Infer-no[t] the ending I was hoping

The Inferno to me represented people living this “hellish” life and all of the struggles that come with it. Polo says how we live in this inferno every day and how we form it by being together. This shows how this pessimistic attitude spreads so rapidly and that by “being together” this inferno gets worse. He says one way to escape suffering from it is by just accepting it. Accepting that this life will not get any better; it’s just hell on earth and after a while it just becomes natural. Then he goes on and says another, more difficult, way of escaping it is by recognizing who and what are not inferno, and to give them space. At first this confused me but what I think he is saying is that you can’t be around the people who aren’t suffering because they will only drive you harder into the ground and make you feel the inferno even more so.

I personally didn’t like how this novel ended. I thought Polo’s intent was to help Khan with his empire and I feel all he did was tell him that there was no hope. I could be taking this section wrong and if so please let me know, because as of now I’m quite disappointed. Although I am one to always want the fairytale ending, I told myself in the beginning I probably wouldn’t get it due to the un-novelness of this novel. However, I didn’t expect this. I feel like this ending isn’t an ending, it just leaves you wanting more. Maybe the reason has to do with the cyclicality that we talked about in class and if there’s an end it doesn’t follow the rules of a cycle. Thoughts to help me appreciate this text..?

Cities and Memory: Zaira

The city of Zaira struck my attention right away. I enjoyed this city because of all the history it contains. When Marco Polo states that "the city does not consist of its physical features but of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past," I realized this tied in really well with what we're covering it class about what defines a space. Marco Polo shares with us that it is not the actual objects in the space that matters but the history and stories that those objects hold. I also liked the part that states, " as this wave from memories flows in, the city soaks it up like a sponge and expands." This meaning that the city will never die, it will just become more rich in history over time. In this quote I also liked how the author referred to the memories as a wave flowing in and soaking. This idea being related to water makes me think that not every part of its history is concrete, that not all of it stays, but some just trickles away. In the last section of this reading Polo states " The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand." This struck me because it shows how you have to be a part of the city to understand its past. It made me think palm readers and how they can look into your hand and search for meanings with in the cracks and crevices. Like a palm reader, when a person goes to visit Zaira they can learn stories of its past by exploring deep down in the crevices of the city.

Girl, disturbed

The more I watched the more I felt this gross deep pit sitting in my stomach. Although I enjoyed this movie very much I couldn't help but feel I was Girl, Disturbed. I think my favorite part was her line in the end, " Crazy isn't being broken- its you or me amplified." this just made me feel so badly for them, each one of them had gone through some event that obviously is going to take a tole on them whether it be on their self-esteem or self-worth or just leave you confused about your sense of self. I think its terrible that these girls didn't have somebody they could go to to help them through it or help them understand or just be there for them to vent to. If they had someone like this they wouldn't have to bottle everything up to the point where they lost themselves. This movie really made me thankful that I have people that I can go to when something happens. It also made me thankful that I'm not growing up in that time period, so if something were to happen people wouldn't automatically think I'm crazy.
If the lady at her school didnt tell her that writing was a dumb post-high school plan she would have written more about her life/experiences and never would have been sent to that institution or been diagnosed as a "borderline." In the end when she started writing she could organize her thoughts and make sense of them and simply just get them out of her head which helped her tremendously; so if she wasnt belittled in the beginning for wanting to write I think these issues wouldnt exist. Thoughts?
I agree with her that the doctors there didnt really know what they were doing. I hated how, one, they would diagnose them with something even when the patient wouldnt speak. They just picked some commonality between some symptom they showed and a disorder that happens to show that one symptom. And two, how they wouldnt tell the girls what they diagnosed them as. I dont know if doctors still do that but I think especially in this case when the doctors have no rhyme or reason to their diagnoses they just don't tell the patient because the patient is the only one who knows how they feel.
The thing I appreciated most about this movie was its truth. Being a woman and seeing other women having to go through this really got to me. I can't imagine going through some of the things that they went through, and it just made me thankful for growing up in the time we are.

to read or not to read

I sat down, read two sentences, saw my computer sitting in front of me and thought I'll blog instead. I lay in my bed trying to be a "deep reader" and realize I'm a better deep sleeper. I wake up early to finish my reading and say to myself "I'll do better in all my classes today if i get this extra hour of sleep." I find myself thinking of every possible excuse for why I'm not reading. I usually enjoy reading, so why is it that I just cant make myself read it, even when im stuck in my dorm room on a rainy day with absolutely nothing to do besides facebook stalk people (which usually is quite entertaining but after an hour or so gets quite repetitive.) Well I've discovered the answer. It's because I thoroughly dislike this book. Or maybe I just don't like the author. Her structure I just find choppy and extremely hard to follow. I find myself turning the page having no idea what I had read on the page before. As we sat in class and discussed the reading all I was interested in was the story behind the death of her. So wish me luck as I am off to go find another excuse for not reading.

My Writing ID

1. My Strengths: I am usually a pretty detailed writer. However although this is one of my strengths, it can also be a huge weakness that can make my writing too wordy. BUT usually it works in my fortune. Another thing I'm usually pretty good at is my creativity in my writing. I can put together a pretty mean clever clincher. (p.s. dont judge me it is quite clear my creative juices aren't flowing right now)
2. My weaknesses: Id say my biggest weakness would probably be my ability to veer off from my writing path, I'm an expert at this! Due to my detailedness(?) i tend to take one detail and add on and on and on and before I know it I'm on a completely different subject.
3. Goals: My main goal in this class would be to become more aware of my strengths and weaknesses and improve them both. I would also like to become a better/deeper reader.
4. For me writing is like...a release. It helps me express all of my thoughts that would otherwise rot in my head. Whether it be writing about a passionate subject or a letter/note to a friend or my mass amounts of daily texting : )