I attended Southeastern's production of The Imaginary Invalid and watched the entire play.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
This play was not the first performance I have seen at Southeastern. I saw Jane Eyre, a dance showcase, and a few concerts. I really enjoy going to these type of events and I'm always up for attending them. This performance, though, is definitely the strangest I have seen.
The dance showcase, like The Imaginary Invalid, was directed (or whatever the proper term is) by Nickolas Dixon. I could tell immediately just by the costumes and how the dancers looked at the beginning of the show that it was a "work of Dixon." They were all doll-like and had glitter and face paint and quirky, bright, sparkly, extravagant outfits on. In both the showcase and this play, this was the case. So from making this comparison in the beginning, I was eager to see how the show would turn out.
When people would come up to me later that night, or the next day and ask me how the show went...I couldn't even describe it well enough in words. It was weird, and hilarious, and confusing. The plot was so random and throughout the whole thing I was asking myself
What the heck? What on earth is going on?
But while asking these questions, and being totally confused, I was laughing really hard. I don't know what it was about it, but it was quite humorous.
The characters...ah, they were great! Random, but great. The actors and actresses that played the characters really made them come to live. The performers did not hold back at all with anything. Their facial expressions, their body language, their voices, everything was completely amazing. I was so appalled by their ability to be in character so well!
The set always had something going on. The doll-like stage hands were in these picture frames and in different rooms of the house...always doing something. Listening, but sort of mocking the characters. It was hilarious! And there was this one doll character in the top right of the house that was way more obnoxious than the rest that was SO entertaining to watch. There was never a dull moment.
It was one of the weirdest performances I've probably ever seen, but I liked it.
Surprised at how much she loved this ridiculous musical,
Anna Marie
Favorite Moment: Random sword fighting in the middle of the father/daughter conflict. Only way to solve conflict in my opinion.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
To You, Oh Lord, I cry.
This is the picture that I painted that day in class that we painted. I LOVED that class period. Honestly, I was bragging to everyone after wards about how much I loved it. I got to paint for class! How awesome is that?
Now, I'm not much of an artist. Actually, I'm not an artist at all. But this project was really refreshing for me.
The Book of Joel is one I've never actually read all the way through, so this was real nice. I loved spending that time with God and getting to grow deeper in Him simply by being silent, digesting His word, and painting.
I really enjoyed not being graded on this either. We got our own ideas that we wanted from the Book of Joel, and we could just go with it. No rules except no talking.
It was wonderful.
Learning more and more from this class,
Anna Marie Smith
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Helpful Blogging
Before this class, I was not really a blogger of words, so to speak. I have Tumblr accout, which is a unique blogging site that allows me to post videos, chats, texts, pictures, audios, etc. Check it out --> http://alilyofthevalley.tumblr.com/
But as you can see, I did not really do too much full texts posts, or anything that really takes a lot of time, and thought, I guess I could say.
This class allows me to reach out and exercise that part of me that I wouldn't normally use. I'm forced (in a good way) to do something I wouldn't normally do.
I'm challenged by it.
And I'm growing...
not just in my writing and academic abilities, but in life (as lame as that sounds hahaa). I can understand books a little better. I've learned techniques to understanding things. I've even learned how to pray better.
At the end of almost every blog, I sign off by saying something along the lines of "continuing to learn more and more from this class". It is completely honest! And blogging is what has helped me to learn so much.
There is something unique about blogging that is different than just class discussions. On here we are allowed to carefully choose our words, go in depth about a piece of work, and dig into our own minds to find purpose in meaning in what we have read. Class can be very beneficial, don't get me wrong. But there's something different about sitting down with just you and the text and evaluating, recalling, and studying. Blogging allows to do these things!
Re-reading the Guide to Blogging didn't actually strike any connection for me. I'm actually slightly confused about what the Professor actually wanted us to find when re-reading these instructions. It did help me though, to re-introduce how to write a blog correctly. I went through some of my older posts and looked at how well I had followed the criteria or not and saw how I can change in the future!
This adventure of Corrigan's 2 pm Intro to Lit class continues to amaze me,
Anna Marie
But as you can see, I did not really do too much full texts posts, or anything that really takes a lot of time, and thought, I guess I could say.
