Totalitarian Thought Control

Josh Tate
Cline
ENG102
4/10/11
Research Topic Proposal Blog
The topic I plan to explore that relates to Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is totalitarian thought control. This is something that can be used to explain as to how the theme in “The Handmaid’s Tale” would be thought up. Margaret Atwood often writes of worlds where modern women are the heroes and men are the enemy and this is again the case in this story. Mind control is a good explanation as to why our society would let itself get to the far fetched point as which it did in Margaret Atwood’s book.
The guiding question for “The Handmaid’s Tale” that I have is how a society would ever let itself get to the point of turmoil as it did in the book. I believe that totalitarian thought control is the very topic that will help me better understand Atwood’s text. It will do so by answering many questions as to why a world like the one in the book would ever come into existence. There are many different forms of mind control that are theorized to be taking place and since this story is based in the future that would be something that is a good explanation for this new way of life that Atwood bases her book off of. Religion, government, and media is all said to be participants in totalitarian thought control. If these were to be true then it would explain how an entire society could be transformed into one such as the one in “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Atwood-Margaret.html

Here is a link to a biography of Margaret Atwood.

Mid-Semester Blog

Tate 1
Josh Tate
Cline
ENG102
3/27/11
Mid-Session Point
Dear Miss Cline,
I am a little bit disappointed with my performance throughout the first half of class. I have had a hard time getting my assignments in on time which is not something I have struggled with in the past, but for some reason this semester it has been very difficult for me to stay on top of things. I feel like the work I have been able to get in on time is not my best work due to procrastination and having to hurry to get it in on time. By far my largest challenge has been trying to adjust to online classes and getting my work in on time and being disciplined enough to stay on top of things. My biggest success has been adjusting and starting to get a feel for online classes and getting all my papers turned in on time.
Huze and O’Brien’s readings both had an impact on me in a positive way. I found them interesting and fun to read which is honestly not my strong suit. The literary analysis writings I have had to thus far this semester has not been a huge change from the writings I have had to do so far in college. I got used to doing these types of writings last semester.
In the second half of this semester I plan to get everything in on time. I plan to complete the extra credit assignments. Overall I plan to be the student that I am capable of being throughout the entire second half to hopefully raise my grade up to a respectable level. I plan to accomplish passing this class and succeeding in raising my grade.
Thank you for your time,
Josh Tate

http://www.goroughriders.com/index.php/2009/11/baseball-team-roster/

Here is a link to the YC Baseball page. Baseball is my passion and something I love to do. 

The Sandstorm by Sean Huze

Josh Tate
Cline
ENG 102
3/13/11
The Sandstorm
I thought the play was very strong coming from a former U.S Marine and other young soldiers. The play was surprising to me at how real it was and the things the marines went through everyday. The fact that the first monologue opens with a marine who is just suffering from the heat and discomfort of the War in Iraq and all he longs for is fresh air and cold water, but the threat of an attack or fatal contamination didn’t allow him to get his wish, he had to be a man and suffer. I liked how, right off the bat you got thrown into the soldiers lives.
The “doc’s” monologue was extremely heartfelt. Just the fact that a dying Iraqi man, who had moments before had his entire family blown to pieces by an American artillery strike, would still thank the American doctor trying to help him for the United States coming in and getting rid of Saddam to help his people. That was very selfless, heartfelt and touching that this man would say that in the circumstances he was in. I also enjoyed the reality that the doc desperately wanted to put this memory in the back of his mind and forget, but was unable to do so no matter what he tried. Some of the monologues were violent and got under my skin. The monologue with the second corporal who shared his feelings with a fellow soldier and then  the very next day watched him die in battle. This man then went on a tirade of revenge.
I enjoyed being placed in the soldiers shoes and felt like they were talking to me one on one in the audience. The monologue that talked about how the soldiers did get attached to towns and people every now and then and how it was hard to leave these things behind to face the fate of the war. Overall I really enjoyed this play it was entertaining and contained a strong story throughout the entire play.

http://www.qpicture.com/artist/sean-huze

This is a link to Sean Huze's biography for anyone interested in finding out more about this excellent author. 

