Thursday, September 24, 2009
blogalitious blogage by colten
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity says Mr. Thoreau. I plan on basing my huge friggin essay on this quote and others like it by the authors we have read about. Thoreau seems to think that life can be lived in the utter simplest, even to “Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one.” When stating that one should “let his affairs be as two or three” he is describing a life of malpractice and base which includes all experiences. To attempt something exciting and outrageous is good for the mind and body. As we have all had these experiences it is agreeable to say that to “only do something of this nature once or twice” is very difficult or very frustrating. The quote “Becha can’t eat just one” from the Lays Potato chip company is a good reflection of this because we all know that after you eat that first chip, you eat a second without even noticing, and in the end you take a whole handful for yourself. That handful is habit or daily routine, and due to the fact that humans are creatures of habit, Thoreau’s life at minimum cannot be possible. With today’s society and the “American dream” a life of simple pleasure goes against custom and is not accepted by others. Many “civilized” people own two houses, multiple cars (over two or three), and have lots of extra “crap” lying around that would not kill them to get rid of. Most use the words poor or unfortunate to describe the people who do not have those things and would “hate to have to live like that.” Really what is being said is that they would hate to live that “simpler life” without their idea of an acceptable lifestyle. We as a people do not want “to keep our accounts on a thumbnail” but we do want routine and most want to stay within their known “comfort zone.” Not trying something new means doing something over….. and over and over. I know this might be jumbled but it kinda sorta summarizes what I will write on. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY.
zero draft
I originally wanted to make this the first few paragraphs of my essay, but i have found myself rereading self-reliance, and completely dissecting it, while putting together in my head how i want this essay to go. So my idea is to basically, incorporate my education, my thoughts, my peers and Emerson all into one. i plan to start off my essay with a debate between Emerson and Mr.carter. this will escalate into a full blown argument. while this is going on i will be taking everything both of them has said into my head, and analysing it with my own life. possibly contemplating on who has the better arguments, and whose theories i would like to fallow. i may throw in a conversation with one of my peers or maybe even Emerson at the end. I basically want my brain to be in full thinking mode the entire time, and i almost want to figure out what my life's been and what it is going to be, while hearing too people who are pretty sure of themselves, duel it out. Any ideas would really help, so go for it give them to me.
Simplicity Simplicity Simplicity
Just to reiterate what Shannon said, please comment! It needs work don't be scared. Also, if you see a phrase/word that I could improve with better vocab, that is deeply appreciated. Thanks guys.
Day 0
I decided to try to be more simple with my just to expierence what others before me have. They believe that simplicity is key to enjoy life, and I defenantly need that. Why not give it a try and change? What's the worst that can happen? But what shall I try first?!?
Day 1
I wake up, eager for difference, and decide the first thing I am going to do is go camping with little equipment. Only a sleepingbag and pad for back support that is essential. I will go from 3pm-9am with Nahko.
Day 1 night
I am sitting next to the fire, encompassed by its warmth and I see the pure beauty of the stars. The stars are so simply amazing in every way possible. The fire keeps my body warm, the trees shielded from the bitter breeze, but the stars keeps my mind in awe. There is nothing like being able to look at something that has never been navigated, explored. I imagine myself flying around them, near them, pushing them, together as one. In a way, the stars warm my soul the way the fire licks at my toes. Oh the powerful memories that come along with the stars. I feel the burden of having to remember, having to reprint the pictures I locked in a box deep deep down in the pits of Earth. I tossed them aside unknowing that they are permenantly attached to me, just not as persistant as the present. The past and future have no meaning if one can not understand the present. It is the most important.
Day 2 morning
The smell of 'arboles' wake me up teasing my stomach that knows that there is no food for me unless I use my insticts and fish. I make a makeshift fishing pole from stick and leaves, and it it completely useless. I sit, hungry, staring through my bad breath into the lifeless lake. The lake sits motionless, mocking, daring me to jump in as Thoreau explained. I strip into my bare skin, unembarssed and unprotected and cannonball into the resisting water. My dog jumps on top of me, drowing me under his large paws. I slowly slip out of the water, exausted. It was anything but pleseant. The water was bitter cold, I am now more dirty than before, but boy am I awake! Is this what Thoreau would do to become 'intelectually awake?' I pack up my sleeping bag, call my mom, and insist that she make me breakfast so by the time I get home, Nahko and I can eat 'real' food.
