Adam is basing his paper on The Last Temptation of Christ, yet another book I have not read, but it was a great idea to model your paper after that. The book sounds fascinating, I'm going to have to search it out! Jesus being swayed by the pleasures of human life, by perhaps wanting to give up his duty of being the Messiah, sounds absolutely riveting. Adam used this book to introduce the eternal question: should we nourish the body, the spirit, or somehow both? I'm interested to read more about his ideas of individual duty vs. sacred duty.
Mick, you were a pleasure to watch thanks to your sheer enthusiasm. I agree that this is the most fun paper ever, and it sounds like your paper will also be a pleasure to read! I got a little lost sometimes...so many different facets!...but the idea of following a path from the mountain, to the cave, into the furnace, then ascending to the garden sounds like a great way to incorporate many different ideas and many different texts, both read in class and in others. I like you concept of a whole "Stairway to Heaven" theme from the furnace to the garden, and I like that you don't know exactly what the snake will portray yet, but that there will be one!
Pat's paper is dealing with the "kingdom of Heaven is within," idea, of comparing epiphanies of the outside to epiphanies of the inside. My paper is based a lot on outside influences on epiphanies, so this idea is especially relevant to me. Another thing Pat said stuck with me and really helped in the writing of my paper: "don't overthink it." I have a serious tendency to do this, and after last Monday's presentations, I was trying too hard to make my paper just as brilliant as those of my peers, and forgetting to let my own brilliance (as it is) come through, rather than think too hard and attempt to write a paper that doesn't capture my own essence.
Victoria was our last presenter. And I LOVED her idea! One of my favorites, I hope I get to read your paper! Music as epiphany is such a great idea, and her use of each sections as different music stations was great. I also borrowed (ahem, stole) her idea of opening each section of the paper with a quote, and the idea that the words don't always matter. As English majors, we put so much stock into words and their meaning. Right now, I'm taking a creative writing class emphasizing poetry, and with the words of Victoria, this really seems like a lesson I need to learn. My professor is always stressing that I don't need to be so blunt and to-the-point, that the images and sounds will speak for themselves. Sometimes just the sound of the words can be enough, and this idea is still a bit uncomfortable and surprising for me. I always want there to be a specified meaning behind each word...but as Victoria points out, music doesn't always have words, and can have great meaning behind it.
Great job to all of my classmates, gold stars to all of you for your fantastic presentations. Can't wait to read the papers!
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