Luxemburg

Shameka Clark

LEH 300

 

            The quote I will be discussing from Luxemburg is:         

“One thing is certain. The world war is a turning point. It is foolish and mad to imagine that we need only survive the war, like a rabbit waiting out the storm under a bush, in order to fall happily back into the old routine once it is over. The world war has altered the conditions of our struggle and, most of all, it has changed us. Not that the basic law of capitalist development, the life-and-death war between capital and labor, will experience any amelioration. But now, in the midst of the war, the masks are falling and the old familiar visages smirk at us. The tempo of development has received a mighty jolt from the eruption of the volcano of imperialism. The violence of the conflicts in the bosom of society, the enormousness of the tasks that tower up before the socialist proletariat – these make everything that has transpired in the history of the workers’ movement seem a pleasant idyll”.

 

-          In the beginning of this quote Luxemburg’s talks about how more has to be done for the society, other than just the war. More work has to be done other than the ideas brought forth (Germans) to war. Luxemburg‘s discussing how many people had different feelings about going into the war, seems to ask do you still believe in those same ideas after the war. The war was supposed to change things for the better especially for the working class; but it didn’t, so are the working classes going to just fall back into the same routines? Something must be done to survive the concepts of war because the problems that exist before the war stills exist after the war and in this instance the Germans losing the war had a doubling effect on these concepts because the proletariat class would have change imposed. Some of the concept could have been how are we going to come together as a people and move forward; to survive the down fall of losing the war. Also Luxemburg’s seems to warn the people that the other side that won may try to promote a social change. So we as a people have to stay strong and stand together through the struggles that may arise during this time. Luxemburg wants the proletariat people to understand that the lessons shown from previous conflicts have to be acknowledged so real change could occur and possibly a different course of action realized by the people.

 

M

Shameka Clark

LEH 300

 

            In the article “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep: A Brief History of Child Murder in Cinema”, Chris Eggertser the author discusses serial movies. In each movies he discusses there is a common thread between them. That thread is child murder in cinema. Eggertser presents an argument for why the films have success or lack’s success. What I believe Eggertser is trying to say in his article is films such as “M” and “The Believers” is much more than a scary film such as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” because they used the child murders as a viewpoint to show a broader view of the society. In the film “M” this was done by showing the different parts of the society such as the children, weeping mother, police, beggars, criminals, the poor, and the streets (community)where the story took place. Where as a film like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is about killing, blood and guts. Films such as “The Lovely Bones” and “The Believers” are similar to “M” because it a base on a real concept of life and is about showing how the murders of the child/ren affected the people in the society. Films such as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is the opposite, it uses the child murder as a base for the story, but don’t follow up on it. But instead use that base as a means to kill in a scary way with lots of blood involve.

Lyrics in Germany

Shameka Clark

LEH 300

 

            The two songs I will be discussing about today is “The Lavender Song” music by Mischa Spoliansky and lyrics by Kurt Schwabach and “Night Ghost” music by Rudolf Nelson and lyrics by Friedrich Hollaender. The part of song “The Lavender Song” is :
We're not afraid to be queer and different
if that means hell -- well, hell we'll take the chance.

In German: Wir haben keine Angst zu queer und unterschiedliche
wenn das bedeutet, hell - gut, die Hölle nehmen wir die Chance.

-          To me this part of the song is very strong because of the words used. What I think Spoliansky and Schwabach are saying is that they are not afraid to be gay and different because that is who they are. If being gay means trouble or hell, they are willing to take that chance and deal with the matter with God. I choose these lyrics because I strongly agree that very human should have right to date to whom they feel without being judge by others and yes it is okay to be gay and or different.

In “Night Ghost” there was a line that caught my attention was “Don’t be so scared, It's only me waking you. And after you have been uncovered, you will get tucked in again.

In German : Seien Sie nicht so viel Angst, es ist nur mir wachen Sie.
Und nachdem Sie wurden freigelegt,
Sie werden wieder versteckt bekommen.

