Individual Presentations Z - J

Oh so original... I broke this up because it was taking too long to load anything I edited. If you have not paid attention to Dr. Sexon's constant reminders or the syllabus, the blogs were due on Wednesday! If anyone has any questions on things that they missed and I haven't posted, just leave a comment asking, or ask the presenter.

Alison Zobel - Lysistrata - Sex, Time, Power

• How an act would or would not work today.


• Women ultimately want iron to be happy.


• How the patriarchal society came about.


• Women have a biological upper hand sexually.


• Women are more aware of death, and therefor are more peace loving.

Chase Wright - Dionysus vs. Jesus Christ

Similarities :

• Both have a mortal mother and God of Gods heavenly father.


• Agon: ritual of Dionysus is similar to the Eucharist in the omophagia or eating of flesh.


• Both died and were reborn.

Difference:

• Phalic representation of Dionysus is viewed as a difference, but Chase sees it as a symbol of fertility, and so an actual similarity? I don't really view Jesus in a way associated with fertility, but I am not an expert, just a Christian.

Ultimate Question:

• Are the similarities fundamentals of all religion, or are they merely coincidence?

Hannah Vidrich - Make love not war!

• Colombian women withheld sex from their husbands: shows and amount of control still from Lysistrata.


• In Turkey - women locked their doors of their bedrooms to keep their husbands out. (How did they eat? Use the bathroom if there wasn't one in the room?)


• Pedigree of women in the 7th century B.C.


• Poetic descriptions of types of women:

• The barking dog - busy body, gossip
  

  The sea - and unpredictable woman, moody ( I agree Hannah, this is my favorite description as well, and the reason men will never understand women. We are ever changing).
  

  A good woman - illustrated as a bee and does not gossip.
  

  Zeus created women as a thorn in man's side.

Brittany Tyler - How Brittany met Bob

• Bob came around when she was three years old.


• She was chastising him for eating her grandmother's ice cream.


• When her grandmother asked who bob was, Brittany explained that Bob was a rat who lived under the fridge.


• Now the grandparents never saw Bob, but they knew that he must exist, because Brittany kept noticing food that would disappear.


• Anytime things happened it was Bob.


• We are immortalized through the stories that we tell, and most of those stories are about someone doing something that they shouldn't, like sneaking grandma's ice cream.

Megan Thale - Love/Infatuation

The story of Cupid and Psyche

• Love is a confusion


• The things that you will do for love


• Elsa Cole - Beautiful poem by the way.

Jesse Stolba -

• There was a picture of his mom's house on the board that he used to imitate being hurt and running to mommy. I couldn't get a picture, as the board was glaring. It was a rather abrupt presentation.

Jann Spizziri -

• Dionysus vs. The Virginia Tech shooting: the darker side of the god.
  I think that you had to be there for this one. Jan made really good and interesting parallels between the shooter at Virginia Tech. and Dionysus.

Brittini Reid - the role of women from all of the books (other than Demeter and Persephone) (funny how those are two of the most discussed characters in class)

• Agave - The Sheep


• Lysistrata - Rosie the Riveter


• Antigone - Laura Croft
  
• Jessica Simpson I believe was Psyche, I think that Paris Hilton would make a good example too because she is adored by men, but can't seem to marry one, and even if she isn't she also acts clueless.
  
• Arachne
  
• Europa
  
• Diotema - Grandmother Willow (Pocahontas)

Barbara Ralston - Mythology

• A frame of many stories


• Rice chex are duck food - she created a myth.


• Discusses and quotes the rape of Europa


• Even though we try, we cannot protect our children from their fate.


• We are better people after being humbled.


• Can you see faces in the trees?

Emily Lewis - Zeus + Memory = The 9 Muses

• If she were to pick a muse, it would be Terpsichore, the muse of dance.


• Her Terpsichore's name is Janet


• We read about Terpsichore in the Homeric Hymns

Daniel Prill - Nothing dies, only changes.

• The redemptive power of art.


