Definitions.

Megan
Christians in the world-6
October 6, 2012

Science: the study of anything. Studying anything at all; analyzing different fields.
Evidance: facts that make a truth valid; proof of something.
Fact: something that has been proven true. Can't be proven false once it's a fact.
Truth: conformity with fact or reality? The being of something.
Opinion: the idea you have that can't be taken away.
Truth value: how able something can be correct or right, or truthful lol
Logic: the proven idea that something can be right.

Knowledge

Megan

Christians in the World-6

October 2, 2012

We know what we know

            Knowledge is a really hard word to describe. The harder question is what it means to know something... In class when you asked us what we knew for a fact and the class responded that some of them knew their mother loved them. In my head, I knew where the discussion was going. But I thought of something that I knew to be true, I did not make myself, I cannot make myself happy, My desires are limitless, while my abilities are limited. I thought it was kind of funny that all this tied back to the fundamental thing we learned at the beginning of the year, the 4 truths of the “I.”

            For me, to know something is to have scientific, emotional, and stable proof of something. The example of my classmates knowing their mothers love them is a terrible example. There is not proof that their mom loves them. She could be lying, or be a really really good actor. To know something, we must be able to describe all of its factors, and have proof that it exists. One of my teachers last year taught a lesson on knowledge; we know what we know; however we don’t know what we don’t know either. Knowing something, like me knowing I exist, but I did not create myself, is true knowledge. I know the scientific and emotional proof to back up my knowledge. I don’t exactly know how to answer this question. Knowledge is really hard to describe, and I don’t think it has an actual definition.

Cathedral

Megan
Christians in the World-6
September 30, 2012

Cathedral 

Raymond Carver wrote the short story "Cathedral" about the a couple who has a blind man visiting them. The story begins with the narrator, who is the husband, explaining how the blind man was coming to visit, and how the wife had come to know the blind man, through a job she got reading to him. (The blind man wrote a poem about touching the wife's face. and that's when she left the job.) The narrator explains the suicide attempt of the wife as well, which was summarized on a video and sent to the blind man. Basically, the way these two communicate through video. Anyway. The blind man comes to visit, and the narrator is super bitter and uncomfortable with him being around. Because the blind man's wife just died, however, the narrator tries his best to not be awkward, which was kind of impossible in his case. After they eat, all three go and have drinks and eventually the wife goes up to bed leaving the two men to watch television. When the blind man asks the narrator to describe what is going on on the screen, they finally have their first real, semi non awkward conversation. The narrator describes the Cathedrals that sweep across the screen, and finally, the blind man asks the narrator to draw the cathedral, but with his eyes closed. That's when the narrator changes. (And also when the story ends.)

1.The narrator is really apprehensive about the visit. he asks questions like, "well what will I do with him?" and asks if he can take him bowling. He makes stupid jokes and acts really awkward because he is actually really nervous about how to treat the guy. It is kind of a really awkward situation for him, and he'd rather just not deal with it. It reveals that his character is, not really selfish, but at the some time he is because he wasn't really willing to deal with the awkward situation.

2.I know, at least from like movies and stuff that sometimes when blind people want to "see" something, they touch it to understand it full features, so yes, that is kind of how I saw it in the first place. He was trying to figure out what she looked like. I think because she wrote the poem about him trying to see her, she thinks that writing other poems will allow others to see her also. Poetry could be her way of communicating how she feels, and what she feels could be what she wants people to really see about her.

3.I actually love that line int he story, just putting that out there. But receiving another's friend could be, at least in the context of that line, welcoming them even though you don't exactly know them particularly well, or treating them like a friend for the sake of someone else, even though you may not exactly like them.

4.I think The blind man saw her in his own way. He probably had a picture of her in his mind, but that probably wasn't what she looked like. I don't think you really have to see a person to know them and love them. To see, for me just means that you have the physical ability of vision, as well with to be seen. However, the physical sight of someone isn't the most important part. A young girl could be physically seen around school, but people might not notice the way she laughs at them when they say the wrong answer. The people around might not see the pain the she is going through from a parents divorce. Sight isn't the most important thing when it comes to seeing things.

