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Natasha Willey
Writing Portfolio
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Opinion
Letter to the editor: How much is enough? November 16, 2014 7:14 pm
Now that I am in my final year here at Wartburg, I have come to a stark realization: I may
have become an overachiever. This is something I never expected to happen.
I am a full-time student, I have an internship and I have two other on-campus jobs. Besides
that (bear with me), I am an executive on two on-campus organizations, I’m becoming super
involved in a third and I try to have a decent social life with my friends.
There are weekly meetings to go to and it is usually pretty important to eat food, as well. I
prioritize sleep and even try to get a decent workout in every few days.
Obviously, to be successful I need to be busy every second of the day and have no free time,
right? No, not really—but I feel like that is what is expected here.
When did the idea of free time become something bad?
Well, I’d say sometime around the time I became a student here at Wartburg. This is a campus
of overachievers.
When I don’t have my week completely scheduled out, I actually feel guilty. And after all of
that, I can say that I am not the busiest person on this campus, and I feel completely
overwhelmed a lot of the time.
This is where I try to break away from the reality of Wartburg and think of life outside this
campus.
We push ourselves now because we want to succeed in life. We want decent grades and strong
experiences so we can find a great career after we graduate.
I have been told that I have a lot of experiences on my resume that will help me find a job, and
in the “real world,” I feel confident that my resume puts me ahead of the game, when looking
at students from other colleges.
But compared so many other students on this campus, I often feel entirely inadequate.
There are so many people here that seem to have their life together. A lot of people I see
around have known what they wanted to do with their lives very early on in college. Some
already have jobs set aside after graduation. Others are constantly busy because they are
involved in a multitude of things on campus.
Often times I ask myself, “Am I doing enough? Will I succeed as much as these other people?
Do I want to be successful at the loss of other experiences in life?”
My answer is no. I realized the things I have accomplished in my years at Wartburg have been
pretty awesome. I don’t want to push myself further than I can handle.
Now is time ask yourself these same questions: Is it really worth it to sacrifice your sleep,
sanity and social life to do everything you are trying to do?
We are all capable of accomplishing great things, but it should never be at the cost of our
health and sanity.
Natasha Willey is a fourth-year student and can be contacted at
News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Nov.27, 2013 Nicole Jamieson
Wartburg College Best Buddies President 262- 497-5648
Best Buddies Candle Light Dinner
Waverly, Iowa – The Wartburg College chapter of Best Buddies is hosting a candlelight
dinner on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 6:30 p.m., in the ballrooms. Sign up will be in the Mensa
during mealtimes the week after Thanksgiving Break. Best Buddies President Nicole Jamieson
hopes that this event will help other Wartburg students learn about Best Buddies and get
involved.
Rather than eating dinner in the Mensa students can use a board meal and $2 in points to
attend the candlelight dinner. Guest must pay $10. The menu for this month is: Caesar Salad,
Honey Lemon Chicken, Twice Baked Potato, Long Stem Green Beans, White and Wheat Dinner
Rolls, Brownie A la Mode with Melba Sauce.
Jamieson said, “I am very excited to be able to have Best Buddies presenting a
candlelight dinner! We haven’t done one since I’ve been on campus, and I can’t wait to have
students come and learn more about our cause.”
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News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Nov. 19, 2013 Nicole Jamieson
Wartburg College Best Buddies President 262-497-5648
Best Buddies Thanksgiving Open House
Waverly, Iowa – The Wartburg College chapter of Best Buddies is hosting a
Thanksgiving Open House on Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Chapel Commons. Wartburg Students are
invited to join Best Buddies members and their buddies for a fun night of games and snacks. The
event will start at 6 p.m. and guests are free to come and go as they please.
Best Buddies hope this event will appeal to students who have interest in Best Buddies
but are not sure if they want to commit as a member. Best Buddies has not had an event like this
in the past and is looking forward to seeing how the open house style event turns out.
Jamieson said, “It (Best Buddies) is a really great program that allows us to spread
awareness and it would be great if we could have more people on campus involved.”
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Wartburg West on the move? After a lot of talk, the Wartburg West program may be making large strides in expanding and improving itself. Wartburg College has been communicating with St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, located in the Capitol Hill district of Denver, Col., for about a year and a half now, according to the article “Wartburg West may move to Denver Capitol area,” in the Jan. 14, 2013 issue of the Wartburg Trumpet.
The article also quotes Bonita Bock, one of the directors of the Wartburg West program, as saying the new location would allow for there to be more of a “campus” feel for the program in Denver.
The article also said the new location should mean shorter travel for students to reach their internships. This is because of the location being closer to downtown, where many internships are, and the location of the students’ cars is closer to the new apartments.
Nicole Mittelstadt, a second-year Wartburg student who attended Wartburg West in the fall of 2012 and works in the Center for Community Engagement on Wartburg campus, which is the on-campus headquarters for Wartburg West, agrees.
