El Fin
This class, even though difficult at times, has been one of my favorite classes. Not simply because of the topic, but because of the sense of community were able to make between all of us. Having a year long class like this really allows us to get to know one another, which is good... usually hahaha.

This class really pushed me to do more than I ever have for a class and I am a better student for it. Throughout the course of this class I have certainly developed many skills that will help me for the rest of my college career, such as my writing abilities. I knew I wasn't the best writer coming into this class, however I believe that I have left this class a better writer, or at least with the knowledge of what I need to do to become a better writer. To be completely honest, this was the hardest class I have ever taken, but it was worth it. I learned a lot about myself, and it is because of the way Professor Stark and Professor Serrata set this class up and a wanted us to analyze not just the literature, but also ourselves.

However, even though this class was hard, does not mean I don't think we didn't have any fun, as we had the dance lesson and our field trip to Chicago, as well as just always having a good time in class! Needless to say, I did enjoy our trip to Chicago a lot and will remember that for a long time, you know what, I will remember this class for a long time. It was great getting to know you all and I hope that everyone has a great summer!

Response to Elena's blog #11

Elena, I really like the connection you made between Maria Antonietta Saa and Veronica Corningstone. Anchorman is one of my favorite movies and I think it is awesome that you managed to relate it to the societal roles that women were place in, in Chile between Allende's and Pinochet's regime. And I completely agree with you, I think it's very interesting how many people were concerned that women were going above what their traditional roles called them to do, such as taking care of the house and kids. Nice blog!

Blog # 11- The Heights of Macchu Picchu

After the first day of discussing this poem and talking more about what all the parts of the piece could mean I decided that this poem might not be so bad after all. I really liked what our group came up with in our discussion about how Neruda begins the poem talking about the death of an individual but then, as the poem progresses, it moves to talking about the death in relation to the community. He does this by listing all the different types of workers; the farm worker, the weaver, the quiet shepherd, the mason, to name a few. He is attempting to join all these different types of people together in order to make a connection to the past society that once lived on this great, historic monument. It is clear that Neruda is expressing his longing to have seen this past society in all its greatness, and that he is in awe of everything that they were able to accomplish. So after realizing all of these attributes of the poem I decided to give Neruda another shot, so I read another poem by him. The poem is called "poema veinte" and I really, really enjoyed reading this poem. Granted it was a simpler, and shorter poem than his "heights of macchu picchu", I still liked this poem. I read it in both english and spanish and it gave me a new view of Neruda, because after reading the macchu picchu poem I wasn't so sure about him! Anyways, thats all for now, and below this blog is "poema XX" in both spanish and english:

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Escribir, por ejemplo: -La noche esta estrellada,		Write, for example, 'The night is starry
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos-.		and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'
El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.		The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.		I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.		Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.		I kissed her so many times under the endless sky.
Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.		She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.		How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.		Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.		To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.		To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.		And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.		What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.		The night is starry and she is not with me.
Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.		This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.		My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.		My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.		My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.		The same night whitening the same trees.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.		We, of that time, are no longer the same.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.		I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.		My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.		Another's. She will be another's. As before she was of my kisses.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.		Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.		I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.		Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos,		Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms,
mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.		my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,		Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.		and these the last verses that I write for her.

Blog Number 8

For blog number 8 here, I would like to discuss Borges' short story "The South". Specifically I would like to point out the issue of choice and decisions. The first time reading the story I simply "read" it, however after re-reading it for class today I began to pick up on some things that I had missed on the first go of it. What I realized was that throughout the entire story, Juan Dahlmann seems to make very little, if any conscious decisions. In fact, I believe that the only point in the story that he make a concise and purposeful choice, was when he decided to take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator, at the beginning of the story. Now, you might be saying, "wait, Dahlmann made other choices, he decided to go to ranch that he has been longing for." This too, is what I initially thought, however, when I was reading I realized that he went right from being in the sanatorium to being on his way to the ranch, there was no transition, not even him thinking "I'm going to go the ranch now". And the only thing that made me read closely enough to discover that this wasn't his choice at all was the mention of "destiny" at the beginning of the second paragraph. After reading that line I started reading the paper trying to figure out if any of what happened to him was due to his own choosing, or if some divine plan was the cause of everything. And what I came to find out was that after choosing to take the stairs, he simply made no more decisions. For example, once the sanatorium was about to release him the doctor told him he would go to his ranch for "convalescence". It wasn't his decision at all to go there, regardless of whether he wanted to or not. Again we see his choice voided during his train ride as the railroad inspector tells Dahlmann that he cannot get off where his ticket says, instead he must get off at an earlier stop. All of this leads to him making it to the general store where the Gaucho throws him the knife, basically making the decision to fight for him.    Well, those are just my thoughts anyways. Until next time....

My response to Gabrielle's post Number 8:

Great post Gabrielle! I completely agree with your post and think you brought some great insight here. Yes, as Juan travels from the city to the countryside we see a change from the so called "civilized" society to the "barbaric" side of life. And that as he went to the countryside issues were settled with violence, such as the knife scene in the short story. And its true, many people still view farming as the "old" way of life, even though it has made huge leaps and bounds in terms of modernization. So that is a good question, maybe its because we associate farmers as overall wearers that talk like they never went to school, which we know is not the case. But that's a solid question, that I simply do not know the answer to.

Response to Ian's blog #7

Ian, I really enjoyed reading your post on murals and I have also done a project on Michelangleo as well, although it was a little longer ago than junior year for me. In particular, I like the mural that you chose to show on your blog as I believe that it does have a significant amount of symbolism in it. I agree with your interpretations about the right and the left side and how the left-most edge has leaves and rocks while the right-most part is barren. That is one thing I appreciate about the classical/renassaince painters is that they always made their works portray images with a lot of hidden symbolism. Great post!

Blog #7

Over the past week we have read the book "The Underdogs", and I have really liked this piece of writing. Our most recent discussion questions over the book included a question on which scene would be the most interesting to dramatize. For me, the scene that stood out most prominently, in general, was the analogy with the stone falling down the canyon. Already, this scene is full of drama and unseen tension between Macías' need to continue fighting and his wife's wish that he would stop. As Demetrio picks up the stone and tosses it down the canyon, the drama is pushed to the brink as Demetrio turns to his wife and speaks. He says, 'I cannot stop fighting anymore than that stone can stop falling', or something of the sort. I just found this scene so full of dramatic tension that I couldn't help but write about it. And the interesting thing, is that the stone will stop falling at one point or another when it finally hits the bottom of the canyon. Similarly, Demetrio does encounter his end at the bottom of a canyon like structure. So, just like the falling stone, whose fate was inevitable, Demetrio saw his future in the same way, unchangeable. This scene is so powerful that I believe it could be one of the most important parts of the novel. It can relate to just about everyone, some people view their future as "pre-destined", while others believe they are in control of what will happen to them. Obviously Demetrio Macías saw his fate as already being decided for him. In any case, this scene was very motivational to me. Whether you believe life has an unchanging path, or that you make your future, this scene inspires a sense of man versus destiny, and you can't help but feel like challenging whatever pre-destined designs life has for you. Well, those are my thoughts at least, until next time!

Response to Lauren's Sixth Blog:

Lauren, I really like the connection you made here between the survival of the Mexican Revolution and Palmares. It makes a lot of sense, both movies represent the fact that an ideal is stronger than just one person, and once you have enough people who believe in this ideal, a single death cannot kill it. Like in Viva Zapata, they may have been able to kill the man behind the revolution, but they couldn't kill the idea, or in this case his horse. Implying that the driving ideals still live on and are stronger than ever.