Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 180
“You may have seen me lately, in my usual beret camouflage of overexposure, “Latino” propaganda, and deconstructed flavor w/ and accent – these, as you know, have been my key strategies for simulating global satisfaction.”
To be honest I don’t feel I truly understand this quote. It is very interesting though. It seems Juan is talking about how ‘happiness’ or acceptance comes from a fake watered down culture. That reading fits with a lot of the reoccurring themes in the book.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 183
"Goddess: So, what do you say you do? Bobo: Write, eat, work, write, you know. Goddess: Write? Why? Bobo: So I can say something, come on, get with the program."
This quote was very interesting. Bobo is very short and literal with his responces and often seems to miss what Goddess is really asking. I particularly like the line above where he says he writes so he can say something. It is almost the opposite of why Juan writes. I partially wonder if Goddess represents Juan’s mother and Bobo is a young version of himself, oblivious to what his mother is really trying to say. It reminds me of the first Oyeme, Mamita entry.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p. 152-174
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 155
“Hispanopoly: The upwardly mobile identity game show.”
This quote, as well as the whole entry, reflects a sort of irony. The title calls it an ‘upwardly mobile’ identity game, but it does next to nothing to support the ‘upwards’ movement of the culture it reflects. It shows how many ‘Hispanic and Chicano orientated’ programs do more to put mock then support. In the long run people are undermining their own progress.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 163
"For all hard-core Chicano lawyers who have never admitted to anyone that they are ex-alter boys."
I just really liked this quote. It was interesting because it implied the ‘hardcore Chicano lawyers’ were embarrassed by their heritage. That conflicts with a lot of what is shown earlier in the book. Juan is vary loyal to and proud of his hard past, yet this implies that once you are away frorm you past you must give it up
Page: 155
“Hispanopoly: The upwardly mobile identity game show.”
This quote, as well as the whole entry, reflects a sort of irony. The title calls it an ‘upwardly mobile’ identity game, but it does next to nothing to support the ‘upwards’ movement of the culture it reflects. It shows how many ‘Hispanic and Chicano orientated’ programs do more to put mock then support. In the long run people are undermining their own progress.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 163
"For all hard-core Chicano lawyers who have never admitted to anyone that they are ex-alter boys."
I just really liked this quote. It was interesting because it implied the ‘hardcore Chicano lawyers’ were embarrassed by their heritage. That conflicts with a lot of what is shown earlier in the book. Juan is vary loyal to and proud of his hard past, yet this implies that once you are away frorm you past you must give it up
Monday, May 21, 2007
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p. 131-151
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 136
“All that is over too. Tortilla Flats is out of cash for the homeless, the lonely, the lost and abandoned sons and daughters of these ragged misshapen streets. Ask the governor.”
This quote reflects the feelings of those society chooses to forget. It is easy for a governor to cut funding for welfare. People easily turn a blind eye if it means lower taxes. Besides it is their own flat they are poor right, or so society often tells itself. The point Juan makes is that it is not just funds, money, numbers it is lives. It is a little bit of good in hard difficult lives.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 144
Oyeme, Mamita - I Am That Paper
“I am that paper, I am those words now...”
In my option this quote is Juan talking about his mother’s “address book”. Not just this line, but the whole entry. He is saying that he is what she wrote. As a writer Juan identifies himself through his writing, and now after finding her journal he writes like she does. He has become her writing- he has become her.
Page: 136
“All that is over too. Tortilla Flats is out of cash for the homeless, the lonely, the lost and abandoned sons and daughters of these ragged misshapen streets. Ask the governor.”
This quote reflects the feelings of those society chooses to forget. It is easy for a governor to cut funding for welfare. People easily turn a blind eye if it means lower taxes. Besides it is their own flat they are poor right, or so society often tells itself. The point Juan makes is that it is not just funds, money, numbers it is lives. It is a little bit of good in hard difficult lives.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 144
Oyeme, Mamita - I Am That Paper
“I am that paper, I am those words now...”
In my option this quote is Juan talking about his mother’s “address book”. Not just this line, but the whole entry. He is saying that he is what she wrote. As a writer Juan identifies himself through his writing, and now after finding her journal he writes like she does. He has become her writing- he has become her.
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p. 106-130
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 109
“Hominy & peanut butter burritos Sanwishes de sardines con ketchup.”
This quote was interesting because it represented a culture clash. It shows how confusing it can be to grow up the child of an immigrant. Constantly being faced by a hybrid culture unsure of where you belong.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 118
“Mom’s notes speak of arrivals and departures. Things about me having a cold or in an office waiting for a welfare check.”
In this quote, and journal entry, Juan discuses finding a journal of his mother’s. It is interesting because he always said she was the writer that influenced him the most, but until that point he did not know she actually wrote. It is also interesting because she wrote in snippets and short pictures – much the way the book is written. The question this presents is would Juan write the way he does if he had not ever found the journal?
Page: 109
“Hominy & peanut butter burritos Sanwishes de sardines con ketchup.”
