My hell

i don't know about Sartre and Dante buy my hell would not be like Their's. When I picture hell all I think of is just burning everything and everything on fire. How did they think of their hells. I think about hell and the people there are the murderers. I don't think gluttony and sex are bad. But I guess in Dante time it was a crime. It really makes me think about how much times have changed in such a short amount of time. I mean back then if we wore short skirts we would have probably been in hell. -Ashley Bossier

Garcin's essence

In class we touched on Garcin's cowardice and how he did not leave the room when the door open. It seemed that the general agreement was that his cowardice kept him from leaving the room. However, I think it was Garcin's pride that kept him from leaving. This pride is his essence and Garcin is  obsessed with how others perceive   In his life he was remembered as a coward. His final moments on earth were spent cowering in fear and that is what he is remembered for. In No Exit, he has been recognized as a coward Estelle and Inez, I think that Garcin wants to leave that forsaken room, but knows that if he does he will forever be judged as a coward, even in hell.

No Sleep

I can't imagine not ever being able to sleep again. I know how it feels staying up all night and having to do something the next day and I certainly do not like it at all. Perhaps instead of the characters being each other's torturers, it is the feeling of drowsiness associated with not getting sleep that is the true evil. (Do Garcin, Estelle, and Inez even feel anything in Hell... Are they just souls like we read in Inferno?) Sleep provides a time period for the brain and body to rest and it also allows a means for momentary escape from society around us. The characters aren't even able to close their eyelids, so imagine going all of eternity without taking a break ever. The fact that they are trapped in a plain room without anything to do for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week adds to the hellish nature of their situation. They really and truly are in Hell.

Also, this is a picture of the set. It's very boring like I visualized it in my head. I can only imagine the endless possibilities of doing absolutely nothing in this room.

Jean-Paul Sartre

I've realized that Jean-Paul Sartre is really the first author that we've read and didn't receive a brief biography on. So I thought I think it upon myself to talk about Sartre's biography. He was born in Paris France in 1905 and died in 1980. He was known to be a French philosopher, novelist, playwright, political activist, and literary critic. He was also known as one of the leading figures in Marxism. We know that No Exit was set shortly after World War Two. Sartre no was influenced by the war a lot as he was drafted to the French army spent nine months as a prisoner of war in 1940.  That just some stuff i found and wanted to share.

Christian Existentialism

As we have learned, No Exit is not based off of Christianity like Dante's Inferno. Rather, it is based off of existentialism. This is interesting because it raises the question about what determines whether or not someone ends up in hell. I think that in God's eyes all of the three people in No Exit have committed sin (They mainly all commit lust, and I'm sure we could pinpoint a few others). So, maybe Sartre bases this aspect of his play of of the christian doctrine. I know Sartre is not a "Christian existentialist," but there apparently is a such thing. I think that some of the ideas of christian existentialism can apply to No Exit. Some of the beliefs are:

• A person is autonomous and is fully free to make choices and fully responsible for them
• Rational grounds for theology and divine revelation do not exist
• True faith transcends rationalism and God’s commandments
• The true God is not the God of philosophers or of rationalism
• The destruction of wars throughout human history proves there cannot be rational understanding of God or humanity
• A Christian must personally resolve within self the content of faith from being a myth or mystery to being realty or truth before they will allow an understanding and acceptance of salvation
• It is impossible to discover personal Being and faith through rational reasoning.
• http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/christian-existentialism-faq.htm

I think the first bullet is definitely relevant. Inez, Garcin, and Estelle all make their own choices throughout life that eventually lead them to hell. They don't have to take responsibility for them until after death. (They still even deny some of their responsibilities through bad faith). Also, Christian existentialism places an emphasis on the need to rationalize everything in order to finally be able to believe in God. Even after these three characters are dead and in hell, they will not stop searching until they get all the answers-- what each of them has done, why they're all there, the future they must face, etc. So, even though this work is not meant to embody christian existentialism, I think it indirectly does a little bit. 

So this isn't really discussing any points or adding insight to our class discussion, but I found it funny and wanted to share. This is an expression of my confusion while reading the final cantos of Inferno. Dante's description of Satan really confused my. I must have zoned out while they wentthrough the secret pathway thing. I thought that Satan's legs extended all the way to earth's surface on the Southern Hemisohere and that Dante's escape was completely routed on his legs. SO her is Satan, who's torso sits in the bottom part of the ninth circle in hell and legs extend throughout half of the globe. this is how i pictured Satan
Notice the wings, small torso, and extremely long legs. This was literally the first thing I thought about while reading on sunday. Thought everyone would enjoy.