“The move will definitely make the program have even more of an urban-college feel to it,” said Mittelstadt, “There will be real classrooms and even an office space at the church for the professors to work out of. It will be more of an all-in-one experience. ”
Nelson and Bonita Bock, the directors of the program, currently keep an office space for Wartburg West in their own home, which is on the other side of downtown from the current church and apartments. The move will mean they will be able to hold office hours easier for students.
The current location of the program, South Broadway Christian Church, and it’s parking lot, is a three city-block walk from the current apartments. If the new move is made, the distance will only be across the street.
“The proximity to the church will make it a lot easier for students to get to the classes and to get to their internships,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt said that the old apartments had a great location in a safe neighborhood and had a lot of cool stores, but that the new location would be a lot more convenient for everyone. She also said that they weren’t the nicest apartments, but she didn’t spend a lot of time at her apartment anyway. The new location will be more convenient because of where the church is compared to the apartment.
According to Mittelstadt there will be many ways this move will help to improve the overall program. The one she is most excited to see is how the new relationship Wartburg College will be building with St. John’s Episcopal Church will pan out in the future.
“I think it will be exciting to see. St. John’s is a beautiful church and I think there will be some awesome connections built between them and Wartburg College.”
Another one of the best things about the new apartments, according to Mittelstadt, is that there will be a lot of room for more students to attend the program.
“Wartburg West is such a great experience and I think everyone should try and go if they can. I hope more apartments will mean more people will decide to go to Denver.”
“Recipes from Home” is a long-standing tradition According to Jill Everding of Wartburg College food services, the Recipes from Home submissions have been a staple of the college for at least 10 years. “It is a long standing tradition that I see continuing for a very long time.” Recipes from Home is a submission process that happens from the beginning of December through all of January. Both staff and students can submit some of their favorite recipes from home to be tested and voted on by Wartburg students. “After we get the recipes, we go through all of them and rewrite them to be set up for Mensa recipes,” said Everding. “Then we have the submitter of the recipe try it out to make sure it tastes the way they know at home.” After that, the recipes go through a voting process for all students in the Mensa to choose the recipes that they would like to see on the menu rotation in the Mensa. The student senate runs this voting that happens in the Mensa right before Winter break.
According to Everding, many recipes that have been submitted are fan favorites among Wartburg students and many have been around for many years.
“Whenever we stop serving some of these recipes, students notice, so we usually keep them around.”
Cassie Crotty, a second-year student, submitted a recipe last year and her recipe was one of the winners voted on by students. Crotty decided to participate after hearing about the submission program.
“I really like to cook in general. It’s fun for me to do and I like to cook with friends so I decided I wanted to share it with everybody,” said Crotty.
Crotty said that she thinks it is a really good idea that Wartburg College does Recipes from Home.
“It allows students to have a little piece of home with them here at school and it also means Wartburg can change up the menu a bit,” Crotty said.
Wartburg College isn’t the only institution that has a program like this. According to the article “Recipes from home jazz up college dining fare,” published Dec. 1, 2006 on lubbockonline.com, many colleges decide to do a recipe submission process because it can add some flair to the menu and relieve homesickness as well.
The article also said it can bring a little bit of home to the students and de-institutionalize a boring food service setup.
The article “Mission dining brings home cooking to college with themed dinners,” published on The Williams Record online newspaper on Nov. 14, 2012 agrees. Every semester they serve many dinners with traditional meals from other cultures. The article said it is a great way to have some comfort food and try something new.
This happens at Wartburg College as well. Every year there are about 10 to 30 recipe submissions to program and a few of them are ethnic dishes from international students. Everding said that ethnic dishes are always welcome to the Mensa.
Crotty also said she would like to see different food in the Mensa. “In the future it would be cool if there were a variety of recipes from everybody on
campus. It would be great if there were a lot of new recipes for all of us to try.”
RecycleMania is on a Roll After a successful first year in 2012, RecycleMania has returned for a second year at Wartburg College. RecycleMania has been used at Wartburg to help promote the importance of recycling on campus and to urge more students to recycle on a regular basis.
The Sustainability Coordinator for Wartburg College, Anne Duncan, said the decision to participate in RecycleMania started out as a way to start some friendly competition with other colleges in Iowa.
“Central College was going to participate also, but it ended up not working out for them. We decided to still participate because it looked like a fun way to get students to recycle,” Duncan said.
According to the website for the RecycleMania Tournament, the program began in 2001 as a competition between Ohio University and Miami University. Since then, program participation has grown drastically, with 630 school participating in 2011. RecycleMania is a program designed to get colleges to promote waste reduction with various activities and benchmarks for colleges to reach over an eight week period in the spring.
Sarah Kielly, a second-year student who is in charge of RecycleMania on campus, says that the program is a good way to get the idea of recycling out there.
“Wartburg doesn’t have the strongest recycling program, so it creates more awareness to recycle,” Kielly said.
In fact, according to Duncan, Wartburg’s recycling numbers are the same or even lower than they were at the end of RecycleMania last spring.
“We’re hoping to develop a year-round recycling project where there will be peer-to-peer conversations about the importance of recycling.