• Daedalus and Icarus


• Everything is indeed old. There is nothing new.


• Carry on Our Wayward Son by Kansas is representative of Daedalus and Icarus.


• Labyrinth = war


• Wings = current flight

Jared Porter - (I don't have your link to your blog! WHO ARE YOU j/k do you have a blog?)
Calvin & Hobbs - The five conflicts dealt with in Steiner( I notice that a lot of people took offense at Steiner's decree that only Antigone dealt with all of these five conflicts.)

• Individual vs. Society - Society makes him learn. (oh darn)


• man vs. religion - imagines himself as a god, blames God for his problems


• Living vs. the dead - Calvin tries to save a baby raccoon.


• Man vs. woman - love vs. cooties


• Young vs. Old - mom vs. boy (mom's always win!)


• (Haven't we all experienced these problems? I guess you just proved Steiner right about how all of these conflicts are a natural part of human life, and also wrong that they only take place all together in Antigone.)

Jonathan Orsi - Atlas + Perseus + Andromeda

• Love conquers war.


• Jimmy Hendrix - "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."


• (Now noting people who decided that with out love, their life was not worth living seems easy enough, but at this point John, I must disagree with your reference that Hitler committed suicide at the thought of losing love. Secondly, he was not married to Eva. She was his mistress, and he was in a bunker that was being bombarded by the allied forces. So, while I may see the many tragic stories where there is no life without love, we will have to chose another martyr.)

John Nay - Catcher in the Rye

(The novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage alienation and fear. Written in the first person, The Catcher in the Rye relates Holden's experiences in New York City in the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a college preparatory school.)
- the Metamorphoses of Holden Caulfield

5 Conflicts -

1. Man vs. Society - Phonies vs. Holden


2. Living vs. Dead - Holden's brother Allie died - this haunts Holden


3. Young vs. the Old - Holden tries to save children from falling off the cliff, and into adulthood. (The worst thing that can happen is to grow old.)


4. Men vs. Women - Convinced a woman to marry him ( I think that the example here would most likely have to be read directly from the book, as I am sure that the dealings leading up to, and after, the wedding are the actual conflict.)


5. Men vs. God(s) - Holden's loss of faith

Holden's metamorphoses occurred when he fell off of the cliff and into adulthood. Holden experiences the thing that he was so afraid of, and realizes that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

William Meznarich - Highlander, it only proves that all old people migrate to Florida. (Don't ask me. I didn't quite catch all of this reasoning.)

• The immortality of stories - The author is riding the coat tales of the story.


• William told a story to us, about a story he told his friend Andy, about his friend Nick & Jane Doe (who was "unavailable via boyfriend". I had to add that bit, as I thought it was a rather great way to put it. I can see the ball and chain dangling from her ankle. *disclaimer* In a comical way of course! I am not trying to say anything bad about anyone. :) )


• Point of the Presentation(you can correct me if I am wrong): Tell Stories!


• Plato and Socrates preferred the oral traditions of story telling vice actually writing it down. (I would say that the advantages of oral storytelling would be that you could constantly pad, stretch, and manipulate the story, as well as your voice, where as in a written story, it is what it is.)

Mick Leslie - Ambrosia, Metamorphoses, Spartan Training (Walkabout)

• Coincidence is no accident ( there is no such animal)


• walkabout = walking through the Australian Outback, and through that walking you gain knowledge. What knowledge you gain is not specified, it can be any knowledge. You do not seek the knowledge, as it will find you on your travels. (If you walk you will learn.)


• The book Walkabout was written by James vance Marshall a.k.a. Donald Gordon Payne, the book was first published as The Children and later made into a movie starring Jenny Agutter.


