Blog Post #25

All this past week, we have continued to present our Dante's Inferno projects. It has been going well, and not a lot of people have been absent. Basically, we have been counting up through the levels of Hell, deeper and deeper into the center of Earth. The last Canto is obviously where Satan resides, and I think we are only two away from wrapping it all up. Personally,I think it's fun to see all the sins and their ironic Contrapassos. It is interesting to see which sins Dante sees as almost unforgivable, and which are punished the most severely. Overall, it is a good learning experience and I find it more rewarding to present something to the class visually instead of just having a paper to read. Prezi is a little complicated, but it always looks good and having something you made to prove you took the time gives you a deeper, more personal understanding.

Out of all the projects we have seen this week, the two I like the most were Noah's and Tiffany's. I liked Noah's mostly because he did a good representation of falsification. His idea to fill a pinata with brussel sprouts was tricky. It was mischievous and insidious, a perfect visual for his Canto. It went well with the symbolism of the Trojan horse too, and the way he linked it to other historical events. It was a solid presentation, and it was obvious that he really cared. He did a good job, honestly. Tiffany's was the other presentation that I enjoyed the most. She really didn't do a good job explaining it, but she did make a nice jail cell for her visual. She had a hard Canto to dissect, but I think she gave it her best in the time she was provided with. All of the projects I have seen so far have been great, but these ones stand out the most. The artwork, the presentations, and the all-around positive attitude on such a dark subject was really enjoyable for me. I think this project, even though scary and violent on the surface, has had a positive impact on me.

Blog Post #24

For the first half of this week, everyone was given work time in class to collaborate and ask any questions they may have. Everyone seemed to be understanding it well, and the syllabus helped a lot. It seemed like a lot of work, but it really wasn't that much. Depending on how many Contrapassos the Canto had, it was either a little work in a little amount of time, or a lot of work it a lot of time. Parts of it was a little consuming, but in the end it will be interesting to see how all the Cantos fit together. The story of Dante through his Divine Comedy is an interesting one. It would be even more interesting to read Dante's Paradiso. Hell is a little depressing to read about. 

As a personal reflection of the week, I did not enjoy it. I felt rushed, and I was absent the day I was supposed to present my Canto. I had a small family emergency, and as a result didn't get much of the project done anyway. I really didn't like relating a part of our world to Hell, that seemed a little too dark for me. Overall this project was a really good learning experience, but I would have liked to get the same experience out of a happier story. Dante's Inferno is a disturbing story, and I think that it may be pushing the limits of religion in public schools. Overall, I am glad for this project, but in the same sense that I'm just glad it's over.

  

Blog Post #23

Last week we finally started our Dante's Inferno project. We all chose a specific Canto of Hell to research and evaluate, and I chose the 8th Canto-the Wrathful level of Hell. We were given time in class to work on  citing and planning our project, and so far everything has been pretty easy. I know it will get harder, but for now all I have to worry about is my visual presentation and paraphrasing the text. It is challenging enough to simply read the text and understand what is going on, but to find the deeper meaning of it is going to take some serious research. I have a general understanding of Dante's Inferno, but I still don't know it as well as I would like to. I honestly don't know why we are even reading this apart to test our evaluation skills and have a better understanding of classic literature and satire. 

I haven't thought about it much, but for my visual I was mauling the idea of making a painting of some sort. The river of Styx is in the 8th Canto of Hell, and the entrance to the city of Dis is at the end of it. I could have a dark painting of the city in the back, and Dante and Virgil in the skipper crossing the river of Styx in oil paint. It might be hard to make it all come together, and I think I will be using mostly black and red for this, but I never really liked dioramas or models. They seem awkward to carry, and usually end up getting bent or broken. I might also just make a fake map of the 8th Canto to present, although I don't think that would be as interesting as a painting. Either way, I am enjoying this project and know that I will get something out of it even if I get an "F" on the final grade. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it might. 

 

Blog Post #22

As we transition from our tragic hero evaluation project and into a new study of dark literature, I would like to wrap up the past week and begin to describe what our new project is. First, I would like to say that our poster presentation went well. We all seem to have a solid idea of what a tragic hero is, and I think our poster looks good hung up on the wall. I will admit that some other posters were a bit better looking than ours, but with what we had and in the time that was given, I think it looks great. I liked how everything came together at the end, and we had all group members on board when we finally presented. I hope to get a good grade on this project, and I feel that my fellow group members deserve an A.
Now, as we have finished our study on the tragic hero, a new project and a new piece of literature must begin. For the next month or so, we will be reading, discussing, and evaluating Dante Alighieri's Dante's Inferno. I am not yet sure what the final project will be, but I know I will enjoy reading this. When I was younger I attempted to read this script, but I don't think I understood it completely. I just thought it was a story describing Hell. I now know that it is much more than that. I hope to get a more complete understanding out of this as we read it again, and hope to gain some personal knowledge too.
  