This quote was interesting because it represented a culture clash. It shows how confusing it can be to grow up the child of an immigrant. Constantly being faced by a hybrid culture unsure of where you belong.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 118
“Mom’s notes speak of arrivals and departures. Things about me having a cold or in an office waiting for a welfare check.”
In this quote, and journal entry, Juan discuses finding a journal of his mother’s. It is interesting because he always said she was the writer that influenced him the most, but until that point he did not know she actually wrote. It is also interesting because she wrote in snippets and short pictures – much the way the book is written. The question this presents is would Juan write the way he does if he had not ever found the journal?
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p. 81-105
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 84
“I always lose it when I get Romantic.”
This quote was interesting because it seemed to have two meanings. It could have been a reference to emotionally losing it. That would generally make sense, but the poem itself had lost a bit of it usual flow right before Juan said that. Creating the impression that maybe he “lost it” (his style his writing) when he diverged from usual topics.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 99
“In this country, the group does not exist, since we are merely individuals, thick with individual meanings, prowess, accumulation, direction- ambition. And the group – and interest aside.”
In this quote, and poem, Juan challenges the ideals of the country. He tries to make the reader look at his or her self. He questions what is right and what drive the actions of individuals in the country. He states that everything is about what is best for the individual based on power and control of power – but there is not really any power at all.
Page: 84
“I always lose it when I get Romantic.”
This quote was interesting because it seemed to have two meanings. It could have been a reference to emotionally losing it. That would generally make sense, but the poem itself had lost a bit of it usual flow right before Juan said that. Creating the impression that maybe he “lost it” (his style his writing) when he diverged from usual topics.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 99
“In this country, the group does not exist, since we are merely individuals, thick with individual meanings, prowess, accumulation, direction- ambition. And the group – and interest aside.”
In this quote, and poem, Juan challenges the ideals of the country. He tries to make the reader look at his or her self. He questions what is right and what drive the actions of individuals in the country. He states that everything is about what is best for the individual based on power and control of power – but there is not really any power at all.
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p.56-80
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 57
“… features soccer and boxing, the necessary Mexican mythology of Men in power for men in powerless positions scattered through Tortilla Flats, the Mission, and on all those way to Mexico City...”
This quote was very interesting. It comes back to what was discussed in the last class. Man goes woman. Juan talks about the cultures need to reaffirm manliness.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 69
“A woman asked me what writers influenced me, who did I read? I said, my mother. Lucha Quintana. Have you heard of that writer? The woman's neck twisted. No, she wanted to know "what writers"! She wanted to ask the usual worn phrase. Ginsberg, Anrtaud, Nervo, Lorca, Neruda, Popa, Hikmet, Rodnati, Walker. These are the shadows”
In this quote Juan challenges the stereotypes of being a writer. He sticks to his claim that his mother above all others is what influences him. The standard influences mean nothing because everyone claims to be influences by them, so those authors are nothing – mean nothing. It is only the actual influences in life that truly effect writing.
Page: 57
“… features soccer and boxing, the necessary Mexican mythology of Men in power for men in powerless positions scattered through Tortilla Flats, the Mission, and on all those way to Mexico City...”
This quote was very interesting. It comes back to what was discussed in the last class. Man goes woman. Juan talks about the cultures need to reaffirm manliness.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 69
“A woman asked me what writers influenced me, who did I read? I said, my mother. Lucha Quintana. Have you heard of that writer? The woman's neck twisted. No, she wanted to know "what writers"! She wanted to ask the usual worn phrase. Ginsberg, Anrtaud, Nervo, Lorca, Neruda, Popa, Hikmet, Rodnati, Walker. These are the shadows”
In this quote Juan challenges the stereotypes of being a writer. He sticks to his claim that his mother above all others is what influences him. The standard influences mean nothing because everyone claims to be influences by them, so those authors are nothing – mean nothing. It is only the actual influences in life that truly effect writing.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler p.30-55
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 32
“The concept is provocative, Vic, archaic, the whole things about rising from the ashes, dressed in campesino shorts, working off a molcajet, the good ol’Indio Chicano stone moral ans pestle, mixing divers elements, mashing them into pulp and juice, into new blood force.”
This is a reflection of the marginal voices Juan writes about. He is writing about something that does not get much written about it. He is talking about the people caught in the middle of two cultures and how they cannot really live up the expectations placed upon them.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 42
“Have you seen the young ones… talking about stone idols, ring up workshop poetics quote Archibald MacLeish, Marianne Moore, Berryman, then “Chicano power” and Quetzalcoatl” one more time? And the gallon of hand-me-down nationalist sewage?”
This quote shows one example of how Juan uses contradicting voices in his writing. He seems to contradict a lot of what he has already said. He appears annoyed by something he previously supported – his own
Page: 32
“The concept is provocative, Vic, archaic, the whole things about rising from the ashes, dressed in campesino shorts, working off a molcajet, the good ol’Indio Chicano stone moral ans pestle, mixing divers elements, mashing them into pulp and juice, into new blood force.”
