Skip the Door

I had planned on talking about a story I read a week or so ago but I recently read a short story by Sherman Alexie that I enjoyed so much I would rather talk about it. The story's title is "Breaking and Entering" and can be interpreted a different way every time you read it. The story is about an independent film editor who is a victim of a breaking and entering while he is in his house. Without giving away anything important let me just say that one thing led to another and the right to act upon a person wrongfully breaking into your house may have been taken to far. The first time I read it I felt sympathy for the man who had to fend off a burglar. As I thought about what I read I didn't consider the fact that the narrator is the man who was being burglarized. I then read it in the light of a man on testimony defending his actions of his violent defense. He did not seem guilty but the question of who was to blame became more disputable. This story can be interpreted many ways and it brings up many good points pertaining to racism, proper justice and honesty. For the few, if any, people that read this, read this story:

http://peopleandstories.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/breaking-and-entering.pdf  

Frankenstein

The popular culture view of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein demonstrates the degeneration of society that has been gaining speed for the past several decades. The only information drawn from the story is from the horrific instances related to the monster rather than taking the merit offered through Shelley's composition. The message trying to be passed can still be done even if the recited story is taken out of context from the book but the recitation tends to have the monster's tale embellished to the point where he is only meant to convey fear in the recipient of the story. The commonly known, misinterpreted version of the story goes something like this: Evil scientist creates monster from assembled corpses and the monster begins to wreak havoc on the town until a mob of townspeople end his life. This rendition is solely to appease the interests of the majority that would find reading a relatively short novel too much work. I know I am not the first person to show discomfort with this but it still needs to be said. The monster's name is not Frankenstein either, he doesn't have a name.

Ain't Nothin More Important than the Mula -Big Sean

In my English Literature class we discussed a poem that goes by the name "The Garden of Love." This William Blake written poem discusses the idea of what freedom really constitutes as. In the poem a young boy reminisces about a beautiful field he once played in that is now controlled by a religious group who built a Cathedral and a graveyard and now the boy feels as if he has had something taken away from them. In that class discussion I commented on what freedom means to different people and how some people can help people feel free through other ways they may be overlooking. This is something I already had written but I wanted to share it somewhere it is not confined to the people in my class. It is an issue that always comes to mind. 

I'm not trying to be sacrilegious in any way. I respect all religions and whatever a person may want to believe in. That being said, the only thing that lives truly free on Earth anymore are plants and wild animals both to a certain degree. Humans live under other humans that have obtained more power. Many animals live under the rule of humans but their several species that live amongst themselves and no other inhabitable humans. Plants do nothing more than grow freely wherever they are and even if they are in a garden or in a pot inside somewhere they are still free and live under less confinement than most other living things in this world. This takes me back to the poem and how Blake uses plants as a symbol for freedom. The flowers in the garden and the other plant life grew freely in an open field without being planted by man or having in sort of influence. Later on in life a cohort of religious locals decide that they are going to build in that location thus, ceasing all plant life.The moment they began digging up the field in preparation for the Chapel is the same moment they stole the plants freedom. On top of that, they didn't even plant more but rather "planted" beings that were already dead. This coincides with the children who had fond memories of running around in a beautiful field but now no longer have that option. The only option they now have in that location is to sit at a pew and sing to a God they have never seen before. This is the part where I fear I cross lines with sacrilege. This story can be connected with modern times and religion. One defined thing that cannot be denied is that if people come across controversy in their life whether it be a natural disaster or something along those lines is that money can help their cause so they can rebuild. Many religions are known to pray for the unfortunate people that have come across such horrors. There is nothing wrong with that in any way and it is nice to have good thoughts put out for those people but the issue is with where they pray. Religious people have shown that they are willing to spend an abundance of money on their buildings that they worship in. Some of them have technology greater than public schools have. This money ought to go to a cause greater than that such as helping the less fortunate. It confuses me that such grand temples are made in the names of deities that are supposed to be against materialism. Worship in an all gold Cathedral should not be held higher than worship in a cardboard box.

Poetry

As an English Education major you would think I would be better at dissecting poetry than I really am. My only explanation for this is my lack of interest in it. I understand that I will come across in almost every class I take from now until I graduate which I have already accepted. Every poem I read I attempt to force myself into enjoying it but for some reason end up disliking it even more. There are the rare poems that I thoroughly enjoy but they are not often enough. The least the author could have done was follow a rhyme scheme. The poems that lack this make for a much more difficult read for me. Why not just write it as a short story instead writing in stanzas and titling it as poetry. Poetry that does not rhyme is the abstract art of literature to me. Anyone can splash paint on a canvas and call it art. I don't have room to criticize because I've never successfully done either but I hope one day that I will find joy in reading poetry.

