TWN and JAW

Twelfth Night has Viola in a disguise, underplaying her natural actions, thoughts, and emotions to everyone in Ilyria. Ray is veiled in the same way. He binds himself in the beginning of the movie with his lack of enthusiasm and apathetic tone. Viola cannot reveal who she is because she must stay in the dukes graces as his male companion, even though she is in love with him. Ray and Viola both have something more going on in their heads that each character keeps hidden at first; their love desires. Both characters experience change in their environment and directly cause the people around them to change. Viola causes love triangles and rectangles when she makes Olivia fall in love with her by mistake. Once she shows who she is (a woman) the result is the entire cast coupling off except for Malvolio. In Trona, Ray finds inner peace and outer success whe he gets the girl and saves his hometown. Both stories exhibit insanity with a conjured return to normality.

Carlin

George Carlin is not concerned. He's not fumingly angry, hes just a little oissed about the tree huggers. Phaelen is talking about evolution here on Earth, and both authors mention change. While Carlin says it will all be forgotten, Phaelen says humanity is self-extincting. Technology is actually going to be our downfall because maybe we are not going through evolution anymore- we have become lazy and are making technology do it for us. Its true, take it from me I'm in astronomy; as Carlin says, the Earth in the long run will not be directly effected by us because like us, it too will come to its end. Yes, there are black holes in every solar system, and although the Milky Ways seems to be inactive right now- our sun will eventually supernova, swalowing us. So in a sense nothing really matters. but if we as human beings took this general attitude we would not better ourselves but actually sacrifice ourselves. As Carlin stresses, it is the people that are messed up, not the planet.

Phaelen Predicament

Ok, I can see how when the earleist human life forms were around that evolution was prosperous. I mean monkeys to caveman, Darwinism has been easily integrated into most school biology classes. In the present, however I have a slight problem believing that humans today are actually evolving themselves. I think we have become lazy. I think we are letting technology become our outward form of being and mind, and it has nothing to do with our natural human construction. Robot vacumes, Genius playlists on iPods, and various inventions have acredited to much of our knowledge and easy-going life today. Come on, our cars can parallel park for us now and you can even watch TV in them! This concept leads my mind to beleive that we have actually slowed down evolution by creating so many technological items that do anything and everything for us.

The Effects of Climate Change

I remember the first time I heard the word global warming. I was in middle school, sitting in Mr. Whaleys class trying to learn about the Earth. Global warming was explained to me as the result of too many Styrofoam cups and hairspray invading our ozone layer, so all of the ice caps are beginning to melt. I pictured little bits of cups and hairspray shooting up towards the sky and then bursting through the atmosphere allowing the hot sun to penetrate the North and South pole and polar bears falling into the water because all of their icebergs were gone. This isn't exactly how John Broome is thinking. He is straight to the point, and confident that the economy will lead the world to a greener path on the subject of harmful gases and emissions into the environment. Climate change is our responsibility, stresses Broome; and according to him most of the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the rich. I guess one could suppose that the richer person has a bigger house, therefore using more oil to heat it. The person may also have a huge gas guzzling Range Rover but at the same time that Range Rover may be the only nice possession a poor person has. It seems easy to lump people into different groups like that but in the end all people, rich or poor, are responsible for this planet and the only way to make a difference is to come together to make changes that will aid earthly preservation. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for life. You can give the poor money to make themselves eco friendly, but the only real way to achieve results is to educate everyone as a whole on more eco friendly habits.

The Writing Center

I walked in there with a couple ideas. Sat down at the desk and came up with a plethora of information and some great insights on how I was supposed to connect all those themes in the Twelfth Night/Sonnet/Strand paper. All I kept thinking to myself is, ok this job pays really well. I could probably do this, or at least I would like to try. I think the reason I thought this is because honestly the WC person is really only there to guide you, they don't tell you what to say or how to write it. You say something they'll say half of a sentence and you're expected to finish it. This is a productive way of constructing an essay because I didn't feel lost when I got home to my laptop. I had already started turning the mental gears in my brain and the essay cranked itself out right through my finger tips. A+ writing center, A+.

The Reality Tests

"Do we create what we observe through the act of our observations?" says Joshua Roebke. There are certain laws and properties that define our world. We live in a world that requires us to use our observations to explain it. Without any observation there would be no mental thought process. No outstanding comment or belief. When human beings make an observation they are conciously connecting something to something else, or recording it to remember something for later. This is the creation of observation. The human body posses a tremendous quality to interpret information. Quantum theories are the direct reasoning behind our logic because it is the scientifical explanation for our world.
When I was in Astronomy last week, my professor stated that you only feel the force of gravity when you fight it. I had never thought of it that way, gravity is a constant pull, its not as though we are going to float away from the Earth. The force of it, however it does not actually grab us until we try to fly, jump, or catapult ourselves into the world. Without experience and conclusion we woul not believe anything we are told as human beings.

Big Foot

Michael Specter concluded that "food miles" are just another wasteful solution that is being used for the people, but is directly destroying the people because of the harm done on the environment. How many trucks do you see everyday when you drive on the freeway? How many of those are food trucks: think about it. There is already pollution from the factories that produce this food. "We are in an era of creative destruction" says John Elkington. We just keep creating "bigger and BETTER!" ideas without even the slightest thought to anything but our own profit, as in money. What should be considered is the profit from our natural resources rather than making up new ones that only cause damage from chemicals and production waste. One topic discussed in this essay was the development of more energy efficient potato chip bags. The other day I was at Dutch Treats and my friend picked up a bag of Lays potato chips. When he grabbed the bag he was startled at the loud crinkle that came from the space-blanket-like material used as a replacement to the normal plastic which does less harm in the long run. It's true; companies with large markets are trying extremely hard to make their products healtheir so that their consumers will continue to purchase and not be effected by greenhouse gas criticisms.
Personally, I feel responsible because my most favorite activity in the world is driving my car. Although it is a little 95 Ford Escort Station wagon, with not automatic features except seat belts, I don't feel as though I am at a huge fault since I dont drive an SUV. I could definitely drive less though. We all need to think about our energy consumption because it went unconsidered by anyone for so long. Now, stresses Specter, it will be almost impossible for our society to switch over to more efficient energy use. Like todays societal addiction to ciggarettes, we are a world addicted to fuel, and most have no attention of slowing down soon.

