Self Evaluation

I liked English 015 and i feel that i learned a lot about writing. I can't put my finger on how specifically but i just feel like a better writer. What helped the most was probably the practice from all the different assignments. About Penn State the only thing i learned was what was said in the podcast about being a party school. There were some things i didn't know like drunk kid in the house. About myself I realized that l like creative writing more than I thought. In fact I wish I was better at it. And this ties into the arts. I learned to appreciate the arts more (except poetry and obscure paintings) and it makes me wish I was more artistic as well, whether by being a better artist (drawing and painting) or by playing different instruments.

Some other things I learned are blogging. I never had a blog before and although its cool to speak your mind on topics I don't think I'm going to keep one in the future, its tedious. I also learned about different Arts and Cultural Events. I can safely say I wont attend them in the future, they bore me like day 3 of the NFL draft would bore some people. Besides being at 8 in the morning English 015 was a good and enjoyable class.

I finished my SRTEs and the links to my response are below:

 http://luketry.blogspot.com/2012/03/party-rocking.html#comment-form

http://kevinbeebie.blogspot.com/2012/04/babys-fifth-blog-post.html#comment-form

http://ajf5302.blogspot.com/2012/03/at-psu-we-know-how-to-party.html#comment-form

Cadbury Creme Eggs and Pottery

For my second art and cultural event I clicked on both the link to the cadbury eggs and the pottery. The cadbury eggs were interesting, someone made clay embryos and fetuses at different stages of embryonic development and placed them in the chocolate creme eggs. The pottery was not as interesting, it seemed crude to me. The pottery consisted of jugs, bowls and mugs and they all have some kind of face on them giving them an ancient barbaric look. It did not seem like very fine art.

The thing that stuck out to me the most was the small yellow embryo, second from the top. This stuck out to me because we did a experiment with chicken embryos in bio 240w lab. We had to extract embryos from the eggs and test the effect of caffeine on embryos. Although real embryos are read the shape is similar and the realness of those sculptures are impressive. I enjoyed the pictures and it was very interesting.

Art and Cultural Event 1

Yesterday i attended my first cultural event. I went to a poetry reading at Webster's Cafe on beaver ave. The reader was Dave Bonta and he read from a collection of poem books and had video readings as well. His first poem book was written by a bunch of poets but they all drew inspiration from obscure art paintings. His second poem book was poems describing wild flowers. Finally his video poem readings was a collaboration with another person, who did the "acting" and music.

I had never been to a poetry reading and it was worse than i could have expected, in my opinion. Everything was weird from the language used in the poems to the videos. The oddest thing had to be the first video though. Bonta was reading a poem in the background while there was a dark electronic music playing in the background. Then the actor started playing with a strip of bacon. Overall the whole thing was confusing and  just odd.

During the poetry reading Professor Squillante's 4 year old daughter started crying that she wanted to go home and that was exactly how i felt.

The Kite Runner

When most people here the word Afghanistan they think of terrorism and the war but The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini gives us a different perspective into the country. The story takes place in Kabul where the main character Amir is a well off pashtun child (a ethnic group) who's family lives in a big house and owns servants including a hazara child (another ethnic group that is discriminated against by the pashtuns). Amir and the hazara boy Hassan are close friends.

In an effort to win the approval of his father, Amir and Hassan enter the local kite flying competition in which the last kite flying wins and the objective is to cut down other kites with your kite line. After Amir cuts down the last kite, Hassan his kite runner goes to retrieve it so Amir can win his fathers approval. Amir follows Hassan out after a while and witnesses Hassan with the kite but being "bullied" by the local bullies in order to keep it and bring it back to Amir. However, Amir is too much of a coward to help and just watches. Later Hassan returns with the kite and gives it to Amir and his father is proud of him at last but it is an empty feeling for him. Disgusted at himself Amir eventually drives Hassan and his father out of their jobs and lives.

 Then the war came and Russia invaded Afghanistan. Since Amir and his father are well off they escaped as refugees to America and started a new life. Everything is dandy for Amir until he received a call from an old friend and his past and is given a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Hassan.

The story is just amazing and it is suspenseful from the first page to the last. It is hard to put down the book after starting it. The book has a well written and complex storyline and is filled with suspense. Just when you think the story is slowing down Khaled Hosseini throws a curveball at the reader that shocks the hell out of you.

The Kite Runner gives readers a different perspective of Afghanistan but more importantly contains themes that transcends all cultures and applies to all human beings. It is a story about loyalty, friendship, love, approval seeking, cruelty, and ultimately redemption.

The one negative for the book is that it is not for children. That being said it is a best seller selling 10 million copies since 2003 and has been adapted into a movie. I don't usually read but i would recommend this book.