The Temple of the Holy Ghost

A Temple of the Holy Ghost was a great read, but I found myself having trouble to even get myself to start it but once I did it had my attention.  This story had a lot of symbolism, but I found myself trying to solve what all the symbols meant and was losing the flow of the story trying to comprehend it.  I thought it was interesting that the child was the narrator and was called the child throughout the story. With this story I didn’t the process of interpretation reading, interpreting, and criticizing to help me better understand the story. The story had such a transformation on how the child now viewed life. And had a better outlook. Instead of disliking her cousin she accepts them and other for who they are and in the process she a change in herself wanting to get rid of anger.  Just in the way God see us by our heats. He made each and every one of us unique. And we need to remember to love the person and not the things they do. And we are not to have anger in our hearts. God is amazing how he can turn us around and show us the things that we need to work on to better his Kingdom. This was definitely a unique story.

The Man Who Came To Dinner

Hmmm let’s see where do I even start! Well I will start on a positive note since what is to come is going to be a little bit on the critical side. I went to see the pay with Vicky and that was fun getting to spend the day with her :) So to start things off I went to the 2:30 showing on Saturday and this play was absolutely boring. To be honest I left out of there like what did I just watch?! It was such a long play and I felt that my day was wasted and that was not worth my 10 dollars! However, I did find the theater itself to be pretty and the costumes and stage step up was great! The whole time I was just waiting fro the play to end. I couldn’t understand what was going on. And I was waiting on the man to come to dinner! Lol… not once did I see anyone come to dinner lol… I wasn’t sure if Vicky was feeling the same way? If she was enjoying it? but once we left and talked about it we were definitely in agreement that we didn’t enjoy it. She hides her emotions pretty well.

I was disappointed because I was actually really excited to see a play. I love seeing plays I don’t get the opportunity to see them often but when I do, I love them. Not so much with this one. For me was the acting I couldn’t believe the actors they didn’t come to life for me. There was one actress who kept messing up with her lines and instead of trying to let it flow you could tell she was already thing of her next line making her choppy. And after that I kept finding my self critiquing it and not being able to enjoy it.  Not once did I laugh while others around me did. There was many of times during the play were I wasn’t paying attention and I wanted to close my eyes but I knew that would be rode, So I didn’t.  The ending wasn’t even good. I was really annoyed with the whole thing. So I’m going to end this blog now because it is nothing but negative all through out it. But I will say the best part was going with Vicky! For all that went to the play I hope you had a better experience than I did. And I really want my money back.

Poem In The Park

I went to Lake Bonny Park for this assigned trip, and I stayed for at least 45 minutes for a nature and poem experience.  This activity is kinda what I already love to do. Sit quietly engaging in God’s presence with nature.  In class I check off 10 activities in ways to engage with nature in daily life. So I definitely enjoyed this, the “spiritual practices” however, the step taken were a little different then what I normally do.  And reading poetry I was a new twist. I normally don’t read anything when I’m with nature unless I’m reading my bible. This was a very calming a great reflecting and encounter activity. It did get a little distracting with all the other people around but over all it was great!  Sitting in the grass by a tree and experienced God through one of His many beautiful creations, giving me the ability to create a poem.

Intimate meeting of minds

These definitely bind

Dark rich soil consume my feet and starts to wrap

The grass grows deep with in this tender trap

The seed which now resides is the heart of this flower

Blossom and bloom and don’t lack power

Let the wind take over like a Holy Ghost shower

Be like Christ the lamb and the Lion

Full of life like the dandelion

Oh creation radiates like a symphony

But the “one” whispers remember me! Creator of all things

Not responsible for the worldly blings!

But the unfailing morning sting of the birds never ending praise sing

So stoic and poised

The tree stands

But underneath it is the roots that go down deep and brand

Going with life so simple with peace like the birds and the bee’s

All creation waits for Thee

Intimate meeting of minds

These definitely bind

That God has made nature one of a kind.

In The Waiting Room

What does it mean to be a woman? How does one detangle their self from that definition? In class before taking out mid term we read a poem by Elizabeth Bishop, “In The Waiting Room” I was rather intrigued by it and wanted to go deep but do to the fact that we had our test i looked it over on my own time and read on Elizabeth’s background. Bishop writes this poem in a child narrative. “Her” child narrative. For example in line 6 “it was winter. It got dark”. This shows her age at the time but through the lens of a adult poet. Bishop poem is examining her own life, capturing themes such as the realization about gender identity, the women’s rights movement and WWI. She is explaining it thought the wandering mind of a child in a dentist waiting room with grown-up people, overcoats and magazines. (lines7-10)The last two stanzas describes her going back a forth from her memory and the present. Example she writes “Then I was back in it. The war was on. Outside...” While she examines the unanswerable question of what being a woman means, Bishop also struggles to find how her identity is defined within the context of this large, gendered identity. She collapses herself with her Aunt Consuelo's voice...(her Aunt’s identity).  She even talks about women, that their outward physical looks “trousers and skirts and boots” and questions is that what it means to be a woman? She sees the stagnant and society’s criteria on womanhood based on that time. And when she reads The National Geographic of tribal woman and children she realizes that being a girl is different from being a woman in so many ways.