Week 4: Poem Response

Josh Tate
ENG 102
Cline
2/13/11
Poem Response
The two poems that created an emotional reaction in me were “Photograph from September 11th” by Wislawa Szymborska and “Immigrants in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Szymborska’s poem created a strong saddened memory of September. It made me think of all the people that lost their lives that tragic day. It let me put myself in the situation of the unlucky people who were forced to either jump or face a fiery death. I put myself in their shoes and thought of how hard it must have been jumping from the upper stories of the World Trade Center’s. I thought of what would be going through my head on that long drop to my death. It brought a very sad and almost disturbing memory and picture to my head. This poem was very moving and Szymborska did a very good job of portraying these unlucky few who were forced to jump to their deaths.
The second poem that moved me was Baca’s poem about immigration and what immigrants have to go through. Baca does a very good job at describing the thoughts that go through immigrants heads about what they expect of the “new world”, and how very often these expectations are far from fulfilled. I felt very bad for the people immigrating to a “new world” to have a chance at a better life, but end up working for next to no money and not improving their life at all. I put myself in the immigrants’ shoes who had been there for a long period of time, watching the new immigrants come in with the gleam in their eyes thinking they are about to change their lives for the better. It would make me very sad knowing that in just a short time these new immigrants will come to the realization that their lives will not change for the better but if anything they will only get worse. I found it very disturbing that this is generally the average immigrants story.

Wislawa Szymborska

http://www.kannibaal.nl/helden/index.html

Here is a link to some of Szymborska's other works and bio. 

Jimmy Santiago Baca

http://www.flsrc.org/2010cnf/2010cf.html

Here is a link to some of Baca's other works. 

Response to Sam Hamill's Essay

Josh Tate
Cline
ENG 102
2/4/11
Sam Hamill’s “The Necessity to Speak” is a very strongly opinionated essay. He consistently refers back to violence and battering and things of that sort to relate and get his points across. Hamill starts off his essay by talking about people in prison and how society doesn’t want to see and know the reality in this world. He then talks about writing and how it is used as a form of communication throughout the orison systems today. He talks about how the writer is the one responsible for all the emotions that any reader might feel throughout the process of reading their work. I agree with Hamill’s ideas that people who are raised in abusive homes often end up becoming abusive adults and that unless people speak up and take responsibility for their actions this will continue to be the case.
Hamill goes through the idea that people tend to turn their back to the ugly and violent side of this world and that unless there is a change this will continue to be the case, and that can not happen. When victims of domestic violence and rape cry out desperately for help we tend to turn our backs of freeze up and do not know what to do. Hamill repeatedly uses the term that “we can’t bear very much reality” and I completely one hundred percent agree with him. Our society has become one that only goes after pleasure and the first sign of something bad or inhumane we turn our backs.
 Hamill talks about how he believes poetry is not about emotion. I disagree with this I think one of the things that makes a great poet great is his ability to openly communicate emotion through their work. He believes that the true poet gives up the “I” factor and I agree and disagree with this. Some poets are good at giving up the “I” from their poetry and it is still great, but others include their own feelings, attitudes and emotions and that’s what makes “them” great. I think Hamill has good ideas and is a very interesting writer.

http://www.washingtonpoets.org/lifetime_award.php

Sam Hamill

Here is a link that gives more information about Sam Hamill and his work as a writer/poet.

Week 2: Good Readers and Good Writers

Good Readers and Good Writers Assignment
By Josh Tate
Nabokov says that a good reader is one who has imagination, memory, reads with a dictionary, and has some artistic sense. Nabokov developed his very own definition of what a good reader is by coming up with ten potential definitions of what a good reader is and then quizzing his college class to pick the best four out of those ten. From the feedback he received he then came up with his very own definition of what is takes to be a good reader. I agree with Nabokov in that a good reader needs to have the four characteristics he came up with, but I do think there are good readers, that do not posses all four characteristics, out there.
I believe to be a good reader one must have to be focused, have a good imagination, be open minded, and have an adequate memory. I do not think it is fair to limit what we define as “good” readers to just a few short characteristics. I believe that as there are many different types of people in this world there are also many different types of good readers, all with their very own characteristics of what a “good” reader is that hold true to themselves.
I consider myself a decent reader. I don’t necessarily consider myself a “good” reader just for the fact that in my spare time reading is not something I choose to do a whole lot of. I do have some characteristics of a good reader and when reading has to be done I’ll do it but overall I am not a very avid reader.

http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/2011/01/03/nabokov-in-berlin/

Here is a list of the 100 greatest novels of all time might be worth checking out for all you avid readers.