“Waiting for Godot”

In our last class discussion we discussed everything that is “Waiting for Godot”. I found this class discussion time the most interesting simply because it’s such a different, unique piece. First Off, this story is not like many things I have read before. This piece is extremely sporadic and random. There never really seems to be one singular meaning or train of thought. It’s not like a usual piece of theatre, there’s not much blocking, character description, or any sort of real direction. So it took a lot of focus and attention to draw out meaning. Through all the confusion and mumble I can up with some sort of theme.

There seems to be a lot of ‘waiting’ in the play; waiting for the unknown. Going through the text I believe one of the points Samuel Beckett, the author, was trying to portray was to stop waiting and make life happen. The main characters were waiting the WHOLE play and were notable getting agitated. They got NOTHING accomplished. In life, you cannot wait around for your life to start, for your big break to happen; you have to make it happen. Or in other words, don’t let life control you, you have take control of your life.

Now, I am not saying that is the concrete theme of this whole play and everybody else in wrong. There are many interpretation of the piece and any one of them can be correct. I believe a lot of what we draw out of literature is based off of who we are, what we’ve been through, and where we are from. I think its great that there are so many different interpretations and thoughts about this piece. It shows that we are all different and not everybody fits in to one mold.

Changing the Context/Mood = A New Story

During class time, we practiced different exercises concerning our readings, in specific, Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett. After reading a couple of scenes the class was asked to act out scenes in our groups as written, then we were asked to change the mood of the scenes. After the process was complete we were asked to answer questions based on the different moods and whether is changes the meaning/context of the original text.

Being an actor, I already knew the answer before the exercise was performed, although, unlike my classmates, many didn’t know the outcome so I tried to explain. If a scene is written as performed it holds certain meaning, when changed, the meaning changes. For example, if a scene is written in a somber and dark attitude it is to be performed that way. But, if the producer or director wanted to change the original mood and make the dark play light and happy, it would change the meaning and give the dialog comic relief. To go further, the recent production I was in wan entitled, “Jane Eyre: The Musical” at Southeastern University. The musical is written in a dark eerie tone with the music to match, although it does have a strong message of hope, faith, and trust in God, if you were to change the music and the context in which it was written it would change the meaning of the play.

I do believe plays should keep the mood that the playwright intended. I am not against experimenting, but it is to a certain degree. Theatre is such a beautiful art on one should not cater to what the audience wants but deliver the true of the art and then, maybe, modern audiences will develop and appreciation of true art and literature on stage.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

This short film was very interesting to say the least. At first, I though I was watching a bunch of malarkey, but as the film progressed, I realize there was a reason for everything I was watching.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, is not a sing-along, it is a comedic musical with serious undertones and meaning. Dr. Horrible is a man smitten by love of the beautiful Penny. For the longest time he has seen her in the laundry mat, but no words (that the human mind can comprehend) seem to ever come out.

It is known from the very beginning that Dr. Horrible is a villain and wants to be the best of the best. In order to do so, he has to kill someone. The Doctor prefers to kill, his arch nemesis, the extremely rude and sarcastic Captain Hammer. In one incident, Penny is in danger and although Dr. Horrible does save her, Hammer gets the credit and the two fall in love. This fuels the Doctors rage which gives him even more of a reason to kill the Captain
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In the final scene, Captain Hammer get’s the credit for opening a homeless shelter, a task Penny has been hoping would pass. The Doctor comes in and freezes hammer with his “Death Ray” and causes havoc among the town hall homeless celebration. His gun back fires, explodes, and kills Penny. He finally get’s what he wants, the recognition, and respect, but it means nothing because he killed the wrong person, his true love.

The film was very intriguing because it showed the villain, Dr. Horrible, as the protagonist the whole time. If you weren’t paying attention to what he was saying, you wouldn’t realize it until the end. It’s wasn’t hard to make the mistake either; Captain Hammer was a horrible hero and didn’t deserve to be respected.

My Own Lake Bonny

I was not enthused at all my getting this assignment. Not at all, I am an extremely busy person with no extra time. I am working on the show, “Jane Eyre: The Musical” at Southeastern and last week every rehearsal ended around 10 or 11 o’clock, leaving the cast exhausted from continuous rehearsing. The weekend following, the cast and I spent many hours taking down the set (that we previously built) in the workshop, loading it into the truck, and then unloading into the Polk Theatre to build it again so we can practice for the rest of the week until we open for the pre-show Thursday. Then last night, Monday we spent around 6 to 7 hours (until mid-night) rehearsing and setting up the stage. This is not counting the other rehearsal’s I have for other projects during the day or any of the many papers due. It was as if I had no free time, no free time at. I currently don’t even have the time or gas money to get groceries for myself.

At this point, you readers out there probably think I’m a big complainer, but I am not, I just want people to understand my circumstances. So, obviously I didn’t have the time or gas money to go to Lake Bonny and when I did it was too late at night. So I created my own Lake Bonny, in a quiet place, in my dorm room. It’s not what the assignment required, but it was the best I could do.