Day 3
Yesterday I became more frustrated as I got hungrier, but I really did love laying under the stars contemplating the events of my astronaut days. Today I went on a hike with out shoes and that was...interesting. Horrible to say the best. Ha. I think I broke my pinky toe on a log, I had to constantly stop to take glass out the soles of my feet, and I ended up tip toeing into the grass and passing out. I slipped into sublime and I could feel a body against mine. His arms were around me, protecting me, rubbing me into comfort. These hands slipped off my bra and slowly caressed my back with his fingertips causing my skin to shoot into goosebumps. He made chills run down every part of my skin. The chills would run down my hips, legs and slowly die out. His hand cupped my face and turned it towards him. His lips came into view, but everything else was in a faded out fog. These perfect lips slowly but passionatly kissed me. But I woke up to my Nahko laying against me waiting for me to wake up. I looked around and new what I must do.
Day 4
I let my last strength of simplicity take over me. Its Sunday, the last day of our three day weekend. ....... surprise!
Day 0
I decided to try to be more simple with my just to expierence what others before me have. They believe that simplicity is key to enjoy life, and I defenantly need that. Why not give it a try and change? What's the worst that can happen? But what shall I try first?!?
Day 1
I wake up, eager for difference, and decide the first thing I am going to do is go camping with little equipment. Only a sleepingbag and pad for back support that is essential. I will go from 3pm-9am with Nahko.
Day 1 night
I am sitting next to the fire, encompassed by its warmth and I see the pure beauty of the stars. The stars are so simply amazing in every way possible. The fire keeps my body warm, the trees shielded from the bitter breeze, but the stars keeps my mind in awe. There is nothing like being able to look at something that has never been navigated, explored. I imagine myself flying around them, near them, pushing them, together as one. In a way, the stars warm my soul the way the fire licks at my toes. Oh the powerful memories that come along with the stars. I feel the burden of having to remember, having to reprint the pictures I locked in a box deep deep down in the pits of Earth. I tossed them aside unknowing that they are permenantly attached to me, just not as persistant as the present. The past and future have no meaning if one can not understand the present. It is the most important.
Day 2 morning
The smell of 'arboles' wake me up teasing my stomach that knows that there is no food for me unless I use my insticts and fish. I make a makeshift fishing pole from stick and leaves, and it it completely useless. I sit, hungry, staring through my bad breath into the lifeless lake. The lake sits motionless, mocking, daring me to jump in as Thoreau explained. I strip into my bare skin, unembarssed and unprotected and cannonball into the resisting water. My dog jumps on top of me, drowing me under his large paws. I slowly slip out of the water, exausted. It was anything but pleseant. The water was bitter cold, I am now more dirty than before, but boy am I awake! Is this what Thoreau would do to become 'intelectually awake?' I pack up my sleeping bag, call my mom, and insist that she make me breakfast so by the time I get home, Nahko and I can eat 'real' food.
Day 3
Yesterday I became more frustrated as I got hungrier, but I really did love laying under the stars contemplating the events of my astronaut days. Today I went on a hike with out shoes and that was...interesting. Horrible to say the best. Ha. I think I broke my pinky toe on a log, I had to constantly stop to take glass out the soles of my feet, and I ended up tip toeing into the grass and passing out. I slipped into sublime and I could feel a body against mine. His arms were around me, protecting me, rubbing me into comfort. These hands slipped off my bra and slowly caressed my back with his fingertips causing my skin to shoot into goosebumps. He made chills run down every part of my skin. The chills would run down my hips, legs and slowly die out. His hand cupped my face and turned it towards him. His lips came into view, but everything else was in a faded out fog. These perfect lips slowly but passionatly kissed me. But I woke up to my Nahko laying against me waiting for me to wake up. I looked around and new what I must do.
Day 4
I let my last strength of simplicity take over me. Its Sunday, the last day of our three day weekend. ....... surprise!
Begining... Needs Work.. Suggestions?
.....Ok this is just some stuff that we talked about and I tried, but it needs work, so if you have any comments at all please.. Dont hold back..! Thanks...
