Reflection on Class Painting

Not only did I do a painting in response to the book of Joel in class, but I also made a water color painting in response to reading it the night before. The painting from the night before depicts God’s judgment and the less appealing visuals from Joel. In class I decided to make a painting contrasting the first. I painted a grape vine and a fig tree both yielding fruit as described by the prophet Joel. Both the tree and the vine are very healthy and lush. The part of Joel being represented in my second painting is speaking about how God will redeem Israel.
Before this class I had never taken such an approach to interpreting literature. I really enjoyed the process and feel I was able to gain much more than I would have been able to just reading Joel silently in my head. The whole process of first reading it to myself, then reading it out loud, and finally illustrating sections of it has really helped to bring the text to life. Before this assignment I tended to associate literature with school assignments and a sense of boredom. Discovering that scripture can is also a form of literature really helped to connect what was required of me to read with what I enjoy to read on my on. Seeing other people’s paintings in class was also an interesting experience. It was nice to see how other people were envisioning the same text. It was possible that this helped shed light more accurately on what the author may have been trying to convey. Over all painting the very visual literature found in the book of Joel serves a great bridge between literature and the upcoming class field trip to an art museum. With out illustrating literature for myself I might not have made the connection between literary and visual art forms.

-Do to technical difficulties the painting will be posted shortly.

Book of Joel

This is a water color painting i made of several of the images described in the book of Joel. In my painting is the dead and splintering fig tree, fires, clouds of darkness, pillars of smoke, grape vines in waste with no fruit, grain being ruined by the fires, and the moon turning to darkness.

Cemetery Trip

Last Thursday I really enjoyed the class trip to cemetery. I’m generally not one for poetry and struggled through the reading. Even reading the poem in cemetery wasn’t much of a help. So I started reading the gravestones, looking at the dates and the inscriptions. The oldest grave I found was from 1862. Some of the graves I looked at had inscriptions, some just names and dates. While most inscriptions on the grave stones read something like “loving mother” one caught my attention above the others. It read “he died as he live, a Christian”. This got me thinking about what people will remember about, or if those things will even be worth writing about. My thoughts then came back to the poem I was holding in my hand. Knowing that it was delivered at Abraham Lincoln’s funeral it got me thinking about all the other ways people have chosen to remember him. His face is printed on our money and we have built monuments in his honor. Today he is a hero, but during his own life he was very controversial and was forced to make many difficult decisions that ultimately got him killed. In doing something great and to live a life worth truly living it required great personal sacrifice. Going back to the inscription written on the stone that first brought about this thought I began contemplating what that man’s life must have looked like that being a Christian was so consistent that his family thought that the most important thing remembering about him. I took it as a challenge for my own life, it was a nice reminder to remember that things we do now are important and not just those at the end of our lives. It isn’t always easy walking out the Christian life and it places requirements on the individual. The journey being significant, as is the destination, I want to live in the same way I die, a Christian.

Class Trips

Yesterday I really enjoyed the literary discussion groups that took place in Tuscane Restorainte. Having the option to discuss some readings of our own choice proved to be fun both in both sharing and listening. First because we were able to share that which we most enjoyed ourselves and also I find it more preferable to listen to other people speak about their own interests or passions. During the discussions some light was finally shed into the whole Twilight craze for me; however I still think a Vampire love story is to strange for me to ever read. Personally I tend non fiction books often theology related for my own enjoyment. Some one else shared that they enjoyed reading “Redeeming Love”, a fictional story with theological concepts taken from the book Hosea. This was the first time I had heard of the book and it has prompted me to become more interested in Christian fiction. In light of enjoying Tuesday’s mini class field trip, I am looking forward to tomorrow’s trip to the cemetery. I found reading Walt Whitman’s poem "When Lylacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", very confusing and hope that by reading it again in a place more reminiscent of the original setting it was given in will help to shed more light on it. It will be almost like getting into character so as being able to join the target audience of people this poem was originally written for.

