EVERYONE READ THIS (please)

Welcome back! This is a reminder about the guidelines for the blog. Remember that it is part of your grade so if you do not blog your grade will be negatively affected.
Each post should reflect the reading assignments for the week. Try not to simply restate what was said in class; show that you have read by formulating a coherent post that is at least a paragraph (5 sentences) long. You are graded on how well the assignment is done, not just if it is done, so it helps to reference the novel or work that you read and use quotes to clarify your point. Use correct grammar and spelling to the best of your ability and no texting shorthand please.
Each week you also need to comment on a classmate's post and at the bottom of your post please include "I commented on ____________'s post: (title of their post)" (example: I commented on Amanda's post "Everyone Read This") That just helps us out a lot when we are grading your blogs.
Blogs are due Friday morning at 1:00 AM. Have it done before you get in bed on Thursday night. :)
LATE BLOGS DO NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. This is new from last semester- if your blog is late you will receive a zero for that week. You have plenty of time to get them posted. If something happens and the blog messes up, email it to me at agaster62@rams.umobile.edu before the deadline to receive credit.
You do get two blog skips. This means you can miss blogging twice and still receive full credit. If you choose not to use one or both of your skips then the points will be added to your final blog grade as bonus.
Blogging starts next week and a blog is due every week unless otherwise announced in class.
Any questions? Leave a comment or ask any of the Honors Council in class :)
Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit

Honors

Honors to me this semester was good. It really challenged my views and encouraged those views i had not yet developed. Honors was a different classroom experience for me and it taught me a lot not just about english but about issues in life.

PS I commented on Jamne's Post

Honors applies to life

I know this is a little late, I'm so sorry!

I can't say how much I've appreciated Honors this semester.  It's so much fun having a true open forum for ideas, where you can actually throw a figurative (and literal) bone of contention into the midst of the room, and discuss hard subjects.  While some of our reading has been incredibly difficult, it's been so much fun to see people ask questions because they want to know answers, not just to share their opinion, and to watch all of us emerge from lectures on Plato's circular reasoning on justice with headaches, but be so interested we have to continue his argument outside of the classroom.  Honors has taken the ancient works of literature and made them applicable.  We've been living the dialogues of Plato, making allegorical connections with Plato, and fighting for the rights of Orestes before the gods.  No where else could we have this opportunity, and I truly appreciate it.
PS. commented on Emily LaForce's post :)

The Censorship of Poesy

So, I am yet again sitting up writing a paper that will probably take me the majority of the night to finish. I had forgotten I had to blog until I was looking for something to help me procrastinate with, and then i remembered, with 15 minutes to spare. Over the semester, as I've contemplated what I was going to write the final paper on, my mind kept coming back to the subject I finally settled on, Proving Plato Wants to Banish the Poets from the City. At first, I was going to write the paper completely tongue-in-cheek. And up until about 2 o'clock in the morning that was the direction the paper was headed. Then I really started to get into what I was doing, which was removing from The Iliad what Plato wanted to censor. And I realized that there really would be no poetry left and the poets would not be allowed in the city. And it made me wonder what it would be like to not have poetry in the world. Granted, I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I do appreciate it. And besides, when Plato is talking about the poets and poetry, he's really talking about all literature. Life without literature would not be a life I would want to live! I don't know how I could handle not having literature in my life! And now, as I sit here, working on a paper for a Literature class, I'm beginning to wonder what would happen if the works I am focusing on were censored the same way Plato wanted to censor them. Then I remember that I actually need to write my paper, so I try not to let it distract me.
Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit,
May everyone have a wonderful Finals week and a Merry Christmas!!
Meghan Johnston!
PS - I commented on Emily's blog
PPS - 2 minutes to spare! :)

Salt of the Earth.

What does it mean to be the salt of the Earth? My church history is a repetitious cycle of bible stories, parables, and anecdotes. I remember being taught to be the "salt of the Earth" as it says in Matthew 5:13-16. I have come to the conclusion that this passage must be talking about the lukewarm Christian. It is a warning to not let one's relationship with Christ lose its flame. Salt, once it loses its saltiness can not be restored to its original taste. At this point, salt is completely useless. Matthew 25:30 says,  "Worthless servants will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." What a horrible way to spend eternity! This is why we are encouraged to be salty. 

PS i commented on Jasmine's post.

Destiny and a whole lot of digging...

Throughout the last couple of years of my life, I feel that God has been revealing to me that his plan from the very beginning was to restore creation its original purpose. God wants to make us into what he destined us to be from the very beginning of time, before sin or anything separated us from him. I found this last lecture to be a satisfying ending to a wonderful semester in our great "quest for truth". Knowing that God won't leave his people where they are but takes them with Him on the journey is one of the most comforting things. The most comforting thing I know at this point in time is that I'll get to rest this weekend from my frantic all nighter. I'm discovering that honors papers can really take it out of you but the results are so worth it. I'm so grateful that I dug into my topic and found answers. This is the same with life. If you stay up until 4:30 in the morning, you are bound to find some answers. Here's to some more mind opening truths! (P.S. Commented on Amanda)

Momma knows best

       As I began to register for classes for my first collegiate semester, my mother told me to look into the honors program. She of course, had been stalking the UM website to see where all of her money was going to be going, and had stumbled across an article about how the honors program allowed students to make more personal connections with their professors. I had looked into honors programs at other schools, but they were based around your degree field; not through the english department. I already had my required english credits, so I didn't really see the point in retaking four classes that I had already passed; however, my mother had other plans for me.
      Looking back on this semester, honors really is my favorite class, and I am extremely glad that I chose to take the course. It not only taught me a different way to read literature, but it also taught me to always be searching. To search for truth, to search for new opinions and ideas, and to search out the unknown, and I look forward to continuing this search.

p.s.- I commented on Amanda Gaster's blog