Site-wide Content from around UMW Blogs
Aug 9th, 2007 by Reverend
Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » 2008 Word of the Year: CRECESSION?
2008 Word of the Year: CRECESSION?
I like it!
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Mortgage Crisis Reverses Tide of Urban Renewal
Mortgage Crisis Reverses Tide of Urban Renewal
Depressing . . .
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Today’s exciting news or not
Stelzer in the Weekly Standard - he is probably the #2 economist out there in making sense of what’s going on behind Samuelson
Gigot in WSJ - MUST read this . . . helps understand how things got so screwed up
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Music?
Because I’m feeling nerdy and Milton-y, I’ve put up a muxtape sort of based on class, I guess. It’s here, and for posterity, here is the track listing:
01. Elbow - Weather to Fly
02. The National - The Geese of Beverly Road
03. Amy Annelle - Will Try
04. Wintersleep - Jaws of Life
05. Sea Wolf - The Garden That You Planted
06. Nick Drake - Road
07. Sunset Rubdown - A Day in the Graveyard
08. Sparklehorse - Gold Day
09. Apples in Stereo - Beautiful Machine Parts 3-4
10. Joey Ramone - What a Wonderful World
11. Wolf Parade - This Heart’s On Fire
12. Eluvium - Prelude for Time Feelers
Hopefully there’s something on there most people can find to like. We’ll see.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » madly studying (and therefore, going a little mad)
I’m here going over everything, specifically “A Masque at Ludlow Castle” right now, and my notes in the margins and in my notebook are really quite funny. I read them aloud to Madeline and Rachel today already, but they are striking me as very entertaining right now, especially out of context. Some life lessons, perhaps. Ha. Though in context they make perfect sense. Some of them.
Random Notes on Milton’s “Masque”
“…so to lose virginity is to participate in the ultimate earthy degradation”
“A healthy, blissful marriage is to be aspired to.”
“Drunkenness –> misery = arrogance and ignorance”
“Lust leads to the pollution of the soul.”
Me, to Comus, as he tries to take the Lady’s virginity: “It’s special dude, not something she can just throw away” (and yes, I actually wrote this in the margin)
And, to sum it up: “After Comus sticks her to the chair (with semen??), she never speaks again”
I actually am taking useful notes on my legal pad, I’m sorry I’m not sharing all that. Maybe in a little while I’ll post something more substantive/helpful. 
Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Real Time Economics : Summer Beige Book: Staycations and Higher Prices
Real Time Economics : Summer Beige Book: Staycations and Higher Prices
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Early reflections.
So I’m still letting the dust settle in my head–I assume tomorrow’s exam will only raise the clouds up again–and therefore I’m not really ready to start reflecting on this class yet. But some things I know: I’ve been changed (for the better, I’d like to think); I’ve thought about things in new combinations, new ways; I’ve learned about far more than just Milton; I’ve written the longest paper of my life thus far (which I didn’t really think I could do!); and far from insignificant, I’ve grown to have a real love for our class. No matter how I do, gradewise, I know I’ve learned a lot, grown, and have had an experience I will definitely value.
From the meeting today at the Hyperion we got started talking about all our favorite books. To that end, I’ve compiled a brief list of some books I’ve read and enjoyed. I’m not saying these are all amazing, I’m not saying they’re all great literature, but I think there’s something to get out of every book here. If I were to recommend three to go for first, I would say: Paradise, by Toni Morrison; The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner; and Straight Man, Richard Russo. A lot of that is just based on my feeling right now, but they’re all rewarding texts. And of course if you haven’t read Catcher in the Rye, I really don’t know what you’re waiting for. So here’s the list:
FICTION
J. D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger, Nine Stories
J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys
Richard Russo, Straight Man
Richard Russo, Empire Falls
Richard Russo, Bridge of Sighs
Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King
Saul Bellow, Herzog
Toni Morrison, Jazz
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison, Paradise
Toni Morrison, Sula
Thomas Pynchon, Crying of Lot 49
Gloria Naylor, Bailey’s Cafe
Gloria Naylor, Mama Day
Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami, The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Flannery O’Connor, Collected Short Stories
Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood
Cormac McCarthy, Child of God
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock
Diana Wynne Jones, The Homeward Bounders
A. S. Byatt, Possession
China Mieville, Perdido Street Station
China Mieville, The Scar
China Mieville, Looking for Jake
Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age ...
Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Desperate American banks are selling everything that isn’t nailed down—except the private jets. - By Daniel Gross - Slate Magazine
[Link]
Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » THE PAPER
Like Madeline, I am going to share my paper with you all: here it is. I wish I had a few more weeks to work on it, but as I told Dr. C before I turned it in, it is what it is.
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » A Depression? Hardly
Samuelson making good sense . . .
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Planners See Sleek Future For Tysons
Planners See Sleek Future For Tysons
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Real Estate Crisis Threatens Spanish Economy
Real Estate Crisis Threatens Spanish Economy
It isn’t just here (Ireland too).
[Link]jana » Luxury packs
When Liora was here she commented on how Europe is becoming less and less of a place to hardcore backpacking. I agree with her. I think every day I see larger and larger backpacks, which are impossible to travel with. I dont really understand why people buy them just to fill them with crap that they wont be able to carry for more than 200 yards. I dont even understand how they get them on their backs. It just seems to defeat the purpose of backpacking. Living off of one bag isnt a significant thing when that one bag is the size of your room.
Today I ate lunch next to a really beautiful painting. That was really exciting. I am learning pronunciation one word at a time. I have 3 words down very well, Schiaciatta–the best bread in the whole world, Fulmine -lightening and requadrattura-relining of paintings. I cant wait to learn a new word tmw! I also have to say each of these words correctly before I can learn a new one.
I am starting to really get along and joke with my co-workers. Its nice to not always feel akward, which I do still at times. But it is getting less and less.
Daniele, is a huge baseball fan. When I told him Math was coming in august he asked if he was from washington as well. I said yes, and he got so excited and asked if he could bring a nationals cap with him. Its great to make relationships here. I am so fortunate to have found such wonderful people that have really cared about how I am doing and legitimately want to help me. Today I was talking quickly in Italian, and got a Brava for it! I still love off of them. I might even mop the floor tmw just to get one. But tmw we will hopefully finish relining the canvas, so that will be pretty intense, and I hope to learn a lot.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » a few reflections
I meant to blog yesterday, but truly I could not. I had been so intensely thinking about Milton for five days (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I was focused on Paradise Lost almost exclusively, everything abandoned for the sake of my presentation and paper) and once everything was done my brain was just exhausted. I’m sure you guys can relate. I could hardly even talk to anyone after class, I sort of just ignored my housemates and went to Borders to wander around for awhile. After such an intense experience (because I really think that intense is one of the only words that works here) with such a complicated, beautiful, unbelievable work (and author, might I add) it was suddenly just…over. My mind was really only capable of wandering, wondering how we had managed to pack all that into five weeks, wondering about how much I had learned a grew from this experience. Because I know I have. I’m not sure about all the ways the seminar has changed me yet, but I know eventually I will discover the little ripples of change this class, this professor and this poet have sent my way. I can predict what some of the changes will be, or even some that I can already notice. I think I am a more mature reader, a more discerning and thoughtful reader. Because Milton is so interrelated and meaningful and charged with all sorts of ideas and humor and seriousness, I know I will seek such depth from the books and poems I read in the future. I am definitely converted technologically, which excites me. I learned about delicious, blogs and blogging…and I do hope to continue this blog, not as one exclusively devoted to Milton, but about all the books I read. I hope others in class continue to blog or start a new one. The blog is something I have not really enjoyed in my English classes before, but this seminar has opened my eyes to how useful and exciting blogs can be. Well, I am about to go meet some of the class to study for the final (!!) so I will wrap this up. I want to thank everyone (Madeline, Rachel, Kim, Brittany, and Emily) in our seminar. I think we were so lucky to have such a wonderful mix of people and so very lucky to have such a small class! I’m sure ...
[Link]Dr. C.'s Learning Web » Reflections on the twelfth UMW Paradise Lost Readathon
Not quite the day-after report I’d hoped to make, but as we’ve discussed recently in the Milton seminar, time is a difficult dimension that consistently weighs on Milton’s mind and ours. So later and briefer than I’d like, here are my thoughts.
The evening was magical as ever. This surprised me a bit, truth to tell, as I had lowered my expectations given the compressed summer schedule, the size of the class (there are six students enrolled–what a luxury for real school!), and the scarcity of folks around campus during the summer term. I figured that nevertheless the occasion would involve “fit audience, though few,”and would have its own special character.
It did have its own special character–how could it not?–but in scope and intensity it was right up there with all the other readathons. I blogged about the upcoming reading, and I sent out an event invitation on Facebook, and that […]
Original post by Gardo
[Link]jimgroom » WPMu Sitewide Tags, Feeds, & Archives! Oh, My!