Reflection of class readings

Even after class ended I was still thinking about readings we had that day. The point that Christians should not attempt to solve the hurts of the world by simply covering them up with a superficial sense of happiness was made very clearly. Pain is a very real and natural part of life and to ignore it would be foolish. Not all problems that are present in the world are so minute that they can simply be glossed over but rather require a deeper solution at the root, which is generally takes considerable more work. Many people would look to Jesus and his miraculous abilities to bring healing to many different situations through out his ministry in a single moment. In doing this the larger issue of compassion, in its literal sense meaning to suffer with, is over looked. Christ became man taking on with it all that is entailed with being human, including the suffering and weakness. He spent over thirty three years being human, being tempted and experience pain. By doing this He was becoming the Great High Priest being able to intercede for us in out weaknesses. The best Biblical example I can find of men living out this kind of compassion is found in Job. After Job had lost all his possessions and children and himself been afflicted with sores on his body three of his friends came to visit. Upon seeing how great Job’s suffering was his friends “began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads, Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, No ones said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:12-13) I can only imagine how insulted Job would have been if his friends had come by and told him to “turn his frown upside down”. Job’s response I feel sums this all up when he says “shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Trouble is part of this life and it is not wise to say otherwise.

PASS: Note to Student Writers

I would like to use a blog pass for this assignment.

The Things They Carried

What I most enjoyed about reading “The Things They Carried”, was the unique perspective provided by the narration. The Vietnam War that is usually shown to us in theater and literature is one of two way, the first being a portrayal of great American and heroes, and the second and more common of the two the travesty and cruelty of war. Here though the characters are neither the heroes nor the villains. Rather than having a strong disposition in any directions the characters seem to grow more num as the narration continues. For me their attitudes created a desire for me to feel sad for them but left me unable too. Jimmy Cross’ account makes it very clear that all perspective of the men under his command has been lost and they try to keep it that way by trying to “destroy the reality of death” that surrounds them.
I was also impressed by Tim O’Brien’s metaphorical use of all the items the soldiers carried. The items the characters in his story “The Things They Carried”, all served to show the emotional baggage each one was carrying around with him. The more each man carried the more it seemed he was afraid. Both weapons and personal effects were used by each of the soldiers to try and keep them selves from meeting with the harsh reality of the world they were living in, weapons keeping them from death and personal effects to place their minds somewhere else.
One thing I remain curious about is the real nature of Lieutenant Cross and Martha. Why does she continue to write to him after it their last date didn’t appear to end to well? Is she aware of the possible implications signing her letter’s “love”, could have? What was the nature of their relationship between single date and Jimmy being shipped off to war?

What Wwe Talk about When We Talk about Love

Over all I found this story very sad. I’m not sure any of the characters actually know what real love is. Although there may appear to be some conflict in their definitions of love, it really is played out in the same why by all. What each character calls “love”, is really their way of making themselves happy first, by taking what they can from a companion.
I find Mel to be the most interesting character; I wonder what he was doing his whole five years at seminary that he still has no idea what real love it. As Mel begins to drink more, it becomes more apparent that he struggles with trying to define love in his own life. Although he now is in love with Terri as he claims, he still appears to be very hurt by his ex wife, signifying some sort of connection still lasting. Even though he says he hates it, Mel will admit to having loved her more than life at one point. He becomes very agitated as he continues his story of the elderly couple from the car accident he once treated. The idea that two people’s love could carry on so strongly even until old age seems to puzzle him, as love as he defines it, seems very limited in time.
Terri is an even bigger mess and says that even though her ex, Ed, could threaten her life and constantly do her physical harm, really understood the concept of genuine love. The fact that Terri could see such selfish behavior and call it love suggest that she believes love to nothing more than finding a way to make yourself happy through possessing someone else in your life.
Over all, the entire story leads me to wonder what point the author is making about love. I see it possibly attempting to display how confused many people are as to what real love looks like. Or perhaps Raymond Caver doesn’t believe in love at all, and has come to believe through his experiences that love really is just a way of keeping yourself happy in moment above anyone else.