Leading To Gossip

I wonder, what if what we know isn't really what we believe it is? Ok, let me rephrase that. What if, we could just go back and listen to the original story? For example, cinderella. It would be really different even if you read the one that the Brothers Grimm published. For a long time, it was passed down orally and I'm sure that it was added some details to make it more interesting. “ The men who did it, who pored over the greek and hebrew texts, comparing the accuracy and felicity of previous translations, argued with each other the finest details of chapter and verse, were many of them obscure at the time and are generally forgotten now, a gaggle of fifty or so black-gowned divies whose names are almost unknown but wose words continue to resonate with us. They have a ghost presence in our lives, invisable but constantly heard, enriching the language wit the ‘civility, learning and eloquence’ of their translation, but nowadays only whispering the sentence into our ears.”

I take this thext out of context, not literally. Basically I think that this means that we are all translators, somehow when we hear something and pass it over, we change some detials or simply rephrase it to make it our own. This could be our modern-day gossip; we hear it and pass it on until it changes so much that it eventually morphs into a rumor. True, it's tough to rephrase something without changing its meaning without sounding like a robot (ex: today in class with the dinosour story) but at sometime it becomes untrue. This has happened all the time since we developped a language right? So, is everything as true as we believe? I mean if this is a fact from a bible, our base,what do we believe? Leading me back to my question; What if what we know isn't really what we believe it is?

The Box

Why is it that we do what we're not supposed to? I read a peice of Mariana's blog today that talked about how Venus says to Adonis,"Beware how you expose yourself to danger and put my happiness to risk." I understand the need we have to do the forbidden, I think we all do. Why is it that we feel this need? Is it just plain curiosity about why it's being held away from us, to feel rebellious, or to simply contradict or proove someone wrong? Do you think that we could actually be that self-centered? That we constantly need to know everything or, if not, we have to be right?

Maybe that's what drove all of those important people through history to research. Maybe they just felt it more than we (the common population) did. If you think about it, we always knew most of what was researched and presented, although we simply accepted the fact that it happened just because. These great scientists, politicians, rebels, etc. didn't stop there... Why? Why is it that we are so desperate to be right? I mean what would happen to anyone in such a case that it was discovered that there was no god, that we were all dependant on like a cloud or something that doesn't have the powers that we give it? This mirrors a part of the movie Little Miss Sunshine when the brother takes a home-eye test and is told that he is color-blind therefore can't be a pilot (his life-long dream). We would problably enter in a panic attack.

Is that why most of the filosophers in the world end up in mental facilities?Because that have nothing to belive in because thay question almost ANYTHING. Maybe atheists are a little bit filosophers algo becasue thay have to back up their reasons for believing or not. Most filosophers become part of this group that long to know everything, they become the leaders. The type of leader that is silent and intergrates and becomes part of this group. Obviously, they stand out like sore thumbs. They have a"Super-human thirst for knowledge"-Friends. This obssessing craving has become part of our everything. Our studies, our culture, our way of seein things, of living life? It has become one of our flaws... Ironically we have been trying to find an explantion to that also. Since the beggining of time, we've merged many ideas into one that identifies will all, Pandora's Box.

Sound Alike

1. Where is my jacket? I wanted to wear it today, and if I can't find it, we're going to be late.
2. Jane wanted to go on the school trip, but her mother said that two hundred dollars was too much for the family budget.
3. As she waited for Rodney to become conscious , Selma was seized with an attack of conscience -- was there anything she could have done to prevent the accident?
4. The map lead the intrepid treasure hunters to a led box of precious stones.
5. Have you seen their coats? They're
going to need them; it's cold outside. I last saw the coats over there .
6. After conducting careful research, Shufang had a brilliant idea ; she'd write a paper on Thomas More's concept of the ideal society in Utopia.
7. Even though Bob would rather play video games than study, he decided to hit the books and then play some Halo.
8. It's easy to admire a business that puts so much effort into creating its signs and window displays.
9. You're fortunate to have survived the car crash without a scratch; it must have been because you were wearing your seat belt.
10. I would advise you to seek qualified legal advice about how to handle this situation.

