Different Forms of Satire

The other day we watched the Horation satiracle movie Dr. Strangelove. I enjoyed the humor put forth in this film. A lot of it was really subtle, but very amusing when thought about. It picked apart the United States government and military along with what was happening in the Cold War.

Another form of satiracle writing i've come across is more Juvanalian and called "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift all the way back in 1729. This piece pokes fun at the desperete times of the Irish, being faced with poverty and starvation. He makes the "proposal" that the parents should eat the children so that they won't become a burden on their parents or society. The children then will keep their families from starving and not have to worry about starving themselves. This piece isn't very easy to laugh about like the movie Dr. Strangelove, but it is yet another example of a satiracle piece.

A Letter from WWII

For class we were supposed to find these different letters and I found this one from WWII written by a man named Horace Evers. He talks about his time in Germany and the things that he witnessed there. While there he says that he was in one of Hitler's apartments, which I find fascinating that he was so close to where Hitler himself, with all of his injustices, had been at one point or another. He then writes a paragraph that really catches my attention:

"A railroad runs alongside the camp and as we walked toward the box cars on the track I thought of some of the stories I previously had read about DACHAU and was glad of the chance to see for myself just to prove once and for all that what I had heard was propaganda. But no it wasn’t propaganda at all if anything some of the truth had been held back. In two years of combat you can imagine I have seen a lot of death, furious deaths mostly. But nothing has ever stirred me as much as this (Evers)."

Talking in my Film Theory class (since we had just watched Schindler's List) I found that there are still people today that believe the Holocust never happened and was all propaganda created by the Jews. When talking about that today, this passage became even more intense. He had truely thought that it was all lies, that nothing like this was actually happening, until he actually witnessed it first hand. This makes it easier for me to realize why people were not jumping to the front line of attack against Hitler and the Germans right away, they didn't believe there was any real need, other than their attempt of spreading power across Europe of course.

This is a very delicate subject and I enjoy researching it. It is fascinating while simultaneously disturbing to learn about. The human mind in a wonderous thing, and how one mind can become so corrupt as to think that concentration camps and a genocide is okay to happen is beyond my wildest imagination.

So It Goes.

Before I began reading this story, I was concerned because I really wasn't a fan of the book Metamorphosis. To my surprise and great fortune, I am thoroughly enjoying Slaughterhouse-Five so far. I love how Vonnegut started the book from his life. He put his personal touch in it and gave us a sense of who he was as a person.

In the second chapter when Billy is talking about being abducted by aliens, I originally thought it was a ludicrous point to include in the story. But then I fell in love with a paragraph written by "Billy" about what he learned from the aliens:

"When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.'"

The reason I love this so much is because everyone always mourns death and feels horrible about the situation. The matter of the fact is by that point there is nothing we can do about it. Instead of living in grief, we should remember all of the wonderful memories and moments of that person's life. All of the joy they brought others and all of the fun they had while alive. I had always heard about people saying stuff like, "I want my funeral to be a celebration, not a day of tears," and I thought they were crazy. Why would they want people happy at the time they passed away. But while reading this book I have understood where that feeling could come from. I, too, now want people to not neccessarily celebrate at my funeral, but smile. Knowing that I am okay at that point and had a great life with lots of lovely experiences and hundreds of amazing people. I want them to continue to remember me in all of my great moments and not be blinded by my "bad condition."

Speaking of Absurd

Being Thanksgiving and all, I was spending the day hanging out with my family. After eating we (my brothers Eric and Kyle, my mom, my dad, and I) all sat down to play Scattergories. In this game each person is given a list of topics and a sheet of paper. One person then rolls the die to come up with a letter and starts the timer. While the timer is running, you must individually think of a word for each of the topics that starts with that letter. For example: One of the subjects is "Famous Female"--if the letter that showed up was a "T" you could write "Taylor Swift." When the time runs out and you compare answers, if no one else has "Taylor Swift" then you get a point. If on the otherhand your wrote "Tina Turner" and no one else had it, you would get two points because you use the letter twice!

Anyway, the letter for one of the rounds was "P." When going through our answers we got to the subject of "Parts of the Body." Some of the answers mentioned were "pancreas" "prostate", and...well I'll let you use your imagination for the other. We then looked at my brother Kyle to see what his answer was. This was his absurd yet magnificent response:

"Pinchers.. BECAUSE it says parts of the body. Now, it would be egotistical to say that that only refers to the HUMAN body. Pinchers are part of an insect's body, and that fits under "parts of the body." So you know what, "pinchers" works. And if you don't think so that is just egotistical!"

After about a moment of complete silence we all broke out laughing while Kyle continued to try and explain himself, thinking we weren't going to let his answer fly. He really is absurb--he must take after our dad!

More of a Quarrel Than a War

It's my senior year and I know I'm not the only one going over this decision: what am I going to do after I graduate?! I used to think that I had everything all planned out, but as the application process has gotten further along, things have become more complicated.

