“There was an old Consul called FirminWho alas was infested with verminBut for this man obsceneWas prepared a ravineTo spend all the rest of his term in.”

Malcolm Lowry (1942-44)

I found a man strung from a tree,
and though he swung hung heel-to-sky,
his legs were crossed, and he was calm.

This seemed unnatural to me.
I asked if I should cut him down.
He said, "No need. My hands are free.
I'll be just fine; I'm going home.
Look me up, when you arrive;
we can chat and drink fine tea."

I left that man strung from his tree.
I found it odd he trusts his god
with such foolish, fatal diligence.

So far this semester i feel pretty great. this picture is how i feel at the moment, which is sportingly fantastic because we just kicked the shit out of IU. I felt the headband would show some school spirit and the black and gold appropriately represented purdue. also, since this is my final semester and i enjoy all of my classes i felt a smile would help because i am nervous to leave a place where i wake up pretty happy every day.

Also, i had some free time so i wrote into the exponent over superbowl weekend. not bad for my first forray (spelling?) into journalism.

http://www.purdueexponent.org/?module=article&story_id=4026

I feel like a mythical creature at this point in the semester so it makes sense to have wings. Also I feel like I gone down a "dark" path like in "Little Red Cap". Maybe their will be sunshine in April, or maybe May. But right now it's a depressing winter. This was the best I could do. 

I hope I did that right! This is me-where I want to be-on a beach.  Anywhere warm and really far away from West Lafayette, IN with a drink in one hand and ice cream in the other-could life be more perfect?! I really don't think so.  The only good thing about cold is so much snow we don't have class.  I hope everyone enjoyed their break!

This picture sums up how I'm feeling at this point in the semester.  I am feeling overwhelmed with my classes and homework.  I'm always up way too late doing anything and everything, hence the circles under my eyes.  I am wearing a really ugly brown fur coat due to the horribly cold weather going on outside.  It just makes me want to stay in bed all day.  I have two things in one hand which symbolizes how I am trying to juggle everything that is going on in my life - so far so good.  One thing is a gun.  I'm not advocating violence, but at times, especially right now, I am getting annoyed with just about everyone.  Even with the two snow days, this has been a really stressful week - I've had a lot of things to get done, but the snow days kind of pushed those back, and then added more work.  Plus, I've been sick so I didn't even really get to enjoy the snow days.  I'm also holding something much more positive - a nice fruity cocktail.  What can't be fixed by that?  It reminds me of spring break which cannot get here soon enough.  It is going to be a much needed break from classes, and I also get to see my boyfriend.  He is in the Navy so I hardly ever get to see him.  My character is in a classroom because I feel like that is where I always am - and never want to be.  Basically, that about sums it up - I am hating this weather, am annoyed with my classes, am overloaded with work, and can't wait for spring break.  But, this was a fun blogging assignment.  Who doesn't love making themselves into South Park characters?

It's about that time of the semester in which I am counting down the days until spring break.  In December, it looked like we were going to skip winter this season, but I guess not.  Spring needs to get here fast.  All I want to do is sit around and listen to music all day and just hang out with my friends.  They need to have a class where my job is to sit around and listen to, then critique certain Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Motorhead, or Ozzy albums.  Rock n Roll.  I'm constantly cold, and somehow a cold beer helps get my warm? Again, where's spring break?  I'm also a sci-fi nerd and haven't watched much TV lately, so I need to get back into the flow of that.  I'm tired of reading, writing, and walking to class just to listen to profs that don't know what they are talking about (I'd rather just read the book); I feel like I am wasting a lot of precious time dealing with school, and I need to get back with the friends, the tunes, the booze, and the idiot-box. 

Ok so I guess the pictures went up with out my description but at least I got the pictures up.  At this point in the semester I have been forced to make some really important life changing decsions.  Because of a prexisting condition I am unable to get my own insurance as an adult and so my fiance and I have moved our wedding up so that I can have his insurance.  We were planning on waiting until next year as I graduate from Purdue in another year.  So the sleepy and baggy eyes as well as the messy hair are showing all the late nights I've had trying to get homework done and plan a wedding from Purdue ( I live in DeMotte) and working on the weekends at home.  I've also just spent the last 5 days in the hospital which is why I'm wearing the prison outfit.  I actually felt like a prisoner of my own bed.  I was physically unable to get out of my bed with calling for a nurse.  I was physically attached to the bed by various monitors that had to be unplugged before I could move.  And also being the ICU I wasn't allowed to walk anywhere I had to be wheeled everywhere even though I felt that I could walk.  The bandaid and blood are for the many times during the night and day that I heard a knock on the door and someone would say "lab" (15 stabs in 5 days...ouch)  Having this experience has really changed my perspective and made me realize how dangerous it is to run yourself so thin and that we need to stop and take a look at ourselves and see if we need to stop and take a time out for our own well being.  I kept chuggin a long thinkin next week I'll have time to catch up on sleep or I just need to make sure I have the caterer and then I can take a break from wedding planning.  It hard to believe that one event can have such a huge impact on how you view and plan and think about the rest of your decisions.

