Oedipus What?

Before this class I have never heard anything about Oedipus. I did some research and found out that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Once he was born, his father pinned his ankles together and told a shepherd to leave him to die. The shepherd felt bad and gave him to a shepherd from somewhere else.
That is all I found out about the story. I figure he will fulfill the prophecy but I don't want to ruin the ending. I will wait till we start the book in class tomorrow.

Reflection on Annotated Visual Project

What You Get Is Not Always What You See by John Bentley Mays

I really liked this essay. I picked this essay because when I quickly read it over I saw that it had something to do with the Group of Seven. I decided to pick it because art is something that interests me. The essay had a neat message in it. It was talking about how the Group of Seven has changed the way we view around us. We no longer see the world as nature but sometimes as a painting. You see the crisp brush strokes instead of the soft, natural lines.
I found it hard to find the message of the essay. It wasn't really stated and it could be taken as a good way or a bad way. You really had to think hard and read the essay a lot of times to find the meaning of the essay. The tone really helped distinguish whether the message was good or bad.
I am also finding it hard to think of a visual. I have some ideas for a visual but nothing that has really stuck out yet. I just have to keep thinking of ideas until something really sticks out.
I think this essay reminds me a little of my life. I really like to draw and paint so I get the message the author is trying to get across. When I see a nice landscape I will usually visualize it as a drawing or painting of mine. Then I will go home and sketch it out from memory or draw/paint it if I took a photograph.

"Is it Nature, redolent with raw, primordial beauty? Or do we see Nature that's been subtly colonized by landscape paintings?" - What You Get Is Not Always What You See by John Bentley Mays


The drawing at the top is another drawing of mine. I drew it a few years ago after seeing the image below. This is an example where I can relate to the authors message. I no longer saw the landscape the way it was but I visualized it as a drawing.

Your First Post

Nine Year Olds, Meet Monet
I personally liked Nine Year Olds, Meet Monet. I liked this essay firstly because it was the easiest to analyze. All of the other essay we have read I found hard to analyze. The author's message was clear and it wasn't really hard to find.
I believe that author was trying to say that there needs to be a balance between conforming and being an individual. All of the kids in the story are conforming, they all do what they are told, they aren't being themselves. The author believes that society pressures kids into being something or someone they don't want to be. Being socialized isn't a bad thing, we need to be socialized to live with each other but we also need to be an individual.
I took the meaning of this essay as something a little different. I once heard part of a lecture from Ken Robinson, talking about do schools kill creativity. Once I read this essay, I immediately thought of this lecture. In school the most "useful" subjects are the main focus. Your interests as a child are steered away from the things you like because you wouldn't make it in life doing that. As a child if you are ever asked what you want to do when you grow up and you answer "Artist" or "Musician" you have probably been told that you won't make it and to get a 'real' job.
I have been personally told this too many times. But I am not going to listen to everyone. Art is my passion and I would not be happy doing something just because I could make a lot of money. I would rather be happy and be not as well off than be rich and not happy with my job.
This essay has been the best that we have read so far, in my opinion. It was something that I could highly relate too and I actually had interest in. Everything else we have read I have had no interest in and was boring or too complicated.


"Many highly talented, birlliant, creative people think they are not because the thing they were good at in school wasn't valued or was actually stigmatized." - Ken Robinson