5 Lines

I chose my five lines from Phaethon because I love that story.

And as the flames devour his ruddy hair,
young Phaethon plummets down; he pivots round
his burning body, trailing in the air
the sort of track that one can sometimes see
when-- through clear skies-- a star will seem to fall

I chose these lines because they made such a tragic even seem like something sort of good. When you see a shooting star you are usually happy about it. They made me feel like I was looking up at the sky seeing Phaethon fall from the chariot with the big horses charging on with no driver. It spoke to me! ;)

Buddha!

We discussed how Buddha was sheltered from sickness, old age, and death from the time when he was a baby. That really makes me sad. I mean I know that it isn't good to want anything bad to happen to other people, but it's life literally. I mean we all search for this deeper meaning and I won't say that I'm exempt from that criteria. I just don't think that we should want the world to be a perfect peaceful place. It never has been even from the beginning. The world started when the gods defeated the titans! I mean really people... the Buddha being sheltered is a pile of crap! Finally he went out and saw the world and that is how he became enlightened or at least that is how I understand the story. I just get really angry that all these people want world peace and they don't see a need for any violence. EARTH to the world!!!! It's here... heartache, depression, illness, death, violence, and murder. We live around it everyday. There is no shelter from it. Sorry buddha, but I'm glad that you finally saw the light!

A little more info on Buddhism from WIKI! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha

I'm a little partial to the big fat laughing buddha, but that's just me. It just proves that even if you're enlightened and know the not so great stuff exists in the world you can still be happy!

Redemptive Power of Art

I'm not so sure that I understand what Dr. Sexson was saying when he said the redemptive power of art on Wednesday. I just don't think I have quite gotten a grasp on the concept yet. From what I got this means that art can change your life and others. This is like when Daedalus turned his attention to the unknown arts (he made wings among other things). This gave him the power to change his life and others. Art can change people or lift a curse on a family or change a serial rapist like Zeus.

We completed our defenition of tragedy the other day in class. It is comprised of wasted youth, death, and the worst thing that you could possibly imagine. Tragedians used to compete with one another to see who could come up with the most terrible tale of suffering. That's twisted. If you have ever seen the movie Saw it is sort of like this. This "mastermind" makes up these puzzles where you have to give up something you love to live and stuff like that. Would you be able to cut the key to a mask that would smash your face to bits in a minute out of your lover's eye? I mean the saw movies are getting stupider as they go on, but the first one definetly thinks in twisted ways like tragedy. Are the people who wrote this stuff conscious of what tragedy used to be based on though that is my biggest question? If they aren't aware of what they are doing they are just sick individuals! That really creeps me out. I don't like knowing that there are people in our society living today that think like that. Someone could really do that stuff to people! EWWW!

Phaethon

I chose the story Phaethon from the Metamorphoses because I like what the story symbolizes. It is the typical story of a child not heeding to a parent's warning. It also shows good parenting in my opinion because Phoebus decided to let his son make his own decision. As a God Phoebus couldn't deny his son the promise that he made even though he wanted to say no. Phaethon was a child who found himself in over his head and wished that he had never wished to drive the chariot. It is an old example of what every teenager goes through. Some of them live to see another day, learning what could have been and to take heed in their parents advice. Some like Phaethon don't listen and don't live to see another day.

The story also speaks to another aspect of modern society in the affect that if a parent doesn't step in and stop a wreckless child a higher power will step in and take action. Juno takes the role of police on and stops Phaethon because Pheobus didn't stop his rampage. Phaethon destroyed most of the earth and because of that he was killed by Juno.

I found a link to another translation of the same story from the Metamorphoses... http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/phaethtrans.htm Just to show everyone what the same thing could look like in from the exact same text.