This image pretty much sums up how i'm feeling during the semester.  I'm worn out, and getting tired of the same ol' shit as well as the daily grind.  Only about 2 out of the 5 classes I am taking are enjoyable and entertaining, ENGL 387 and ENGL 230.  The reason i am enjoying these classes are because a) i understand the majority of what is going on in them and b) because the teachers are real and seem to thouroughly enjoy the course material which therefore makes me want to enjoy it as well.  The teachers both seem to enjoy what they do too which always makes the class atmosphere more enjoyable plus, i feel like they are both laid back and "tell it like it is" and that is my favorite type of teacher.  the other three classes are what are contributing to my image.  I'm "beat up" by the coursework and tired of the boring lectures and senseless assignments.  I'm also sick of being lectured AT instead of "creating" the classroom discussion myself.  the weather is sucky, hence the snowy background, and therefore I'm dressing like a slob because for some reason those kinds of clothes keep my the warmest and the most comfortable.  I'm also wearing my Chicago White Sox hat because I'm sick of doing my hair every damn day but also because i'm PUMPED for baseball season and therefore SPRING!!!  I'm drinking a beer because i turn 21 in about a month and I'm DAMN READY to be able to enjoy the bars any time i want.  The gun is probably unnessary but sometimes I feel like i need it to hypothetically use on all the stupid people on this campus and in the world as well.  (don't worry, i swear i am being sarcastic here.  I think you all can relate.)  The past two days off have been much needed but are also stressing me out because now everyone is behind two days in their classes which leads to more work in the next week or so.  I really enjoyed this blog however because it was fun to vent my frustrations creatively and also because it makes me feel better to know that i'm not the only one who is stressed this semester.  Hang in there guys, only a little less than 4 weeks til spring break.  Cheers!

This is me during breakfast club celebrating 6 tedious weeks of 19 credit hours and after reading 34 "cantos" of The Portable Dante. Notice the beads of sweat on my face and the droplets of barf on my shirt...as well as my swollen, baggy eyes...haha

Hi guys,

Purdue has cancelled classes from noon on Tues. Feb. 13 through 6am on Thurs. Feb. 15. Please keep up with the assigned readings, as we are now significantly behind. Also, remember that we are watching Pan's Labyrinth on Thurs. Feb. 15 after our class in our regular classroom (bring pillows for your butts!).

Alice

I was wondering if were still having class today?  The bulk of the snow in lafayette is supposed to hit from 4-5 so I'm a little worried that even if I get there, I won't make it home again?  But if were having it, I'll see what I can do.  Just wondering how we'd know if you were going got cancel it...should we watch for it on the blog?

Wikipedia hit by identity crisis as student admits posing as professor

By Stephen Foley in New York

Published: 06 March 2007

any chance we can have an online class today? its pretty cold out...

I do not agree that revenge is the best tactic, even though it is used extensivly in this book. Perhaps on a very small scale (ie your roommate eats your pretzels so you short sheet his bed) it can be useful to deter future agression, but for serious offenses such as murder and rape i dont believe revenge is capable of restoring the victim to his previous state and is therefor unneccesary.  In my opinion, revenge can be most useful for parties not directly involved. for instance i believe that the terrorist attacks on 9/11 was useful to an administration who saw an opportunity to use public support that it had been wronged to push for a military campaign into iraq. Now, since the attacks i dont think there is a majority of people in this country who would agree that they feel better about themselves since the 9/11 attacks as a result of the campaigns into iraq and afghanistan. most people still feel like they had something taken from them and that its an inconvenience to travel and that it is unfortunate the american image has been tarnished abroad. given that revenge is not the answer, i cannot say what the real solution is when terrorism is rooted in ideological beliefs. because revenge is a pretty mortal thing, it does not seem to be an effective deterrent when the culprits believe their souls are destined for a blissful afterlife regardless of whether or not they die a martyr or in battle against the infidels.