• Sexon recommends The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (singing up the land). (Songlines are also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians. A cross between a creation myth, an atlas and an Aboriginal man's personal story. )


• ( Australian Aborigines "go walkabout" at the age of thirteen in the wilderness for six months as a rite of passage. They then trace the path of the ceremonial ancestors of their tribe, following the exact route that those ancestors took, and imitating in a fashion, their heroic deeds. )

Luke Klompien - (is this the best link to your blog? it is kind of odd. Thanks)

• Nick Neeb(okay, I checked almost every other blog, and the one person that I found doing the indiv. presentation notes is almost, but not quite this far. I don't know what this guy's last name is, so I can't look him up.) - Relationship specialist

Women are fundamentally programmed to depend on men for security. (This old Nick's opinion, not mine, and I don't agree, but what woman would say that she did?)

• More people in our class would rather admit to being in love than wearing underwear, or being drunk.


• "I shall have life." - "English people [majors/lovers?] are emotional basket cases."


• "What is your key to life?"


• The key to happiness is to do something for your mind, body, and someone else each day.

Ashley Kirchhoff - ( entire book, not just the poetry from class) The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

• The Eleusinian Mysteries - women's initiative rights.
  
• there is nothing more tragic than the separation of mother and daughter, or Demeter and Persephone


• We want a mother that can undo rape and bring us back to life.


• Mother's search for their lost daughters as their lost selves

Woman's quest - Death
Man's quest - War and Kinship

• you must go through the mysteries to SEE.


• the mysteries are symbolic of death and rebirth (look at Lucius)


• Social oppression is the result of lies and personalities.


• Experience both male and female quests in order to be secure as an individual. (Maggie was our Aristophanes of the day by the way. She had the hiccups. I just mentioned this because Sexon did, and the allusion to the Symposium.)


• Tiger Lily - Ashley's poem of her journey to womanhood. "I chose me."


• go through the experience to clarity of self (this is what I got out of the poem, so let me know what you think if it is wrong).

Melissa Sue Kelsey - The Scapegoat by Renee Girard

William Holman Hunt
'The Scapegoat'

• "The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures."
• "A scapegoat is almost as welcome as a solution to the problem"
• Mellisa thinks that a scapegoat is more welcome than a solution, because it requires no actual work.
• Cartoon - "I'll take full responsibility for finding a scapegoat." - as the city is burning (seems to reference Nero mentioned in the next presentation.)

5 Ways to avoid being a scapegoat:

1. Avoid being the new guy in town.
2. Be on time and at everything possible, for they may be plotting against you.
3. Avoid taking the game winning shot/goal.
4. Avoid being different than anyone.
5. Be well liked (this is hard if you aren't different from anyone.)

Brian Judge - Scapegoat

• portrayed by Ray Finkle in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
  
• Leviticus - biblical reference to scapegoat

"Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord's lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness."

• Bacchae - Pentheus is the scapegoat (although Pentheus actually disrespected the god Dionysus, so he was not innocent as a goat would be).
  
• Bible - Jesus is a scapegoat (again the Dionysus vs. Jesus, I think this could be important for the test.)
  
• Nero - accused of fiddling while Rome was burning (although Brian tells us, the fiddle would not be invented for another thousand years. ;) )
  
• Jann as a scapegoat - her class voted on whether they wanted an open or closed book test, and when most of the class failed, blamed Jann's vote for the cause of the failure.
  
• Scapegoating - is the best way for humanity to feel closer.
  
• Tragedy means the song of the goat.

Alex Johnson - five movies that portray the 5 Steiner conflicts

• Snow White(Disney): Youth vs. Age - Snow White vs. The Queen (her step mother) (orginal)
  
• My Fair Lady - Pygmailian - Man vs. Woman ( Audrey Hepburn is my favorite actress of all time, but I love Julie Andrews, and they should never cast anyone who has to be dubbed. Although, now that I think about it I wonder why they did it. She sang Moon River in Breakfast at Tiffany's, which, to me is another, if not better, example of man vs. woman, but I am biased. )
  
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest : individual vs. society
  
• Frankenstein(1931, more) : Living vs. Dead - frankenstein represents both side as something dead that is now living, however you could also stack the monster against the living villagers.