South Park Strikes Again...

As I was waiting for my rehearsal to begin tonight I decided to watch a little South Park and wouldn't you know; it related to class again. In this episode the boys create their own gang of super-heros (ties back to older episodes) and this time BP has drilled into the Gulf causing an oil spill. To stop the leak they decide to drill again but drill into the underworld releasing Cthulhu. Who is a beast who has come to send the boys into eternal oblivion. His followers have a chant which ends with, "That is not dead which eternal lie." This relates to Kenny's (Mysterion) superpower, which if you have seen the show know, he cannot die. Each superhero creates his own story there is Tupperware, Human Kite, Coon, and the rest of the gang and they even attempt to join with the prominent superhero, Hindsight who has 20/20 hindsight because of an experiment gone wrong when a poisonous spider enters the machine he created to give the Newsman hindsight.

South Park has numerous references to mythology in this episode (Coon 2: Hindsight and Mysterion Rises) you can watch on www.southparkstudios.com and I will add more later when I get time.

Creating my own myth

This morning I was volunteering with kids at Eagle Mount and I was tying one girl's ice skates; another volunteer says to the girl, "You have a great smile, where did it come from?" She responded, "I dooooon't know" and I figured what better time than now to create my own story?
I started off by basing the myth off of one I heard in Escramble a movie by Volcom Entertainment; in the movie Gigi Ruf explains how the earth came to be in Austrian mythology. I started, "Well a smile originated when an eye corn rolled down the cheek of a young girl, not so different than yourself." While in Austrian myth the eye corn falls off the chin of the man and slowly forms into the world. A tear drop then falls off the mans face onto a mountain creating snow. But anyway...I continued, "as it rolled down her cheek she thought of the beauty she saw in the world arching her cheeks as the corn rolled across shaping her mouth into a smile." While this is not a great mythological story compared to Ovid's numerous stories it was one that reminded me of how myth is in our daily lives and if we play with the idea of myth it becomes fun. Especially when working with kids because their imaginations are much more fantastical than ours (or at least mine) and I think it is important to show them through stories; something they are interested in. Being an atheist I tend to steer clear of religion when working with children and this is where myth is able to capture their attention because I am able to put meaning in objects that do not necessarily have any.
Anyway this was a great class and as Corrin's blog states many of our classmates taught me just as much as Dr. Sexson. Blogging is a great way for us to share our thoughts, especially for students who do not speak up in class but have great ideas. So thank you 'mates and I look forward to having class with you in the future.

A few photos that make me smile:

Hebgen Lake

"The Wall" in Hampton, NH

View of the Bridgers from a road to the Crazies.

First day of presentations

After reading Melody's blog, I have to agree I was a bit skeptical but after having Dr. Sexson before I knew everyone would formulate their own ideas. Especially with a book like, Henderson the Rain King that allows the reader to give birth to numerous ideas. James the Rat decided to write about unicorns and Dustin went in-depth on Eliade and other topics that went over my head. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the class writes on because I am sure few will overlap.

Revolutionary Traditions

Gregg Hayward lived in Zambia the central, landlocked part of Africa from 2005 until early 2007 but left because of a sickness he contracted. Our conversation started because upon reading Henderson the Rain King I immediately thought of him and similar experiences he must have had during his time in the small village, Mwanasasa which was about 15 miles West of Mansa. Gregg stressed the importance of tradition in the village but also the impact America and Western civilization has had on the people. His description of the people in the village was, “An MTV crazed teenager, met peasant farmer, with hardcore Christian beliefs” and this was because Zambia is believed (by the tribes) to have originally been 100 tribes who were forced to integrate by the Christian missionaries during the 1840’s; the tribes who practiced polygamy and had witch doctors then became radicalized because their lose of religion. The tribes now fight as Native Americans do between a struggling past to create a new future.