Sitting there in the early morning, reading short passages from, “The State of the Planet”, was so calming. It was so nice just to sit, be quiet, and read. When your life feels like your going non-stop, these moment of peace and reflection mean so much. It was beautiful. I felt the need to be honest in this blog post and I hope that can be respected. With all this said, it does not mean I won’t be going to Lake Bonny. I just got a check in the mail from my church (I am a fill in youth-pastor for the youth group every Saturday night I’m not performing) so I will be going this Friday morning. If reading fragments of poems in the peace of dorm room gave me joy and solitude, I am excited to see what’s going to happen when I am actually surrounded by nature, experiencing poetic nature in all it’s glory.

Prayer

In my intro into literature class this past week we read a poem entitled “Prayer” written by Mary Oliver. I have to say this is poem has been my one of favorites. The poem is not long, it’s very simple, yet it’s extremely powerful!

I work with many youth groups. One thing that the youth struggle with the most is understanding prayer. They’re not sure how to pray, if it works, and what it’s really all about. When I was growing up people gave numerous ways how I should pray. I couldn’t decide on which version was best. I believe the Christian community has gotten caught in the ‘how to’. It seems we aren’t focused enough of the ‘doing’ and don’t truly realize the meaningfulness and the power behind prayer. And if my accusation is incorrect, I know for a fact we haven’t communicated the importance of prayer to younger generations. Which make me wonder if the generations before me understood it at all.

I love this poem because it devours the confusion associated with prayer and exemplifies the honesty and simplicity of it. The poem show how prayer isn’t about using extravagant words, sounding holy, or competing, “… patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest…” It’s such a simply line, yet it’s immensely powerful!

Moving on, the poem continues and show’s the reader to give thanks. I myself often forget how blessed I am. I didn’t have to be born in this country or have the life I have been given. For the simply fact I am on American soil gives me thousands of reason why I should be thankful. Oliver also touches on a subject that I have failed to remember; being silent. People wonder why they can’t hear/feel God, I say maybe it’s because we aren’t silent. “…this isn’t a contest but t he doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.”

A Balance

In this past week’s literature class, we started focusing on poems and literature that were nature based. The poem we read in class was entitled, “State of the Planet”. As usual, the first reading didn’t bring much understand to me. I found it to be really scatter brained and unfocused. But after a few times practicing Lectio Divina I got the feel for it. One student pointed out how the poem actually comes around and make a full complete story, a point I would have never gotten without her insight.


But beyond that, I found the conversation after the readings to be the most intriguing. My professor made a very thought provoking statement, “It’s doesn’t make any sense that atheist care more about this world (nature) than we (Christians) do, it doesn’t make any sense…”


I sat and I thought about what he said and I agreed. But I started to think was his statement accurate? Do non-believers care more about nature than Christians, the one’s who are suppose to take advantage of the blessing that God gives, not throw them to waste. So I applied that statement to myself, am I apart of the ‘go green’ movement? No, I don’t even own green clothing, at least no that I wear in public. I try to preserve energy, but it’s not constantly on my mind. It’s not that I don’t care about the planet, I do little things, but I know I could do more.



My mind continued to ponder, I found this subject really interesting; if my professor statement is true, why? Minutes passed by and a classmate and I started discussing what my professor said. She was also not a apart of the go green movement. Yes, she believed that are planet needs to be taken care of and respected, but she also believed there is a balance. She then went on to explain how she doesn’t understand how people could be overly concerned in helping our planet when there are thousands, if not millions of children and families, homeless, starving, or dying here in the US. She believed in helping others and making sure people, humans were taken care of. As far as the planet is concerned, she explained that it needs to be respected and treated with care. She made a good point that everyone has become too concerned with ‘going green’ that people have forgotten the starving and sick in our own country, not to mention the world.



I would have to agree with her on that, there is a balance, and we mustn’t forget the people in need but at the same time, care for the planet God has blessed us with.

The Garden

Recently in class we read the poem, ‘The Garden” by Ezra Pound. I didn’t understand it really. I wasn’t in the mood to, but since we were doing our ‘Lectio Divina” the knowledge was forced upon me!! Not really, but it did help me understand it on a level I didn’t even know existed.

I found the poem, after reviewing a couple times, solitary and lonely.

And she is dying of piecemeal…

In her is the end of breeding…

Boredom is exquisite…

Reading over it again forces me to focus on the positive in life. Loneliness is something that every human goes through at one point. But I don’t think it’s healthy for one to constantly be in a lonely state. I believe people need people. In an odd way, this poem spoke to me in that way. Through taking the reader through this lonely lifestyle, it showed the importance of people needing fellowship, friends, and companions. I believe this fact is something that people have forgotten in today’s society. Depression and suicide have inclined by 600% since 1960. That’s a HUGE number. I believe we as a people have loss the meaning of community, no one even smile at one another any more. People are too afraid to be nice to one another or show compassion to a stranger. How did we get this way?

She would like some one to speak to her,

And is almost afraid that I will commit

That indiscretion.

The excerpt above reminds me of living on this campus. To go further, I and my friends were eating dinner together in the campus restaurant. One of my friends realized that someone they knew was eating alone. She wondered whether she should go ask him to eat with us. She eventually did. When she left, my other friend mentioned how she hated when she ate alone and when people invite her to eat with them. This made me wonder how I would react to the same situation. I am a very sociable person; I like to talk with people so I don’t like eating by myself often. But at the same time, I am almost afraid for someone to come up and ask me. So as you can see, the last stanza of this poem hit me like a ton of bricks, I was reading about myself. Thus, this poem made me realize something about myself I didn’t realize, that I sometimes push people away, not even meaning to.