Answer: I just finished two books, one on each subject! As the title of my blog implies, I go a bit nuts in libraries, and when I finished the book on William Wallace, I looked through the library stacks for classic novels, and I kept snagging things off the shelves until I had a stack of five. I finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and am currently working on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.
Myth of William Wallace by Susanne Wallner was very informative while being readable. It was wonderfully short, but had a very good summary of Wallace's life. Wallner also decided to look at how the myth of Wallace has changed over time and has influenced Scottish society. I was very happy with the book up until the last chapter, when Wallner basically summarized Braveheart, so I skimmed a lot of that. She did bring up a very interesting point, however, which changed my impressions of the movie. Wallner calls into question the purpose of myth: she argues that it should not necessarily be focused on the historical facts, but on how the story affects the people who hear it. The writer of Braveheart's screenplay has such profoundly deep feelings and attachments for the myth of Wallace, that it is incredibly endearing how he tried to celebrate this heroic figure. The book made me more willing to forgive Braveheart it's lapses in historical accuracy.
I followed up Wallace with one of Bradbury's most famous books. I didn't know until after finishing that this was one of his earlier novels, which explained why it did not seem as...advanced... as the short stories I've read of his (though perhaps this has more to do with the fact that the last Bradbury pieces I read were in high school). The main idea of the novel is incredible, and there are passages of really good writing, but parts of it seemed too simplistic -- Bradbury seemed to need tell instead of show. Not that it was bad -- it was just not as sophisticated as other things I've read. I'm still very glad that I read it.
Plus, I have finally learned how to spell Fahrenheit!
My reading list:
-- Myth of William Wallace: a study of the national hero's impact on Scottish history, literature and politics ~ by Susanne Wallner
-- Fahrenheit 451 ~ by Ray Bradbury
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Modernization
I'm currently taking a class entitled "Geography, Modernization, and Globalization II." And I completely and utterly whole-heartedly disagree with the presented definition of "modernization." I know that I am just a silly undergraduate who has no right to take umbrage at concepts debated, discussed, and decided by scholars better than she; but since this is my blog, however, I can write whatever I want.
I was told by the TA in my first discussion section that modernization refers to a specific point in history -- somewhere around the 19th century, I believe. My problem lies with the fundamental idea of something modern. Modern implies newness; it's about things being different than in the past. I believe therefore that modernization should refer to any large changes in history. For example, the change from hunter-gatherer societies to "civilization" as we describe is modernization, in my opinion. If processes such as this make "modernization" a general term, then the easy solution is to name the 19th century something more descriptive. I think that would just help history students anyway.
In that vein, I think "post-modern" is meaningless. It's not possible for humans to be in a post-modern era because we are continuously changing and modernizing still. There you have it. I think we should change the English language. Thank you for listening to my rant.
I was told by the TA in my first discussion section that modernization refers to a specific point in history -- somewhere around the 19th century, I believe. My problem lies with the fundamental idea of something modern. Modern implies newness; it's about things being different than in the past. I believe therefore that modernization should refer to any large changes in history. For example, the change from hunter-gatherer societies to "civilization" as we describe is modernization, in my opinion. If processes such as this make "modernization" a general term, then the easy solution is to name the 19th century something more descriptive. I think that would just help history students anyway.
In that vein, I think "post-modern" is meaningless. It's not possible for humans to be in a post-modern era because we are continuously changing and modernizing still. There you have it. I think we should change the English language. Thank you for listening to my rant.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Braveheart, and lots of things I didn't know about Scotland
Apparently I have a weakness for historical fiction, myth, legend, and epic battle scenes. I love The Lord of the Rings, Greek mythology, and I just finished watching Braveheart tonight. Knowing absolutely nothing about Scottish history except for some vague notion of bagpipes, kilts, and haggis, I thought I had better do some research.