This is a reflection of the marginal voices Juan writes about. He is writing about something that does not get much written about it. He is talking about the people caught in the middle of two cultures and how they cannot really live up the expectations placed upon them.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 42
“Have you seen the young ones… talking about stone idols, ring up workshop poetics quote Archibald MacLeish, Marianne Moore, Berryman, then “Chicano power” and Quetzalcoatl” one more time? And the gallon of hand-me-down nationalist sewage?”
This quote shows one example of how Juan uses contradicting voices in his writing. He seems to contradict a lot of what he has already said. He appears annoyed by something he previously supported – his own
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Juan Felipe Herrera - The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 17
“All my illusions of being a poet shrank, the wings of the eagle-writer that sees all twittered into the shadow of sparrow, a wavy blot of cold ink on yellow legal pad.”
This is interesting because a few words shattered him so completely. Most likely the person who did it was not even aware of the power behind the statement, but for as a poet words easily take on a lot of meaning.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 24
“If New York pizza happens, go with it. / Keep breathing, especially in times of stillness. / A donut has meaning. / Destroy meaning as often as you can.”
I really enjoyed this poem as a whole. I picked these lines to quote because I feel like many people would not follow the logic of them, but to me it makes perfect sense. The way his mind moves from one thing to the other reminds me of myself in many ways.
Page: 17
“All my illusions of being a poet shrank, the wings of the eagle-writer that sees all twittered into the shadow of sparrow, a wavy blot of cold ink on yellow legal pad.”
This is interesting because a few words shattered him so completely. Most likely the person who did it was not even aware of the power behind the statement, but for as a poet words easily take on a lot of meaning.
Juan Felipe Herrera The Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Page: 24
“If New York pizza happens, go with it. / Keep breathing, especially in times of stillness. / A donut has meaning. / Destroy meaning as often as you can.”
I really enjoyed this poem as a whole. I picked these lines to quote because I feel like many people would not follow the logic of them, but to me it makes perfect sense. The way his mind moves from one thing to the other reminds me of myself in many ways.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
CCC interview
These are parliminary questions for my interview.
I have multiple emails out looking for and interviewy, but I have yet to hear from anyone. I am hoping Tom is able to connect me with someone as well.
How did you get involved in this life?
Did you have a more experienced friend to show you the ropes?
How long did you spend hoping freights, or are you still?
When you talk about riding, how do the majority of people react? Interested? Disapproving? Shocked?
Obviously things have changed since the peak of the “hobo” lifestyle, how do you think the changes have effected your experience?
Have you ever had an encounter with a Bull? How did that go?
Would you say riding changed you? If so how?
Supposable there are a lot more “professionals” such as lawyers and businessmen who have taken to hoping freights, why do you think that is?
Has riding revealed any aspect of American culture that you think most people do not see?
Is there a tight knit community or individualistic thing?
What is your opinion of the romanticized idea’s that surrounds hobos and freights?
I have multiple emails out looking for and interviewy, but I have yet to hear from anyone. I am hoping Tom is able to connect me with someone as well.
How did you get involved in this life?
Did you have a more experienced friend to show you the ropes?
How long did you spend hoping freights, or are you still?
When you talk about riding, how do the majority of people react? Interested? Disapproving? Shocked?
Obviously things have changed since the peak of the “hobo” lifestyle, how do you think the changes have effected your experience?
Have you ever had an encounter with a Bull? How did that go?
Would you say riding changed you? If so how?
Supposable there are a lot more “professionals” such as lawyers and businessmen who have taken to hoping freights, why do you think that is?
Has riding revealed any aspect of American culture that you think most people do not see?
Is there a tight knit community or individualistic thing?
What is your opinion of the romanticized idea’s that surrounds hobos and freights?
Sandra Cisneros - The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street
Page: 747
“The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a t broom. But even so, it’s not the house we’d thought we’d get.”
They owned their own house for the fist time. It was free of the annoyances of renting; yet it did not live up to the standard of what she had dreamed of. It was not perfect when compared to what others had.
Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street
Page: 748
“You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.”
This was interesting because most people have had the same experience. A simple shift in the tone of voice can make you feel ashamed of something you never thought to be ashamed of. It is a lot harder the make that shame go away then it is to inspire it. It is practically hard on a child to see your life from an outside perspective for the first time.
Page: 747
“The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a t broom. But even so, it’s not the house we’d thought we’d get.”
They owned their own house for the fist time. It was free of the annoyances of renting; yet it did not live up to the standard of what she had dreamed of. It was not perfect when compared to what others had.
Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street
Page: 748
“You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.”
This was interesting because most people have had the same experience. A simple shift in the tone of voice can make you feel ashamed of something you never thought to be ashamed of. It is a lot harder the make that shame go away then it is to inspire it. It is practically hard on a child to see your life from an outside perspective for the first time.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Annie Dillard - Seeing Part 2
Annie Dillard Seeing
Page: 702
“While he was blind he was indifferent to objects unless they were edible; now, ‘a siring of values sets in … his thoughts and wishes are mightily stirred and some few of the patients a thereby led to dissimulations, envy, theft, and fraud.”