Nicole Jamieson, a second-year student at Wartburg, agrees that the college could use a better system to get more people involved in recycling.
“Wartburg does a pretty good job, but there are a lot more things they could do so that more people would be aware of recycling and what to do,” said Jamieson. Duncan said the most complicated part of the program is getting all the numbers of how much the campus is recycling. “Everything goes into a spreadsheet on Excel that changes all the recycling from volume to weight. We also gets figures from the city because they pick up some of our recycling also,” said Duncan. Last year, Wartburg College received a $2,500 reward for being the college with the most improved amount of paper recycling in the country. According to the article “Recycling Facts: How Reducing and Reusing Saves Money,” published on Oct. 22, 2012 on the Huffington Post website, recycled paper uses only 60 percent of the energy that it takes to make paper from scratch and it also uses a lot less water.
One of the most important things to remember when it comes to recycling, according to Kielly, is how much can actually be recycled.
“Almost everything that a person gets when they have a meal transfer from the Den or Konditorei can be recycled. All of the containers the food comes in and the lids of the coffee cups. Also, all the paper bags as well,” said Kielly.
Duncan also shared a piece of advice for all Wartburg students about recycling. “It is important for everyone to remember that recycling is an individual choice, but that one choice makes a difference. Every little thing helps.”
What a sweet place From the outside, Scratch Cupcakery looks very nondescript. It has a very simple
storefront with only the store name in flowing letters above the door. The real magic exists upon entering the store. It is full of natural light entering through the full wall of windows in the front. The bright white and yellow walls light up like the sun and the whole room gives you a smile as welcoming as the employee’s faces that you see when you enter.
Inside of the store, there is a smell that permeates the whole area that can only be described as “sweet.” When that smell first hits your nostrils, it is the cupcakes beckoning you to come closer. They are all yelling out “pick me, pick me.” There are hundreds of these cupcakes at the front counter that people are picking up.
There is a line of people that stretches out into the hallway outside the entrance. Dozens of people are talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company as they wait to reach the counter. All of the conversations melt together with only the occasional word being heard fully. The voices also blend in with the music that comes whispering down from the ceiling, mixing in enough that only sounds of happiness enter your ears.
Everyone is herding towards the counter to try to get in line before someone else does. You want to make sure you get the flavor you desire most. It is a competition between customers and the cupcakes are the contestants. You want all of them to win and go home with you, but only a few can. Besides the sounds of conversation and music, there are other sounds coming from the coolers, pop machine and freezers. All these sounds help create a personal soundtrack for you inside your head.
All over the store there are sets of white tables and chairs that are asking you to come over and sit at them. They want you to just take a few minutes to sit down and relax and enjoy a cupcake or two. Many of the tables already have people sitting in them, enjoying their own cupcake, or maybe a bowl of gelato. Cupcakes are their specialty, but Scratch also has smoothies and frozen blended versions of a few of their cupcakes. Britney Roberts, one of the many employee’s at Scratch, said that her favorite part about working there are the customers. “It is so great to see people coming in with smiles on their face. The best part, though, is seeing people come in that are from places like Texas and New York, trying something they’ve never experienced before,” Roberts said. Natalie Brown, the founder of Scratch Cupcakery, opened the first store in Cedar Falls, Iowa in 2010. Since then, another two locations have opened in both Waterloo and West Des Moines and a fourth location is expected to open up in the Iowa City area later this year.
According to the “About” page on scratchcupcakery.com, Brown knew she wanted to bake since she was young. When she was little, she would often bake cakes and cookies for her friends and use them as taste-testers. Brown has never been to a culinary school, but that hasn’t stopped people from coming in spades to get cupcakes from the store.
Some of the customers are looking at the flavors of the day with anticipation. They are trying to figure out how they will narrow down the large selection of flavors to only one or two.
Overall, Scratch Cupcakery has more than 100 different kinds of cupcake combinations. Also, many of the flavor options allow for a choice of either the chocolate or vanilla cake to make the selection even larger. All three stores have a six-day rotation for Monday through Saturday. Each day has about 20 different cupcake flavors to choose from.
Behind the counter, there are 10 glittering trays packed full of cupcakes. The different flavors are jostling around, the Brownie Batter trying to be in front of the Crispy, so they can be the one chosen. There are three employees flying around taking orders as quickly as possible. The line is long but it passes by quickly. On the back wall there are cardboard boxes waiting to be filled with cupcakes. They are stacked haphazardly on rows and rows of shelves.
One of the greatest things about Scratch cupcakes is their unique variety of flavors that they have. There are flavors like Cuppy Chow, based on the puppy chow recipe, and Steve Urkel, a cupcake with nerds candy in and on top of it. For people who like their cupcakes a little more traditional, there are also regular chocolate and vanilla cakes topped in either chocolate or vanilla buttercream frosting.
