Response to Course Material

I have to say this month has been one of the most productive of the year! We have finished Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead which indeed was confusing, however after many days of discussing it in class and reading several articles on it, I think I can finally say I have a good grasp of it and all that happened. Throughout the novel Stoppard used many double meanings and modern techniques that contributed to the overall confusion of the play, however, once we worked through these obstacles it was easier to see what it all meant. Overall modern art is usually difficult to determine an exact meaning of the work, although all art can be interpreted differently, modern art tends to have a  unique challenge to it. The prezi we watched of Fountain by Marcel Duchamp was very interesting. The different opinions of the many spectators was very intriguing for just one simple piece of so called "art." Similar to Duchamp, Stoppard also brought up the question, what is art after all? Can anything be art? After watching this video and thinking back on my experiences at modern art museums, I'm not sure after all we've learned that I would look at the art work the same way. In the past when I have gone to these exhibits I have criticized and rolled my eyes at many simple pieces of "art" that didn't reach my expectations, however now I look back and rethink many of the things I originally dismissed for being uncreative. I think most of the time when I didn't like the art it was because I didn't see the social issue/subject it was applying to overall. I think that was Duchamp's and Stoppard's goal from the beginning, I think although both of their pieces are so simple they meant for their messages and deeper meanings to reach to the people...kinda crazy to think about.
   Anyways, Ros & Guild was a good time and I'm glad I got to experience that, I think we could've discussed it for the rest of the year, however we have to move on...and so on to the next great thing, Ceremony. We haven't done too much with this yet and still have a bit to go, I think this is interesting so far, but I am looking forward to reading on so it'll be more of a complete picture. It's pretty confusing right now too but I think the subject and time era of it is a very important and interesting time of American History. I'm excited to finish it and further discuss it in class! We have also done so more close reading practice, this has been helpful but as always, more practice is always helpful but I think slowly but surely I am getting the hang of it. We also spent some time applying different critical lenses to the previous works we have read. I found this super interesting, especially when we applied it to outside works. There were so many movies and books that I once believed to be romances or tradgedies but after further analyzing them turned out mostly to be ironies.
   That's all for now! Enjoy your the rest of your day! And get pumped for Spring Break!!!! IT'S SO CLOSE!!!!! YAY!!!!