Cliche

Cliche Plots: a person is told to be off the case and takes it anyway and wins, a love story of two people that can't be together or shouldn't for whatever reason but end up together, the hero will get the girl always (sidekick won't), typical teenager isn't supposed to go to a party or something and ends up going anyway, a person hates another and they end up in love or together or something
Cliche Movie: Mamma Mia, Its a wonderful life, Life is beautiful, Mission impossible, Me, Myself, and Irene

Questioning The System

What happens when the god of gods and a princess of Argos (Zeus/Jupiter and Danaë) fall in love and have a child? A hero is created!! Perseus and is adventures... his important adventures involve his assasinating creatures. The creation of a hero is not how I explained it previously, its when a person goes through a change in which they grow. I don't really know what to comment about Perseus, so I've decided to post an answer to a comment on one of my previous blog entrees. Venus and Jupiter.

Myths, a complex topic with many subtopics. Actually I think that the topic istelf is subjective. While I gave a definition to it, that will not change, but what you learn from it and everything going on in your head while you read it affect your meanig of the word, however the definition will stay the same. Myths do the same thing to us as any other peice of literature,specially essays, that is heavily opinionated. Our reacion to such a piece is to reflect on it whilst you are reading information in relation to the topic and/or the writers personal opinions. Later, when you're finished, you draw your own personal conclusion to whatever you were reading about.
Overall, what I mean is that a myth doesn't teach us anything in particular because all that you read is taken into perspective. (Even a scientific fact, for years we believed that atoms were the samllest thing.)

Regarding judeo-christianity... well, you could say anything that you like about it. Although, I do believe that it is or could be considered a myth. To explain this further I first have to explain my belief system. I don't believe in a god, so to speak. I utterly belive in evolution. That we created god so that our quickly developing society had a sturdy base therefore would not collapse. This was all when we still had a society where the power was held my a monarc o a tyran; when we believed that these people were chosen by god to rule. Afterward, we decided to spread tha power througout the people creating a government. With all of the scientific discoveries, some people started questioning this idea that we have been managing for so long. I know that I'll have a comment or you might be asking yourself, "Then, why did we start making the scientific discoveries if we believed in god?" Well because of the reactions of ceratin things that affected us directly. So that's a short description of my beliefs.

I Judeo-christianity , or at least its beliefs, to be a type of myth because like god, they were a bond that held us together in the creation of society.(Reffering to society as: an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization ) They do teach us things like the bible but its all in the same origin as religion. I also believe that we are spiritual beings but we belive in love and un tangeable thigs and carry moral.

Which Is The Original Arrow?

Greek myths. They're all really around the same bases regardind its content (the main idea or what its about). They all deal either with love, war, or how a hero came to be. In love, they express the many sides that love has and how we deal with them, wether it be jealousy, unconditional love, impossible love , or one that is possible but is wrong. This is where love and war come together. Because of all of these circumstances, the jealousy, the fact that you may sometimes see your parter or when its wrong... for example, The Trojan War. If the myth is not either of these previous topics, it is of how a hero came to be. A hero doesn't necessarily need to be nice to people or anything of that sort; however, he/she in most cases is the main character because he shows transfromation or growth.

Gowing back to the idea of love, it is very much different now as it was in greek times when these myths were created. Cupid was the son of Venus and the god of love, or at least he could create it. Cupid his bow and arrow could have effect on anyone even his own mother the goddess, Venus."VENUS, playing one day with her boy Cupid, wounded her bosom with one of his arrows. She pushed him away, but the wound was deeper than she thought. Before it healed she beheld Adonis, and was captivated with him." We have a completely different concept of Cupid now. We see him as flying a baby in a diper who shoots people with arrows. I wonder if this image was the same in the creation of these myths because women, in general ,have such an uncontrolable desire for children, that it might be like the Odipuss thing where you fall in love with your father or mother at a young age and feel a rivalry with the other. Maybe they're also over-exaggerating the fact that babys spread love and women love them no matter what.(Specially beacuse they're always cute(going back to the original problem that he had with psyche)...)

