Human nature

When thinking about human nature what first comes to your mind? In "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf, Septimus is a veteran suffering with PSD. Woolf writes about his life pre-war and post-war. On page 89, Rezia expresses her desire of having children, more specifically a boy just like Septimus. Septimus doesn't share the same desire; this is shown through the diction Woolf uses to portray it. She expresses, "One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that."(page 89 Human nature in the perspective of Septimus is negative and without beauty. Septimus believes this because of all the tramatic experiences he has been through in his life. Septimus wants no one to live as he lives. When Woolf says, " have no lasting emotion" she connects this to Septimus because he can't feel anything. When his friend Evans dies, Septimus expresses in the book that he didn't feel any emotion toward the tragic event. The cliché saying is that, "Bad things happen to good people." Tragic events happen to most people in the world at least once. Some events more severe than others.


     
         

Change your perspective

Have you ever experienced something that has moved your perspective of an idea? Even the most diminutive objects can move us to do extraordinary things. We see this occur in  "Death of a Moth," by Virginia Woolf. She is observing life through a moths lense and how full of "zest" yet "pathetic"(paragraph 2) it's life truly is. In Woolfs life she struggles with severe depression which concludes why this piece is so dark and dreary to us. When she sees the moth stuck in the windowpane she is moved to a different perspective on life. I can connect to this idea but through music. Whenever I get into a "mood" I can listen to a song that describes how I am feeling and get a totally different perspective on the situation at hand. The situation could be anything from a heart break to a pump up jam before a game. In other pieces I have read such as, Sherman Alexies, "Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play "The Star-Spangled Banner" At Woodstock," I have noticed the power of music to view a different perspective on an idea. Woolf didn't use music to see life through a different lense she observed a moth, "very thin but pure"(paragraph 2) and its struggle for life. In the end sometimes even the most minuscule objects can open our eyes, broader and clearer than ever before.

Basic White Girl or Nah?

As I read Amy Tans, "Fish Cheeks", all that was running through my mind was how this describes my relatives. My mom is Chinese and Hawaiian. She is very loud and "licks the end of her chopsticks"(paragraph 5) at dinner. I have, so desperately, wanted to not be related to these people before because they were different from my friends parents. I grew up in Boise, Idaho, which is not diverse other than for the five Asians in my high school. My best friends are all white and my boyfriend is white. I have never felt so different, just as Amy Tan did in her narrative about her Christmas Eve dinner with the minister and his son. Growing up different is one of the hardest concepts to live with because you can't change who you are on the inside. Amy Tan's mother said, "You want to be the same as American girls on the outside. But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud to be different. Your only shame is to have shame."(paragraph 7) My entire life I have Americanized my looks, some would call me a basic white girl, with a love for Starbucks, UGGS, and white high top converse. My physical appearance might scream white girl but I know that I can never change who I am or who my mom and relatives are. You can't just change your ethnicity and you can't tell your relatives to change either. Be proud to be different. 

Blink once and it could all change

In class we read and discussed "Disability" by Nancy Mairs, who is crippled and diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In her article she states that disabled persons and abled-bodied persons function the same way. Disabled people go through the same routines as ‘normal’ people do. Her example of this is, "I menstruate, so I have to buy tampons."(Paragraph 4) She also says, "Some disabled people call you TAPs, or Temporarily Abled Persons."(Paragraph 7) I believed that sentence was pessimistic the first time reading it through but I realized I was naive and saw eye to eye with society for not envisioning reality. We are all going to end up being disabled, physically or mentally. "The fact is that ours is the only minority you can join involuntarily, without warning, at anytime."(Paragraph 7) 

One small little occurrence could change some ones life in an instant. My best friend Sasha got in a car accident yesterday, which could have easily changed her entire life. Sasha is a volleyball player at Boise High School. She is extremely active through the school. She was going up to her cabin in McCall, Idaho and in an instant her car slid on black ice causing it to flip into the side of the mountain. This car accident could have disabled her or worse. Luckily she is left with only bruises and a broken arm. In the shortest of moments her life could have been changed. There are people that aren’t as lucky as my best friend is and are now disabled.  The concept of being a Temporarily Abled Person is frightening but, all in all, realistic.