Ground smooth beneath my speeding feet.  The crowded hall stretching infinitely.  A line of turtle-like seniors blocked my path.  Ducking between two I continued on.  My brother blocked the way.
"Don't!"
Smack! he fell, I ran.  Wrong, but I had to know.  Rounding a corner, smell hitting my nose, I saw:
pizza for lunch!

The Hero and the God

1 The basic "rites of passage" are:
      Departure
      Initiation Trials and Victories
      The Return to Society
The diagram for monomyth differs from a typical plot diagram because while the typical diagram is an incline ending in the climax, the monomyth diagram is a circle.
2 Buddha escapes from his fathers palace and travels around meditating.  After receiving a sign, Buddha goes to sit under the Tree of Enlightenment.  Here he must with stand the attack from the army of the god of love and death.  After conquering the army he receives his divine gift and spends many days contemplating his message.  Then the god Brahma tells him to teach his wisdom to gods and men.

3 The 5 subsections of the departure of a hero are:
      1 Request for the hero to go and help
      2 Refusal of the request
      3 The hero gets help from a god/divine power
      4 Hero passes through the first "doorway"
      5 The hero crosses into realm of night
4 The 6 subsections of the trials and victories are:
      1 Road of Trials
      2 Meeting with the Goddess
      3 Temptation from a women
      4 Reconciliation with the father
      5 The elevation of the hero to the rank of a god
      6 Achieving the great gift or goal
5 The return of the hero is important to the hero's community because it is the justification of the long retreat.  If the hero has won enlightenment they may lose interest and hope in worldly problems.  This can relate to soldiers coming back from the war and being distant from family and friends because of seeing friends die on the battle field.  If the hero has unjustly gotten the divine gift like Prometheus, the gods will punish them and possibly their community.
6 Comparing and contrasting how the composite hero of the monomyth can be treated by society: Sometimes the hero is honored by society, but other times the hero is unrecognized, disdained and shunned.

Academic Post #1 To Kill a Mockingbird

     Mr. Dolphus Raymond leads a conflicted existence in the town of Maycomb in the book To Kill a Mockingbird.  He has two different personas.  One that he presents to the public, and another that he presents to the children.  His personas are different in many ways.  Mr. Dolphus Raymond has a persona he uses in public and his real persona which he submits to the children.
     One of the personas of Mr. Raymond, the on that he presents to the public, is a drunk.  This persona of being a drunk is fake.  Mr. Raymond knows that the citizens of Maycomb don't approve of or understand his relationship with the black community so he pretends to be in "the clutches of whiskey" and "weaves a little".  He thinks that people in  Maycomb are racist, so he lets them believe that he can't help the way he lives.  Mr. Raymond believes that giving people a reason for the way he lives will give him his peace.
     The real persona of Mr. Raymond is the one that he presents to the children.  The real persona and reason Mr. Raymond lives with the black people is because he wants to.  He likes the company of black people more than white people because the former don't judge him and are kind to him.  Mr. Raymond disapproves of "the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people, too".   Mr. Raymond hides his real persona and feelings because he wants to give the people of Maycomb what they want.
     Mr. Raymond has two personas, one that he uses in public and another which he shows the children. He is a conflicted character, being a white man and living with black people.  He makes up a drunk character to help the narrow-minded citizens of Maycomb understand why he lives in a black community.  He does this so that he can live his life in peace, without people reprimanding him.  Mr. Raymond really doesn't care what the townspeople think, he just wants to spend time with the people he likes.

The Odyssey Diagram

How to Grow a Blog Questions

What do I want to accomplish?
  I want my opinion to be heard.
What do I want to see in June?
  A large collection of both academic and free-style writing pieces that I am proud of.
What will make my blog flourish?
  Effort and hard work.
How do I sustain my blog?
  By continuing to work hard at blog entries.
What are some ideas or resources that I can tap into to find sustenance as a thinker and writer?
  Other blogs, newspapers, books, etc.
What will make it grow?
  Writing a lot of blog entries.
What kinds of activities will I engage in to ensure that my blog thrives as a place for thinking, writing and interacting?
  I will put time into researching topics that I choose to write about.
What kinds of activities will support my blog and lead towards achieving my goals?
  Thinking of new ideas to write about, reading stories that I can write about and then, of course, writing down my ideas.