Overheard Conversation Post

      Tonight around seven pm I find myself sitting in the Starbucks located in the Barnes and Noble bookstore. I have ordered myself a caramel frappuccino and sit down at a nearby table to sip my iced coffee drink and play spy. After sitting for a while a group of students enter and make their way over to a table next to me and begin to remove there laptops and textbooks. Having already pulled out my notebook and my Political Economics book, in an attempt to look like I was paying attention to something else, I grabbed my pen and perked my ears up to listen. It only took a few minutes for the students to talk before the conversation grew and took on a life of it's own. This is what I witnessed.

      Five students are sitting around a table. Three of them are males and and they are accompanied by two young and peppy women. They are high-school students or maybe college freshman, I cannot be sure. At first it is fairly quiet, with the kind “Hello” followed by a “How's it going?”, then the conversation gets interesting.

“You know you wanna see the pictures!”, says a boy loudly to a girl close to him.

“No. Seriously, I don't wanna know what you guys do when your alone.” the girl replies.

“You don't wanna see pictures of me a Will on our secluded cabin weekend? It took me forever to get him to go.”

The girls mumbles something, mostly inaudible.

“It was great, no one around and its just me and my roommate! I'm telling ya as soon as we got there we started heating the place up. Poured some of that champagne, and got under the blankets! Oh yeah!”

“He's huge, smelly and he has those weird teeth.” states the girl.

“No seriously, just listen.” says the boy.

                 Here is what I got from it.

●◌●

      A boy and his huge, smelly, vampire roommate, Will, in a effort to escape the chains of their average boring days off escape to a secluded cabin for a more interesting weekend together. Upon arriving the boy professes his love for his smelly, huge, vampire roommate, cracks a bottle of Moet and Chandon, and proceeds to pour glasses for the two of them. Soon they are completely wasted and find themselves under the blankets and “heating the place up”. In order to preserve this precious moment the two of them then proceed to take pictures of themselves together, to show their friends and maybe even a few for themselves.

●◌●

      Now, I am sure that this was not what really happened but, I cannot know that just by what I heard. I imagine that the boy just has a roommate that creeps out the girl because he is heavy and smelly and has bad teeth. I am fairly sure that when they arrived at the cabin, it was freezing and they threw wood on the fire, jumped under blankets while they waited for the place to heat up and had some champagne to celebrate the weekend.  However, without the proper context I am sure this conversation could be heard or understood in many ways. None of which are right.  It would also seems that tone and pronunciation also work together in order to help build the correct context in spoken language.  Without the correct context we all sound about one banana short of a bunch!

Observation Essay

Jacob Willey
Instructor: VanLaningham
English 111-F06
5 Feb 2011

    A Walk Through my Past

     Sunlight falls effortlessly, cascading down through the clouds, casting shattered light to the earth below.  Radiant spots of light travel slowly across the ground, scorching life in their wake, an effect created by the clouds drifting about the heavens.  In brief glimpses we can view the sky, and its deep blue color, visible through small fissures in the ocean of vapor overhead.   Off in the distance to the west, the sky and clouds take on a darker purpose and, to us, appear a deep shade of purple.  Intermittently, bolts of light can be seen flashing, followed shortly by a deep rumble that rolls though the sky, shaking creation in its path.  The storm is slowly rolling away, and soon the sound of thunder is nothing more than a memory, but the moisture left behind is a more than welcome drink for this heated land.  Here, we stand on an old dirt road, the passage of time fresh upon it’s face; dips and holes the only traces of travelers past.   Rocks shift restlessly under our feet as we travel along the road to the north.
   
     Vast fields of farmland containing crops of beans, grain, and corn span the expanse in all directions.  Unlike the grain and beans, which sway causally in the breeze, the corn stands in proud defiance of the wind and reaches up to worship the sun.  Only the large green leaves and the silky golden tassels on the top of the stalks acknowledge the wind, flittering slightly as the breeze passes by.  The once tilled ground, still a dark chocolate color, looks nurtured and cared for, a sign of the effort put into these fields by the farmers.  Various types of flowers dot the sides of the road adding a kaleidoscope of smells and colors to our scene.  Birds chirp and sing all around us, and butterflies dance on the breeze in the air.
   
