To read another Matrix journal click here.

Journal 2
 How does Neo from The Matrix relate to the phrase “Slavery to freedom” from The Narrative of Fredrick Douglass? Neo has been apart of the matrix for his whole life and has no clue that there is another reality besides the one that he has known.  He has sort of been a slave of the matrix computer reality. He had no choice to be in the matrix nor does have any possibility to get out on his own. When Morpheus then tells Neo that there is another reality he is then freed from only knowing one world and he is free from the matrix. The treatment in the matrix is nothing like how the slaves were treated. It is similar to Neo’s situation however because the slaves had no choice to be brought into slavery nor did they have a choice to get out of it.

Journal 3

Dr. Mark Zelter’s piano concert was amazing. As a musician myself I found his interpretations of Apollo and Dionysus wonderful. How did Zelter Show the apollonian style in his music? Every song tells a story and Dr. Zelter stated that Apollo was very orderly person. So Zelter picked songs that were very traditional with traditional composers such as Bach and Mozart. Both Bach and Mozart have very clear style with form. For an example they would compose songs with a phase then go into a chorus then they repeat the phase, which may be slightly different and then the same chorus will play again. This style is clear and precise and repetitive somewhat.
 How did Zelter display the Dionysus side in his piano performance?  Dionysus was said to be the opposite of Apollo. Dionysus was very disorderly. So Zelter took music that was crazy, creative, and frantic. A composer that Zelter chose that displayed these qualities in his music was Debussy.
 The performance was presented in a very thoughtful way. I felt that Dr. Zelter was an excellent musician and he displayed the two main characters in the Bacchae very well. It helped me clarify the type of people that Apollo and Dionysus were.

Journal 4

 The Apollonian and Dionysian Debate was Great!!! I would want to ask one question to the panels, “How would you monitor the drinking to make sure that students would not exceeded their limits and possibly exposing themselves to alcohol poisoning?”
I think that the Apollonian Panel would probably answer with things that I would want to hear.
 “We stress the importance of our students health and safety above anything. We want students to have a fun and relaxing learning environment without having any risk to their health. Most likely to prevent students exceeding their personal limits we would set limits in the club to how many drinks you can have. Your Student I.D. card would be swiped every time you have a drink and the card will not allow you to purchase more than five drinks in one day. This would be the best things for all of the students to insure good health and responsibility.”

Journal 5

  Lies, Lies, Lies. It seems in all Soaps scripts today there is nothing but people cheating on people in many varieties of ways. Then others want to seek revenge and every body tells lies. In the Story Electra it has a similar plot to a Soap Opera. First, Electra’s mother kills her husband due to a lover on the side and then makes her daughters practically become slaves. I never had a chance to watch a soap opera this week because I was out of town with my soccer team. However I ‘m a huge Soap fan anyways. The soap I can relate to is Days Of our Lives fan. I know that on a typically day on “Days” somebody is carrying out a deceitful act for an example, A character could be black maleing another just so that they can get what they want. No matter what day it is there is always a segment dedicated to cheating or an affair. I can reflect when I was really into “Days” there was this Character Kristen who locked a women Marlaina in a basement so that Kristen could be with Marlana’s husband John. How twisted is that!!! It just reminds me of Electra.

Journal 6

Tonight I went to hear Professor Giora Shoham speak tonight in the auditorium. What was it like to hear from a man that has accomplished so much in his life? While listening to the professor speak it was very hard to understand him because he was from Israel and had a very thick accent. He started his lecture by putting on his little microphone and saying, “I always wanted to be a pop star”. He lightened the mood by saying this and then he moved into talking about his topic for the night: The Bacchae, sacrifice and the Sacred this educated the audience about the origins of Christianity and the history of suffering and sacrifice. For example, Shoham spoke of the sacrifice that Agameon had to make in giving his own daughter to get something he wanted out of the gods. At, first his daughter does not want to die, but later becomes a “willing victim” and accepts her fate. Was I able to tie in the lecture with The Bacchae? I really could not follow with professor Shoham because he was very hard to understand. I went to the first night that Professor Shoham spoke, to see what the other lecture was about read one ofmy class mates journal.

Journal 7

      I like to see a smile every day

     The world seems extra brighter in each way,

     With all the stress that sometimes loads us down

     It seems real easy to put on a frown.

     I have two friends named Boo and Staff

     They always seem to make me laugh

     The good friends are there to help you out

     Even when you just want to loudly shout

     I think I will make it all the way through

     As long as I have friends just like you two.

To read another great Iambic Pentameter poem click here.

Journal 8

Over fall break I played a soccer game and I went with a teammate to her hometown, Tyler, Texas. In Henry V, King Henry had to motivate his soldiers to defeat the French. During my break my teammates and I had to get motivated to try to defeat the Ladies of T.C.U. (Texas Christian College). Unfortunately rain was in the forecast for that Thursday and poured during our match. We were unable to finish the game and the game was considered a no match.  Also in King Henry at the beginning of the play finds out that he has royalties to the French territories. Well, I went to a town that I had always known of in my state but never really gave it a thought till I met a friend and teammate that was from this town. We went to a town in east Texas called Tyler. I learned that Tyler is famous for it’s Rose Gardens and the Rose Festival. My friend and I went to the Rose Gardens and took silly pictures and watched a wedding party take pictures too. We had to make the trip short because we had to return to school for soccer practice. My fall break was nowhere near as exciting as Henry V but it was a good break from college life.

