This article's mood is set immediately in the introduction. The description of Rainy Mountain, the details used, allow the reader to picture the setting as the author, Momaday, sees it. This article is vivid and each detail lends the reader a hand in understanding the deeper meaning of this article.
Momaday begins this article by describing Rainy Mountain and the "hardest weather in the world". He describes the different cycles this area of geography goes through. Before I go into that though, the author states " All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion of objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man." If you read into that statement more, you will see that the author is using that statement as a metaphor for life. At the end of your days, not a single action, event, person, and so on, stand out as THE significant moment. Everything that happens and everyone you meet, blend together as one, creating the whole scene of your life at once. All that you have experienced is blended together to create the final picture, not a single event defines you, but the final picture is what defines you. Momaday uses his first paragraph to do just that. The scene he depicts does not just focus on one item, but the combination of everything creates the significance.
Momaday uses well chosen details and word choice to describe the weather cycles for Rainy Mountain. Each weather description is fierce and brings the imagination to life picturing the blizzards and the scorching heat. These events are scary and thrilling at the same time. During them one would have to use courage and not give in to the urge to give up. Despite the harsh circumstances, once over them, one can look back and see the beauty in it. The fact that each cycle, you can adapt and learn new ways of coping with what is thrown at you. The end picture has so much more meaning because of this. The same goes for life. Each hard experience you go through, may seem like the end during it, but if you keep going, once on the other side, you can reflect and see how beautiful that harship is. It makes you stronger and gives you experience and gets your ready to handle what is thrown at you next. At the end of it all, the horrible that you experience turns into something beautiful becuase it has molded you into who you are today; just like the final image of Rainy Mountain. Despite the horrors this place goes through, after it all, the scenery is breath taking.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
All About the Money
Ive noticed that as Americans' our value system is based, in general, on money. Everything revolves around tangible gain and not necessarily on bettering oneself. We believe that the more money we have, the more valuable we are and the more impact we have on the world around us. Because of this basis, little or no care is taken to preserve our natural surroundings and historical sites.
Our lives are driven by the fact that money makes everything better, the more we have, the happier we will be. Or so that is what most of us are led to believe. In this process of gaining wealth, many will do anything and everything to get there, and not care what happens in the process. Architects are a prime example of this. Most don't take into consideration the location of the building they are planning, not in the sense of historical relivance anyway. So many historical sites and buildings are torn down and destroyed. All of this done for profit. Much of our history has been forgotten and tossed aside because of the destruction of memorable sites.
Our lives are driven by the fact that money makes everything better, the more we have, the happier we will be. Or so that is what most of us are led to believe. In this process of gaining wealth, many will do anything and everything to get there, and not care what happens in the process. Architects are a prime example of this. Most don't take into consideration the location of the building they are planning, not in the sense of historical relivance anyway. So many historical sites and buildings are torn down and destroyed. All of this done for profit. Much of our history has been forgotten and tossed aside because of the destruction of memorable sites.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Long Weekends
This weekend has been a long and eventful one. Friday, I ended up going over to a friend's house. Tosha needed help with a baking project for a class she is taking. I was up until 3 am helping her bake french bagette bread. That was an interesting experience. We ended up having a huge mess to clean up afterwards, but the bread turned out amazing. We make a great team. During our project, Tosha's brother kept trying to distract us.
Now, Tosha is a few years younger than me, 3 to be exact, and her brother is only a few months younger. The three of us worked together over the summer. Needless to say, her brother Rich, thinks that he is "the shit". I think every male goes through this stage, well some never leave it but thats a whole other story. He was desperately trying to get us to devote our attention to him instead of baking the bread. The things he did were actually quite commical, including walking around with his shorts pulled down over his white behind, showing all. It was just too funny because he tried so hard to get a reaction and the more we ignored him, the harder he tried. Why is it that men try so hard to get reactions from women, and any kind of reaction at that?!?!
Then next day was more of the same, except Tosha wasn't around to keep Rich off me. She had her baking class. I helped clean their house up a bit and during this I had to keep my guard up. Ive learned the hard way that walking around in sleep pants around Rich is not a very good idea. I lost them on several occasions because he would walk by and give them a nice hard tug. Id love to know when 19 years old regressed to being 8 again. To my relief, he left and I didnt see him for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday Tosha and I decided to make dinner, at midnight. We did pretty well if I say so myself. We made orange ginger chicken and General Tso chicken. There was garlic couscous and risotto too. For dessert we had brie and crackers with fresh blueberries. There weren't any left overs. Once again we made a mess of the kitchen, but it was sooo worth it.
Sunday, I made more bread. We did so well that we wanted to share it with everyone and made honey butter to go along with it. My crew got together later on that night and we went bowling. That was interesting. I was the only girl in the group, again. Sergio acted like he was white, again. He got a little cocky after a few strikes. The other guys just goofed off. Juan, I dont know how he bowled. He broke his hand last weekend punching his truck after some guy ran into it at the boat docks. I sat out because my shoulder is still messed up from the car wreck I was in back in November and I dont want my collar bone to break again. During those few hours at the bowling alley, I was close to loosing a few of my friends. I was going to kill both Juan and Sergio. They both kept hitting my ear that I just got pierced. It doesnt sound like it is a big deal, but it kept tearing my ear and making it bleed. The woman that pierced it called it a suicide. Im not sure if thats to correct term but thats what Im using for now.