So….so so so so so so, it’s time for a little walk down WPMu history lane. Last year at this time I was desparately scrambling for a way to have sitewide tags for UMW Blogs. I found the solution in Dr. Mike’s hack shared on the WordPress forums here, but it was a kind of a mess even then. Yet, the concept was brilliant, a separate site that allows you to archive, search, and create a tag cloud for categories through a good ol’ spamming plugin. —DIY ingenuity at work given the limitations of WPMu at the time. The set up ran on a separate single install of WordPress that was pulling in the sitwewide feed from WPMu (thanks to It Damager –who has disappeared along with his Sitwewide feed plugin) and running it through the outdated Wp-Autoblog plugin, as well as a plugin for re-directing the permalink to the original blog it was fed in from (a process I detailed here). Moreover, once I got this hacked concept straight in my head and installed it, the WP-Autoblog plugin and the Sitewide feed plugin had to be further modified to work. Add to that the fact that when I updated UMW Blogs from 1.2.x to 1.3.3 the category were no longer pulled into the separate WP site properly, effectively breaking the tag cloud. Making the whole thing at least a partial bust right around February. In short, it was an extremely smart hack on Dr. Mike’s part, but in the long run it became more of a nightmare than an asset.
So, as soon as I saw the MuTags plugin for WPMu sitewide tags from Mr. Henry I jumped on that, and made that the default tag cloud for UMW Blogs, and used Dr. Mike’s hack as an archive for posts throughout the environment (sans categories). But Mr. Henry’s MuTags had two problems: it had no sitewide feed for each tag, and it couldn’t incorporate categories into the tag cloud. Moreover, when we bought the $50 extension for the plugin which allowed feeds for each tag, I found the feeds to be pretty poorly parsed and ugly 
But I was hopeful enough to blog it, and when Stephen Downes took issue with our paying $50 bucks for this functionality I wore all black for weeks and couldn’t sleep at night (this was before he discovered and broadcasted the beauty that ...
jimgroom » A List of Plugins Used on the Bava
I have been meaning to use David Benini’s Plugins List plugin (I love plugins about plugins–the meta-plugin!) which simply allows you to include a list of all the plugins you are using on your site. Simple, yet potentially very useful for others, and a way to give a shout out for all the hardworking folks out there who are truly responsible for making WordPress as great as it is (yep, I’m creeping back to the state of ecstatic fanboy!).
And while it won’t list the MultiUser plugins running on the bava, it will list all the standard plugins, and that may help some of you upgrading to WPMu 2.6 get an idea of what will fly, for all of these have been tested and work well with the beta 1 of WPMu 2.6. As you will probably notice, I don’t use all of these plugins, but many of them are also for UMW Blogs testing, as you can see UMW Blogs is the real deal! We don’t half step when it comes to plugins! Whose better than UMW Blogs, name me one blogging service… just one, damn it!!!
404 Notifier (v. 1.2a ) by Alex King. Add RSS (v. 1.5 ) by Dan Cameron. aggr (v. 1.1 ) by Carlo Perassi. Akismet (v. 2.1.6 ) by Matt Mullenweg. BBpress Latest Discussions (v. 0.9 ) by Atsutane Shirane. BDP RSS Aggregator (v. 0.6.2 ) by Bryan Palmer (bryan@ozpolitics.info). BDP RSS Aggregator Widgets (v. 0.0.1 ) by Bryan Palmer (bryan@ozpolitics.info). BM Custom Login (v. 1.3 ) by Ben Gillbanks. cforms (v. 8.5.2 ) by Oliver Seidel. Code Markup (v. 1.3 ) by Bennett McElwee. Dagon Design Form Mailer (v. 5.33 ) by Dagon Design. Daiko's Video Widget (v. 2.0.7 ) by Rune Fjellheim. DivShare Uploader (v. 1.0 ) by DivShare. Easy Admin Color Schemes (v. 2.4 ) by James Dimick. Exec-PHP (v. 4.8 ) by Sören Weber. FeedWordPress (v. 0.993 ) by Charles Johnson. FireStats (v. 1.4.0-dev ) by Omry Yadan. Flickr Photo Gallery (v. 0.98.2 ) by Joe Tan. flickrRSS (v. 4.0 ) by Dave Kellam. Google Maps Quicktag (v. 1.0.1 ) by Daniel Denk. Inline Tag Thing (v. 1.2 ) by Christine From The Internet.Last.fm widget - New style (v. 1.0 ) by James Wilson. Netflix (v. 3.0 ) by Albert Banks. Netflix Widget (v. 1.0 ) by Chris Stanley. Photo Dropper (v. 1.0.5 ) by Photodropper. Plugins list (v. ... [Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Integrity and Vegetative Imagery in PL, II
Again, because sharing is cool: here is my Milton Seminar research paper, or at least the draft that I turned in to be graded. It may change in time, but I thought it would be neat to show our progress with each other.