This class allows me to reach out and exercise that part of me that I wouldn't normally use. I'm forced (in a good way) to do something I wouldn't normally do.
I'm challenged by it.
And I'm growing...
not just in my writing and academic abilities, but in life (as lame as that sounds hahaa). I can understand books a little better. I've learned techniques to understanding things. I've even learned how to pray better.
At the end of almost every blog, I sign off by saying something along the lines of "continuing to learn more and more from this class". It is completely honest! And blogging is what has helped me to learn so much.
There is something unique about blogging that is different than just class discussions. On here we are allowed to carefully choose our words, go in depth about a piece of work, and dig into our own minds to find purpose in meaning in what we have read. Class can be very beneficial, don't get me wrong. But there's something different about sitting down with just you and the text and evaluating, recalling, and studying. Blogging allows to do these things!
Re-reading the Guide to Blogging didn't actually strike any connection for me. I'm actually slightly confused about what the Professor actually wanted us to find when re-reading these instructions. It did help me though, to re-introduce how to write a blog correctly. I went through some of my older posts and looked at how well I had followed the criteria or not and saw how I can change in the future!
This adventure of Corrigan's 2 pm Intro to Lit class continues to amaze me,
Anna Marie
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Walt Whitman--In English, please?
When first reading Walt Whitman's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd I had NO idea what was being said! I mean, the words themselves were not difficult at all to understand. But the placement and the order, I guess, was completely different that what I am used to reading. Maybe words and descriptions have just become more simple now-a-days? I'm not sure...
All I know is that after reading this through the first time I asked myself, "Okay, Walt Whitman. Let's try this again and you actually speak English this time."
You remember that exercise we had in class on Friday where we "broke down" the poem about the onions and went through those steps? Well, like the Professor told us yesterday, those same steps are applicable for most of the readings that we come across. I had to go through and use those exact same steps to understand Lilacs better!
Believe it, or not, Professor knows what he's doing.
And yet again, our small group discussion was wonderful. Me, Jennifer, Andrew, and Jared are pretty different in our literature ideas, and that's why I love our group so much--dynamics. We bring all these different ideas together and bounce off each other. (<--That little snippet was for you, team. Maybe one of you will be a faithful group member and read my blog hahaa)
ANYWAYS, our group was naming off our different favorite parts of the poem, and they were all different, and all really great. Because I had my own favorite part (Stanza 5). But, I actually started liking my group member's parts too because after they explained it, I could see the appeal of it. So, through re-reading, and discussing the reading, you really get to know the poem better.
Yet again, this class is helping become a better reader. During class you don't really think about how much the class is helping you...but sitting down and blogging about it makes it much more clear.
This wasn't in my top favorites of the works of literature we've gone over, but I can appreciate it.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll pick out a random Walt Whitman and try to understand it.
Surprised at how much she is still learning about this class,
Anna Marie
Favorite Quote/Stanza:
"Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities,
Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets peep'd from the ground, spotting gray debris,
Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, passing the endless grass,
Passing the yellow-speared wheat, ever grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen,
Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards,
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
Night and day journeys a coffin."
All I know is that after reading this through the first time I asked myself, "Okay, Walt Whitman. Let's try this again and you actually speak English this time."
You remember that exercise we had in class on Friday where we "broke down" the poem about the onions and went through those steps? Well, like the Professor told us yesterday, those same steps are applicable for most of the readings that we come across. I had to go through and use those exact same steps to understand Lilacs better!
Believe it, or not, Professor knows what he's doing.
And yet again, our small group discussion was wonderful. Me, Jennifer, Andrew, and Jared are pretty different in our literature ideas, and that's why I love our group so much--dynamics. We bring all these different ideas together and bounce off each other. (<--That little snippet was for you, team. Maybe one of you will be a faithful group member and read my blog hahaa)
ANYWAYS, our group was naming off our different favorite parts of the poem, and they were all different, and all really great. Because I had my own favorite part (Stanza 5). But, I actually started liking my group member's parts too because after they explained it, I could see the appeal of it. So, through re-reading, and discussing the reading, you really get to know the poem better.
