The Cider House Rules(#8)

Recently, I have read a novel called The Cider House Rules by John Irving. It is for most of the story, a great experience and a great in-depth character study that deals with tough issues like abortion, orphans, racism, sexual abuse, and love. It was the movie that was adapted from the novel that inspired me to read the book.

The Cider House Rules is about an orphanage in St. Cloud's, Maine. Specifically, it is about Homer Wells, an orphan from there and seemingly cursed to have to stay there. After being repeatedly adopted and then returning, the orphanage decides to keep him until he can leave on his own. The orphanage is also a hospital and houses the director of both, Dr. Larch. Dr. Larch is a obstetrician who delivers the orphans from the mothers who come to St. Cloud's, but also secretly performs abortions at a time when they were illegal and, in Maine, could result in the death penalty to anyone who performs them.

The novel is extensive about Dr. Larch, showing his life in a span of 60 pages or so, before getting anywhere to the main character, Homer. However, Dr. Larch is the best character in the novel and probably the most mature and well-rounded of all the characters also. The novel depicts his rise from son of a alcoholic father and pro-Prohibition mother to becoming a doctor, to his final choice to help women with abortions after seeing two women he knew die after getting abortions on the streets, and his arrival at the orphanage in St. Cloud's.

Homer Wells does eventually leave the orphanage with two new friends, Wally and his girlfriend
Candy. He works with them on Wally's family vast apple orchard. Thus begins a love triangle that isn't really much of a triangle. Wally seems too naive to notice Homer is falling for Candy, and when Wally leaves for World War II, Candy falls in love with Homer. Soon after, Candy gets pregnant and has the child, Angel Wells, that she and Homer pass off as the adopted son of Homer.  Soon after, Wally arrives back home after he shot down and lost his legs. Candy marries Wally instead of Homer, and the lies they've told are stretched over fifteen years.

This is point in the novel where Irving loses the audience. The novel jumps fifteen years forward to a time when Homer, Wally, Candy, and Angel are living together under the assumption that Candy and Wally are married and Angel is the adopted son of Homer. Irving constructed a weak chair to sit on with this, and we later on in fact see that basically everyone knew Angel was the product of Candy and Homer.

There was another problem. There comes point when Homer tells Angel that his mother is Candy and Candy tells Wally. This happens in the closing pages and the what ensues is basically nothing. Everything basically stays the same. There are no reactions and we are told of nothing that was said and done in response to this news. Eventually Homer becomes a doctor and takes over for Dr. Larch at St. Cloud's, but by this time the story has lost credibility and just seemed to be pushing it.

The first 400-500 pages are great, with characters that have so many different sides of their personality that come into conflict with each other. We also see the history of many of the major characters that are provide great depth to where they are now. However, when the novel jumps fifteen years forward, the characters magically become one-dimensional and naive. Dr. Larch is the only character who doesn't succumb to this tragedy, but he comes very close. Eventually, the novel  ends in a very unsatisfying way, and it seems like the entire novel was just a way to show how Homer Wells overcame his fear of abortions and became a doctor who performs them. The novel discards Wally, Candy, and Angel in the final pages. The majestic sweep of the beginning where all the characters are talked about in depth ultimately becomes a straight road by the end of the novel. To me, the character of Homer Wells changes significantly over the fifteen years. Before, he is a complex person who does good and bad things, but seems like a true person. After fifteen years, Homer becomes a naive and stupid man who reminded me of sitcom dads of the 90s. It nearly killed the book, but the saving grace is the half, which is one of the best stories I've ever read.

Also, it provides us with a great quote that I will never forget: "Goodnight, you Princes of Maine, You Kings of New England."

Art/Cultural Opportunity: The Lives of Others(#7)

For our self-chosen art/cultural opportunity, I decided to go see a movie that was being shown by Penn State at the State Theatre. The movie was called The Lives of Others.