Gregg, as Henderson went to Africa with solutions to problems tribes did not even know they had. He had to restructure his plan on how to help solve Africa’s problems; he did this by asking questions and learning the answers through the tribe. The times when we ask questions and are able to learn from our students, we (as teachers) are able to teach the best. The tribes were more Westernized than he had ever dreamed of and this became evident as he set-up meetings with peasant farmers. When he went to visit the peasant farmers they would be wearing a three-piece suit and have a cell phone hanging from their neck to show (s)he was worth Gregg’s time because they were prosperous enough to afford these material goods. A cell phone is a sign of status and even if a person can not afford to have minutes on the phone they will still wear one. The differences between cultures became more evident as Gregg learned the traditions of the native Mwanasasaneese.
Banachimbusa (Bana is a reference to women and chimbusa for respected elder) has to do with the coming of age for a girl. When a girl feels she has reached her “coming of age” period, which can happen at any age, she goes to a respected woman of the community and together they go into the wilderness for three days. Over the three day period, the girl explains to the elder everything she would be responsible for whether it is how to cook the traditional dish of ubwali or how to care for children. The elder is viewed as the keeper of tradition who is supposed to teach the girl the traditional practices a wife is expected to fulfill not only for her husband but the tribe as well. Women are looked to as prominent members of the community because their role as child bearer, horticulturist, and cook. After three days there is a large ceremony that takes place involving the entire village much like the ceremony that takes place when Henderson becomes Sungo-Rain King. Although the Mwanasasaneese do not wear traditional dress when celebrating. Gregg told me, “Instead of using grasses to make a dress, they may use plastic bags to form a dress around their waste to represent the changing of times.” He then described the ceremony to a Bat Mitzvah with traditional dancing and various religious celebrations. Gregg described the dance as something that was, “sexually provocative and would probably be rated a PG-13 or light R by the movie guild. It is supposed to be the girls coming out party and ensures that the village men know she is now available for marriage.”
Marriage is one of the most traditional aspects for Zambians and is taken wholeheartedly, even today after some traditions have become lenient. When a man becomes interested in marrying a woman he needs to take the decision serious, he must contemplate if she will be a good wife, cook, would be faithful, and if she meets the mans standards he will seek an “in-between.” This “in-between” is a good friend who goes to the family of the woman and offers to pay the family, for instance: three goats and be willing to farm five hectares a year, for five years. The father will then decide to accept the offer or renegotiate; if he rejects the offer, the interested man can attempt to show his positive qualities but more often then not, this fails. If the father accepts the three goat and five year farming of five hectares, the couple will get married and the new husband will live within the family for five years. This is believed to strengthen the foundations of the newly weds relationship by giving birth to a relationship between the husband and the wife’s family because they will be dependent on her family for the years to come. Family is an important aspect for Zambians because as Gregg stated, “There were only five people over 60 years old; 15 over 45; 25 over 20; and 150 from zero years of age to 20.” Many of the children from zero to 20 will die from HIV or tuberculosis so it is important children learn their basic necessities at a young age because their parents and siblings may not be around long enough to teach them. These necessities are polar opposites from Americans and Gregg explained this to me by telling me about a five year old he knew during his time in Zambia. The young boy was able to name every tree or plant in the forest but could not add, write his name, or anything American schools deem necessary for a child to know.
Tradition is something Zambians hold close to their heart but they have been forced to up-date practices because of the HIV and AIDS epidemics. When a Zambian man dies his wife must be sexually cleansed. In the past, this was done by the husband’s brother who would sleep with the widow and while this seems grotesque to us today, it is seen by Zambians as a core-strength of the family. It ensured the widow was brought into the family and given security: financially or emotionally. When I asked if this was similar to the father walking his daughter down the aisle in a Catholic marriage ceremony, Gregg responded, “Yes, but obviously to a different degree. It is similar because they are literally giving the widow away again and this could not be done any other way.” They have recently changed this ritual by having the woman wear a bracelet with a single white bead, signifying her husband’s death and her purity. The widow wears this bracelet until it becomes tethered and falls off. This is seen as her rebirth, and she is made available for marriage or a relationship again.
Zambians are hand-to-mouth peasant farmers and dependent on each season to bring them crops which they eat throughout the season as they harvest until the next crop is available. When a peasant farmer dies there is a spiritual gathering between the entire community the night they die. Everyone in the village camps outside the deceased's house, women go inside to wail and cry-out for anywhere between 24 to 48 hours. Gregg described this as, “one of the most breathtaking sounds I have ever heard. The women put so much energy into this act they will actually pass out from being so tired.” They do this while men and children are outside cooking and preparing for the end of the wailing session. Gregg emphasized that if you were biking by a wailing ceremony you must stop and pay your respects to the deceased. Even if you did not know them you would go up to the men, ask about the farmer who died, and if you were able to, you would leave some money for the family, thanking them as you left. Gregg said, “They view this as an intense emotional experience where they release all their feelings so they are able to move on. It brings the community together to mourn and celebrate the passing of a peasant farmer.” This also allows the village to mourn quickly and return to the fields to ensure they will have food in the coming months. They do not waste anytime because while honoring the death of a friend is important the harvest season is short and uncertain. If they were to prolong the ceremony as Americans do by having a wake and then a funeral a week later they would not be doing the individual honor and would be risking their nourishment in the near future.

