Done With Eula Biss

     So yea, blogging time once again. This time it seems that Eula Biss is finally over but we still must end by discussing a topic she mentions in her book. I specifically am discussing her concept of victim and perpetrator, and the thin line she draws between the two in multiple situations. I seem to recall a popular movie "A Few Good Men" when expressing my ideals on the subject, as its seems that this time 250 words are required for such a small topic, but I digress. The movie simply explains the line that a person is expected to follow when defining victim and defining perpetrator. Both these men did a wrong, and killed their fellow soldier, all the while being told to by a superior officer. They KNEW the act was wrong, yet they still went out of their way to commit the crime. At the end, one of them expresses his confusion as to why he is being dishonorably discharged even when he is the "victim" but it is revealed that they still killed a man. So, can you be a victim and a perpetrator? In my mind no, you either did the act or didn't. We all have a choice and we choose to do something, while others effect us and respectfully our choice(s) they do not make us do it. If I kill a man, I am therefore a perpetrator. If someone kills me, I am a victim. It is as simple as that.

Bechdel Test

     Alright so, one of my favorite movies (notably animated since we discussed animated movies in class today) would be Mulan. Well animated, especially for a movie made in 1998, as well it had a balance of comedy and action, yet it would be the fact the main protagonist is female. Not only does she deify social norm, she fights among men as equals, and saves the male (oh, and all of china but yea) from danger. She even goes against a powerful Hun warlord who, having more experience and strength, still gets beaten by Mulan. It passes the "Bechdel Test" by a large means. It consists of 2+ women, Mulan and her mother (as well as her elderly grandmother who is AMAZING), they speak to one another a great deal and discuss social expectations Mulan must follow and family (rather than men directly). Even so, it is an amazing movie and defies all related content of its time.

Reactions

My reaction to the essay piece? hmm...

Well, I'm going to choose the "Time and Distance Overcome" piece (mainly because it's the one I actually read all the way through) for this day's blog. It's very interesting because it's a general piece, starting at the beginning with a bit of history on the subject (telephones and their introduction into society), and ending with her relationship to it (along with her sister's). More specifically her relationship to telephone poles. The essay is very serious for such an "innocent" subject; I use innocent in quotations because it makes it NOT innocent towards the end. It's pleasing, in a sense, to see a change of opinion towards something so lack luster in everyday life yet, it means so much to her. From someone who doesn't really think to much on such a thing (as telephone lines/poles go), it's simply something to ponder and enjoy hearing about (NOT TO SOUND CREEPY OR DARK).

While I don't believe one can really "argue" against my reaction, mainly because it's an opinionated statement as well as "worldly" viewpoint, I feel like one could say that my opinion is to real for them. That someone does not enjoy hearing the truth, or rather that they cannot fathom (ooh big words) the possibility of something like that happening, let alone to them. I honestly do not know, maybe one is ignorant (not idiotic, I despise people getting those both confused) and doesn't know that a menial thing like a telephone pole is capable of falling and killing someone.

Writing Process

So, so tiny... hehehe

Alright, well the hardest piece I've ever written (or technically still writing because it's not done yet) would have to be an old campaign story based off my personal concepts as well as concepts from multiple games. The story was supposed to be vivid and detailed but, the hardest part was putting it all into chronological order in my mind (and as such, on the paper) while keeping parts hidden and unexplained, so as the reader (or rather player because this story was supposed to be the basis for a game) couldn't be able to discover the full story. Rather he would have to connect information together while playing and make not so much as a guess, but a concept of their own. What I mean by this is, the full story would be complete but the reader (or player, sorry) would never know the full story themselves and have to fill in the blanks philosophically or miss a richer story. An example of this would be demonic abominations roaming an area the player explores, but their origins were from another source than that area and the only way the player would know this is by finding out key dialogue. Even harder was allowing others (players) to create the story as you go and have that flexibility to change. Even if this piece isn't technically a "literary piece" its still took a great deal of time, effort, and literary knowledge to create, at most, the story for it. As far as my writing style and process, things just come to me... whether it be a Fanfiction, deep and rich short story, or silly Dungeon and Dragons campaigns geeks play on the weekends for fun (I being one of these said geeks). Its typically my execution of the piece I have to most difficulty with.

First Day

Hi... lets begin by saying that I'm Dallas Klingel and currently a History Major at Western Kentucky University. I do love writing, albeit terrible at grammar and English as a whole, and have been writing for a while now. Mainly the only reason I'm even writing in this blog is because its possibly better than most of the "projects" English teachers give out but usually ends in the majority of the class writing the same thing. I mean, how many students are gonna start their blog with "...insert name, currently studying insert major..." like I have. Originality isn't that apparent it seems... nonetheless I feel like this will be fun and hope to see positive things from this blog.