Here is my video on Vietnam

"A Light Exists in Spring":
-Exploring the word 'light'

-Exploring the word 'light' again

"Because I Could Not Stop for Death":
-Discussion of the word 'slowly'

-Exploration of 'haste' and its connection with death

"I heard a fly buzz when I died":
-Connection between 'assignable' and death

-Discussion of the 'fly'

"My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -":

A look at the masculine and feminine images in the poem:
-Example 1 - 'The Owner'

-Example 2 - 'Hunt'

-Example 3 - 'Doe'

-Example 4 - 'Night'

-Example 5 - 'Day'

-Example 6 - 'Sovereign'

-Discussion - Theme of death

"I'm nobody! Who are You?":
-Discussion - 'To tell your name'

"This World is not Conclusion":
Exploring 'music' and 'sound':
--'Music'

--'Sound'

"I Started Early - Took My Dog":
-Exploring the meaning of the 'tide'

-Exploring the meaning of the 'sea'

"He Fumbles at Your Soul":
-Exploration of what 'fumbles' represents

-Discussion of 'He' and it's religous meaning

-Discussion of 'ethereal' and it's relationship to religion

Here is my collage portraying The Dude

Here is my Collage on 'Sleep' by Leigh Ladd

Sleep

Sleep, sleep,
Come my way.
Let me sleep,
So I can start a new day.

Sleep, sleep,
I take my pill.
My mind won't sleep,
Too active with chills.

Sleep, sleep,
Show me how.
What's that, sleep,
How now brown cow?

Sleep, sleep,
My brain is delirious.
Stop playing tricks, sleep,
You're making me furious.

Cover Letter:

Over the past 16 weeks I have learned a lot from this class. For starters I now know how to make collages and videos on my computer. More importantly I learned a lot from myself and about myself. I learned a lot from myself through revising my work, which allowed me to realize where I tend to excel and where I need to work harder. This portfolio shows the strides that I made through the semester by revising my work and resubmitting it. I have really grown intellectually from this class, probably more so than any other class. Having the course structured around revisions and continuously working on a portfolio throughout the semester allowed me to care about my work, as opposed to other classes where I read the comments but continue to make the same errors because I never go back and actually make the corrections. I think the biggest thing I will take with me from this class is the knowledge that when faced with a number of different challenges I was able to succeed through all of them. I know that sounds a bit corny, but before this class I hated poetry and working with it would have been like pulling teeth for me. In terms of the individual assignments, I will let their descriptions speak for themselves. Overall, this class and the way it approaches literature feels like it was made for me. I was interested and involved in every assignment, and actually enjoyed going to the class and doing the work. It is an innovative and somewhat unorthodox class but it was perfect for me. I think this course is perfect for people who aren't interested in literature because it will change that, it did for me at least.

PLAYLIST:
I began working on this assignment after watching The Big Lebowski for the umpteenth time, and thought it would be fun and interesting to use The Dude as my focus for the assignment. As I began the assignment I found it tougher than I initially thought it would be. One reason for that was because the music from the movie does such a good job at getting at the core of The Dude, and a lot of those songs kept sticking in head. I did end up using a song from the movie, 'Just Dropped In', because it was truly the best song for what I was trying to do, but I wanted to make sure that I kept this assignment as original as possible. As I began to choose songs to analyze who The Dude was I found myself getting stuck on just describing some of The Dude's attributes, rather than really mapping his development. So, for my revisions I threw out a few songs and really tried to get deeper into The Dude's development as a character. I began by mainly looking at The Dude during the first and last 10-15 minutes of the movie, which allowed me to notice the changes and then I was able to really describe his development.

This assignment was a lot harder than I had originally envisioned. I didn't realize how tough it would be to find the right songs. Furthermore, I found it quite challenging to tie the songs into what I was trying to portray at a given point. However, once I was able get things moving with this assignment, I found myself learning a lot about The Dude and how to look at characters. I found myself picking up on things with The Dude that I would have otherwise missed. I also feel that I look at characters differently now; it's hard to describe, but recently while listening to music I'll occasionally find myself trying to tie the song to a movie I've seen recently. This assignment has challenged the way that I listen to music and the way that I look and think about characters. I find myself looking deeper into music and movies.
Playlist - The Dude - Original 9/5
Playlist - The Dude - Revised 10/9