Grading Rubric For Modern Myths

1=failing 2=average/passing 3=Good/ Outstanding
Fluency/ Clear Ideas

1. Writer's Ideas are unclear, the piece is hard to follow and to understand
2. Writer's main idea is understood, piece can be followed and understood
3. Writer's Ideas are completely clear, well-organized, easy to follow and thourough.

Word Usage/ Grammar

1. Writer has 5 or more punctuation, spelling and/or fragments.
2. Writer has no mistakes, some word vairation, sometime varies in sentence length and correct punctuation.
3. Writer has no mistakes, varies in sentence length uses punctuation as a literary device.(To emphasize)

Answeres the QUESTions

1. Writer doesn't introduce a hero and doesn't answer all the QUESTions.
2. Writer introduces a hero and answers the QUESTions (Both) briefly Hero has values.
3. Writer introduces a hero and answers the QUESTions to a full extent through th hero's values.

Creativity

1. Writer's piece has a blunt title that is not apropriate to text, is not creative, has no hook, is not engaging.
2. Writer's piece has an apropriate title and hook, is fairly entertaining and is somewhat creative.
3. Writer's piece has an apropriate and creative title, strong hook, is engaging and creative.

MIDAS

Midas and Cadmus. Both myths that include men saving others. While in Midas it was very breif, Cadmus is in a battle against a huge snake. Description and Explanation are two topics that we have discussed as a class about their differences. Midas was the one who was to get the gift of being able to turn everything into gold once he touched it.

Our Reflection

The myths that we discussed today in class included Meduza and her death and Narcissus and his. Well I connected these two concepts because they connect with the topic that we've been disscussing in class. Our self- destruction. While Meduza's death was caused by her own reflection when her ugliness/evilness bounced off the mirror and came back to her. While on another hand, Narcissus' fate was because of his influence on Echo, causing there to be a spell on him to fall in love with someone who didn't love him back. Finally, he sees his reflectionnad falls in love though it is imposible to be in love with himself. I know I constantly go back to the same idea that we're leading into self-destruction and we don't realize it, but its a point that I strongly support because I think it's vital for our existence. Because if we don't pay attention to this aspect of our own person, we might be sub-consiously leading oursleves further away from our goals. Reffering to one of my previous titles for an entry, we are Self Induced Victims.

One of the Myths I've read today talk about Hero and Leander. Leander, who is in love with Hero, crosses the river to see her because they each live on one side. Once, crossing the river, he dies and she eternally greifs for him. Well that's as far as I understood.

http://frikosal.blogspot.com/2008/08/el-canto-de-la-rana-arborcora-y-el.html

Venus and Jupiter

Juno (Hera) ,known as Adams wife before eve in greek Mythology, is Known to be Jupiter's (Zeus) wife. She is an extremely jealous being. Because Zeus is king of gods, he's always being hit on by other goddesses, nymphs and mythologiacl creatures. This jealousy is something that we can all relate to. We see how the two most important civilizations of all time that are the bases of today's leading countries, Roman and Greek, have passed down their culture and ideas through time. The ultime method was in Myths.(Myth: often oral tale with an attempt to explain the beggining of the world and relationship between the gods and humans)Simple ideas such as jealousy or the ability become the foundation of most of the scientific explanations today. These were just to stall, but helpped because beliefs were the base of everything. People believed more and more in what they heard and others thought that there had to be another explanation. They all lead to what we have become.

For example: We can see the effect Venus' and other gods and goddesses beauty becoming the primary concern in these tales. This re-states to us that since the beggining of time, there has a been the sensation that attractiveness is so important that it becomes dumbfounding for some. A curse that you can't get rid of. No one can ever say that phisique and attractiveness in general doesn't matter; though they may not care as much as others It'll always be a major part in all cultures. What they consider to be beautiful is another story.

The Mirror: Gilgamesh

Injust, sulky, filthy, dark, horrible, appalling; all words that describe The Nether World (HELL/ Spiritual world under our current world full of life). The Nether world is connected to modern day humans and how they live their life. The clean clothes, the fragrance, the shoes, EVERYTHING about him was different from the others, the dead. The connection is not very clear at first, but we are sort of dead (live in the nether world). In this world there is status by amount of offspring or ceremonies after death, there is attraction to smell, there is rejection to clothes; this is all related to us. We reject differences, we are appealled to smells and common public things , our status is divided because of money (sons/offspring) and religion and religious beliefs (pope/catholic church). Any other way would be th wrong way. If there is no spiritual connection whatsoever, you are lower than dirt. Religion is now the base of society. This is Gilgamesh's way of mirroring us.

