Last Day of Presentations

The last day of individual presentations again offered up many great insights into what people truly discovered from this class. As in previous blogs I will again list some of the presentations that were most memorable/outstanding to me and elaborate on them. I’d just like to also say great job everyone I certainly know how hard it is to speak in front of people.
Jake- Jake talks about a subject that is often discussed in our society, violence in the media. Jake makes the point that violence has been around for all time and uses Ovid’s Metamorphosis as an example. He argues that by viewing violence it is a way for us to purge our emotions and therefore not commit violence. He further goes on to say that those of us so inclined to commit acts of violence will and whether or not we read it in Ovid will not affect our actions. I agree with this to a point. Certainly those who are prone to violence will commit it no matter but being shown violence may give these people more creative ideas than what they could have come up with.
Rio- Rio talks about how Echo because basically a self-made immortal. Because of this her story is one of the most powerful things in Greek Literature. Echo is self sustaining and lives on and has even outlived the gods through her connection to love. As Dr. Sexson says you can still to this day hear Echo respond to you in the cliffs and valleys of the world crying out for love.
I think this is both beautiful and true and it reminds me of a story I read long ago that discussed the three times you die. The first time you die is your actual death, whatever it may be. The next death you experience is that of being buried either in the ground or cremated and having your ashes spread. These deaths equate to first the death of your soul and then the death of your body. Finally, the last death you experience is the death of your memory, or when people stop talking about your life. There is really no way for any of us to prevent the first two deaths but through acts of heroics like Achilles and acts of pure love like Echo we do not have to experience our third and final death.
Luke- Again Luke talks about having his originality taken from him and I find it so fitting that the presentations have allowed for this scenario.
Ann- Being a huge Rocky Horror Picture Show I absolutely loved Ann’s comparison to the story of Pygmalion to Dr. Frankenfurter’s plight to have the perfect man. It is the exact same story, if only the sexes of the creations have been switched, and unlike Pygmalion Dr. Frankenfurter comes to see that his creation is not everything he thought it would be and more.