Collages:

-Character Original:
For my character collage I chose to continue working with 'The Dude' from the movie The Big Lebowski. I had a lot of fun working with The Dude for my playlist, and found him to be a more complex character than I had originally thought. There are a number of characters in the complex plot of The Big Lebowski and everything seems to revolve around The Dude, due to a series of misunderstandings. For my first attempt at this collage I chose to include some of the more intricate characters of the story along with The Dude in a bowling alley setting, bordered by The Dude's rug. I chose the bowling alley and the rug as the main setting of the collage because the plot seems to continually weave between The Dude's missing rug and The Dude and his pals bowling. I think up to this point I was on the right track. Then I chose to add some objects to the corners of the collage. The piece sign and 'no war' sign were placed there to represent an obscure moment in the movie where he mentions that he was a member of the seattle seven, the dollar bill to represent the missing million dollars, and the white russian to represent his favorite drink. I tried to force these images into the collage and it showed in the final project. The other thing that I did was add smoke going across the collage except for over The Dude. This was meant to show The Dude at the center of everything, but it really just ended up washing out most of the collage.

-Character Revised:
When I revised my collage I decided to try something different. I left the original placement with the bowling alley and the rug, but I chose to put a picture of The Dude's house in the background. I think this collage does a better job of representing The Dude. It has all the characters fading away from him, in terms of depth, in what I see as the order of their importance to the story. I like the light that the house brings to the collage, my first one was somewhat dark and depressing and that is not what The Dude is about. The Dude is a guy that rolls with the punches and does not roll over into the dark. Lastly, I really think the images blend together much better in this revision, which really makes the collage more complete and cohesive.
This was a very interesting and fun assignment, but at the same time it was fairly challenging to me. I originally had trouble visualizing what I wanted my finished product to look like, which was particularly frustrating. I had to go through a number of attempts to just get a rough idea of what I wanted the collage to look like. I really enjoyed learning how to actually make a collage on the computer, probably something I would have never learned otherwise. I think the coolest thing about this assignment, as well as the playlist, was that it made me think outside the box. I would have never looked at The Dude from any other perspective than what I saw on screen, but with these two assignments I had to really think about who he is and then how to portray that in an abstract way. That is the biggest thing I will take away from this project.

Poem Collage:
With my collage on the poem Sleep by Leigh Ladd I felt a little more comfortable. I understood the software I was using, amnd after finally getting to a finished product with my character collage I was able to visualize what I wanted this one to look like a lot quicker. Also, poems generally invoke images in your head as you read them so after reading Sleep a couple of times I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and what types of images I wanted to use. I really liked the frustration that was present in this poem and immediately I thought of someone incredibly tired kicking the sheets trying his best to fall asleep. I know that when I can't sleep I start to drive myself crazy thinking about how much sleep I've already lost and how much time I have left to sleep before my alarm goes off, which is where the idea for the clock came. I then tried to integrate the images from the poem into the collage as different thoughts that were running through his head, which is why I faded them in to the collage in pseudo bubbles. I added the sheep because that's what everyone thinks about when they think about sleeplessness.
I liked my original collage, so for my revision I did some touch up work. I got rid of the watermark on the clock, which eliminates an annoying distraction. I also made the sheep a little more prevalent in the collage, since they weren't all that visible before. I also did some touch up work with some of the masks. I think these little changes make this collage exactly what I was looking for.
This collage project presented some initial difficulties to me, but I was able to work through them and produce, in my opinion, to very accomplished collages. I learned a lot about my ability to think and work abstractly. My first reaction was that this was going to be an easy assignment for me because I have a very vivid imagination, but I quickly found out that this was not so much about imagination as it was about abstract thought and how to convey that. I was able to really understand the mindset of The Dude, past the typical interpretation of him as a stoner. And with sleep I was able to really get into the mindset of not being able to fall asleep when you've tried everything and you are extremely frustrated. Overall, this was a really interesting and fun assignment.