The Lives of Others is a film about East Germany under the police state and dictatorship that they lived with a little more than two decades ago. The film is specifically about the East German secret police, the Stasi, who spy on people they view suspicious to their government. The main character is one of the Stasi who convinces a superior to allow him to spy on a celebrated East German playwright and his actress girlfriend. The Stasi is middle-aged and lonely and, at first, his spying and eavesdropping into their lives is all business, but eventually he seems to like to manipulate them. However, he soon starts to care for these people and some of their friends, and when the government attempts to stamp down the playwright, the Stasi is able to protect from any harm.

This is a very deep film that examines different perspectives. The playwright is initially dissatisfied with his government, but believe it isn't worth it to go against them. This changes when a friend of his is blacklisted and subsequently commits suicide. In turn, the playwright pens an article that is secretly smuggled into a West German magazine about the suicide rates increasing in East Germany and how the government has stopped counting them.

The Stasi is a hard man to like at the beginning. He is cold and dispassionate, and his job is simply that, a job. He eventually leads the operation to spy on the playwright and manipulates him, such as when he purposely rings the doorbell when his girlfriend is coming home with another man. However, he begins to slowly feel compassion for the subjects he is listening to, which starts out creepy, but eventually ends rather sweet. For one, he allows one of the playwright's friends to escape East Germany to the West even though he knows he's doing hours beforehand. The friend never escaped, but the fact that he turned away from it shows he is beginning to show compassion. Eventually, the government attempts to put the playwright in prison for good, but the Stasi successfully hides all the evidence against him, and he gets away. It's rather ironic that the Stasi was like a businessman because his superiors were anything but business. They had petty jealousies that they dealt with through using the spy.

In real life, much of this couldn't have happened. The Security arm of the government was probably the most repressive authority in the history of the world. They had thousands of spies everywhere, so you had to extremely secretive about anything the government didn't approve of. Also, the Stasi couldn't have helped the playwright, because, in reality, the spies were also being spied on as well.

However, that doesn't affect the powerful film that made from this repressive regime. I think its a quietly optimistic film showing how people can change from what they've been they're entire life and how good can come through even in the repressive environments.

Self Evaluation(#6)

1)The semester is now coming to close, and it's time to look back over the past few months to see what the progress and change that I've made.

Over the course of the past few months in English 15s, I've learned the obvious things such as the appeals, which are ethos, pathos and logos. But the most important that I've learned in class is becoming a better writer and writing correctly to get to the audience you've been looking to find. The individual papers, such as the memoir and visual analysis, were great ways to put into practice the concepts, such as the appeals, and to identify them in our own writing and in others' writing. I don't believe I've thoroughly put in the time to accurately portray all of those, but they are still there for me to do better.

The other part of English 15s is, of course, the arts at Penn State. Throughout the semester, I've been going to look at the art and experiences at Penn State with and without my classmates. I've found that Penn State is a strange place to me. To me, it is at once insular, but also broad and open to the world outside. This is shown through its arts, from the Arboretum to the play. It all seems so sweeping in the gigantic scope of the campus and people, but it also feels like your experiencing the world.

This semester has showed me a lot about my personality. I'm a quiet person, and do not talk much around people that I don't know very well. This semester has showed me that it's harder for me to break out of that than I first thought. For one thing, I wished I would've participated in class more. I think it will take time, but I believe I can continue on and become a better and more involved student in the classroom.

English 15s has also opened up to me more possibilities about art. Although the course brought me what it could and couldn't possibly take all the arts and throw it at us, that little bit which was shown to me made it evident I hadn't fully comprehended art and my feelings towards it. For one thing, I had never been to an art museum before, so I had never much feeling towards paintings or sculptures that weren't gigantic and weren't known around the world. The visit solidified in me an appreciation for that kind of art, but also amazement that the Palmer is small compared to many other art museums. It opened me up to the possibilities of art.

Overall, this semester and class has been an important to me. It has opened up new thinking outside the classroom and learning new things that can applied now and later in life. I think it was good semester, even if I'm slightly disappointed in myself for not actively trying to engage in it. It came to me and the possibilities opened up and I enjoyed it.

