Interpretation

The piece of literature that we have read in this class that I wanted to interpret was the story This Blessed House by Jhumpa Lahiri. The story included two main characters, they were Sanjeev and Twinkle. They are both Hindus and they have just moved into their new home. Upon moving into their new home they find some things that are left in the home from the people who were previously living at this place. As they find the things they discover that they are items that represent the beliefs of Christianity. Sanjeev immediately acts like he wants the items that they find to be thrown out so people that visit do not question their faith in Hinduism when they come into their home and see these iconic things representing Christianity. However, after each thing they discover Twinkle somehow finds a way to reason with Sanjeev so that they do not end up throwing out any of the items found. Sanjeev starts to get more concerned, because they are about to have some people over to help bring in their new home and he does not want the Christian items sitting around the house to be looked at and thought about. He continues to try to convince Twinkle to get rid of the items, but Twinkle is very good at getting what she wants so Sanjeev does not get anywhere with those attempts. Then the time comes where the people come over to visit their new home and Twinkle shows them the whole house and the items that they have found so far in their stay. Through the visit Sanjeev and Twinkle realize they have not really given the attic a good look so the people go on up with Twinkle while Sanjeev stays around downstairs feeling a little embarrassed. Twinkle takes them up to the attic and to their surprise they end up finding a big head that resembles Jesus Christ. There is some laughter and jokes going on and Sanjeev realizes that they probably found some other thing relating to Christianity. They come on down from the attic and Twinkle hands off the Jesus head to Sanjeev. She says that she will move it out of site tomorrow and into her study room, but Sanjeev realizes this is just another battle he is going to lose to Twinkle. He knows that she will somehow make him leave the head on the mantle of their fireplace for everyone to see that comes to visit their home in the future. He continues to keep those thoughts in his head and agrees to follow her to find a place to put the Jesus head and that is where the story ends.

The first time I just read through the story and just thought it was a well put together story and they put good description into it by describing the items really well. In reading it again I think the story was more meant for thoughts and questions concerning the end of the story. I know after reading it again I was concerned at what was going to happen with the Jesus head and where exactly they were going to place the item, and if Sanjeev was going to start to express his anger with Twinkle or just keep to himself fearing that he might hurt her feelings. Also, what was the view like from the people that came to visit their home? Did they believe that they found the items and were leaving them around as a joke? Or did they think that Sanjeev and Twinkle were struggling with their Hindu faith and thinking of converting to Christianity? The main theme I get from this story is that Sanjeev is really concerned with his image; however he is married to Twinkle who could care less about what people say or think about her, she will do whatever pleases her. Twinkle thinks it is really fun finding all the Christian items and enjoys showing the people what she found in her new home. This story just makes me realize that I would rather want to be more like Twinkle, because she is not concerned about her self image. We as Christians should not care what the world thinks about us, but what God thinks about us and we should act like him to the fullest. However, we all struggle with that from time to time and we may get to the point where we do not want to tell people that we are a Christian, because we may be scared of what they will think of us. I know I can get in those situations where I act like Sanjeev and I wish I acted the opposite and was more proud of my belief in Christianity in those situations. This story just brought up a lot more thoughts and questions for me when I read through this story a second time. The end of the story just shows how good girls can be at manipulating guys, due to the fact that Twinkle changes the subject so quickly in the end of the story. She goes to give Sanjeev the Jesus head and says she will move it tomorrow, and then quickly states that her feet are hurting her and we should go down to the living room. I think that move by Twinkle kind of eased the tension and also made it easier for her to convince Sanjeev to move the Jesus head down into the living room. The story is mainly on the idea of self image and manipulation. I thought the story was a good thing to read, but I think reading it over again gave me a more sense of what was going on and what I wanted to find out.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings was a somewhat strange kind of story written by Gabriel Marquez. For a good amount of the story I thought the author was trying to refer to some other being, but using the word angel as a description. However, as I kept reading into the story the author was really describing an angel that has had a tough time as of late and was trying to recover and build his strength back up. The people that had found him did not really treat him too well and pretty much kept him locked up and charged money for other people to view the angel. The people just went on to ridicule the angel saying that he was a fake and an impostor and they punished him, because of what they believed. I think what happened in this story definitely does happen in real life. There may be someone that is different from the rest of the crowd and some people do not like the way that is so they either pick on the person or they try to exclude them from everyone else. When we grow up and go through school and other things there are certain groups, like the athlete group, the party group, and the nerd group to name a few. For example, some athlete may have trouble in school and does not make good grades and he or she makes excuses why he or she does not have good grades. Then they see a person who is smart and does well in school and they get jealous of how that person is different and they go on to pick on them until they get what they want, which may be better grades. The people in the civilization saw the angel as a different person or being so they attacked and brought down the angel to make them feel better. The story did have a good ending, because the angel was able to build up enough strength to fly off onto the horizon.

