My Contributions to the Blog (i.e. All of Them)

I was in charge of providing background information for Anne Bradstreet on our website. I did that: I wrote a paragraph describing Bradstreet's early life and some major events that influenced her as a writer. I also very briefly described Bradstreet's writing style and some common themes in her work. Furthermore, I added some lovely images to our page. Finally, I provided a few links to useful websites containing information on Anne Bradstreet.
As of when this blog entry was posted, I am the only person in my group who has done ANYTHING whatsoever to the page (see my previous blog post).

--Wald der Erschöpft

The American Literature Study Guide

Allow me to jump straight to my point: I do not believe this study guide is going to be extremely successful. Pessimistic? Maybe, but that certainly doesn't make me wrong. Frankly, I believe that a small portion of the class will end up doing the vast majority of the work on the website, and the remainder of the class will either leech off of those hard workers or ignore the site altogether. Another possibility is that some subjects discussed in the guide will be extremely poorly done, while others will be exceptionally good. Once again, this will be due to the non-homogeneity of work ethic throughout our class. Of course, to make such a bold assumption, I should have evidence to support my assertions. I can say from personal experience that this study guide-making tactic does not work particularly well. I was involved in a similar endeavor in 9th grade where our English class collaboratively made a study guide for The Odyssey. Problems similar and even identical to those just mentioned occurred, which rendered the guide not terribly helpful (at least to me).

--Wald der Spät

Mary Rowlandson: Not Too Bad

Mary Rowlandson wrote what is considered to be the first American best-seller. This work is titled Narrative of the Capture and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Having read the first few "removes," I am beginning to understand why this work was so popular. It is exciting, suspenseful, and wonderfully gruesome. Personally, I must admit that I actually enjoy it somewhat myself. Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative is surprisingly readable diction-wise as well. That is to say, the language in which it is written is clear enough to be fairly understood by a modern reader. Admittedly, a lot of the reason I like this work is because of its graphic descriptions. Rather than try to soften unpleasant issues by cloaking them with vagueness and euphemisms, Rowlandson really says exactly what's going on, holding back little to nothing.

--Wald der Abgelehnt

The Great and Most Almighty Joel Salatin

At last it has happened. The arrival of the legendary JOEL SALATIN has come and gone, just as it was prophesied to be so many eons days ago. What I'm getting at is that while I have nothing whatsoever against Joel Salatin himself, I am downright sick of hearing about him. The obsession Rabun Gap has had with Joel Salatin, Michael Pollan, and The Omnivore's Dilemma is comparable to that of prepubescent girls for vampires, werewolves, and the Twilight Series. Of course, unlike Twilight, The Omnivore's Dilemma can be read by people whose IQ is greater than their shoe size, but I digress. What I'm supposed to be addressing here is what I thought about Salatin's visit itself, not the events surrounding it.
I was looking forward to hear Salatin speak. Besides all the buzz about him at school, seeing him in Food Inc. actually got me interested. I walked into academic convocation fully prepared to hear about the latest sustainable farming techniques and other such agrarian subjects. However, that was not at all what I listened to. Rather than discussing farming, agriculture, or even the environment, Salatin spent the entire giving us a 10-point lecture on work ethic. The only part of his speech that was even remotely related to farming was his recurrent use of a garden as a metaphor for one's system of personal principles.
Not that I didn't enjoy Salatin's speech. It certainly contained good advice and was very well delivered. It just wasn't what I was expecting. At all. But on the bright side, at least now I don't have to hear about corn every waking moment of every single day of my life.

--Wald der Bestürzt

Farming, Colonies, and Anne Bradstreet?

To quote the highly-esteemed and foremost expert on literary analysis, Sesame Street: "one of these things is not like the other things; one of these things just doesn't belong" (C. Monster). Can you guess which one is is? Spoiler alert: it's Anne Bradstreet. Perhaps we are meant to discuss each of these items separately–to compartmentalize the prompt. Well I refuse. I decided when I began writing this entry that I was going to compare apples and oranges and somehow link Bradstreet and the environment. After doing a little research, I was disappointed to find that nature is no more often a topic in Bradstreet's poetry than it is for any run-of-the-mill poet of that era. The most outrightly nature-related work by her that I found was a lengthy poem titled "Contemplations," which is a comparison and exposition of the interactions and relationships between God, mankind, and nature. Unfortunately, it would be something of a stretch to use this work of Bradstreet's as evidence of her secret environmentalist agenda. Having looked for and failed to find eco-friendly themes in Bradstreet's poetry, I was somewhat disheartened and nearly conceded to write separate paragraphs about how each item in the prompt by itself is "good" and together are "very good." BUT, just as the metaphorical quicksand of mundaneness and mediocrity was about to swallow me up, I had an idea. Although Anne Bradstreet may or may not have ever cared anything about the environment, she does in fact share something with people who do: a cause. Throughout her life and career as a poet, Bradstreet struggled against the ubiquitous misogyny of her time. To be a female poet at that time was an impressive feat to say the least, but more importantly, her cultural trailblazing demonstrates her as a progressive thinker–someone who was unhappy with the way things were done and wanted them changed. The connection that I'm making to environmentalism should be be clear by now, but if I ended here, it would seem kind of abrupt. Just as Bradstreet was an advocate of feminism, the modern-day environmentalist is also a proponent of a new way of thinking–one which focuses on sustaining the environment for the future rather than just profiting off it.
So yeah, I completed my goal of linking these seemingly totally unrelated concepts. Feel free to applaud.

--Wald der Verbindungsstecker

Summary of Winthrop's Conclusion

Winthrop sums up his points outlining and detailing how Christians should love by referencing the love between Jonathan and David. The feelings between these two individual were so strong and absolute that they were totally self-sacrificing towards each other. He states that they had so much love for each other that when they were apart for only a short time, "they thought their hearts would have broke for sorrow, had not their affections found vent by abundance of tears." Winthrop goes on to explain the importance of love between people to God's plan. Just as Jesus lived a live of total altruism, so should we. Only when mankind is united by selfless brotherly love can God's will truly be carried out.

--Wald der Liebenswert

Summary of A Model of Christian Charity

John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" is sermon detailing the inherent relationship between love, charity, social structure, and Christianity. Early on in the work he asserts that God has ordained for there to be upper and lower classes in society. Some people are rich and some people are poor because it it divinely willed for it to be that way. God has clearly established hierarchies in nature (e.g. food chains and alpha males in groups of animals), so it logically follows that God would want mankind to conform to that design as well. Winthrop explains that God wants things this way because it allows for more opportunities for people to demonstrate God's love and grace through acts of kindness and charity. In other words, the more poor people there are, the more rich people can give them money.
I think Winthrop's approach to class structures in society is novel and ostensibly very logical. While his theory on social hierarchy may not exactly coincide with my own, I find it interesting and certainly deserving of merit.

--Wald der Sagenhaft