This quote is so interesting because reminds the reader how much we base value off of appearance. It is interesting to think that color and light are so appealing that they can cause someone to completely change as they did in this incident. It raises the question, what would society be like if it was not influenced my sight and images?
Annie Dillard Seeing
Page: 703
“I’m told I reached for the moon; many babies do. But the color-patches of infancy swelled as meaning filled them… The moon rocketed away.”
This idea that the world is full of infant possibilities and we are limited only by ourselves is not new. This however made it much more real to me. It is true that before we give light a meaning, the world is dazzling a beautiful and nothing is out of reach. As we get older however, we become accustomed to the dazzle, and we tell ourselves what is impossible
Page: 702
“While he was blind he was indifferent to objects unless they were edible; now, ‘a siring of values sets in … his thoughts and wishes are mightily stirred and some few of the patients a thereby led to dissimulations, envy, theft, and fraud.”
This quote is so interesting because reminds the reader how much we base value off of appearance. It is interesting to think that color and light are so appealing that they can cause someone to completely change as they did in this incident. It raises the question, what would society be like if it was not influenced my sight and images?
Annie Dillard Seeing
Page: 703
“I’m told I reached for the moon; many babies do. But the color-patches of infancy swelled as meaning filled them… The moon rocketed away.”
This idea that the world is full of infant possibilities and we are limited only by ourselves is not new. This however made it much more real to me. It is true that before we give light a meaning, the world is dazzling a beautiful and nothing is out of reach. As we get older however, we become accustomed to the dazzle, and we tell ourselves what is impossible
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Annie Dillard - Seeing part 1
Annie Dillard Seeing
Page: 693
“…[C]ultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. ”
This quote is so interesting because if you read it once, you want to read it over again. You do not do this because it is unclear, but instead you read it because it is clear descriptive and abstract. I personally like the last phrase the best with the irony if buying with poverty. And, especially how she simply says days instead of specifying something more precise it is merely a lifetime of days.
Annie Dillard Seeing
Page: 694
“But I don’t see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture, but from the various forms of happiness.”
This idea of people cutting themselves off from what they do not specialize n is very true. It can be seen in many everyday aspects of people’s lives. They chose to ignore what is not their “thing” out of fear of being wrong or ignorance. In doing so they miss out on a great many remarkable aspects of life.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p223-end
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 229
“’And this is Japhy’s lake, and these are Japhy’s mountains,’ I thought, and whished Jahpy were there to see me doing everything he wanted me to do.”
It feels like Ray only went into the mountains because he thought Japhy wanted him too. It is interesting how he longs for Japhy’s approval. Instead of being wowed by his surroundings or thinking of how this was his summer home and his mountain, Ray thinks of it as Japhy’s and wonders what Japhy would think of him there.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 238
“The radio didn’t bother me much; there were no fires close enough for me to report ahead of anybody else and I didn’t participate in lookout chants. They dropped a could of radio batteries by parachute but my own batteries were still in good shape.”
It is interesting that Ray does not participate in the radio chats. They are his only connection to the outside world, yet he chooses to ignore them. He separates himself showing that the tranquil solitude is nicer for him than human contact.
Page: 229
“’And this is Japhy’s lake, and these are Japhy’s mountains,’ I thought, and whished Jahpy were there to see me doing everything he wanted me to do.”
It feels like Ray only went into the mountains because he thought Japhy wanted him too. It is interesting how he longs for Japhy’s approval. Instead of being wowed by his surroundings or thinking of how this was his summer home and his mountain, Ray thinks of it as Japhy’s and wonders what Japhy would think of him there.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 238
“The radio didn’t bother me much; there were no fires close enough for me to report ahead of anybody else and I didn’t participate in lookout chants. They dropped a could of radio batteries by parachute but my own batteries were still in good shape.”
It is interesting that Ray does not participate in the radio chats. They are his only connection to the outside world, yet he chooses to ignore them. He separates himself showing that the tranquil solitude is nicer for him than human contact.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p.199-223
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 203
“East meets West finally, and it’ll be guys like us that can start the thing. Think of the millions of guys all over the world with rucksacks on their backs tramping around the back country and hitchhiking and bring the word down to everybody.”
This is an interesting quote because Japhy almost comes across like you would expect “mainstreamers” to. He sounds as if he thinks his way of life is superior and anyone who does not convert to his ways is a fool. This is contradictory to most dharma bum ways.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 223
“The snow-covered mountains themselves had disappeared, receded from my view, I couldn’t se them any more but now I was beginning to feel them more.”
I liked this quote not for the insight it gives into Dharma Bums, but for the imager. Anyone who has stood at the foot of a huge mountain knows the feeling this quote portrays. The mountains are a vastness that you have no hope of conquering. You cannot and will not beat a mountain, and nothing shows that as well as the feeling of standing at the base with them looming over you.
Page: 203
“East meets West finally, and it’ll be guys like us that can start the thing. Think of the millions of guys all over the world with rucksacks on their backs tramping around the back country and hitchhiking and bring the word down to everybody.”