Blog Post #21

In any religion or even simply couth conversation, Hell is a touchy subject. I am of the Christian faith, and according to what I believe in and my church, Hell is a place you go for sinning. Hell is a place reserved  for people of  renounced or absent faith. Sin can cause you to go to Hell, but you can always redeem yourself. Satan, lord of darkness and gatekeeper of Hell, is a fallen angel that used to be a protector of God's children but resisted all that was good and rejected Jesus' healing.
To me, the only people who go to Hell are those who don't accept God and those who intentionally resist good. The one and only unforgivable sin I see is rape. If you rape someone, something is obviously wrong with you. I wouldn't think that that would even have to be written down, but apparently not raping people isn't morally straightforward. I see Rape as the cause and effect to many problems in our world today. In my religion, everyone is loved by God and all they have to do is love him back. To redeem yourself is quite easy, and the rules of the bible are pretty good basic guidelines to live your life by.
In my Hell, all punishments are ironic. If you murdered someone, you will be forever damned to be murdered over and over by demons. Your punishment will be even to your mistake. It is often hard to talk about, but in my faith there is a place where all bad people go to be forever punished violently. I see this place as another dimension, and I feel that some people should and will be punished more than others. Even though they may be in Hell longer and punished more severely than others, it is still fair in the sense of cause and effect of the life they lived.
If I were to describe my own personal Hell, it would look quite similar to the island of Rhaal described in H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu. This island was portrayed as a place always filled with an eerie static sound, and even when standing upright the geometry of the rocks would make you feel upside-down and dizzy. The shape of the island is all wrong, and the only ground to walk across is green and red fish smelling goop covering black rocks. There is no up or down on this island, and the true laws of physics do not apply here. There is nothing to do and no way off the island. A terrible feeling will constantly pull you down, and the static constantly gets louder. There is never a sky, and if all of that wasn't bad enough you are forced to forever watch Heaven just over the horizon-just out of reach. It is a sad place, one that is meant to make you feel guilty.

If by some miracle you were able to escape Hell and find your way into Heaven, you would simply be returned. You have to earn your way into Heaven. In Hell, you are held down and tormented for what you have done in your now-past life. Heaven is reserved for those who truly want to go to Heaven and accept God whole-hardheartedly. That can't be faked. You can't push your way into Heaven. If that was true, it wouldn't be Heaven.
To me, the biggest and most well known representation of Hell is Satan. It is hard to talk about Hell without mentioning the dark lord himself, and when someone thinks of Hell they often see a red being with horns and a forked tongue. Satan is the creator and ruler of Hell, and without him it could never be. In my religion, Satan is to never be spoken of outside of church. Satan reminds people of Hell, and Hell is a touchy subject.
There is no picture or accurate portrayal of Satan, but he is often represented by pentagram. In my Hell, the pentagram is the symbol for all pain and suffering.
In my religion, sinners go to hell. There is not a mold people need to fit to be branded a sinner, anyone can and probably has sinned. With this, anyone can be in my Hell. From the rapists and murderers of the world to woman and children, Hell is filled with all those unwilling to subside to God. Each person will be judged and sentenced differently according to what they had done in their past life. Killers will obviously be punished more harshly than sinners of sloth, but each have an equal chance to get out. The only people who are guaranteed a pass into Heaven are people who have always found God and never sinned, (which is almost impossible) and honest soldiers. By honest I mean good at heart, and died in battle for the country they love. Hell must only hold the ones who could tarnish Heaven, and Heaven must be open to anyone willing to try.

Blog Post #20

For this week's blog post,  I would like to reflect on the final product of our Tragic Hero project. After all the hard work and toiling my group and I did, all we finished with is a poster and a five page essay for each of us. I spent about two to three hours on my essay, and around three solid hours in class on the poster. My group and I planned, examined, cut out, re-planned, and glued until we were all worn down and out of artistic ability-and then we came back the next day and did it again. I am really proud of my group, and even more proud of what we created together. For what we were given to work with, I think we did okay.

If I were to get more time at this project, I would only want to change one thing-the sand on our poster. It's really not a big deal, but at the bottom of our black sheet of paper we decided to cover some burnt buildings and a Panzer tank with brown sugar to represent the beach, and brown sugar is a sticky mess. It really didn't work out. It just looks gross. We were hoping to have a nice, smooth even beach but instead we have an off-colored streak of glue and syrup. If I were to do this again, I would use cinnamon and less glue, and maybe even a second sheet of paper behind it for color support. I wish we could have another chance, but as long as we do a good job presenting I think it will all work out.

Blog Post #18

For this week's reflection, I would like to just talk about what happened in class and my own personal opinion on it. First off, this week was kind of a planning week. We are just about to start a new project to help us all have an understanding of the tragic hero. We pick a movie and a character that we think represents the path of the tragic hero and relate it to Oedipus in a tie-in essay. Then, after picking and evaluating the character, we find three other people to help work on a poster of the character to present. We each choose one of the steps the tragic hero follows and take it to evaluate personally. So far, all we have finished is the reading and citing of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. I now need to find a movie and a character to evaluate.
As my own opinion on this assignment, I think I will enjoy it. I love breaking down movies, and although making a poster adds to the stress, it also helps me get some energy out. I like the artsy part of this project, and I think I have a strong understanding of what a tragic hero is. I am a little fuzzy on the details of the essay, but I'm sure I can get my questions answered. I hope to do well on this assignment, and I hope to find a good tragic hero to present.