If I were to tell you that you were being placed on an island, every one you knew would be there and you would just have to live off of the things you could fit in one back pack, what would you say? I asked myself this very question and could not come up with and answer. In today’s world every one has become dependent on almost every thing they carry with them, there cell phones, I-pods, computers, the clothes on there back, the very little miscellaneous items we use every day such as make up. I do not judge these people for I am one of them. There hasn’t been a day that I can remember where I didn’t rely on my cell phone, or I didn’t need to hear my music in the morning getting ready for school and getting ready for bed. Technology has become a part of our lives that it is almost disgusting. Now to ask Thoreau, or Emerson, or Whitman what they thing the distractions of today world are, they would break out into a huge philosophical tangent about how we must forget everything and live by ourselves in nature. But really? Who can just get up and leave there lives and live naked in nature? No one… in these days and times it is just not a reasonable request to live in nature. People do it, and some one could do it, but it would not be the ideal living, for me at least. With all the technology and the distance between people the things that they would consider distractions and what we consider distractions are just completely different. There are many things that distract my every day life. For one I think school itself is a distraction. I think that my time would be much more useful just living life through the experiences that I need. Some schooling of course would be required but only the schooling that interests me, not the schooling that some old guys in a “board of education” think I should be learning. Why should I learn about chemistry and biology if I have not interests later on in science at all? No matter how hard this is to say I don’t think my cell phone is a distraction. Maybe all the actions I do on the thing like texting, emailing, etc. are all distractions but making calls and being able to be reached is a necessity. Another distraction in my life is the media. Thoreau states… “to a philosopher all news, as it is called is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over there tea…” I agree with this 100% Sure knowing what is going on in the world is very important but some of the things that are said just don’t apply to my daily life. Yet when I hear that some one got shot, or I hear the latest gossip on Lindsey Lohan I do stop and let it affect even the littlest time out of what ever I m doing.
If I were to tell you that you were being placed on an island, every one you knew would be there and you would just have to live off of the things you could fit in one back pack, what would you say? I asked myself this very question and could not come up with and answer. In today’s world every one has become dependent on almost every thing they carry with them, there cell phones, I-pods, computers, the clothes on there back, the very little miscellaneous items we use every day such as make up. I do not judge these people for I am one of them. There hasn’t been a day that I can remember where I didn’t rely on my cell phone, or I didn’t need to hear my music in the morning getting ready for school and getting ready for bed. Technology has become a part of our lives that it is almost disgusting. Now to ask Thoreau, or Emerson, or Whitman what they thing the distractions of today world are, they would break out into a huge philosophical tangent about how we must forget everything and live by ourselves in nature. But really? Who can just get up and leave there lives and live naked in nature? No one… in these days and times it is just not a reasonable request to live in nature. People do it, and some one could do it, but it would not be the ideal living, for me at least. With all the technology and the distance between people the things that they would consider distractions and what we consider distractions are just completely different. There are many things that distract my every day life. For one I think school itself is a distraction. I think that my time would be much more useful just living life through the experiences that I need. Some schooling of course would be required but only the schooling that interests me, not the schooling that some old guys in a “board of education” think I should be learning. Why should I learn about chemistry and biology if I have not interests later on in science at all? No matter how hard this is to say I don’t think my cell phone is a distraction. Maybe all the actions I do on the thing like texting, emailing, etc. are all distractions but making calls and being able to be reached is a necessity. Another distraction in my life is the media. Thoreau states… “to a philosopher all news, as it is called is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over there tea…” I agree with this 100% Sure knowing what is going on in the world is very important but some of the things that are said just don’t apply to my daily life. Yet when I hear that some one got shot, or I hear the latest gossip on Lindsey Lohan I do stop and let it affect even the littlest time out of what ever I m doing.
What my essay is about!
I was thinking to write about a day in my shoes. But then accidentally run into Emerson, Thoreau and/or Whitman in the park. I discover that they are on acid and they try and get me to do it. I figured out that they both wrote their famous essays while they were on acid because the essays were so brilliant. Each of their writings had great opinion, and word choice. They both stuck on one idea and never changed it through out their whole paper. For example Emerson said that "imitation was suicide." I personally don't know anyone who could come up with that good of a comparison not high on something. Next Thoreau wrote a great essay about one of his life experiences with all of his best buds, how fun! They all voted on election day which is a good thing. Lastly we have Whitman i can really tell that he could have been on acid because he wrote all about nature, and for some reason every time I see anyone high they are just so interested into flowers or mushrooms or even nature in general. Obviously Whitman likes the nature, i mean he describes it in so many different ways. He mentions that he wished he could run naked all around and run to the bank of the river. But anyways more about my essay, so i will probably have all three of them on acid. They want me to take a "hit" or it with them. They then ask me when we are all on acid if i want to write an essay with them. And of course we all pitch in parts for this paper. Yeah that is how far i got!