Why you always "lion..."

If you ask me, I think the animals Dante assigned to each of the 3 types of sin are mis-matched. Fraudulence involves deception or lying. Lion ("lyin") sounds very similar to "lying," so why does the Lion not go with fraudulence? Or, since one of his main goals is to combine Christian doctrines with classic traditions, why is the snake (or lizard @jaclyn) not the spokes-animal for fraudulence since the serpent in the Garden of Eden tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit? This is just another example of Dante not making very much sense. Unless I missed something, why did Dante choose these 3 specific wild beasts? Does it really make any difference if he used the she-wolf for violence and the leopard, incontinence? Feel free to share your ideas!

The Murderers

So all this time while reading Dante I've wondered how violence is not punished to a greater extent. We've talked about the question many times-- "what do you think is the worst sin?" I've always thought it to be violence, more specifically murder, and have thought that it's wrong to punishe the fraudulent more than the murderers. However, I have just begun reading Canto 32 and the opening paragraph says, "In the outer region of the ice-lake are those who betrayed their kin in murder." I think it's right for these people to be im circle 9, but the way Dante makes it out to sound suggests that only the people who murdered their immediate kin are down here. So what happens to the people who kill randoms?? Do they go to circle 7 or circle 9?

Billary Lewinsky

I was thinking of when Dante put politicians in his circles of hell and I was thinking about what modern political figures would be in hell. The first group of people who came to mind were Bill and Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Bill would be in the lustful circle, obviously. Monica is a different story. Would she be lustful or would she have gone against her benefactor? Both sides could be argued, but I believe it is the latter. She sold out her boss for 10 seconds of fame. He was the one who hired her and she went against him. Monica is right down in Judecca with Judus himself inside Satan's Oval Office.

So I was looking up Dante's Inferno online to try to find something interesting to blog about. I kept coming across all these fire-y pictures of hell, as you would probably expect. There are many pictures I came across, though, that seem to have been inspired directly by Inferno. This work is probably the most in depth description we have of hell, so it makes sense, but I just think it's interesting to be able to visualize the connections between these modern day pictures of hell and Dante's Inferno. I've included a few pictures below and captions about what I think the pictures resemble from Dante.


City of Dis


Where the sinners get flung off the cliff into the pit


Forest of the suicides

What is Dante Doing?!

I know we've said it a million times, but I really cannot get over how illogical Dante's perception of hell is. Yes, he puts himself above all other human beings and almost equates himself with God by assuming that all these various people are in hell and appointing each a specific reason as to why they're there. However, he also even sort of demeans God and questions his authority by suggesting that these people would even go to hell in the first place. Again, *there is no hell mentioned in the Bible.* So....

Why is Dante even assuming that God would send these people to hell?

What if God actually acts as merciful as he is described in the Bible, forgiving everyone's sins and accepting all into Heaven?

What do y'all think? Personally, Dante really annoys me by just assuming things and really trying to scare the people of his time when in reality, he has no idea if hell is even real!!!

Getting a bit carried away

When I was in class today I started writing my Inferno Proposal and I can see how fun it was for Dante to come up with these punishments. I am writing my paper on bad table manners because that is one of my biggest pet peeves. As I was writing I was getting annoyed by just thinking of the habits some people have. The more annoyed I became the easier it was to make up punishments for people with bad habits. When we first started reading Dante I was confused how he came up with these harsh punishments but as I was writing my proposal it was therapeutic thinking about what the punishments will be if someone chews with his or her mouth open. I also finally understand why Dante feels pity for only some people in Hell. I know Abbey is writing her paper on some people's poor fashion choices. I have no idea what her punishments are or anything but if I was the pilgrim strutting through hell and I saw poor KWinkler in Hell because he wears Cargo shorts I'm going to feel bad, but the second I see the people in my circle of Hell there will be no pity because they should have known better. I just thought it was interesting being in Dante's shoes for a bit.

satan was a freakin lizard

This is what I imagine Satan looking like as he tempted Adam and Eve. I know yesterday we went off on a tangent about whether or not Satan in the form of an animal was a snake with legs, which by default would make him a lizard/gecko/little-freaky-baby-dragon-looking-thing. Okay: so all throughout history, if artists all knew that this little animal had legs, why is he always depicted as a snake? I understand that he is referred to as "the serpent," but he doesn't lose his legs until after God has punished him for tempting Eve, and have to crawl on his belly for the rest of eternity. I'm not really a fan of snakes personally, just because they can be poisonous, but I think they are beautiful creatures. I seriously feel badly that throughout history everyone kinda hates on them! Lizards, however are the ones that deserve all the hate...most specifically, the Satanic Leaf-Tailed gecko.