Today I will talk about a story that I recently came across again and believe that it is one of the most powerful short stories, especially for how short it really is. Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" takes no longer than ten minutes to read but will leave you thinking for much longer. The story is about a woman who finds out her husband has been involved in a train wreck. She begins acted as anyone would expect with hysterical disbelief at the occurrence but it does not take her long to turn that hysteria into a euphoric state. The ending is the best part and is open to a wide amount of interpretation and something that you must read on your own to come up with your own opinion. The story speaks strongly on the role of women in that time period and how society was forced to view women through the point of view of a man without input from anyone else. The stereotypes were strong and expected of the women. Many things have changed since this story was written but there are still prejudices from that period of time that still hold today. More people should read this story and other work done by Kate Chopin, it would do the world some good. But who read anymore?

I'm going to venture off topic yet again for today's blog. Several months ago I started a television show called Dexter. It is about a serial killer who only kills other murderers in attempt to "balance the scales." It is the first television show that I have watched consistently that wasn't a mindless cartoon. I always prefer a book version of a story over a recorded version but it was not until I was a couple of seasons into the show that I found out it was a book series, should have guessed. The sloth inside me told me that I was to far into the show to begin the books and I just went along with it. Every now and again I regret it because some of the characters on the show aren't working out for me. I won't say any specific names but if you watch the show, you may agree with me on a few. If it wasn't for Michael C. Hall playing the character of Dexter to the point where anyone else would seem wrong, I might have given up on the show already.

Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club may be the only book with a movie that exceeds its brilliance. I do not say that lightly either because I have not read any other book with the same haste quite like I did Palahniuk's masterpiece. Having Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as the two main characters is bound to help any movie but the story they had to work with and the ways they bent the original story were nothing short of perfect. It is difficult to explain knowing that someone who reads this has potentially neither read or seen this story so I will do my best. The ending in the written version laid the story to rest ending it in a peaceful manner that does not exist in the rest of the book. Almost the entirety of the book has you forgetting to breathe but quickly lands you on your feet recollecting all that has happened and even with the way it ends, wondering how it got to that point. The cinematic version of the film breathes in a chaos polluted world and reminds you that once you have reached a certain point that there is no turning back or easy way out. The ending still has serene qualities to it but is nothing more than searching for the beauty in chaos. If you try hard enough, it is there.

Without any other thoughts on my mind I will continue on with my trend of story reviewing.

Ray Bradbury is my biggest inspiration when it comes to writing and literature as a whole. His ability to write about moral impurities in the world and how they affect the entire world through science fiction is a revolutionary style. Often times tales that hint at a moral lesson beyond the literal meaning tend to be a chore to read but with mixing in time travel, aliens, different planets and all the other wonders that make up science fiction he was able to connect with an entire different breed of people that the "classics" were incapable of doing. Even then, he was able to bring many people into the world of science fiction as well.

To get into the story, it is titled, "Marionettes, Inc.", and it is in his collection entitled, The Illustrated Man, about a man who replaces himself with a robot that is exactly like him in down to the distinct characteristics. He does this because he cannot stand his wife anymore and needs a way to occupy his wife while he goes on vacation with friends. The story told me how you should not turn away from your problems and always confront them because when you put road blocks in between you and the problem, it only makes it more difficult when the time comes and you have to confront the issue whether you want to or not. This is an option that I am sure many married folk would enjoy the use of but head this warning that it is not a good option unless your wife is into trying something "different" but I won't get into that. Either way, the story tells so much more than what I have said but if I write anymore I will have concluded the story without you having to read it and where is the fun in that?

I know I said that I would discuss what I've read recently but I have to retract that for today because I want to talk about music. There will be plenty of days to talk about literature in the future. Like math, I believe music to be a universal language that the human population shares. You would be hard pressed to find a person that does not enjoy some type of music whether be a hymnal or a heavy metal band. That is the beauty of music. Maybe it is the lyrics that dig deep into your emotions and leave a mark that you share with that artist or it could be the flow of the instruments that has your head swaying like a boat in the middle of the ocean. No matter what it is, that feeling that you get does not come from anywhere as effortlessly as it does through listening to music.