To start off, I looked at a JSTOR article from The American Historical Review that discusses both the movie Braveheart and the film Rob Roy, which I have not seen. The main idea I gleaned from author Elizabeth Ewan is that Braveheart has essentially no historical content. In short, she completely bashes the movie, eloquently summed up by her closing:
Ewan claims that Braveheart uses this image in describing the Scottish Lowlanders. Given that in one scene Mel Gibson's character Wallace specifically states that he is a savage, Ewan's opinion seems correct. In terms of savagery, however, I think the movie does a fairly good job of depicting the English king as a savage, although Ewan also states that he is a one-sided "cardboard" character (ibid.) Along with the depiction of "noble savage," there is also a theme of victimization. No English character is shown as a good human being. Ewan as well points this out, but I suggest you read her review if you are interested, because she does a much better job of explaining it than I could. I feel that some victimization is good for an epic movie, because then you get a stronger picture of good against evil, but throwing in some shades of grey makes for a more interesting, thought provoking movie. But Braveheart is almost entirely black and white. I, however, will gladly move to wherever they shot the film, because the scenery is incredible.
I'm going to make this entry fairly short, so I will finish with a news article I came across on my investigation. It is an op-ed piece from The Boston Globe by H.D.S. Greenway.
At the risk of sounding entirely ignorant, I did not know that Scotland was not an independent country. (See, this is why I'm educating myself!) I get very confused about the UK and which countries are part of it, and which use its currency, etc. Now I know: Scotland is still under British control. I would be curious to know how the Scottish people feel about this. Greenway says there is at least one politician pushing for independence, but the people are not necessarily in favor. I feel that unless there is a huge disturbance by the British, the stability of Scotland would prevent a successful bid for independence. But then again, I'm not living there.
This op-ed was published in 2009, so I do not know the current state of Scottish politics. Despite being on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps the Scots will get caught up in the "Arab Spring"?
As for being on an island in the middle of the Atlantic, I had no idea they had so much contact with another island in the middle of the atlantic: Ireland. From the library, I took out several books on Scotland, including one that I was/am very excited to read, entitled Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past, edited by Billy Kay. A combination of oral history, photographs, and sheet music for folk songs, this book is an amazing resource for looking into the lives of the Scots. I've only read about 5 of the 100 pages, but already it is crammed with many different voices all clambering to tell their stories. The first chapter discusses the migration of the Irish to Scotland for work, and I believe vice versa. I'm having a bit of difficulty determining when it is talking about Ireland and when Scotland, since they use place names, but when I pick up the book again I'm going to look up the places. A map would have been a useful addition to the book. I had no idea, however, that there was such a flow of people back and forth. The author even likens the ship travel to the slave trade because travelers were packed together almost as badly as were Africans on slave-ships. I'm very interested and very disturbed to continue reading this book. I also want to find recordings of the songs on YouTube if they exist.
I found several articles on the library website as well, but I have not finished looking through them. The first that I have begun is entitled "Understanding Women in Scotland," by Esther Breitenbach, Alice Brown and Fiona Myers. I am only a few pages in, but already it reads like a feminist rant. I'm not sure how to interpret this quite yet, since the article claims that Scotland has a history of misogyny as well as cultural norms that have virtually erased women from the Scottish story, but I do not know if this is true, or they are simply overreacting. If I had more knowledge of Scottish culture, I would be better able to tell. But I shall continue reading to see if these authors can back up their claims satisfactorily. Even if it is a biased article, it will still give me some insight into the culture of Scotland.
Along with finishing these two writings, I have two books on William Wallace to peruse, as well as an article entitled "Craft, Souvenirs and the Commodification of National Identity in 1970's Scotland." Since I have already spent one evening and some time this morning on Scotland, I am going to switch gears and investigate my crash course on electric circuits book. That should prove to be an entirely new kind of challenge. I will come back to Scotland soon, though, because I have so much to learn.
