What College has Given me

Recently we had a class discussion on John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Discourse 5. Knowledge, It's Own End. In this class discussion we talked about all aspects of college and a fellow classmate brought up whether or not going to college was a scam.

I completely disagree with the idea of college being a scam. No matter what field you go into, college is important. The knowledge and experience I received in college has been invaluable. In the fall of my freshmen year, was the only person from my high school attending UL. Coming from North Louisiana, everyone graduates and goes to college at Louisiana Tech, ULM, and LSU. I went to school with the same people from kindergarten to senior year. Not that I did not want to be their friends, but I wanted to experience college on my own and make new friends. Upon coming to school I moved into the dorms with 3 random people. I was SO lucky. I loved my roommates and my suitemates and to this day I am still friends with them. I joined a sorority and met some of my best friends and my college support system.  Joining a greek life gave me the opportunity to network. This network helped me get my first internship in Atlanta working for Coca-Cola headquarters.

This job really changed my life. Working for Coca-Cola Headquarters has been one of most interesting things I have ever done. That job alone opened numerous doors for me, and I have gained extensive knowledge in my field. Moving almost four hours away from home has been so beneficial to me. Lafayette is close enough that I can go home whenever I like. But it is not so close that I feel obligated to go home every weekend. This distance helped me. The distance gave me enough space to let me be an “adult” but also allowed me to go home as well. Not being able to go home every weekend was good for me. Do not get me wrong,  I am a huge family person but I think that I needed to grow up and be able to make my own decisions and figure out how to live on my own.

College also allowed me to think more independently. My parents always allowed me to form my own decisions, which I am very thankful for. This allowed me to be my own person. But upon arriving to college I really only had to think about myself in a sense. I was solely responsible for me.

Coming to college and making friends with people who are so different from me gave me a more open mind. I became more accepting of people and learned to love people in different ways. One thing that I think college does for my generation is make us more accepting of others around us. College used to be only for the elite, so everyone was similar. These days college is for everyone. I think this is beneficial because I get to interact with people who have a completely different thought process than me. Even though I might not agree with everyone here I think the critical thinking skills that come from an experience like this are precious.

The classes I have had in college some have been beneficial and yet some have not. I think that UL tries to make each major have a well rounded curriculum. I am in Moody College of Business and I am required to take many different types of courses. These courses range from accounting to geology. Though I have not really enjoyed all of the classes I have taken, I am still thankful for the opportunities to grow that UL has given me. I think that a lot of students get bogged down in the school work and forget that college is a privilege. College has not only helped me grow academically but also as a person. I would not be who I am today without the experiences I have had in college. I would like to thank UL, for the opportunities I have had in Lafayette. I think college is valuable, and I wish everyone was lucky enough to experience the “true college experience.” I would also like to thank all my professors, and friends I have met here. Thank you UL for shaping my young adult life, and giving friends, experience, worldly and scholarly knowledge in the past four years. 

-Savanna

Tea time in Britain

Friday, October 19, 2018

Tea time in Britain

If I think about Britain, one of the first things that comes to my mind is the “Tea Time.” So you are a foreigner in Britain and one thing on your to-do list is to have tea. I am talking about good old fashioned English tea time. But what if you don´t know anything about the British tea time? And how many actual tea times are there during the day?

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The first one I talk about and also the first one in order is elevenses. This one is a late-morning break, which involves a light snack like muffins or biscuits – and of course a cup of tea or coffee. The elevenses is, as the name already reveals, at 11 am in the morning. The tradition of the elevenses is actually not that old. Everybody thinks that the British tea time tradition is hundreds of years old, but according to historians who specialize in British tea, the elevenses popped up in the 20^th century. There are also no references of the elevenses in the 1800s literature.

The second tea time of the day is the afternoon tea. This event is actually a very old tradition, as it first appeared as a social event between the 1830s and 1840s. Back at that time lunch, specially for the upper class society, was a light snack and dinner was around 7:30 pm. So to fill out the long break between lunch and dinner the people of Britain invented the afternoon tea.

Dominik König

Wanderlust

So the main reason I chose to take British Literature is because I am obsessed with all things British. Even though I have never been to England it is at the top of my bucket list to go visit. I love to learn but not in the school way. I think people learn through experiences more than reading from a textbook. Though I have read, researched, and watched many documentaries about England I think the best way to learn is being immersed in their culture. I find their culture fascinating, their life is so different than us Americans. From pubs being older than the United States itself to having the a queen who has been on the throne for sixty-six years England is fascinating to me. So here is my bucket list for when I get to visit England.