I've had my prejudices against genres of music or even specific artists as do most people but I have had experiences lately that changed my mindset. About two weeks ago I got back from a music festival called Bonnaroo. First off, I want to say that anyone who has the opportunity to attend a music festival should not hesitate and also do the best that they can to make the opportunity. While walking around the enormous festival grounds I knew there were bands I had no desire to see. To my surprise I ended up at a few of those bands and not only gained a new found appreciation for them but for music as a whole. I thought about how for every band on the set list was bound to have at least one of the 80,000+ people at this concert as their favorite band. This meant that all the work the band went through to become an artist paid off because they reached out to someone through music more than any other artist has for them and that has to mean a lot to them. There are the artists who are in the music business to get rich and famous but the majority is in it to share what they have done and hope that their music is being played in someone's car at full volume while they yell every word of the song along with the band and during that moment their is nothing more than them and that song. I continued to walk through the concerts and saw that every venue had people at it whether is was 500 or 50,000 and that solidified the thought that musicians will always thrive for the purpose of being able to reach out to someone whether it is a few or it is an innumerable amount.

Lastly, I want to say that you should listen to whatever you enjoy. You may be judged for what you listen to but that is only because they do not understand how you feel when your favorite song is playing. Don't ever let anyone believe they make the law for what music is good to listen to because they are not the only ones listening to it and no one is forcing to listen to what they do not enjoy. If listening to dial up tones makes you happy, listen to dial up tones.

As an English Education major I already read more than the average person. This yearn to read has carried past required reading and on to pleasure reading. Chances are most of my blog posts will be about something I read but I'll try to mix it up every once in awhile. Recently, I read Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in a classic American short story anthology. It was a good story but was drawn out way to long in the beginning. It is hard to not give anything away by speaking about the story so I will keep it short and say that when Ichabod Crane encounters the Headless Horsemen the reading is worthwhile but I felt that Irving could have written so much more around it than he did. It was still worth reading and I now understand how so many alternate takes on the story have been created since his story. If anything he paved the way for stories to come inspiring people for the last several centuries. Branches of that story are always popping up and that is sure to be a story that is used as a template for many more years to come. If I were to suggest a Washington Irving story to people it would be "Rip Van Winkle" over "Sleepy Hollow" but it always comes down to preference. I guess just read both.

More Nonsense

As a consumer of fast food I cannot completely pledge my hatred for the fast food sector of the economy but I know that if they all happened to disappear over night I would not even shudder. The first part of my partial hatred comes from a financial point of view. I added up the amount I would spend a week on fast food if I ate there twice a week including only weekdays and the sum came to around $75 and that was rounding down rather generously. I then decided that I would spend the same amount on groceries to see how long it would last me. After using the majority of the groceries including the primary food, such as food I would make a meal out of, it lasted me about two full weeks and I still had some food left over and a good portion of my snack related food left. This meant that I did not have to buy all the same items the next time I went to the grocery store and had more money to spend in my budget on food that I can cook meaning my groceries would last me that much longer. Financially I saved around 50% of what I was spending on fast food. From a nutritional perspective I had to have been eating much healthier. I am not expert on health and nutrition but it does not take an expert to know that the majority of fast food it not beneficial to your body other than the fact that it fills you up and it controls your hunger. The food that I got from the grocery store consisted of fresh produce, meat to cook and additional side dishes such as rice to eat along side the meat and produce. As I said before, I am no expert but I have a feeling that the food I prepare is much healthier. I can also add food preparation to the list of things I have little expertise in but I do know that my pan-fried chicken with a side of rice and vegetables taste better than anything McDonald's has to offer but then again I may just be biased. Personally, I believe that beneficial finances, health and taste all out way convenience and if you can't find the time to cook a couple meals in the day than either you work to much or not enough.

UNICEF Tap Project

Normally I would talk about an important event going on in my life but this time I want this post to actually have value to it. The United Nation's Children Fund, also known as UNICEF, is holding a project that they call the Tap Project. This project is meant to help provide clean water for countries that do not have easy access to it. All you have to do to help is not use your cellphone. It sounds odd but their mobile website has an application on it that times how long you do not use your phone and for every minute unused, you provide water for one day to a child in need. It works this way because several corporations have pledged a certain amount of money for every minute raised to help fund the project. So please feel free to help a child's life today and be productive at the same time.