Just Add Water Questions

Why doesn't Ray seem to express emotion?
Why is this family so extremely disfunctional?
What is the son doing with his life?
Why would Ray ever succumb to paying money to the biker dude?
What does this title mean?
How long until Ray explodes and finally stands up for himself?

Thank God the Limitless Animals Are Still Driving

When Wendell Berry claims that Americans have become limitless animals, I had to agree. The national problem of Earlthy good has surfaced in upmost importance in an attempt to salvage some of the damage that has already been done, and Berry uses specific examples to reinstate his conclusions about wastefullness in the US. In his article Faustian Economics, Berry can not help but tell the down and dirty truth about American culture of consumption, although he alludes to religous themes that are culturally relevant in his argument.
Where did it all begin? How did America go from Native American appreciation of the land to slashing down forests without the blink of an eye? The Industrialization period, according to Berry, is responsible because we suddenly obtained exploitable resources. In the begininng there was no thought as to when the source would run out or just how much it could possibly impact society in the future. Over exertion of these precious valuables has led to an irreversable travesty, one that is surely leading humans off the path of rightoesness according to Barry.
It is necessary to include Berrys allusions to biblical refrences such as Paradise Lost as examples of the ways humans have come to be the ravenous creatures that we are. Immortality seems to be on the tip of his toungue, as if humans have forgotten their responsibility to the Earth, therefore jeopordizing their futures because of the harm being done on the environment.

Greed/ Wastefulness

Human beings are lost in a mayhem snow globe of dropping problems, encased in themselves. As if each particle of plastic is slowly accumulating to a summation of Earthly problems. This planet is going to hell; literally considering the amount of people and the burning waste being produced. Nature is natural, that is the root meaning of the word afterall. Consistently, this society has neglected and diminished the imnportance of obtaining our extremely comfortable home her on Earth. An excessive comfort level, because the population is scrutinized for the lengthy and horrendous long-term effects that become predetermined once harmful pollution and the destruction of resources ensues. People have a history of acting upon their inventions or products without taking an instant to consider just how negatively the environment is being effected. The slimy, grimy, dirty, polluted waste that sits on our mountains, arades our skylines, burns our atmosphere, and suffocates our oceans is an issue and should be where mankind mans its battle stations.

The Making Of Knowledge

How does one begin to take on the task of explaining knowledge? Is it individual knowledge? A biased fact developed by a certain group of people concurred to be accurate? Who decides what the knowledge will be about or just how far in depth the knowledge will extend. Knowledge is all of these things, according to Kevin A. Bruffee who decides based upon his knowledge, that knowledge can only be spread with a combination of viewpoints and ideas. Communication and resurrection of the spoken word is one of the important way we, as human beings, are able to explain an enjoy the world and all of the information it has to offer.
First, the individual must interpret the piece on his or her own, absorbing each morsel of info possible. Afterwards he or she is able to make opinions and create new thoughts relating to what has just been learned. The creation extracted from the piece becomes what is shared to further understand and obtain as much as desired by hungry minds. Bruffee considers group discussion a vital part to the interpreting process because it allows each member to exchange personal insights to invent more ideas pertaining to the subject on the burner.
Knowledge is a craft, shaped, changed, judged, excepted, declined, and renewed so long as people keep the words and their meanings alive. Speech is written down to become concrete observations and messages passed to the public of knowledge itself; it is meant to be talked about. Questioning oneself, and others, about a piece of writing ensures that tiny seeds will be embedded inside brains, stemming into trees of possibilities that are forever considered and decoded for a completion of understanding.

Language Alive

Interpretation by the reader is the heart of understanding language. As a result, language is a slippery slope because every person will develop his or her own thesis about the particular work in question. When writing a poem, one must be specific enough to produce something that instigates memory or knowledgeable concepts of a reader or audience. Comparing language to a tree as Hass did, or wading in the water as Jones considered plausible, reserves the power of the words and makes it possible to come back again and again to read and experience and develop different thoughts connecting the the poem at ones different stages of life. Both poets touch upon the importance of considering other meanings others may find hidden in the theme of a poem. Symbolism must be used to create images that all people ritually understand.

The Strength in the Spoken Word

Derrida questions his ability to write about anything without limit. At the end of the day he is ablse to seriously ask himself weather or not his writings are legitimate criticisms and ideas that can be presented to the world for understanding. His subconcious is a mediator in his mind, playing devils advocate to whatever he has produced during the day. The power of the written word is incomparable in terms of the possibilities in which the piece is injecte throughout the world. The reciever of the idea or information is the true judge, and that is why there are so many writers and authors in the world. Writing is used to connect people in terms of their feelings and common beliefs. Every human being has their own individual voice, so why not write it down, it is even more useful that way because there is a record of the collection of thoughts. I do not experience such anxiety because I believe in what I write, therefore there is no one who can tell me my mind is wrong in my point of view. Of course, my work can be criticized and disagreed with, but that is constructive an tolerant; spreading even more knowledge.