2)
   1. http://the1meltingpot.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-palmer-museum-visitation.html#comment-form

   2. http://knaviello.blogspot.com/2012/11/exit-through-gift-shop.html#comment-form

   3. http://www.cheddarbread.blogspot.com/2012/09/after-walking-once-through-
palmer.html#comment-form

   4. http://dcbornandraised.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html#comment-form

   5. http://quirkyconfessional.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-social-network.html#comment-form

   6. http://rfatherly.blogspot.com/2012/09/arboretum-experience.html#comment-form

   7. http://daniellegordonmartin.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water_15.html#comment-form

   8. http://dkeilpsu.blogspot.com/2012/09/palmer-as-seen-through-lens.html#comment-form

   9. http://contemplationsoacck.blogspot.com/2012/11/like-wind-acbp5.html#comment-form

   10. http://15snmpy-y.blogspot.com/2012/09/so-you-think-you-know-art.html#comment-form

3)Hi, Ms. S--I completed my SRTEs!

In The Red And Brown Water(#5)

In the Red and Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney is play set in the Louisiana Bayou at a time that is described as the "distant present". The play has many characters, but they all revolve around one girl whose name is Oya. Oya is a great runner who is given a chance to run for a college, but declines when her mother gets sick and eventually dies. Around her is her Aunt, a couple of boyfriends, such as Shango, and others that make up the community around her. While from the first moment of the play to the last Oya's life doesn't make any major changes, the men and women around are continually going on with their lives and changing in abrupt and sometimes radical new ways. A major plot is her want to have a child, but the inability for either of her boyfriends to get her pregnant. This comes to a peak when Oya is informed that her ex-boyfriend Shango has impregnated another girl. As a response, Oya cuts off the ear that Shango had caressed so many times before and gives it to him. 

Throughout the play, Oya had a lot at stake in terms of her future. She turned away from it for reasons that are easily understood. For instance, she turns away from running in college to stay with her dying mother. This creates a perpetual idleness in her where though she may change friends or boyfriends, her life is essentially unchanged and she still sits on the porch of her house as she always had, and watches others around her continue with their lives and change. For instance, Shango joins the army and goes away, and when he returns home, Oya will not leave her boyfriend, and he eventually impregnates another girl. This reveals the true depths in which the play goes to show how others are changing in ways she wants, but is unable to accomplish. Another boy who she has watched grow up also impregnates another girl, and his changing is both in responsibility and personality shows the extent in which growth and change is accomplished. Oya never finds a way to move forward in her life and change the path she chose unknowingly when she decided to not go to college.

The acting was, by far, the best part of the play. While the story seemed, at times, outlandish and uncanny, the actors were able to pull it in and make the characters believable and sympathetic.  For instance, Oya is constantly put down in the play with bad timing, decisions that hurt her down the line, and chance. But she is played by the actress as not a weak woman who is crushed by the circumstances around her, but a powerful woman who constantly yearns to stride to the life she wants and to mold her current life into what she sees for herself, but is unable to through the sickness of her mother and her inability to get pregnant. Also, the first time Shango enters into the play, he seems like a one-dimensional character, but evolves throughout the play, from the moment he joins the military to the ending, to become another sympathetic character where we see his motivations and why he does his actions.

This was my first time seeing a live theater performance, and it was pretty good. I had dread going into it and wasn't at all excited for it, but it was entertaining and thought-provoking. Though I thought the play itself wasn't great, the talent and interactions of the actors on stage was compelling and the most enjoyable part.

Movie Review: The Social Network(#4)

It took Facebook about 10 months to reach a million users. The Social Network is a film that attempts to tell the story of its creation up to this point, and the aftermath of lawsuits and broken friendships that it left in its wake.

Opening in 2010, the film won awards, including the Golden Globe, and other nominations, such as one for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, the film uses the lawsuits issued by some of the people involved in the origins of Facebook in order to trace its history, from the first inspiration Mark Zuckerberg, its creator, had in his Harvard dorm room to its rise to one million users, and the effects felt upon all the characters. The film is based a book called The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, which I have read. Eduardo Saverin, a cofounder of Facebook, served as a consultant for the novel. Aaron Sorkin does a great job in creating a compelling film out of the book, and David Fincher skillfully translates it to the screen. The acting isn’t great, but it is good, and the actors inhabit the characters nicely.  