I went with my older brother Kyle to his orientation at the University of La Crosse almost eight years ago and fell in love with the place. I love the campus, the dorms, and crowds of people. I have visited numerous times since that day to visit my brother and friends that currently attend school there, my love for it has not changed. My plan since the day of Kyle's orientation has been to go to La Crosse to receive my degree. Over the last couple of years I came up with a major that I would thoroughly enjoy to pursue for the rest of my life: journalism. While completing my application for La Crosse online, I was asked to select a major I was looking to go into. To my dismay, journalism was not on the list of La Crosse's majors. My world was crumbling before me.

My second (Eau Claire), third (Whitewater), and fourth (Madison) choices were coming closer to being actual decisions to look into, instead of just fall backs after La Crosse. None of these options fully appeal to me however. Madison is way too close to home for me; I also dislike the set-up of the campus. At Whitewater, most students tend to travel home on the weekends. Why they would want to do this I have no idea, but regardless... I would probably hold a solid chance of being a walk-on goalie for Whitewater's soccer team, and I may also have an opportunity at Eau Claire. A large majority of graduates from McFarland seem to head to the Eau Claire campus to engage in their quest for their major, and all I really want to do is start fresh. I want to get away from everything I've grown up around and truly step my foot into a brand new doorway.

The Way I REALLY Feel About Metamorphosis

I've always known that I have been afraid of bugs, but what young girl isn't? Continuing on through the years I have come upon the idea that it is a serious phobia. I am terrified upon coming across the insects that fly around and crawl across every surface they can. Gnats* are my least favorite. I'm not so much scared of them, but more incredibly irritated. They are ridiculously annoying and impossible to kill because of their small size.

Before I begin ranting about all of the insects I detest and make me squirm, I will get to the point of bringing up this point. In the book Metamorphosis, Gregor, the main character, turns into a bug--of one form or another--at the very beginning of the plotline. Franz Kafka, the author, goes into horrific detail about this insect's transformed body parts, the way it moves, and even the puss that drains him as he tries to turn the key and open the door. This phobia of mine becomes evermore present when I cringe at reading this book. I'm even twisting in my seat while writing about the scene developed by Kafka!

Perhaps I have a problem, but it is making it incredible difficult to continue through every page of the story. I fear the next words, sentences, paragraphs, even pages to come. I hope that before long this "phase" of Gregor's ends and Kafka's details about the insect are no longer mentioned. If not I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it...

*Sorry about the typo. I even asked both of my brothers how to spell it because I wasn't sure...they informed me incorrectly! Gnats. I've got it now! Thanks Abby

Getting Close With Reading

I chose to close read the lyrics of “Me and Emily” by Rachel Proctor. This is one of my favorite songs from a few years back. It is sad but I enjoy listening to it. The underlying message is pretty easy to find and understand with the lyrics. The lyrics in this song touch at a very serious and sad topic. Rachel Proctor writes the song as a mother of a young girl. She is looking for a safe place to stay after leaving her home where her husband beat her. She can’t stand the thought of him ever harming her daughter and would do anything to protect her. She wants nothing but the best for her little girl. She is deeply concerned about what is going to happen as they start their new life together, but is willing to take the risk. She knows that when her daughter grows up she will begin to ask questions that she will have to answer for her. As a mother, she also hopes to find someone who can replace her dad and care for the both of them they way they deserve to be cared for.

This piece has a theme dealing with the love that a mother-child bond creates. It also is a tragic story in that the husband abused his wife. The song is also inspirational, telling us that with love and hope miracles can happen. This song is sad, yet beautiful. The lyrics have been very well made for the purpose of it being written.

The way this piece was written repeats lines and concepts often. There are also many lines that rhyme or have a distinct rhythm to them. This style of writing works for this piece since it was made to be a song. If she was writing this as a short story, the form would be quite different. There would, first of all, be complete sentences. She would also more fully develop the concepts and details of the story.

This piece reminds me of yet another song: “Concrete Angel” by Martina McBride. This song talks about a young girl who is physically abused by her parents. She doesn’t have a mother who is willing and able to get her out of the situation like in “Me and Emily.” In “Concrete Angel” the girl ends up dying from the abuse unlike the girl in Rachel Proctor’s song who can live a life away from harm.

This I Believe

I am one who believes that everything happens for a reason. When I was diagnosed with diabetes over five years ago, I was devastated. All day and every night I found myself praying to God, asking him why He would let such a thing happen to me--or anyone for that matter. Over time I started to simply accept the fact, although still not fully understanding His reasoning behind it.

Today the picture is becoming more clear to me. Every experience I have gone through with my diabetes has shaped who I am. I now feel that I am a stronger person both mentally and physically. On top of that I feel that I am much more mature because of everything I have had to deal with that comes as a diabetic.

Granted it can be difficult to find the good or reasoning behind every situation, such as a murder, but I believe that it truly is there. If time is taken along with an open mind, I believe that the reasoning will eventually present itself to those who need it. Perhaps people will become closer with their family after a murder, or meet someone at the funeral who also knew the person and the two were destined to be together. That sounds like a take from a cheesey fairy tale movie, but it could happen! Take time and believe, there is good everywhere and there is always a reason for the bad things that happen in life. At least, that is what I believe.