Happy senior year HUSTers! Did everyone have a good summer? It's bittersweet but I am sure everyone is ready to get back into the swing of things.

I did not keep a blog while I was in China because I had super-limited computer access. The most I was able to do was update Facebook statuses (stati?) occasionally. According to my good friend Val, she said it was like reading a travel guide, and I was happy to hear this. However, in order to receive class credit (3 hours) for the course, one thing I was required to do was turn in the three best of my journal entries. I turned them into Alice (whom, if you have never had the pleasure of meeting, you MUST... Alice Siqin Yang works in CWIL and is Chinese herself, and went with us on the trip; she is a lovely and very knowledgeable lady and was constantly helping me haggle with the natives, and she is actually a hard-driving bargainer so it was great fun to observe), who in turn put them on Blackboard. I went a little overboard on some of them because I was really excited about what I saw, but in any case, if you would like to read any of the three journals just for fun (I put pictures in them too), then let me know and I can email you a copy! I guess this is pretty presumptuous to assume that you're all TERRIBLY fascinated about what I saw in China, so you certainly do not have to read them if you don't want.

Maybe you would like to see some pictures! If we are Facebook friends, then I have several albums from each Chinese city posted already. But there is still plenty more where that came from! I think I took about 1200 pictures total. If you're into people-watching and local lives, then China is the place for you; it is truly a photographer's dream. There are so many people and SO MUCH constant activity going on around you at all times that it's hard to decide where to take a picture first. I think I am going to put them all on my Picasa (the link is to the left under "Clickables") for my family to see, too.

Chinese babies, for example, are adorable (and I do mean adorable, they look like little dolls), so I have a small plethora of pictures of them. Usually I would gesture to their mothers if I could take a picture of their child, and the mothers were always very flattered. I have a hunch that they were so flattered because it was a novelty to have a young Westerner want to have a picture of your child.

I could go on and on about this, but in short, they believe that Westerners have tons of money and guns and can do what they want, when they want. They watch Gossip Girl there and believe we young people lead lives like Blair Waldorf (HA). Chinese people will truly believe what they see on TV, which is completely skewed anyway because the government controls everything they watch, and they have limited channels called CCTV. They cannot even access all the YouTube videos that we can, because they are all censored. They believe whatever their government tells them. Johnny Depp is among one of the censored topics, for example. Weird, but it's true.

In addition to my China experience, I did an independent study with a professor of Sociology at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. I never realized how much I love sociology, and unfortunately only have time to minor in it. Every class I have taken I have loved, and the professors were good too (one of whom I took in Spain). Cheesy, I know, but I have learned a lot from them. The independent study I did was about the Sociology of Sports. Before you point and laugh, I learned more about the relationship between humans and the sports we do for apparent fun than I ever had before.

It was funny because the first book I read was on bullfighting (literally the book was called "On Bullfighting"). Given my background in Spanish studies (but still as an American), it was an interesting perspective to have when approaching the book. Can bullfighting be considered a sport? What about drag racing or bass fishing? What about the fact that bullfighting is a matter of life and death? Does baseball have a similar deeply rooted character in this country (with its own rituals, uniforms, legendary players who redefined the game, fans who dislike bad games and unfair competition)? And so on and so forth. So it turned out that I could take an interest in sports after all. [:

So, that is the extent of my studies this summer. It was also filled with slaving away at Walgreens, going to Clinton, IA to visit some SMC friends, and then going to downtown Chicago when they came to visit me. It was a productive summer. But I am looking forward to making senior year really great.

El Fin del Semestre

Well, my friends, it has been one hell of a semester. We have sure been through a lot, I think! Don't worry, this post isn't going to be heavy on the cheese... I'm just saying I am relieved and I just was thinking about what I've learned this year/semester, both academically and personally. (I can hear a certain someone groaning). [:

In fact, I should almost like to either update this blog, or possibly create a new one for my trip to China this summer. I have examined the itinerary and it sounds truly incredible, and there are some things on there that I never dreamed I would be doing. After all of the talking we have done about travel narratives and the like in class (I know everyone found Mandeville a little less than enthralling but as usual I thought it was totally cool), I think it would be neat to apply my HUST experiences and the very nature of the major to my own doings. That raises the questions I have seen discussed on other blogs of my fellow husties and in class about the level of personal things shared through various portals like the written sonnet from a book or the technological status on the Twitter of the Interwebz. Maybe no one cares? Maybe you all care deeply? Who knows. I hope everything turns out alright in the end.