Britney Roberts’ favorite kind of cupcake is the Sully. “It’s a monster cookies in cupcake form named after one of the monsters in “Monsters,
Inc.,” it has peanut butter, M&M’s and oats in it.” Another employee, Kim Whitley has a favorite that is one of Scratch’s more unique
flavors, the Guinness. It has a chocolate Guinness cake with dark chocolate frosting. According to Whitley, Scratch is a big favorite to everyone that comes in. “A lot of people that come in say we have the best cupcakes that they’ve ever had. The
main reason is that we have a lot of unique flavors that not just anyone has,” she said. Something else that puts Scratch on another level than other places is their buttercream
frosting. The frosting is so popular that customers can request to buy just a tub of that instead of buying cupcakes, if they wish. Brown also released a basic recipe for her frosting in the “Birthday cones: Cupcake bakery marks first anniversary with whimsical recipe,” which appeared on July 5, 2011 on the Waterloo / Cedar Falls Courier website.
Another reason Scratch is so popular among customers is the price. It is two dollars for one cupcake or twenty-two dollars for a dozen.
Once you have your cupcake in your hand, the buttercream frosting is staring up at you, daring you to eat the frosting in one go, even before you eat anything else. You have to resist, but the temptation is there. Biting into the cake is like a little piece of heaven. There isn’t anything else that it can be compared to. Eating a Scratch Cupcake is its very own special experience.
Natasha Willey There is a small forest
There is a small forest outside of a smaller village. The name of either doesn’t matter, nor does the location. The important thing here is the forest. People in the town call this place quaint these days. It’s a funny thing, calling trees and grass and rocks quaint considering that is where we all started from. Now that everyone is too busy sticking their faces in their screens, they all call places like the forest quaint now. This is why I went into the forest; it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. There was nothing human touching this place. I don’t really know why I entered the forest on that day; it was more on an impulse than anything else. There was no reason for me to be there. I knew I had a million other things to do. I had dishes to wash and homework to do, but I wanted to be able to disappear for a while; from myself and from other. There was an immediate chill once I entered the trees. It wasn’t too hot outside, but there was a definite feeling of the sun beating on my back. The cool air was refreshing. I decided to continue entering into the trees. I wanted to see what the forest could show me. I walked carefully, watching out for roots and weeds that were strewn around the dirt. Up ahead I saw what looked to be a clearing of some kind. I walked closer and saw a very peculiar sight. On the other side of the clearing under a mass of trees that created a lean-to, there was a group of items that didn’t belong. The biggest item was a roll-top desk, the kind you would have seen in the house of a Victorian author. The mahogany wood was flawed; with scratches and warping all around it. The forest was reclaiming the wood, with vines snaking up the legs of the desk.
An armchair was sitting there next to the desk, with a red velvet seat that had been picked apart by birds for their nests. With stuffing and fabric missing from a lot of the chair, it looked like it was sagging into itself, hugging itself after having no company for so long.
I walked closer to the items and saw a bicycle behind the desk. It looked like a bicycle I had seen photos of my grandma riding as a child, full of curves and a large seat. Much like the desk, the forest was claiming this bike as its own, with vines snaking through the spokes of the wheel. Cobwebs and rust hung off of the bike as well. I sat down on the chair and rolled the desk open to see if anything was there. Inside there was a lot more cobwebs, but also an orange tea kettle and the lens to an old camera. I also found a couple books that looked brand new; they had been left in this desk for a long time. One was titled Yesterday and Tomorrow, which I placed into my bag to look at more closely when I returned home. Looking at the time and realizing I was going to be late for dinner, I knew I would come back soon. I could see myself returning to this little piece of history. Joining together the past and the future, just as the title of the book did.
Lie Back and Think of
England: A Guide to EN 202
Natasha Willey
i. Revolutions, Freedom, and Rights The “Spirit of the Age” has begun. This time period was permeated with an intellectual and imaginative climate. People believed that humanity was on the brink of greatness. Literary experiments started all over England and the idea of revolution was all over. These revolutionary feelings started out with actual, physical revolutions. This changed to a more internal revolution after the horrors of the French Revolution. Also, “sense and sensibility” existed. This was the differences between reason and sentiment. Sensibility at this time meant the ability to be emotional and observant all at once. Representative Texts: 1. Richard Price: A Discourse on the Love of Our Country Richard Price is an example of a man that admired the revolutions that had occurred in both France and the US. He had a strong love for England and wanted the country to be a strong as it possibly could. This work went through many editions in just its first year of publication. A lot of people read this and it lead to many of them responding with their own opinions.
Key Passages: i. “By a bloodless victory, the fetters which despotism had long been preparing for us were broken; the rights of the people were asserted, a tyrant expelled, and a Sovereign of our own choice appointed in his room.” (page 142) Price is speaking about the Glorious Revolution a hundred years previously and honoring the greatness of England. ii. “First: The right to liberty of conscience in religious matters. Secondly: The right to resist power when abused. And Thirdly: The right to choose our own governors; to cashier them for misconduct; and to frame a government for ourselves.” (page 150) This is what Price is asking for to always continue to occur in England, which is a very democratic ideal.
