Paradise Lost

Well, I can't say this was an easy read but I did enjoy it. As we were going over this story I was also covering bits of it in church and the correlation between these two are very intriguing (Milton's work/life/literature/Bible). Our preacher referred to these 12 books in three services, which really got me psyched about reading it. This is going to sound raunchy as I say it but when Satan says "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven", (which he chokes on in the end); I think a lot of times we agree. We may not say "oh we're taking the satanic way out" but a lot of times our actions show we are. We think because we do not want others to be in control of us we can just act foolish and ignore what we know is the right thing to do. For example, I know that 8 posts and 8 replies are due, and I've been writing after everything I read in a journal; just pen and paper, rather than being smart about this and typing these up as we cover each section and I read. In my head the instructor gave a "checklist" lets say and I (not literally) chose to mark through certain items in hopes to not have to refer back to them; while in reality I'm sitting here typing exactly what I wrote in a silly journal. In reality I chose to do not necessarily the wrong thing but something that would take much longer than just doing what was asked of me.

The Beggars Opera

This was probably one of my favorite stories, simply because it went past the common Opera and placed a very real; while also disgusting factor of life in ones lap. I find it odd how it ends but as we discussed in class, as an Opera one cannot illustrate a bad/negative ending. When I think about modern times I have a feeling it would end in an all out blood bath; a cheating man, money hungry father, many "wives"...it sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer with a little more class..not. I enjoy how John Gay warps the ideas of a normal opera and places in front of you this outrageous set of events that one hopes will end better than they started but to find out its all madness with more madness on the way.