The drum and drumstick. Metaphors. Parts of a person, in this case
Gilgamesh. I think thwey could be self-confidence and control over your own life. When these two very important parts of one fall into the Nether World, Gilgamesh can't stop thinking of how to get them back and who will do this tedious task for him. These to characteristics of his were held by Enkidu, his companion, so in the moment of his death he was awfully vulnerable. Looking for something thet he couldn't find. The fear death completely overcame this great, powerful king once he realized thay death had sympathy for no one. That no matter how powerful, how good, how brave you are you will die. That even his great companion Enkidu died that he could just as easily die. He no longer had control over his life, no self-confidence. As humans also have this fear though we disguise this as a crisis. We lose control over our lives and have no self-confidence though we might appear thet we do.

Overall, Gilgamesh seemed boring to me but I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't dey all of its symbolism. Its one big metaphor. I still can't quite make the complete connection between nature and Gilgamesh. Though I think Gilgamesh is a metaphore for man and Enkidu was his alter ego.

Find the Courage and Strength to Move on.

In chapters eight and nine, Gilgamesh is in greif for is late friend. Enkidu had become his companion, his right hand, his morals, he had become a part of Gilgamesh. He remembers these times sadly. He later desides to go see Utnapishtim, because he feared that since his companion died he would be next, he supposedly knows how to avoid death. To get there he must go through different levels of the mountain ,all dark, its the cycle where the sun is set. I think this represents that you have to go through different stages of life to reach your goal, your rerward. Sometimes you may think, "ok this is it this one is the last obstacle, the last pace and you get another". That's what I consider the dark to be. Maybe its a persitance thing. What I mean by this is that since you think you're going nowere you have to convince yourself that it'll get better.
"You`re looking for something you can`t find If you give it up, you`ll lose your mind There`s always something in your way " Good Day- The Click Five

This connects to Enkidu's death because Gilgamesh has to learn to deal with such a significant loss to keep on gooing foreward. I find it interesting that this metaphor of the dark is right after the mourn over Enkidu.

Samantha

A cold afternoon in 1991,
there were two men, two siters, a dog and a nun

whitnessing the beautiful miricle of life

though this woman in labor was in strife

A beautiful little girl was born that day

So a smile appeared on her mother, so gay

Though joy had spread from high and low

but still there was a thing they longed to know

"A girl so beautiful,

that face, those eyes

they'll be after her in no time"

said one of the guys

As time went by

though she didn't know why

she had an urge

an urge to fly

She was decided

To the top of a building she went

and there a lot of time spent

she thought it through

and jumped.

Falling, plunging down to the grownd

she glided and glided

and soon was confound

that no, she did not fall flat, splat

she was flying as easily as a bat

From then on she knew

It wasn't normal what she was going through

Not only that she had the power to fly

but that she could travel through time

so she never had to say goodbye

As strong as an ox

as smart as a fox,

the eye of an eagle

and a life with no locks

she became a hero to never regret

this gift that not all of us get

to change the world and redirect

a fate of ignorance that we must expect

without being teased without being taunted

reminding her of when it started

Everything is either white or black

taking us one step foreward and two steps back

Diversity was not taken well before

it was somehing we'd prefer to ignore

In her journey to the past she heard an explosion

making a world with a future of corrosion

In ther attempt to back then to fix it,

there was one thing she had to admit

we were so close-minded, self-centered creatures

people made fun of her and her features.

For our existance, there is no special reason

no day, no month not even a season

she couldn't change the past so fast

so we must change our future at last

in the name of she who was tolerant and willing to forgive

we will LIVE AND LET LIVE

Da dadada, HERO!

