Hi all,
So I've been itching to get this post out for days now!! I hope you are all doing well out there in your worlds.
I don't know about you but I've been reading Walden again and just loving it!! I wonder if you are too and if our first round of Walden Pond discussions got you thinking and viewing the text any differently?!?! Regardless, here's round #2 of readings...this time we have four 15 min. videos for your viewing pleasure...I am just going to go and go until I feel it prudent and time to stop the vids...I figure you of course will watch you want anyway so why not just do what I do right!?! I mean it is my blog anyway!!
Much love to you all and happy reading and viewing and THINKING!!!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Random Poetry!!! -- #1 Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth
Okay so here is a fragment of a larger video that I just couldn't put together and get onto youtube for some WEIRD REASON...it just wasn't accepting the cut and pasted version of quicktime...oh well!!
Originally this had a video of me talking a bit before and after the poem but alas it is no more...so you just really have the reading of the poem now.
Rather than "talk about" my opinions and views towards this poem, I will instead leave you with a few (hopefully) thought-provoking questions to maybe lead you into the text a bit further. Man when I read this I really FELT the poem in my bones if you will...and really that is the best way to read poems...through YOUR BONES!!! Let great poetry really sink into you that deeply so you can really FEEL IT reverberating inside your very sinews!! yeah! That's what poetry is really all about. :D One of my professors from college said that you can't even BEGIN to understand a poem until you've read at least 20 times...so there you go!! A reading of Tintern Abbey for you to watch 20 times over!! haha!! happy poetry to ya!!
P.S.--I hope to get at least one poem out each week for ya'll just to keep things rolling and moving for your viewing pleasure and I hopefully can get 1 reading session of Walden Pond out each week as well...that's the intention...let's see if we can make it.
P.S.S--I don't necessarily intend to do much "talking and analyzing" of the poems I post up here for ya'll...I really just more intend to read them and let them "be" if you will...let them stand on their own ground and muster and let you grapple and work with them and manipulate (or not) them as you deem fit. Of course any questions, comments, ideas, thoughts, feelings, inspirations, pains, memories YOU GET from reading the poems would all be welcome and enjoyed over here at the blog. Feel free to post away! (also if you have any poetry or poet requests feel free to post them as well here at the running reading list post too!)
Much Love, Enjoy, and happy reading!!!
#1. Does this poem praise or condemn the “common man,” the ramhackle ordinariness of life? And WHY (on what grounds) does this poem seek to praise or condemn that?
#2. What does this poem state is the value of "Nature" to man…to this very speaker in the poem?
#3. What is the relationship between this speaker and the world around him? Does a relationship between inner and outer worlds for him work in his favor or to his detriment? How and why?
#4. Consider how your answers to question #3 relate to POLITICS and ECONOMICS. Do your conclusions lead you into new or "revolutionary" ideas about the individual and his (or her) relationship to society? How, if at all, does these ideas relate to the hopes (as well as the actual outcomes) of the French Revolution?
Originally this had a video of me talking a bit before and after the poem but alas it is no more...so you just really have the reading of the poem now.
Rather than "talk about" my opinions and views towards this poem, I will instead leave you with a few (hopefully) thought-provoking questions to maybe lead you into the text a bit further. Man when I read this I really FELT the poem in my bones if you will...and really that is the best way to read poems...through YOUR BONES!!! Let great poetry really sink into you that deeply so you can really FEEL IT reverberating inside your very sinews!! yeah! That's what poetry is really all about. :D One of my professors from college said that you can't even BEGIN to understand a poem until you've read at least 20 times...so there you go!! A reading of Tintern Abbey for you to watch 20 times over!! haha!! happy poetry to ya!!
P.S.--I hope to get at least one poem out each week for ya'll just to keep things rolling and moving for your viewing pleasure and I hopefully can get 1 reading session of Walden Pond out each week as well...that's the intention...let's see if we can make it.
P.S.S--I don't necessarily intend to do much "talking and analyzing" of the poems I post up here for ya'll...I really just more intend to read them and let them "be" if you will...let them stand on their own ground and muster and let you grapple and work with them and manipulate (or not) them as you deem fit. Of course any questions, comments, ideas, thoughts, feelings, inspirations, pains, memories YOU GET from reading the poems would all be welcome and enjoyed over here at the blog. Feel free to post away! (also if you have any poetry or poet requests feel free to post them as well here at the running reading list post too!)
Much Love, Enjoy, and happy reading!!!
#1. Does this poem praise or condemn the “common man,” the ramhackle ordinariness of life? And WHY (on what grounds) does this poem seek to praise or condemn that?
#2. What does this poem state is the value of "Nature" to man…to this very speaker in the poem?
#3. What is the relationship between this speaker and the world around him? Does a relationship between inner and outer worlds for him work in his favor or to his detriment? How and why?