Sex, unconventional sex, and rape

Yesterday in class I was shocked at the fact that marital rape was not considered a crime until relatively recently. I don't understand how just because two people are married, that does not mean that they are consenting to have sex at any point of any given day! A husband can most definitely rape his wife, just as Jose Arcadio Buendia raped Ursula. They were married, but Ursula was not comfortable having sex, so Jose forced her to do so. It's crazy that people who had unconventional sex, or even married "sanctified" sex for pleasure, would be sent into a circle of hell, but a man that rapes his own wife because he wants to have a child would not be punished at all. That man should AT LEAST be punished for lust, right?! I also think that Dante's punishment of lust is a little bit extreme, because it is human nature to lust. This may have been all accepted back then, but from the 21st century looking back, I find all of this insane.

Blacks vs. Whites

As soon as it was brought up that the Blacks and Whites were more like gangs and had defining characteristics, I immediately thought of the Bloods and Crips. I decided to do some research to find out the differences between both sets of gangs and how they identified themselves. However.... I literally could not find a single thing on the physical differences between Blacks and Whites :((( Sorry to disappoint!!

Bloods

-identify with the color red

-common universal Blood tattoos: "MOB" (Member of Blood); three triangle burn marks ("dog paws"); 5 pointed star/crown
-rep the number 5
-capitalize all "B's" and "P's" in words (no matter where the B/P is in the word)
-all "C's" are crossed out or replaced with the letter B
-make the letter "T" an upside down pitchfork
-cross out all "6's" and "f's"
-wear their colors by sticking a red bandana in their right back pocket
-hand sign that spells out "blood"

Crips
-identify with the color blue (or black)
-common universal Crip tattoos: 6 pointed star/crown; 3 pointed crowns; "211" (B-2, K-11 = Blood Killa); pitchforks facing up; "MOB" (murder otha bloods)
-change the "B's" in words to the letter "C" or cross them out
-excessive use of the "C" in words (ex: back would be bacc)
-favor the number 6
-"I keep a blue flag hangin' out my backside, but only on the left side, yeah that's the Crip side"-Snoop Dogg
-hand sign of a "C"

You can see the colors and images are the same but reversed 

Blacks
-supported the papacy

Whites
-opposed papal influence
-I read that the Whites got their name after Bianca Cancellieri, so the Blacks chose their name based on the Whites' name (black and white--a common dichotomy) 

The Bible and Inferno

Upon talking about the wrathful sinners and their punishment, it made me think of a Bible verse that I've heard a few times describing Hell. Dante's Inferno says that these souls were forced to constantly partake in a physical altercation. The book says that in this circle "They fought with each other, not with hands alone, but struck with head and chest and feet as well, with teeth they tore each other limb from limb," (Dante 1235-1236). I could definitely see how Dante pictured this imagery from the verse I am thinking of in the Bible. Matthew 13:41-42 says, "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." You can also see the similarities of this verse to Dante's Inferno in the descriptions of the wailing and moaning throughout each of the circles along with the burning imagery that is seen in many of the punishments, as well.

Canto VII

On Friday, we talked about Canto VII and the idea of "Fortune" and the prodigal versus the miserly. The "vain wealth" that is used to describe Fortune reminded me of a song by one of my favorite bands, Walk the Moon. It's called "Spend Your $$$" and is basically about a girl who cares only about money and material things and that makes the guy completely disinterested in her. Canto VII seemed to be all about sins pertaining to money and surface materials. I find that these ideas relate directly to this song.  The link to the song is below. Feel free to let me know if y'all agree:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emHWmOn2TY

I don't understand why Dante organizes hell by specific circles. His interpretation forces these souls to one specific circle. However, if everyone commits multiple types of sins, why should they only be punished for one? For instance, if someone lived a gluttonous life, committed adultery, and killed themselves which circle with a belong to? Their sins would classify them to three separate circles. But according to Dante a person can only belong to one circle. I think Dante's interpretation of hell very subjective and requires a unique set of beliefs to be able to understand the punishment for one single type of sin. It really doesn't make sense to me.