Yet again, this class is helping become a better reader. During class you don't really think about how much the class is helping you...but sitting down and blogging about it makes it much more clear.
This wasn't in my top favorites of the works of literature we've gone over, but I can appreciate it.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll pick out a random Walt Whitman and try to understand it.
Surprised at how much she is still learning about this class,
Anna Marie
Favorite Quote/Stanza:
"Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities,
Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets peep'd from the ground, spotting gray debris,
Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, passing the endless grass,
Passing the yellow-speared wheat, ever grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen,
Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards,
Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
Night and day journeys a coffin."
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Poor Onions
In class on Friday, we read through Namo Shihab Nye's poem called The Traveling Onion. At first, I honestly didn't like it...at all. I didn't really understand it that much.
Great this is just talking about an onion.
That's all I thought.
But our little "experiment" made it SO much easier to follow. Much easier to understand and to break apart and it really made you think more about the poem.
When we first read through it, there was nothing too special that caught my eye. I just read it. I didn't even read the beginning part about how it was worshiped in India! And I also thought that there was some sort of personification with the onion in the beginning.
But through reading it again, and tearing it apart, I found that this really wasn't the case. It was when Professor Corrigan had us try and find things that we didn't understand about the poem that I began to love it. I began to actually feel pity for an onion. Is that lame?
I actually felt bad for it.
Poor Onion. It does so much for the food. Yet, it always gets left out. In one country, it gets loved on and worshiped. But here, it get chopped up.
Forgotten about.
Invisible.
Every line of this poem is great. I really really like it. I'm surprised at how much I do like it, actually. I think this is journal worthy. I shall copy it down at once!
Learning more and more by this class,
Anna Marie
Favorite Quote: "And I would never scold the onion for causing tears. It is right that tears fall for something small and forgotten."
Great this is just talking about an onion.
That's all I thought.
But our little "experiment" made it SO much easier to follow. Much easier to understand and to break apart and it really made you think more about the poem.
When we first read through it, there was nothing too special that caught my eye. I just read it. I didn't even read the beginning part about how it was worshiped in India! And I also thought that there was some sort of personification with the onion in the beginning.
But through reading it again, and tearing it apart, I found that this really wasn't the case. It was when Professor Corrigan had us try and find things that we didn't understand about the poem that I began to love it. I began to actually feel pity for an onion. Is that lame?
I actually felt bad for it.
Poor Onion. It does so much for the food. Yet, it always gets left out. In one country, it gets loved on and worshiped. But here, it get chopped up.
Forgotten about.
Invisible.
Every line of this poem is great. I really really like it. I'm surprised at how much I do like it, actually. I think this is journal worthy. I shall copy it down at once!
Learning more and more by this class,
Anna Marie
Favorite Quote: "And I would never scold the onion for causing tears. It is right that tears fall for something small and forgotten."
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
And so the little girl took an automatic out of her basket...
This wasn't as exciting as the other texts we've read. I guess just because it wasn't a story, it did not immediately grab my attention, or seem too intriguing to me. But, I surprised myself by finding some things in this part of the chapter that I liked, or found interesting.
The first paragraph had such a great point! I mean, I've sort of always known what it was saying, but I've never brought that information to the front of my mind, you know?
We want texts to mean something.
I mean, of course we do. If we read story that has no meaning, or one that's just dull (like Professor Corrigan's first "breaking into my own house" story), we don't like it. It's just not good. But have we ever really thought about how we want every story to mean something?
And we can't simply summarize a story with one word, or one sentence (again, like Professor Corrigan's first story) because we lose the essence of what the story is. Yeah, we get what happened--the bare bones of it, the jist, the plain facts. But that's not what makes the story, is it?
If we translate a poem into a statement, we risk losing the very qualities that made it a poem.
Like Professor Corrigan said, "A story goes beyond what you can just summarize."
Continuing to learn more from this class,
Anna Marie
PS: IF you honestly did not read this section, read it. Especially the Little Red Hiding Hood rendition titled "The Girl and the Wolf." It's quite humorous.
