Last acts of MSND, lab, and Descartes

In this installment, as you might have guessed in the title, I will be tackling the last three subjects we've encountered in class. Three blog posts rolled into one! I know, I know, terribly exciting; but please do try to keep your demeanor settled, seeing as this is an educated, mature, environment.

The last acts of A Midsummer Night's Dream

It seemed like to me that in the last acts, Shakespeare just wrote what he had to in order for everyone to live happily ever after, even the audience. How conveniently they all just forgot the previous night, with nothing more than the faint impression a dream leaves, and that Demetrius is by chance the only one to walk out of the forest with the magic still on his eyes. Then Puck slyly secures the characters and audience by saying that if they are offended, not to be, because it all was an innocent dream. I really enjoyed the play within a play, especially when we saw it in the movie. The actors were really good at portraying bad actors.

The Lab at the Nelson

The lab held a lot of things that resonated with my personal life. I particularly enjoyed it because I seldom get the chance to go to the Nelson, and just sit, allowing my mind to wonder and contemplate the poem I had been given, which was beautiful in it's simplistic approach towards such a complex experience.

Descartes

Out of the three parts we read, I particularly liked the first one. I nodded my head at about every sentence. He says that what he is writing is simply a narrative of his life and what he learned, he is sharing it with us so that you can choose to apply some of his findings to your own life, or not. He says that he only knows what worked for him and doesn't profess to know what will work universally. I like this because he not shoving his beliefs down my throat, claiming that his way is the only way to live life. I sympathized and agreed with how he views school, learning, and leaving home, once again finding myself in about the same position, trying to find a balance and a purpose. I only wish I had as much motivation has he did to gain as much knowledge as he could. I get lazy and discouraged by the difficult to understand, complex subjects he seems to have grasped so easily. But hey, I'm working on it.

Julie