The Superhero:

• Honest


• Loyal


• Selfless


• Element of Surprise


• Athletic


• Social


• Conferting


• Dedicated


• Teamwork/Cooperating


• Noble


• Wise


• Toletrant


• Caring


• Generous


• PASSIONATE

Excercise 2- Commas

1. There was no question that John's painting a huge, colorful and ugly mural,, a huge, colorful, and ugly mural, was the worst entry in the art exhibit.
2. Werner von Braun, Willy Ley, and Edward Teller noted authorities in the field of rocket development,Werner von Braun, Willy Ley, and Edward Teller, noted authorities in the field of rocket development, have done much to guide the missile program of the United States.
3. Mr. Cready's ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time is ,I believe, amazing.
4. Running around the house, the dog was abruptly stopped by a fence.
5. If the opposition should win, our candidate would never have any political future.
6. Gracefully, lightly, and daintily the ballerina moved across the stage.
7. Glamour the woman's fashion magazine, the woman's fashion magazine, recently incorporated with Charm , another fashion journal.
8. Joe was born on May 7, 1955 and his best friend was born exactly two months later on on July 7, 1955.
9. Mr. and Mrs. Kwon , my parents' best friends, sat in front of us at the football game.
10. November 11, 1918November 11, 1918, the armistice ending World War I was signed.

Excercise 1-Commas

1. He left the scene of the accident ,and tried to forget that it had happened.
2. Oil ,which is lighter than water,rises to the surface.
3.Madame de Stael was an attractive gracious lady.
4. Nice is a word with many meanings and some of them are contradictory.
5. The contractor testified that the house was completed ,and that the work had been done properly.
6. Some people refuse to go to the zoo ,because of pity for creatures that must live in small cages. 7. Taxicabs ,that are dirty,are illegal in some cities.
8. The closet contained worn clothes, old shoes, and dirty hats.
9. The uninvited guest wore a dark blue tweed suit.
10. After surviving this ordeal,the trapper felt relieved.
11. Mark Twain's early novels ,I believe,stand the test of time.
12. December 7, 1941 will never be forgotten.
13. The field was safe enough wasn't it?
14. Write the editor of the Atlantic at 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116.
15. He replied,"I have no idea what you mean."
16. After a good washing and grooming,the pup looked like a new dog.
17. Because of their opposition to institutions that force creatures to live in captivity,some people refuse to go to the zoo.
18. Vests ,which were once popular,have been out of vogue for several years.
19. As a celestial goddess, she regulated the course of the heavenly bodies and controlled the alternating seasons.
20. I hope that someday, he will learn how to be polite.

excercises

Take the Bull by the Horns: Gilgamesh

I think that these two parts completely changed the idea that I had of polytheistic peoples and how thir stories reflect their urge to bend the rules to a possibility of breaking them; though they're afraid because they think of the consecuences being worse. This is represented when Enkidu takes the bull by the horns and kills it with the help of Gilgamesh. This was wrong for two reasons: One: Because the bull was there with a task to accomplish and they did'nt let it accomplish it,and Two: because the was a HOLY BULL from the heavens.
I feel that it is interesting how the sumartians represented feelings and simple characteristics. For instance, goddess Ishtar would have the characteristics of a currently "easy" woman, though when Gilgamesh rejects her having physical interest in him, she feels hurt and rejceted(which rarely happens). "The lovely sheperd bird whom Ishtar loved, who's wing you broke and now wing-broken cries."pg. 30
Surely these feelings are known since the beggining of humanity (so to speak.) What makes me wonder is how they had enough words to explain those feelings.
As well, in the Odyssey, since there is great talk about women and there is no way that anybody coul've lived all of those things being that they were so far apart but happened around the same time, there is no sure way to know if Homer is the real author, of if this is just a pen name. For these same reasons, I'm in debate if the author was a Man or a Woman. Or even a group of people.

Ceader Forest : Gilgamesh

I can't say that I understood this chapter very well... actually I only understood the beggining and the end... This story is mucha harder to interpret then Ishmael.. Well, basically the people who wrote this were the sumarians. They believed that there was a god for basically everything. Also, they had a lot of faith in good and bad and how good conquering became a habit. For example, when they are fighting Huwawa in Ceader Forest and how they triumph in the task of killing it.
I think its interesting how Gilgamesh has a little of both. He's feared by the people therefore he can do what he pleases; but also seen as the hero, the king who protects his people...