Now you can see why I was not happy with them for hitting it. My hair looks bad in that picture but I kind of figured I needed to give a visual.
Anyway, it is Monday evening and I am completely done with all my homework for my classes. I feel like Im missing some because I didnt really have that much to do. Oh well, its time to see what other trouble I can get myself into tonight.
Now, Tosha is a few years younger than me, 3 to be exact, and her brother is only a few months younger. The three of us worked together over the summer. Needless to say, her brother Rich, thinks that he is "the shit". I think every male goes through this stage, well some never leave it but thats a whole other story. He was desperately trying to get us to devote our attention to him instead of baking the bread. The things he did were actually quite commical, including walking around with his shorts pulled down over his white behind, showing all. It was just too funny because he tried so hard to get a reaction and the more we ignored him, the harder he tried. Why is it that men try so hard to get reactions from women, and any kind of reaction at that?!?!
Then next day was more of the same, except Tosha wasn't around to keep Rich off me. She had her baking class. I helped clean their house up a bit and during this I had to keep my guard up. Ive learned the hard way that walking around in sleep pants around Rich is not a very good idea. I lost them on several occasions because he would walk by and give them a nice hard tug. Id love to know when 19 years old regressed to being 8 again. To my relief, he left and I didnt see him for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday Tosha and I decided to make dinner, at midnight. We did pretty well if I say so myself. We made orange ginger chicken and General Tso chicken. There was garlic couscous and risotto too. For dessert we had brie and crackers with fresh blueberries. There weren't any left overs. Once again we made a mess of the kitchen, but it was sooo worth it.
Sunday, I made more bread. We did so well that we wanted to share it with everyone and made honey butter to go along with it. My crew got together later on that night and we went bowling. That was interesting. I was the only girl in the group, again. Sergio acted like he was white, again. He got a little cocky after a few strikes. The other guys just goofed off. Juan, I dont know how he bowled. He broke his hand last weekend punching his truck after some guy ran into it at the boat docks. I sat out because my shoulder is still messed up from the car wreck I was in back in November and I dont want my collar bone to break again. During those few hours at the bowling alley, I was close to loosing a few of my friends. I was going to kill both Juan and Sergio. They both kept hitting my ear that I just got pierced. It doesnt sound like it is a big deal, but it kept tearing my ear and making it bleed. The woman that pierced it called it a suicide. Im not sure if thats to correct term but thats what Im using for now.
Now you can see why I was not happy with them for hitting it. My hair looks bad in that picture but I kind of figured I needed to give a visual.
Anyway, it is Monday evening and I am completely done with all my homework for my classes. I feel like Im missing some because I didnt really have that much to do. Oh well, its time to see what other trouble I can get myself into tonight.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday Nights are COLLEGE NIGHTS!!!!
Have you ever thought about the reality of going to a club? A bunch of groups of strangers gathering in one building, getting shitfaced drunk, dancing and grinding on people they dont know. The women are all skantily clad and wonder why they get groped by the strange men they dance with. The men all get dressed up to stare at the almost naked women and start fights with other drunk men who are looking at the same woman that doesnt even belong to them, but to the man standing in the corner having a beer. And yet we live for the thrill of club nights?
Now, dont get me wrong. I am a fellow club goer myself. I have just recently sat down and thought about this aspect. How do we consider all that fun? I have had some of the most amazingly fun nights of my life at clubs. But, when I think about these nights, they all end up with stories about who got in a fight with who over so and so, or did you see how that guy tried to dance with me. I find it entertaining that our generations idea of fun is mainly focused on drinking and parties. But, Im not complaining.
Actually, last week I had some things happen to me that were story worth:
Most of my friends are guys. I just seem to get along better with men than I do women. I have recently been dubbed "one of the boys" by my "group". Anyway, we all went together downtown to our favorite club. Now, picture this: a short blonde chick, a 6 foot Mexican, a "redneck" with spit bottle in hand, a 6ft 6 black cowboy, and an assortment of other mismatched guys, walk in the club together. That in itself I find hysterical. I had my own personal bodygaurd team. Now before this, we were all in Walmart, dressed up for the night out, in the little girls toy section. I had to buy a birthday present for my best friend's eldest; she turned 5. Needless to say we turned several heads. At the club, I was video taped by my friend Juan, and I didnt know it. I was on the dance floor having a good time dancing with my friends..who just happened to be black and over 6 feet tall. Im 5 ft 2. This video was sent to everyone that I knew. The funny part about this, is that of course the club is dark, and on the video, since both my friends have dark skin, it almost looks like Im dancing by myself because the quality of the camera is shitty. Im not the one who pointed this out either, my 6ft 6 cowboy friend, Sergio, did.
That probably isnt that funny to others who werent there, like so many club stories, you had to be there.