Historical Figures in Hell

I found it interesting that Dante specifically put certain historical figures in Hell, and had a specific places that he felt were suitable for all of them. For example, the poets are in Limbo and their only punishment is that they will never be able to feel the presence of God. Filippo Argentinni, on the other hand, is in the fifth circle, which contains the wrathful and slothful. His punishment is getting torn appart by the other wrathful for eternity (obviously much worse). This is because Dante admires the poets (and thinks of himself as one of them) and despises Filippo. Although it doesn't have much of an effect on the readers today, at the time this was first written the readers would have probably been shocked by those Dante chose to put in Hell, and possibly even felt pity and fear as they would have had more of a personal connection with these people. I feel like this would have changed peoples perspective about Hell drastically for this time period because this was not only the first description of Hell itself, but a description of specific people who you could compare yourself to and wonder whether your sins would bring you to hell like theirs did. 

Oedipus and Medea in Circles of Hell

As we were discussing the various circles of Hell today, I wondered where Oedipus and Medea would end up. They were both pagans, which would put them in circle 1. Oedipus could also rest in circle 2 because he lusted for his own mother. Medea could easily end up in circle 5, because of her serious wrath. She was easily angered and took out all of her anger on those around her. Both Oedipus and Medea could also end up in Circle 7, because they are violent. They are violent against themselves (Oedipus) as well as their neighbors (Medea – murdered her brother, both children, a princess and her father.) In addition, they could easily fall under circle 8 or 9, because Oedipus was treacherous (albeit unintentionally) to his country and kin (as in his people, because he was the reason that his kingdom was suffering) and Medea was both treacherous and deceitful (mostly to her kin, her father and Jason, but also to a benefactor, when she tricks the foreign king into promising her a place to retreat). I’m not sure where they would belong, because they are guilty of many different sins!

Free Will?

Today in class, we discussed the power and all knowing-ness of God versus free will. One thing that stuck out to me was when we discussed righteousness and free will: does man truly have free will? If there was really such a thing as free will, God might not be omniscient. Why would god, if he knew that man were to sin and cause the destruction of mankind as a whole, allow evil to exist? If he were to create all things, evil being one of those things, why would he intentionally cause something that would destroy his greatest creations? Thus, if God created evil, is he inherently evil, as mankind is often considered to be? As someone said earlier, “evil was created so that good had something to strive against.” However, why would there be a need for the creator of all things to make something that tempts, harms, and eventually leads to destruction? Adam and Eve, the source of original sin in humans, were perfect and still had free will. Eve CHOSE to sin against God, but before sin she was still capable of choosing sinless actions. I personally believe sin is what causes us as humans to be dependent on God. Without God, our mortal sin would lead us to destruction. However, also without God, there would be no source of sin that would cause such a downfall. This being said, I am not questioning the justice of God – punishing those who have wrongly sinned against him. I am, though, questioning the necessity of evil.

Se7en...WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Kind of extending from my last post... I hope everyone has seen the movie "Se7en," starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Spacey, and if you haven't, you're missing out. In the film, a serial killer (Spacey) punishes someone guilty of committing one of the 7 deadly sins by murdering them and it is up to two cops (Pitt and Freeman) to put an end to this. I wanted to point out the differences in the punishments between the movie and Inferno. 

Seven: (the sins are listed in order of appearance)
(I haven't seen the movie in a while so all of of these descriptions are from Wikipedia)
1. Gluttony: an obese man is tied to a chair and forced to eat food and his own vomit until his stomach explodes
2. Avarice: a pound of flesh is removed from a rich attorney and he is forced to bleed to death
3. Sloth: an emaciated man is strapped to a bed and is forced to remain immobile (he is barely kept alive via intravenous drugs,) which causes him to go insane
4. Lust: a prostitute is raped and killed by a man wearing a bladed S&M device
5. Pride: a model's nose is cut off
6. Envy: the murderer (Spacey) envies one of the cop's (Pitt) lives and so he kills Pitt's wife since he could not have her
7. Wrath: revealed when envy is revealed--Pitt gets so angry that he shoots Spacey (which is exactly what Spacey wants him to do to complete his work...this movie is seriously so twisted, but so amazing)
Wrath (unlike Inferno) and Envy (like Inferno) are not directly accounted for until the end of the film. 

Dante's Inferno:
(These descriptions are found in the text or italicized summary paragraphs)
1. Lust: the lustful forever whirled about in a dark, stormy wind
2. Gluttony: gluttons are mired in filthy muck and are eternally battered by cold and dirty hail, rain, and snow
3. Avarice: the prodigal and the miserly clash huge rolling weights against each other with their chests while arguing that the other is wrong when it comes to managing money
4. Wrath: the wrathful constantly tear and mangle each other
5. Sloth: the sluggish are submerged in black muck, forever choking 
6. Envy: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
7. Pride: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which punishments would you rather endure? Those from Seven or those from Dante's Inferno?