[Link]jana » Whew!
So I got my grades completely transferred to UMW. That is nice to have completed. I got an A- in Painting, and an A in Art Conservation. Im pretty excited about that.
Today at work, was great as usual! I am learning so much Italian, but still not understanding a lot of things. Today was super labor intensive. We finished making Pasta Fiorentina for the new canvas. It is huge! And then prepared it, and stretch it, and vaccum sucked it, and everything. It was great getting to be so active. I really love the Italian life style. I am embracing it more and more. I love eating late, and eating pasta and drinking coffee. I had a prior goal before I came not to get addicted to coffee. But I think I left that in the dust. I usally average about 3 espresso’s a day if not more. Sometimes less. But I love it. I think thats the important part. I know that I could make it through the day without coffee, but I would rather not.
[Link]jimgroom » Playing with WPMu 2.6 beta 1
I have upgraded bavatuesdays (and six other domains I tend on one WPMu install) to the beta release of WPMu 2.6 in anticipation of upgrading UMW Blogs come August 1st. In fact, the next few weeks are going to be an all out WPMu push. I will be working on updating all our documentation for the new admin interface—I’ll be borrowing liberally from Luke Waltzer’s awesome tutorials getting underway here—as well as making sure the upgrade of UMW Blogs from 1.3.3 to 2.6 is smooth (notice that WPMu has realigned the version numbers with the straight up WordPress). In short, I’ll be doing a lot of looking around for any bugs, especially with plugin interference. So, after the seamless upgrade this morning, here’s what I go thus far: There were really very few problems upgrading from WPMu 1.5.1 to 2.6 - 1.5.1 deactivates plugins during the install, and re-activates them in all the blogs after the fact. Making the chances for an immediate breaking of the install minimal (this may not be the case going from 1.3.3 to 2.6 however). There was an odd message in the dashboard about message about this version of WordPress not working with Simple Tags, which doesn’t seem to be the case. 
Also, while writing this I just realized that adding an image from a URL isn't working properly in the Add media function of writing a post or page. Moreover, it is missing he music/image/video icons for selecting the appropriate media. 
FeedWordPress, which is an awesome plugin that is allowing fo all the inter-blog spamming going on at UMW Blogs, had some serious issues in WPMu 1.5.1 with the new interface and all the AJAX and javascripts, resulting in broken media uploads, inability to arrange widgets, and broken recent comments and links feeds in the dashboard. All those issues go away in WPMu 2.6, but one remains: you can’t open up the Advanced Options sections of the Write a Page screen when FeedWordPress is activated. Odd I know, but true. RSS feeds for latest versions of plugins is now a part of WPMu 2.6 (but not Multi-User plugins just yet). I love this feature, it saves me so much time, and as soon as I updated the Bava to 2.6, I updated about twelve plugins. This is my favorite feature, without question! 
Seems like Gravatar support is now built-in to WPMu 2.6, ... [Link]
Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Studying & Celebration
Hey all,
First, I want to say what a pleasure it’s been to share this Milton Seminar with you. I think we’ve worked really well as a group, raised good issues, and learned lots. However, our work isn’t quite done: we have an exam on Thursday. Duh.
Some of us had expressed interest in getting together Wednesday to study. Is that still something people are interested in doing? I for one wouldn’t mind at least a little discussion / review session, and I’m pretty flexible in terms of time and location. (I would even be willing to host some studying here, at my house, but I do live more than an hour from Fredericksburg, and have various and sundry pets to disrupt people, so… that might not be the best idea. But hey, I’ll at least throw it out there.) Think about it; hopefully it’ll come up in class, too.
Also, how about dinner on Thursday? I know some people are busy, but it’s been a marathon five weeks, and it would be nice to decompress a little at the end of it all. It doesn’t have to be fancy… we could eat somewhere like Sammy T’s downtown, or have a potluck on campus, or get pizza, or whatever. So think about that, too, whether you’d be interested and where / what you might like to eat.
That’s all for now. Good luck in the final stretch! I’ll see you in class.