This is an interesting quote because Japhy almost comes across like you would expect “mainstreamers” to. He sounds as if he thinks his way of life is superior and anyone who does not convert to his ways is a fool. This is contradictory to most dharma bum ways.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 223
“The snow-covered mountains themselves had disappeared, receded from my view, I couldn’t se them any more but now I was beginning to feel them more.”
I liked this quote not for the insight it gives into Dharma Bums, but for the imager. Anyone who has stood at the foot of a huge mountain knows the feeling this quote portrays. The mountains are a vastness that you have no hope of conquering. You cannot and will not beat a mountain, and nothing shows that as well as the feeling of standing at the base with them looming over you.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p.171-199
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 176
“Bud Diefendorf who worked as the janitor in the Buddhist Association to earn his rent and attend classes free… I liked Budd, hew was intelligent, and I liked the fact that he had stared out as a physicist at the University of Chicago then gone from that to philosophy and finally not the philosophy’s dreadful murderer, Buddha.”
It is interesting that Bud chose the path he did. He represents a very pure example of the Dharma Bum idle. He was a scientist but decided to work as a janitor. He studied philosophy which attempts to define the meaning of life and now follows a philosophy that states there is no meaning.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 192
“Oh my God, sociability is just a big smile and a big smiles is nothing but teeth, I wish I could joust stay here and rest and be kind.”
Ray is saying that human interaction is false. He goes to a party and socializes- it is nothing. Even if he has fun- it is nothing. Even so, he is expected to be a Japhy’s party, but he feels that it is a gratuitous
Page: 176
“Bud Diefendorf who worked as the janitor in the Buddhist Association to earn his rent and attend classes free… I liked Budd, hew was intelligent, and I liked the fact that he had stared out as a physicist at the University of Chicago then gone from that to philosophy and finally not the philosophy’s dreadful murderer, Buddha.”
It is interesting that Bud chose the path he did. He represents a very pure example of the Dharma Bum idle. He was a scientist but decided to work as a janitor. He studied philosophy which attempts to define the meaning of life and now follows a philosophy that states there is no meaning.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 192
“Oh my God, sociability is just a big smile and a big smiles is nothing but teeth, I wish I could joust stay here and rest and be kind.”
Ray is saying that human interaction is false. He goes to a party and socializes- it is nothing. Even if he has fun- it is nothing. Even so, he is expected to be a Japhy’s party, but he feels that it is a gratuitous
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p.150-171
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 156
“I realized I had indeed learned from Japhy how to cast off the evils of the world and the city and find my true pure soul.”
Ray shows how he has changed from the beginning of the book. The Dharma Bum way does not cause dramatic changes. It is only in instances like this that a shift in character and ways in evident. Ray has developed a very Zen way of casting off the negative when at the start of the book he did not like Zen and clung to experiences.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 170
“Well I ain’t a happy little sage no mo’ and I’m tired.”
This is a rather dramatic change for the last time Ray was with Jahpy. It makes the reader wander what has occurred to cause Japhy to tire of what he values most. It is possible that this dramatic change is caused by the lack of dramatic change in his life. Going back to the previous quotation, the Dharma Bum way does not cause striking transformations. It does cause subtle changes, almost unnoticeable to the individual. Perhaps Jahpy sees a change in Ray but cannot see it in himself.
Page: 156
“I realized I had indeed learned from Japhy how to cast off the evils of the world and the city and find my true pure soul.”
Ray shows how he has changed from the beginning of the book. The Dharma Bum way does not cause dramatic changes. It is only in instances like this that a shift in character and ways in evident. Ray has developed a very Zen way of casting off the negative when at the start of the book he did not like Zen and clung to experiences.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 170
“Well I ain’t a happy little sage no mo’ and I’m tired.”
This is a rather dramatic change for the last time Ray was with Jahpy. It makes the reader wander what has occurred to cause Japhy to tire of what he values most. It is possible that this dramatic change is caused by the lack of dramatic change in his life. Going back to the previous quotation, the Dharma Bum way does not cause striking transformations. It does cause subtle changes, almost unnoticeable to the individual. Perhaps Jahpy sees a change in Ray but cannot see it in himself.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
CCC Notes
Topic - Modern day Train Hopping and Hoboing
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_police
http://www.thespoon.com/trainhop/
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.26.03/trainhopping-0313.html
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/hoboing.html
http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079011
http://www.northbankfred.com/colin1.html
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_police
http://www.thespoon.com/trainhop/
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/03.26.03/trainhopping-0313.html
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/hoboing.html
http://slingshot.tao.ca/displaybi.php?0079011
http://www.northbankfred.com/colin1.html
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p.120-140
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 122
“Everything is possible. I am God, I am Buddha, I am imperfect Ray Smith, all at the same time, I am empty space, I am all things. I have all the time in the world from life to life to do what is to do, to do what is done, to do the timeless doing, infinitely perfect within, why cry, why worry, perfect like mind essence and the minds of banana peels”
Yet again the paradox of the Dharma Bums. He is God, Buddha, and imperfect. Ray is nothing and everything. The ideas of the dharma bums continue to contradict themselves. Yet, the contradiction only seems to reaffirm their belief in their values.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 132
“People have good hearts whether or not they live like Dharma Bums.”