I really enjoyed this poem looking up information during the time period of Elizabeth and thinking about what it means to be a woman. The realization of becoming a woman, be labeled as one...and knowing that all the struggles women faced and still face has helped shaped us but not define us.

Reflect

On Tuesday our Mid Semester portfolio was do and I wasn’t too happy that I was going to be evaluate my own blogs. I picked my top five blogs that I felt best represented my work. It was hard because I couldn’t pick between two.  I then answered a series of questions and wrote a reflection on blogging, how I felt about blogging and what I had learned from blogging. It helped me to see for the most part I like blogging. Furthermore, it became a great way for me to reflect on what I have done thus far in the semester. Reflecting is so important in just about every area of our lives. And many times we forget to reflect. Reflecting was a key point in doing our portfolios it better helped me to evaluate my work I have done this far in the semester it showed me my strengths and weak spots in my writing. I really enjoyed re reading my blogs, I had forgot what I had written on some of my older blogs and I definitely see my growth within my writing from my older to the more resent blogs. I also liked that I got to look back on my thought pattern on how a felt about a topic or activity I wrote on.

 Doing this profile helped me to recognize my writing abilities and definitely what I need to work on because I think that my writing abilities are not as strong as I would like them to be and I like every chance I get to improve them. I feel have learned through blogging on how to better develop my skills in critical thing, analyzing, and creativity.

Once in class we got to sit with our small groups and discuss our portfolios, based off of the few questions that Professor Corrigan placed on the board along with my peers own personal thoughts and feelings toward their blogs and portfolios . The evaluation was a great way to better help me improve and learn more about myself in the way I write and think on the material I’m learning not only in Literature class but in my other courses.

The Sound of Joel

I am really not a big fan of studying literature. But again that week in Sept where we focused and read the book of Joel was GREAT! First off I feel so blessed to get to even look at scripture in a literature class or a class at all. This class day was so spiritual to me which I would have never of thought to have a spiritual lit class. We discussed in class two major focal points that we dealt with while reading Joel and they were Sound and Visual. We read the book of Joel more than once and discussed on topics likes: what can one gain by looking at scripture as literature. What was most important or central lines to the meaning of Joel and does speaking aloud or proclaiming passages give you more that just reading them.  For me, I know I forget at times that the bible is literature and I loved that Corrigan let us read a version without the number so that we could see it more for what it is, a poem. I know I’m the type that does not like to read aloud. So when the exercise to go outside for 20 minutes and read the passage of Joel was presented and Professor called on me in class if this seemed to me to be a good activity. I smiled and said mmhmm. But really thought it was a dumb idea. However, it actually became one of my favorite activities we have done in class. At first I felt stupid outside reading aloud a passage from Joel. But then I realized that in a way there is so much power when you speak out loud. I had an encounter with God as I was reading his word aloud and not just in my head to where they could get altered from my own thoughts. Because truly in that exercise I learned that you don’t always comprehend what you are really reading because our minds wonder and your not focus to what’s on the page. But when you read it aloud your focus and I know and can understand what I am are reading.  During my read, I began to feel the presence of God and by reading outside I was also in his creation with nature it was such a great experience. God at times my use nature, sorrow, or other common occurrences to draw us closer to Him. I even got to sit with Shantel and discuss some of the things from the passage and how we encounter God, along with other spiritual topics and what we believe. This activity that we did was defiantly focused on sound. Hearing the passage, aloud, proclaiming it, along with hearing Shantal’s thoughts and even hearing it from my heart.  God covenant with His people will endoure forever!

Brush Strokes of knowledge

The week where we looked at Joel and painted has by far been my favorite week thus far. Getting to look at the Word and paint! AMAZING! I believe painting is another way of learning. Professor Corrigan really helps to bring this class alive to me.  I clearly remember this week, like it was just last class meeting. Our task was to bring in supplies to paint. Paint what exactly? I didn’t know but I was excited. Even though I can’t really paint, I find it so calming.  To be honest I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I didn’t know what we would be painting but I knew that it wasn’t going to be just your typical painting, just based on what we read in Corrigan’s class. However, it was to paint visually.  He pushes us to go deeper, think deeper, see things, feel things differently and deeper instead of just the bare minimum of the surface of Literature. Like in class discussing the 2 focal points on reading Joel and this was the visual aspect of it. To me not only was I painting visual but I heard and felt what I was painting from the soft stimulating music played and along with what I was reading from the passage I picked which was Joel 2:30-31 “The Day of the Lord “. As I kept reading and seeing the words on the page from this verse, reflection, relaxation and creativity arose as I was painting what I felt. I didn’t paint literally but more abstract you could say. By letting my colors and the strokes speak my feeling, and representing the words and phrases of Joel.

I chose this verse because something about it came alive to me that day we read it aloud.  And I wanted to paint on the wonders that God displayed. I wanted to keep layering what I was grasping from it and continue what I was learning from it, spiritually, poetically, even as a stress reliever all the different types of ways  instead of starting on a new passage to paint. I love the fact that we got to paint to Joel and not to another poem because it was definitely a great way to reflect on God’s word and the paint unto Him to Glorify God through brush strokes.