As for other topics to delve into, I watched a 10 minute news video on Senegalese women who tattoo their gums black for beauty reasons. Piercings, neck stretching, and tattoos are all very foreign to me, having been indoctrinated by Western beauty ideals, and they make me realize how little I know about Africa. It was quite an interesting video, even though I needed to look away when the woman was crying from pain. If you are interested, I found the video on Jezebel: http://jezebel.com/5972634/meet-the-women-who-tattoo-their-gums-black-for-a-more-beautiful-smile
I could not figure out what language the reporter and the women were speaking, so I looked up Senegal online and found out that French is the official language, but there are five other widely-spoken African languages. The website that I found also has some interesting information on greetings and customs: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/senegal.html
Watching the video and looking at clothing, makeup, transportation, and housing gave me a lot of things to think about, but I will refrain from commenting on those until I do a bit more research; this post is already getting long enough.
Until next time, happy reading!
Works Cited
To start off, I looked at a JSTOR article from The American Historical Review that discusses both the movie Braveheart and the film Rob Roy, which I have not seen. The main idea I gleaned from author Elizabeth Ewan is that Braveheart has essentially no historical content. In short, she completely bashes the movie, eloquently summed up by her closing:
It is not easy to tell the story of individuals whose lives have taken on legendary proportions. But even if historical accuracy is sacrificed, surely one owes it to them to re-create the complexity of their lives and times and not make them into cardboard characters. Rob Roy attempts to do this, Braveheart does not (Ewan, 1221).One of the reasons Ewan dislikes characters' portrayals is the use of the image of the "noble savage." I first learned about this concept in high school, relating to portrayals of Native Americans, particularly in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. (Side note: Alice is a dumb blonde, and Uncas and Cora should be married. Just marry them already, Cooper! I'm pretty sure I cried at the description of them at the end of the book. Anyway...) If you haven't heard the term "noble savage" before, this is a good illustration of the concept, as applied to Native Americans. Taken from the Wikipedia article Noble Savage, here is an excerpt from Essay on Man, by Alexander Pope:
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mindSees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;His soul proud Science never taught to strayFar as the solar walk or milky way;Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'n,Behind the cloud-topp'd hill, a humbler heav'n;Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd,Some happier island in the wat'ry waste,Where slaves once more their native land behold,No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold!To be, contents his natural desire;He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire:But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,His faithful dog shall bear him company.
Ewan claims that Braveheart uses this image in describing the Scottish Lowlanders. Given that in one scene Mel Gibson's character Wallace specifically states that he is a savage, Ewan's opinion seems correct. In terms of savagery, however, I think the movie does a fairly good job of depicting the English king as a savage, although Ewan also states that he is a one-sided "cardboard" character (ibid.) Along with the depiction of "noble savage," there is also a theme of victimization. No English character is shown as a good human being. Ewan as well points this out, but I suggest you read her review if you are interested, because she does a much better job of explaining it than I could. I feel that some victimization is good for an epic movie, because then you get a stronger picture of good against evil, but throwing in some shades of grey makes for a more interesting, thought provoking movie. But Braveheart is almost entirely black and white. I, however, will gladly move to wherever they shot the film, because the scenery is incredible.
I'm going to make this entry fairly short, so I will finish with a news article I came across on my investigation. It is an op-ed piece from The Boston Globe by H.D.S. Greenway.
At the risk of sounding entirely ignorant, I did not know that Scotland was not an independent country. (See, this is why I'm educating myself!) I get very confused about the UK and which countries are part of it, and which use its currency, etc. Now I know: Scotland is still under British control. I would be curious to know how the Scottish people feel about this. Greenway says there is at least one politician pushing for independence, but the people are not necessarily in favor. I feel that unless there is a huge disturbance by the British, the stability of Scotland would prevent a successful bid for independence. But then again, I'm not living there.
This op-ed was published in 2009, so I do not know the current state of Scottish politics. Despite being on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps the Scots will get caught up in the "Arab Spring"?