Character Collage: The Dude

Character Collage: The Dude Revised

Poem Collage: Sleep

Poem Collage: Sleep Revised

Annotation Project:

This was probably my least favorite project, because I'm not a big fan of Dickinson and am not very good at working with her poetry. I had to put a lot of effort into this project. As I got into the project I began to get into a groove. The fact that we had to do annotations for 10 different projects forced me to take an interest in the project. I tend to have difficulty looking deep into poems and taking them more at face value, but as I saw other annotations I was able to slowly get the drift of what the poems were really about. I did realize Dickinson's obsession with death rather quickly, which gave me a jumping off point in several poems. After going through the poems and some of their annotations I was able to get a better idea of what to look for when reading them, and how to interpret their true meaning. This assignment showed me that if I really put my best effort into something that I can at least get a basic grasp on it, even if I am still not able to excel in the area.

Annotation Project - Emily Dickinson

Podcast:

This assignment was much different than what I originally expected. I thought it would be me lecturing about a topic into a microphone for a few minutes, I was intrigued when I realized the group format of the assignment. Again, I liked the freedom we were given with respect to the topic. I think being able to choose our own topic allowed us to really get excited about the project, and I am always able to get more involved in things that I am excited about. I think we worked well as a group and were able to tie our topics and songs together well. I think the general flow of the podcast was fairly smooth. We were able to go back and forth with one another which I think really helped get our point across. I think the downfall of the podcast was my shakiness and stuttering at times, but I think I did a good job at keeping the dialogue moving at times as well. This topic really sparked my interest in the 60's. Although my particular area of expertise for the podcast was the Hippie movement, I became intrigued by Vietnam and ended up using Vietnam for my video project. I think I did a good job relating the song to the topic at hand, and feel that our group as whole did a good job connecting all of our topics and songs together to create, in my opinion, a fascinating and informative podcast.

Podcast Assignment

Video:

This was definitely the most time consuming project for me, but also the most expressive and informative assignment. I really immersed myself in Vietnam books and articles to try and get a feel for what life was like for both the soldiers abroad and Americans at home. The reason the project was so time consuming for me was because I kept changing the order of the photos and video clips which in turn forced me to reorganize the audio. I was working with several different typed of media which made it even more complimented. For a while I thought that I may have gotten a little over zealous with the project, but I think it came out very good. I used video, pictures, song, sound effects, and my own voice to guide my video. The problem with having so many different types of media is it becomes increasingly difficult to make changes to the project. Although it was frustrating at times, I really didn't mind putting forth the time and effort to make changes because the whole time I was so excited to see how good I could make this video. I really tried to draw on the pasts assignments and what I had learned in this course to make this video great. I really learned a lot about the Vietnam era. I drew on first hand accounts as well as articles and various other readings to try to understand what people were thinking and feeling during this time. And as I had suspected the nation was divided, which is why I had to make so many editing changes because I kept going back and forth on how I wanted to have the video come across. I decided to quit reading things and allow my head to garble all the information I had into one big ball, I then began to just let that information flow out and onto the screen. So, this video is how I decided to show the Vietnam Conflict and draws on several different accounts. This was my favorite assignment because it was really challenging, but it was an intriguing and I was unable to stop working on it until I was completely satisfied and proud of what I had done.

Vietnam Video

Postings and Comments:

The comments and blog postings done in this class were an effective tool. They allowed me to reflect on my own work and the work of others in the class. By commenting on others' work I was able to gain a new perspective on many of the assignments. Viewing my peers' work and also analyzing it in order to make meaningful comments allowed me to get deeper and more involved with the assignments. I liked having both discussions through comments with others and also being able to show how I would have done things differently on certain projects. I gained useful and interesting ideas on my projects from the comments I received. I thought this part of the course was very useful.

Comment #1 - Hardware
This is my comment on the poem Hardware. It is a discussion of the mood and meaning of the poem.

Comment #2 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Here is a discussion of the Misfit as the 'son' in A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

Comment #3 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find
this is a discussion of the Misfit's motives in A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

Comment #4 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find
This is an exploration of religion in A Good Man Is Hard To Find.

Comment #5 - Feedback for John's Playlist
This is some feedback and comments on Jonathon's playlist. I included my thoughts on how he could add and improve his existing playlist.

Comment #6 - Girl/Sweat
This is a discussion of the relationship between the poems Girl and Sweat.

Comment #7: Khalil Gibran Poem Collage - This is a suggestion of how to blend the images in the collage.