1. Ride the London Eye
2. Go see Big Ben
3. Go see the Windsor Castle
4. Go see Buckingham Palace (I really love architecture)
5. Visit St. Paul’s Cathedral
6. Walk over the Tower Bridge
7. Visit Stonehenge
8. Go to Hyde Park
9. Go to Westminster Abbey
10. Go to the National Gallery (I am obsessed with art work)
11. Notting Hill
12. Shop at Primark
13. Eat at Nandos
14. Try and learn to like hot tea
15. Go see the graffiti at North Laine (I really enjoy tasteful graffiti. I know this sounds like an oxymoron)
16. Eat at Bill’s in Brighton
17. Try a traditional English breakfast
18. Try fish and chips
19. The Old Bank of England (it is a pub)
20. Find a place to sit and watch locals and the hustle and bustle of the streets in central London.

There is so much more I want to do when I go to England. Of course I want to do tourist things to see all the sights.I think all the castles in the country are amazing because the architecture. I love seeing all the intricate details because it is so creative. I think seeing Stonehenge will be amazing because it is prehistoric art. Hyde park is a must because it is the largest of the eight Royal parks in England. Shop at Primark and eat at Nandos has nothing to do with culture hahaha just always here people talking about the store online so I want to check it out. I can not wait to see their graffiti. I think that in the proper place and the proper art, graffiti is one of the most interesting types of art. There are no boundaries and that is why I love it.I also want to see what it is like to live like they live. I want to see the way they interact with each other. I like to people watch. Lol that sounds super creepy. I mean this in the non creepiest way possible. I think I will spend a day just relaxing at a pub or a coffee shop just taking in the surroundings and seeing their day-to-day life. Is it possible to go on vacation for a month? I feel like I might not want to leave once I get there!!

mood when I finally get to visit

-Savanna

Shooting an Elephant

  

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George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" is an account of a British Parliament solider who hunts down an aggressive elephant. The account feels incredibly personal and as though Orwell himself is the one who is hunting down the elephant. We are never told explicitly whether or not the narrator is Orwell himself and this makes the story feel much more personal, but also adds to the fact that this could be a fictional narrative.

 

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The narrative poses the question of morality. Morally the soldier is under the law of the imperial British rule and forced to keep the Burma people in line. In regards to imperialism, the people of Burma are very against the British soldiers and have been rude towards the soldier with snide comments. Imperialism can be an ugly coin with two sides. There is no right side and Orwell addresses that in his story.
 
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As this man hunts down an elephant, he wars with the knowledge that he will have to kill the elephant because of the Burmese people. They have follow him after they see him carry an elephant gun and he has crowds of two thousand behind him. The question is whether he is killing the elephant because of the people or because it is his duty as British officer.
 
Morally killing this elephant is graphic. It consists of multiple rounds being fired and the elephant still struggling to hang onto life. The elephant is hanging to life by a thread (much like the Burmese people). This elephant is living its life and the rule of man has said that it is violent, aggressive, and a risk to society. It must be taken down. The Burmese people have been told by the British that they are uncivilized and need culture to function properly. Both instances show that the British have control over innocent individuals who are trying to live their lives.

Do you think the Burma people are similar to the elephant? Let me know down below in the comments.

See you soon,
Sarah Johnson

Adele

When I think of art and literature I think of music. A lot of people forget that music is literature. Music is my favorite type of literature. I believe that music is extremely impactful and for me it reaches home more than a book does. When thinking of famous british musical artists I think of Adele. I know you are probably thinking you uncultured swine!!! Not The Beatles??? Do not get me wrong I love the Beatles but Adele is more my generation. Her music is so deep and she really does not care about what people think. She is who she is. Adele was born in London. Her father left her family at a young age, and I think that plays a part in her music. The first song she released was Hometown Glory. This song is one of my favorites, she wrote this song at the age of sixteen. Originally I fell in love with this song because of the lyrics. “I’m just wondering around my hometown memories are fresh” is one line that resonates with me. I moved away from home when I came to college and this line is reflects exactly how I feel. It is kinda like yes this is my hometown but the feeling is not quite the same since I moved away. When I travel home the memories are fresh as if I just left, but also it is not the same. This song was eventually released on her first album, 19. This album took England by storm and was number one on the charts. The album 19 is my favorite by Adele. Her songs are sad but meaningful. I was twelve years old blaring Chasing Pavements and Hometown Glory like I understood what they meant. It was not until I was in high school that I really understood what the songs meant. While I was in high school Adele released her iconic album 21. All her songs on the album were inspired by her previous break up with her boyfriend. I love this album so much; as you listen you can feel how hurt she is in her lyrics. You can tell in some songs just how much she was hurt. Someone Like You, Don’t You Remember, and Turning Tables are all deep. In these writings, you can tell she was experiencing a hurt that she had never felt before. For this reason this album is powerful. I think her music is like an open window to her feelings and her music is so raw giving me another reason to love her music. Recently Adele released her latest album, 25. Adele said that this album was kind of a “makeup” album unlike her last album 21 which was a breakup album. I personally already love a few songs off  this album. The songs are more upbeat than her previous two albums. I think that Adele’s music easily relatable. I can not wait for her next album. I think that she has grown so much as an artist since her first album. 

