for better or worse.

Poe is creepy. The end.

He seems to have a couple of either thematic reoccurring fears or obsessions.

1. (obviously) death

2. insanity "a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence" (House of Usher)

3. a person who is buried alive

4. a person who is unaware of his surroundings

5. a person speaking gibberish

Throughout all of his work the reader can easily notice his building descriptions. He reveals the ending of the story within his constant descriptive foreshadowing. His verbal illustrations are so powerful that I would NEVER want to read Poe by myself in an empty mansion. I may never go in another mansion again. I am really wondering if Poe has a bigger goal, other than scaring the pants off his audience....Entertainment? Joy and I don't understand Poe or scary movies....oh well. guess we will just watch sappy ones (:

At a Loss

So, maybe no one will even see this, but as I do not have Facebook I found I had no where else to turn but back to the UM Epic.

Honors this semester...is awful. I am having the hardest time adjusting to the material and the lack of challenge. I miss having this blog where we can each argue our positions on the material, I miss having legitimate discussions in class, I miss struggling with truth. Why have we replaced philosophical debates with the social origins of hipsters and scene kids? Where has our IQ gone? What happened to the unity that Dr. Mitchell so eloquently referred to last semester? I ended my first semester at UM intellectually exhausted yet stimulated. I was beyond excited about returning to honors; honors had become a safe-harbor, home even. I felt like I was going to be able to jump right into the madness this semester and finally open up in class, but I am utterly discouraged right now to say the least and have thus retreated back into a little corner of my mind. All I can think is I just want to quit and return to the tasteless normalcy of basic lit courses.

S.O.S!?

Stumbling Blocks

Personal convictions are something that must not be judged. I have had a lot of experience in my life with personal convictions. I believe that the Lord places different things on different people’s hearts. Paul discusses how to handle this in Romans chapter 13 and 14. He points out that we must not cause another to stumble. Although his definition is unclear I had some thoughts pertaining to a possible definition. I have always heard that we shouldn’t cause another to sin, which is true. However, I’m not sure that this is the core concept because sin is a choice that man makes for himself. In my own experience I would define this as not performing any deed or speaking any word that would cause a brother or sister in Christ to compromise any conviction that the Lord has laid on their hearts. This means that we must encourage them with scripture, prayer and words of support.

P.S. I commented on Amy's

What Have the Romans Ever Done for us?

"But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"- Monty Python's The Life of Brian


What HAVE the Romans done for us? During our discussion in class, we mentioned that Paul was a Roman citizen, but more than that, that he knew how to use that citizenship to his advantage. What does this mean exactly? Simply put, the Romans took care of their citizens. Once you were ah...assimilated into Rome, you became a citizen, and you had all of the rights that citizenship entailed. Rome did not just conquer a town and leave it to fend for itself, no. Rome cared for its citizens, and that, in essence, is what made Rome so great.

What have the Romans done for us? They gave us a basis for how to treat those that belong to our nation, and, whats more, the basis of how we should treat each other as Christians. As Christians, we can't just assimilate others into Christianity and then expect them to fend for themselves. We must, like the Romans, offer new Christians 'citizenship'. For, without guidance, we would not be taking care of our 'people'.

Paul knew how to use the fact that Romans took care of their citizens to his advantage, he knew that if he was in trouble he could call on his people and they would be there for him to help him our of whatever mess he had gotten into. Can we, as Christians, say that our 'citizens' could do the same?

P.S.-- I commented on Kelsey's blog a Final Word.

P.P.S--Sorry this is late, I honestly just forgot about the blog.

We as Literary Philosophers...

First off, I would like to commend Jeremy Crews for his excellent work yesterday in explaining the nature of the Honors program and teaching the freshmen how to find sources and start writing a well-constructed paper. A salute to you, Mr. President.

This blog, being the last of the semester, will be my summarization and reflection on the Honors program through part of Tuesday's lecture. My version of a "it's the end of the semester, who cares" blog. :)

When I sat in for the first day of Honors Literature during the fall semester of 2009, I expected a class full of preps with parents who make six figures twice a year -- stuck-up, pompous, arrogant crowdspeople. If you observed any Honors class or system in an institutionalized college, such as the University of Alabama (which I visited before deciding to go to UM), this expectation usually is validated.

But it just wasn't the case with Honors Literature here at UM. The people in Honors were nice, friendly, helpful, etc. -- all the things any high-minded prep can be; but unlike the prep, these people were both real and conscious. That's a big deal with me, having grown up a large portion of my life in a small town consistent mostly of preppy kids who lived off of Aeropostale / Abercrombie & Fitch / Hollister fumes and local gossip. The students within the Honors program were decent people. To this day, I hold the people of Honors in high regard and with a respect that surpasses most others. The UM Honors program is a good place to be.

That said, and somewhat repeating what Jeremy said, the Honors program is designed to deconstruct one's beliefs in order to reinforce those same beliefs, provided they are just and true. This system is mostly applicable to Christian faith, and by attacking certain aspects such as institutionalized religion and God as a true and provable being vs. faith in God, one can use their new knowledge to reinforce their faith and their ability to speak about God with others. Paul was well-versed in certain Greek philosophy, meaning that he learned the thoughts and beliefs of other cultures instead of enclosing himself to Christian / Jewish thoughts and beliefs alone. By doing this, he was able to communicate to non-believers his viewpoint of God and Christ through means that they could understand and relate with. Obtaining knowledge outside of the bounds of Christianity is not a bad thing; rather, it is necessary in order to be able to communicate with society in an educated manner.

We as 'Literary Philosophers', which is what I'm terming us at the moment, need to educate ourselves on all forms of culture, such as the literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc. that is intertwined with society, so that we can strengthen our core beliefs, trim off the fat of opinions that we may have thought to be knowledge beforehand, and establish an educated foundation in order to socialize with others and communicate our faith. Honors is one place where all of this can happen, so long as you allow yourself to be open to new ideas and viewpoints.

This was not worded the way I wanted it to be, but blame that on hours of paper-writing and studying, haha. I'm done for now.

Later, kidz.

P.S. I commented on Sara Dye's post.

Questions

Hello,

As horribly cliche as this is going to sound...Something stood out for me during our discussion on Tuesday. Dr. Mashburn said that when God declared that everyone must be circumcised, we were supposed to just do it. No questions asked.

That bugs me.

So, we're supposed to do as he says without question...? And if the bible, especially the Old Testament, is anything to go by, he would've probably struck anyone down if you so much as question him. Doesn't that make God some kind of cosmic bully...? Seriously, that's what it sounds like to me. What makes it even STRANGER is that we're ENCOURAGED to ask questions. So, to me, it sounds like "Always ask questions. Oh! Just don't question God!" It sounds...Off to me. I also find it funny how this HUGE divine being capable of creating a WHOLE universe honestly cares SO much about whether or not everything we do is in his glory. Doesn't that make him sound petty or an egomaniac?

Okay, you're all probably going to call "Blasphemy!". But...I don't know, I've hit that point in my life where lately, I've been HEAVILY questioning my beliefs and religion in general.

----I commented on Olivia Yetter's post.

Untitled

First of all i would just like to say this: Only what is won from the darkness will win.
Secondly, I really like how we related the Jew, Circumcision, the Temple, Sacrifice, the Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection to us. I especially drew to the crucifixion and Romans 6:6. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we could no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." When we become a christian, we deny our old self. We give God complete control of our lives. This also is shown through Galatians 2:20 " For i have been crucified with Christ and I know longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, i live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." When we sin, its the sin in us that lives, but God redeems us and He lives through us.

p.s I commented on Olivia' s post