The Scape Goat of the Family

I thought it fitting to tell my scape goating story after today's double presentations on this topic. And I also learned from another presentation that by telling this story I am making myself immortal in all of your minds....however creepy that may seem....here we go! When I was fourteen years old my family took our annual holiday to Grand Junction Colorado for our ski trip. After our second day of skiing we had a huge dinner as usual and all my little cousins were begging me to take them to the hot tubs at the base of the hill. I agreed and started our walk to take our hot tub. After about twenty minutes of hanging out my little five year old cousin Hannah started to complain about the water hurting her. I was the oldest there, but also helping me watch the younger kids was my brother who was twelve and my other cousin who was Hannah's older sister. We all ignored her and kept on with our game of I spy. Ten minutes went by and Hannah started to cry, we were all upset that she was ending our soak and took her back to the condo. When we got there she was still crying and her mom discovered a rash that had broke out from the chlorine. She was upset that we ignored her crys and although my brother was there, who had begged me to let the little ones go, pleading that he would watch her, and her older sister was there, both had no problem pointing the finger of blame straight in my direction. And I became the scape goat! The End!

Cupid and Psyche

The current assignment was to find a visual representations for the story of Cupid and Psyche. I found this beautiful picture on ART.COM called "Psyche et l'Amour"by Francois Gerard......And now for the who, what, when and where......At the age of twelve Gerard obtained admission into the Pension du Roi in Paris From the Pension he passed to the studio of the sculptor Augustin Pajou which he left at the end of two years for that of the painter Brenet, whom he quit almost immediately to place himself under Jacques-Louis David In 1796 a portrait of his generous friend (in the Louvre) obtained undisputed success, and the money received from Isabey for these two works enabled Gerard to execute in 1797 his Psyche et l'Amour.

Nobody Thinks an Ass is Listening....

The Golden Ass is actually the first version of the Televisions show Mr. Ed, or better known by Dr. Sexson is Francis the Talking Mule. The Golden Ass is the first story of Cupid and Psyche..As well as the first Monster in Law story, all with each owns moral..but of course.....the moral of the story IS the story, taken all the way home by yours truly...Shakespeare, who plagiarized and or channeled OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS. In he Golden Ass we end where we begin...."we shall not stop from exploration, but arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time." A mix of of Disney....Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella must undergo her own trials to get where she needs to be or end up.... she in must clean the entire house and finish all chores before she can go to the ball, and out from all the little cracks comes cute little talking mice....NO! Wait! That's wrong!! Out from the cracks came ANTS!! Or possibly she must obtain sheeps wool, or fetch water with the help of an eagle, or knock on the Avon lady's door and ask nicely "hey lady, just hand over the make-up or the fluffy gets it!!" In other words, the worst Mother in Law in the whole world!!!

Only Five Lines???

How is a person who has been asked to read the entire book of The Metamorphoses of Ovid supposed to pick and choose and narrow down 550 pages full of words into just five lines?? Well, since we were asked...I chose my five lines from my favorite story, Pyramus and Thisbe.
I let you be the first who would arrive.
O all you lions with your liars beneath
this cliff, come now, and with your fierce jaws feast
upon my wretched guts! But cowards talk
as I do--longing for their death but not prepared to act.

I chose these five lines because it is just such an ironic mix up of each of the characters thinking the other had died before she had, and then he killing him self because he let her show up first. Then she finds him and also kills herself. I just really like the end when Pyramus talks about how some lovers say they would rather die then be without their love, but not really mean it, calling them "cowards".....very true I think.

Diego Velázquez Art Work

I searched for the paintings by Velázquez and found many of his works, however I was unable to find the piece called "spinets" which could possibly be because I mis-heard the name of the work. But here are a few of his other pieces:

The Love of Art

The art works of Titian:

Titian or Tiziano Vecellio was born in a small alpine village of Pieve di Cadore, where his family lived for many years. In 1498, at the age of nine or ten, Titian and his older brother Francesco were to Venice to start training as painters in the workshop of the mosaicist Sebastiano Zuccato. Though soon Titian left his workshop and began studying painting in the workshops of Gentile Bellini and Giovanni Bellini. It's said that his earliest surviving work Pope Alexander VI Presenting Jacopo Pesaro to Saint Peter(1502-1512) was influenced by Giovanni Bellini. In 1507, Titian joined the workshop of Giorgione as his assistant and three years which he spent with this amazing master, were a lasting influence on Titian to such a degree, that some works which are now thought to have been painted by Titian used to be attributed to Giorgione, and vice versa. This is the painting called "The Rape of Europe."sorry I couldn't get it any bigger :(