2. William Blake: Visions of the Daughters of Albion Blake had very strong opinions about what he believed in. He was proud of the revolution the US had accomplished, because it was successful both for equality and progressiveness; however he was upset that the US allowed slavery to continue on into the creation of this new Democratic land. Blake was unique in that his books were illuminated and written all by him. He used copper plates, which meant he had to write the text in reverse and each copy of his books had to hand painted. This meant that each of his books took a long time to make.
Key Passages: i. “Enslave’d, the Daughters of Albion weep; a trembling lamentation Upon their mountains; in their valleys, sighs toward America.” (page 103, lines 1-2) These lines are talking about how the women of England are jealous of the freedoms that exist in the US. ii. “Till she who burns with youth, and knows no fixed lot, is bound In spells of law to one she loathes; and she must drag the chain Of life, in weary lust?” (page 105, lines 21-23) The “she” here is a representation of the US and the existence of slavery.
3. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women At this point in history, women had very few rights and Wollstonecraft spoke out against this and defended the women of England when they couldn’t defend themselves. She was able to write intelligently and in an informed way to say that if women were given similar opportunities as men, they would match men equally in intelligence. She is also the mother of Mary Shelley, the woman who would go on the write one of the greatest horror stories of all times: Frankenstein.
Key Passages: i. “Men endeavor to sink us still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a moment; and women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow creatures who find amusement in their society.” (page 171) Here Wollstonecraft is judging both the men that treat women like they are pets and the women that let men do this to them. She is trying to say that women need to rise above this treatment. ii. “The education of women has, of late, been more attended to than formerly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and ridiculed or pitied by the writers who endeavor by satire or instruction to improve them.” (page 173) Women receive more education than they have in the past, but Wollstonecraft is commenting on the fact that women are still treated like lesser people even so.
Textual Connections: 1. W. B. Yeats, pages 2019-2047: Yeats was directly inspired by William Blake’s books for much of the poetry that he wrote. 2. Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own, pages 2092-2152: Woolf’s work is a direct continuation of the arguments that Mary Wollstonecraft makes, just over 100 years later.
ii. Punked by Austen
Jane Austen: Love and Friendship At the age of just 14, Jane Austen proves that rebellious teenagers have existed long before the days of James Dean and Rebel without a Cause. Her story is a complete mockery of “sensibility” novels of the time. It is titled “Love and Friendship,” but what the story presents is the opposite of that. Austen took the assumptions of Romance with a capital “R” to make fun of these novels and the people reading them. For example, in the 19 pages of this story, the word “sensibility” is used 20 times and there are 11 instances of people fainting.
Key Passages: i. “My accomplishments too, begin to fade- I can neither sing so well nor dance so gracefully as I once did- and I have entirely forgotten the Minuet Della Cour.” (page 517) At this time, girls were expected to be well versed in singing, dancing, playing other instruments, and things like sewing. Here Austen shows that those things don’t last and then any accomplishment women may make in life becomes nothing, rather than if they were better educated the way men were at the time. ii. “They were Edward and Augustus— yes dearest Marianne, they were our husbands. Sophia shrieked and fainted on the ground- I screamed and instantly ran mad. We remained thus mutually deprived of our senses some minutes.” (page 529) Here Austen is criticizing the overly emotional behavior that many people expected from women. She didn’t appreciate that women were looked at as uncontrollable in their emotions. iii. “My fate will teach you this…. Beware of swoons, dear Laura…. A frenzy fit is not one quarter so pernicious; it is an exercise to the body and, if not too violent, I dare say, conducive to health in its consequences— Run mad as often as you choose but do not faint-.” (page 531) This is a piece of advice that is meant to be directed to the reader. It is saying to think for oneself and do your own thing, do not pass out but run because running is an action whereas fainting is passivity at its best.
Textual Connections: 1. Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women, pages 167-195 Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen show a lot of the same ideas about the way they feel about women and emotions. 2. Mina Loy: Feminist Manifesto, pages 2015-2018 Loy asserts herself with no fear in her opinions about females, much like Austen in this story.
iii. Romantics: The First Generation These first generation Romantics changed the face of poetry. This is the period when the “spirit of the age” really shined through. No longer was poetry considered to be an intellectual exercise to show how smart someone was. Poetry was all about beauty and truth that is found in nature and a focus on emotions. Here is the time period of the “stereotypical” emotional poet. Representative Texts: 1. William Wordsworth: “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” William Wordsworth gave Romanticism the definition that we use today as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” These words have defined this entire section of this course and beyond. The writings of Wordsworth went on to inspire many poets later on in British history. Coleridge, a fellow poet, considered him to be the greatest poet of their age. Throughout his whole life he remained very close to his sister, Dorothy, who often inspired his poetry.
Key Passages: i. “Until, the breath of this corporeal frame And even the motion of our human blood Almost suspended, we are laid asleep In body, and become a living soul: While with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.” (page 259, lines 43-49) In this poem, Wordsworth isn’t literally talking about Tintern Abbey; he is remembering a time when he went there in the past and the history that the Abbey has. When he says “we see into the life of things,” he is talking about making an active connection with the nature around him. ii. “To me was all in all.— I cannot paint What then I was.” (page 259, lines 74-75) Wordsworth is speaking about that previous time he was at Tintern Abbey and how he cannot ever go back to what he was then; it is an ineffable thing to do. The past is just a memory that can’t be returned to. This is a very Romantic idea.