This is me dancing when Adele comes on

 -Savanna

Power in “Shooting an Elephant”

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Power in “Shooting an Elephant”

When I first read “Shooting an Elephant” I didn´t really know how to feel or what to think about the story at first. I felt conflicted about it, especially regarding the way power is portrayed in the story. It was quite interesting for me to read a story, where I could see the colonizer from an entirely different point of view for the first time. The narrator clearly admits that the life of every white man who lived in the East, was a long struggle which can not be laughed at. He is basically saying is that he is powerless to the demand of the people around him. He has the choice between shooting the elephant or being humiliated by those people. The subversion, in the text, of the typical colonizer-colonized relationship is very interesting to watch, because while other texts show us the human side of colonialism they are still always untouchably dignified and also in control. It almost feels like as if there is a invisible barrier that keeps the last “façade” from being removed. The storyline shows us a very nervous and insecure policeman who hates his job because he knows how tenuous the colonial control over the people is. This portrays a different perspective from the way colonial power is shown in Passage to India.

 

But now the question is were the power really lies in the story. Throughout the text it becomes we see clear signs that is actually the will of the 2000 people of the town to kill the elephant. When he receives the rifle from the people, they expect to watch the spectacle of killing the elephant. But not only do they want to observe the killing, they also want the meat of the dead elephant. By the time Orwell locates the elephant, he understands and comes to the conclusion that the elephant is no longer a danger to the people of the town, and that there is no actual need of killing it. This encounter really shows, that it is not the white man who holds power in Burma. It becomes more and more clear that the people of Burma are the actual holders of the power. Orwell also explains how he realizes that he has to shoot the elephant, because all the people expect it of him. He said he “feel their will pressing forward irresistibly.Orwell clearly describes the phenomena of domination. He didn´t want to kill that elephant, but the will of the other people kind of forced him to do it. He recognizes that he was an “absurd puppet pushed to and for by the will of those yellow faces behind.” This is the point where Orwell himself and the reader finally recognize, despite that he is an authority figure, the power the people of Burma have over him.

Dominik König

Symbolism in Shooting an Elephant

I feel as if this picture shows a good representation of Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. Essentially what's shown is an image of the elephant's eye as George is about to shoot it but I think this drawing is very interesting for many reasons. The first being that you can see in the elephant's eye it has a very humanistic response to a gun being pointed at it. The pupils are extremely small and the eyes are very wide as if the elephant had just been shocked or frightened. This kind of symbolizes how the elephant is no different than an innocent human. In reality, an elephant would never have any reaction to a gun being pointed towards it because they do not understand what guns are or do. However, this shows that the elephant has some sort of innocence. There is a lot of symbolization in Shooting an Elephant and the elephant symbolizes many things. The main symbolization for it, in my opinion, is how the elephant represents the imperialistic British Empire. The reason for the elephant being so shocked and frightened in this image is because one of the British Empire's own men are what kills it. One thing that I will say that this picture could have had to represent the story a little better was to somehow make the shooter more concerned in some sort of way. In this picture George (the one shooting the elephant) looks as if he is very determined to kill the elephant. There seem to be no signs of concern for shooting the elephant and no signs of remorse for the elephant, while in the novel that's not the case. George had no intentions of killing the elephant, but because of peer pressure, he gives in and does it. George saw the elephant as an innocent being, maybe even as himself in some perspectives. I feel as if the picture could somehow show George being more hesitant or maybe a crowd of people looking as if they are pushing George to do this. But in all, I feel as if it's a good representation of the novel. Showing how George is shooting at his reflection is another good example of the symbolism. Since the elephant symbolizes the British Empire, he's essentially shooting himself. I feel as if this picture shows the idea of symbolism in the novel, and the genius George Orwell put into the story. 

Ian Ransonet

Snowman and the Crakers

I wanted to talk a little about this picture and how it explains many things that happen in Oryx and Crake. I really really really enjoyed this novel and I can't find myself not thinking about it so I wanted to respond to this picture. As you can see this is either a drawn or painted image. The first thing that you may notice is probably the man sitting next to a bunch of naked children. The man is clearly Snowman and you know it's him because of many reasons: first he is surrounded by the naked children which are the Crakers, he has a long beard and head hair meaning he hasn't shaved in a while, he is the only visible human, and there is a society drowning around him. So I think it's safe to say that that's Snowman. And you know that these children are Crakers because they are all naked, they are all different skin colors, they all looked engaged in what Snowman is about to do/say, and they are sticking together around Snowman. I feel as if just this picture says a lot about Oryx and Crake. It shows buildings drowned out by the ocean representing the post-apocalyptic world Snowman lives in. It shows Snowman's loneliness as he sits under a tree, the only left of his kind, looking over the world he once saw as normal, now destroyed. It shows the Crakers and how they have so much interest in Snowman because he is so different from them all. This basically represents part of the beginning of the novel whenever Snowman has the Crakers all around him and they keep bothering him and asking him questions of what it was like before and how they were created. It shows a man with nobody like himself to go to, trapped in this world alone.