I disagree with the methods of Odysseus going into his home and killing each and everyone one of the suitors, majority of the maids, and various other people that were caught in the way.  Odysseus was gone for almost two decades and had sex with multiple women, yet he comes back to his home where each of these guys hasn't touched his wife, he offs each one of them.  Telemakhos even helps out with the killings which I guess is some sort of father/son bonding experience.  I may disagree with his methods but I know that back then, in order for justice to be served, you had to take matters into your own hands.  I believe our justice system today is a much better system than what it was during Odysseus's time.  Taking one's own revenge today is frowned upon, for the most part, but I also think that until you're in the position to take it, you don't know what you'll do.  I can preach all day long about how I disagree with taking revenge, but if somebody hurt my family I might want revenge.  You never know.  Take for example, back in 2005 in Washington, a man dressed up like an FBI agent killed 2 of 3 level 3 sex offenders living together.  The killings were thought to be vigilante because of the victims past.  If I was a victim of a sex crime, I might want to seek revenge on sex offenders as well, maybe start a real life version of the movie "Boondock Saints".  I wouldn't know until I'm in that situation.  Odysseus's methods wouldn't work in today's society, or maybe I could say they "shouldn't" work, but mafias and gangs all over the world kill for revenge and never get caught.  If Odysseus was the head of some Greek Achaean mafia, maybe he could pull it off today, maybe.

Unfortunately back in the times of Ancient Greece there wasn't an established court system so the practice of seeking ones own revenege was practiced.  I personally don't agree with it, but then again I am off the school of thought that believe that criminals should be dealt punishment not revenge.  These two things are very different.  Revenge is simply a physical reaction to the emotional pain being felt by the victim(s) that solves nothing and creates only more pain and suffering for others.  Sure revenge may make you feel better but what about the innocent loved ones of the criminal?  Do they deserve to suffer for a crime someone else commited? Within society revenge does not work.  There is no order to it.  Different people view different crimes in different ways and think that people should be punished differently because of their views.  What one person considers a crime might be seen as nothing by another.  Just look at the lynching during the civil rights movements of the 60's.  White power organizations lynched African Americans as revenge for "stealing their jobs and money" when it was actually revenge against the color of their skin.  How is that just and right?  Without he, albeit flawed, organization of the criminal justice system the world would be a chaotic place with everyone killing and hurting others simply in the name of revenge.  The very nature of revenge goes against the fundamentals of right and wrong that are supposed to be instilled in us from a very early age. 

When Odysseus takes his revenge on the suitors, it is not so much out of justice for they do not deserve to die for they have killed no one, but in a manner of war.  To Odysseus the suitors are invaders that need driven out of his “kingdom” and just like when driving out an army, he wants to ensure he won’t be attacked again.  This means he must kill all the suitors.  He was justified not in that justice was upheld, but that he did what he had to do to protect himself and his kingdom.  Had there been a higher authority for Odysseus to plead his case to, he would not have been justified in his actions.  This is exemplified when the gods get involved and Zeus stops his rampage.  The Acts of Revenge by the individual in our day are not justified, because we have a higher authority that we must respect to carry out justice, which sometimes but not always coincides with revenge.

The time period of Odysseus is obviously completely unlike today and probably very unrealistic.  During those times it probably was acceptable to take one's own revenge to a certain extent.  The book is entirely based on revenge and it shapes the way all the characters act.  It seems every action is spurred from the need for revenge.  I'm not even sure that I neccessarily agree with it in the book.  In the slaughtering of the suitors, there were some who regreted what they had done but they still had to die because "Athen destined them to die".  I think that what Odysseus did was too strong a reaction, which is the major problem with doing things yourself.  When someone has wronged you, your judgement becomes clouded.  Revenge never works appropriately.  Often times, the punishment is worse than the crime.  This just sets off a chain reaction that doesn't solve anything.  An example of this is the fathers of the suitors who wanted to attack Odysseus because he killed their sons.  For revenge to be actual justice, the punishment of the person who committed the crime should be decided by a group of impartial people.  Odysseus' style of revenge would obviously not work today.  If someone had a relative who was murdered by someone and then they went out and found the killer and killed them, they would still go to jail.  It's wrong to be the "vigilante".  It's not really justice at all.  I don't think that justice can ever be put into the hands of just one person for them to decide.  You have to do what is fair.

this picture reminds me of the odessey because of all the shipwrecks and the wrath of the gods. also in the picture, there is a frothy sea which reminds me of an angry poseidon. i can just see odessyous clinging to the rafters of the splintered ship as all his comrades perish in the sea.