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Hours of work to go,
But no matter,
For the times to come
Were screaming with anxiety
Ralph sat quietly,
Attentively,
Working on this and that,
And planning for the night
And so it came,
Sweeping through the town,
And he knew –
The time had come
Long strides –
Deep thoughts,
He reviewed the plan
(more…)
Her tear still holds its place,
It rests on her eye about to break,
Break free from its home,
But you ask why?
You sit by the window,
And stare off and wonder,
What can you do at all divine,
Something, maybe just a line,
And she guides you through your mind,
For she knows a path you’ve never taken,
She’s holding on to you,
Holding on for something to come,
And you don’t dream to let go,
She keeps holding on to you,
And you dream the unreal of what you wonder,
And you wonder what if your dreams were true,
So before the time that you lose her,
For the day must one day come,
You warm up to a glow until,
Until a triceratops comes.
Mr. Albert Whickam, coming home one afternoon from his recently acquired position, looked quite surprised when he opened the door to the apartment to find his roommate Fredrick sitting quietly on the leather sofa reading a magazine.
Prior to Albert’s arrival, Fredrick was really enjoying his opportunity to have the apartment to himself, and made sure to dress for the occasion. With feet enveloped with very puffy, fuzzy, even playful looking green triceratops slippers sprinkled with red polka dots — the rest of his body wrapped in a large, warm looking blanket, he had truly mastered the cozy look.
Albert was wearing a worn countenance and his custom made Brioni suit. Starting at an exorbitant four grand and worn mostly by European Aristocracy and Hollywood heavyweights like James Bond’s Pierce Brosnan, this compilation of fabrics was by no means an average outfit. Because of the limited clientele that can meet the price tag, the real Brioni productions are made to measure for a limited number of elite customers, a privileged group that included Albert.
Moscovici’s studies have found evidence that a minority can in fact have influence over a majority. But what factors manifest this influence? Moscovici, Lage, and Naffrechoux (1969) found that minorities could influence the majority even when not endowed with power, status, or expertise. In later studies, Moscovici confirmed his two step process to gain influence as a minority. First the minority had to create a conflict with the majority norm, an accepted idea. Then, to exert influence, the minority needed to be consistent to appear confident and knowledgeable. Current research suggests that consistency is the foundation of minority influence, yet I will argue that status, as a supplement to consistency, also plays a major role. As long as the minority appears consistent, status could potentially bolster the conversion effect, in three main ways. First, those with the status of an “expert” on a subject could be more influential than those of the same status. Second, people who value the traits associated with dissenters might join in the dissent in order to be attributed those traits. Finally, people may publicly agree with a minority opinion in order to join the company of a minority with a desired social status.
With their spirit defeated, characters in both Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and the movie Fight Club felt like slaves. The American economy and culture made characters in each novel feel hopeless, depressed, or angry. However, through their struggles, the characters discovered that love uplifted them and presented the meaning of life.
As an African American, Dr. Copeland knew how enslavement felt. His people’s apathy towards a movement for equality of black people infuriated him. He felt like a slave. “But we are forced to sell our strength, our time, our souls during almost every hour that we live. We have been freed from one kind of slavery only to be delivered into another” (Heart 191). Dr. Copeland felt like no one understood his struggles. He dealt with racism on a regular basis. White people did not want him around, and viewed black people as inferior in a number of ways, including intelligence. Dr. Copeland tried to instill his beliefs in equality in his children, but they grew apart, and his wife left him. Dr. Copeland spent much of his time trying to help his people. “The grievous love he felt within him was too much” (190). He loved black people as though they were all his family. He wanted justice, and for them finally to live as free men and women, but they could not be free until they loved their people as he did.
As author John Irving might suggest, we live in a dangerous world. Irving always warns his children of danger, and admits The World According to Garp “is a novel about being careful, and about that not being enough,” (Garp Afterword). Irresponsible adventures plagued Jenny, T.S. Garp, Walt, and nearly every other character in Garp. At first, they believe the outcomes will be insignificant–a cough, perhaps–but they led to the “Under Toad” of maiming and death. This novel deals with the fear and unfamiliarity of death, and warns us about the future.
T.S. Garp lost a part of his ear to Bonkers the dog at age five. He carelessly ignored the dog’s history of violent outbursts. In one instance, Bonkers had mangled a volleyball, and then bit deeply into the forearm of the boy who tried to retrieve the ball. Yet as Bonkers approached Garp, Garp did not prevent the dog from hurling his body on him. Garp’s wounds eventually healed, and his hair covered his damaged ear, but he retaliated against Bonkers years later. Garp’s biting of the dog’s ear infuriated the Percy family. The desire for revenge overwhelmed his ability to rationalize.
Bulky, imposing, beautiful, queer, and satanic are just a couple of adjectives used to describe Yan Shpilsky’s big metallic boots. But are they works of art? To answer this baffling question, or to at least formulate my own decision, I turned to the leaders of tomorrow for their valuable insight.
Ambitious young Ukrainian Leonid Morozovsky believes that it might be art because “people created them.” I reminded him that people or machines created the desk in our philosophy room, yet we agree that it is not a work of art. It is merely functional. It was not designed to be art. He then changed his mind and imitated Aristotle’s beliefs, as he stated that the shoes are an angry German’s vision of what a shoe ought to be.
This was a possibility, as Yan bought these shoes to feel the power associated with the genre of music he listens to, namely angry German rock and roll. However, Yan disagreed with Leonid’s ideas. The shoes just look awesome, and are functional because they give him two inches of height and an imposing presence. I asked Yan why he believes the shoes are not art, and he replied that they are not art because they do not convey truth. My next question caught him by surprise.