My Pick of the Ovid's Litter

It was a hard choice of course, but the assignment was to pick my favorite story out of the Metamorphoses of Ovid, and I did just that....Pyramus and Thisbe. This story was similar qualities to Romeo and Juliet, being as the two lovers end up killing themselves for the other one. This seems to me to be a creation story, one of the great Mythos if you ask me, about how the Mulberry Berries came to be the dark red color. It was said that in the beginning...(I can always hear Dr. Sexson's deep narrator voice sound in my head when I say that...IN THE BEGINNING)....Anyways, it was said that the berries were white. These two neighbors were head over heels for each other but were forbidden by their parents to be together, and would talk to each other through a crack in the wall their homes shared. One night they had big plans to sneak out and meet. Thisbe arrived early and ran into a lion, as she ran to hide he shawl was dropped which was found and torn to shreds leaving blood from the animal the lion had just sparagmosed. Pyramus found the Shawl and believing the lion ate his lover he blamed himself for making her come in the night and killed himself under the Mulberry, and the blood was soaked up by the roots and changed color of the berries. The tragedy must come into play at some point right?? Well here it comes.....Thisbe finds her lover already dead, prays that there bodies be buried as one, and kills herself as well, and that my folks is how the Mulberry Bush berries turned red. ....."O tree, who now shade with your branches the poor body of one, and soon will shade two, keep the marks of our death and always bear your fruit of a dark colour as a memorial of our double death......." Although this story is rather sad, I must admit that I found it funny to picture these two crazy love birds talking to their walls and asking the wall why is was so jealous, asking the wall to open its crack just a tid bit more so they could give a little kiss :)

What is a Maenad??

In Greek mythology, Maenads were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication, and the Roman god Bacchus. The word literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation. They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus and dancing like insane women..
They also were characterised as entranced women, wandering through the forests and hills. The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) In Euripides play, "The Bacchae", Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he banned the worship of Dionysus. Dionysus, Pentheus' cousin, himself lured Pentheus to the woods, where the Maenads tore him apart. His corpse was mutilated by his own mother, Agave, who tore off his head, believing it to be that of a lion. (Wikipedia)

Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day – Celebrating the Green
St. Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Once a pagan himself, St. Patrick is one of Christianity's most widely known figures.
The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.
Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages by wearing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades. St. Patrick's Day is bursting with folklore; from the shamrock to the leprechaun and to pinching those that are not wearing green.

For This green day I went to Butte, and as sad as it may be, this was the highlight of my Spring Break. And like usual, I took pictures.

To Love a Cat!

Those who do not own animals will never know the joy they bring. I wish that every person would have an animal to love, and more importantly, have an animal to love them. I truly think that even those people out there that just do not like animals, if they had to take care of one for a week, they would fall in love, or at least gain respect for those who have fallen in love. I am a HUGE animal person. My friends and family joke about me liking animals more then humans, which I think is true because I laugh when a person gets thrown in the air from the stupid idea of a catapult...and dies...i laughed in class, I thought it was hilarious! However, the next clip in that class video was of the matador fights and plunging enormous spears into the animals until its head would disconnect....at this point I had tears running down my face, while my class mates had either no reaction, or " that is so cool!!" At any rate, I was writing this to show and tell my cat Isabella. I no longer live at home, however home is only twenty minutes away, and although my mom thinks I come home to see her, well....she is merely the cherry on top, where as seeing Izzy and food are the real reasons. Sad I know. But she is so loving, she keeps all of my secrets, and my favorite part....she knows when I need her. When ever I am sick, and haven't even told my mom yet, she comes to me and never leaves my side. She never sleeps on my bed unless I'm sick, and then she's right there on my pillow slapping her tail in my face. I had mono for five weeks, and she was always there when I woke up. I could go on and on, about her and my dog Dudley, but I believe that the pictures will do all the work for me!

Silenius....