     As we reach the end of this road, we can see that the path north is blocked by fields and the intersecting road here runs east to west.  To the west we can see more fields, and farm houses, looking like nothing more then tiny figurines out in the distance.  As we turn east and resume our journey, the road slowly narrows and takes on the characteristics of a dirt driveway.  Cut directly out of the field, sits a beautiful yard that acts as home to a large, fresh cut, deep green lawn. The strong smell of grass drifts through the air tingling and tantalizing our senses.  We can observe a small brown shack sitting in the center of the yard.  Silver fencing runs out from the sides of the shack barricading a square section of the yard to the back of it. Within the fence lay two sleeping dogs, tongues hung out in protest of the heat.  The driveway continues on just a bit further and we can see that it forks into two paths.  One arcs to the north leading up between the fenced area and the side of a large white house, the other leads east past the house and off into the distance.   In the driveway sits a couple of cars, and  a large dark brown tarp sits on a heap in front of them.
   
     The house stands tall and welcoming before us.  Two doors lead inside, one off the driveway on the side of the house, one on the front of the house off a large raised porch.  Long thin gardens border the house, full of flowers and an assortment of plants.  Brightly colored flowers are displayed in various positions and in a variety of planters around the house and on the porch.  Large windows placed in the sides of the house, decorated with curtains,  reflect the endless clouds rolling through the sky.  Long green hoses, running several sprinklers, extend from a spigot on the side of  the house and dart across the yard.   The water being cast about to maintain the lawn mists softly through the air, creating a most brilliant rainbow effect when a wild sunbeam bursts out of the cloudy sky.
   
     Entering the house through the side door, we walk into a large open space serving as the dining room.  A large wooden table for eight sits in the center, and a kitchen is off to the left. The house smells of home-cooked meals, good times, and family.  Three doors and a stairway lead off out of this room.  Two of the doors, just there in front of us, lead to a bathroom and a bedroom.  The doorway off to the right of this room leads to the living room of the house.  The walls of the dining room are covered with cabinets filled with dishes and trinkets. Walking over to the living room door, we can see a entertainment center, very nice for this space in time, a large sofa, and a couple of chairs off in the corners filling up the rest of the room.  If we back track just a bit, enough just to reach the base of the stairs we saw earlier, we can trot up the stairs and find three more bedrooms.  All of these huge rooms filled with dressers, mirrors, closets, and king size beds.  One of these rooms, in particular, equipped with a king size waterbed. 
   
     As we continue our walk, returning back outside after having paused to look at the house, we can see that there is a giant pole barn tucked away adjacent to the house and, therefore, not visible from the other side.  The pole barn mainly composed of metal is large enough to house a crop plane.  Through the window in the side we can see that part of this barn has been cornered off by walls and there is a weight room setup.  There is also a set of stairs running up one of the sides, next to a mirrored wall, leading up to a second floor.   Walking in through the side door of the barn, we can view weights of various sizes scattered about as if used often, and workout machines sitting all around.  In the wall of mirrors before us there is a door on the right that leads out into the main area of the barn.  Considering that the main area of the barn is irrelevant to this journey, let us continue up the stairs. 

      Couches rest against two of the four walls, blankets thrown all around, and videogames cartridges are cast throughout the room.  A small colored television sits on a stand in the center of the room, and controller cords reach out from the Sega Genesis and Nintendo consoles beneath it.  Large speakers sit to the left and the right of the television, and a stereo to control it all sits off to the side.  It would appear that some children have spent many lazy summer hours lounging around here and playing video games.  As we look around, we can here the sound of engines far off coming closer, so we head back down the stairs and back out through the door to see what we find.
   
     Coming down the dirt road from the east are two children on four-wheelers.  Both of these boys have tan skin, a testament to their travels in the sun, and sweat pours off them freely in the overwhelming heat.  They whip down the road, racing side by side back to the house, impatient for the dinner to come.  Nearly flying past us, they race up to the driveway of the house, park the four-wheelers and throw the large brown tarp back over them. They run inside the brown shack to feed and water the dogs and their pups, and head inside for dinner, later escaping back to the freedom of the pool barn later that night. 
   