#4. Consider how your answers to question #3 relate to POLITICS and ECONOMICS. Do your conclusions lead you into new or "revolutionary" ideas about the individual and his (or her) relationship to society? How, if at all, does these ideas relate to the hopes (as well as the actual outcomes) of the French Revolution?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
My Apologies...I am still here!!
Quick post to ya'll...I am very sorry I haven't posted anything in the past week or two. I actually do have a post that I have wanted to get up for a week now and just have NOT been able to get it together with editing it correctly...I'll edit it and then youtube won't accept it or if they do accept it then it won't show some of the inserted clips into it...blah, blah, blah...very frustrating.
I do have stuff coming out I just need to finangle with the tech side of stuff longer. I also have some new things going on in my life now so my time is a bit more eaten up with those things as well...fear not though fellow readers!! We shall be back soon enough!!!
Wishing you all a lovely holiday and be well!!
MT :)
I do have stuff coming out I just need to finangle with the tech side of stuff longer. I also have some new things going on in my life now so my time is a bit more eaten up with those things as well...fear not though fellow readers!! We shall be back soon enough!!!
Wishing you all a lovely holiday and be well!!
MT :)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Walden Pond #1 -- Chapter 1 Economy
"At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again."
-Henry David Thoreau (the 3rd sentence of Walden Pond)
Okay so here's our first literary post on the blog...and of course it is on Walden Pond (as stated in the intro video no less). :) It is broken down into 3 videos b/c I couldn't fit it as one video on youtube...so we have 3!!!! It's taken me a while to work all this stuff out with making, uploading, and posting videos...I am hoping that my next round will be smoother on my end!! haha!! :D
So what does this mean exactly? Well we will be reading the entire book Walden Pond together going through it chapter by chapter and discussing it. I will share with you all of my thoughts about the book and what I am seeing and reading in it and then of course you can post and comment your thoughts and feelings as well here at the blog and maybe we can get a little discussion going. :D
I don't know how many posts it will take to get through all of Walden Pond or even all of one chapter! But no matter...we have time. There's no rush to get anywhere but where we are! :D This approach I feel is in perfect fitting with our #2 mission as stated on the home page: "#2. To enjoy and appreciate great literature and the reading (imbibing) of it." Of course having some kind of "goal" in mind to finish this book by a certain time or in a certain way already starts to put a damper on our enjoying and appreciating it. And since we are not in school today and there really is no reason to rush...then let's just take our time and enjoy each passage as it glides by our eyes and minds (indeed even "the mind of man" which Wordsworth speaks of in Tintern Abbey...we'll get to that poem soon enough one of these days I am sure!). :D
I plan to make most of my reading posts as screen captures of the text we are reading from my computer this way we can look at the text and read it together as well as listen to my thoughts about the text and what I am feeling and seeing in it. It's also great for me this way, b/c I am not bogged down by writing long essays for every post (and you having to read them too!). However I sure can ramble on for a while with these texts...I mean...well...that IS what this blog is ALL ABOUT...but none-the-less...I too am aware that I don't want to "drag things on" for you (my viewers) for too long in these blog posts...however I also want to make sure I give "due diligence" to the texts we are reading and discussing and get my thoughts out on the page! So it's a continual balance that I will be striving for. Please LET ME KNOW if you have any ideas or preferences in how I can deliver these posts to you and I'll see what I can do.
In case you are interested, I am getting my online version of Walden Pond from this gentleman's lovely little website where he so thoughtfully placed ALL of Walden Pond's text on his site. A very nice shout out to Ken Kifer and blessings to his dear Soul. It appears that Ken was tragically killed due to a drunk driver hitting him while he was on his bike. I am proud and honored to be able to include Ken and his sharing of a great piece of literature with the launch of my website/blog--a very fitting way to honor Ken and his legacy it seems to me. Blessings to you Ken and may you reside with Thoreau together in good times up at good ole' "Walden Pond" if you will. :)
So without further adieu...here's the first video posts for Walden Pond (oh and my apologies...the beginning part of the video seems to be a little out of sync with my voice and my mouth...just think of Godzilla and be scared!!!! haha!!--there also seems to be some "gray matter" at the start of the videos too...I have NO CLUE why that is happening...if you do, feel free to drop me a line at the contact me button on the home page--thank you!). Well...Happy Reading!!!And FEEL FREE to comment below with your thoughts, feelings, ideas, impressions, inspirations, awarenesses, etc.!! Cheerio! :D
-Henry David Thoreau (the 3rd sentence of Walden Pond)
Okay so here's our first literary post on the blog...and of course it is on Walden Pond (as stated in the intro video no less). :) It is broken down into 3 videos b/c I couldn't fit it as one video on youtube...so we have 3!!!! It's taken me a while to work all this stuff out with making, uploading, and posting videos...I am hoping that my next round will be smoother on my end!! haha!! :D
