Early in Walden, Thoreau states that he sees no reason why anyone should listen to his elders. Not much comes of that line, it not being very important, but it is interesting to think about. Certainly any teenager who finds him/herself wallowing in angst would latch onto it very quickly. But even the rest of us, when we are trapped listening to our parents and other elders, would do well to...
1 tag
Looking Back
Now that I have left Concord I have been thinking about my month in Concord. When I first left home I really did not know what to expect. Now I am so glad that I decided to go because it was an experience I will never forget. Had I taken humanities II at Geneseo I would have never gotten even half of what I got out of it by taking it in Concord. At Geneseo I would have had four other classes...
1 tag
So I Walk
After Monday’s class, I was left with two developing treads of thought. Of civilization and of human nature. I could go on for pages trying to explain and determine my feelings toward these topics using Freud’s text but this does not interest me. Instead I will describe a walk, which I took that very evening. A word of warning, I cannot discuss these topics without cynicism and...
3 tags
NEVER AGAIN
Yesterday in class we discussed something devastating to me, the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and annihilation of 11 million individuals who were seen as “others.” Those who were targeted included; 6 million Jews, (two-thirds of the total European Jewish population), as well as, those who are handicapped, Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholics, Poles,...
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the...”
– Walden; Or, Life in the Woods, Henry David Thoreau
The Power of Artistic License
While discussing Maus today in class, we talked a lot about Art Spiegelman’s choice in drawing all of the characters as animals. He depicts the Jews as mice, the Polish as pigs, the Nazis as cats, the french as frogs, and the americans as dogs. But why would he do this? In my opinion it was a commentary on racism and predjudice in general, not only against jews but all racial groups. In...
Hands-on Experience
For my volunteer portion of the trip, I’ve been working that the Thoreau Institute’s farm a a part of its Walden Woods project. They have a vegetable stand there that sells everything they grow: corn, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. I’ve mostly been hoeing weeds there, but I have little to no experience in farming so even this was something new to me. Strangely enough, even...
How would you organize a concentration camp?
*Gasp* Imagine being asked this question by your professor? My first reaction was shock, how can you ask a class that!? But wait, how could that question even come up in ones mind? The first outward response was from Mary Gillin, “Ed, honey thats creepy!” It sure was, but imagine the people who actually outlined a way in which to “exterminate” millions of Jews. Imagine...
1 tag
Comic Books
As an avid comic book reader (gasp) I was very excited when I saw Maus, a graphic novel, on the syllabus. However, I would never call Maus a comic book and I see a big difference between a “comic book” and a “graphic novel.” Today we talked in class about how Maus is categorized in the Library of Congress under Comic Books/Strips and I think it gives it somewhat of a bad...
1 tag
1 tag
Contemporary Mythology
While reading Walden, there is one sentence that is very briefly mentioned in his chapter, “The Ponds” where he is talking about Walden Pond and says “some think it is bottomless. Apparently, many people during that time period thought this was the truth and never thought to try to measure the depth. One thing that is vastly different between now and the 19th century is the...
1 tag
1 tag
Transformers 3 and Marxism?
In the latest addition to the Transformers movie series, Sentinel Prime says “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Ironically, Leonard Nimoy, who provides the voice for Sentinel Prime, said the same exact words when he played Spock in the old Star Trek series. This statement sounded very Marxist to me (although it may have been because we had discussed Marx very...
Technology and Henry David Thoreau
During the Thoreau Society Convention that we partook in we listened to a panel discussion on transmitting Thoreau’s work using technology. I personally have been using a kindle to read all of the works and was able to download Walden and Civil Disobedience at no cost. Making this more widely known and accessible on the internet will widen the audience of new thinkers to delve into Thoreau....
Thinking Thoreau
Walden is a work that has made me consciously think about my life, how I live it and how I want to live. Thoreau conveys the message that we must live deliberately and thoughtfully. He encourages simplification, and being conscious of necessity versus luxury. He wants us to be aware of our environment and work with it. He notes the aesthetic beauty of nature, and beauty of solidarity. I see...
1 tag
Freud and Narcissism of Minor Differences...
I read Maus before our discussion of Freud today in class and hen we went over “Narcissism of Minor Differences” I could not help but make a connection…
When Freud explained narcissism of minor differences he used the key words “feud” and “ridicule,” and said that, it is a convenient and relatively harmless satisfaction of the inclination to aggression, by means of which cohesion between the...
1 tag
Disappointment...
You know when you get really excited for something, you think about it all day, your stomach calls out for it, your mouth drools, your wallet is just burning a hole in your pocket! Can you see where I’m going with this?
Imaging walking up to a door, and pushing. It doesn’t open. Now pull. Nope. Well, maybe if you do both in quick succession, franticly saying to yourself,...
1 tag
WWHDTD?
Yesterday a couple of us did our first volunteer shifts at the Gaining Ground farm next to Thoreau’s birth house. For those of you that don’t know, Gaining Ground is an organic farm that donates all of its crops to meal programs and food programs in the Concord area. All of the workers are volunteers, and the money required to keep the farm going all comes from donations. According...
Link: "Life's Too Short for the Wrong Job" →
I found this link on Stumbleupon, and I thought that it was not only funny, but relevant to one of Thoreau’s main points in Walden. In his first chapter “Economy”, Thoreau discusses how people become too involved in working endless hours to be more successful. People’s obsession with excess and possessions pushes them to devote all of their time to labor, so they begin to...
1 tag
Thoughts on Thoreau Society Workshop 1
Yesterday morning we went to a two-part workshop. The first part was a panel titled How Much Land Does a Man Need? These presentations focused a lot on the African American and immigrant populations of Concord in the 18th to 19th centuries. One presentation in particular made a strong impression on me. It was “Let Me Lead You Back into Your Wood-Lots Again”: Race, Industry, and...
1 tag
Of Experience and Self
“It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves… The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths of which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden...
Walden
I enjoyed the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. The work has inspired so many great minds and has changed the way people think about nature, necessity, and life itself. Visiting Walden Pond was significant in my experience here on multiple levels. It is aesthetically beautiful, translucent, and serene. Swimming in the pond was not only enjoyable but also captured moments of young life...
1 tag
1 tag
Tales of the Wayside Inn
On our first weekend in Concord Mary and I made the rounds of a number of historic houses in Concord, attempting to purchase admission tickets to distribute to each class member so everyone could visit some of the famous sites here at their leisure. We succeeded at Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house, at the Old Manse, and at the Orchard House; but we failed miserably at the Wayside. This...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Fifth of July, 2011
Fifth of July, 2011
One hundred and fifty-nine years since Frederick Douglass so passionately addressed that crowd in Rochester, New York. It’s strange to have discussed his speech just a few days ago and now find ourselves a long way from Western New York and still have Douglass so near to us. Not only do his words continue to resound, but when we walk to the Merchant’s Row restaurant in...
1 tag
Helen, it's over.
Dear Helen,
You have provided me with 4 delicious meals but I have found another. They may not have amazing desserts, or comfy booths, but they have the most amazing sandwiches. The Cheese Shop has changed my perspective on food. Something you have yet to do. They have more choices than any in terms of bread, meat, veggies, cheese, etc. I’m sorry but for now, The Cheese Shop will be my...
