The A-word

I learned a new word in my American Romanticism class today -- "aphorism." It's a short witty statement of profound thought or truth. I realized that aphorisms are the reasons why I love my favorite books, I just never knew what those perfect lines were called.

We read Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Self-reliance," today in the above mentioned class. It was full of aphorisms. Some of my favorites are listed below:

"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness."

". . .the asinine expression. . .I mean 'the foolish face of praise,' the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us."

"With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. . .Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today."

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

"Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing."

Blustery Day Today

Today reminded me of when I was a little kid and watched Winnie the Pooh. There was one part where the wind was bullying everything in the Hundred Acre Wood, especially Piglet because he was so small. One of the songs during this part said: "It looks like a rather blustery day, today," and indeed it was like that. Walking to class was difficult because my hair kept blowing in my face, so I couldn't see where I was going, and my car kept swerving because the wind wanted it to go in a different direction than I did. The Weather Channel said the wind speed was 18 mph. Whew, I hope it's not like that tomorrow. 

"Crystalised" by The XX

Sunday morning, rain is falling.

Today the weather was perfect: rainy and a little breezy. Okay, maybe not perfect if you wanted to mow the grass or take a hike through the woods, but it was my idea of perfect Sunday weather. I got to read and take the best nap ever. I went to church too, but that was inside, so the weather had no real bearing on how I approached the sermon.

What is it about coffee and chocolate that makes them the perfect combination?

Good rainy weather song --> "Blonde on Blonde" by Nada Surf

School? No thank you.

First week back to school? DONE. Now there's only 15 more to go! Actually, that is not a very cheery thought, now that I think of it. My brain is already exhausted, and my eyes have that scratchy feeling they get from not enough sleep. I think I'll go watch Fargo instead of doing homework.

New song! "White Blank Page" by Mumsford & Sons

"What is the grass?"

We're reading "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman in my American Romanticism class. Some of it's repetitive, and I'll admit, boring to me. But then there are parts that grab my attention and completely absorb me into delicious reverie for their beauty and imagery. I love where he speaks of trying to explain to a child what grass is. My favorite line from that section is: "And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves." The parts where he talks about nature and the physical world are my favorite.

Whitman's poetry has a relaxed feel to it, but then there are parts that are graphic and grotesque: "The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom, It is so. . . . I witnessed the corpse. . . . there the pistol had fallen." The juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness is unnerving to read, and it gives the poem a random, disjointed feel to it.

But my favorite quote of all would have to be: "Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me, If I could not now and always send sunrise out of me." I think I'll paint it on my wall, in addition to the Jonathan Safran Foer quote. Do you think the two authors would object to their works being mingled in such a fashion?

Still Writing

I finally picked a topic for my newspaper article -- Coffee and the College Student. That's what it started out as, anyways, but I may change it to tea and coffee. I interviewed several people at the coffee shop on campus that I frequent, and it's amazing how much of a social mechanism coffee has become, not just something a person drinks because they like the taste or the caffeine effects. Hopefully my first article, and the subsequent ones as well, won't be a total flop. It's a little nerve racking though, knowing that it's going to be read by so many people, including those that I know.

HELP

I have no idea what to write my first article on for the school newspaper. At least the Beatles understand my situation . . .