7 Deadly Sins

Although Dante believed "incontinence" was the worst of the 3 types of sins (he thought it was the hardest to overcome), it is represented in the "upper hell" (these self-indulgent actions are not done intentionally). Some of the 7 deadly sins are expressed in this upper hell because they are uncontrollable. I thought it was interesting that only 5 of these 7 sins were represented with their own circle of Hell in Inferno since these cardinal sins are considered in the Bible to be the worst possible things to do. Now, I know The Divine Comedy was not based solely on the Bible, but I figured if Dante was going to give some of the sins their own circle he might as well have given a circle to them all. I feel that these sins should be given some more attention, taking into account how important they would have been in Dante's time and even now.  

Dante directly mentions:
1. Lust (circle 2)
2. Gluttony (circle 3)
3. Avarice/Greed (circle 4)
4. Sloth (circle 5--I will include this as a direct reference because the slothful are mentioned as being underneath the wrathful)
5. Wrath (circle 5)

Envy and Pride are not explicitly accounted for! Many people would argue that pride is the most treacherous of all the 7 sins so it amazes me why this sin, especially, was not given its own circle. I wish I could ask Dante why exactly he did this--whether it was intentional or it was an unconscious act in that he was just trying to focus his attention on the bigger picture. The order of the sins in the "terraces" can be argued, too. Some individuals might find that lust is worse than gluttony, for example, and should thus come after gluttony and so on and so forth. All in all, each sin really feeds into the other.

Which of the 7 sins do y'all think is the most "dangerous?"

Dante's Influence On Hell

It really piqued my interest today in class when we were talking about how the Bible doesn't even really describe Hell and how Dante's Inferno gives us a majority of the ideas that we have about hell today. It's strange to me to see how much can come out of a fictional story. My idea of hell is generally described in Dante's Inferno but I never thought about the fact that this idea along with the idea of purgatory wasn't really mentioned in the Bible. The Bible and its statements are interpreted in so many different ways as it is. It's crazy to think that the details of hell are just another interpretation.

Personal Perspective of Hell

These descriptions of hell from Dante's inferno brought to mind a production that I went to one time. It was more of a lesson than a haunted house, but the organization made it entertaining and interactive in order to gain involvement and promote awareness. If I remember correctly, it was called the 99 and you went through different rooms displaying interactive situations about the different ways that an average of 99 people in America between the ages of 12 and 24, die every day. The entire time you are being lead by a grim reaper, but in the end he reveals himself to be the devil and takes you down to hell. That was one of the most terrifying experiences to me. The room was lit red and full of cages with people inside of them being tormented and wailing, begging to be released. All while this was going on, demons were grazing the backs of each person in the group that was touring. This experience gave me a perspective of hell that I never could have imagined.

invocation of the muse

During class we pointed out Dante's use of epic conventions- one being the invocation of the muses. When thinking about it afterwards, I thought it was interesting that Dante would choose to call on the muses when he is very Christian and his epic is all about Christianity and how it is the only true religion, when the muses are a pagan ideal. Pagan beliefs are frowned upon and even sinful, yet he still calls upon them for help as if he believed in them himself. I understand that he is more referencing what the muses stand for, but I still find it at least slightly hypocritical that he considers himself a somewhat perfect and virtuous Christian but calls upon false gods.

What is God doing?

           I thought that the Christian God was supposed to love all of humankind, but Dante says that that is not the case. According to Dante, in order to be accepted by God, you would have to be born in the right place at the right time and just so happen to be preached Christianity to know how to follow all the rules. Otherwise, eternal suffering is in store. Apparently, this is justified by a story where Jesus descends into hell to save Abraham, Moses and such. Why would an omnipotent God need to use such an elaborate plan to evacuate these “pagans” instead of teleporting them to heaven in exactly zero seconds (since he’s supposed to be omnipotent)? Why does God send people like Abraham to hell in the first place? Why does God not just tell all human beings (including the ones in remote lands where Christians don’t live) about his existence and exclusive powers? Maybe all of this is somehow justified somewhere in scriptures and I’m just too uncultured, but I find it hard to suspend my disbelief at all with these stories to appreciate them from a believer’s point of view.