Favorite Quote: "So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead."
The first paragraph had such a great point! I mean, I've sort of always known what it was saying, but I've never brought that information to the front of my mind, you know?
We want texts to mean something.
I mean, of course we do. If we read story that has no meaning, or one that's just dull (like Professor Corrigan's first "breaking into my own house" story), we don't like it. It's just not good. But have we ever really thought about how we want every story to mean something?
And we can't simply summarize a story with one word, or one sentence (again, like Professor Corrigan's first story) because we lose the essence of what the story is. Yeah, we get what happened--the bare bones of it, the jist, the plain facts. But that's not what makes the story, is it?
If we translate a poem into a statement, we risk losing the very qualities that made it a poem.
Like Professor Corrigan said, "A story goes beyond what you can just summarize."
Continuing to learn more from this class,
Anna Marie
PS: IF you honestly did not read this section, read it. Especially the Little Red Hiding Hood rendition titled "The Girl and the Wolf." It's quite humorous.
Favorite Quote: "So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead."
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Can there be a happy ending with my house of cards?
Yesterday in class, we got the opportunity to get with our small group and try and build a house of cards. Oh, how fun this was for many reasons.
1) We got to be moving around--not just sitting and listening to a lecture.
2) Bonding time with our group!
3) Got to feel the emotions that C.S. was describing.
It was great because throughout A Grief Observed, we had hearing about the house of cards, and how he keeps building it up, even though he knows he's eventually gonna fall away anyways. But, it's different imagining building a card house and trying to feel the frustration, and getting on your hands and knees and really trying to figure out how to make it work. Our group was honestly planning and really thinking hard about just how to make our house of cards stand up.
One by one, our house was being built up. We would get one section, then maybe one other little section. Oh! and then we got the base complete! It was such a wonderful feeling! Maybe we could actually do this. Maybe we could really build this house up.
But
it
fell.
And there was nothing we could do to keep it up. After the first level was complete again, we figured that we could do the same thing again for the second. But, the cards were no longer on carpet with friction, they were on top of other cards that were slippery. We had just not prepared for the cards to be slipping! How on earth were they going to stay standing up? We were so close and there was nothing we could do to continue to build it up.
I remember one point while we were building that Professor said something along the lines of, "Now imagine that all you have, everything that is important to you in life is built upon this house of cards." DANG. I honestly felt different about what I was doing. As if I wasn't already frustrated enough by it not working, let's place my whole life upon this slippery, unsatisfactory, failing house of cards.
But that's what Lewis felt! And I can relate more now. And I will keep trying and trying even though I know that ultimately there will only be one true ending--
My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls.
1) We got to be moving around--not just sitting and listening to a lecture.
2) Bonding time with our group!
3) Got to feel the emotions that C.S. was describing.
It was great because throughout A Grief Observed, we had hearing about the house of cards, and how he keeps building it up, even though he knows he's eventually gonna fall away anyways. But, it's different imagining building a card house and trying to feel the frustration, and getting on your hands and knees and really trying to figure out how to make it work. Our group was honestly planning and really thinking hard about just how to make our house of cards stand up.
One by one, our house was being built up. We would get one section, then maybe one other little section. Oh! and then we got the base complete! It was such a wonderful feeling! Maybe we could actually do this. Maybe we could really build this house up.
But
it
fell.
And there was nothing we could do to keep it up. After the first level was complete again, we figured that we could do the same thing again for the second. But, the cards were no longer on carpet with friction, they were on top of other cards that were slippery. We had just not prepared for the cards to be slipping! How on earth were they going to stay standing up? We were so close and there was nothing we could do to continue to build it up.
I remember one point while we were building that Professor said something along the lines of, "Now imagine that all you have, everything that is important to you in life is built upon this house of cards." DANG. I honestly felt different about what I was doing. As if I wasn't already frustrated enough by it not working, let's place my whole life upon this slippery, unsatisfactory, failing house of cards.
But that's what Lewis felt! And I can relate more now. And I will keep trying and trying even though I know that ultimately there will only be one true ending--
My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls. My house of cards falls.
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