Madeline.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Justice is Sweet
I would like to comment real quick on the sweet justice of Satan’s punishment. First of all, he is denied any kind of dramatic showdown with God or the Son. No more epic battles or glorious defeat. Nor does he get to play the martyr he so loves to be. He steals away, and God takes care of things without having to actually face him. Furthermore, Satan is denied the satisfaction of slinking back to his minions and misrepresenting events—because as far as he knows, the trip to Eden has been an unmitigated success. Satan sneaks back into Hell triumphant and joyful. God gives him just enough time to really get going and then—wham—cuts him down. Satan thinks he’s outsmarted God; he thinks the snake has taken the punishment. So to be turned into a snake, a groveling slithering belly crawling snake… what a humiliation. Everything about this punishment is perfect. Even its annual recurrence—just enough to remind the devils who’s really in charge—is brilliant. Kudos, Milton, for making God’s justice so awesome.
(Also, I think it’s sweet that Adam and Eve submit to their punishment and in doing so, contribute to the crushing of the snake’s head and whatnot. They are both serving God and haranguing Satan. At least in theory. Nifty.)
(Also also, I love God’s description of his ‘hell-hounds.’ It might not sit well with my impression of what a good deity should be like, but all the same, I love it.)
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Book XI and XII
I was disappointed with book XI and XII, I felt that perhaps if Michael had shown Adam these horrific things prior to eating the fruit then perhaps it would have prevented the Fall. It would seem to me that Adam would be depressed at the future not uplifted. To see the earth destroyed by flood because man had sunk so low, and knowing it was due to your and your wife’s actions, would be enough to finish off anyone. The redemption of man though somewhat comforting would not be enough to undo all of the horror that went before. The way in which they left Eden seemed too pat. They would have been distraught, not simply shedding a few tears. I guess I am disappointed with Milton’s wrap up of his Epic. I knew how the story would end because I have read the Bible, but it was such a hurried conclusion after the beauty of the story up to the Fall. I wanted something more or a different ending, it was an emotional let down for me, but perhaps I am being too dramatic.
[Link]Mrs. Raffetto's Ruminations » Hello Blog, How Ya Been?
Wow, it’s been a while since I posted a blog. I’ve been a pretty busy girl so I thought I’d just post some random things about what I’ve been up to.
Movies - So far this summer I’ve seen Zohan, Get Smart, Hancock, and Wall-E. Zohan was a huge disappointment - great message about the need for Palestinians and Israelites to work together for a peaceful coexistence but dumb writing. I mean, I can generally deal with Adam Sandlar’s “fart humor,” but this was beyond dumb. I still like Sandlar, but I’ll never watch this movie again. Get Smart was much better. I remember my brother staying up late to watch the original way back when. I thoroughly love Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway so that helped. Storyline was a little predictable though. The addition of Bill Murray was just hysterical. I love that guy. Hancock was . . . interesting. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. Kind of a neat take on the superhero angle but . . . I don’t know. Something about it I just couldn’t put my finger on. Out of all, Wall-E has got everything beat - no question. Pixar is just unstoppable! An absolutely adorable movie and I loved every single minute of it, even the repetition of that annoying scene from Hello Dolly. It didn’t matter because Wall-E melted my heart.
Cheer - My team is up to 17 now but it will be interesting to see how many I keep as the season progresses. Cheer has such a stereotype and so many kids join thinking it will be just wearing cute uniforms and doing little chants. My world of cheer is nothing like that. It is a truly intense sport and not for the faint of heart. Our choreography starts Sunday so that’s when the real fun begins. Up until now, it has been just the basics. Now it’s time for hardcore.
School - One more week to go! I’m closing in on the craziest summer semester ever. I took FOUR classes and worked my butt off in all of them. I guess you could say that I am both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated - I want the A’s but I have to do it for myself.
Family - For the first time in my baby’s life, I will be away from my youngest for two weeks. He is visiting ...
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Calculated Risk: Wachovia’s Contribution to the Credit Crunch
Calculated Risk: Wachovia’s Contribution to the Credit Crunch
Wachovia is now projecting house prices will bottom in mid-2010.
Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » On Typology
I believe typology to be very important for people to learn how the past relates to the present. However as we discussed in class yesterday, it can become a hinderance when people attempt to over compare. As with the Bible, it can cause one to wonder about the validity of the stories were they simply contrived to support other issues? However, they can’t be false because typology is based on historically accurate data. I believe that if one looks hard enough they will be able to find comparisons with anything they want to. It would behoove us to not be easily persuaded and to use our own common sense when analyzing typology and analogy.