A good college film contains a good portrayal of the social elements of college, a portrayal of the college itself from the teachers to the classes, and a portrayal of a student, his life as a student, and doesn’t simply include a college. The accuracy does not matter because the portrayal will most likely use a certain stereotype and an accurate account would be most likely boring.

The film spends much of the first quarter of the film setting up the social aspects of college as it is inspiration for Mark Zuckerberg to create Facebook in order to appeal to people. The social element of college also plays an important for Mark in his inspiration to create a college life on the internet. The film portrays Eduardo Saverin as attempting to get into a final clubs, and the one of the scenes at the beginning of the film shows a party being thrown by one of them. Later on, however, the film moves very much away from college and the social aspects.

The film is adequate in showing the college itself, but not much. A few scenes portray classes such as when Mark Zuckerberg leaves a lecture before it is over. In another scene, the president is involved in a discussion with some of the characters. The film is much more about the characters place socially in the college and less about the college itself. Most of the characters in the film are college students and it does portray their life somewhat at the college. However, the film does go off from the college later on, leaving the college and the life of the student.

The film itself is great and compelling. The story really hooks you and the characters are great. However, this is not a great college film, but maybe just a good college film. Much of the story is away from the college, and the scenes taking place at the college are more about the characters themselves and not their life at the college. 

The Arboretum at Penn State(#3)

Until Monday, I did not have a good idea about the Arboretum. I had heard about at times, but had never seen it and never looked into it in depth. I had an idea about where it was located, but I wasn't even sure about the location. If I had not gone with my class, I probably wouldn't have gone  any time soon.

However, it was a great experience. I wouldn't say I'm exactly a nature-lover because I don't actively pursue experiences with nature, but I do admire the beauty of it and the awe that can sometimes come over you when looking at mountains, expansive lands, or sometimes even a simple flower or plant. The Arboretum is a place just for such a thing because it integrates all the things that can be great or beautiful in nature and places them in one place. It is very nice and relaxing place to just walk around. I could imagine myself coming back and walking around and simply enjoying it all, but I don't think I would bring friends. For me, this would be a place to spend by myself, with my own thoughts, and contemplate what I am seeing. With all the varieties, I know I missed many things, so going again would be a new experience to search for things that I didn't take notice of the first time.

The Arboretum is a great experience because you have the chance to see things that aren't common everywhere, and you see them all in one place. At the Arboretum, a person will see many different varieties of flowers, such as sunflowers. A person will see trees and plants growing all over the place and can be from the sides or above. All the plants come with a sign telling you what it is and also its scientific name. It just doesn't stop at flowers, however, because there are other things such as a pond and the plant life that is in the pond. You would also see a big fountains that overlooks land below the Arboretum and that leads directly into the garden. The place itself will lead you in different circles, so the visitor will be able to see all over the garden and possibly from different sides. The multitude of different plants that surround the visitor will show you how vast everything is and that this isn't close to being complete. It shows the great variety of life that exists all around people that we may never notice.

The Arboretum is can astound with all the varieties of plant life that it has in store for the visitor. It has so many things that you can just contemplate, look at, and enjoy. It is a great place to enjoy nature and all the life that is situated around us. It is a beautiful place to visit and walk around, or simply sit and watch the multitude that surrounds you.  Even if you are not a nature-lover, everyone should be able to enjoy the Arboretum.

The Art at the Palmer Museum(#2)

Last Friday, I entered into the Palmer Museum to look for a single piece of art that drew me in and that I connected with on some level. The painting that did all this was one of the first I had seen. My admiration of it struck me as soon as I turned to it. The piece was named Boy Looking at Mount Fuji by Katsuchika Hokusai. The piece depicts a boy sitting on a tree and staring up at Mount Fuji. Though I went on to view many other great pieces, this piece stayed with me after I left.

