Donde esta mi amigos?

Classmates, Pete,

Let me first say that I miss you all! I check this blog for updates all the time hoping there will be a witty post by one of my stellar classmates but sadly there never is :( I have a few random and not really interesting things to say:

1. Ever seen the movie Role Models? Well.... in the scene where Auggie stomps up the stairs in anger away from his step dad and former mentor, the step dad calls Auggie a "cooze" under his breath. I totally rewound and checked. Why would he say this? The possibilities are endless.

2. Pete, I read Child of God. Wayyy more entertaining than The Crossing. While the violence is a little much to stomach, as we all know I love a good crime show. I can totally see this happening in real life so it was awesome. Was Ballard the evil character you talked about in class or was it from another book? Anyways, great book, very short compared to The Crossing....READ IT.

3. I bought a Frisbee.

4. I am now reading some Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, as recommended by Hillary. So far...I do not like the way the pages of the book feel but I'm trying to get over that.

I hope everyone is having a dope summer!
TORI

The future of Literature

This is something I wanted to discuss in class, but we always seemed too busy working on our assigned stuff and I never found a good time to bring it up. So, this is the perfect place!

I heard this story on Morning Edition shortly before our class began. They are talking about the impact that the internet, Twitter, Kindel and other forms of electronic writing will have on the way we read and write in the future. Will we give up paper books? Will we loose our appreciation for colorful language in exchange for quick information? I would love to hear your comments.

Here is the link.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122026529&ps=rs

Pre-school . . . a, b, c-ya!

My youngest graduated from pre-school today. Here's a picture that speaks volumes. One of his presents was a new watch, and he hasn't stopped checking the time for two days. In this picture he is busy reminding me that picture time is OVER.

Not related to our scholarly work, but just keeping all my peeps up to date on current events.

By the way, would anyone like to arrange another lunch-y kind of get together soon? I have a pool at my apartment complex.

Quesadillas, hotbox, and surprise interviews!

We threw down in Grant Park today --  AmLit style. In attendance we had Katie and her special person Garrett, Michael, Hillary, Tamara, Tori and her pal Natalie, me, my special person Coni, and my pal Caroline. The menu was southwestern-ish; the standouts were Hillary's brownies, Tamara's buffalo chicken dip,  Katie's quesadillas, and Michael's salsa. Also, thank nature for Tori's fruit.

After eating, we chilled on a hill and played a modified version of Ultimate Frisbee called Hotbox -- like half-court basketball. My team lost 12,000-2, but it was fun nonetheless. Michael played guitar, Tori's dog Lucy growled at dogs three times her size, and we talked about a bunch of things: Michael and Hillary's trip to England in the Fall, Tori's geology Maymester class, Tamara's jump to Shorter College, among other things.

At the end of the end of the night, we talked about getting together again towards the end of the summer or sooner, potentially for a movie. Coni did impromptu video interviews that I may put up on YouTube in the next couple of days  (with the comments about me edited out).

I enjoyed seeing all of you and missed everyone else. Please don't think if you could not attend that we did not think about you.

Please keep using the space for video clips, movie suggestions, literary criticism, research interests, or what's-ups to keep in touch.

I keep wondering where Pat's car is. I wonder if the nihilists took it.

Got 99 problems but a jedi ain't one.

Star Wars video!

Morrison-McCarthy Picnic Plans

According to the availability that everyone communicated, we will have our (first of others?) postsemester gathering this Tuesday, May 18.

When: 4.30-6 pm (with the possibility of extending to another location)
Where: Grant Park; we can meet in the parking lot on the Boulevard side of the park. Here's how you get there . . .

• From school, get on Courtland Ave. heading south (toward Turner Field). It will turn into Washington Ave.
• At Memorial Ave. (it's one block past the capital building and the last light before you feed onto the Interstate), take a left.
• At Boulevard (it's about a mile, and you will know you've hit Boulevard when the brick wall of Oakland Cemetery ends on your left), take a right.
• Follow over I-20, and the entry into the Grant Park parking lot should be your first or second light. Turn right into the parking lot. I will park as close to the bottom of the parking lot as I can, and post up in the grass to wait for whomever arrives.
• Also, if you are coming from outside the city, get on I-20 where it hits 75/85 and take it one exit east. Your exit will be Boulevard. Take a right and follow the directions from the bullet point above.

We won't be able to coordinate food all that well, but I will bring chips, salsa, soda, water, cups, and ice for everyone. Bring a dish that's enough for you (and any guests you bring) with some to share. If there's enough time to work out details in the comment space, let's do it. It looks like some tasty dishes (or at least one) were already suggested.

If you get lost or need to ask a question, feel free to call me. My number is six-seven-eight,  953, two-seven-nine-four (how's that for super cyber encryption?). Feel free to leave your numbers in the comment space, in case you want me to be able to get a hold of you. We can all start exchanging numbers via email at/after the gathering.

Via con dios.

Literary Theory by Terry Eagleton

For anyone interested in pursuing their affinity for literary analysis/criticism, I just finished reading a book that might be of some use to you, it was for me. Literary Theory, by Terry Eagleton, provides a comprehensible introduction of the major literary movements and some prominent figures from which they originated. It also references many seminal works from each period, in case you're overwhelming desire for literary criticism forces you to do even more research. Eagleton discusses hermeneutics, phenomenology, structuralism, psychoanalysis, and plenty more forms of critique that, I think, provides more insight for any future reading.

One of the downsides of the book itself is its use of extremely dense language and some esoteric terms. I found my mind, quite a few times, wandering from the text unto other subjects. It's probably easier to focus, rigorously, on a chapter a day or so in order to retain full comprehension of the content. Despite its density, and sometimes unbearable tangents, the book is extremely unpretentious (which is awesome, because a lot of the literary criticism I've read, I felt, was condescending).

The introduction, entitled What is Literarture?, was my favorite part of the book. It pertains directly to what we discussed during our first day of class: the issue of what exactly constitutes literature. Eagleton acknowledges the definition's elusiveness and discusses its subjective and objective qualities, concluding with a rather irresolute explanation. But that's okay, it seems literature's definition is constantly changing due to ever-fluctuating social contexts and I don't think anyone will ever be able to provide us with a concrete definition.