[Link]What now? » my new car!
so i’ve basically had the week from hell, but shit looks to be looking up, and check this out:
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Foreshadowings, etc.
So today’s talk of typology was hugely interesting and now I sort of feel like I should go read the Bible through a couple times and try and catch some of this stuff myself. But seeing as I am, like everyone else I think, being swallowed up by a paper at the moment, that doesn’t sound too feasible. I do sort of see how it connects into the paper writing, though, and beyond that prose writing (which is where my head is usually stuck, anyway).
Telling stories, you do get to play God a little bit. (And here is one continual item of frustration: spring semester, in Contemporary American Fiction, Professor Stewart gave an eloquent little talk about why God doesn’t tell stories, we tell stories. And now I can’t remember any of it but I know it was good and would help out here. So frustrating!) But when you start to tell enough stories, you begin to make them, well, better. Fuller and wholer. It’s like doing anything enough: as long as you put a certain amount of your head in the process and as long as you persist, you begin to get better at it. Keep doing it and you’ll find, looking back over what you’ve written, that things loop up the way they should. Seeds were planted before you knew you needed the tree, I guess. Things come to fruition in a more natural way. (What is with all the vegetative metaphors? It’s leaking through from my paper, I guess…) Anyway, seeing this, it’s a little easier to think about things as God makes them, at least for me. Sometimes you just have to plant things and wait a while before they sprout.
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 | August 1936
The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 | August 1936
[Link]jana » come se dice come se dice?
Today my co-worker asked me this….how do you say how do you say? I thought that was pretty funny. I also made chocolate chip cookies for everyone at work for having so much patience with me. Danielle said that I shouldnt worry myself with that, but I still do. I just think its important that they know how much I appreciate working in the studio with them. The chocolate ship cookies were quite a hit. I also found a list of Art words, in English and Italian. I made a point to memorize them all today, and I used almost everyone of them. We were re-lining a painting, and they told me to get the Punti Rame, copper staples, and I knew!!! I was super excited about that, and they were pretty surprised that I knew what they were talking about. Also Danielle was looking at them, and trying to pronounce everyone in English, its funny how Italians cant say an R without rolling it, and how Americans have a really hard time rolling their R’s. I feel like the two languages were never meant to be compatible. Today we also made Pasta Fiorentina, it smells really bad, and is SUPER labor intensive. It took about 3 hours to complete, and a lot of stirring. I kinda liked it, and the smell though.
I’ve continued working on my wooden man statue, I dont know when I will every finish with him. But I have gotten so much better with leveling plaster. It is a long process mainly because I keep making mistakes and then have to re-apply plaster and level it again. But Im getting better, so Im excited about that!!
Yesterday I went into one of the Medici Chapels. It was really beautiful. I made a small conversation with the door tendant, who wants to learn english. He owns a touring company, and talked to me about working for it. I hope that works out. Ive been trying to find small day jobs on the weekends to make some extra cash….I am going through so much here! I’ve applied to about 3 jobs, and havent heard back from them. I think it might be because my resume is in English, I should probably change that.
[Link]Featured Blog » UMW Abroad
While Serena keeps the weekly installments of images capturing the “City of Light” coming, Stephanie —another of UMW’s faithful abroad—offers up her own vision of Paris.
And if you want to read some missives from the center of European culture, you can get regular updates from Italy on Jana’s blog coming live from the masterpiece that is Florence.
If anyone else has a space online (by no means limited to UMW Blogs) tracing their trips, adventures, and/or follies abroad that they would like to share, drop the URL in the comments. Au revoir.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » C.S. Lewis
I’m in the process of digging this information up, but I thought I would ask just in case:
Does anyone have the quote of what C.S. Lewis said about Milton’s idea of angel sex? I believe it was in his ‘Preface to Paradise Lost,’ but I don’t have the exact source or wording.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Integrity and Vegetative Imagery in ‘Paradise Lost’
Because sharing is what humans do best…
For my paper I’m exploring thematic and poetic integrity in Paradise Lost, focusing on Kerrigan’s ontological vegetable and other vegetative images. Basically, that means I’m expanding on the second half of my presentation, trying to show that Milton was committed to a universe that was truly “one matter all.” The whole of creation is one big ontological vegetable. So, as I did in my presentation, I will look in depth at a small section of Book V and then several passages from Book VII. I don’t have an introduction just yet–they’re too hard to write–but here is an outline of what I hope to accomplish with my paper:
Define ‘integrity’ as I mean it in reference to Milton - this will probably happen in the introduction, to get me in the ballpark for my actual argument See this integrity illustrated In a single passage (Kerrigan and the ontological vegetable) - this will segue from the introduction to the body of MY argument In Book VII Images of the Earth as seed Images of the plants Images of the animals as plants The creation of Man - how it is a part of the pattern, how it is differentI’m especially interested in exploring how Man’s creation differs from the rest of Book VII. There are some interesting ways that it departs from the plant model, but at the same time it is still a part of the whole. I don’t know how thoroughly I’ll work these issues out, but I will at least raise some questions. It am part of the critical dialogue, yes?
