The Tradition of Women and Ownership

Last week as we discussed the female characters in myth, beginning with Persephone, the issue of the etymology of the word "rape" as connected to "theft" left me thinking about the many different ways in which thievery takes place in regard to the women in these stories.  When gods intervene in the lives of women like Persephone, Daphne, Psyche, and Eurydice, these girls are quite literally stolen from the fathers and husbands who can claim ownership over them.  However, it seems in each of these tales that some thing else is stolen as well. These female characters are robbed of a choice about the direction of their young lives. They are robbed of happiness.  They are robbed of the innocence they are depicted as personifying at the start of their respective myths.

As I drove to school last Tuesday morning, I was reminded that these issues of ownership and womanhood, which seem so antiquated to western women who are by and large free to plan their lives and pick their own partners, are very much alive in other parts of the world.   The reminder came through a story on the radio that caught my attention. NPR's All Things Considered was doing a segment on child brides focusing on young women and girls who had been given away to men by parents who felt, for a variety of reasons, it was time for them to be taken care of by someone else. When I went to find the segment to write this post, I found yet another on child brides in Yemen  accompanied by startling images.  It can be difficult to listen to the stories of these girls, especially when one considers that they are the same age or younger than peers, younger siblings or cousins, and for me, all of you.  Despite this difficulty, I hope you will listen, look at the images, and read the associated stories.

I meet many students who have a distaste for the female characters in stories of the past.  It is common, and frankly all too easy, for us to judge them as weak, naive, or unable to think for themselves.  However, this is because we will never be owned and given away or stolen the way they have been. I have long felt these characters are deserving of our empathy and serve as a reminder of how far western women have come. As for the girls who still live in societies with similar doctrines regarding women's roles in determining the course of their own lives, their true stories remind me of all the choice, happiness, and innocence that is still stolen from so many young women today.

Which came first? The Shakespeare or The Myth?

After reading the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, I was reminded of how much it resembled the story of Romeo and Juliet.

 

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. 

(Prologue, Shakespeare)

Like Romeo and Juliet, Pyramus and Thisbe lived very close together, in similar homes, only separated by a wall. They were in love, but forbidden by their parents to be together. However, they still interacted lovingly with each other.
The deaths of these lovers is slightly different, but still has the same principle. Thisbe secretly escapes to a tomb to meet Pyramus and leaves upon the arrival of a lioness, dropping her cloak. The lioness tears the cloak apart, covering it with the blood dripping from its mouth, which then makes Pyramus believe that it's killed Thisbe. He kills himself and once Thisbe discovers this, she kills herself too. Now, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo sees Juliet in her sleeping state, believing she is dead--killing himself. Once Juliet wakes and discovers Romeo, she commits suicide as well.
So we can all agree that both of these stories have the running theme of forbidden love, suicide and stupid, infatuated teenagers. Although they could not be together in the flesh, they will forever be together after death.

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARomeo_at_Juliet's_balcony.jpg

"Love cannot be forbidden. Love can always find a way."

 

Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin (One of the best SNL skits of all time)

For the past couple of days I've been mulling over what to write on my blog. I love Greek mythology, and my favorite Goddess is Athena (sorry Ms. Whitley) so I decided to go with that. Most of you may know, I LOVE politics, that's when Athena comes in. She's the Goddess of Wisdom, she's Zeus' favorite kid, she's just as great as Apollo, and she's the head of the Virgin Goddess'. She's basically the bomb.com. However, the best quality about Athena is her favor for peace. In Ancient Greece, Athena was almost always found near the Political center of the town. It was because of the fact that she was a benevolent goddess, selfless, and for the most part always ethical. "She is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, purity".(p 30)She was all of these things, and she was a woman, but who cares because the Greeks loved her. Nowadays, and I can argue this forever, there are very few political leaders we can trust. IMAGE IS NOTHING PEOPLE, FACTS ARE EVERYTHING. When you think about women in Politics, a few names come to mind; Hilary Clinton (Secretary of State), Sonia Sotomayor (Supreme Court Justice), Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany), Dilma Rousseff (President of Brazil). These women are some of my favorite political leaders, but something plagues them all. Every time they are mentioned in the news the words "butch", "hard", "pusher", "nag" are used. WHY?! God forbid I call Barack Obama a pushover, or Joe Biden useless. (I have done all of these things)  My point is, why do some of strongest leaders of our time, have to be downgraded simply because they are females? Why have we never had a female president? When will the time come when these women can present their strong opinions and not be called "PUSHERS"? This is not to say that the Greeks are all go feminism, Hera was constantly painted as a jealous crazy wife. BUT, the Greeks at least believed that a woman was just as capable and even better than her counterparts at making politically sound decisions. No one doubted that Athena would make the right decision, credit was given to her when due. All I ask is that you do not fall into the trap that the "news" presents to you. Even the most branded women in politics like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin have done something, but you wouldn't know until you checked. Also here is the hilarious skit that was my blog title. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE-OCDexYrU

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aslanmedia_official/6678347253/

Greek Mythology ?