Journal 9

The Shenandoah Shakespeare Express was here this week and they where an interesting group of characters (no pun intended). Their presentation of Shakespeare’s Henry V was performed in a way that I was not expecting. How did they present the play? One really unique thing I noticed is you could always see the characters even the ones that were not in the scene. You knew that there was a backstage part with characters that were not in the scene, but you could always see them. Also, SSE left all the lights on during the performance so that the audience felt apart of the play. Did I like the way it was presented? I usually like the lights off during a performance, I guess because I’m used to total darkness in the audience. I like the separation of the actors and the audience. I also had a hard time following which character was which. The SSE only uses about 9 actors, which means that an actor could have multiple parts. It would get confusing when the same actor kept coming out in every scene but with a different role. Again, I’m used to seeing a different person for every role. All of the actors of the SSE were very enthusiastic and I really enjoyed watching and being apart of the performance.

Journal 10

I saw the C.K. Williams video today and it was not the most exiting video I have ever watched. C.K. Williams was an older man that was probably in his sixties. The video starts out with Dr. Havird talking about the Corrington Award. What is the Corrington Award? This award is in its twelfth year and is awarded to alumni of Centenary who have done something great in literature.  The medal itself is bronze and was designed by Clyde Collins.  Williams is the fourth person to win the Pulitzer and the Corrington Award. What was my favorite poem that C.K. read? I think that the poem “Gas” really had my attention. I liked this poem so much because it makes me think about my three best friends and me, here at school. Also, I would never guess that a person who has won so many awards for their poems and literature would write a poem about farting. However it is a natural thing and there is no shame in it. C.K. Williams read about ten more poems after that. They all seemed to run together because I was very tired and my attention span was short.

Journal 11

I watched the film Young Frankenstein. The reason why I chose this film is the simple fact that I love Mel Brooks and all of his movies. Was this movie anything like the book? Like most of Mel Brook's movies, this was a comedic spoof on the real Frankenstein, the only part that was like the book was just the part of recreating a human being with many different human body parts. The movie starts out with Frankenstein's Grandson going to his grandfathers' castle to live there. He then gets curious to what his Grand father did in the past and starts experimenting on his own. Young Frankenstein has a very funny assistant named Igor.
This movie did not relate really to the original story of Frankenstein but it did make me laugh. I didn't get a chance to see any other film this week because I had to leave on a very long Soccer trip
 

Journal 12

The performance of Electra was quite an experience. When I first walked into the theater I noticed the elaborate, dreary, and rustic set on the stage. How did the set help the play?   The whole stage was covered with dark material, mats, or dark colored wood. The play opened with eerie music. The music and set, through out the play, always helped set the tone of the action that was happening or about to happen.  Hoe did the characters help the mood of the play? The characters were very elaborate as well. First Clytemnestra was very extreme. Her costumes and make-up made me think of Cruella Deville. Also the character Electra was very dramatic. The actress would always be ranting. One second she would be pulling her hair out and the next she was rolling on the floor. Watching the actress playing Electra was sort of humorous to me and helped me stay interested in the play. The play as a whole wasn’t bad and it actually helped me understand the play a little more than before.

Journal 13

Today we had a wonderful opportunity to listen to a holocaust survivor speak. Her name was rose Van Thyn and she was an amazing older woman that was filled with life. What was it like to listen to her narrative? As I listened to her story I was amazed that a woman that had been through such a horrific time in history could speak to all of us in the manner that she did. She spoke to educate us, and not to scare us or make us feel sorry for her. I think the holocaust has a different effect on every person, and for me I find it one of the most brutal things that have ever been done to human beings. How would I have acted in her shoes? I really don’t think I could talk about something like that and I really admire Mrs. Thyn. Just listening to her story it really bothered me. How did the set up of the stage help the mood? The stage was set up like a corner of a living room with a chair, end table, and lamp. This made it look like Rose was just in her living room personally talking to each individual about her story. I’m sure it made her feel more at ease as well.

Journal 14

Today I visited the Meadows Museum of Art here on campus. I seemed to notice that there was a lot of art that was done by Latin American artist. Just looking at some of these paintings I was thinking what a great country we are to have a lot of diversity. This made me think a little about Maus. How could a person want to wipe out a whole religion that was rich with culture and history? Being Hispanic I know I have so many great traditions and heritage that I would love to share with everyone. The whole book Maus is a great piece of art too. It displays what it was like in the concentration camps and how difficult it was for a person to deal with the tragedy after wards. Also, you can view these emotions through the comic strips throughout the book.

Journal 16

This semester has just flown by. I can’t believe that my first semester of college has already come to a close. What are my thoughts now that I look back on the semester? I feel that through out the semester I learned how to think outside of the lines. Recently in analyzing Maus by Art Spiegelman, I really was challenged by not just having to read the comic but really look into every picture and try to understand what the drawing meant. I was expecting to have to read a lot more than we actually had to read, however we wrote way more papers than what I was expecting. Also, I never thought that I could actually successfully have my own web page on the Internet. It feels great to see something you created on a huge bulletin board for the world to see. Was there anything that was unexpected this semester? I really didn’t know what to expect this semester so there wasn’t anything that I absolutely was appalled by. As I finish this last journal for this semester I’m thankful that I survived.