Trees!

Here I am surrounded by trees, it felt a little like all three trees were trying to hug me. :-) Maybe Daphne was a little lonely.

Class Notes 5- Jan 18

Recursive structures- stories with in stories up to 6 levels. These are often found in movies
Reticular Activation- What happens when you completely commit to an idea or action and then the world seems to draw in that idea or thing towards you.


Why Greek Men Have Small Butts-
Leda was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan and laid two eggs. From one egg came Helen and Clytemnestra and from the other Castor and Polydeuces.
Castor and Polydeuces decided that they were going to go down to Hades and try and steal away Persephone. When they arrived Hades told them that it was fine if they took his wife and that he would even go get her for them all then had to do was wait for him on a bench. Castor and Polydeuces sat and waited for Hades to come back. When they arrived Castor and Polydeuces discovered they were stuck to the bench with super glue from hell. Many years later Hercules pulls one of the brothers off of the bench and he leaves a little behind behind.

Class Notes 4- Jan 16

Asclepeion- a large temple with small rooms with a bed inside. The idea was that if you fell asleep in the temple and dreamed of a snake or the healing god then you would wake and your illness would be healed.

Epiphany- appearance of manifestation, especially a deiaty. Also defined as a sudden realization. 

Adonis-was born of a tree

Gardens of Adonis- shallow pots that grow seeds quickly and then die quickly.

Orpheus- wonderful musician who could charm animals, people and rocks with his music. Also tried and failed to save his wife from Hades

 The last question by Isaac Asimov 

The doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

"You can only be distracted in to the truth." Professor Michael Sexson

To some cultures the dream world is REAL and daily life is not.

To do: Find/practice creation myth, hug a tree, continue reading

Pickles before bed

"Because dreams were more real than reality, even in a five year olds mentality"

I've always loved dreaming. The quote above is actually a line from a poem I wrote about being a kid for a class a couple of years ago. In high school I did some research on lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is basically when you realize that you are dreaming while asleep and are able to control your dreaming world. There are lots of theories about what you can do to increase your chances of lucid dreaming but like we talked about in class keeping a notebook next to your bed to write down what you dream about (dream journal) is one thing nearly everyone who studies dreams sugests just to become aware of your dreams. I kept one for a while and actually was able to control a few dreams (flying is SO cool)!

We were asked to go home and dream. Just so I didn't bore you with dreams about chemistry I made sure not to fall asleep studying again.

I was sitting in the passenger seat of a blue pickup truck driving down the road. The driver (I think he was the dad of a friend of mine but it was a little fuzzy) pulled in to this drive through arches made of bright colored legos. There was a line of cars in front of me and the arches continued down the road and as we drove up to the second arch the windshield of the truck rolled down like a normal window would. Then a box lowered down from the arch we were under and moved right in front of of us. The tray was filled with little lego men and lego heads. The driver looked over the tray of lego men and picked several out. 

So what does that mean? Maybe I'm a kid at heart and miss building my own world out of the brightly colored blocks. Maybe I've spent too much time looking at and making advertising for the RA selection  which was lego themed (build your community, build your world). Or maybe I ate too many pickles before bed. 

Class Notes 3- Jan 14th

Sesquipedalian~ someone who uses long words
Psyche~ soul
The call to adventure~ 1st stage of myth. Something calling you to head off in to the unknown.
Bacchus~ The God of wine and merriment
Transformation~ middle, change as result of the call to adventure.

Everything is alive; trees and rocks are sentient creatures.
All Fairy tales are degenerate or deteriorated myths.
There is a woman behind every myth. It’s Chick Lit!
Separation, initiation, return.

Monomyth:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

“Wink at you in a way you’ve never been wunk at before” Professor Michael Sexson
“Education is NOT information. It’s transformation. The point is not to fill your heads with facts but to be changed in the twinkling of an eye.” Professor Michael Sexson
“What’s new? Nothing is new.” Professor Michael Sexson
“If you don’t like it just wait and it will change” Professor Michael Sexson

Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
After Ovid: New Metamorphoses by Michael Hofmann and James Lasdun
“All at one point” from Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

Goal: Be alert to what you see, say, and do.
Assignments: Continue reading. Hug a tree and post the picture on your blog.

Class Notes2- Jan 11th

Psyche~ the most beautiful woman. Cupid fell in love with her.
Sparagmos~ tear, rend, pull to pieces, tear apart or mangle.
Carman~ Musical
Psychology~ the study of the mind

Beginning: Creation
Middle: Patterns of Initiation that usually include pain.
End: Death,  sparagmos.

“Food for worms” ~ Shakespeare
“The worms go in. The worms go out. The worms play pea knuckle on my snout.”

Class Notes1- Jan 9th

One thing our syllabus said is that we should have one blog post for each class so I am going to make a point to post my notes from the lessons. They might seem a bit garbled but hopefully they are understandable.

Mythos~ Story
Mythology~ The precedent behind all actions.
Precedent~ What comes before.
Inklings~ A group made up of CS Lewis, Tolkien and other noted authors
Metamorphoses~ Change, transformations
In ilio tempore~ In  the great time, in the big time
Logos~ The word or the truth.
Moses~ He who was drawn from the water

“History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” A quote from Ulysses by James Joyce.
                                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)
“Everything goes back to myth.”
“There is only one reason for being on earth and that is to sing”

The story of Mary and Martha: Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus and he is telling stories. Martha is in the kitchen doing the dishes. Jesus tells them that Mary has make the right choice by listening to the stories.

Mythological path is 1. Separation 2. Initiation 3. Return

Assignments: Read Ovid's Metamorphoses and find a creation myth

The Creation Story of a New Blog

"Now I shall tell of things that change, new being

Out of old: since you, O Gods, created

Mutable arts and gifts, give me the voice

To tell the shifting story of the world

From its beginning to the present hour."

~Ovid's The Metamorphoses

Now I shall tell you my own story; a story that also tells of things that change. "What are these changing things?" you might ask. The answer to that question is yet uncertain. It may be that the only thing this class changes for me is the amount of credits I've taken here at MSU and possibly my GPA. It may be that this class changes my currently limited knowledge on myths and stories. It may be that this class changes how I see the world today and my arguments for why I as (hopefully) a future English teacher deserve a job even when we live in a society that pushes us to strive for math, science, and engineering based jobs.

One thing has changed already: I have a blog. So here on my borrowed netbook (my poor beloved laptop died over break, but that’s another story) I can share with you my thoughts and ramblings as I read the Ovid’s The Metamorphoses. I apologize in advance for my spelling; for an English major that is one of my downfalls. Other than that I hope you don’t find me too boring.

~Carol