So, Greek Mythology is supposed to explain the unexplainable and natural occurrences. When I first started reading these stories, I thought they were so boring and a bunch of nonsense (no offence Mrs. Whitley). But then I came to a realization that in some way or another I know these stories are just interpreted and told in a different way! For example,  as my group and I talked in class about the creation story and Pandora's box, I kind of made a connection to the story of Adam and Eve from the Genesis creation story in the bible. Pandora was given a box that was said to have "marvelous things" inside but was told not to open it. But she did so anyway, which let out evil into the world. Whereas Eve in the Genesis creation story was told specifically not to eat off the tree of knowledge of good and bad which she did by her eating this forbidden fruit she welcomed sin into the world. The second connection to another story that I’ve read the connected to Greek mythology was "The fisherman and the Jinnee" from 1001 nights, I found a connection with the Greek mythology story of "how the world and mankind were created” Prometheus wouldn’t be cruel to humans so Zeus sent an eagle to pick at Prometheus liver for generations. I connected Prometheus to being the fisherman because she was being merciful towards humans just like the fisher man was merciful towards the jinee. The jinnee in a sense is like Zeus because he wasn’t merciful and understanding towards Prometheus. Knowing these connections has somewhat helped me in understanding Greek mythology and I have warmed up to it a little this past week and actually found the Demeter story very interesting. So, the moral of the story is even though you may not understand something at first, try other ways to try and come to somewhat of an understanding instead of giving up and saying “I didn’t understand so I didn't bother reading". 

Greek Mythology: It's Everywhere!

If you’re like me, you have been exposed to Greek mythology symbolism on a regular basis - and you didn’t even know it. Let’s explore some connections I made while reading Mythology.

On page 67 in Mythology by Edith Hamilton, we are introduced to the children of Mother Earth and Father Heaven. Start from the last sentence on page 66, “Just as we believe that the earth was once inhabited by strange gigantic creatures (Dinosaurs, anyone?), so did the Greeks … They had the shattering, overwhelming strength of earthquake and hurricane and volcano.”

In the 1997 animated film Hercules, we see Hades, ruler of the underworld, releasing these men-like, yet “unhuman” creatures. 

Disclaimer: Now, remember, this is a film - a Disney film at that. They make these films to appeal to children and their plots must appeal to them, too, regardless to whether it is historically accurate or not. In the book, it is said that Zeus was the one who released The Titans. Clearly, we can see here that it is Hades who released them. 

Watch an excerpt of their destruction: 

Another connection I made was in the television show 30 Rock starring Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. I could not help but put two and two together as I was reading the passage about Atlas, brother of Prometheus. Check out the top of page 69 where it is described what Atlas' punishment is for going against Zeus, 

"Prometheus' brother Atlas suffered a still worse fate. He was condemned to bear on his back forever the cruel strength of the crushing world and the vault of the sky. Upon his shoulders the great pillar that holds apart the earth and heaven , a load not easy to be born."

So, I'm at home thinking, "I've seen something resembling that description; a man holding a globe." I tried not to get confused with the Emmy Award - which is a woman holding an atom, not a globe, I learned. There's a statue of Atlas in front of Rockefeller Center that quickly appears in the opening credits of 30 Rock.

I've made a billion connections to Greek mythology to everyday life. I have more, but these were my favorites. What do you think? How do you like Greek mythology so far?

Day Dreaming (The Combined Philosphy)

 

 

 

We all have day dreams of better times. We want a world where we can experience the desire simply to observe it like in Taoism. We still want to have some type of structure in our life like. We are ashamed and embarrassed if our words outrun our work like the Confucianism. And even though we do not want to leave behind the life we worked hard at, we accept that we do not live forever, as the common vampire might, like in Buddhism. We must go where out fate lead us. 

 

 

 

We are not everlasting in this body,

We are not forever in one moment.

Just as life must move on,

So shall we.

We must not dwell on one moment,

As if it defines us.

They say when in Rome,

Do as the Romans.

Going with the flow,

enjoying the simple things that you have,

and always have a back-up plan, structure baby.



 

 



Does nature have a soul?