This is one of the few times in the reading when it actually comes across that it is okay to live the “mainstream” way. Most of the time the dharma bums place themselves above majority culture, yet in returning home to his average family, Ray admits that it is the heart that is important not the furnishings.
Page: 122
“Everything is possible. I am God, I am Buddha, I am imperfect Ray Smith, all at the same time, I am empty space, I am all things. I have all the time in the world from life to life to do what is to do, to do what is done, to do the timeless doing, infinitely perfect within, why cry, why worry, perfect like mind essence and the minds of banana peels”
Yet again the paradox of the Dharma Bums. He is God, Buddha, and imperfect. Ray is nothing and everything. The ideas of the dharma bums continue to contradict themselves. Yet, the contradiction only seems to reaffirm their belief in their values.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 132
“People have good hearts whether or not they live like Dharma Bums.”
This is one of the few times in the reading when it actually comes across that it is okay to live the “mainstream” way. Most of the time the dharma bums place themselves above majority culture, yet in returning home to his average family, Ray admits that it is the heart that is important not the furnishings.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p. 94-120
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 96
“The world is nothing but the mind and what is the mind? The mind is nothing but the world, goddamnit. ”
The paradox of the Dharma Bums. They continually struggle with this concept of nothingness in the world. They partially want to say that the world does not exist and doesn’t matter, but at the same time they must acknowledge that life and everything in it is real.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 120
“Everything was far away from that easy purity of being with Japhy Ryder in that high rock camp under peaceful singeing stars.”
Ray has an idealistic idea of what traveling the country will be. Even during these first few nights he is face with the realization that it is not perfect. His rucksack revolution is not going the way he envisioned it, but he remains committed to his beliefs.
Page: 96
“The world is nothing but the mind and what is the mind? The mind is nothing but the world, goddamnit. ”
The paradox of the Dharma Bums. They continually struggle with this concept of nothingness in the world. They partially want to say that the world does not exist and doesn’t matter, but at the same time they must acknowledge that life and everything in it is real.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 120
“Everything was far away from that easy purity of being with Japhy Ryder in that high rock camp under peaceful singeing stars.”
Ray has an idealistic idea of what traveling the country will be. Even during these first few nights he is face with the realization that it is not perfect. His rucksack revolution is not going the way he envisioned it, but he remains committed to his beliefs.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p. 72-94
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 90
“I was angry too because Japhy an Morley were afraid to stop ands rest, they said it was dangerous at this point to stop… ‘No, we’ve got to get down to that car tonight’”
On the way back down the mountain everyone was tired and irritable. It was interesting because they were heading back into society, and it seemed like whether they knew it or not that put them in a bad mindset. Even with their own reluctance to continue they seemed afraid to stay away any longer.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 92
“Japhy thought the place I chose looked too bourgeois and insisted on going to a more workingman-looking restaurant across the highway.”
For all his talk of nothingness and simplicity, Japhy is still afraid to be judged by society. He is put on a pedestal for most of the book, yet when it comes down to it, Japhy is not immune to the pressures to conform to society. He only removes himself from situations where that pressure strongly exist.
Page: 90
“I was angry too because Japhy an Morley were afraid to stop ands rest, they said it was dangerous at this point to stop… ‘No, we’ve got to get down to that car tonight’”
On the way back down the mountain everyone was tired and irritable. It was interesting because they were heading back into society, and it seemed like whether they knew it or not that put them in a bad mindset. Even with their own reluctance to continue they seemed afraid to stay away any longer.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 92
“Japhy thought the place I chose looked too bourgeois and insisted on going to a more workingman-looking restaurant across the highway.”
For all his talk of nothingness and simplicity, Japhy is still afraid to be judged by society. He is put on a pedestal for most of the book, yet when it comes down to it, Japhy is not immune to the pressures to conform to society. He only removes himself from situations where that pressure strongly exist.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p.47-72
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 59
“Walking in this country you could understand the perfect gems of haikus the Oriental poets had written, never getting drunk in the mountains or anything but just going along as fresh as children writing down what they saw without literary devices or fanciness of expression.”
This quote is interesting because it deals with many of the same ideas we discuss in class. Ray finds that by separating himself from society and going back to nature, even if only for a day, frees him from many of the pressures of life. For a character who is always looking for a drink to improve a situation, admitting that it is unnecessary to get drunk is huge.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 68
“Ray when you are up here you are not in the Berkeley tea room. This is the beginning and the end of the world right here.”
