Riders of the Purple Sage: Reflection

So ends the final chapter of my Old West adventures. This book was great. It was great in ways that the other two books were and weren't. It took the typical frontier vibe and put an umphy (meaning it had a lotta umph) set of characters and an engaging story. From the get go, I knew this story was going to feel like a classic Western fireside story, but read and sound like a truly epic narrative. The plot for which this story is based on could sound like a typical Old West story: Bad guy wants money. Kidnaps rich girl for said money. Holds the whole town hostage. Enter mysterious cowboy man. Mysterious cowboy man tries to deal with bad guy. Gets captured. Escapes. Kills bad guy. Saves the town. Gets the girl. On and on. While I am a sucker for this kind of tale, this one hit me differently. It had substance. There was something about the suspense I felt when reading this book that made me think that it was truly special. It could have been the masterfully crafted characters or landscapes. Or it could have been in the raw dialogue that the characters utilized. Whatever reason, this book was really something else. It has increased my interest in the Old West genre and I am so glad that I stumbled across it for my project!

The College Search: pt.4

Well, after what seemed like years of college planning, I have finally come to a decision. Just kidding, I have not. In fact, I think I am even farther away from making a decision than I was when I started this whole process. Why? Well it seems that I now have my top two college choices. Depauw University and The University of Alabama. I do not really know how the other 16 colleges I applied to dropped of the list, but they did. Anyway, this is what it has come down to. And honestly, I did not think it was going to be this hard. I was thinking that the answer was just going to fall out of the sky to the sound of an angle chorus. Well that obviously didn't happen so my decision has become harder. In addition, I will be making one more visit to each place before I make my decision, which I am sure will make my decison close to impossilbe. Here are the pros for each college:

Depauw University:
- great school with great educational promise
- good swim coach and close-knit swim team
- smaller class sizes and great professors
- great facilities
- incredible president and staff
- alumni  = big $$$
- its cold and there is no town around the college (Con)

The University of Alabama:
- incredible scholarship money and Honors College experience
- beautiful and homey campus
- great people and staff
- football (not that it matters)
- bigger school with more options
- great freakin' food
- not the best academic reputation (Con)

I think it is safe to say that this decision will be one of the hardest ones I will ever have to make. Can I go to both?

Your opinion is appreciated; I am taking votes.

Dead Poets Society: Reactions

First off, I am glad that my class was offered a so-called, "spring break suprise" in a viewing of Dead Poets Society. While I expected this film to be a poetry heavy, englishy kind of movie, I have to say I was pleasently suprised.The plot was engaging and relatable and the message was intruiging. Honestly, this movie has changed how I look at poetry. At the beginning of this unit, I honestly felt like the staff (except Mr.Keating) of Welton. I looked at poetry through the eyes of the simple facts. I didn't really engage myself into the finer meanings of what poetry had to offer. Well, after a few sessions with Mr.Keating, that changed. I started to see the complexity for which poems were built on. I also began to see the un-complexity for which poems were built on. The challenging language and incredibly abstract concepts that make up so many poems started to become a little bit clearer in my mind. While I still do not understand poetry to any degree, I think that I can now appreciate it a little bit more. I can now sieze the day by understanding poetry for what it is and eqaully importantly, for what it isn't.