Notes, February 18, 2009 - TEST NEXT

***Don't forget: Test on Friday!!!***

Remember the muses and their locations in the classroom.

• Thermostat - Erato, muse of erotic poetry
• Chalkboard - Clio, muse of history
• Overhead screen - Urania, muse of astronomy
• "Quite" desk - Thalia, muse of comedy
• Projector - Polyhymnia, muse of sacred songs
• Brown desk - Terpsichore, muse of dance
• Bulletin board - Calliope, muse of epic poetry
  
• Snowman - Euterpe, muse of song
• Funny "f" - Melpomene, muse of tragedy (remember Mel Gibson and the pomegranate; it's a tragedy they disappeared)

In Kane, "Wisdom of the Myth Tellers"

1. Moon bone (repetition)
2. property
3. agriculture
4. practical
   
5. white berries
6. caribou, frogs
7. myth - the song the earth sings to itself
8. (Check out Brian Larscheid's blog Memory Orgasm for the terms expanded; also Robert Loomis's Oral Traditions)
   

Ong, "Orality and Literacy"

1. primary orality
2. secondary orality
3. chirographic - writing culture
4. typographic - print cultur
5. p. 72 - distinction between vision and sound
6. Plato's denunciation of books, p. 79; also Yates, p. 38

Yates, "The Art of Memory"

1. Simonedes - story of the banquet
2. the book moves from rhetoric to ethics to cosmos
3. St. Augustin, p. 47

Study questions

1. liberal arts - GGRAMAD >>> Geometry, Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Music, Astronomy, Dialectic
2. neoplatism - influence of Plato after Plato, dealing with mysticism
3. importance of February 20 - John Nay's birthday
4. anamnesis - opening gates of recollection - we have forgotten everything
   
5. 1600 - Bruno was burned at the stake
6. parataxis - string list of words together using "and"
7. bicameral - brain is split into two parts - look up in Ong in the index, p. 29, right hemisphere produces uncontrollable voices attributed to the gods, left hemisphere processes that into speech
8. esoteric - secret, private
9. imagination is a one-hour photo for memory
10. Shahar Azad - "1,001 Arabian Nights" - represents story-telling
11. differences between artificial and natural memory - Yates
12. Collective unconcious and personal unconsious
13. writing happens outside the mind - Pheadrus
14. March 17, St. Patric's Day, Dr. Sexson gives blood, green blood
15. 3 epithets - brave soldier, sturdy oak, beautiful pricess; also, keen, kenning Ben, Kate of the Beautiful Eyes
    

Quote of the Day

"you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise" John Nay wrote this quote from Plato on February 4th. How I missed it until now I don't know, but now that I've seen it I think I'll add it to my list of "favorite quotes to recite at boring parties". But seriously, I like it, and not only because it pertains to people who claim to be English majors. I know a professor whom that quote fits quite well actually. Looking at the philosophical side of the quote, what else can we offer except appearances? Whether of ignorance or wisdom, we can only offer an appearance of a state of being. So what is true wisdom? Maybe it's knowing when to stop writing.

My fifty things

So for my fifty things to memorize, I chose spices. I love to cook, and I like to experiment with various spices in soups, on roasts, on veggies, etc. But I was chagrined to realize that I didn't know all of the spices on my spice rack! It was brought home several days ago when I wanted to try a different flavor on a pot roast, but I didn't think I had any oregano. So we went to the store, without a shopping list, of course, and I proceeded to by oregano, plus a whole bunch of stuff I didn't need. (Note to self: Always make a list, then you're not tempted to buy that yummy looking pack of Oreos that the store employees conveniently place at eye level on the ends of the shelves!) When we got back home and I was putting the spice away, I found my original container of it! So I'm going to go through all my spices, pick 50 of my favorites, and memorize them and their location!

Time's fun when you're having flies

Sick for two days -- play catch-up for two weeks! I really hate being sick, and this cold was the worst I've had in a very long time. Of course, I had a three page critique to write and a lesson plan to make, which, luckily, I had started both the weekend before I fell ill. But everything else was pushed by the wayside. It might not have gotten so backed up, except that just two weeks ago, I got rid of my computer (worthless piece of cr*p!), so the only place I could do word processing was at the library. So anyway, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday sleeping, almost 48 straight hours! And now I'm just starting to catch up on all the stuff that I didn't do while I was out of it.