Level 8

Upon receiving my level of hell today I didn't understand how magicians would fall under this level. The level is for people who are fraudulent. Through my eyes a magician is not deceitful in a negative connotation but since he is deceiving people he is sinning. I went a head to learn more about level 8. First off the name of level 8 is Malebolge, meaning evil ditch in Italian. Secondly there are subdivisions for every type of fraudulent person and these subdivisions are called Bolgias, and there are 10.  Each division has their own special punishment, wether it being walking around with iron cloaks or being whipped by horned demons. Back to my magician, he would be placed in the fourth Bolgias, where his punishment would be having his head on backwards and walking endlessly in a circle. I really hope I am not damned to hell.

Burn Baby Burn!

Does anyone else think of the song Disco Inferno by the Tramps? To my disappointment the song is not about Dante's Inferno. The song is about a 1974 American action drama film called The Towering Inferno. The fire in the song is referencing the heat on the dance floor, while the heat in Dante's Inferno is most likely the heat of hell. Other then this resemblance between the song and the epic poem there are no other similarities. Dante's Inferno's premise is to find the true path, meaning the righteous path to heaven and gaining hope. Disco Inferno is about boggling down on the disco dance floor.



For those of whom that do not know this song here is a clip

humanities is suffering

Fake It Till You Make It

I thought of an interesting connection between Medea and the Demolition Diva message. Hear me out because it is a little far-fetched.

"Fake it till you make it" was how we were told we are supposed to live life today. I can give you one very convincing reason why this is a terrible idea. Medea. 1) She tricked Pelias's daughters into chopping him up and boiling the pieces to "make him young again." She faked it enough with the lamb and her magic that the girls believed her and she got her desired outcome, which was Pelias's death. 2) She was very insincere in her pleas to Kreon when she tries to persuade him to let her remain in the palace for one more day. He is right to be afraid of her because she is very powerful and manipulative, but nonetheless, she faked it till she made it and was able to stay another day. 3) Part of her terrible plan was to pretend to make peace with her cheating husband, Jason, and his new wife. She certainly faked this apology till she made it. She knows exactly what buttons to push, telling Jason she agrees with him and that he was wise for taking another wife. She even says that women are a little worthless. But we all know Medea is very shrewd, wily, and prideful and does not mean ANY of this. Despite this, she soothed Jason with her words. He really (mistakenly) believed what she had to say. Because of this "trust," he lost his wife and his children to Medea's poisonous gifts.

So, kids, don't fake it till you make it, because you might kill your children and your husband's new wife...                                                                    

Fundamental Theorem of Humanities: PooPourri is an Epic Commercial

SOOOOO, This topic I'm about to bring up is something integral to STM Humanities. Sorry this post is a load.

I'm not sure everyone here has heard of PooPourri (No not Potpourri, as Breuna first thought I meant when I introduced it to the class). I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I introduced it to the majority of you.

If not, I beg that you watch this commercial titled "girls don't poop" (remember that)

Most of my classmates mocked me for saying this, but PooPourri is an EPIC. I'm here to prove it and flush those doubts away.

First of all, to be classified as an epic, a work must have certain characteristics:

1) The setting is vast in scope

2) Divine Intervention

3) Grand Simplicity and Sustained Elevation

4) Deeds of Great Valor and Courage

5) Hero who embodies values of society and is of great significance or legend.

"How the Inferno are you going to prove that!?" asks Abbey.

Fear not young one, I am prepared for this, it is my doody.

1). This is the easiest to prove, as you can tell by watching the commercial that the setting is vast in scope, changing constantly from bathroom, to party, to office, to cow field. 

2). Isn't PooPourri divine enough? Science is the modern deity and technology is its intervention. Every culture has a different god, is it so outlandish to say that Science can be a god here?

3). I mean, have you heard this girl speak? It's like the queen of England is lecturing us on "how to properly rid the horrendous odor of our brown astronauts." The language is very poetic and befitting of an epic.

4). Imagine yourself telling the world about your poop, about telling everyone that it stinks. That takes a lot of valor and courage. She does this, however, for the good of humanity. If that isn't respectfully courageous than I don't know what it.

5). This one's the biggest stretch, yes bigger than number 2 (not that kind of number 2 you nasty). This woman is a heroine, as she is struggling to save relationships and people from embarrassment. The epic battle she fights in is against the smell of bowel movements. She embodies the value that humans don't poop. A denial of shit -> Kitsch? No but really, we don't like to recognize that everybody poops and we also don't want people's poop to smell. She embodies the notion that people poop in secret, and that it doesn't smell with the power invested in PooPourri. She is a legend, as she has brought this magical power to humankind, in different scents as well!