Don't forget that we still need to order those sweatshirts! 

Thanks for the laughs! See you in August.

"Ideally"

"Ideally... theoretically... hopefully..."

Why do we use all of these words when we talk about things "as they should be?" If we want to regard things as being perfect we always use these words to preface what we want. But then, if we even have to use those words, then are we not just implying that what we are about to say is not quite possible? There are always flaws in us as humans that will prevent More's idea of "Utopia" from happening. I guess he did not really consider free will and the like when he imagined it! It's a good idea in theory, though... see, there I used it again!

When I was in class and we were talking about what came to mind when we thought of the word "Utopia," I mentioned something I saw in a magazine a while ago about different types of "places of paradise" as it pertains to different cultures. I should like to point out some of them for you here!

The first I mentioned was Valhalla. This is from Norse mythology (Icelandic sagas, anyone?), and it is a huge and majestic hall ruled over by the god Odin. Those who have heroically died in combat go there, and outside of it there is big golden tree, and the roof is lined with golden shields. It is supposed to be a hall of the "chosen dead," or the most heroic people. Neat, right?

 

I imagine "Clair de Lune" playing in the background.

The next one I thought of is called Shangri-la. Surely you have heard of this one! This mythical place was described by James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon, and it is supposed to be a permanently happy land because it is isolated from the outside world. Ha! Interesting! The inhabitants of Shangri-la are supposed to be immortal. Did More consider immortality? No me acuerdo. It reminds me of a "Garden of Eden" sort-of place. Since I am going to China soon I think this a cool thing to talk about since it is like an exotic oriental ideal. 

Pretty picture, isn't it? Looks lovely!

Now, similar to Shangri-la, there is Shambhala, the place upon which Shangri-la is based. Shambhala is supposed to be a mythical kingdom in Tibet, (from Buddhism) and it has been mentioned in several ancient texts! It is a very spiritual place, but interestingly it seems to be hidden, which is an interesting concept because some places like this are either only attainable if you find them yourself, or if you have performed good deeds throughout your life, or what have you. So I suppose there are different ways of getting to these ideal places, because the issue in whether or not you have the ability to get there lies within yourself, within the "gods," or within society itself. Confusing!

I discovered this directly on the Shambhala website - it exists! It is the "Primordial Rigden Thangka." Taken directly from the website, it "portrays the basic enlightened nature of all human beings, their basic goodness."

If none of these things are the "ideal" place, then I don't know what is! But I thought it would be interesting to have a look at just a few of the different Utopias as imagined by several different cultures (and from several distinct time periods as well!)

Also, in case you wanted to click around a bit more and learn about Shambhala (I sort of find myself following in Gail's footsteps and experiencing an interest in Asian cultures) and it's really very fascinating. Go here!

What does your Utopia look like?

Paper

Well. 

It was hard but worthwhile (I hope) to write this last paper. I wrote about Boccaccio, and I never realized how difficult it was to try to keep to the format of a true Renaissance author while also keeping my dialogue unique and interesting. I liked Boccaccio's stories so I knew that was what i wanted to write about, but I originally did not have enough of an idea of how I was going to formulate what I wanted to say. I even considered setting up a dialogue between Dante and Petrarch, simply because of their interesting ideas and I thought it would be interesting to contrast them. But, I did not know what I was trying to prove or what I wanted to show my audience (ha, only another audience for you guys to wrestle with, as though there weren't enough already) in my dialogue. So, I sincerely hope I managed to write a coherent and not completely pointless and rambling paper. I tried to make it as quaintly humorous as possible because I wrote it running on Enviga and a protein bar (Thanks, Chipi-Chipi!). What would the Renaissance be without its unique style of humor? Or perhaps dark humor. MET referred to me a little bit ago as "the figure in black," so if we ever feel the urge to put on a play about the upcoming Sonnets, I volunteer myself to be the Dark Lady. 

Off to Social Psych! When I come back to you later, loyal Mac, I think I might blog away about Utopia.

A Question For You

What do you suppose a heretic like Luther would have been treated like TODAY? I was sitting here getting annoyed with Google because I was looking for our Luther, not MLK Jr., and this question popped into my head. Would someone be able to create their own religion like that today? Would it be taken very seriously as a real threat to the Roman Catholic Church and the center of it all at the Vatican in Rome? Curious. I wonder. 

