Art

Art surrounds us. I think pretty much all of us can agree with this statement, it almost always is with us and in one form or another is difficult to escape. Between advertisements, movies, poetry, and music, art is an integral part of our lives. However there is one form of art that receives very little attention; one that is neglected in part because it is intrinsic, but highly moving regardless. This form of art is reading.

It may be easy to say that reading is not a form of art. It surely doesn’t fit into our model of what art is, it isn’t visual, or aesthetic. You can’t hear reading, it just doesn’t fit in. However I’d like to look at what art is. In a general perspective, art is the focusing of creative energies towards a sensual experience. When you consider music or advertisements, it is easy to see that these subjects fall into the category of art. Reading also meets this criterion, though once again we neglect it because it is intrinsic. Just as the painter sees or the musician hears, as a reader advances they can experience the story instead of just understanding it. This encourages thought much more than the text on the page, and allows for much the same enjoyment as other forms of art. Because of our failure to view reading as an art, we do a lot to screw up its instruction. We teach our children to interpret words on a page, and while many of us learn to explore further with our minds as we age, I would argue that the reason so many people dislike reading is because they do not understand how to do it. I believe that we need to instruct students in an abstract manner, just as you teach any other form of art. You can tell a painter line by line how to draw or a singer note by note how to sing, but it loses its beauty when it is done this way, and I am afraid we are doing this with reading. 

Cultural Event

As a destitute college student, my first thought when instructed to attend a cultural event was to find one that was free. Looking for free events, I found them to be few and far between, and of poor quality. I expected as much, but after attending for my own purposes several free recitals and finding nothing of note to write about, I was at a loss. My problem was fixed, however, when a friend was kind enough to give me a ticket to a show back in my hometown of Williamsport. The show, Little Shop of Horrors, was one that I had never seen live, so I welcomed the opportunity. It was performed at our community theatre league, which I had been involved with through high school, and included as cast members a number of people I knew.

Several years ago my mother invited me to watch the film adaptation of this musical, and I can say it was definitely not what I had expected. The stage show was very different from the film adaptation, one example of this being (spoiler alert) that almost everyone dies. Beyond that, I found the stage version to be much more interesting than its movie counterpart, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I thought that the show was very well done, and in particular I enjoyed the acting of the plant, as it came across very much like the animated movie version, and the various versions of it as it grew were all very aesthetic. There wasn’t really anything that I would want to complain about, as like I said I enjoyed the show, though this admittedly might be because of my personal attachment to the cast. The thrust-stage theatre was sold out, as it was for the run of the show, and the lighting and sound were both done very effectively and tastefully. Overall it was a very positive experience, and I look forward to going back and seeing future shows at that venue.

asdf

First signing up for English 15S was done by the recommendation of my FTCAP advisor, and because I had no idea what sort of classes I should be taking on my own. I came in with moderate expectations, as English is by no means my favorite subject, however over the course of this semester I have learned to really enjoy English 15S; even if it is a little early for me.

Coming to Penn State I had been warned of the class sizes here, and a lot of questioning was done about how fluid a learning environment that situation creates. After spending a semester here, I would say that even though some of my classes enroll over seven-hundred students, Penn State does a very good job at fitting class sizes to the course material to most efficiently serve their purpose. This is reflected in this class, being about twenty-two students, as well as in the rest of my classes.

In terms of the class material itself, a lot of emphasis was put on the arts in general instead of focusing it on English. This is an approach that I have not experienced in my previous English courses, and a pleasant one, as I am heavily involved in the performing arts. I very much enjoyed our required out of class arts trips, as one thing I think Penn State promotes poorly are the events happening around campus, and it was great to have the opportunity to go to these events that I would not otherwise have known about. In particular, I really enjoyed seeing In Red and Brown Water, which has been the only theatric performance I have gotten to see since coming to Penn State. I heard no mention of it outside of class, and unfortunately I think that was reflected in attendance. Once again I think Penn State is lagging on this note.

Another focus of this class was put on our course blogs, and our effort in them. Before coming to college I had written blogs for classes, but they were usually one and done assignments. I did not realize that as much focus is put on them as it is in college, as several of my classes require them. I think this is a reflection of the student body at Penn State, as they are known for being extremely active online. Anyone who questions this needs only look at any public voting competition online. If Penn State is involved, expect them to be winning by a considerable margin. So in this sense Penn State is very intelligent with marketing their classes towards a medium that the student body is already intimately familiar with.

With my writing itself, I would say that I have improved in the concision of my texts, which in the past has been a serious problem for me. However I have also improved with completing thoughts instead of just stating them, which fills out my papers and blog posts much more than I have been able to do in the past, without stating the unnecessary.

Overall I would rate my experience in English 15S to have been a very positive one; miles ahead of my expectations. More so than this I believe this course has been a good stepping stone towards more difficult courses that I will be required to take in the future, a stepping stone that I had previously hoped for but was a big unknown coming in. I would like to thank Sheila for helping (and putting up with) me through this course, and wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors, as I’m sure she has more magazine articles in her future.

Blog

http://15snmpy-y.blogspot.com/

Under- you think you know art

http://rfatherly.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water-by-tarell.html?

showComment=1355190440808#c85173865337791858

http://quirkyconfessional.blogspot.com/2012/12/greek-sing_4.html?

showComment=1355190704450#c96190667740875679

http://artstateofpsu.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-social-network.html?showComment=1355190959560#c368001561688730627

http://haileyhere.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1355191295055#c9188849283644760816

http://jrose412.blogspot.com/2012/12/for-love-of-music.html?showComment=1355191962386#c2188633938885141113

http://morgannsays.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-arboretum.html?showComment=1355192092074#c6617460776081394269

http://knaviello.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1355192242163#c7056843308318391816

http://colorfulspots.blogspot.com/p/my-palmer-museum-visit.html?showComment=1355192454876

http://the1meltingpot.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-arboretum-at-penn-state.html?

showComment=1355192607390#c8608881644685325463

http://jenniferlongdancingart.blogspot.com/2012/11/catch-22-marathon-reading.html?showComment=1355192815360#c1226752136662853548

The link to the course evaluations (SRTE) can be found on ANGEL. Please take a moment to fill this out--it's important!--and then post a sentence under #3 of your final blog journal that says, "Hi, Ms. S--I completed my SRTEs!"