Nature and mountaintops are simple and pure. They offer an idea of vastness, permanency, and an unquestionable freedom. They are the opposite of the towns and cities that Ray comes from. The beginning and end of the world. Everything starts and ends like the mountaintop - simple pure and free – everything in between is only what we make it, and in the end means nothing.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums p.24-49
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 31
“You know when I was a little kid in Oregon I didn’t feel that I was an American at all, with all that suburban ideal and sex repression and general dreary newspaper gray censorship of all our real human values… and my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything especially freedom. ”
In this quote, Japhy/Snyder says everything we have said about suburbia. An outsider free of the “ideal” he sees the flaws the repression, the conformity, and the very fakeness of it all. He sees all of this so-called perfection or American Ideal for the huge void it is. He practically calls the American dream a cookie-cutter of nothingness.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 39
“Colleges being nothing but grooming schools for the middleclass non-identity which usually finds its perfect expression on the outskirts of campus in rows of well-to-do houses with lawns and televisions sets in each living room with everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time…”
Once again the ideas come back to suburbia perfections and outside reality. Kerouac is saying that college means nothing. It is simply another uniform aspect for uniform individualizes. He is saying it teaches nothing but how to be the same. You go for no reason except you are supposed to. It is expected. While to Kerouac, time is much better spent and more is learned through his own counterculture lifestyle.
Page: 31
“You know when I was a little kid in Oregon I didn’t feel that I was an American at all, with all that suburban ideal and sex repression and general dreary newspaper gray censorship of all our real human values… and my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything especially freedom. ”
In this quote, Japhy/Snyder says everything we have said about suburbia. An outsider free of the “ideal” he sees the flaws the repression, the conformity, and the very fakeness of it all. He sees all of this so-called perfection or American Ideal for the huge void it is. He practically calls the American dream a cookie-cutter of nothingness.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 39
“Colleges being nothing but grooming schools for the middleclass non-identity which usually finds its perfect expression on the outskirts of campus in rows of well-to-do houses with lawns and televisions sets in each living room with everybody looking at the same thing and thinking the same thing at the same time…”
Once again the ideas come back to suburbia perfections and outside reality. Kerouac is saying that college means nothing. It is simply another uniform aspect for uniform individualizes. He is saying it teaches nothing but how to be the same. You go for no reason except you are supposed to. It is expected. While to Kerouac, time is much better spent and more is learned through his own counterculture lifestyle.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Jack Kerouac - Dharma Bums p. 1-24
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 5
“‘I was very devout in those days and was practicing my religious devotions almost to perfection. Since then I’ve become al little hypocritical about my lip-service and a little tired and cynical. Because now I am grown so old and neutral…. But then I really believed in the reality of charity and kindness and humility and zeal and neutral tranquility and wisdom and ecstasy. ”
I think the comment reflects the innocence of youth and the cynicism of age.
At this point in his life Jack or “Ray” was his own living ideal. He traveled the country free of the worldly ties that he saw as a hindrance to wider society. He lived as spiritually and whim indicated free of any controlling outside force. As he got older he began to realize that he could not live this ideal. There would always be the imperfect world no matter how perfect he tried to be.
Jack Kerouac Dharma Bums
Page: 19
“I simply opened his little door and looked in and saw him at the end of the little shack, sitting cross-legged on a Paisley pillow on the straw mat, with his spectacles on, making him look old and scholarly and wise, with book on lap and little tin teapot and porcelain cup steaming at his side. He looked up very peacefully, saw who it was, said, “Ray, come in,” and bent his eyes again to the script.”
The idle contemplative practitioner most mediators seek to become, it is easy to see why Japhy captures Ray’s interest. Interested in both meditation and Buddhism as a whole Ray would be drawn to those who could help him better understand both. Japhy has the added draws of being poet, intellectual, interesting, counter-culture, and outdoorsy all of which Ray identifies with. For the two of them to form a bond of friendship is both expected and natural.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Extra Credit
I agree with the writer that money is both the cause of our problems and our way of dealing with that guilt ridden inner voice. Through societies dependence on the concept wealth, we have forced ourselves into a boundless impossibility. We will not, cannot give up what has become the foundation of our existence – Money. Yet, we will continue to damage our environments, both social and natural, and ourselves until we at least partial make this unthinkable sacrifice. There is no way out. We will not give up the obsessive consumption that drives us, and we cannot “buy off” the environmental devastation it causes.
I believe the writer purposefully ended the statement with a positive spin to leave the reader both scared and inspired. A combination that forces the reader to realize they need to change while reassuring them that it is not to late and they can make a difference.
I believe the writer purposefully ended the statement with a positive spin to leave the reader both scared and inspired. A combination that forces the reader to realize they need to change while reassuring them that it is not to late and they can make a difference.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Raymond Carver - Are These Actual Miles?
Raymond Carver Are These Actual Miles?
Page: 586
“‘I had to go without when I was a kid,’ she says. ‘these kids are not going tot do without,’ … She joins all the book clubs. … They enroll in the record clubs for something to play on the new stereo. They sign up for it all. … They buy what they want. If they can’t pay, they charge. They sign up.”
Because of hardship as a child, Toni feels she always needs more to make up for what she missed. This leads her to leave beyond her means. Continually consuming martial goods to reaffirm her status in the world and prove to herself that she is better than her parents were.
Raymond Carver Are These Actual Miles?