Incidentally, in case we all wanted to condense Lutero's 95 Theses into one convenient little bundle, here is a "word cloud," as it is called, which I created about the Theses [Brigette is right: it's also called a wordle]. What happens in a word cloud is that you provide a text and from that is generated the following neat little image that gives greater prominence to words that appear the most frequently in your text. 

I just thought this was rather droll so I supposed my fellow Husties might get a kick out of it. "Pardons..." "Pope..." "Indulgences..."

Go here to make your own wordle!

H i l a r i o u s !

What Methinks of Luther

[Everytime I see the name "Luther" I read it to myself as Lutero. Because that's how you say it in Spanish. Martín Lutero. Jajaja.]

Well I sure have been horrible about updating this. I apologize... I have had a lot going on in my life lately and I get really overwhelmed with school (understatement of the century). But better a bit late than never right?

I sense a post filled with such uncertainty coming - which is ironically a big part of this class, a big part of Luther, a big part of theology around the world? WEIRD!

Well, my biggest thing with Luther (that some of you might remember I have raised in class before) is... okay, I lied. TWO things.

1. The fact that he is searching for certainty and wants to rely not on good works but on faith alone. But... isn't faith precisely that? Uncertainty? 

2. The fact that he has the balls to break away from the Church and form his own religion. How is that possible? 

On one hand, sure, why shouldn't he be allowed to question his system of beliefs, because I suppose that many people go through that at some point in their lifetimes. I understand that. And I understand his frustration. Definitely. 

But on the other hand, "here, let me rewrite the Bible for you? The Gospel of Anyone NOT John? Unimportant! *dismissive wave of hand*" How does he assume he has the right to go ahead and do that? I wrote the word "authority" first there, instead of right, but then I refrained because I thought about how he said that we are all supposed to be equal as Christians. So I suppose that's the second issue I wanted to raise about Lutero and where he gets off creating his own religion like that.

Maybe I want to create my own religion. And not some sort of Scientology or Kabbalah bullshit because although money is a handy thing to have I am not out to scam people. No, in Meghanism everyone would treat everyone with respect and be hilarious while doing so. Humor is a wonderful thing and everyone should bubble over with happiness and they should laugh so hard they cry. I do that everyday! Now that makes me wonder how often Lutero laughed... curious.

Zee Poifect Gentlemahn

Hmmm...

Obviously since I have presented on Castiglione and his The Book of the Courtier, I thought I was able to give a lot of valid points in class (hopefully, right, at least I hope it was somewhat coherent). Even though, good lord, I am freaking out because I went way over the time limit. I promise it was not intentional! Believe me, I hate giving presentations and I am surprised I was able to talk for that long. Castiglione sure does have a lot to say about what exactly constitutes the perfect gentleman! One question, though: when one man suggests something and another man shoots it down, does that mean that, by default, Castiglione himself also hates that characteristic that he had his character shoot down? I do not know. Because remember, he is a courtier himself and he is constantly reflected in his work.

I think I went over enough themes in class as far as both the life of Castiglione and some humanism/Renaissance main points (I have posted my PowerPoint on the class wiki), so now I'd like to have some fun.

-cue Also Sprach Zarathustra-

First, there was chivalry.

Then, there was a courtier.

Now, there is a perfect gentleman!*

Castiglione can have his requirements for the ideal man? Well, here are MY thoughts for MY perfect man! [Note: Only some of my thoughts are included. I am an incredibly intricate woman and my brain is a swirling with complexities; so this is what I can think of for now. Teehee! Also, I suppose not all of these have to apply to simply dateable men, but rather any sort of man, friend, whatever. Get your mind out of the gutter.]

• Respect. Enough said.
• Humor. Also enough said.
• Courtesy. Kind of like respect, but a little different.
• Supportive. Duh!
• Sensitive. But not wimpy.
• Goal-oriented.
• Responsible. (I'm almost 21... you'd think this shouldn't be a problem. WRONG.)
• Fun. Entertain me!
• Honest. Don't lie to me. I will find out. And I will hunt you down.

See something I missed, ladies? Comment your little hearts out and add to this list!

These are the major ones I can think of for now. 

* I tried so very hard to think of something clever that could be alliterative and match the c-sound at the beginning of both chivalry and courtier but alas, the only thing that even remotely made sense was companion. But that wasn't exactly the right word I was looking for... I also briefly entertained the idea of "classic" or "classical" companion, or something, but that didn't really make as much sense as I had hoped. Sad.