2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Coleridge was the poet that bridged Romanticism and the Gothic together, his poems having characteristics of both types of writing. Coleridge was a longtime friend of William and Dorothy Wordsworth. His stories were considered to be quite frightening by Mary Shelley and she was inspired to write Frankenstein many years later. When Coleridge died, many of his friends felt like they had lost an incredible intellect. Coleridge was the writer that came up with the term “suspense of disbelief” that is used in books and film to this day. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Christabel” both
blends Gothic and Romanticism through the obsessiveness of the ancient things that exist throughout the poems and how they tend to be something scary.
Key Passages: i. “Water, water, every where, And the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.” (page 433, lines 118-121) These lines show the way that Coleridge used repetition and alliteration of words to get a point across. This part rhymes as well and shows how he uses those rhymes. ii. “Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” (page 434, lines 139-142) Coleridge used Marine lore to help his story and give it more meaning. The albatross was a symbol of burden and a sign of the mariner’s damnation. It replaces a cross that may have existed otherwise.
3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Christabel” Christabel is another example of Coleridge’s mix of Romanticism and Gothic. It uses a lot of supernatural lore that the original audience would have understood and feared. It uses the classical legend of the “lamia,” a snake lady, and is quite possibly a precursor to the vampiric stories and legends that came later on.
Key Passages: i. “The lady sank, belike through pain, And Christabel with might and main Lifted her up, a weary weight, Over the threshold of the gate: Then the lady rose again, And moved, as she were not in pain.” (page 452, lines 129-134) Coleridge uses this omen and many more to warn the audience that the lady that Christabel has rescued is not to be trusted. This would have been understood by the audience. The rhyme scheme gives the poem an eerie and dream-like quality as well. ii. “And in my dream methought I went To search out what might there be found; And what the sweet bird’s trouble meant, That thus lay fluttering on the ground. I went and peered, and could descry No cause for her distressful cry; But yet for her dear lady’s sake I stooped, methought, the dove to take, when lo! I saw a bright green snake Coiled around its wings and neck, Green as the herbs on which it couched, Close by the dove’s its head it crouched; And with the dove it heaves and stirs, Swelling its neck as it swelled hers!” (page 461, lines 541-554) These lines are a description of a dream, but Coleridge uses it to also describe what has happened to Christabel. She is the innocent dove and the lady is the green snake, stealing her life. This is a horrifying moment, but Coleridge’s rhyming once again gives it this dream-like feeling.
Textual Connections: 1. Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Mont Blanc” pages 762-766, Shelley was inspired to write this poem after he read William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey.” They talk about similar things, but Shelley’s shows how the second generations of Romantics had changed compared to the first. 2. Lord Byron: Manfred pages 645-639, This Gothic tale shares many similar characteristics to Coleridge’s “Christabel.”
iv. The Satanic and Byronic Hero The Gothic writings were something that morphed out of Romanticism. It still involved the fascination with old things, but also included a new embrace of the medieval, and along with that, things that were mysterious and terrifying. This fascination started with architecture, but seeped into literature and art soon enough. Along with this love of all things dark came along the creation of a new archetype, the Byronic hero, who exists in literature to this day. Representative Texts: 1. Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto Walpole’s Otranto is a perfect example of Gothic literature. There are secret tunnels, a massive mysterious helmet that appear out of nowhere, and an underlying dread that exists throughout. This story would go on to inspire other authors like Lord Byron and to this day, tropes that exist in Gothic literature such as this story can be found in horror films.
Key Passages: i. “At those words he seized the cold hand of Isabella, who was half-dead with fright and horror. She shrieked and started from him. Manfred rose to pursue her, when the moon, which was now up and gleamed in at the opposite casement.” (page 580) This passage shows the dramatics that exists in Gothic and how Walpole uses a plentiful of description words. ii. “An awful silence reigned throughout those subterraneous regions, except now and then some blasts of wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of darkness.” (page 581) Once again, Walpole presents the Gothic emphasis on darkness and scary places. These long sentences that wind on like the tunnels that are being traveled through, work to disturb and discomfort the reader.
2. Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Monk Lewis managed to create the goriest and possibly the most disturbing Gothic story of the era. He also created a villain that is in no way possible to like at all. It was a bestselling novel, which proves that in the 18th century violence could sell things.
Key Passages: i. “‘Who,’ thought he, ‘who but myself has passed the ordeal of youth, yet sees no single stain upon his conscience? Who else has subdued the violence of strong
passions and an impetuous temperament, and submitted even from the dawn of life to voluntary retirement?’” (page 596) Here Lewis creates an image of complete conceit for the character of the monk. This allows the audience to realize he is not a character to be liked, but actually the opposite. ii. “The ravisher stepped on, and found himself in the chamber where slept the innocent girl, unconscious how dangerous a visitor was drawing near her couch. The door closed after him, and the bolt shot again into its fastenings.” (page 598) Here Lewis uses an invasion of somewhere private, a bedroom, to create fear. There is a damsel in distress, and the bad guy is just a human being, but here he is described as a ravisher. Something less than human to add another element of creepiness.