The Boys Next Door

The Boys Next Door was a creative play written by Tom Griffin. The other day in class we went outside in our small groups and read some sections from Act one. Our group had a lot of fun with the whole experience and each of us put in the effort to act out the scenes to the fullest. However, I think I got the same I did from doing that experience outside than when I read the first act by myself. Plays are an easier thing for me to comprehend and relate with than something like a poem, where that can bring up more questions than answers.

There were some parts in the play where I thought it was pretty comical and parts in the play where I felt bad for the characters in the play. I really enjoyed the part where they thought they had a rat in the house and they killed it and still thought that it was a rat. I could see people that are not mentally challenged dealing with that situation the same way, so I thought it was pretty funny. Therefore, the neighbors could never figure out what happened to the hamster that they lost, because the boys next door did not realize they had killed a hamster and not a rat. I felt bad for what ended up happening to Barry near the end of the play. He was talking so highly of his father throughout the play and then when he got to see him for that short time it became an awkward and scary moment for Barry.

This play reminded me of when I used to be a camp counselor and one of the kids in my group was mentally challenged. His name was Frankie and he loved sponge bob and video games. Whenever I felt like a situation could get bad I would sometimes just pull Frankie aside and talk to him about sponge bob or some video game. Barry's father did not take the time to figure out what Barry was interested in so he would just send him chocolate. That just goes to show that his father did not show any care toward Barry and did not give much time for them to enhance their relationship with each other. That part of the play really stuck out to me and just left me with a thought that we need to show care to everyone no matter if they have a handicap or not.

Museum

I went to the Polk Museum of Art for at least 40 minutes. I decided to go on Sunday and it was not too busy at all. I made sure to look and examine all the different parts of the museum and some parts really stuck out to me. I really enjoyed looking at all the different types of human figures that were made by the Columbians, Aztecs, Peruvians, and so on. I think my favorite human figure one was a figure made by the Columbians, the design just caught my attention and I thought it was interesting and cool. I also read the two poems again when I was in one part of the museum, but I did not notice anymore of an appreciation for the poems when I first read them. There was also the paintings part of the museum exhibit. After gazing over all of the paintings I really enjoyed this oil pastel painting of these robots. It looked like there was a robot that was still working and there was another one that was either getting put together or being taken apart due to a malfunction. I just thought it was so amazing that someone could do that with just oil pastel. My favorite overall piece in the whole museum was the marlin fish that was put together with parts of pepsi cans and bottles, and also parts of red bull cans. For the scales of the fish they used the can opener things and the fins were put together with cut pieces of pepsi and red bull cans. They also ended up using bottle caps for the bottom of the piece I believe to illustrate the water it was jumping out of. The art was definitely trying to show that we need to make sure we do a better job of recycling, because other animals like the marlin fish are getting the raw end of it and getting killed for our laziness and lack of thought.

Peek of Curiosity

The people show their curiosity
Peeking through the wall to get a look
Of all the work set about in this place
They are not sure if there is an on off switch
Or why a marlin chose to be here
All they know is that they are up for anything
They would like to see what it is like
For things that are outside of this place
But at the same time they are fine where they are
Because they receive visitors everyday
And each day they come this brings life to them
Then they realize
That the visitors are more curious about them
Then they are curious about the visitors
They were made to bring up ideas and thoughts
They were made to tell a story
One day they wish they were more than that
But they still sit there for the same reason
All they can do now is peek through the wall
And hope that someday they can fully come to life

