NOTABLES FOR FEB 15th to 18th

I have to say, I am very proud! Of myself for coming up with this blog idea! Just kidding, I'm very proud of all of you for being such dedicated bloggers. I can see that some people are really taking to the blogging format and posting some very creative responses. I hope you are all reading each others posts and making note of what makes good and great responses. Visuals always help make a post more interesting, and links and additional resources are generous gifts that will keep people coming back to visit your blog. There are still some people who haven't posted, but hopefully by the end of the weekend, everyone will have at least one post up, if not more!

And now for this week's notables...

Publish, don't perish.

NOTABLES FOR Feb 15th to 19th

COOL COVERS
Aline managed to find the coolest dust jackets (covers) for Sailor and House of the Spirits that I've ever come across. Check out her blog for the images.

The images are not the only reason to check out her post this week; she makes a wonderful connection between Ryuji and Clara. Although there are a couple of grammatical missteps (ex. contemplates "over" is redundant -- to contemplate is sufficient enough; you don't need the preposition "over"), the focus of the post is a parallel between Ryuji and Clara's love for something larger than life -- namely the sea and the spiritual world. Go visit her blog to read more, as she grounds her argument very well with many substantial quotations from each text.

SAILOR GAME?
Thien is trying to start a Sailor game. He's offering a prize. So far no one is playing Thien's game. Thien, I have to say, your game is either very, very easy or very, very difficult. I get the image of death and I get the image of the gang, both of which are present in many chapters, but I don't remember Tiger Woods (or golfing, for that matter) popping up in any chapters. Help me out, class. Let's keep Thien's game alive.

A HEART BEAT
Asim's most recent post is worth a read, not only for his interesting insight on the "father" relationship between Noboru and Ryuji, but also for his redemptive return after his appearance in the Valentine's Day Massacre post. Asim arrives in this post armed with a anthology of adjectives that many poets would love to raid. His post is fluid and stylistic. He is neither superfluous nor stingy with his words, although I will say that he does end his post too much on a summary (and, yes, I did catch the last line under the picture, which I liked!).

THE NEXT DOUGLAS COPELAND?
If you haven't visited Andy's blog yet, you should. As a teacher, with Andy's blog, I get access into a teenage mind that has the narrative capability of a writer who knows how to speak authentically but intelligently for his generation. Each teenage voice is unique and valuable in creating a holistic narrative for your generation, but what Andy has done in his most recent post is address the universal topic of "growing up" without the tradition teen angst that tends to come with young people thinking about "getting old" (ie. my age). I think the irony in his post that resonates with me long after reading the post is maturity of insights are far more "grown up" than most grown ups are capable of having. Many adult men -- and women -- are not capable, or choose not to, deal with emotions or take time to reflect. Here a young person who does not want to "grow up" is doing it right before your eyes in his post. Go be a witness. (The inspiration and connections to Sailor are implicit, but could have been made more obvious for this sake of this assignment.)

Valentine's Day Massacre

Politics and the English Language is a powerful essay by George Orwell, the man who brought us 1984, Animal Farm and other ahead-of-his-time literature.  This essay discusses his concern with the next generation's lackadaisical relationship with language -- using catch phrases in place of true emotive statements and not truly learning how to use the English language to express themselves.  I feel a little bit like a fish in and out of this bowl of water that Orwell speaks of because I am of this generation that does not have a grasp of the English language that someone like Anne Frank naturally had, but I am also in a position to critique others of their errors.  Take Janani's most recent post, for example (Feb. 13th).  

Instinctually insightfully, Janani is recognized by her peers to be a "top" student.  Her last post, although it contains the higher level insights she is known for, is limited by initial grammatical faux-pas. When words go to "print", our intelligence is measured by our mastery of language -- however fair or not.  Janani's first two sentences contain issues with verb tense.  See if you can catch and correct the errors:

"Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I decided that it would be called for to mention something that had to do with love, or happiness. It was then when I found the perfect quote, stated above, by Ryuji." 

The post makes a timely connection to Valentine's Day and identifies Ryuji's definition of love as something that is concrete and figurative -- the love of a woman or the love of the sea.  Which is a grander love?  To love an idea? Or to love something you to can touch and feel and know is real?  It becomes a question of faith if you look at the sea as a god-like figure.  However, if you view loving the sea as a way to avoid the complexity (and messiness, pain, hurt, etc.) that comes with loving another human being, then the question is not about faith but about emotional guardedness.  

For this pre-Valentine's Day post, Janani raises some wonderful counter-culture notions for the holiday of love as Ryuji has a love for the sea that is greater that any Hallmark card can capture, but the Orwellian in me cannot help but compare the contrast in Mishima's precise use of language and Janani's missteps.  There is power in language and in this battle, Mishima won.    

Janani joins others, like Asim, who have wonderful insights (his is on the use of Irony -- check it out!), but he uses phrases like:

"The first irony I noticed  was the self destruction of the nihilist arguments which Noboru and his band presented."

Not only is he not using literary present, he refers to irony committing an act of self-destruction.  Irony is not capable of such human feats.  

Janani and Asim are taking applications for others to join their club.  Act fast, spaces are filling up quickly.  As we are all capapble of grammatical error and will committ it at some point or another, their club is sure to grow; I may join them soon -- I probably already have! 

NOTABLES for FEB 13th - 14th

SAHIL -- Very well-written post on Bushido,  Make sure you check out the link on the seven virtues of Bushido; it's an easy website to go through and it's a fascinating connection to the world that surrounded Mishima.  Sahil has a clear writing style.  Please note his use of complex sentence.  He avoids overuse of pronouns such as "It" and "This".  

AUVIYA -- You give a large excerpt, then make assumptions on Ryuji's motives.  I like your ideas but they feel incomplete.  You say maybe he loves the sea because his mother died when he was young.  But why?  Can anyone add to Auviya's ideas?