Early Friday morning, one of the most dangerous typhoons in history- Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines. When I heard about the typhoon, I began thinking about Shintoism especially the belief that everything including nature has its own soul or kami. Does nature have a soul? It depends on your definition of what a soul is. One definition of a soul is a person's deeply felt or emotional nature. Based on this definition, natural disasters like typhoons could be nature's way of showing its inner conflict! Although these natural disasters cause destruction and death, shouldn't nature have the ability to express its emotion? As people we have the ability to express our emotions with words or actions that could be destructive to other people. The destruction we can cause though it may not be as large as a typhoon's damage, is just as significant. So maybe we should view natural disasters differently; though they are destructive, based on the Shinto principle we should respect nature's soul and they way it deals with conflict.

Do you think nature has a soul?

Read here for more information on the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan

Self Reflection

                                                          

       

 This week in class we learned about the upper class life in Japan during the Heian Age. We read a pros piece The Pillow Book (a collection of personal notes, diary). One section of this diary was “Nothing Can Be Worse” where the author talks about how nothing is worse than her servants, drivers, or anyone working for her to be unkempt because it is a direct reflection of her. I connected this to our society. It is often said that people are a reflection of those closest to them. If you hang around with negative people who hate their lives and say depressing things, you are most likely to be the same as them because you have more negative than positive influences in your daily life. In the author’s case she does not want other people to see her workers and have a bad impression on her. Mrs. Whitley in class the other day was saying how when she was younger she would wear her favorite shirt that had holes in them to school. Her mother didn’t want her to wear the shirt because Mrs. Whitley was a representation of her family. Look at the people who you surround yourself with because they are a direct reflection of you.

             

Blackface Disaster!

Julianne Hough dressed as "blackface" for Halloween

In case you missed it! Julianne Hough, famous for her dancing role on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, dressed up as a black character from the famous Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Personally, I am offended. I don't understand why she had to paint herself brown in order to convey to the public that she was Crazy Eyes (name of character in show). This made me think about a quote from "The Analects," "A gentle man is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds". I believe this means to let your actions speak louder than your words and clearly Julianne did not think before stepping out of her mansion. Although Julianne apologized and said it wasn't her intention to offend anyone, how can we accept her apology? An apologetic tweet is not enough for a thoroughly thought out racist costume, but also "The Analects" teaches us how to not judge others because of their wrong doings, but to look into ourselves for the reason why we only see the bad in that person. So rather than being upset about Julianne's clearly racist stunt, I will accept the fact that some people in our society are not knowledgeable about black culture and the struggle for equality.

Read the article here! (I am not responsible for anything lower than the Julianne article)

Reflection

Reflection

Yesterday in class while reviewing the Bhagavad - Gita one of the  the topics of discussion was that when you complete your Dharma, your soul will go on and join the universal soul. But can we compare this to our lives and beliefs that God puts us on earth for a reason we may not know what that reason is or why, but we are here and have to complete this life live right, learn by our mistakes, and be able to love one another and you will go to heaven. A question came up in class asking would there be a hell in the Indian culture that you would go to if you don't complete your dharma. This had me thinking is there a heaven for a saved sinner? I was taught that if I had sinned or did something wrong that God would always forgive me no matter what and would not love me any less. But say if there was a man that committed a murder, will he still go to heaven even if he committed this crime let's say 20 years ago when he was young and stupid. But this man has now gotten his life together and now has God in his life and has been saved. Will the same God welcome him into the gates of heaven with open arms ? Or will this now saved soul be sent to hell ? It says in the bible and I quote " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come ! 2 Corinthians 5:17 what my interpretation of this means that whoever is saved and knows Christ is now a new person. But in Revelation 20:8 it says " But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murders, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death"

My question is will this now saved soul be welcomed into the gates of heaven with open arms or will he be sent to hell because of this major mistake he has made in his life ?

- This blog was not intended to offend anyone or their beliefs but just used as an outlet for my thoughts and reflections thank you !

Making tough decisions in our lives

Making tough decisions is not always easy for everyone to do. We all stress about what would be the right decision to do in a certain situation versus choosing the wrong decision. Everyone has trouble choosing right from wrong because in a certain situation, we wonder what should we really do and how it will affect us and others. In the story "The Bhagavad-Gita," Arjuna is faced with the dilemma to fight in battle because it is his duty, but if he chooses to fight, he must kill his relatives who are on the opposing side of the battle. Krishna tells Arjuna that he must fight without being concerned for the results to come after the battle is over, but Arjuna is worried about how he would feel for the rest of his life killing his own family members. Would he choose fame and riches to come if he fights or will he sacrifice all of the fame and fortune for the life of his relatives? And I thought choosing a pair of shoes was hard! No dilemma can be as bad as Arjuna's dilemma. Even though death is the circle of life to all living things, I do not think anyone would want to face the death of a loved one or even having to choose family over other things. Whether good or bad decisions, we must remember that every action we choose to do will always have positive or negative affects and we must accept what will come next.