3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Review of the Monk by Matthew Lewis” This review of Lewis’ The Monk shows that highbrow society has always been judgmental of horror. Here, Coleridge totally disses on The Monk and calls it total trash that no one should like. Of course, many people considered this so because Gothic literature was most popular among the female population and obvious.
Key Passages: i. “Situations of torment, and images of naked horror, are easily conceived; and a writer in whose works they abound, deserves our gratitude almost equally with him who should drag us by way of sport through a military hospital… Figures that shock the imagination, and narratives that mangle the feelings, rarely discover genius, and always betray a low and vulgar taste.” Coleridge shows a great distaste for this “low brow” literature. He is judging The Monk the way that people today judge Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey. This is relevant because it shows how opinions of the supernatural and horror have not changed since their conception. ii. “Mildness of censure would here be criminally misplaced, and silence would make us accomplices. Not without reluctance, then but in full conviction that we are performing a duty, we declare it to be our opinion, that the Monk is a romance, which if a parent saw in the hands of a son or a daughter, he might reasonably turn pale.” (page 605) Coleridge and society has such distaste for this novel, that he feels it should be censored. However, considering this book was a bestseller at the time, I’m pretty sure that some people’s distaste led to others reading it at least out of curiosity. This is something that permeated the Gothic literature. It was popular, whether or not people actually found it to be good.
4. Lord Byron: Manfred Lord Byron and Manfred started an entire archetype of character: the Byronic Hero. “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” just as Byron was called. Another good way to describe it is as: tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous. To this day, Byronic characters can be found in literature. Manfred is Lord Byron’s dedication to the Gothic. He didn’t always write just gothic, mainly he was considered to be a Romantic writer, but for this story there was something about the Gothic that connected to him on a personal level.
Key Passages: i. “I then have call’d ye from your realms in vain; Ye cannot, or ye will not, aid me…. Accursed! What do I have to do with days? They are too long already, — Hence— begone!” (page 640, lines 163-164, 169-170) Here is Manfred as an example of the Byronic Hero. Rather than doing what should be expected, taking the spirits’ deal, he refuses and goes against society. This connects with the story of Faust, who does choose to make the deal. Manfred remains his own person. ii. “Thou didst not tempt me, and though couldst not tempt me; I have not been thy dupe, nor am they pry- But was my own destroyer, and will be My own hereafter. — Back ye baffled fiends! The hand of death is on me— but not yours!” (page 668, lines 137-144) Here is the conclusion to Manfred taking control of his life above. Not wanting to be outdone by just taking control of his life, Manfred also makes sure he is in charge of his death as well. This continues the presentation of the Byronic Hero: Someone who must always be better than those around them, even if it means better at killing himself. Of course, it is important to remember that all of this comes out of Manfred’s guilt, which is another characteristic of the Byronic Hero. He is indeed his own destroyer and Lord Byron continues a very depressing genre mix of Gothic and Romantic.
Textual Connections: 1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Christabel” pages 430-464, These two poems were precursors to the Gothic literature and inspired some of it even. 2. Christina Rossetti: “Goblin Market” pages 1466-1478, This poem presents some disturbing content that feels like it could have come from a Gothic inspiration.
SKELLENGER & WILLEY :
EN 253: THE FILM
GROSSMAN PICTURES ;SKELLENGER & WILLEY PRODUCTIONS FILM ( NATASHA WILLEY & GRETCHEN SKELLENGER STARRING THAT ACTOR AND THAT OTHER ACTOR “EN 253: THE FILM”
“IT LOOKS PRETTY GOOD TO ME.” - NATASHA’S ROOMMATE
“WHY IS THERE AN ORANGE ON HERE?” - GRETCHEN’S ROOMMATE
AWARD FOR THE BEST PROJECT OF
THE TERM
ALLITERATIVE ACADEMIA
AWARD FOR AN A
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The Matrix (1999)
In The Matrix, Neo’s world is changed forever when a group of rebels tells
him the truth about his reality. He takes the red pill and sees just how far the
“rabbit hole” goes.
Science fiction films have the misfortune of not being taken seriously by critics
and the general movie-going populace. However, with a film like The Matrix, science
fiction films are moving toward changing that stereotype. This film revolutionized how
films were made and garnered some critical respect. It was able to do this by presenting
complicated philosophical ideas in a mainstream film; and in turn bring these ideas into
the popular culture vernacular. Without this film, there wouldn’t be as much respect for
science fiction as there now exists today.
The Matrix brought a new type of visual effect that has been applied to hundreds
of action films since its release. Called “bullet time,” it is when a shot is played in
extreme slow motion to show every detail of what is going on in the scenery. At the
time, it was a revolutionary move made by the production crew.