As for being on an island in the middle of the Atlantic, I had no idea they had so much contact with another island in the middle of the atlantic: Ireland. From the library, I took out several books on Scotland, including one that I was/am very excited to read, entitled Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past, edited by Billy Kay. A combination of oral history, photographs, and sheet music for folk songs, this book is an amazing resource for looking into the lives of the Scots. I've only read about 5 of the 100 pages, but already it is crammed with many different voices all clambering to tell their stories. The first chapter discusses the migration of the Irish to Scotland for work, and I believe vice versa. I'm having a bit of difficulty determining when it is talking about Ireland and when Scotland, since they use place names, but when I pick up the book again I'm going to look up the places. A map would have been a useful addition to the book. I had no idea, however, that there was such a flow of people back and forth. The author even likens the ship travel to the slave trade because travelers were packed together almost as badly as were Africans on slave-ships. I'm very interested and very disturbed to continue reading this book. I also want to find recordings of the songs on YouTube if they exist.
I found several articles on the library website as well, but I have not finished looking through them. The first that I have begun is entitled "Understanding Women in Scotland," by Esther Breitenbach, Alice Brown and Fiona Myers. I am only a few pages in, but already it reads like a feminist rant. I'm not sure how to interpret this quite yet, since the article claims that Scotland has a history of misogyny as well as cultural norms that have virtually erased women from the Scottish story, but I do not know if this is true, or they are simply overreacting. If I had more knowledge of Scottish culture, I would be better able to tell. But I shall continue reading to see if these authors can back up their claims satisfactorily. Even if it is a biased article, it will still give me some insight into the culture of Scotland.
Along with finishing these two writings, I have two books on William Wallace to peruse, as well as an article entitled "Craft, Souvenirs and the Commodification of National Identity in 1970's Scotland." Since I have already spent one evening and some time this morning on Scotland, I am going to switch gears and investigate my crash course on electric circuits book. That should prove to be an entirely new kind of challenge. I will come back to Scotland soon, though, because I have so much to learn.
As for other topics to delve into, I watched a 10 minute news video on Senegalese women who tattoo their gums black for beauty reasons. Piercings, neck stretching, and tattoos are all very foreign to me, having been indoctrinated by Western beauty ideals, and they make me realize how little I know about Africa. It was quite an interesting video, even though I needed to look away when the woman was crying from pain. If you are interested, I found the video on Jezebel: http://jezebel.com/5972634/meet-the-women-who-tattoo-their-gums-black-for-a-more-beautiful-smile
I could not figure out what language the reporter and the women were speaking, so I looked up Senegal online and found out that French is the official language, but there are five other widely-spoken African languages. The website that I found also has some interesting information on greetings and customs: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/senegal.html
Watching the video and looking at clothing, makeup, transportation, and housing gave me a lot of things to think about, but I will refrain from commenting on those until I do a bit more research; this post is already getting long enough.
Until next time, happy reading!
Works Cited
-- Braveheart by Bruce Davey; Mel Gibson; Alan Ladd,; Randall Wallace; Roy Roy by Michael Caton-Jones; Peter Broughan; Larry DeWady; Richard Jackson; Peter Proughan; Michael Caton-Jones; Alan Sharp
The American Historical Review , Vol. 100, No. 4 (Oct., 1995), pp. 1219-1221
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2168219
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage
-- Greenway, H.D.S. "Scotland's Independence Day." The Boston Globe. March 3, 2009.
-- Kay, Billy, ed. Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past. Polygon books: Edinburgh, Scotland. 1980.
-- "Understanding Women in Scotland"
-- Kay, Billy, ed. Odyssey: Voices from Scotland's Recent Past. Polygon books: Edinburgh, Scotland. 1980.
-- "Understanding Women in Scotland"
Feminist Review , No. 58, International Voices (Spring, 1998), pp. 44-65
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1395679
P.S. I'm getting rather lazy with my citations, so if they're in the wrong order or missing a period here or there, please forgive me. Normally I use MLA, and I can cite properly when I need to, but for now I'm focusing on a different type of learning.