Silenius was the oldest satyr. The satyrs were attendants to the god Dionysus. Dionysus was a Greek god of happiness. He was also called Bacchus and Iacchus. As the god Dionysus wandered east to India, his companion Silenius, a satyr, wandered into Midas’ vine gardens and fell asleep there. Peasants later discovered him mixing water in with the wine. They caught him and turned him over to Midas, but Midas treated the harmless old satyr graciously and hospitably. Dionysus rewarded Midas for his kindness with any gift he desired as Midas rashly asked for the gift of turning all he touched into gold. Dionysus reluctantly complied even as he realized the recklessness of the wish. As I am sure we have all heard this story, he quickly realizes that he can not eat or hug his daughter, and takes a bath to relieve him of the gift. I kept trying to get more info on Silenius, but everything came up attached with this story, so here ya go! And here are a few pictures!

The Speech of Agathon

I am sure that when I get to Socrates's speech I will be even further impressed, but as of now, I must say that I really enjoyed Agathon's speech the most. He recalls how all the Gods were no good until the God of love came to be and set everything right. On page thirty-five around 197A he says, " For you can't give to another what you don't have yourself, and you can't teach what you don't know." This was said in the context of how the Love God is a good poet, as well as good at every kind of artistic production, and how he is able to give others the good gifts that he carries. For some reason this quote stuck in my head all day long.

And speaking of sticking in my head all day long.....the story that Dr. Sexson told us today for sure did that. I can't help but feel confused about the whole situation and how he was tricked inot believeing the story that was infact a lie about being the truth, and I wonder if we are being tricked by Dr. Sexson. At any rate, Im gonna go with my instincts and say that I believe Dr. Sexson's story, but I am still a little uneasy about the whole idea of the un-opened package.....I really want to open it.....really really really want to open it. And on a side note, I really like the word "package" its just more crisp and clean and desirable then "present" or "gift." Iknow I am weird, but I just love that word.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus!

After hearing our fellow calssmate's converstaion with the opposite sex I felt motivated to blog a weekly occuring converstaion between my boyfriend and myself:

Boyfriend: What do you want to do friday night?

Me: Well I have to work and then I was going to swing by my parents house for dinner. Your

welcome to meet me there if you want.

Boyfriend: I thought we were going to hang out?

Me: I told you my entire work schedual on Sunday night.

Boyfriend: No you didn't. I would have remembered.

Me: Don't you remember? You made pizza and it caught on finre in the oven,

and while i made a new dinner I read off the nights I worked.

Boyfriend: I thought you were talking about someone else, I wasn't listening.

Plus the game was on. You know how I am when I watch sports....its common

courtesy if you want me to listen you have to wait till a comercial, then I am all ears.

Me: Wow! I never thought you could reach the next level of rudeness!

Boyfriend: OUCH! (I stepped on his barefeet with my highheeled boots as I

walked away)

One Page of the Much Larger Book

Out of Steiner's book, "Antigones" I chose to diesect page 222. Steiner starts off the page with a word that is unknown to me, "indeterminacies." He then jumps straight the agrue of men and women and how each would view Promethues' thunderous plunge into the abyss or Heracles' wrestling about with death. He then continued on to confuse me further while explaining how to perform externalization with music and language; and used the word"tenebrous"??? The fact that true poets and dramatisits can open the doors of speach and language and still leave us to decided if we believe or doubt what that poet is saying. All in all, and to be perfectly honest, I disected this page paragraph by pargraph and when I traslated ti and then proceded to put it all together, I know look read what I wrote and feel as though I am more confused then when I just Steiner write it.

I must admit that while in Colorado at my family reunion I had a Persephone and Demeter experience. On my way walking back to the lodge from our condo a truck pulled up next to me, it was Grandpa. He asked me to ride down to Grandjunction with him to get some files from his desk drawer, about an hour drive down. I was looking forward to cocoa with my cousins at the lodge, but I went anyways. I forgot however, to tell anyone I went with him. My mom was to follow after me up to the lodge and when she noticed I had never shown up she panicked and ran all down the mountain screaming my name and asking random people passing id they had seen me. My grandpa figured she would be worried and decided to get her back for a prank a few years past and called in the condo room about three hours later with a ransom. She freaked out and started crying on the phone, he felt bad and when we walked through the door while they were still on the phone together she threw it at him and nailed him right in the head....I laughed for about ten minutes, but the whole family exiled the both of us for the rest of the night.