Ian Ransonet

My Feelings on Shooting an Elephant

Before I start this post I know there could be many counter arguments to my points on this post. This is my take on it. Personally I do not like the story in the essay Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell.  Long story short George Orwell was a European police officer stationed in Moulmein, Burma. He was ridiculed by all of the Berman people, and even the priest. One day a worker elephant went mad and was ravaging the city. By the time Orwell received the call the elephant had already destroyed a bamboo hut, killed a cow, and raided some of the bazaar’s fruit stands. Upon the arrival of Orwell he saw an elder lady shooing gawking children away to what he finds out to be a dead man. This man had been pummeled into the ground by the elephant. So Orwell decides to get a gun for safety. He is conflicted because he does not want to kill them but it seems as if the Berman people like him because they believe that he is going to shoot this animal. So Orwell shoots the elephant… numerous times… and the elephant dies a slow agonizing death.  

There are SO many problems I have with this essay. Let me start with this, I have no problem with hunting. I grew up hunting “nuisance” animals such as deer, hogs, and duck. But killing an animal that is not considered a nuisance is wrong in my book. People who go on safaris and kill innocent exotic animals disgust me. Yes, I know that the elephant killed and a man and tore up parts of a town. But think about all the animals in captivity, animals at SeaWorld, certain zoos, and the circus are longing to be out of captivity. No animal was meant to be locked in a cage, or tied up in a chain. Elephants are the largest land mammal and they need an extensive amount of land to survive. Can you really blame the elephant for being angry and breaking from his chain? No. So why did Orwell? My thought is that he was a coward. Orwell was ridiculed all the time, and this is the one time the villagers were supporting him, he did not want to let them down. He states he does not feel right killing the elephant. Orwell cared so much about what the Berman people thought of him. He  did not want to look like a fool. But why? The people were so hateful to him, why should he care? I know everyone wants to be accepted but I think that this crossed a line. Orwell states at the end that he can justify his kill because of his work and the fact that the elephant had killed someone. But at what point do you disconnect your morals from work? Personally I would feel so guilty for killing the elephant because it is against my morals. No job title, uniform, or acceptance could justify the killing. I just can not see how he went to bed with a clear conscience. Do you think that Orwell ever felt guilty?

Me reading that he justified himself!!!!

-Savanna

Shakespeare's Sister

  

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Virginia Woolf’s essay “Shakespeare’s Sister” in the collection A Room of One’s Own was written in a time when women were not writers and the freedom of expression was not a woman’s right. In Woolf’s essay she addresses the lack of education that women receive during her time period. (It should be noted that she is addressing fellow women who are privileged enough to be attending college.) Woolf creates a fictional character named Judith and dubs her as Shakespeare’s sister.

 
 

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If Shakespeare had a sister, she would have been nearly illiterate. She would have desired and thirsted for knowledge to some capacity, if not more, than her brother William. The problem is that she is not a boy. Her desiring knowledge and having a hunger to know more was not accepted or celebrated by the parents.

If Shakespeare had a sister, she would have been beaten for her desire to learn. She would have been told to get back to work. Work being her womanly chores like cooking, cleaning, mending clothes, and watching children. This would have been the world of Judith Shakespeare. A sad comparison to that of the illustrious playwright. 

 

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If Shakespeare had a sister, she would have desired to break the mold. With this desire and longing she would have tried to become an actress. She would have been laughed at and mocked because acting was a man’s job just like reading was only for men. She would have been duped by a manager who offers her a promise of her dream and become pregnant. 

 

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If Shakespeare had a sister, she would have wound up dead because of the patriarchy. She would have died because she was silenced and her voice never mattered. She would have died because she couldn’t offer anything outside of what women were expected to even though her heart longed for more. Judith Shakespeare’s life would have been controlled and dictated by men and who they told her she was as opposed to who she wanted to be. 

 

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Woolf argues that if women were given a room of their own to write they could be successful writers just like men. The problem is that men were given the rooms to write while women were to go and clean the room up after the men. I think that Woolf means more than just a room of one’s own. I think by room she means the freedom to have a work space, to think outside of the normal confines of the society, and the right to imagine passed the borders of what men say they should imagine. This room is figurative. She means women need room to write. As in, they need freedom in society to be able to foster and house these ideas. They need and deserve to be able to pursue knowledge. A room of one’s own is more than an actual room it’s a way of thinking in society. 

 See you soon, 

Sarah Johnson