"Zero-Draft"
For my essay i have chosen to write about a topic in which concerns how society and material possesions have encumbered us, as well as having taken us away from nature and away from oursleves. And while for the most part I agree with these sentiments of Thoureu, Emerson, and Whitman, I will pose some opposing bits that support the modern age. Im absolutely in love with nature, no matter how crappy a day I have been having, surrounding mysellf in nature never ceases to cheer me right back up. The sounds, the smell, and most of all the consistentsy is what draws me in. The fact that no matter what is going on in the world, the outdoors remains the same, it never judges my outfit, or tells me to stand up straight. Nature is the only place in which I feel comfortable to be whatever I feel like being in that particular moment, I am free. On the other hand, we have gotten to a point where I don't think we can all completely give up all of the "privilidges" that technology that society provides us with. As much as i hate to admit it, i love technology, and it really has brought about some amazing things. It has brought about medical, scientific, and social advances as well as mereentertianment that have brought a lot of good and joy to a lot of people. Also, I dont always think that thinking retrospectively or letting others influence you is a bad thing. Being able to bounce ideas off of others can sometimes ease finding your own voice. This is basically what i intend to touch expand on in my essay, please give me suggestions, ideas, crticism, ANYTHING!!!!!!
"We don't need no Education!"
After reading all of the Transcendentalists' works I now had to choose a topic of which to write a "fun" essay on. We had such broad options really, from religion to pop culture, to even telling a fictionial story about an experience with the writers. But none of these choices sounded like fun to me. So I had to begin my favorite pasttime, brainstorming.
After much deliberation I choose to also write on a broad topic, one with which I could use many examples, and also one that I knew ALOT about. So for my essay I will be writing an essay, one more formal than many others, about the corrupted youth of today. From this main topic I will branch into some subtopics consisting of religion in today's society, conformity in today's society, and nature in today's society. This is sort of what stood out to me when I was thinking about some of my favorite parts of the writing of Emerson, whom, like I mentioned in my previous blog, is my favorite between Whitman, Thoreau, and Emerson.
Some other ideas about what I am writing about include how the youth of today are not as in touch with their spirituality. This is present among most Americans I have met and many Europeans, South Americans, and even Asians, so it is not only just us Americans. Also on the topid of conformity, I feel that teenagers and youth in general are material oriented and don't care about bigger things like service before self, etc. We are also easy to conform to music trends, fashion trends, and even trends in ways of thinking. So we need to dive deeper into meanings of things and not just follow an idea or way of life because it seems "cool." And finally, on the topic of nature, many young adults across the world are not intouch with nature as Emerson says we should be. Although this is not true in remote and undeveloped parts of the world like the Himalaya or the Mongolian Plains, just go to any city and take a look at those high schools. Pathetic.
So that is basically my idea for this essay and I would really enjoy hearing your guys' advise, critiques, and thoughts on my zero draft.
After much deliberation I choose to also write on a broad topic, one with which I could use many examples, and also one that I knew ALOT about. So for my essay I will be writing an essay, one more formal than many others, about the corrupted youth of today. From this main topic I will branch into some subtopics consisting of religion in today's society, conformity in today's society, and nature in today's society. This is sort of what stood out to me when I was thinking about some of my favorite parts of the writing of Emerson, whom, like I mentioned in my previous blog, is my favorite between Whitman, Thoreau, and Emerson.
Some other ideas about what I am writing about include how the youth of today are not as in touch with their spirituality. This is present among most Americans I have met and many Europeans, South Americans, and even Asians, so it is not only just us Americans. Also on the topid of conformity, I feel that teenagers and youth in general are material oriented and don't care about bigger things like service before self, etc. We are also easy to conform to music trends, fashion trends, and even trends in ways of thinking. So we need to dive deeper into meanings of things and not just follow an idea or way of life because it seems "cool." And finally, on the topic of nature, many young adults across the world are not intouch with nature as Emerson says we should be. Although this is not true in remote and undeveloped parts of the world like the Himalaya or the Mongolian Plains, just go to any city and take a look at those high schools. Pathetic.
So that is basically my idea for this essay and I would really enjoy hearing your guys' advise, critiques, and thoughts on my zero draft.
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