5. It could reveal that they just wanted to get high? I don't really know. I think they wanted to make the situation less awkward, and so they smoked the weed.

6.Cathedrals are a grad example of the cultures love for God. When I think about churches, I think about the Basilica of the National Shine of the Immaculate Conception. It is large, and beautiful, showing all the wonderful things about saints and God himself. The shrine shows the true love for God that the builders had. if they didn't care about God, it would have shown in the building and creation of the Shrine.

7.Describing a Cathedral is actually a lot harder then it seems. When everyone can actually see what you are describing it, it makes it a lot easier to describe, but because the blind man couldn't see, it made it a lot harder. At the end of the story, the narrator put himself in the shoes of the blind man, by closing his eyes. he had no idea what the cathedral looked like that he was drawing, and wasn't able to describe it. He doesn't see anything, however, he see what the blind man does. Not physical sight, but emotional sight. the sight you see from within...

Freedom

Megan
Christians in the World-6
September 23, 2012

Freedom

I once wrote a scholarship essay on what freedom means to me. It basically consisted of all the things that constitutionally make us free; speech, religion, expression. I talked about how a few years ago I was in a situation that I felt didn't allow me the freedom of speech, because I was afraid of what people would think about me, and if anyone would believe my story, or would they blame me for what happened, which ended up being the case. I guess this kind of shows a time when i didn't feel free. I felt like everything I said and did was in the the direction of others, like I took into consideration of what others would think about if i said something/did something. being under this kind of power from others caused me to get very stressed and self conscience. But that really doesn't answer the question does it? I guess not.

A point in my life where I felt truly free when when I got my driver's license. I have always been the type of person who never really asked for help. I didn't like asking for anything to be honest, and I still don't. A big problem I had as a kid was that I was always asked to go to my friends houses, but I found myself making excuses to get out of it because I never wanted to ask my parents to give me a ride anywhere, or have to pick me up. I was also in a carpool with a senior, who happened to be my ex boy friend, and I lost a great deal of freedom to get over the relationship. Once I finally got my license, I was able to freely go out with my friends, get a job, basically have a life I guess. After getting my license, I was also able to get myself out of the vicious cycle of the relationship with my ex, and get over him (I would just like to point out that this is a miracle...just saying). I got a huge plate of responsibility when I got my license, and it gave me more freedom then I really knew what to do with, which was really good for my life, and my parents too, because they didn't have to drive me anymore, nor did they have to listen to me complain about how much I hated my carpool.

What is Wonder?

Megan
The Christians in the World-6
September 20, 2012

Wonder

My object is a mini turtle pillow pet. As a child I liked to think the the movie Toy Story was real; that toys came alive when you left a room, and returned to their place before I got home. The possibilities of my turtle pillow pet are endless. What if his true identity was a purple unicorn, but he is really under cover as a turtle by day. I mean when I sleep with it, He is never in my arms when I wake up. Maybe that is it opportunities to become a purple unicorn. How should I know. I'm usually asleep.

Wonder, to me, is the heart of imagination. Wonder allows us to spend endless days trying to figure out things that are truly unimportant in the real world, but speak to our heart. As a six year old, I probably would have said Wonder is Wondering things, because wonder is something very difficult to describe. This kind of reminds me of when we had to write about 'I.' Its like everyone knows what wonder is, but not really how to describe it exactly.