Introduction
I believe that every child needs to rebel. Teenage years are the stereotypical time for rebellion, but I managed to I managed to sneak through adolescence under the radar. Now in my early 20s, I've decided to break out and start a revolution of my own: I am going to reclaim my learning.
Returning to higher education after a year and a half, I have finally relaxed enough around academia to realize that I do, in fact, like learning. And I like reading. I have always wanted to be one of those people who likes to just curl up in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and a book, but unfortunately I usually get overwhelmed by everything else that I have to do, or the fact that the book seems so long, that I just lose myself in the internet. At university this time, however, I've realized that I really like reading. I always knew I was a bibliophile -- I just love being in libraries and around old books -- but I hadn't really gotten the knack of cracking one open and reading it until the end.
But this year, my entire conception of education has changed. This is where I will probably sound like a pompous jerk, but I'll just say it: I'm back at school to get that little piece of paper that is apparently so important for jobs, and I think a great majority of the time I spend in class or doing homework is wasted. I have already learned how to write a research paper, how to engage in conversation about a topic, how to state a point of view and back it up with sources, how to take notes in class, and how to suck up to teachers. I don't need to receive a letter to show that I have paid attention or crammed just enough to do well on a test. I want to learn, so I am going to take back my learning. I am going to finally enjoy (and put to real use) the huge library at UBC, the enormous databases of scholarly journals, and the wonders of the internet to learn about anything and everything that I care to investigate. No, parents, don't worry that I'll drop out of school again. But you should worry that I'll start having new ideas and new perceptions of the world. For once in my short, academia-crammed world, I want to enjoy learning. Okay, now I will step off my soap box.
To preface the rest of the blog, I would like to say that I dearly hope that I do not come off sounding like a whiny, conceited child complaining that she is too privileged. The purpose of this blog is to create a compilation of the knowledge I acquire and my thoughts and opinions surrounding it. If you readers want to engage with me on any topic, or have opinions you would like to share on anything I write, then please leave comments! It would be wonderful to see this blog turn into a book club. I'm sure there are others of you out there who just want a place to explore knowledge -- so join me!
And now, I am off to the library.
Returning to higher education after a year and a half, I have finally relaxed enough around academia to realize that I do, in fact, like learning. And I like reading. I have always wanted to be one of those people who likes to just curl up in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and a book, but unfortunately I usually get overwhelmed by everything else that I have to do, or the fact that the book seems so long, that I just lose myself in the internet. At university this time, however, I've realized that I really like reading. I always knew I was a bibliophile -- I just love being in libraries and around old books -- but I hadn't really gotten the knack of cracking one open and reading it until the end.
But this year, my entire conception of education has changed. This is where I will probably sound like a pompous jerk, but I'll just say it: I'm back at school to get that little piece of paper that is apparently so important for jobs, and I think a great majority of the time I spend in class or doing homework is wasted. I have already learned how to write a research paper, how to engage in conversation about a topic, how to state a point of view and back it up with sources, how to take notes in class, and how to suck up to teachers. I don't need to receive a letter to show that I have paid attention or crammed just enough to do well on a test. I want to learn, so I am going to take back my learning. I am going to finally enjoy (and put to real use) the huge library at UBC, the enormous databases of scholarly journals, and the wonders of the internet to learn about anything and everything that I care to investigate. No, parents, don't worry that I'll drop out of school again. But you should worry that I'll start having new ideas and new perceptions of the world. For once in my short, academia-crammed world, I want to enjoy learning. Okay, now I will step off my soap box.
To preface the rest of the blog, I would like to say that I dearly hope that I do not come off sounding like a whiny, conceited child complaining that she is too privileged. The purpose of this blog is to create a compilation of the knowledge I acquire and my thoughts and opinions surrounding it. If you readers want to engage with me on any topic, or have opinions you would like to share on anything I write, then please leave comments! It would be wonderful to see this blog turn into a book club. I'm sure there are others of you out there who just want a place to explore knowledge -- so join me!
And now, I am off to the library.
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