Comment #8 - Feedback for Pablo Escobar Playlist
This is my comment on Alex's playlist. I included some links to possible songs that might fit in and help improve the playlist without compromising the overall flow or message.

Comment #9 - Innocence assignment: TransitionThis is a look at the transition into adulthood and how the four poems approach and look at that transition.

Blog Post - A Death in Texas
This is a posting about change. It looks at the changes the character incur in a A Death In Texas.

I think that both Steve and Jon experienced serious changes. The only difference is that Steve changed as a result of getting to know Jon, while Jon changed on his own will. Jon took it upon himself to change, even when nobody expected him to change. He was going to die and nothing he could do was going to change that, which speaks a lot for his remorse and his character. It is that character that showed Steve that anybody can turn their life around if they really want to, which could have been what helped get Steve clean.
I also think that this story says a lot about our correctional system, and its unwillingness to change. Steve mentions it briefly at the end of the story, but what he says is very profound and insightful. And I think that this story shows that one man can make a difference, but only if people are willing to accept the change. By that I mean if people do not want to see the change they won't, and Steve is showing that someone that does something horrific can change and that nobody is beyond rehabilitation if they want to be rehabilitated.

***REVISIONS: I added on to the analysis of Songs 1, 2, 3, and 4. I eliminated songs 5 and 6, adding a Dylan track and Drive-By Truckers tune.

The Big Lebowski revolves around a case of mistaken identity between Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski and Jeffrey Lebowski (the Big Lebowski). The Dude is the ultimate unemployed L.A. slacker who leads a simple life and enjoys the simple pleasures in life; then his house is broken into, leading him on an adventure to unravel a mysterious kidnapping. This disrupts his usual routine of getting high and bowling.

The Dude is a sort of counter culture roll model. He is still living his life like it were the 60's, but without his protesting. He does what he wants and does not bother himself with the normal details of life. Understanding how one manages to live his lifestyle is incredible perplexing. The Stranger puts it best, "The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners."

PLAYLIST

Song 1:

Kenny Rogers - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

I woke up this mornin' with the sundown shinin' in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within
I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in...

Someone painted "April Fool" in big black letters on a "Dead End" sign

This song is representative of some of the dreams and acid flashbacks that The Dude experiences. He goes through these whacky dream sequences, which entail bowling shoes piled as high as the eye can see and floating down bowling lanes in the sky. The song is meant to reflect the LSD experience and it really does justice to The Dude's own dream/flashback sequences. It's psychedelic feel allows us to get a sense of that aspect of The Dude's life.
The 'april fool' line is symbolic of how the other characters who did not know The Dude had him pegged as a dupe. They underestimated who The Dude was and what he was capable of accomplishing.

Song 2:

Oasis - Roll With It

You gotta roll with it
You gotta take your time
You gotta say what you say
Don't let anybody get in your way

The Dude is incredibly laid back, and does not let most things affect him. He doesn't mind being poor and jobless (in fact it seems he would rather have it be that way), but when The Big Lebowski tries to pull a fast one on him he does not stand for it. Once he realizes that he's been duped he goes straight over to Lebowski's and tells him exactly what's on his mind, and then just rolls with the punches and moves on with his life. This song has a very easy going feel to it with a nice smooth flow, similar to the demeanor of The Dude.

Song 3:

Eagles - Take It Easy

Well, i'm running down the road
Tryin' to loosen my load
I've got seven women on
My mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine
Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy

After The Dude becomes involved with the kidnapping it seems that everyone in town is after him. He is constantly being mistaken for the Big Lebowski and having people come after him for money (which he doesn't have). This song talks about the women coming after the speaker for various reasons, and aside from the gender it is very similar to the perdicament The Dude found himself in. He had a porn king and his henchmen/actors coming after him for money that the Big Lebowski's wife owed; he had the three nihilists coming after him for the ransom money; he had the Big Lebowski coming after him for the money that he suposedly gave The Dude; and he had his buddy Walter latching on to him and screwing everything up. When all he wanted to do was "take it easy" and maybe do a little bowling. This is a very melodic song with a very laid back feel to it, which is similar to the way The Dude kind of keeps his laid-back demeanor throughout the movie despite being in tough and stressful situations; however, this is not to say that The Dude does not get worried, but rather that he seems calm on the outside and keeps his typical demeanor.

