Annie Lennox

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is a comedy about a group of people moving a dead woman's body to where she wants to be buried, when misadventures keep happening to them.

The Faerie Queene

Having watched the new Merlin series over the summer and seen a bunch of movies about King Arthur, the Hollywood images of knights in the medieval time period were fresh in my mind and helpful to imagine while reading The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. Spenser's version of the classic story about knights rescuing damsels in distress and fighting dragons, give a great twist to the story, because he compares it to other mythologies, like stories from the Bible and the Greek & Roman Gods.

Canto 12 of book one of The Faerie Queene picks up right after the Knight defeats the dragon, and the Knight and Una head to a celebration feast. There is a reference to heaven's gate in Stanza 3, "which long time had bene shut, and out of hond." After the Knight defeats Satan (aka the dragon), there is "proclaymed joy and peace through all his state; for the dead now was their foe, which them forrayed late" in heaven.

In stanza 10, they are cautious of "touching the dragon" and "his nest of many dragonets, his fruitfull seed." Just because the evil souls left behind don't have Satan as their leader anymore, doesn't mean they still can't do evil deeds in his honor. After all some people believe Lilith is still out there, seeing as she was the first evil. In stanza 23, it is interesting to see Una being compared to "the lamb's wife" in the passages from Revelations, almost as reference to Jesus and his relationship with Mary Magdalene.

Canto 12 of book two of The Faerie Queene contains many Greek and Roman mythology references, such as "Argo" more than Bible references. Since it has been awhile since I have studied the mythologies, the footnotes are a great background to the references and allegories.

Chess Pieces

Coffee Pot

Hope

The Burning Babe

The Burning Babe by Robert Southwell is a very symbolic poem about the birth and life of Jesus Christ. Southwell has an interesting biography in which he was "executed as a traitor in the usual grisly manner" for being a Roman Catholic. He was a brave soul who "minister to English Catholics" on a "dangerous mission" and was a martyr for his faith. Knowing the background of Southwell's life, makes the spirit poem better, because he truly believed in Jesus and wanted to share his faith with the world.

In his poem, he uses a lot of words such as heat, fire, scorched, flames, warm, fuel, smoke, coals, furnace, glow, and ashes, which could be a representation of hell, Jesus' warm heart, or his passion for his fellow man. He also uses tears, melt, snow, and winter to show that Jesus came into a cold world and made it warm, while using water as metaphor for his blood and baptism.

"So I will melt into a bath to wash them to my blood" is a reference to Christ being baptized by John the Baptist and his crucifixion. The line "With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away" is a reference to how many people have forgotten Christ and often take him out of the equation when celebrating Christmas

Frida

Bottles and Cans

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Carson McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is about a group of people living and feeling alienate in a southern town. Most of the character confide their secrets to a deaf and suicidal man named John Singer.

Two of the characters are androgynous. Biff is a bartender. He has an Oedipus complex, wants to be a mother, and wears his mother's wedding ring on his pinky finger. When his wife dies, he decorates their apartment.

Mick is the female protagonist. She is a tomboy at first, but then grows up. Mick is an artist and musician. She has transcendent experiences while writing or listening to music. One of the themes of this novel is "The Death of the Artist."

Mick's boyfriend Harry is Jewish, but not tradition. He is a Pantheist who hates fascism.

Jake Blout is the town drunk who makes Marxist rants and speeches while he is drunk. He runs an amusement ride.

Dr. Copeland is an African-American doctor who has Marxist names for children and is all about black power.

Me Gusta, Queen Elizabeth I, and Self Portraits

For Spanish, I had to describe two things I like and one thing I don't like. I also had to name classroom objects and describe a person I know.

For American Lit Modern, I finished reading A Heart is Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I read Robert Frost's "Departmemtal" and "Design." I read T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." I also read William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" for the fourth time.

For British Lit Renaissance, I had to read Bible translations and John Calvin's "The Institution of the Christian Religion." I also read Sidney's "The Defense of Poesy" and "Astrophil and Stella" as well a Queen Elizabeth I's speeches and letters.

For Drawing I, I had to copy a John Sargeant piece, draw a drape over a stool, and do a self portrait.

Queen Elizabeth I

In Elizabeth's speech "A Speech to Joint Delegation of Lords and Commons, November 5, 1566," Queen Elizabeth I addresses her critics on the issues of her not being married and not having a heir to the throne. She says to them "I will marry as soon as I can conveniently. if God take him away with who I mind to marry, or myself, or else some other great let happen." She wanted to make it known if she were to marry and have children, they wouldn't take the place of England in her heart. "The other great" which Elizabeth mentioned, was in fact Elizabeth's admirable ruling over England all on her own. Elizabeth is a historical role model for present day women, showing us that you don't have to be married or have a man at your side to be successful monarch or leader.

Elizabeth argues her critic's "second point was the limitation of the succession of the crown, wherein was nothing said for my safety, but only for themselves." If the critics wanted a direct heir, it was because they admired Elizabeth as a ruler and wanted her to teach her children how to run the kingdom just like her. Just because there wasn't a direct heir, doesn't mean there was any heirs. Elizabeth knew she would be replaced by one of her many half-sibling's children.

Queen Elizabeth I is one of the greatest queens England has ever had, because she sacrificed her own life to make good decisions for her kingdom, because she loved England, and she is the type of ruler any kingdom needs. Having seen the Elizabeth films that came out in the last few years or so, it's hard not to picture Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, when reading her speeches and letters.

Self Portrait

Orator Style

Faure Style

Art Nouveau

Utopia

Reading Thomas More's Utopia reminded me of Utopia & Dystopia themed stories like The Giver by Lois Lowry, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, and Feed by M.T. Anderson. Each of these stories involve seemingly perfect worlds with a couple of major flaws, such as the extermination of children and adults who are flawed and don't have the same work abilities as the others inThe Giver, The governing businesses deciding if a person can have the computer chip in their heads fixed or letting the person die in Feed, and making everyone have cosmetic surgery to be made gorgeous while lowering their brain cells in Uglies.

In each world, there are good and bad consequences which affect the lives of their citizens. Utopian societies don't quite work as a perfect world, because not all the people are considered equal, such as "the slaves" or "the weaker sex" mentioned in Thomas More's version. More power is given to chosen people and the whole point of a world where everyone is considered equal is to give everyone the same exact rights and responsibilities.

With all its flaws, this utopian society has a couple of good qualities, like allowing their citizens to "withdraw their time and energy from the service of the body and devote themselves to the freedom and culture of the mind" and "the second rule of nature is to lead a life as free of anxiety and as full of joy as possible, and to help all one's fellow men toward that end." However, can anyone have peace when someone is always watching them in order to make sure they are following all the society rules?

Crosshatching

Art Deco