It is through the attempts of small villages like Mwanasasa to instill traditions in the youth that they continue to live prosperous lives but it is because of the youth they exclude traditions that cause the tribe harm. Gregg told me about billboards in Lusaka that had a picture of a baby with the caption, “Will NOT cure HIV” and how hard he worked to spread the word that condoms would help stop the spread of AIDS something Christian Missionaries told tribal members was not true. The tribes work hard to keep their traditional beliefs but realize some must go and this is done through the up-dating of past traditions, such as the deceased husband’s brother sleeping with the widow now being performed by the simple action of wearing a bracelet. This is different but still helps the widow stay connected to the family and have a safe place to go when she needs food or help raising a child. Gregg like Henderson teaches us how the American ideals are not always perfect but they allow us through knowledge to help cultures revolve. When Americans are able to relate to traditions and and not remove the beliefs from the tribe that we as a country improve as well as assisting in the improvement of the country in need. Traditions are never ending in change constantly creating a new beginning showing the never ending cycles encountered throughout life.

All photos courtesy of Gregg Hayward:

A funeral gathering for a local member of the tribe.

Four to a bike!

Ba Patrick trying to get cell service on an ant hill near the school.

Zam holding a soccer ball made of condoms and plastic bags.

Wire Cars; hip toys for young children.

Alcmena

                                       Alcmena being seduced by Jove

Alcmena's story takes place in Book IX, page 299 in Ovid's Metamorphoses and the story is rather simple. Alcmena is born into the world world (parents are Elctryon and Anaxo) and she marries the King of Thebes. Everything is going well and they have an heir to the throne; but Jove being the cruel god he is comes down to earth and seduces/impregnates her. This stops the King of Thebes from ever sleeping with Alcmena again because he fears  Jove's jealousy and relationships cannot last without the sexual ingredient. 

Everything is going fine in her pregnancy until she reaches the ninth month and starts having contractions. They are extremely painful for her since female mortals are not equipped correctly to give birth to a god. She is brought to the heavens and calls on Luncina (mid-wife) who is cut-off and instructed by Juno to pro-long the birth. She does this by sitting down, crossing her legs, inter-weaving her fingers, and saying a chant that closes the birth-canal.  Alcmena, "longs to die from pain; my words would move the hardest of stones to tears. Around me the Theban woman also pleaded, prayed: they tried to give me the strength to meet this test. Now one of my attendants was Galanthis" (p.300) is called upon by Alcmena. Galanthis surprises everyone by declaring Hercules has been born and Lucina more so than anyone else jumps out of her seat, uncrossing her legs, unweaving her fingers, and stopping the chant; opening the birth canal and out plops Hercules (for real this time). Galanthis's punishment for betraying the gods is being transformed into a weasel but because she was loyal to Alcmena she keeps her as a side-kick for the rest of her days. Alcmena was also the last mortal woman that Jove seduces so something must have had an impact on his feelings :(

                                                         Galanthis

Henderson

"Well, I stood up on that one. This strange, many-figured, calcareous white stone was under my feet. That stone, too, was a world away of its own, or more than a single world, world within world, in a dreaming series" (Bellow, 197).
A few weeks ago we talked about living in a world within a world and in this section of the book Bellow shows us the world Henderson lives within. He came from a life where he lived the everyday hustle and bustle a person expects living in NYC. He constantly heard "I want, I want" but once he has lived amongst the Wairiri people for a short period the voices does not come as often.
On page 233 King Dahfu says, "Now, Mr. Henderson, I am convinced you are a man of wide and spacious imagination, and that also you need.... You particularly need." Henderson responds that his voice comes as, "I want, I want" and we are able to understand the changes he has experienced. He no longer feels the stress he used to and his world has changed because he now sees his through new eyes. Thus creating a new world within his world; this is something that comes with a change in living situations. The world a person sees has everything to do with not only a person's financial status but where they live geographically. The beauty a person sees in the world varies, for me personally I loved the ocean my entire life growing up and since I started surfing I never thought I would leave it...then I came to Montana. The mountains have changed my "world within world" perspective, I now see life as well as death in the mountains in a way I could have never thought possible; but is one similar to what I used to see in the ocean. The way the ocean changes in tides can cause significant amounts of death to animals and crustaceans that are dependent on the amount of water left in the tide-pools. Just as a sudden winter drops feet of snow can change the patterns of Snow and Canadian Geese which Bozeman has seen a recent jump in because of the cold weather and snow conditions. There are now several thousand in a field by my house showing us how dependent they are on the "world within world" they experience daily in a world that we learned in class we experience fall/winter because Persephone at food while living (dying?) in the underworld.

