The Vine of Knowledge

Our lesson today involved painting a verse from the book of Joel. It was a literary experience that I probably will never forget. Getting the chance to experience things in different ways (in the classroom) is new to me. Some of the most foreign aspects of education aren't really foreign at all. I remember doing some of this stuff in elementry/middle school. Sometimes I feel like it's good to go back to the basics to relearn what we've lost in the complexities of life.

The book of Joel was brought to life today, for me at least. My painting has to do with the last versus of Joel. I decided to focus on what God gave the people back after they started to follow what He had set for them all along. My vine of grapes comes from "above" as does the water, to symbolize that a "higher" power is giving the people what they need to sustain life.

I suppose my painting isn't that deep. I tried my best and even that can be hard to see sometimes. I feel that paintings should be left up for a individual expression, but it should still be able to speak to any type of person despite culture, religion, or age.

Journal Pass for 9/22

Pass for Joel journal that was due on September 22nd.

The Book of Joel

(This blog post is for the "blog homework" due for Sept. 24th. The original Joel blog was not done in time. The "pass" for that assignment was accidentally posted after this blog.)

I felt like when I read this book that it didn't speak to me all that much. I didn't think it really related to my life at all right now. Sometimes it's hard to talk about not being sure where God is or being angry with God, but it is talked about in Joel. I wasn't too keen on the lake idea today. I did have to warm up to it. Once I realized why we were out there, I clicked into it and got something more from the context rather than just "reading through it".

I choose to stand out by the lake. I really didn't feel compelled to sit by the lake. I didn't want to be equal with the lake. I didn't really even want to look at it. Once I started reading some of Joel along with looking outward at nature, I saw openness. I realized that I could breathe. It was ok to not be stressed out. Once I opened up and accepted that I was able to read the text, full in its meaning. It wasn't until I got over my own feelings that I could actually listen to what God wanted to tell me through this text.

The part I choose to reflect on dealt with was:
Now return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.

Weep between the porch and the altar,
And let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD,
And do not make Your inheritance a reproach,
A byword among the peoples say,
'Where is their God'"?

The first verse speaks of how open God is. How apparent it is that He resides within us, yet the whole thing ends with "Where is their God?" That just amazes me. It's almost backwards. One minute we realize that God is amazing and loving, then the next thing we know we turn our backs and go, Where are you God? How can we do that?! This scenerio reminds me of when as kids when we'd play hide and seek and we'd turn out the lights and hide. How can you find anyone in the dark if you turn their back to you? It's impossible, unless you speak out. Joel is all about speaking things into action in order for things to get better.

Simplistic: A Poem

Although I was really ill for the cemetery field trip, I still read the poem and following the prompt:

My first favorite line before I even began the reading the poem was the title "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". Whitman's genius shows through simply through the title he chose to give his lengthy poem. I really liked in the second stanza when he writes, "O powerful western fallen star!..." I thought it was an amazing rendition towards the loss of a president such as Lincoln. In stanza six when he talks about "the coffin that pass[ed] through lanes...through day and night with the great cloud darkening the land," I felt like he was talking about how the whole nation felt as they saw President Lincoln's body being hoisted away from the country's capital where he was once standing as an able, ready man who helped our country stay together. You can tell in this line it was almost too much for Whitman to keep his eyes on such a site as Lincoln's coffin.

My personal relationship to this story I would have to say is through two different historic tragedies. The first one would be the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I've done so much research on him that he is almost like a living, breathing person in my own mind. Everytime I watch the Zapuder Film of that fateful day in Dallas, Texas, I sometimes hold the same emotions that this poem exemplifies in detail. The second would have to be Septemeber 11th. I feel like it was just all a bad movie, even 8 years after the fact. I remember where I was that day and how I felt. When I read Whitman's poem, it's clear he wrote it to leave an impact on the American people and not allow them to ever forget Lincoln's death.

Here is a song lyric that was written in the early 1980s nearly 20 years after JFK was killed:

dreamed I was the president of these united states
I dreamed I replaced ignorance, stupidity and hate
I dreamed the perfect union and a perfect law, undenied
And most of all I dreamed I forgot the day john kennedy died

I dreamed that I could do the job that others hadnt done
I dreamed that I was uncorrupt and fair to everyone
I dreamed I wasnt gross or base, a criminal on the take
And most of all I dreamed I forgot the day john kennedy died

Oh, the day john kennedy died
Oh, the day john kennedy died

I remember where I was that day, I was upstate in a bar
The team from the university was playing football on tv
Then the screen want dead and the announcer said,
Theres been a tragedy
Theres are unconfirmed reports the presidents been shot
And he may be dead or dying.

Talking stopped, someone shouted, what!?
I ran out to the street
People were gathered everywhere saying,
Did you hear what they said on tv
And then a guy in a porsche with his radio hit his born
And told us the news
He said, the presidents dead, he was shot twice in the head
In dallas, and they dont know by whom.

I dreamed I was the president of these united states
I dreamed I was young and smart and it was not a waste
I dreamed that there was a point to life and to the human race
I dreamed that I could somehow comprehend that someone
Shot him in the face

Oh, the day john kennedy died
Oh, the day john kennedy died

I'm a bit sad that I was not able to go the cemetery. I'm sure it would've deepened my experience about the poem. But to replace that I had to think hard on some of my own grief while reading the poem. It helped to understand the deeper meaning behind Whitman's words. Not only was he stating that he missed the president, he was stating that he literally felt like a part of him and his patriotism died along with Lincoln.

It's really difficult for me to read depressing poems. When I write poetry it's usually sad things about my own life. I have a really hard time writing happy poems. Part of me thinks that sometimes in our of depression or sadness in life, we find ourselves. After everything else is taken away we can focus on what God really wants for us. In this poem I could feel that Whitman was angry and unhappy. You could tell that he was struggling with what to feel as a famous poet, but also as a regular man that witnessed the tragedies of war and what it almost did to his country. Whitman was a brilliant mind when it came to poetry. I think that his love for President Lincoln certainly showed and this poem deserves so much honor and praise as not only an artistic work, but also as a fundamental piece in American Literature.