Missing work...

Vogler #4
This section was about the ordinary world. Vogler said that most stories take place in "special worlds". Therefore, the ordinary world is where the hero starts out before he crosses the border from one world to another. It also makest he special world seem more special. Vogler also talks about the call to adventure. This is what actually causes the hero to start his journey; it is usually issued by the herald.
I don't think the ordinary world is too necessary because nowadays, many stories take place in the original ordinary world. I do feel however, that the call to adventure is in just about every story. A story would be completely boring if the hero just continued to do what he had started out doing the entire duration of the plot. For example, if Cinderella had just decided to continue being a slave to her family the entire time, the story would have been extremely boring, not to mention depressing.
I think in day to day life, people see a call to adventure. It can come in the form of a phone call from a friend to go do something, or an assignment on a syllabus. Every day a call to adventure beckons someone to do something out of the ordinary.
Questions
1. Have you been called to adventure lately?
2. Have you transcended from the ordinary world to a special world?

Vogler #5
These sections were about the refusal of the call and the meeting with the mentor. The refusal of the call is how the hero usually reacts to the call to adventure; he usually refuses it. A hero doesn't always have to refuse the call, but may hesitate. The next section was about the meeting of the mentor, in this section the hero may gain supplies or advice from a mentor figure to help him on the way.
I don't like the refusal of the call section because Vogler even says that the hero doesn't necessarily refuse the call. I think it would be more properly named hesitation, or maybe the two sections can be combined into "preparing for the journey". The meeting with the mentor is important because a hero can't just go from zero to 60, he must prepare himself.
In everyday life I refuse calls all the time. I choose to not answer a phone call, not go out, and obviously not do an assignment from time to time. Every time I answer the call, however, I must "meet with my mentor" aka prepare for the journey. For example I go to the ATM to get money, find my car keys, or find my computer to start work.
Questions
1. Have you ever refused a call to adventure?
2. What mentors have prepared you for your journeys?

Extra Credit

EC 1: free rice

I donated the 1000 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program by answering vocab questions correctly. I learned I can "volunteer" without even getting off the couch!

EC2: 6 word memoir

Just riding the chaos every day.

This one was interesting because it is a lot harder than it seems to summarize your life in just six words. I think my six describe me pretty well though.

EC3: StoryCorps

I listened to the one about the old lady with the blow up bra. It really was funny. I expected it to be about an exploding bra, so I was a little let down when I found out she meant blow up more like inflatable... still funny though.

EC4: 1000000 monkeys

This was very confusing, I couldn't figure out how to start a story... I did try though and read some good ones. The choose your own adventure was fun!

EC5: The web of language

Article This is an article saying that in England, a university has made a Masters Degree in Facebook and Twitter. This just seems absolutely ridiculous to me! Maybe a class makes sense, but this university is offering a Masters!

EC6: Random acts of kindness

I read a story where a little girl befriended a lonely little girl at a carnival, making her day better. She's starting random acts of kindness at an early age!

My act of kindness was to make a lunch for my roommate after she had a hard day at work :)

EC7: YouTube

A song called Rock and Roll McDonalds it tells the viewer how it will make them fat. This kind of seemed like brainwashing!

This is a clip from Supersize me. Its the food test clip. This shows what it does to you over time vs food from regular restaurants. The McDonalds food doesn't seem to age!

This is called the Fast Food Song. I just thought it was funny!

EC8: Organization

The Mayo Clinic is trying to prevent childhood obesity through educating the public on ways to prevent it as well as do something about it. Basically children these days don't exercise enough, eat more, and the food that is eaten is unhealthy. Kids need to get out more and avoid junk/fast food.

EC9: email

I emailed Dr C-E Floodmark asking whether he could find any hard evidence to support the correlation between childhood obesity and fast food.

EC10/11: Get out of jail free/attendance

N/A

Toni Morrison Annotation

Summary: The interview was between writer Toni Morrison and Charlie Rose. In the interview, they discussed some of Toni's books, including her new one, Love. Aside from discussing the books, the two also spoke about Toni's philosophies on how she does her writing, projects she's working on now, and different aspects of her life.

Reaction: I had no idea that Toni Morrison was such an accomplished woman, she's a professor at princeton, has won all sorts of awards for literature, and on top of all that, she's extremely humble. I really liked how attached she gets to her characters when she's writing and how she describes herself like an actress when she gets into their heads.

Reflection: I don't really plan on becoming an author or anything but as I said earlier I liked how Toni Morrison says she's like an actress when she writes. If I ever have to write something involving characters I think that mentality would be very helpful.

Simpson's Critique

Summary: This critique showed how the television series, The Simpsons, related to the consumerism of the american culture. For instance, Marge was the stereotypical housewife, Homer was males personified, Lisa was reason, and Bart was the child who won't succeed.

Reaction: I definitely felt that this piece had good points. I did feel, however, that they were not well developed; when the writer used an example to support what he said, it was not thoroughly explained; I could make some connections because I know what happened in most episodes, but for someone who hasn't seen the show it was not explained well. What's more, I got annoyed with how repetitive it was.

Reflection: I have watched The Simpsons many times and now when I watch it I'm going to notice the stereotypical roles each member of the family plays. I see these roles in other programs as well; Peter from Family Guy resembles Homer, Lois resembles Marge, Chris and Meg resemble Bart and Lisa, and Stewie somewhat resembles Maggie.

The Bell Jar

There are different kinds of crazy:
Gnarls Barkley's Crazy


Love isn't as easy as many stories make it out to be:
Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name


Asylums of the past may not have been as helpful as they appeared to be:

"This is like a whole other part of humanity that's very disturbing. I can't believe people were institutionalized for having a temper tantrum. It's unsettling to think that because of their lack of knowledge in the field of psychiatric disabilities, they locked these people up for the rest of their lives."

Suitcases from an insane asylum tell of lives long lost

The other sex

Vogler- 03.02.09

The first section was going into detail about the refusal of the call. Vogler goes into detail about different ways the call may be refused as well as some of the consequences. A hero may avoid the call, make up excuses, receive conflicting calls, or actively set out looking for a call. If a hero refuses a call multiple times, tragedy usually follows. Next Voger talks about the meeting with the mentor. This section goes into detail about the variety of functions and faces mentors have in a story. What they all have in common is they teach a hero a lesson, either directly or indirectly, and help the hero get going with the journey.

In the refusal of the call section the only two that I didn't necessarily agree with were the positive refusal and artist as a hero. I think if a character never actually accepts the call, then they never really go on the journey. The artist as a hero is really a stretch to me. I think it's important to have a wide variety of mentors because if not, every story would be extremely predictable. This is why I appreciate the mentor-hero conflicts and misdirection methods of mentors.

In my own personal experience I either actively seek out my own adventure, or if the call is less inviting I'm definitely the type that just tries to avoid the call. I've experienced most of the mentor-hero interactions, but the two that come about most often in my life are mentor-hero conflicts and the mentor as evolved hero.