So what does this mean exactly? Well we will be reading the entire book Walden Pond together going through it chapter by chapter and discussing it. I will share with you all of my thoughts about the book and what I am seeing and reading in it and then of course you can post and comment your thoughts and feelings as well here at the blog and maybe we can get a little discussion going. :D
I don't know how many posts it will take to get through all of Walden Pond or even all of one chapter! But no matter...we have time. There's no rush to get anywhere but where we are! :D This approach I feel is in perfect fitting with our #2 mission as stated on the home page: "#2. To enjoy and appreciate great literature and the reading (imbibing) of it." Of course having some kind of "goal" in mind to finish this book by a certain time or in a certain way already starts to put a damper on our enjoying and appreciating it. And since we are not in school today and there really is no reason to rush...then let's just take our time and enjoy each passage as it glides by our eyes and minds (indeed even "the mind of man" which Wordsworth speaks of in Tintern Abbey...we'll get to that poem soon enough one of these days I am sure!). :D
I plan to make most of my reading posts as screen captures of the text we are reading from my computer this way we can look at the text and read it together as well as listen to my thoughts about the text and what I am feeling and seeing in it. It's also great for me this way, b/c I am not bogged down by writing long essays for every post (and you having to read them too!). However I sure can ramble on for a while with these texts...I mean...well...that IS what this blog is ALL ABOUT...but none-the-less...I too am aware that I don't want to "drag things on" for you (my viewers) for too long in these blog posts...however I also want to make sure I give "due diligence" to the texts we are reading and discussing and get my thoughts out on the page! So it's a continual balance that I will be striving for. Please LET ME KNOW if you have any ideas or preferences in how I can deliver these posts to you and I'll see what I can do.
In case you are interested, I am getting my online version of Walden Pond from this gentleman's lovely little website where he so thoughtfully placed ALL of Walden Pond's text on his site. A very nice shout out to Ken Kifer and blessings to his dear Soul. It appears that Ken was tragically killed due to a drunk driver hitting him while he was on his bike. I am proud and honored to be able to include Ken and his sharing of a great piece of literature with the launch of my website/blog--a very fitting way to honor Ken and his legacy it seems to me. Blessings to you Ken and may you reside with Thoreau together in good times up at good ole' "Walden Pond" if you will. :)
So without further adieu...here's the first video posts for Walden Pond (oh and my apologies...the beginning part of the video seems to be a little out of sync with my voice and my mouth...just think of Godzilla and be scared!!!! haha!!--there also seems to be some "gray matter" at the start of the videos too...I have NO CLUE why that is happening...if you do, feel free to drop me a line at the contact me button on the home page--thank you!). Well...Happy Reading!!!And FEEL FREE to comment below with your thoughts, feelings, ideas, impressions, inspirations, awarenesses, etc.!! Cheerio! :D
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
OUR READING WISH LIST (IT'S ALWAYS ONGOING!!)
"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations."
-Henry David Thoreau (from the chapter "Reading" of Walden Pond)
Hi All,
So this is officially my FIRST blog post for www.thejoyofliterature.blogspot.com! Cool. :D
This post is the DEDICATED post for our running and ALWAYS ONGOING reading wish list for the blog. Do you have a book or great piece of literature that YOU REALLY want to read and discuss and sink your teeth into? Well throw it down in the comments section below!!! This is the place to let it all out. haha!! :D I will of course be watching the titles that pass through as they are submitted and will definitely work to see if we can't start to just tick them off our list one by one and have a good ole' time with them! So definitely speak your mind and heart below...oh and you can also put down books that you REALLY STRUGGLE WITH too b/c they are just as great to read and delve into as well so we can really see where we can go with them and what treasures we may find awaiting us between their ancient papryus leaves....
I think it is only fitting that the first post is an ongoing, cohesive, and communal post that is all about what books we love and we want to read and delve into! Post away!!!!!!! Oh one last thing...please also put the AUTHOR'S NAME as well as the TITLE OF THE BOOK below just so it's easiest to find. Thank you! :D
-Henry David Thoreau (from the chapter "Reading" of Walden Pond)
Hi All,
So this is officially my FIRST blog post for www.thejoyofliterature.blogspot.com! Cool. :D
This post is the DEDICATED post for our running and ALWAYS ONGOING reading wish list for the blog. Do you have a book or great piece of literature that YOU REALLY want to read and discuss and sink your teeth into? Well throw it down in the comments section below!!! This is the place to let it all out. haha!! :D I will of course be watching the titles that pass through as they are submitted and will definitely work to see if we can't start to just tick them off our list one by one and have a good ole' time with them! So definitely speak your mind and heart below...oh and you can also put down books that you REALLY STRUGGLE WITH too b/c they are just as great to read and delve into as well so we can really see where we can go with them and what treasures we may find awaiting us between their ancient papryus leaves....
I think it is only fitting that the first post is an ongoing, cohesive, and communal post that is all about what books we love and we want to read and delve into! Post away!!!!!!! Oh one last thing...please also put the AUTHOR'S NAME as well as the TITLE OF THE BOOK below just so it's easiest to find. Thank you! :D
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