Page: 588
“‘He said personally he’d rather be classified a robber or a rapist than a bankrupt. He’s nice enough, thought.’”
Criminals are naturally social outcast, yet the car dealer would pick that over being a bankrupt. This shows that he believes money is more important than morality, or that being outcast for criminal behavior is less painful than being outcast for something as shameful as financial failure. Criminals are insane, desperate, or the product of a bad environment therefore exceptions are made for them. To be bankrupt however, is one’s own fault and something to me laughed at.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
John Updike - The Persistence of Desire
John Updike The Persistence of Desire
Page: 561
“Already it was 1:29, and while he watched, the digits slipped again; another drop into the brimming void. He glanced around for the comfort of a clock with the face and gracious, gradual hands. A stopped grandfather matched the other imitation antiques.”
Clyde is acutely aware of time as it rushes onward. Each minute that the see flick away serves as a reminder that his life is passing. It is this awareness of time and life that leads him to grasp so tightly to his past; be that hometown, family doctor, or old relationships. The ‘imitation antiques’ represent the natural, yet false, attempt to retain that which is already gone.
John Updike The Persistence of Desire
Page: 568
“ ‘Clyde, I thought you were successful. I thought you had beautiful children. Aren’t you happy?’ ‘I am, I am; but’- the rest was so purely inspired its utterance only grazed his lips- ‘happiness isn’t everything.’”
Clyde realizes that while he has what he believed he needed to be happy, he is not satisfied with life. He feels that there must be something more to happiness then what he has, so Clyde clings to what had offered a feeling of fulfillment in the past. He realizes this all in a single moment while attempting to recreate his youthful happiness through old love.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
John Cheever The Swimmer
John Cheever The Swimmer
Page: 1492
“It would storm. The stand of cumulus cloud- that city- had risen and darkened, and while he sat there he heard the percussiveness of thunder again.”
Up until the storm hit, Cheever had created a story where Ned was a modern-day explore. Swimming through all the pools on the way home would be an adventure full of friends and pleasant surprises. After the storm, the tone of the story changes. Ned’s world is striped of is simple façade to reveal a more complicated and confused reality.
John Cheever The Swimmer
Page: 1496
“It was probably the first time in his adult life that he had ever cried, certainly the first time in his life that he had ever felt so miserable, cold, tired, and bewildered…He had swum too long, been immersed too long”
This quote is the onset of reality for Ned. His adventure had turned ugly forcing Ned to face a more complicated reality he had blocked out. In the process of completing a simple goal, Ned’s entire image of reality had begun to crumble in his waterlogged mind. He had been surrounded by it for so long that he had not even seen it coming or he had refused to acknowledge it.
Monday, March 26, 2007
John Cheever - The Death of Justina
John Cheever The Death of Justina
Page: 543
“When I abstain from sin it is more often a fear of scandal than a private resolve to improve on the purity of my heart, but here was a call for abstinence without the worldly enforcement of society, and death is not the threat that scandal is.”
It is well known that Cheever often wrote about suburbia, and it is my opinion that in this quote he captures the force behind “suburbia” utterly. It is the idea that you do good not because it is good, but because of what the neighbors would say if you did not do good. He is more willing to sacrifice something to conform to society than for health reasons because death is nothing next to a scandal.
John Cheever The Death of Justina
Page: 548
“It’s just that it happened in the wrong zone and if I make an exception for you I’ll have to make an exception for everyone, and this kind of morbidity, when it gets out of hand, can be very depressing. People don’t like to live in a neighborhood where this sort of thing goes on all the time.”
This quote is the mayor’s argument against “allowing” Justina to have died. Zoning regulations prevented funeral parlors from opening, anything from being buried, and death. The idea of zoning against death clearly is a satirist take of suburban lifestyles. The struggle to obtain a zoning exception after Justina’s death is takes the spoof on step farther mocking the over the top bureaucratic ways of small towns and neighborhoods.
Page: 543
“When I abstain from sin it is more often a fear of scandal than a private resolve to improve on the purity of my heart, but here was a call for abstinence without the worldly enforcement of society, and death is not the threat that scandal is.”
It is well known that Cheever often wrote about suburbia, and it is my opinion that in this quote he captures the force behind “suburbia” utterly. It is the idea that you do good not because it is good, but because of what the neighbors would say if you did not do good. He is more willing to sacrifice something to conform to society than for health reasons because death is nothing next to a scandal.
John Cheever The Death of Justina
Page: 548
“It’s just that it happened in the wrong zone and if I make an exception for you I’ll have to make an exception for everyone, and this kind of morbidity, when it gets out of hand, can be very depressing. People don’t like to live in a neighborhood where this sort of thing goes on all the time.”
This quote is the mayor’s argument against “allowing” Justina to have died. Zoning regulations prevented funeral parlors from opening, anything from being buried, and death. The idea of zoning against death clearly is a satirist take of suburban lifestyles. The struggle to obtain a zoning exception after Justina’s death is takes the spoof on step farther mocking the over the top bureaucratic ways of small towns and neighborhoods.
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