The main theme that The Matrix presents is the idea of “simulacra.” A
simulacrum is a copy of reality, whether that is the television people watch or the people
and houses that are created within the world of “The Sims” games. This idea is
presented through the “matrix,” for which the film is named. The “matrix” of the film is
the simulacra. Everyone that is hooked into the matrix believes it to be the real world,
but it is only a computer-generated facsimile. Another aspect of simulacra is that it is
often such a believable copy of the original (aka reality) that people often forget that the
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simulacrum isn’t real. This is shown in the film when Neo discovers everything he
believed to be true doesn’t actually exist. Another philosophical idea that this film brings
forward is “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave,” where once someone learns something,
whether it be good or bad, they can’t really go back from where they came from. This
comes into play when Neo must choose the red pill or the blue.
The simulacrum in The Matrix has been perfected over the years by being made
more flawed. The machines first gave the humans a perfect world to exist in, but the
humans’ minds rejected it because it was not real. Once the machines realized that
humans require flaws, mistakes, and imperfections in their simulated environment, they
were able to refine the matrix to be more real and therefore accepted by the human
mind. This highlights the fact of human nature that we cannot exist without conflict.
There is no protagonist without an antagonist.
All of this is brought together with the main character of Neo. He is the main
protagonist of the film whose eyes are opened to the simulacra around him. Once he
sees the truth he learns it is his responsibility to free the others from the matrix. He is
meant to be a Christ like character, as he is described as being “the one” that will save
them all. He also is a part of a sacrifice to save others around him and a post-death
resurrection that allows him to be the savior of humankind.
The characters of Morpheus and Trinity are thematically significant, as well.
Morpheus is the passionate rebel leader who is willing to sacrifice everything for the
good of mankind. He is the one who gives Neo the choice of the blue pill or the red pill,
perception or reality. Trinity is Morpheus’ right-hand woman and Neo’s love interest. Her
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name is significant because it emphasizes the religious symbolism of the film, along
with Neo’s Christ like identity.
This film shows that people need to look around them and open their eyes to look
past the simulacra and see what reality is made up of. You might not like what you will
learn in the process, but it is better to be informed rather than letting the matrix work on
you.
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District 9 (2009)
In a world where a group of aliens live in an internment camp in
Johannesburg, South Africa, Wikus- a not-too-bright governmental employee,
ends up getting sucked into the conflict between aliens and humans.
Ten years after the release of The Matrix, another film, District 9, came along to
continue the thread of science fiction films with deeper meanings for audience
members. This is a film that isn’t trying to be subtle in its commentary on issues that
have been occurring in South Africa, namely apartheid. District 9 is a film that shows
that placing intense and controversial topics into a frame like science fiction allows the
audience to look at things from a different perspective. By using extraterrestrials in
place of a human minority group, the audience can see the injustice clearly.
District 9 is a unique film in that it was made with a very small budget and with no
well-known actors, but it was still a very well received film in the United States. It was
also directed by a first time director and was one of the earlier films to use a creative
marketing scheme using advertising to promote themes presented in the film. The ads
included taglines telling people to report non-human activity.
The film takes an aggressive look at the humanity and lack thereof when it
comes to race relations. The design of the aliens purposely made them look very
nonhuman to create juxtaposition between them and the humans around them. This
leads to audiences initially having very little sympathy for the aliens. However, it is the
humans that generally have less humanity and compassion compared to the aliens.
Wikus, after he is exposed to the alien chemical, begins his transformation into a Prawn.
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Along the way, his body becomes less human while his actions become more
compassionate and less shellfish (I mean selfish).
Wikus is the main character. He is an idiot. He likes to do idiot things, like spray
unknown alien substances into his own face and evict alien refugees, such as
Christopher Johnson, from their camp. Christopher Johnson is the sympathetic alien
character who just wants to take his son home and spends his free time searching for
precious fuel to get there. When the two characters’ lives become intertwined, Wikus is
forced into having a greater understanding of the person he formerly thought of as an
inferior. The differences between Christopher Johnson and Wikus exist to continue to
explore the theme of humanity that exists in this film. Wikus is human, but he acts much
less humane than Christopher Johnson, who is trying to provide for his son. There is
also the comparison between the names of the two characters. Christopher Johnson is
an alien but he has a much more Westernized name compared to Wikus. Christopher
Johnson is the one who is a mentor to Wikus and leads him to being a better person,
even if he physically doesn’t look human.
This film uses various types of bodies to echo and explain the issue of apartheid
to the audience. The first body was described above, with Wikus’ physical
transformation. During his transition between man and alien, his body is altered, but it is
more of an outward reflection of the changes in the minds of people that led to the end
of apartheid South Africa. Another body in the film is the institutional body, as
represented by Multi-National United. In the film, MNU represents a social order that
oppresses and mistreats those that are classified as “other.”
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District 9 shows the importance of humanity and compassion. Wikus takes the
audience on a journey of discovering how to have those essential qualities and the
difference it can make in the world.