Connections

My roommate shot a deer on Thursday and yesterday was my first time skinning an animal ever; it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it even drove me to want to get a rifle so I will be able to provide for myself with meat for next winter. I have saved the skin from the deer and plan on turning the fur into a nice pair of mittens because I assume they have evolved through their thousands of years on earth to have a fairly well Gore-Tex outer-layer.
As we skinned the animal together I felt as though I was part of the kill as I used a knife to cut into his hind-quarters and slowly pealed the fur off the back like a t-shirt. This is how Logan explained how to remove the coat and at first it truly disgusted me but I realized this animal had given his life so we would be able to eat throughout the winter. I felt it was essential to utilize every piece of the animal because other than the fact I am rather poor at the moment, I also believe it is important to use each part of the animal just as natives did. This brought me back to Henderson the Rain King and how all the remote tribes he visits are connected to the land and animals surrounding them because without them they would not exist. This also relates to another story my roommates told me from when they went hunting in a undisclosed spot where a group of North Dakotans had shot a cow elk and let it wander off and die without searching for it. This is disrespectful decision to the elk because they killed an animal that dozens if not hundreds of people would have loved to kill themselves so they could provide for their family through the winter. Instead these NorDak's just let the animal die in pain instead of doing what Logan had to do and slit the animals throat because the animal was wheezing and slowly passing away. This is probably the strongest connection a person can have to the animal because as he went to cut into the throat the animal just stared him in the eyes until their was no longer a pulse.

                         Thought this photo was pretty funny; NOT Logan
Too often these days people throw out old clothes and other possessions that have lost value instead of passing them along to people who are less fortunate. Everything has a value and can be utilized in a way that is still effective, hell you can use tendons from the deer to make your own bow and the bone to make arrows (I have another friend working on this right now) and this I believe is the first step to stopping waste.

"The Gold Bug"

 "...when the time comes for planting out the rice which has been grown in seed-beds, a party of young people of both sexes go to the forest and cut a young Karma-tree, or the branch of one. Bearing it in triumph they return dancing, singing, and beating drums, and plant it in the middle of the village dancing ground." p.397 Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough. Obviously Legrander gets better karma from the Karma-tree than the Oraons and Mundas of Bengal.

                                                        My Gold-Bug

For my Major Author's class we are reading Edgar Allan Poe and for Monday we were supposed to read "The Gold-Bug." This is a story about a man Legrander, his slave-Jupiter, and the narrator. Legrander has found a new species that Jupiter claims to be made of gold because of the weight and color. Skipping over several details...Jupiter climbs to the seventh level of limbs in a tree and goes the to edge of safety and finds a skull nailed to the tree-limb that, "de face was out, massa, so dat de crows could get at de eyes good, without any trouble." The three men then dig a whole where a piece of string Jupiter dropped through the left eye socket and touched the ground. They then find an estimate of 1.5 million dollars with a mixture of rings, diamonds, and coins.

This entire story struck me with a connection to the supernatural; finding a dead bug that is the consistency of gold is something I do not believe to be possible but I could be wrong. It is the typical Poe to write from with an abstract perspective and this is one of his stories that I found interesting. The fact he repeats the skull's eyes are pecked out by crows something I could imagine one of the many Greek/Roman gods using as a bully tactic to a human who was the victor in a contest.
Finding this amount of gold and other various valuables is something that made me immediately think of Pirates. Pirates are mythological to me because of their ability to live for months at sea by taking advantage of others and impeding their future because they feel their goods are more valuable to them (pirates) than the original owners. Legrander had previously been wealthy but he continues to keep his eyes peeled in-case there is an opportunity to regain his status. The way he goes about finding the gold reminds me of the "take 50 steps facing West, 10 to the East, and 23 to North by Northwest" and the only way this could ever truly work for someone is if they had a connection to the gods. There must always be someone looking down on Legrander....

Born Again

"Among the Lapps, when a woman was with child and near the time of her delivery, a deceased ancestor or relation used to appear to her in a dream and inform her what dead person was to be born again in her infant, and whose name the child was therefore to bear. If the woman had no such dream, it fell to the father or the relatives to determine the name by divination or by consulting a wizard." p. 298 The Golden Bough

Snake Link


While the second part of the quotation does not directly correlate to my blog, I could not disregard it because it included wizards, and let's face it, wizards are pretty cool fellows.
In class on Thursday we discussed how life is constantly regenerated which reminded me of a book I read when I was younger titled Eleven Seconds by Travis Roy a Boston University hockey player. 11 seconds into his college hockey career he tripped and went head first into the boards and became a paraplegic. In the book he discusses his personal belief that he will be reborn until he lives a life that he deems perfect. This does not even mean to never make mistakes because mistakes are part of the beauty of life but it means on that satisfies and makes him personally happy. He met his wife and lives an enjoyable life so this does not rule out "this life" he is currently living is not the life he will deem perfect. I like this idea because part of being a human is making mistakes and it is not until the mistake is made that we truly learn. From instinct people are able to make the right or wrong decision. Instinct is defined as, "fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli" this stimuli must come from somewhere so why not believe we are just repeating our time on earth? I personally do not believe in an afterlife so coming back to earth fills my appetite.

