Earth, Wind, & The Shire- Too Funny Not To Use As A Title!

I can't even begin to explain how happy and excited about having Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter as some of the required readings for this course. The Lord of The Rings movies are among some of my favorite. I think it is interesting viewing the central ideas of Harry Potter and the central ideas in Lord of The Rings- because believe it or not they're not terribly different because they contain a lot of similar elements. I also thought it was awesome to see how schooling or the topic of being in school takes an effect or role in Harry Potter because the book was initially created as a children's book and so therefore the idea of school certainly makes it a lot more relatable. It also allows for a place in a story where kids can be with other kids and certainly away from their parents and it provides them an opportunity to figure out who they are and where there are going in their lives. As Harry Potter develops from a shy and quiet boy, you see a growth towards a confident and certainly courageous young man. Or better known as a bildungsroman, as Dr. Mitchell-Buck stated, it is definitely a coming of age story- a story as to where you see someone develop and grow up through age. Being at a school implies that it has a lot of structure as well- they have a school, ministry, sports, hospitals, etc. Further on, I thought it was definitely interesting to see why there was an importance of having a clear cut separation- as far as having a muggle world and a magic or wizard world. The world is just viewed as amazing and spectacular because the muggle world is just so plain, bland, and ordinary. As to where the muggle world also has that element of surprise and mystery and you can always expect something unique, extraordinary, and new happen.

My view on Margery Kempe of Norfolk

I really enjoyed reading about Margery Kempe of Norfolk. I think it was a great idea to have us read not only her history but also a few excerpts. Reading the four excerpts helped answer a few questions I got from the biography.

         How could she have been raised by such a good businessman but never taught how to read (Nelson 1). I feel like her father must have known this would hurt her future career. Which it obviously did limit her, Nelson even mentions on page 3 that her business failing could have been a result of her inability to read and write. Though I believe her business failed because she was more consumed in having babies than stabilizing and strengthening her business. 

         Another thing that really irritated me was how the confessor reacted to her confession (Nelson 2). As a confessor, you are suppose to help the sinner understand what they did wrong and help guide them back to God. What his guy did was F*** up (excuse my profanity). 

http://guyism.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/crazy-girl-YouTube.jpg

No wonder she went crazy, theres only so much a person can take before they crack. I mean look at Britney Spears, she went insane when the fame became too much. Did this confessor even get punished? I think he should have been punished, but I do wonder if this was all part of Gods plan for Margery. I highly doubt she would have gave herself to God and believed her visions were holy if these events did not happen. 

Hopefully all of you know about this girl, if not you need to look up “crazy girl on youtube, she’s Jenna Marbles but not as hot.

                         (Side note, I love how the author added comments like, " Hence, Jesus Christ dropped in one day for a chat. (Nelson 2)". We were all thinking it and at least his side comments were funny to read.)

         For some reason I cannot help but wonder why no one re-imprisoned her after she started to cry. In the fourth excerpts it said God started to send these visions to her at anytime and any place (Jokinen). I think in a sense having her visions come to her at any time made her look crazy but also strengthened her case that God was talking to her. WHAT SHOULD HAVE WEAKENED HER CASE was the fact that she practically paid her husband off. 

http://faithingeeks.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/fasting.jpg

She not only stopped fasting but she also paid her husbands debts (Jokinen). The third excerpt also mentioned how she wanted to give all of herself to God, how is that possible if she followed her compromise with her husband? How could she give herself to God if she had multiple kids, stayed married, and did not fast? She ignored God's request and kept on having sex, but she was still able to give herself to God... 

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

blog post # 2