The Scents:

Original

Call of the Wild (recommended for Antonio)

Daisy Doo (recommended for Ashley)

Deja' Poo (recommended for Belin)

Party Pooper

Poo La La (recommended for Cheyenne)

Bass Awkward 

Heavy Doody 

Poo-Tonium 

Royal Flush (recommended for Abbey)

Toot Fairy (recommended for Madison Cummings)

Potty Mouth (Breath Mint) (recommended for Jack Zheng)

Sweet Cheeks (recommended for Jaclyn)

Poo-Dolph (recommended for Madison Kahn)

North Bowl
Trap-a-Crap (recommended for Anastasia)

....and more!

Also side note, these conventions also poop up in the commercial, further proving my point:

- medias reas

- begins with statement of theme

- epithets and epic smilies

- long formal speech

- epic digressions

- epic talisman

- catalogues

What other commercials are epic in nature? *Cough* Old Spice *Cough*

That's So Raven and Fatalism

Okay, I'm sure everyone's seen (and loved) "That's So Raven". When I was a high-schooler, Iris asked that by knowing the prophecies, people ensured their fate. She wondered if the same thing would have happened even if Oedipus and Jocasta didn't know their fates. In "That's So Raven", Raven would spend the episode trying to avoid a terrible premonition, but her actions to avoid the future was what caused the future. The fatalism of the show however is very inconsistent. Raven sometimes does change the future. This reminds me of the show I'm watching now called "Continuum". Unlike Oedipus and "That's So Raven", the future is not determined by visions and prophecies but by time travelers. The protagonist is sent back in time with no way to get home. Some of the events she remembered in the future (that she tried to change for the better) such as a terrorist attack, were caused by the terrorist group that came back with her. That indicated that it was their fate to be in that time. This fatalism again is inconsistent. The protagonist uses her knowledge of the future to stop a serial killer before he could finish killing 38 people. Now the protagonist has changed the future.

Zeus's rise to power

We were talking about the story of Zeus and how he defeated Cronos in class, so I thought I'd share the story, Cronos overthrew his parents for power, and soon got a prophecy that his son would do it to him as well. Once he heard that, he decided to eat all of his children. However, Zeus's mother Rhea hid the baby in Crete and gave Cronos a rock to eat instead of her baby. It worked. Zeus was raised on a mountain by a goat. Once he was grown, Gaia gave him a magic tool and Zeus uses it to split Cronos's stomach open to save his brothers and sisters. He does, and together they defeat Kronos.(some say imprisoned).

On a related note, Zeus being raised by a goat reminded me of Jason who was also sent away to hide and he was raised by a centaur.

Beauty and the Beast

Today for Performing Arts club, I went to family fest wearing a Belle costume. The gown is beautiful and sparkly and elegant and I felt magnificent wearing it. If you are unfamiliar, Belle wears a long golden ballgown. This is where I would like to add in a parallel to the golden gown in Medea. Medea sends the golden gown to the princess, who cant resist it because it was so beautiful. Likewise, I couldn't say no to wearing the dress. But after wearing it for a bit, the poison began to set in. The sleeve scratched the insides of my arms, the corset part of the dress seemed to be getting tighter, and my golden slippers were killing me. Of course, this isnt much at all in comparison to what happened to Kreon's daughter, but a similar idea all the same. But while I can unzip my dress when my time is up, Kreon's daughter cannot escape, and she may only be released by the kiss of death.

Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic Columns

I have also recently noticed the Greek influence all around us, especially in the architecture uptown. Just today I noticed that the Poydras Home (where I am doing my service work) has Corinthian columns in the front of the building, my house has Doric Columns in the front, and I have two coffee tables in my living room that are the ends of Ionic columns. I never paid much attention to these things before, but this lesson on Greek architecture has given me a new appreciation of the beauty of all of these columns, as well as the importance and history behind them!

The columns in the front of the Poydras Home (Corinthian)                    

 The columns in the front of my house (Doric) 

                                                                          The coffee tables (Ionic) 

Conflicted...

My feelings are very conflicted when it comes to Medea, hence the title. I'm not sure if I should feel worse for Medea and be on her side, or feel worse for Jason and take his side. (Insert Futurama Fry meme.)

