The End of Blogging

I am sorry to report that blogging for our class has been... discontinued. This might be my last post, for anyone who actually cares to check their blogs anymore. Here is my last contribution to the blogging community:

:( =( :( =( :( =( :( =( :( =( :( =( :(

(For those of you who don't understand, those are frowney faces.)

The Climax of the Divine Comedy

Today in class we discussed Dante's vision of God and the Trinity. Dante reaches the last level of paradise, or the Empyreum, where God lives. With the help of the Virgin Mary, he is able to see a vision of God. In the vast reaches of infinity, he sees three circles: the second is a reflection of the first, and the third is a reflection of both. He sees the form of a man in the center of the circles. I thought that this was very interesting, because Cathlics believe that God had no form, yet Dante sees a form of a man. I am pretty sure Dante is catholic. They also believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all the same being, yet he sees three seperate circles, although they are a reflection of each other.
One of our discussions in class was on the action point of climax in the Divine Comedy. Is it the view of Satan, or the vision of God? I personally think that it is the vision. All Satan serves as is a passageway through the bottom of Hell. The entire journey through the Inferno was to just get to the other side of the world, so Dante could get to the goal he is seeking (As stated in Canto I). I think the real goal is to reach God and have his eyes opened.

The INFERNO!!!

In class we have begun to read Dante's Inferno, a story of a man who must travel through Hell in order to get to Heaven, or Paradise. This book gives a very interesting view on Hell, or the Inferno, where there are several levels that are assigned to the varying degrees of sin. We have had several interesting discussions in my period.
Do people in Dante's Inferno have free will? In the varying levels or circles, the people are assigned a task or punishment that they must live for the rest of eternity. If they are trapped repeating the same punishment, such as pushing boulders, should they not eventually have the desire to leave the task? Or are they forced to stay there without a consciousness, simply living the punishment? The text states that it is the Justice of God that drives them to their punishment, turning fear into desire. I think that this means their guilt is what keeps them in Hell.
Another discussion was on what the white flag in the Ante-Inferno represents. I personally think that the Ante-Inferno is an unfair punishment, because people who lived a neutral life, who knew no other way, are forced to chase a white banner while hornets sting them and worms feast on their flesh. This is an overly harsh punishment for doing nothing. Anyways, I believe that the white banner represents hope. Hope for the people to escape their sins and consequences, but they can never reach it. Instead they wail and mourn for eternity.
I think the the Inferno has many interesting ideas and values and is a great center for discussion. We will continue our discussions in class.

Technology and Warfare

The advance of warfare is inextricably (oooh big word!) intertwined (another one) with the advance of technology. Warfare started out with hitting each other with fists, or sitck or something very simple. Long range combat was throwing rocks. Then technology advanced to the stone age, where stone tools were carved and used. This led to stone axes and slings for fighting. Bow and arrows were also invented after they learned to carve wood.
Soon people learned to refine bronze. This led to new weapons and armor. Swords were the biggest weapon advance. Warfare stepped into the new age as technology stepped onto the new age. Warfare became more effective as well. Stabbing someone with a sword is much more effective than beating them to death with a club. Killing became faster, which meant that armies became bigger. Bigger armies meant that society became more focused on warfare. The new focus on warfare pressured scientists and smithies to invent new weapons. Warfare advances technology as well as technology advancing warfare. When iron was discovered, weapons quickly switched over to it because it made better swords and armor.
The biggest advance in warfare was the discovery of gunpowder. The ancient Chinese used it to make rockets and flamethrowers. When it reached the West, the earliest guns were made. As warfare technology progressed over time, the distance from which people fought increased. As guns advanced into muskets, they gained range and accuracy. In the modern era, we have machine guns and snipers that are very accurate. People went from throwing rocks to sniping from a mile away. And the advance of warfare was because of technology.

The Wife of Bath vs. The Pardoner

The Canterbury tales were certainly an interesting read. Of the characters that we read, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner, I thougth the characters were interesting, and kind of vague at the same time. I think that the Canterbury Tales are meant to show a person from all of the social classes, and because of this the characters are kind of stereotipical. The notty girl who goes for older men just to have their money, and the con-artist. But the way the author describes them in such detail makes them much more of an intersting character. Although I thought the Wife of Bath's prologue was way too long and shared unnessecary details (scandalous), I thought it made the character more interesting. Her first three old husbands she marries for money, and didn't really love them. Her fourth was kind of pointless. The fifth however, was the one she loved the most, even though he beat her and made her ear deaf. She didn't marry him for the money, but for his good looks and charm. He was also a lot younger than her.
Her story was really strange. It talked about what women want most, which is control over their husbands. Then, in the end, he is forced to marry an old hag who he doesn't love. She gives him a choice between a willing and loyal wife who won't try to control him (totally goes against her own opinion on what women want) or a beautiful young wife who isn't loyal. He lets her choose, and he gets a loyal young woman. Totally ruins the moral of the story, I think. The Wife of Bath contradicts herself a lot.
The Pardoner is similar to the Wife of Bath in many ways. He decieves to get money, except he earns money by being a con artist. They both contradict themselves; the Pardoner told everyone how he lies and decieves, and at the very end he asks them to buy a pardon anyways.
He preaches that the root of all evil is desire, and he tries to get money himself. He is a total hypocrite. He story had a great moral, however. If you ask me, I think the root of all evil is desire, greed, and selfishness. When the 3 young men kill each other over money, it shows this. Some people might kill their friends to get money, but I wouldn't. I think that is an unrealistic example. But it does show that the root of evil is greed in a very creative way.