South Park: Raisins

As I was reading Sally's blog and how "it takes shit to make bliss." This reminded me of a South Park episode, Raisins. In the episode Wendy breaks up with Kyle, the boys bring Kyle to a restaurant named Raisins (fourth grade version of Hooters), and while there Butters falls in love with a girl named Lexus.

If you would like to watch the episode in full or the section I am talking about starts around minute 19 click here.

Every South Park episode has a moral lesson no matter how immoral the episode is. Towards the end of the episode Kyle walks by a crying Butters and asks what is wrong and Goth Kid #1 asks Butters to write poetry about death and how pointless life is. He replies, "No thanks, I love life. I am sad but at the same time I am happy something can make me feel that sad. It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel human. The only way I can feel this sad is if I felt something really good before. So I guess what I am feeling is a beautiful sadness. To be honest, I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a faggy goth kid."

This is how I feel about bad days because from every bad day the next good day will feel ten times better because you will remember how rotten life can be. My Grandmother has been stuck in a nursing home the past month with alzheimers and just found out she has been having mini-strokes. While talking to her on the phone she puts on a voice full of happiness which I know is complete bull. I know the reason she complains to my Grandfather and Mom is because of how great life was at one point for her and she truly misses those days and the ability to go for walks when she pleases. Coming from this perspective I try to get out and enjoy life for what it is because at one point I will be in the same bed she is but will be able to think how life was so enjoyable at one point that I am now able to feel like complete crap.

Myth in our daily lives

"Hitherto the god with whose death and resurrection we have been chiefly concerned has been the tree-god. But if I can show that the custom of killing the god and the belief in his resurrection originated, or at least existed, in the hunting and pastoral stage of society, when the slain god was an animal, and that it survived into agricultural stage, when the slain god was the corn or a human being representing the corn, the probability of my explanation will have been considerably increased."
The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer, p. 351

Well, this morning I woke up with a nice hangover, which typically accompanies Friday mornings after a Thursday night at the Molly. Once I slept in long enough to miss my 8 AM I decided to go on a nice hike. My roommates had left for the weekend in hopes of killing an elk and John left me with his dog, Jet (a 3 y/o Springer). I decide to bring him as well as his vitamin E (electricity)  along with me so he gets some exercise.

I found myself in a beautifully wooded area in the Spanish Peak Mountain Range when Echo came to mind. I decided to let out a hoodie-hoo to see if Echo was with me and she responded going from West-South-East and it felt like my echo rang out for 10 seconds although I am sure it was much shorter. It is times like these as I sit by myself, with no one around except a few horseback riders whom I know only exist because of the feces left by the horses, that I feel so grateful for my father, a mythic creature himself pushing me into the wilderness.
The first time I can remember really being pushed by him to get into outdoor activities was at Outward Bound, now this is a scarce memory as it was when I was a wee one of the age of four or five. The one thing I do remember well is the name of the group I was in, Aquarius, another connection to my being in the wilderness and the "higher" forces around me.

This also got me thinking about Eliade's third chapter, Myths and Rites of Renewal in Myth and Reality. He constantly is talking about the death and birth every year of our surroundings and as I looked around seeing death in every deciduous tree around me was either yellow, orange, or red showing no sign of the stunted green they show every year. This is what makes me miss living in New Hampshire most it has been five years since I have been graced with seeing what New England is most famous for, the beautiful fall colors. The colors are made possible because the tree must go through a process to protect itself during winter and this process includes the death of the beautiful leaves. So it is as Eliade says, "This is their "World," and it must be periodically renewed or it may perish" (p.43) the trade-offs of having a dreary winter for a beautiful fall.

A sublime day

Well, to start this blog I figured I should probably listen to some "subliminal" music while writing. Delta Spirit (click for the site) is a band from San Fran I discovered a while ago on the site "The Take-Away Shows" and traveled to Boulder, CO to see them this summer along with Edward Sharpe (also a link to a Take-Away Show) and Guster.

