Best of the Week: Curiosity and Noticing

In this very limited week, two topics especially caught my attention. While discussing "Cathedral" in class, Zoe brought up the narrator's lack of curiosity and emotion, which contributed to his wife's discontent with him. Also, Mr. Allen raised the point that the only character to receive a name in the story was the blind man, Robert, which interested me.

Zoe's insight allowed for a deeper understanding of the short story, "Cathedral," but I felt like the message could be applied to my own life as well. The narrator seems like a nice enough guy, and as a reader I cheered for him throughout the story, but as evidenced by that same story, being nice isn't always enough. In order to get the full experience out of not only your relationships, but your life in general, one must possess curiosity and emotion. Simply going through the motions does not cut it when it comes to establishing connections with people. In the story, the tape is cut off right before Robert was about to give his opinion of the husband, and the husband was just fine with that. What is life without the drive to learn and know more about yourself and the world around you. This lack of fire inside of the narrator could play a major role in his wife's unhappiness. This reminds me to constantly to be striving for knowledge and self-bettering, because you can never know enough. According to "Cathedral," inquisitiveness is looked upon with respect from others, not as an annoyance.

The short story also emphasizes the importance of emotion in one's life. What I got from the story was that it was possible to like someone you can't connect with emotionally, but impossible to love someone of the same nature. That being said, it was interesting to see the emotionless narrator placed in a situation where love is implied, and seeing how he dealt with it. Mr. Allen filled in the blank left by the blind man with "I can only conclude-he's just like your last husband." We all know how that went, and if Robert was right, the narrator had to make a change in his mindset and point of view if he hoped to remain married to his wife. With such a short sampling of his life, it is impossible to know whether or not he ever made that adjustment, but it looked like he was heading in the right direction.

Finally, I found it very interesting how something as simple as giving the blind man a name could mean so much to the story. It made me wonder how I could improve such subtleties in my writing to make the reader's experience that much better. These structural nuances are what set the great writers apart from the good ones.

iMedia: Dialogue (Part I and II)

As an avid fan of the band Chicago, I really appreciate the song "Dialogue," not only for its upbeat tempo, catchy guitar riffs, and strong brass section, but for the powerful lyrics as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWODczdgGDQ

Essentially, part one of the song is a conversation between two people with very different mindsets and outlooks regarding the world around them. The first contributor is asking the other many questions, such as "Will you try to change things, use the power that you have, the power of a million new ideas?" or "Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?" The second voice you hear is from a college student, who is not interested in the world and its numerous events. He says he only needs to worry about himself, and is oblivious to the need for change in their society.

This song was written in 1972, making "Voice Number Two's" argument "I always thought everything was fine" incredibly invalid. In this time period, the Vietnam War was raging, President Nixon visited Communist China, NASA was doing incredible things in space, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and African Americans were in the early stages of equal rights. I was surprised that I actually became angry when listening to "Voice Number Two's" lines in the song. How could one be so out of touch in the world that they lived in, especially in a time when radio, television, satellites, and newspapers made it so easy to know what is going on?

His ignorance made me realize how important it is for me to stay involved in the world today, or else I might have an artificial sense of contentedness like he did. Sure, everything might be alright in my life, but that does not mean that everything is alright in the world. As a citizen of this planet it is my responsibility to have an understanding of the problems facing our civilization, and do my best to help out when I can. When asked if he was worried about what was happening he simply said, "I try to mind my business, that is, no business at all." I could've written an Inconvenient Truth blog about this line alone. Everyone has the ability to play a role in global affairs. Just because something doesn't affect you directly, the implications of such an event canplay a role in your life.

When "Voice Number One" asked "Will you try to change things, use the power that you have, the power of a million new ideas?" I saw each one of us has this power he talks about. We can all change things, whether it be individually, or coming together as a country, continent, or even species. In order to unleash this power, however, one needs to have an understanding of the world around them. How can you fix things if you don't know what is broken?

An example I can think of is the environmental crisis. As of right now, this crisis has a limited or no effect on me as an individual. But as a planet, the consequences of such a catastrophe are indelible. Wait fifty years, and the oceans flooding onto continental soil or removal of oxygen from the atmosphere might concern me a bit. By raising my own awareness now, I can do all in my power to prevent such an event from occurring in the future. My power of ideas could be something as simple as starting a recycling program at school, to as complicated as creating an efficient new bio-energy.

In the end, you just don't want to be passive through life, and let it come to you. Be an active member of your family, your school, town, country, and planet. Know what's going on, and maybe even be part of it.

Last summer, my friend had an opportunity to meet this band in person, and eventually they got around to talking about the possibility of a dual concert next year. Now, for the past six months or so I have been rehearsing with several of my musical friends, playing these songs, in the hopes of joining Chicago in a concert over the summer. This would be one of the greatest experiences of my life, but would not have arisen if not for my friend's can-do attitude and proactive attitude.