Why I feel bad for Medea:
First of all, she scarified literally everything to be with Jason. She killed her brother, she went behind her father Aeetes' back to help Jason complete the "impossible" tasks, she persuaded Pelias' daughters to kill their father, and she was exiled from her land forever. She did not deserve for Jason, whose main motives were fame and political power, to just abandon her and her children for another woman. Medea is in a state of utter distress and she evokes the sympathy of the reader. Jason claims she is lucky that he has left her, something I find outrageous, and that without him, she would not have been revered as the intellectual she is. At this point, the reader understands why Medea wants to seek revenge and she justifies her reasoning for doing so. Without Medea's sorceress powers, Jason would have perished long ago. He is not grateful at all for what she has done for him!  

Why I don't feel bad for Medea:
I strongly disliked how whiny she was when she found out Jason was sleeping with someone else. I am not saying I would not be upset if I found out my husband cheated on me, but I certainly would not react the way she did by starving myself or desire to take my life. She wants so badly to bring as much emotional pain to Jason as possible that she sends her children to die. Medea is disgusted with her own offspring because they are born from Jason, but they cannot help that and they definitely do not deserve to do their mother's dirty work. Not only does she kill her kids, but she also eliminates the new wife and her father. Medea is just too determined and driven, but for the wrong reasons--this is an example of when too much of one thing is a bad thing. Lastly, Medea gets pleasure upon listening to the story of how her victims suffered....Can you say psychopath?!

So I ask one question: Do you think Medea's actions were just?

James Franco and Seth Rogen ARE Medea (well not really, you'll see)

So when I first read about Medea's plan to ruin Jason's life, I immediately thought of the interview. As you remember, the dress that Medea plans to give Jason's wife to be will poison anyone who comes into contact with it. She sends in her children to give her the dress and send her to death. Similariy, in The Interview, a movie starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, involvs a talkshow host and his producer who are sent into a mission to assassinate North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. So, Franco and Rogen aren't really Medea, more so her two children. Medea's actually the CIA chick with the glasses that Franco's got the hots for. (kinda wierd, I know). Anyway, the two plan to use a ricin strip to kill the dictator, which will kill anyone who comes into contact with it. When I first read about the golden dress in Medea, this was the first thing I thought of.

I know its a little different from what actually happened in each respective production, and that a little poisonous strip is different from a golden dress, but I thought it was kinda funny and I needed to get in a blog post.

(James Franco as David Skylark, holding out the ricin strip)

Greek Architecture in New Orleans

I was driving down Canal street, looking at the office buildings among other stores and whatnot when I noticed the tall Corinthian order colomns at the Mortuary. I laughed and boasted my knowledge of the structures to my Mom, who was driving. Droning on about their popularity with the Romans and their presence on the temple of Zues I then began to pay closer attention to the buildings on either side of the street. Spotting out numbers of Ionic colomns and flaunting what I had read in Arts and Ideas days before. This observation really got me thinking about the huge scope of Greek influence today. From architecture, playwrites, philosphy, and more, the world really wouldn't be where it is without this extrodinary settlement.

Modern Connection in Medea

            The final scene of the play where Medea and Jason verbally fight struck me as very relatable to the divorce of a pair of modern-day parents. Except that the mother murders the children, new wife, and new father-in-law. Medea begins the argument by saying that Jason can’t touch her at this point because she’s in the sky. This is similar to how a divorcee can protect himself/herself so that he/she doesn’t get screwed over by the other lawyer. Jason then tells her about how much he had done for her and how she betrayed him, although it is ironic and doesn’t make much sense. Meanwhile, he warms it up by spewing a few insults at Medea. Medea then joins the blame game by saying that Jason had betrayed her first when she gave up everything for him. They then exchange more of their own sides of the story in this manner, and in the end, they even fight over custody of the children (although Medea killed them), each saying that he/she would have a better place for them to stay. Medea finishes by saying that she absolutely will not give up the sons and that Jason had never loved them to begin with. Jason then tries to play the victim to the gods, even though Medea and the gods all know what really happened.

Who's The Villain Here?

At the beginning of the play Medea, Medea is a victim of  adultery because her husband Jason has left her for another wife. Most of the readers' empathy is directed toward Medea, but as the play rolls on and the end comes near there is a shift of empathy towards Jason. In the closing scenes the reader sees Medea kill her two children and the king along with his daughter who was suppose to wed Jason, therefore making her a villain. I was contemplating on whether or not it was appropriate to call Medea a protagonist since she is very villainous. I looked up if a protagonist could be a villain and yes it can, but of course the traditional heroic traits are abandoned. Medea is a protagonist but could also be an antagonist, since she is one of the bearers of hostilities, other than Jason. So is Medea more of a protagonist or antagonist?