While Dr. Sexson said we can not go out and create a sublime day, I would have to disagree. Whenever a person sets out on a trip, hike, or daily routine they are inviting the opportunity for something extraordinary to come out of an ordinary day.
My friend John and I headed towards the Beartooth Mountain Range to commence our adventure at climbing Granite Mountain the highest mountain in Montana. We arrived at the parking lot below Mystic Lake around 3 PM and waited about an hour until Tim and Sam arrived from Cody, WY where they had been building a house for one of their friend's parents. Starting the hike around 4:30 PM we planned on camping after ascending the Switchbacks From Hell. We watched the sun set over Mystic Lake as we approached Froze to Death Plateau, which was absolutely beautiful.

                                                       Mystic Lake

After going to bed with a bit of whiskey in our system as no backpacking trip is complete without a pint of whiskey per night in the wilderness. We started the next morning around six and hiked across Froze to Death Plateau which is a five or six? mile hike without any cairns to lead you across but as you travel across. The mountain goats we encountered are what made this trip so special, they were salt deprived and would come up to you if you urinated on the ground. The goats would get within a few feet of you and as long as you didn't make any sudden movements they would hang out around you.

                                                  Sam w/some goats

The goats would come in herds the elders got pee first and the youngin'(furthest left) fed last.

To reach the peak you must scramble up the final stage (photo above) where I was personally wondering where the route up was. It is setting out on adventures like this where I am introduced to a whole new world while working relatively hard on meeting my goal of reaching the summit that I enjoy so much. I was able to interact with goats on an almost intimate level and reach the summit only to descend and see more spectacular views I missed the first time. This is how I, personally was able to go out and create a subliminal day. This is something I have felt numerous times in the woods or while snowboarding and it is what drove me to get a split-board because half the fun is going up and makes you appreciate the turns on the way down. I know each one of us enjoys doing at least one activity that gives us the feeling of nirvana. Once we have found the nirvana it leaves us with a dire thirst for more, it isn't until we recreate the event that we are satisfied, and then as we drive away are thirsty once again.. 

                                                View from 12,799 ft.

                  Sam on a part of the walk back along Froze-to-Death-Plateau.

Books 1-4

Book One
4 Ages: Jove defeats Saturn bringing about the age of silver, resulting in the creation of the universe.

Creation: Unraveling of a god into nature resulting in the sky, sand, and sea.

Apollo/Diaphne: Apollo gone love sick searches for a nypme, is fooled and unable to cure himself of love's wound.

Aeschylus: Incest and murder by women, but Hypermestra spares her providing husband.

                                           Unraveling of the universe.
Book Two
Phaethon: Helios, being an honest father respects his sons wish to take out the pimpin' chariot and there is hell to pay.

Callisto: Seduced by Jove for her beauty and is transformed with her son into the Big/Little Bear constellations.

Apollo/Coronis: Coronis is killed by Apollo who does not even shed a tear.

Ocyrhoe: Healer of the world is struck by Jove's thunderbolt metamorphosing from god-human-god.

Mercury: Steals Apollo's cattle and Aglauros is morphed into marble creating the city of Athena.

Europa and Jove: Named a continent after her but not before she is raped.

                                                          Phaethon
Book Three
Cadmus: Slays a slippery, slithering serpent, and creates Thebes.

Semele: Implodes upon seeing Zeus's heiny.

Tiresias: Blinded for admitting women enjoy sex than their counterpart.

Narcissus/Echo: A woman falls in love with her voice and a male with his looks, surprised?

Pentheus: Born from dragon teeth, spies on woman out of envy, and deserves his death.

 Pine Creek Lake, a nice place for an Echo.

Book Four
Daughters of Minyas: Telling their story to pass time, naw, let's run away.

Pyramus: Love-Thisbe

Arcisus: Truth is always hiding in the shadows.

Perseus/Medusa: Basis of heroic epics slays a snake, woman head all in the name of love.

                                                   The slain Medusa.

Photos for Ovid Book 3

 This is Jupiter with his fond, worshipping women.

Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele, known to be a lover of women of all shapes and sizes.

Actaeon, caught getting a glimpse of Diana and friends.

Pentheus, caught spying on women activists.

Teiresias warding off not one but two snakes

Hopefully I will have my one sentence summaries finished soon for everyone to read soon

Eschatology and Cosmogony

             12-3-2008, 95% of the Old City Centre in Venice was flooded.

In the fourth chapter of Myth and Reality we are told of several creation and armageddon stories. The thing is they happen every year on December 31, 11:59:59, which is amazing because they see the end of the world simply being a new beginning of a year. This may be how our worlds would be if people actually followed through on their New Year’s Resolution but we rarely do, or at least I fail quickly every year.