I choose these lyrics because it reminded me when I was a child and I thought I heard a ghost. So I would call mother and she would come and talk to me and tuck me back into bed. So these lyrics brought back childhood memories for me; which is why it caught my attention.

 

Paragraph 175: I believe that this is related to the lecture it discusses how people were not able to express their sexual pleasures, so they were not able to be true to themselves. If one did show that they like the same sex they were put in jail or punished.

Siddhartha

Siddhartha

Shameka Clark

Leh 300

Prof. B. Murdaco

 

The passage I choose is as follow:

-Listen well, my dear, listen well! The sinner, which I am and which you are, is a sinner, but in times to come he will be Brahma again, he will reach the Nirvana, will be Buddha—and now see: these 'times to come' are a deception, are only a parable! The sinner is not on his way to become a Buddha, he is not in the process of developing, though our capacity for thinking does not know how else to picture these things. No, within the sinner is now and today already the future Buddha, his future is already all there, you have to worship in him, in you, in everyone the Buddha which is coming into being, the possible, the hidden Buddha. The world, my friend Govinda, is not imperfect, or on a slow path towards perfection: no, it is perfect in every moment, all sin already carries the divine forgiveness in itself, all small children already have the old person in themselves, all infants already have death, all dying people the eternal life. It is not possible for any person to see how far another one has already progressed on his path; in the robber and dice-gambler, the Buddha is waiting; in the Brahman, the robber is waiting. In deep meditation, there is the possibility to put time out of existence, to see all life which was, is, and will be as if it was simultaneous, and there everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman. Therefore, I see whatever exists as good, death is to me like life, sin like holiness, wisdom like foolishness, everything has to be as it is, everything only requires my consent, only my willingness, my loving agreement, to be good for me, to do nothing but work for my benefit, to be unable to ever harm me. I have experienced on my body and on my soul that I needed sin very much, I needed lust, the desire for possessions, vanity, and needed the most shameful despair, in order to learn how to give up all resistance, in order to learn how to love the world, in order to stop comparing it to some world I wished, I imagined, some kind of perfection I had made up, but to leave it as it is and to love it and to enjoy being a part of it.—These, oh Govinda, are some of the thoughts which have come into my mind.

- What I believe this passage is saying that no person can stop and look at themselves and see what changes or progress one has made without experiencing life. For one to truly experience life they must not only follow one path, but many paths to reach a center within their self. When one then reaches this center they can see all paths and learn from the steps they took in these paths to better understand who they are as a human/ person. So for Siddhartha (and others in life) he had to take the path where he sinned to complete his journey to his center to truly reflect on himself. I chose this passage because I related to it. This passage spoke volumes; because as I get older I’m learning to look back at the path I took and continue to learn from them.

 

Siddhartha questions

1. Why does Siddhartha leave his father?

- Siddhartha left his father because he needed to find a meaning to his live, and he felt the best way to do this was by having different experiences from the ones he grew up having; which as meant leaving his home and family.

2. If Siddhartha never lived with Kamala and the people in the city would he have reached Enlightenment faster?

- No, I believe the reason he reached enlightenment at the speed that he did because, living in the city with Kamala he was able to travel many paths in a shorter time frame that many don’t experience. Also not only did he have his experience to learn from, but also those of the people in the city, which he observed daily.

3. What is the significance of the river?

- I believe the significance of the river was that the river flow represented the fullness of existence because it is everywhere at once but from different paths. So like the river Siddhartha was able to experience fullness of existence by taking different path and see at that can be seen.

4. Why does Siddhartha feel the priests cannot see the true beauty of the world?

- Siddhartha feels this way because, the priests are only experience the world from one path, so in a way they are only seeing have half of the world and not its full/true beauty.

5. Why does Siddhartha decide not to follow Buddha?

- I believe Siddhartha decided not to follow Buddha because he didn’t need to follow someone else in their path to discover new experiences because when he sinned he was able to take his own path to discover his truth.