Fall in Love with Everything

I got this video from one of my profs who got it via NPR (the theme of her/our class was "symmetry"; this is the same class for which I wrote the wabi sabi paper).

Music of the Week

These are my jams for the final week of my undergraduate career :)
I've already seen 3 of these bands in concert, but if anyone knows where I can see/hear(/feel?) Mutemath, let me know!!

Poem

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this — hopefully the summer will bring more time/less stress.

For today, though, dwell on this poem I found on The Writer's Almanac this morning. I'm not really a fan of this kind of form poetry normally, but I do respect William Wordsworth, and love his contemporary, William Blake (see his Lucy poems; I know that's where my interest started.)


The Tables Turned
by William Wordsworth


UP! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

"On Beauty and Being Just": My conclusion

I recently finished reading a book for class by Elizabeth Scarry called On Beauty and Being Just. At first I didn't think I was going to get anything out of it—she is a philosopher, and writes like one—but I think I can officially say it was worth reading.

Here's my response to the question "How do you define beauty? In constructing your answer, engage with Scarry in SOME way":

In regard to my definition of beauty, I want to first establish that while I do think Beauty exists as an entity or concept in and of itself, independent of human interaction or perception, it is only by our human perception that we understand and are able to see beauty as it is; that is, the word “beauty” is the only mechanism by which we can properly express what we perceive to be Beauty or beautiful. I say this because I believe that beauty is a connection with or glimpse of the divine, the infinite, and eternity. Just because we as individuals find different things beautiful on an individual basis does not mean that beauty or the perception of beauty is subjective, per se, BECAUSE each person is either seeing the same thing differently or recognizing and internalizing (on whatever level of consciousness) a different aspect of Beauty. Each person is gifted with seeing the world in a particular way essentially unique to them.

My definition complements Scarry's in several ways. On the last point, the fact that each individual perceives beauty differently—and thereby necessarily contributes to the consummate picture and human understanding of Beauty—supports her push for equality as a central part of the justice that beauty, Scarry claims, necessarily invites. That is, if we need every individual on the planet to form the full picture of beauty, doesn't it follow that each individual has an equally valuable piece of the puzzle, and should therefore be valued equally as a contributor to the greater knowledge of all? Is it not conceivable that each person also has within them something to be valued which contributes to society and the promotion or enactment of justice?

Of course, not everyone—many people, even, if not all of us, at one time or another—recognizes this; perhaps, as Scarry asserts, each one of us can recall a time at which we made a mistake regarding beauty. And therein lies one of, if not THE fundamental problem with humanity, with this life: we make mistakes. We are human. I have not been forced to prove to myself for a long time the existence of God, but am continually moved or driven to understand the nature of God, because, if nothing else, I am human. The moment at which I come to fully comprehend the nature of a God, one of two things will happen: I will be one with God, or I will become God. The distinction is very subtle, yet important. I personally don't believe the second option is possible, because that would require me to exist before EVERYTHING, and after—as far as I can tell, I have already failed the prerequisites. So with Beauty, if it is indeed something of God and the “immortal,” as Scarry puts it (I prefer “eternal”), then to understand it perfectly and always perceive it correctly would be to surrender our humanness in becoming one with or (“simply”) becoming God.

Additionally, Scarry seems disinclined to say anything one way or the other about how the existence of the Christian “God” plays into (or doesn't) her argument, but the more, shall we say, mythical example of multiple gods, assumedly of Greek and Roman history. Nevertheless, statements like the following speak to me significantly of a very real, other-worldly, eternal spiritual realm in which resides a creative force: “The equality of beauty enters the world before justice and stays longer because it does not depend on human beings to bring it about: though human beings have created much of the beauty of the world, they are only collaborators in a much vaster project.” [108])

On "graduating"

What a great poem to remind us, as graduating college students in particular, of change and the misunderstandings that can arise between friends if we're not careful, intentional.




Change
BY LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON
(via www.poetryfoundation.org)


And this is what is left of youth! . . .
There were two boys, who were bred up together,
Shared the same bed, and fed at the same board;
Each tried the other’s sport, from their first chase,
Young hunters of the butterfly and bee,
To when they followed the fleet hare, and tried
The swiftness of the bird. They lay beside
The silver trout stream, watching as the sun
Played on the bubbles: shared each in the store
Of either’s garden: and together read
Of him, the master of the desert isle,
Till a low hut, a gun, and a canoe,
Bounded their wishes. Or if ever came
A thought of future days, ’twas but to say
That they would share each other’s lot, and do
Wonders, no doubt. But this was vain: they parted
With promises of long remembrance, words
Whose kindness was the heart’s, and those warm tears,
Hidden like shame by the young eyes which shed them,
But which are thought upon in after-years
As what we would give worlds to shed once more.