Skiing in Colorado

My assignment while on my trip was to bring back some photos and tell about it all and the family. While driving to the ski condo we passed something that was sticking out of a plowed pile of snow about ten feet high. My dad made my mom flip a quick U to get a better look. As we pulled off the road we realized that it was a coyote who had been hit by a car, then snowed on and rolled up and over by a snow plow...due to some melting his head and half of his body was now protruding the pile of snow. I couldn't help but think about the coyote in mythological terms. Coyote in mythology often plays the role of trickster, although in some stories he is a buffoon and the butt of jokes and in a few he is outright evil. His personality strengths are humor and sometimes cleverness. His personality weaknesses are usually greed or desire, recklessness, impulsiveness and jealousy. Coyote is often the antagonist of his brother Wolf, who is wise and good natured but prone to giving in to Coyote's incessant demands. Coyote also plays the role of a hero, or even a culture hero, in some stories. I am however thinking that his trickster days are over with!!

Ok, so I am back from Colorado, and so excited to get back into the swing of things...however I got a little too excited and a bit ahead of myself and thought today was tuesday and went to library from noon till two thinking that I had a two hour break, but in reality I sat in the library and missed two of my three classes that I have on Mondays, and needless to say, I felt like the most air-headed person to ever exist. But don't worry all...I will be there on Wednesday no matter what!!

Hello All,
well I will not be in class tomorow, which is technically today time wise, but of course Im still up doing make-up work. Im going to a family reunion in Colorado, Ill miss friday, monday and wednesday so take good notes and dont forget to post them to keep me up with you guys!! Have a great weekend!! Audios!

The Farmer Saw a Gopher in Manhattan!

Dr. Sexson took the class to the good ol' Bozeman Daily Chronicle to learn how to read not what's new but instead what's old. He read the entire Paper and not only tried, but had brilliant success in relating all news worth happenings back to myhological times and stories. While jokeing about the small time papers topics, off the top of his head he made up a heading for a possible article for a small town paper. "Local Farmer Spots a Gopher in Manhattan!" The class laughed at this small town humor, however I must admit that Megan Thale and I have a little more experience than most in small town news, this is of course becasue we are from Manhattan :) I don't know about the excitment over gophers, but we do have potato days, which is equivilent to Bozeman's Sweat Pea Fest, most people find our Potato days rather comical. I am going to try to grab an issue of Manhattan's paper to give to Dr. Sexson, and hopfully we will be able to bring Manhattan into the Mythological world! And as side note, the gopher thing reminds that this next friday is February second, ground hogs day, my birthday, and Dr. Sexson's wedding anniversery...CONGRATS!

"Captain Picard"

I would first like to point out the possibility of the misspelling of Picard, and if it is wrong, please feel free to correct me. I would also like to admit that I have never seen an episode of Star Trek, huge gasp I know. The point of this post was to tell a story about my Deja Vu, probably spelled wrong as well! This morning as Dr. Sexson was talking about this Picard fellow, I had no idea who this person was and why he was being mentioned in a classical literature class. I quickly figured out that this Picard while in an episode of Star Trek mentioned the Homerick Hymns, which as you all know we are reading. As I sat there feeling not so confused, Dr. Sexson said these words, "If you can't believe Captain Picard than who the hell can you believe?" And this exact sentence became my Deja Vu, and swept over me like a freezing cold wave from the arctic ocean, I rarely experience Deja Vu, and felt compelled to tell my story!

My computer ALWAYS kicks my butt...

This post has nothing to do with yesterdays notes in class or possible future test questions....I just felt the need to vent about my computer and I's relationship at the moment. I would like it to be put on record that we do not get along, ecspecially when it takes me over an hour to even figure out how to put links on my blog, but when I have about ten imput we, and when I say we I mean my computer of course, decides to shut off for no apparent reason. Then I couldn't find the page that took me an hour to find that led me to the ability to add my links. And becasue I have had so much I fun in these past few hours, this will be all I add tonight becasue I fear I may throw my computer down a flight of stairs, which I am almost positive that I will regret later...almost...With that said, see you all on wednesday!