As we get older, it is true that were are less able to wonder and imagine things. I think we are blind to what is going on in reality at a young age, while allows us to imagine, and do things like play house, or with Barbie dolls and have broad imaginations. While I am still able to pick up a Barbie doll with my little cousin after a long family dinner, I find it to be pointless. I find it really remarkable that she is able to think up things to play with the doll, her imagination is huge and ever flowing, and I can barely make a conversation for the Barbie I am holding. I think part of it is I am so much more focused on other things. As a six year old, I didn't see my parents fighting all the time, my family crumbling before my eyes, or the fact that I was failing first grade. I just saw the Barbie dolls, and wanted to play with them. Like I said before, we tend to see the truth of reality as we grow older and more mature. This is a tough fact to face, to be honest. When I was sitting with the Peer Ministers at the retreat we had right before school started, we all shared things we were afraid of, and I heard a lot of people say how scared they were to grow up, to lose that childish imagination and mature enough to deal with the reality sitting right on their toes: College, Senior year, family, media, everything. Some people were so absorbed in  being a kid for just a little bit long that they didn't see reality stalking them from behind. For some reason, I envy these people. I had to grow up a long time ago. I didn't really get to 'wonder' in my childhood, because I was too busy growing up and facing my own reality. I am not saying I didn't have an imagination, because I did. But my wonder began to diminish much earlier then I would have liked it to.

As for the quote, "Concepts create idols, only wonder knows," I think it means that some idols are created out of concepts that one could only discover through wonder. I don't really know how I feel about this to be honest, I mean, idols seem to be something that people who are older (Not old, just older) have created, and most older people have lost that true meaning of wonder. So I am not really sure what side to take on that.

This is Water Questions/Essay

Megan
Christians in the World-6
September 18, 2012

This is Water...

In the speech "This is Water," the speaker,David Foster Wallace begins with the story  about an old fish and two younger ones. When the old fish asks the younger ones how the water is, they respond with, "What the hell is water?" he goes on to say that young people are not aware of the things going on around them. David Foster Wallace bring forth the idea that life consists of fundamental choices that lie entirely within the human person and allow people to engage in the world differently. I find this to be credible to the extent of the human person and their own actions. While people can choose the actions they make, they can't choose those actions of the people around them, which could possibly effect their own life.

While Wallace's ideas are very true, we choose our own destiny by the choices we make, he has not placed into consideration the actions of others. While I personally may choose to get into my car and drive to school, forces outside myself could cause the SUV next to me to swerve into my lane, and kill me. While i choose to be in the car and drive on that road at that time, I don't have the super power to stop the accident from happening. (Trust me, if I did, I would get to school much faster on most days....). I often make decisions that have effected my entire life as of right now. I choose to work really hard last year, and as a result, I am taking harder classes, which causes my work load to increase, which more often then not, stresses me out more then I like to admit. These choices have been a fundamental choice, and have allowed me to engage in the world differently.for this reason I find what Wallace said credible.

Often, in the audio version of the speech, the audience will laugh and clap at the irony in Wallace's speech. He is often is making fun of the crowd for something they maybe didn't even realize they were doing like going to the grocery store and complaining about the long lines, or anything else he talked about in the speech. It was humerus to them because they probably knew people who do that, or maybe could see themselves doing it in the future. I work in a grocery store as a bagger, and right after 5:30pm, I see this same scene every day, so the fact that he mentioned it kinda made me chuckle a bit.

One thing in the speech I found really interesting was the way he changed the perspective of thinking half way through. he went from all the negative things about sitting on a highway in traffic when trying to the grocery store, then after a while, switched it to all the positive things that could be going on in the lives of the people around us. frankly, I find myself doing this too. My friends keep me in check with this too, always saying how I could totally have it so much worse off, and I guess that's what hit me the hardest when listening to the audio, even though that probably has nothing to do with the point of the speech. I found it to be most important.

Assignment 4

 Megan
Christian in the World - period 6
September 11, 2012


1.  If the definition I got last year for the heart last year still hold true in this case, Caligula's heart is demonstrated by the author wanting him to want the moon, an object we know to be unattainable, his desires are limitless, but his abilities are limited.

2. I don't think it really says what they think, it more talks about wanting to find him, and figure out how this girl got killed. I like his heart, I like the fact that he desires to reach for something that no one else has attempted to do. It makes him a very interesting character.