State of the planet

The poem “State of the Planet” by Robert Hass was a very refreshing piece to read for myself. Although I did find it to be a little bit difficult to understand Hass’s choice of wording. There was one quote that stood out to me on the first page that I wanted to examine a little bit more. “Poetry should be able to comprehend the earth. To set aside from time to time it’s natural idioms of ardor and revulsion, and say, in a style as sober As the Latin of Lucretius, who reported to Venus On the state of things two thousand years ago- “It’s your doing that under the wheeling constellations of the sky,” he wrote, “all nature teems with life-“ Something of the earth beyond our human dramas.”

            I understood the beginning of this poem; what I took from it was, poetry should be able to show and express who the world is and in order to do that, we as the writer needs to understand the earth and its whole. All of nature is connected with who we are and life itself. I believe it seems to be a circle of life with nature and expressing it through poetry or whatever other means. I did have a difficult time understanding the rest of the quote when it talked about “It’s your doing that under the wheeling constellations of the sky, all nature teems with life.” So I became unclear of what Hass was trying to get at in this line. Was he trying to say that nature is connected with “life” like how I explained earlier in my blog, or was he trying to say that nature is “life.” I can agree with either meaning, I believe that nature is connected with life and also I believe nature is life!

AFI field trip

On Act II of The Boys Next Door, Lucien has a long quite of just himself rambling, thinking he’s saying something important, well maybe to him it is rather important. “He be fat with doughnuts. Arnold’s got the rugs. He’s like nuts or something. He’s my friend too. And Barry. He golfs. He be gone now. I miss Barry. I do. I miss Barry. ABCDEF… I stand before you, a middle-aged man in an uncomfortable suit, a man whose capacity for rational thought is somewhere between a five year-old and an oyster. I am retarded . I am damaged.” Reading this quote from Lucien made me remember some of the clients from AFI, and I could connect the similar talking pattern that Lucien had with the clients. Going to visit AFI brought The Boys next Door to life for me, I felt in a weird way I could see the book in action. Also before going to visit AFI; our assigned reading, Abstract, also made me think and realize that it’s not always mental retardation, but something just may be off in their head, for example Autism.

            I truly enjoyed going to AFI, I see people with these disabilities in a different way. I was hesitant like most people to go, but when I actually got there and started conversing with them I saw that they were people just like us with the same wants and dreams, but just with a little bit more of a challenge to reach it than us. They answered my questions and would reciprocate with the same questions for the most part. They were funny and very welcoming. I think it was a very good field trip for students to go on. From personal feelings I probably would have never gone to do something like that just from the fear of the unknown. But I had a good time!

Abstract

In the Article “Abstract” by Steven M. Fettke, was actually rather sad, but the part that stuck out to me the most was this statement he said that I would have never thought a parent would have said, but it made so much sense to me after I thought about it for a few minutes. “In our own experience of our son and his condition, my wife and I have often remarked about his potential healing as something we might actually regret. We don’t mean by that to wish him ill (or be accused by some as not having enough faith!). We mean by that for him to be “healed” would mean that who he is right now is of little value. Also, for him to be “healed” would also mean that he would not be who we have come to know him to be in his 23 years of existence. Thus, he would not be the one whom God created as a person who happens to be autistic.”

            At first reading the initial statement of his parents saying they would regret his healing actually made me angry and confused on why wouldn’t they want him to be healed from a life that gives him struggles that most other people don’t have to go through. The turning point for me was when he said that his life now has “little value,” and that’s definetly not the way I looked at a situation like this one. If it was my child I would pray constantly for the Lord to heal him. But that is not the way God made him, that is not what God had in mind for his life, the Lord orders our steps, and I believe he is special in the Lords eyes and also his parents, and to see him healed would be a different person they would not recognize because they have never known any other child but this one. I also saw it as a selfish thing for the parents to say that if he was healed that would not be the child they have always known, but what about his feelings, don’t they think that he would want to be able to have a normal life. I think they would be able to readjust their life for a miracle. But overall, I felt torn in this quote I agreed with them for the most par but I also was iffy in other sense. This part really made me think though!

The boys next door Act II

In Act II of the boys next door, Barry’s dad comes to visit him but while he is visiting him, Barry’s dad is rude to him and seems to be very impatient with him. I find that to be sad that his own father can’t have patience for his son, and Jack has more patience for these men and he is not even their father. Also Norman finally let’s someone see his keys, that person is Shelia. He seems to be fine with her seeing his keys until Shelia doesn’t want to give them back, she continues to hold them. This causes Norman to freak out, and he becomes desperate to get his keys back. Shelia brings flowers to Norman and he becomes delighted. Lucien then goes to court and wears his spider-man tie like he said he was going to. While he’s in court he doesn’t present himself very well to the judge and doesn’t answer his questions correctly and continues to talk about his tie. During the rest of Act II, Jack decides to leave the boys and relocate to a different place in life. The boys find out and decide to throw Jack a surprise going away party, he asks them very confused why they threw him a party, they then explain to him that he’s going away.  At the end of Act II Jack sits down with Arnold and has a serious conversation about his leaving them for good. He explains how he’s going to be a travel agent. Arnold states to Jack that he is going to be very angry if Jack leaves, he says he will hate him. But at the end of the play they end on a good note of understanding. I enjoyed this play it was rather humorous and entertaining. I usually don’t like plays and find them a little boring to read but I was rather shocked when I started reading “The Boys Next Door.”

The boys next door Act I

Act One of the boys next door by Tom Griffin was rather hilarious. I was unsure of what to expect with this play. Although each character was very different in their own ways, I loved them all. I like Arnold’s personality that tries to be mature and take matters into his own hands like when they were attempting to capture the “Rat.” Norman’s personality is very independent; he has his own job and wants to keep his keys so he can supposedly have access to everything. Barry is on cloud ten and is very into himself, not in a coincided way, but in a confident way, he believes in himself that he’s an excellent golf player, when in fact he really isn’t. Lucien was my personal favorite; he was definitely in his own world. He just did and said whatever the first thing was at the top of his head at that moment. Jack I liked, because I had a lot of respect for him. He watches over these men that clearly need his help. He seems to stay patient for the most part and treats them with respect and as adults. Overall I like these characters, they were unintentionally hilarious, and kept me guessing on what they were going to say next.

                I like the way Act I was written, Griffin used the beginning to introduce us to not just the characters themselves but to their personalities and their likes and dislikes. In Act I there wasn’t so much a set in stone story line, just kind of a description of a few day-to-day things they deal with throughout their weeks, which I tend to like. Most plays, books, or stories, don’t show you the day to day like this author did. Most books usually introduce the characters and then get on with the main part of the story, and this play seems to be in no rush for the main topic of discussion which I respect and like.