The place that I have been describing serves as one of my fondest child-hood memories.  As a child I grew up for some time, with my brother and mother in Kokomo, Indiana.  My mother worked hard to provide for us, but we lived in low income housing, and in a neighborhood that perhaps wasn’t the best in town.  However, in school I was fortunate enough to meet a kid named Jeremy, who quickly became one of my best friends.  This place was his home, and the setting of many of my summer days.  A place to me that transcends time itself, for not only did I visit there for solace as a child, but I can revisit it in my mind now and still find relief.   In many ways it helped to shape who I am today, by letting me escape kind of life that I had been born into, and showing me that whole families did actually exist.

Reading Response: Salvation

    Langston Hughes’s piece entitled “Salvation”, for me, was an exquisite example of just how much you can really convey in such a short amount of text.  Hughes’s essay starts of with short and decisive sentences almost as if he wants to pull you back in time, with his words, and have you hear the essay from the mouth of a twelve year old child.  The short sentences really set the stage for great narration and quickly begin to fashion an experience, within a tale, that I imagine nearly every person on earth can relate to. 
Within this essay, Langston tackles many subjects head on that I think many people would be hesitant to write about. 

    Religion has always been a controversial subject on earth due perhaps to the vast array of different religions that span our world and its people.  I believe that the concept of god is something that is fairly easy to understand, even as a child, for there must be something greater than us.  Blind Faith on the other hand is a truly harsh concept to understand, especially, from a child’s perspective.  As children we grow and tend to rely on the tangible, that is, things that we can see and feel for ourselves.  Faith, though it may be argued by many others, I feel is tangible,  but the concept and understanding of it eludes us when we are young. It takes years to develop, our depth of understanding faith, into something we can trust and rely on.

    Langston hints at the fact that though he experienced a loss of faith in religion, he was actually “saved”.  I feel that this is a truly important piece of information and that it is, most likely, not understood by everyone in the same way.  I feel that Langston’s use of the word “saved” , in this context, refers to the fact that through this experience in his life he was saved from the child-like naivety and belief that Jesus would actually appear before him.  I think that most people would be able to relate this key point in the story to the belief of Santa Claus or that of the Easter Bunny.  I do not mean to say that Jesus is like Santa Claus, I just mean that we experience the same type “of loss of faith” upon hearing or experiencing the truth beyond our childish concept of reality.  This experience for me happened as a young child sneaking down to find my mother wrapping and labeling presents as  “Santa Claus”.

    The truly sad part in all of this is the fact that, due to other peoples faith or belief in religion, a child went home questioning the actual existence of God, and was forced to lose a part of their innocence in the search for understanding.  Perhaps he had been “saved” from ignorance but now his faith is cast in doubt.  This is demonstrated by the fact that once he was the only one on the bench, waiting for Jesus to appear to him, he felt that he was being forced to adhere to the common practice of following those before him, without question.   Perhaps, Jesus really was there, acting and speaking through the pastor and the people in the congregation.  However, understanding of this caliber is hard to come by at such a young age and even harder to rationalize, whereas, conforming to those around you to appease a situation is a far easier decision, even if you end up sacrificing a part of yourself or your belief.

    I am not sure if my comprehension of this piece is correct, or if anyone else felt the same way after reading it, but this is one of the many points that I gleaned from this essay.

Reading Response: Oranges and Sweet Sister Boy

    This essay “Oranges and Sweet Sister Boy” written by Judy Ruiz, delved deep into the heart of society and into the mind of the average person, trying to understand the complex workings of the human psyche.  In this piece, Judy has been confronted with her brothers life-altering decision and, in what would appear to be a somewhat vein attempt, she compares and contrasts her own life and experiences in a search for understanding.
   
     This essay took on, what could easily be considered one of the most controversial subjects in all of history.  Why are we born one sex or the other?  Why do some feel that they cannot be comfortable or be who they are in there own body?  How much must we endure before the “sex change operation” becomes our only choice? 
   