Katsuchika Hokusai lived in Japan 1760 to 1849 in a time known as the Edo period. The piece was created in 1839, which was several years after he created what he is best known for: the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. The piece is very much of its time and place, and seeks to portray life in accordance and beauty with the mountain. Hokusai created the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji because of the increasing amount of domestic travel and to show his obsession with Mt. Fuji and show its beauty. The same can be said of this piece. It shows the beauty of the mountain and the power it creates in us.

The pathos of the piece is strong. There could be a range of difference emotions that come out of this piece. For instance, the first time I had seen it I immediately felt the loneliness of the boy. That was the first emotion, but after viewing it for more time, I also felt that the privacy the boy is enjoying in this seemingly secluded spot and staring up at Mt. Fuji might have exhilerating and fantastic. At once, I was struck by the happiness of privacy, but also the sadness of loneliness and, in the background, a beautiful Mt. Fuji.

Katsuchika Hokusai lived in Japan 1760 to 1849 in a time known as the Edo period. He is best known for the Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, a collection of drawings with Mt. Fuji in difference seasons.  As someone who hasn't been interested in art or painting in any kind of depth, I recognized many of his pieces from television or other media. That instantly struck me that this man is well-known.

The artist is making the claim about how beautiful and daunting Mt. Fuji can be and about how we can experience it. His claim is that we can just appreciate the beauty of it and experience nature like Mt. Fuji by ourselves and to feel the power it can bring to you. From the painting, I must say that he did an excellent job at making that claim and is persuasive because the way in which create the mountain backdrop against the boy is stunning to me. It is beautiful in itself, so how can the mountain that inspired such powerful emotions on paper not be just as powerful in reality?

Before my visit to the Palmer Museum, I had never went to a art museum before. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much from it, but soon I getting into the paintings and thinking about them. From this visit, an interest was sparked into the possibility of going to other art museums. I feel that the Palmer Museum was an experience I enjoyed, and my interest in going back is alive. I felt it was a very great way to just enjoy the paintings and see how I feel about each one, and seeing how the varieties of art has changed from century to century. It was also a great way to view history with these artworks that are centuries old and comparing them to modern day art. The visit has sparked an interest into art and about analyzing it to identify what is going on beyond the aesthetic pleasure of it.

-Information about the author comes from http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/

My Blog(#1)

Template: The template I chose for my blog is very simple and straightforward, but at the same time also retains a very nice surface to use and appreciate all that the page has to offer. I liked the way it was easy to look at and everything popped out very nicely. It is very organized and am able to clearly modify things from now on. The background was chosen not only because I enjoyed the picture of the book in a close-up, but also because I like to read and love having books.

Title: After a good amount of time deciding how I should use the name of my title to elaborate both the primary subject of the blog, but also have a nice phrasing, I chose to The Arts and Man at Penn State. This title was not all my doing, but was inspired by the title of a book entitled God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley Jr. For some time, I have appreciated the concise way Buckley used to tell you what the book was about. I thought by changing some of the words around for my purpose, I could use the conciseness to my advantage

Color: My blog has primarily dark colors with some the splashes of green in the font that clearly jump out from the background. My favorite color since I was a child was green, so I thought by getting green into the color mix, I was injecting some of my personality onto the blog.

Font: I'm not the kind of person who would go looking for the craziest types of fonts. I'm more of person who appreciates the easy to read fonts that are clear to the reader. However, in order to take away some of the sternness of the font, I used the Luckiest Guy font for the title to be easily readable and to compliment the page. I think it keeps the straightforward style, but also shows that it isn't all about business.

Pages: I chose to use pages because I thought it would be easier for the reader and to myself. With these pages, everything can have a place, and I am able to add things without interfering with the blog posts. I also wanted something like "About Me" so that I could easily go in and add or change things around and have no limit on what I would want to write.

I believe this page compliments me well. It was created by me and I didn't just simply throw a few things together. I searched for the best template, background, font, and color that I liked the best. It shows my tastes and shows some of my personality.