But, I will end this here. Time to get ready to go out with my interesting hodgepodge entourage. But, not before I finish my homework ;)
Now, dont get me wrong. I am a fellow club goer myself. I have just recently sat down and thought about this aspect. How do we consider all that fun? I have had some of the most amazingly fun nights of my life at clubs. But, when I think about these nights, they all end up with stories about who got in a fight with who over so and so, or did you see how that guy tried to dance with me. I find it entertaining that our generations idea of fun is mainly focused on drinking and parties. But, Im not complaining.
Actually, last week I had some things happen to me that were story worth:
Most of my friends are guys. I just seem to get along better with men than I do women. I have recently been dubbed "one of the boys" by my "group". Anyway, we all went together downtown to our favorite club. Now, picture this: a short blonde chick, a 6 foot Mexican, a "redneck" with spit bottle in hand, a 6ft 6 black cowboy, and an assortment of other mismatched guys, walk in the club together. That in itself I find hysterical. I had my own personal bodygaurd team. Now before this, we were all in Walmart, dressed up for the night out, in the little girls toy section. I had to buy a birthday present for my best friend's eldest; she turned 5. Needless to say we turned several heads. At the club, I was video taped by my friend Juan, and I didnt know it. I was on the dance floor having a good time dancing with my friends..who just happened to be black and over 6 feet tall. Im 5 ft 2. This video was sent to everyone that I knew. The funny part about this, is that of course the club is dark, and on the video, since both my friends have dark skin, it almost looks like Im dancing by myself because the quality of the camera is shitty. Im not the one who pointed this out either, my 6ft 6 cowboy friend, Sergio, did.
That probably isnt that funny to others who werent there, like so many club stories, you had to be there.
But, I will end this here. Time to get ready to go out with my interesting hodgepodge entourage. But, not before I finish my homework ;)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
milblogging....
The military has a substantial amount of meaning and impact on my life. The majority of the men on both sides of my family have been, at some point in their lives, in the military or affiliated with it. All my life I have had a great appreciation for members of the armed forces because of this fact. I made a major decision after high school, turned down acceptance to Purdue University, and did exactly the opposite of what everyone expected; I joined the Navy. So much has happened between then and now that I really don't want to get into but, the short and very simple version is that I got hurt and was discharged.
Now that my brief history is finished, I can go on with the true subject of this blog. I just wanted to explain why this subject has such meaning to me.
My English class was given an assignment the other day to find two blogs that we thought were interesting. Before this assignment I have had ZERO experience with blogging. It took me forever to find two that even remotely looked appropriate for class. I ended up choosing two milblogs. One titled American Soldier and the other From My Position...On the Way. The former is solely one author while the latter is a compilation of blogs from different authors. Both discussed the happenings of a soldiers daily routine. Some entries contained descriptions and personal feelings about major news breaking happenings overseas, while some just focused on the tediousness of being away from home and the daily monotonous routines that are quickly established by the men and women on deployment. Having military background, I found it interesting and dare I say, entertaining to be able to read these. Milblogging gives civillians the chance to experience the true meaning of what it means to be at war. I know this particular war is controversial, and most do not support it, I know many soldiers who do not, but that doesn't mean that people in general don't support the troops. Milblogging is in its own way, able to demonstrate the types of ordeals that soldiers go through on a daily basis that may, or may not, change their opinion on whether or not to support soldiers in general.
I also noticed that, to some extent due to the need to be discrete, the truth comes out. Pictures and links from news stories were often used in blogs followed by personal accounts of what happened. These blogs give readers a front row seat so to speak, to what has been going on overseas. That in itself is amazing considering that not even a hundred years ago it would take weeks or even months before news would reach the homefront, and now it takes only seconds.
Now that my brief history is finished, I can go on with the true subject of this blog. I just wanted to explain why this subject has such meaning to me.
My English class was given an assignment the other day to find two blogs that we thought were interesting. Before this assignment I have had ZERO experience with blogging. It took me forever to find two that even remotely looked appropriate for class. I ended up choosing two milblogs. One titled American Soldier and the other From My Position...On the Way. The former is solely one author while the latter is a compilation of blogs from different authors. Both discussed the happenings of a soldiers daily routine. Some entries contained descriptions and personal feelings about major news breaking happenings overseas, while some just focused on the tediousness of being away from home and the daily monotonous routines that are quickly established by the men and women on deployment. Having military background, I found it interesting and dare I say, entertaining to be able to read these. Milblogging gives civillians the chance to experience the true meaning of what it means to be at war. I know this particular war is controversial, and most do not support it, I know many soldiers who do not, but that doesn't mean that people in general don't support the troops. Milblogging is in its own way, able to demonstrate the types of ordeals that soldiers go through on a daily basis that may, or may not, change their opinion on whether or not to support soldiers in general.
I also noticed that, to some extent due to the need to be discrete, the truth comes out. Pictures and links from news stories were often used in blogs followed by personal accounts of what happened. These blogs give readers a front row seat so to speak, to what has been going on overseas. That in itself is amazing considering that not even a hundred years ago it would take weeks or even months before news would reach the homefront, and now it takes only seconds.
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