I’m going to be relying heavily on Kerrigan as my theoretical base, but I think I’ll pull in other critics here and there. We shall see.
I’d be interested to hear any suggestions, comments, or questions you have about this. I think it should turn out fairly well, although I suppose only time will tell on that.
Good luck to you with your work! Only a few days left of this bizarre and wonderful Milton experience…
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » maybe someone can explain this to me
So my presentation on typology has me thinking all about time and the relationships between all the characters, etc. and all the work I’ve done on it today reminded me of something I”ve had a problem with since Book 3, but never bothered to ask about. So the Son offers to take the fall for mankind in Book 3…man doesn’t fall until Book 9? How does this compute? Am I totally missing something? God knows man will fall all the way back in Book 3?! (I mean, he actually knows about the fall and redemption in the first few lines of the epic, as I will talk about in my presentation, but seriously, they actually talk about it in Book 3). I just have trouble reconciling the timeline here, of the books. Do they occur in chronological order? Or since time before the fall is eternal does it really not matter when the Son decided to take the punishment to redeem mankind? If they decided way back when, why did God wait so long to send his son to earth? Anyway, I know everyone is busy with their papers (me too, I should be writing right now) but this question has been on my mind for awhile.
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » The Unraveling of the Suburban Fringe
The Unraveling of the Suburban Fringe
A little ‘love’ for Prince William County, VA
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Developments : The Dying Suburbs? A Look at the Growing Debate
Developments : The Dying Suburbs? A Look at the Growing Debate
A little more discussion of the article we read in class . . .
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Developments : Home Prices Are Low, But Getting a Mortgage Is Tough
Developments : Home Prices Are Low, But Getting a Mortgage Is Tough
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » New to the blogroll
Fantastic maps at the WSJ on the impact of the real estate crisis. Have fun!
[Link]Redbaiters Ride! » Jason & the Argonauts: Skeleton Fight
This ain’t no brick film, it’s the real deal!
Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Developments : Index Shows Falling Home Prices, Rising Sales of Religious Statuettes
Developments : Index Shows Falling Home Prices, Rising Sales of Religious Statuettes
[Link]Real Estate Crisis and A little American Studies » Bay Area home prices plunge 27% in last year
Bay Area home prices plunge 27% in last year
Even rich folk in San Fran . . .
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Integrity and Vegetative Imagery in ‘Paradise Lost’
Because sharing is what humans do best…
For my paper I’m exploring thematic and poetic integrity in Paradise Lost, focusing on Kerrigan’s ontological vegetable and other vegetative images. Basically, that means I’m expanding on the second half of my presentation, trying to show that Milton was committed to a universe that was truly “one matter all.” The whole of creation is one big ontological vegetable. So, as I did in my presentation, I will look in depth at a small section of Book V and then several passages from Book VII. I don’t have an introduction just yet–they’re too hard to write–but here is an outline of what I hope to accomplish with my paper:
Define ‘integrity’ as I mean it in reference to Milton - this will probably happen in the introduction, to get me in the ballpark for my actual argument See this integrity illustrated In a single passage (Kerrigan and the ontological vegetable) - this will segue from the introduction to the body of MY argument In Book VII Images of the Earth as seed Images of the plants Images of the animals as plants The creation of Man - how it is a part of the pattern, how it is differentI’m especially interested in exploring how Man’s creation differs from the rest of Book VII. There are some interesting ways that it departs from the plant model, but at the same time it is still a part of the whole. I don’t know how thoroughly I’ll work these issues out, but I will at least raise some questions. It am part of the critical dialogue, yes?
I’m going to be relying heavily on Kerrigan as my theoretical base, but I think I’ll pull in other critics here and there. We shall see.
I’d be interested to hear any suggestions, comments, or questions you have about this. I think it should turn out fairly well, although I suppose only time will tell on that.