Winter Olympics

Watching the Olympics has always been something I look forward to whether it be Summer or Winter. I am willing to watch almost any sport they televise just knowing that is the best people from across the world competing to prove who is the best in the world. I also enjoy the fact that they change the location of the Olympics every time they come around. Sometimes they choose a less than appropriate place for the Olympics. Take this year for example, they chose Sochi, Russia as the place to hold the Winter Olympics. I do not have anything against Russia but if a place does not already have high living standards for the people who actually live there, than I don't know if they should be hosting the Olympics. Lately people who are in Sochi have been complaining about the living conditions such as undrinkable water or how they have surveillance cameras in the showers. There must not be a list of requirements for the hosting city to uphold because if their were I feel as if clean drinking water would be pretty high on the list. Having already heard so many complaints about the living issues I have grown tired of them to the point where I no longer care to talk about them. I'll just stick to enjoying the sports which is what we really tune into the Olympics to begin with.

Old Styles, New Times

I started to write about the weather again because it is safe to say that it has only gotten worse but then I remembered that I had already wrote about it in my last post. The suffering is real when you consider lighting yourself on fire while walking to class because you have convinced yourself that you would be more comfortable aflame than you would numb and miserable. This soapbox already feels worn out.

My 21st birthday passed by over the weekend and my parents were the only one's who got me a present that did not alter my mind (although I did take a shot with my Dad.) They got me a modern day record player and a few records. As someone who was born into the age of technology and often saw things that already have predecessors as out of date, I never thought about owning a record player as a good use of time or money. The trick to having good use out of a record player is finding music that would more likely be on vinyl (i.e., older music) and finding out what you enjoy. Jazz has always been one of my favorite genres and I have always listened to it off of iTunes and my Dad always told me it never sounded the same. Not until I played a Miles Davis on my record player did I really understand what he was saying. It would be hard to argue that the quality of the music was better but something about the sound of it was different. It was as if I went to a concert blindfolded. Instead of my record player sitting on top of my dresser it was Miles Davis propped up against playing a concert for one but luckily for me this concert has no end. I doubt I will completely indulge myself into listening to vinyls and give up all other forms but it is a nice hobby to have.

R.I.P. Miles Davis

Cold Weather

Living in Oklahoma I have grown to hate the cold weather. It is hard to predict the weather accurately in Oklahoma because it can be very random at times. One day it will be in the mid-60's and then the next it will be in the teens. It is not hard to plan on this weather on a day to day basis but it would be nice for the weather to make up its mind and stick with a consistent pattern. The weather lately has been about the same, really cold. I think the primary reason I hate the cold is that their is nothing related to the cold in Oklahoma that you can do. In places like Colorado or New Mexico to name a few, they are more likely to look forward to cold weather because they have activities involving cold weather such as skiing and most mountain related activities. Living on flat land means we have the wind sweeping down the plains at 5 degrees to look forward to. The only way I can imagine enjoying the weather would be have something to correlate with it but until then I am looking forward to the summer, 143 days and counting.

Another week, another blog post.
This year I gave myself goals to accomplish by the end of the year to really try to figure out my potential and better myself while doing it. These included volunteering more, learning Italian and how to play the piano being among the many things. The first goal I started was learning how to speak Italian. I have always wanted to speak another language and I even took French 1 my second semester of college but unfortunately I took it in the Spring and by the time the Summer was over I had not retained enough to even take a French 2 course. There was no one to blame but myself for the lack of knowing how to speak French. This time I wanted to start completely over with a whole new language and everything. I am not sure how I ended up with Italian being my choice but I think the love of mafia movies had a hand in it. I want to be completely self taught more or less because it was cheaper than taking a class or purchasing Rosetta Stone. I figure that the easiest way to learn is to mimic the way I initially learned English as a child and that is to start from the basics of pronunciation to starting with the simplest of words and building up. Once I have the basics down I will really dive into it through watching movies in Italian and working with more difficult Italian books or anything that would improve on top of the skills I will already have learned. My knowledge of the language is still very limited but by the time my course is over I hope to be much deeper in it so I will inform whomever may read this later on down the road of my progress because I would probably embarrass myself at this point.
Ciao.

Hello to whomever may read this. My name is Jeremy Brennan Kinsey and I currently reside in Edmond, Oklahoma so I can attend the University of Oklahoma and hopefully obtain my English Education degree. I am originally from Oklahoma City and grew up in a town within the city called Bethany. Most of my time spent in Bethany involved playing sports with the aspirations of playing in college one day. Without any athletic offers worth following up on I ended up at U.C.O. and decided to take my chances in the academic world. So far it has gone well thanks to the people I have met along the way and the people who I already knew. That and the sweet sound of music help me get through my everyday life. If you manage to stumble across this blog and then stumble across me, please say hello and being willing to talk because I love meeting new people. Everybody has a story.