THE PRODUCT

Hey, you! Yes, you! Have you ever broken a bone or have you ever stepped in a puddle while wearing the wrong pair of shoes? Boy, oh boy, do I have a product just for you. No, it is not a pair of rain boots. This product will change your life. If you have a problem, it will be fixed. Never again will you need a new pair of shoes when the soles of your old ones comes off. Those holes in your brand new sweater? You don't need to return it! Because we have just the thing to fix it. No, it's not a needle and thread. You need to use what professionals of many industries, including construction, kidnapping, fashion and theatre, use everyday. This product will be there for you in every sticky situation, I guarantee it. This product is convenient too! It doesn't take up too much space and anyone with fingers can use it easily. You can get this product in just about any color and it even come in multi-colored patterns too! This product has been around for years. I mean it, traces of it were used in the early 20th century, and the human race has never gone back. What is this miracle product you ask? 

Duct tape. 

Face it, you want to try it. You want to use it to fix every broken thing you have ever seen. And you will. You will successfully fix your life, one roll of Duct Tape at a time. 

THE UPSETTING

Rant about something that has happened this semester (not necessarily on campus or at school) that has really upset you. 

glorification of sports.

I have a problem. A problem with sports. Now don't get me wrong! I do love sports. I spent most of my childhood at my brothers' sporting events. I grew up in huge gymnasiums, humid from the sweat of wrestling boys (and the occasional girl). I learned about life as I sat in the hot sun on the bleachers at baseball diamonds. And I loved it. The only thing I wish had done more as a child was go to more art events. 

Today, as in "this day and age," I am a great supporter and doer of the arts. I love to perform. I sing, I dance, I act. All that fun stuff. I love observing art. Looking at paintings, reading good books, going to concerts and shows. Real work has gone into these things and I want to support them to the best of my abilities. 

This football season at SVU has been our best ever. I applaud our team and all the hard work and effort they put into their sport, I am very proud of them. But I do not approve of all the glorification of sports that is happening here at SVU and around the world. At our Friday devotional last week "scholar athletes" were recognized. They stood up and we as an audience clapped for them, for all their great achievements. And another few minutes of forum were dedicated to the naming of all the things our football team has accomplished. 

As a performer and a member of the cast of "Hello, Dolly!" I was upset by this. Musicals also take a lot of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears. No one got up infront of the the whole school to list our accomplishments. No one clapped when they found out that our lead actress seriously sprained her ankle with three performances to go, because no one cared to tell them all the great things that we accomplished. No one bothered to recognize us in forum, but every week they tell everyone to be sure to come to the football game. We don't have a board hung up comemorating the graduates performing artists. 

I understand that this is just how our culture has developed, but I wish it wasn't. That is all. 

THE INTERTEXTUALITY

I had a hard time recalling one good case of intertextuality to review. So, I am using a few and we will see what happens.

My first thought was to relate something from Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible to the actual Bible. But it has been far too long since I have read that novel. Also that is a really broad topic, seeing as how most of that book is in relation to the Bible. But as I write this I am thinking of a few good examples. The town's mass exodus during the fire ant invasion. The trying of a faithful man's patience seen in Job and Nathan Price, though Nathan's end is not the same as Job's. I would even go as far as saying that Nathan was as unsuccessful at teaching the people as Noah was before the floods.

Another thought was of John Gardner’s Grendel. The whole thing is based on the old epic poem Beowulf, it is just told in a different perspective. In Beowulf we see all these terrible things that happen and we hate this monster that is Grendel. In Grendel, we read the same stories but we know of their justifications and we feel sympathy for what we thought was the most terrible monster.

My next idea includes Catherine Marshall’s Christy, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series, and L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. Each one is a teacher-on-a-frontier-of-sorts story. I love that. Each main character has that great spunkiness. Each one is given challenging students and each one solves problems with these students. Each one does their best to better their community and work with what they have, which isn’t a lot.

Is it even a question that there are connections between Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? The beautiful oldest sister. The spunky and independent second sister. The sweet, quiet sister. And the ridiculous sister(s). Lizzie Bennet and Jo March really are two characters that I see hand in hand all the time. Thank goodness their mothers aren’t the same kind of character. Can you imagine?

Next we have the orphan stories. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Johanna Spyri’s Heidi. I especially like the thought of The Secret Garden and Heidi together. The little orphan girl whose parents tragically died was brought to live with a cranky male relative that does not want to take care of her but in the end she charms her way into the man’s heart and life, never to be separated again.

I am so glad I was able to think of these things. It brought back a lot of good memories and reminded me of my love for literature and the movies of some of these great books. It is so interesting to find those little similarities, I loved it.

THE APPEAL

Do you love anime? Are you a wacked out fan girl? Is your roommate a normal person? Then we have just the thing for you! Since their first appearance in 1910, headphones have made listening to your personal stuff PERSONAL. Now you can keep all of your fan girling all to yourself! Isn't that great?! Now go, get some headphones and enjoy your life with your stuff. Isn't that lovely.

THE RHETORIC

The commercial rhetoric in this commercial is outstanding. It didn't take them long to catch our attention and keep it for the rest of the commercial. They are appealing to our knowledge of life and poop. They are making our minds automatically relate these fairly everyday objects to poop. For a moment they are ruining our opinions of these things we love. We love tap water and poop dog poop can ruin it. Also, that catchy tune can easily get stuck in your head and through that your mind keeps returning to the commercial all day.

THE EDUCATION

My generation has been fairly lucky when it comes to higher education. Back in the day, way back in the day, college was a thing fro preppy boys going to Harvard and Yale. Finishing schools were designed for the perfecting of women. You could find a women's college here and there (SVU, for example). College wasn't a "necessity"  for women or men. Even my own mother didn't go to college. I know she loves the life that she has, but I think she regrets not getting a higher education. My dad only has an associates degree and I think he also wishes he had more. Now-a-days college is pretty much an expectation. People will say that you don't have to go, but they mean that it's best if you do and you should and people will judge you if you don't. Some people are successful without it, but not many. I suppose we need to know ourselves and know if it's worth it to invest in ourselves.

THE LIBER

Liberty. Liberation. Liberator. Liberal. Liberate. Free man. This is all about the wisdom, knowledge, betterment of self and society. Aristotle said, "All men and women naturally desire knowledge." Here, in a liberal arts environment, we find freedom in learning. We, as humans love learning, whether we like school and class or not. We know that this life is all about obtaining knowledge and we want it. Thankfully, at a school like SVU, we can become free thinkers and and build our characters at the same time!

THE WILDLIFE

The wild life in Buena Vista is great. For some reason it's different that Salt Lake wildlife. The animals are the same, but their personalities (if you will) are completely different. I looked ou my window my first week here and there on the side of the hill, were three deer. In Utah, if I ever saw a deer it would promptly run away. Not these deer. They saw me and just looked. They didn't run, they didn't have the "deer in the headlights" look. It was great. Also, the squirrels are hilarious and the spiders weave the most beautiful webs.

THE PARTICLE

How do I write about something that is just about unfathomable? I'm not sure. I'm not a very science-y kind of person, so I don't really understand what is going on with this "God" particle. I think if it does exist, God made it exist so other things could exist. It isn't the core of creation and development, God is. Just like I haven't seen God, scientists haven't seen this particle. But we see traces of these things everyday. If we got a real confirmation of this particle's existence, would the world be different at all? I'm not sure.

THE SONG

Yikes. What was that? I just witnessed a lovely little taste of the 80s. And by lovely, I mean strange... I'm supposed to write my reaction, but I don't really have any words.