They met again, — but different from themselves,
At least what each remembered of themselves:
The one proud as a soldier of his rank,
And of his many battles: and the other
Proud of his Indian wealth, and of the skill
And toil which gathered it; each with a brow
And heart alike darkened by years and care.
They met with cold words, and yet colder looks:
Each was changed in himself, and yet each thought
The other only changed, himself the same.
And coldness bred dislike, and rivalry
Came like the pestilence o’er some sweet thoughts
That lingered yet, healthy and beautiful,
Amid dark and unkindly ones. And they,
Whose boyhood had not known one jarring word,
Were strangers in their age: if their eyes met,
’Twas but to look contempt, and when they spoke,
Their speech was wormwood! . . .
. . . And this, this is life!

Wabi Sabi

Ever heard of Wabi Sabi? or Wabi-Sabi? or wabi-sabi? or wabi and sabi?

I'm sort of doing a research project on it. But before I write more about it (here), I'll give you an opportunity to do a little research yourself :)

Anyway, I went looking for Wabi Sabi today. This is what I found:

Until next time, happy wandering!

Write it!

The art of losing isn't hard to master.
(Name that poem!)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, and my posts haven't been much of substance yet, but if you like writing and reading and talking about all that, check out my professor's website and podcast!!

www.fictionschool.com

Baker Lawley, Jody Gehrman, and Tommy Zurhellen. All published, all awesome (at least, I can speak about Baker and Tommy — took classes from one and hobnobbed the other at an author reading at my school!)

Podcast. iTunes. "Fiction School." Go!

Day 1

...of my last semester of college. First assignment, for my English senior seminar? Read this article.

I don't think I've ever been a fan of Sherman Alexie. Maybe I thought he was semi-interesting on occasion. Then I read this article. This section in particular stood out to me:

"I think every writer stands in the doorway of their prison. Half in, half out. The very act of storytelling is a return to the prison of what torments us and keeps us captive, and writers are repeat offenders. You go through this whole journey with your prison, revisiting it in your mind. Hopefully, you get to a point when you realize there was beauty in your prison, too. Maybe, when you get to that point, 'I’m on the reservation of my mind' can also be a beautiful thing."

YES. This is exactly what we as writers need to hear. We don't all have an "a-ha" moment for life's big questions. We don't all get a letter and fifty bucks from our favorite poet or author to encourage us in our artistic endeavors. But we all have dreams, and we can get inspired by stories like this. You may think you need that push, a push that huge — you don't. This or that story isn't yours, but you do have a story.

So write it, in any way you can.



Professor Lee: +1
Stereotypically-boring-but-easy-so-you-can-relax Senior Year: 0.

Aldrich Talonding & James Bucong

Just found this today, too good to pass up. One of my favorite worship songs, and these guys are TALENTED. Had to share.

Lyrics:

Here I am before You, falling in love and seeking Your truth
Knowing that Your perfect grace has brought me to this place
Because of You I freely live, my life to You, oh God, I give
So I stand before You, God
I lift my voice cause You set me free

So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours

All the good You've done for me, I lift up my hands for all to see
You're the only one who brings me to my knees
To share this love across the earth, the beauty of Your holy worth
So I kneel before You, God
I lift my hands cause You set me free

So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours
All that I am, I place into Your loving hands
And I am Yours, I am Yours

Here I am, I stand, with arms wide open
To the One, the Son, the Everlasting God

Back in the Blog-o-sphere...

...permanently. In the past I've used blogging primarily as a way to keep in touch with friends and family while traveling overseas, but I guess I'm one of the many who also like to just think out loud via the internet.

And I mean, think about it — how cool is it to be able to see that at least one person in seventeen different countries is reading what you write?

So to the readers, thank you, and to the writers, keep at it. Even if you never get rich and famous (rich), someone cares about what you write. So write.

And to the wanderers who stumble upon blogs accidentally or check one out just for a lark one day, enjoy. The world is at your fingertips, but you never know for how long.

Anyway, I guess the real point of this post is just to officially kick off the start of this blog and my life adventures. I'll be starting on my English thesis (a creative work) here pretty soon and I've already begun research for my Japanese thesis on suicide and its role in the narratives of Japanese literature (written in English), so I'll probably put some of my findings and scraps in here, and I've got the travel bug bad after Japan and Rwanda (possibly the tiniest country in all of Africa), so you'll be hearing about that as well if you care to follow along. You may even get to see a painting or two of mine :)


So that's all for now — I'll catch you on the flipside.

<3 Caitlin

P.S. In the background are all my journals since 6th grade!