The RIght to Choose

Today in class we discussed which parts of our lives are for sale. The wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales says that our lives are for sale. I disagree with this. A lot of the time we do sell our lives to other people. But sometimes we are forced to sell ourselves. Like selling ourselves to school to get an A in biology, or working for someone else each day so our families can have money to eat. However, sometimes other people force us to sell ourselves. Like the slave trade in America or Europe. When settlers discovered African tribes in Africa, they just started shipping them off to their countries and forcing them to do their work. I think that is totally and morally wrong. The Africans did nothing to deserve slavery. Just because other people were more powerful, they forced their will upon the helpless Africans. Slavery is wrong. I think one of the worst things you can do to a person is take away their agency.

Write Now!

I am at the Write Now! Competition at UVU. We have done a lot of writing. Everyone should have gone if you want to become a better writer. They have lots of advice that I never would have thought of myself. I also learned a new style of writing, called creative nonfiction. It is kind of like a personal essay, except you don't make it personal, but more like a story. At the end you usually use a metaphor of some sort that goes along with the story. The teacher read an example of hers. The story isn't very connected at all. It is just dictating your thouhgts about that memory. Often you can use dreams or nightmares as examples (That is what I did). Anyways, I thought that Write Now! was really great. I'll come back if they do it next year.

Peronal Essays

In socratic class we are writing personal essays. They are basically stories about your life. Usually you are supposed to pick a certain aspect of your life and talk about it, like a relationship, a tragedy in your life, or some other problem. For me thinking of an idea was difficult; I don't really have any tragic stories that make up most famous personal essays. But as I looked deep withing myself, I realized I have several stories. The deeper you look into one aspect, the more memories pop into your head. I chose to talk about my brother and I, and all of things we have gone through. There are so many strories I have about that. The only problem is getting them into words. If anyone else is strugglin on an idea, I know how you feel. Just try and focus on a specific aspect or relationship, and don't think too hard. Then the memories and stories will start coming to you. As for writing it down, all I have to say is please use proper grammar. I hate having to correct papers.

Interesting Similarities Between Mormons and Muslims

There are a couple of things that I noticed were really similar between Mormon and Muslim beliefs while doing my Islam project. I'm not trying to be scariligious or anything, but here is what I noticed:

• Both religions started when an ordinary man went to a place to pray. Then they recieved a revelation from God.
• Both received a book that is the basis of their religion and is what makes their religion different.
• Both have a 'word of wisdom' that says not to drink alcohol, or do drugs, etc.
• The Muslims, under the direction of Muhammad, traveled from Mecca to Medinah in the Hajj. The Mormons, under the direction of Brigham Young, traveled across the plains to Utah.
• Both of the religions believe in peace and harmony.

Those are just some interesting things I noticed. Feel free to comment...

Gunpowder vs. Printing Press

What is the most important invention of the Chinese- Gunpowder or the Printing Press? Both are very important to modern society, but I personally believe that the printing press was probably the single most important invention in the history of the world. (Either that or harnessing electricity.) Here are the reasons why:

• Gundpowder was originally used by the Chinese to make rockets and a weapon kind of like a flamethrower that could shoot fiery projectiles up to 30 feet away. At that time, bow and arrows were better anyway, but they evolved into several different things. The biggest was guns. Guns were the new way of warfare, the way that everyone fought. Guns replaced bow and arrows in long distance fighting. Eventually we just got rid of swords, because guns were so much more efficient. It is much easier to kill an enemy from a distance and only have to pull a trigger than beating your enemy to death with a pointy metal-thing. Gunpowder is also used for fireworks, a modern version of entertainment, and for bombs/rockets, something that can take out multiple enemies at once.
• The printing press allowed education to spread to the common people. Before, a book was hand-written and could take a long time to finish, let alone copy it. In order to copy it, you had to write it down again. So only the scholars and rich people could have books, and only the rich could learn to read and write. When the printing press came around, knowledge and learning spread. People could learn how to read easier, and reading meant learning and getting an education. This allowed technology to advance and get people out of the dark ages and into the modern era.
  

Gunpowder is nice, letting us kill each other easier, but all it really did was make warfare better, and all warfare does is cause nations to hate each other. The printing press made everyone smarter and let the world expand technologically. GO PRINTING PRESS!!!!