Good luck to you with your work! Only a few days left of this bizarre and wonderful Milton experience…
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » C.S. Lewis
I’m in the process of digging this information up, but I thought I would ask just in case:
Does anyone have the quote of what C.S. Lewis said about Milton’s idea of angel sex? I believe it was in his ‘Preface to Paradise Lost,’ but I don’t have the exact source or wording.
[Link]Redbaiters Ride! » Calibos talks to his Mommy
Calibos is all about the justice!
[Link]Redbaiters Ride! » Medusa was framed
[Link]
Frown Town Evasion » Paris, Week Three
As always, more on my Flickr page.
[Link]Attack of the Summer Miltonauts » Integrity and Vegetative Imagery in ‘Paradise Lost’
Because sharing is what humans do best…
For my paper I’m exploring thematic and poetic integrity in Paradise Lost, focusing on Kerrigan’s ontological vegetable and other vegetative images. Basically, that means I’m expanding on the second half of my presentation, trying to show that Milton was committed to a universe that was truly “one matter all.” The whole of creation is one big ontological vegetable. So, as I did in my presentation, I will look in depth at a small section of Book V and then several passages from Book VII. I don’t have an introduction just yet–they’re too hard to write–but here is an outline of what I hope to accomplish with my paper:
Define ‘integrity’ as I mean it in reference to Milton - this will probably happen in the introduction, to get me in the ballpark for my actual argument See this integrity illustrated In a single passage (Kerrigan and the ontological vegetable) - this will segue from the introduction to the body of MY argument In Book VII Images of the Earth as seed Images of the plants Images of the animals as plants The creation of Man - how it is a part of the pattern, how it is differentI’m especially interested in exploring how Man’s creation differs from the rest of Book VII. There are some interesting ways that it departs from the plant model, but at the same time it is still a part of the whole. I don’t know how thoroughly I’ll work these issues out, but I will at least raise some questions. It am part of the critical dialogue, yes?
I’m going to be relying heavily on Kerrigan as my theoretical base, but I think I’ll pull in other critics here and there. We shall see.
I’d be interested to hear any suggestions, comments, or questions you have about this. I think it should turn out fairly well, although I suppose only time will tell on that.
Good luck to you with your work! Only a few days left of this bizarre and wonderful Milton experience…
[Link]Featured Blog » UMW’s Digital Literary Journals
Below are the three literary journals (ECOllective, The Zephyranthes, and Spindle) that were created this semester for Claudia Emerson’s Literary Journals class. Take a look to see some of UMW’s finest creative minds at work, as well as a wealth of talent from various national and international destinations.
Women and Modernism » Matthew the All-encompassing Prophet’s Sacrifice
We’ve talked about Matthew being the central character and a prophet, and as such, a higher more divine and enlightened voice than the others we hear. Further, I can think of a few instances in Nightwood in which characters including Matthew speak about bargains and their inherent presence in life. For instance, in the middle of one of the great conversations we looked at a week ago, Matthew says, “Man has no foothold that is not also a bargain. So be it!” (36). These references seem to be a commentary on the life lesson we all know and love, that you can’t have it all, there’s no such thing as a utopia, and something’s gotta give. To me, throughout the novel Matthew seems to transcend the human limitations to which everyone else is held, because he’s given so much thought to the identity he performs (or “is,” depending on what you believe about identity) and to the human condition. That said, I think one of his most “human” statements (by that I mean he shows himself to be vulnerable) is one of the ones Dr. Scanlon referenced yesterday, when he proclaims himself a liar:
“Do you know what has made me the greatest liar this side of the moon, telling my stories to people like you, to take the mortal agony out of their guts, and to stop them from rolling about, and drawing up their feet, and screaming, with their eyes staring over their knuckles with misery which they are trying to keep off, saying ‘Say something, Doctor, for the love of God!’ And me talking away like mad. Well, that, and nothing else, has made me the liar I am” (144).
So in that statement of personal anguish, he expresses the way truth is diminished not only by language itself, but by the outside pressure(s) to put something into words, “for the love of God.” He also critiques the bias of recorded history earlier when he says,
“but think of the stories that do not amount to much! That is, that are forgotten in spite of all man remembers (unless he remembers himself) merely because they befell him without distinction of office or title – that’s what we call legend and it’s the best a poor man may do with his fate; the other we call history, the best the high and mighty can do with theirs. Legend is ...
[Link]Women and Modernism » Candy
Sarah was inspired by our candy yesterday, and she decided to make some art with it that represented women’s modernism… circular, nonlinear. I took a picture on my phone, this is it. I just wanted to put it out there for y’all to see what you think of this sugary visual representation of modernism
Original post by Larisa
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