Reading for Transformation

The literary excerpt written by Francis McAloon was a somewhat interesting piece or reading. He went on to discuss how if we take the time to read and reflect on a poem or some type of poetry, we can use that information from that poetry to transform our being. He also went on to talk about that he used the tactics of Lectio Divina to get certain ideas or thoughts out of the poetry. When we did the Lectio Divina experience in class I did not really care for the whole experience, because I did not really get anything from doing the exercise. I am sure this exercise works for a lot of people such as Francis McAloon, but I did not get anything from this type of learning. McAloon also showed how poetry can offer three different things. One was that poetry offers us words that give voice to the unspoken thoughts. Another thing was that poetry offers us worlds of possibility, or in other words it lets us explore. And a third thing was that the wonders of poetry allow us to get a deeper self awareness. I kind of agree with the whole idea that McAloon has that poetry can cause a transformation if you take time to appreciate and learn from it. In the Lake Bonny Park experience I do not think I transformed so much from writing the poem from that experience, but I think I kind of transformed through that experience in that I have a greater appreciation for nature then I did before. I think there are a lot of things other than poetry that can help transform us as we grow throughout our lives. When I grew up and played sports I had many highs and lows that taught me a lot. Those lows or mistakes taught me how to handle it right when that situation comes about again, and the highs taught me that if I focus and stick at it I can stay at that level. Therefore, I agree that poetry can transform people, and there are many other things that can transform people.

Poem Experience

This past poem experience really had a good impression on me for the whole nature subject. The main topic of the past few weeks has been how we can appreciate nature and all the pieces of literature we have read lately have been things on nature. Nowadays, we get caught up in all our worries or other hobbies and quickly forget how beautiful the nature is and we take it for granted. Back home I live on a harbor and it leads out to the bay, and I know I do not always appreciate it like I really should and I usually take it for granted. The other day when I went out to Lake Bonny Park it was so beautiful and nice out it was just the perfect kind of weather, I could not have wished for better weather than that. In those times where I realize how nice the weather is and how nice nature is, is where I thank God for being so thoughtful for supplying all these things to us for our pleasure while we are on Earth. So, after I experienced this little project I plan to challenge myself to go out more in some kind of nature like area and sit down and enjoy what God gave us, sit still, and just listen around for whatever sounds come about. I am not sure if I will write a poem like I did in this experience, but I will try and take time out of my schedule and plan a time for relaxation and appreciation of nature. I just felt like I learned a bunch on how to appreciate nature without doing the writing of the poem, and I just do not think I have the skill to write well written poems. Therefore, I did learn a good amount from this experience, but I do not think I learned to write a poem any better.

Lake Bonny Park Poem

I went to Lake Bonny Park on this Tuesday afternoon and I spent at least 40 minutes at the park. I decided to sit around the baseball fields and sit and listen to everything going on around me for 20 minutes. I heard some little kids playing around in the playground and I heard some other people talking. I also listened to the wind blowing through and listened to the birds chirping to each other. I thought it was very interesting just sitting around and listening and watching everything that was going on around me at Lake Bonny Park. I chose to sit around the baseball field because I loved playing baseball when I was growing up and it is still my favorite sport to play when I get the chance to play. So I decided to choose a part of the park that I would enjoy and that was the part of the park I chose. Since I was sitting and relaxing around the baseball fields I think it helped me flow with more ideas on what to write about in my poem. Looking out on the baseball fields reminded me of the past I have had in baseball and how I enjoyed it so much. It also got me back in the mood to play baseball again, so I guess I was happy and kind of sad at the same point. So my poem reflected the ideas of my love for baseball and also how beautiful it was outside at that time of the day. It just felt like one of those perfect days where it was not too hot because there was a little breeze that kept me in that warm and comfortable mood. Also, there were also no clouds in the sky so that is also why I thought it was perfect out.

The following is my poem:

It just always feels right
Sitting here feeling the wind blow
Looking out on the diamond
Where the sun glistens off the green grass
The pine trees are assembled in perfect rows
Like they are all at a church service
Swaying back and forth with the wind
Beyond the outfield fence
The dirt on the infield takes a ride from the wind
Much like a surfer rides a wave
I am always happy when I get the chance
To play on a baseball diamond
It reminds me of all the experience I have had
Playing one of the games I enjoy most
The weather resembles my happiness inside
With the sun shedding its light everywhere
And there are no clouds in the sky
There is a slight breeze to make it just fine
The birds are chirping in harmony
And all this makes me realize
That today is a perfect day