To me the image of numerous civilizations celebrating the coming of a new, improved year on earth, is one of an amazing festival dedicated to their specific gods. Since each civilization had a god for every damned thing, we know they were pouring lots of 40’s out to their homies in the sky. In  other words, they were getting intoxicated, yet staying somewhat sensible so they could perform their ritual dances and song around the Pirate Ship fire. They did this not to celebrate the destruction of an old world but simply because it had expired, most likely the emperor had too,but through this expiration a new world would be born, and likely had evolved just as we saw humans doing over a slow period. 

I found the most interesting part of the chapter to be about settlements in India who believed, “there is no final End of the World properly speaking; there are only periods of varying lengths between the annihilation of one Universe and the appearance of another” (p.63). This draws my attention because we often here of the world coming to an end because of sin or an overpowering evil. This seems to me, the world is annihilated as it was before, to create a new evolved earth; in this period of limbo the world is building itself up to come back stronger. This may be through an ice age or maybe even a period of global warming; through the eyes of an ancient civilization we believe that the creator will provide for us and create an ideal world for us to live in.

Dreamin'

                               John Howard Griffin during his experiment.

Dreams are an amazing part of our lives, not only when we are sleeping, but they fuel our drive to live. As we sleep our dreams are a form of our inner-conscious coming out of our mind whether we intended to or not. In a book I am reading for a class, Black Like Me, the author has a dream. I will put it in perspective for those of you who have not read the book by John Howard Griffin. He is a white man from Texas who decides to head to the deep South to find out what fuels the whites hatred of the Negroes. He takes medication (Oxsoralen),tans under an ultra violet light, and rubs a dye on his skin to make it appear as though he is black. One night when he is hitch hiking across Mississippi Griffin is picked up by a young black man who takes him home to his wife and six kids so he has a place to sleep...

“Mr. Griffin...Mr. Griffin”

I heard the man’s soft voice above my shouts. I awakened to see the kerosene lamp and beyond it my host’s troubled face.

“Are you alright?” he asked. In the surrounding darkness I sensed the tension. They lay silent, not snoring.

It was the same nightmare I had been having recently White men and women, their faces stern and heartless, closed in on me. The hate stare burned through me. I pressed back against a wall. I could expect no pity, no mercy. They approached slowly and I could not escape them. Twice before, I had awakened myself screaming.” p.116

He writes in his journal a few days later of a similar experience.

“I slept and woke up shouting from the old familiar nightmare of men and women closing in on me, shuffling toward me. I lay there fully dressed under the cell’s bare globe, trembling. I felt myself flush with embarrassment at having disturbed the Trappist silence. Surely monks sleeping in other cells,their bodies exhausted from work in the fields and hours of prayers, heard me and lay awake wondering.” p.138

It is from reality that Griffin has these thoughts but it is not until he is sleeping, peacefully that these night-terrors escape from his inner conscious. I personally do not dream much anymore, why I do not know, but I do miss it. The nights as a child when I would have nightmares made the connection to life much stronger, because to be truly living, a person must have fears, regardless of what they are. Dreams get people through tough times, it could be as Griffin explains of the nights he dreamt of his children when he was dealing with tough times in the South knowing he was doing something crucial for blacks around the world. 

As I was just posting, I read Ashley Arcel’s blog and noticed the quote she ended with by Dr. George Boeree, what stood out to me was, the very same thing she emphasized, “The experiences of love at first sight, of deja vu (the feeling that you've been here before), and the immediate recognition of certain symbols and the meanings of certain myths, could all be understood as the sudden conjunction of our outer reality and the inner reality of the collective unconscious.” As Ashley pointed out this is exactly what we were talking about today but it offers an explanation for why we have felt specific ways before. Once I started thinking about this theory it starts seeming as though it has this Miss. Cleo feel to it and this brings up a night of drunken ramblings I had with one of my friends from high-school way-back-when. 

Her mother for a living is a spiritual connector (or whatever you prefer to call it) and this is how she makes her living. I never knew this until this night and was rather astonished because when I met her mom I did not think, “holy shit! I wonder if she can feel anybody attempting to stab me with their voodoo doll or something along those lines.” It was rather, “she strikes me as a homely mother.” As we sat there talking, or more likely stumbling as we smoke a “cigaweed” she tells me how she has some of the same feelings her mother has explained to her when she is around certain people. 

This gets me wondering about the connections people can have and how this may be due to the collective unconscious Jung’s theory revolves around. That this may be passed from generation to generation through parts of our DNA?! How fascinating this may be or this may be the fact I have been watching too much X-Files on Netflix and Mulder is standing on my right shoulder chanting his non-sense into my ear. It is when I release all “normal” cognition and allow myself to think like Mulder that I truly enjoy analyzing religion and theories that revolve around spiritual connections. 

                                                  Mulder and Skully

My first dream...