     For me this essay demonstrated good use of metaphor with comments such as, “the world is like an orange” , but more importantly it revealed much about the process of human perception, comprehension, and understanding.  We as humans have a very hard time making sense of  or deciphering the meaning behind choices that are not our own.  Judy’s transsexual brother Carl has made a decision that he feels is in his best interest, and though it may be life altering, from his perspective it would seem that there is no other choice.  She deems him “ hell bent on castration”. Her writing dictates that, to her, the concept of actually having a sex change is completely foreign.  His life decision in this matter completely transcends her understanding. 
   
     Judy’s incorporation of dream sequence in her writing, I felt, laid down the fundamental grounds for her quest of understanding.  Though dreams are just dreams, I think that we are constantly searching for truth, through dream, in our everyday life.  These dream appear to demonstrate the insanity created by her attempt at acceptance. She seems the type of person that, even though this choice is only going to slightly affect her life, is still trying to rationalize a choice that to her is irrational.
  
     Humankind tends to demonstrate this behavior in many ways, in our personal search for understanding.  Through the centuries of our development here on Earth, I think that we have come a long way in understanding one another, and much of the fear and hate that we hold for the unknown has been replaced by a “live and let live” creed.  However, this only goes so far.  Humans have an innate fear of the unknown and things that we do not understand.  I can only imagine what it must be like to be so uncomfortable on your own body.  Or to have to suffer so much, at the hands of your own father, for these feelings.  It may be that we will, on a personal level, never be able to understand the choices and decisions of another, but that should never hold us back from caring or trying to help in any way possible.  Sometimes we just need someone to talk to or to lean on.  I believe that at the conclusion, Judy, came to feel the same way.

A morning at the Museum of the North

     This marvel, titled “The Muries in Alaska”, was painted by M.C “Rusty” Heurlin.  Hanging calmly on the wall, surrounded by many other pieces of amazing artwork, it spoke volumes to my soul as I rounded the corner on the second floor in the Rose Berry Alaska Art gallery in the Museum of the North today.  Softly flowing oil paints were used in its composition, creating a calming and yet dramatic effect, encouraging me to take a closer look. The colors of this piece, seemed nearly mute in contrast to the vibrant paintings and sculptures that surrounded it. Though somewhat jagged at times the lines of this picture blend together nicely. Perhaps, an effect of using oil paints?  Two people stand in the foreground of the picture, attracting my eyes to create the main “focal point”, and in the background I can see clouds billowing in the sky passing over a vast expanse of untamed land.  Examining this painting, I felt deeply connected and almost emotionally tied to it.

 
     For me, the two travelers appear to be looking out across the land, and if even for just a moment, truly taking in and enjoying the beauty of the world that surrounds them.  The paintings toned down colors almost seem to demonstrate some type of long journey to reach this point.  In no way, though, does this affect the effects of this picture.  Excitement, freedom, strength, hope, and the promise of life, all of these, for me and in my perspective, are expertly brushed here onto this canvas.  

     I could smell the pure mountain air as I inhaled, the cool and crisp bite of it filling my lungs.  I could hear a symphony of bird chirps filling the air, and the sounds of nature all around me.  I could feel the satisfaction of standing there seeing this beautiful landscape before me, and having to stop so that I could gather myself. I could hear rivers rushing off in the distance and see clouds rolling slowly across the sky.  Grass and stalks of grain roll like oceans along the ground.  For a moment, time seemed to slow down for me, so that I might be able to experience all of my surroundings and truly find an appreciation for them.  I could hear my heart beat. Even felt the hope of a new day, and the promise of tomorrow.  This wild land is here before me and I am here to claim it.  I felt excited, I felt free.  

     I believe that most of the emotion and experience brought forth by this painting relates greatly to me and my experiences in life.   Almost as if the artist, through brush, paint and canvas, had found a medium to speak to my soul.  I have always loved nature and the fact that my home is here, and this painting for me represents many of the feelings and emotions that I have been lucky enough to experience just living and traveling in such a unique land as Alaska.