Song 4:

Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes

You can burn my house,
Steal my car,
Drink my liquor
From an old fruitjar.

Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Honey, lay off of my shoes

The way The Dude gets mixed up in the whole kidnapping ordeal is because "a Chinaman peed on [his] rug" thinking it was the Big Lebowski's. Throughout the movie he talks about how "the rug really tied the room together", mainly because it was the only thing worth value, at least to him, in his house. He didn't care when his buddy Walter made him crash his car, and when his car was stolen he only cared about his Creedance tapes. There are few things that The Dude cares about and holds dear to his heart, and he wants people to just "lay off" that stuff. And throughout the movie he has his Creedence tapes messed with, his rug stolen and peed on, and his bowling ball slammed into the ground.
This has a very old school rock feel to it. Elvis and The Dude share some similarities, in they were both out of place in their times; however, Elvis came before his time and then faded into his time, while The Dude began in his time and the time faded away from him.

Song 5:

Easy On Youself - Drive-By Truckers

You got it down, you been around
and you won't change your life...

Ten years down the road you'll find you're left behind. You're left behind...

Don't be so easy on yourself
'cause this one might be all that you have left.
Rearrange the voices in your head and remember what they said.
Don't be so easy on yourself.

This song tells the story of the flaw of The Dude. He is the tragic hero of the story; tragic because he allows the situation to blow up, nearly out of his control, due to his lack of assertiveness. He allows Walter, and many others, to push him around and have him play their game.
It also shows how everything around him is changing and he resisting them. Bowling is a prime example of this resistance to change. The popularity of bowling peaked in the late 50's and early 60's, but The Dude refuses to acknowledge that. He is stuck in the 60's mindset, while everyone else is living in the early 90's. He is a very trusting and relaxed person, something that allows him to be taken advantage of by others. This is something that he realizes over the course of the movie. In turn, he decides to solve the mystery and prove to everyone that he is no dupe, but rather that he chooses to live his life the way he does.

Song 6:

Jimmy Buffet - I don't know and I don't care

Why does the sun set in the west
and why does my heart keep beating in my chest
what ever happened to the Duke of Earl
I gotta PBS mind in an MTV world

Is it ignorance or apathy
I forget these lessons taught to me
Some say life isn't fair
hey I don't know and I don't care

Ambivalent, well yes and no

....

Therapy is extremely popular
popin' bubble wrap is radically cheap
you choose which one helps with your problem
I'm gonna get some sleep
I'm gonna get some sleep

The Dude did not want to be bothered with the whole kidnapping scheme, but he was brought into it. When he finds out it was fake he went and said his piece to the Big Lebowski and walked out of the room as the Big Lebowski was trying to explain it and critique The Dude. He didn't care what the Big Lebowski had to say to him. The Dude just wanted "to go bowling" which is to him the same thing that getting "some sleep" is to the speaker in this song. neither one of them care to spend their time dealing with questions that don't have answers or things that can't be resolved.

Song 7:

Bob Dylan - The Man in Me

The man in me will do nearly any task,
And as for compensation, there's little he would ask...

Storm clouds are raging all around my door,
I think to myself I might not take it any more...

The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen,
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine...

This is representative of The Dude's struggles throughout the film. He is abruptly thrown into the center this whirlwind of inter-related events, which temporarily turn his life upside down. The Dude rises to these challenges and perseveres. His dealings with these events come somewhat as a surprise to the audience and many of the other characters. He is seen as a lazy dupe by most, and idolized by his friends for his passive laid-back nature. However, he is the one to solve these mysteries. 'The man in [him]' took over and proved just what he was capable of doing. This is one of the most serious song on the playlist, and has the most somber tone. The tone is a good fit for representing this serious part of The Dude's life.

Song 8:

Arrogant Worms - Let's Go Bowling

Well grab your shoes, and grab your balls
And lets head to those heavenly halls
Sit on down and grab a beer
Because bowling time is pretty near
Tortured men forget their pain
When they head to the bowling lane

It seems fitting to finish this playlist the way the movie finishes, with bowling. This is also symbolic of the role that bowling plays in his life, there is no problem in his life that bowling can't fix. It is where he feels relaxed and at home, and where he can "forget [his] pain." His life revolves around "bowling time" and it seems that everything else in his life is just filler between rounds.