First day of Class Blog 1

Turn the bass up... no seriously do it. That is what the kid sitting to my right is saying in his head right now as his ridiculously loud head phones rattle his brain and annoy me. This is the library after all. They have me surrounded, to my left is a girl typing furiously and giggling, also with her head phones on. This not the innocent giggle a baby may make, but rather a sick, impish giggle one hears deep in haunted woods as a gang of succubus pixies descend upon them to destroy their spirit, her smile even reminds me of a jackal. That however is neither here nor there it seems as this blog is devoted to the class I just attended not the patrons of the library. My hopes were high as I shuffled into class to await the arrival of Prof. Sexson, though I had not taken one of his classes before, I have heard great things. He came in and immediately began to read to us from Mr. Dickens Classic novel Great Expectations (can't find underline button), this served to captivate us, and introduce us to the novel without tainting our initial reactions of him or the novel. I would say it worked quite well, it also served to break us free of the banality of the first day of class as teachers drone on about themselves and how hard their class is and so on. The lesson on traditions also tied in to literature itself as many know literature is rooted deep in tradition, and as Prof. Sexson stated all new stories are a retelling of old stories. Themes, traditions, elements, and what have you all recurring throughout the history of literature. Another idea that Prof Sexson shared with us is the lost love of books, books are replaced with movies and headphones and computers. Perhaps even more despairing is the fact that I am made painfully aware of this travesty in the library of all places. That is like going to your temple only to be told that your god is dead, and replaced with a cooler more digital god, and yes he is made in China. It seems to me that with the advent of technology humans become further and further detached from the animals were supposed to be, we also have become lazy. Why read a book when I can watch the movie? We rely on computer graphics to stimulate our senses, rather than the written word to provoke our thought. In short we chose sensation over thought. (she is still giggling, I am beginning to become quite uncomfortable, Carson Daily has managed to silence his ipod for the moment which was no doubt playing songs from Now 58 or perhaps Buzz Cuts). Anyways technology is the mixed blessing, yes I like to microwave croissant pouches as much as the next guy, but at what cost? most people around my age already have devolved into illiterate puppets dumbed down by MTV and Miss Paris Hilton (Thats hot!). This is because people are more concerned about the next big reality TV show rather than Joyce Carroll Oates newest book of short stories, and for good reason American Idol is awesome (Big ups to Tila Tequila and Brett Michaels). He also reminded us of the pleasures of reading with a short bit of the preface of Ex Libris (still missing the underline) and asked us to think of books that have done that for us. Though any good book will thoroughly engross me I will have to say the best one was the early Harry Potter books when I was younger, how I wished to meet Miss Hermione Granger, and though my taste in books has changed I still hold her dear to my heart. The short stories of Jack London while sitting next to a fire on the river is an awesome experience as well. This concludes my long winded blog about my thoughts from this days class period. Remember friends be true to your roots not your suits. Steve