Is rather blurry due to my poor memory but it goes something like this. When I was young (four or five) there was not a day that went by when I did not dress up as some superhero. During this phase I was Super Man, it was during Halloween so you can’t hate too much, but I was dressed up as him for about a week straight jumping off of everything from my tree fort to the dinner table (never got caught). One night I was having a dream I was like Super Man flying through the air and next thing I know I was falling from my bunk bed in a Super Man stretch until BAM! I landed right on my stomach on the floor, probably burst out crying, and there was Super Man’s mom to comfort me until I passed out once again.

                                                         Supah Man

Maori Creation Myth

Ex Nihilo (translates to “Out of Nothing” in the Maorian language) is the creator of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (Earth Mother). They come together in a “pro-creative” embrace and have numerous children born into darkness (use your imagination to where they may be...). One day the darkest of the children, Tumatauenga voices his opinion that they should murder Ranginui and Papatuanuku in hopes of seeing the light, but Tanemahuta opposes Tumatauenga in hopes they will be able to push their parents apart. All the siblings bicker back and forth unable to decide on what should be done, they decide Tawhirimatea should make the verdict.

                     Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (Earth Mother)

Tawhirimatea decides they should push the parents apart but no one is able to separate them. Until one day Tanemahuta places his shoulders against earth and his feet against the sky. Upon the slow separation Ranginui and Papatuanuku start to bleed and this becomes known as ochre (red clay) and is now the sacred color of the Maroi tribe.

                               This tree is representative of Tanemahuta

After the offspring have completely separated Sky Father and Earth Mother, Urutengangana offers the idea of creating women. They search high and low, on land and in the sea, and women are no where to be found! Tanemahuta decides to visit Papatuanuku and she tells him to search in Kura-Waka; upon visiting this area they find an element, which they dig up and give to Papatuanuku. Once she has the element, she mixes together a dough, and gives it back to her children. The elder siblings shape the body while the younger ones add flesh, fat, muscles and blood to the body. Tanemahuta breaths life into the body giving rise to Hine-Ahu-One, or what we know as today, women.

Ranginui misses Papatuanuku soooo much that he starts to cry, the children feel Papatuanuku should not see Ranginui like this. They come with a plot to rotate Papatuanuku to her back but she continues to roll, over and over; this becomes known as Hurihanga a Mataaho (rotation of earth). The drops from Ranginui’s tears naturally become what is believed to be rain.

Badabing badaboom and there is a story behind everything.

To start, I have not received my copy of The Golden Blough in the mail yet so I cannot satisfy you with a beautiful quote to start...my bad.

"When he- whichever god it was- arrayed that swarm, aligned, designed, allotted, made each part into a portion of a whole, then he, that earth mighht be symmetrical, first shaped its sides into a giant ball" (p.4, Metamorphoses of Ovid). This is the thing I like most about Greek/Roman and whatever other mythology is mixed into this book, there god is not the selfish God we so often hear about. Ovid's god creates the earth for the people to enjoy and accepts help creating the world from Jove, Augustus, and the numerous other gods we are introduced to through the first two books. I also enjoyed seeing this is where, Styx (the band) got there name from, on page 10 it reads, "I swear on the infernal streams that glide beneath the woods of Styx..." so they named themselves after a river of death, interesting. 

The Metamorphoses of Ovid is similar to the Bible in numerous ways, after all they are both tall-tales of creation. I enjoy the creation story told by Ovid more than Genesis, as I actually have read part of the Bible due to Dr. Sexson's high demand to attempt to read the entire Bible last fall for his Bible as Literature class. 

The story I enjoyed most was about Phaethon and Phoebus, in the story we learn a lot about how the earth was formed, and how mere-mortals are not capable of flying our god's chariots (especially ones that have gold rims, bling-bling). This story eventually tells us much more about life than creationism, something the Catholic Church could take a lesson in because when read as a guide on how to live, the Bible actually produces some good, strong, moral lessons but when taken word-by-word in context it creates more problems than were once imaginable. 

The story starts by Phoebus telling his son to not allow the wheels to veer too far right or too far to the left, to me it is as if it is a guide for people to not follow the straight and narrow path but to allow ourselves to veer to either side as long as we do not lose site of our original goal, because when the intended goal is lost all ambition is thrown to the wind. But then the four horses, Eous, Aethon, Pyrois, and Phlegon realize their master is not in control of the chariot and Phaethon has lost control of the ship and is at the mercy of the gods...This is because he has strayed from his comfort zone where he has no desire to be  and is the reason the serpent driven to the wild creating a world where, "he can see earth blaze upon all sides" (p.45). Inevitably proving the point of the gods to stay inside the set path and not to stray to far from this path or else our world will go up in a blaze of chaos.