Meet Macbeth

I was in a meeting for WASC accreditation today so I missed the lecture on Macbeth. Until I get a chance to thoroughly analyze the beginning of the text I decided to get help from my classmates. A few of them had posted their notes to their blogs and I found what they had to say worth sharing until I find the time to play catch up. Here's what Taylor had to say:
 "Some of the play's first lines are Sergeant describing Macbeth's bloody ways of warfare. The lines "Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements." involve grotesque imagery, implying Macbeth's bravery and brutality in battle. Through this conversation, Macbeth is indirectly characterized as a valiant, bloody soldier. While Sergeant gives insight to Macbeth, the three witches give insight to the theme and future events in the play. The first lines of the play are said by the witches and end with the catchy phrase, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair". This use of chiasmus is also an introduction to the theme of the play, meaning that there is a twisted standard of morality in the characters and what is known to be right may not always be right. I think this will be an underlying theme throughout the play. The witches also foreshadow to the wicked characteristics of Lady Macbeth.
Shakespeare's characterization of Macbeth is somewhat contradicting. The first information the audience finds out about Macbeth is that he is capable of vicious murder, however through the author's tone, it is implied that Macbeth isn't a bad guy, just an obedient soldier." 

Lit. Analysis #2 Spring Semester

SIDDHARTHA by Hermann Hesse

Summary: This tale is about the life of young Siddhartha and his journey to find purpose in his existence. The young, Indian Siddhartha sets off on his journey and meets Buddha whose teachings are increasingly popular, but cannot bring himself to follow in someone else's footsteps. He decides to find his own destiny. He meets people all along the way including old friends, new ones, a beautiful woman named Kamala who he falls in love with and even has a son during his journey. Near the end of his journey Siddhartha spends time with the ferryman Vasudeva who teaches Siddhartha the art of truly listening. Siddhartha finally stops fighting against destiny and realizes that all the good and the bad the struggle and happiness make up Om, perfection. Siddhartha accepts that he is a part of the unity that makes up all things and finds peace within himself.

Theme: questioning/discovering one's purpose on this planet.

Tone: reverent, awed

"His wound was healing, his pain was dispersing, his Self had merged into unity."

"Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas. He learned many ways of losing the Self."

Character: Siddhartha was a dynamic character. Each stop during his journey altered him I either mind, body, or soul. At the beginning of the book he is truly just a young, almost naïve boy and he grows through experience into a thoughtful man who at times seemed to carry the weight of the world on his back until he finally found peace.

Style: The authors syntax and diction stayed relatively consistent throughout the story. There was flowery descriptions and a mix of succinct, quick observations with long and drawn out musings.

Take-Away: After reading I felt like I had read a character and not so much a person. The story is so incredibly and there were times when I really either empathized or understood the lessons Siddhartha was learning. However, it's unimaginable to me that a person with that type of journey actually exists out there and I couldn't really relate past the overall question of "why am I here?".

IS THERE AN EXPERT IN THE HOUSE?

My ideal expert for my Masterpiece would be someone with experience in journalism and research. I need to be in contact with someone who has had experience with finding information and sharing it to an audience.  I need someone who can help me remix important news into a truthful yet solution-based stories.

HUXLEY'S BRAVE NEW WORLD

Huxley had a really interesting and even scary vision for the future of our world in his book Brave New World. However, I don't believe our society has come to such a point or ever really will come to such a point as being considered of "Brave New World" status creepy. In this interview he made good points about the speed of technology and how it changes us, how drugs may be recreational with effects that may be minimal, and even drew some parallels between his story and real world events. I just truly believed he underestimated how we would evolve as a people. We don't have to let technology and what we can do with it rule us, people (students, teachers, parents, doctors, politicians) have created a way to use it as a tool for education, entertainment and easy access (sometimes completely useless) information. Technology didn't advance without us and it didn't make a window to some sort of tyrannical nightmarish government. The power of technology brought power to the people and keeps raising the ceiling on what we as a whole or as individuals can accomplish. Huxley really couldn't have predicted the way in which people would take advantage of these opportunities. In a sense we are like the BNW in that we are constantly seeking improvement and ways to eliminate problems, however, as of now I'd like to believe that our minds are still very much our own.

POSITIVE NEWS (masterpiece project)

Here is a link to a video that should help further explain what I hope to accomplish (on a smaller scale) with my masterpiece:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNejjjT1lI

"Positive News is the world's first positive newspaper. They report on positive developments from across the world and take a solution-focused perspective on the challenges facing society. They aim to inform, inspire and empower their readers, while helping create a more balanced and constructive media."

10 QUESTIONS

My questions for the experts: Michael Moore (Director of "Bowling for Comlumbine" and Kristi Jacobson & Laurie Silverbush (Directors of "A Place at the Table")

1) Why is it that America is so focused on negative media?

2) Do you think it could benefit our communities to hear about more positive world news?

3) Do you think there is a way to share important world news that creates a channel for positive change and awareness?

4) When did the switch fro positive coverage to "scare-tactics" happen?

5) Does scaring people into action against negative events help more than giving people opportunities to join in on positive change/movements?

6) How can we best share more stories about people doing positive things in our community/world?

7) Is creating a website a good platform to start on?

8) How can I personally take action to combat the vastly growing negativity-wave in the media?

9) Can posting inspirational videos also help our goal towards creating a positivity haven?

10) How do you get other people to join in?

BENCHMARK

My group and I are hoping to create a sort of haven for positivity. This includes positive media stories, inspirational quotes and videos, as well as various other resources that encourage positivity while informing people of important goings-on of our community and world. Here is a preview of what we hope to build on:

WORLD NEWS:

 Making a difference with music: "Fighting Violence Against Women in India With Heavy Metal"
article:
http://news.msn.com/world/fighting-violence-against-women-in-india-with-heavy-metal

VIDEO:
"BAN BOSSY" - A campaign to encourage women to embrace their ambition an continue to be assertive in pursuit of their dreams.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dynbzMlCcw & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1q1CiuCET8

POSITIVE NEWS - combat the negativity in news by inspiring solutions instead of fear (!!!)
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNejjjT1lI



INSPIRATION:

 

Class Discussion Notes for BNW (enjoy the sassy cheetah print border)

Lit Analysis #2 (IN PROGRESS)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley