Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee

Excerpt from Slow Man, by J.M. Coetzee

Frivolous. How he had strained, that day on Magill Road, to attend the word of the gods, tapped out on their occult typewriter! Looking back, he can only smile. How quaint, how positively antique, to believe one will be advised, when the time comes, to put one's soul in order. What beings could possibly be left, in what corner of the universe, interested in checking all the deathbed accountings that ascend the skies, debits in the one column, credits in the other?
Yet frivolous is not a bad word to sum him up, as he was before the event and may still be. If in the course of a lifetime he has doen no significant harm, he has done no good either. He will leave no trace behind, not even an heir to carry on his name. Sliding through the world: that is how, in a bygone age, they used to designate lives like his: looking after his interests, quietly prospering, attracting no attention. If none is left who will pronounce judgment on such a life, if the Great Judge of All has given up judging and withdrawn to pare his nails, then he will pronounce it himself: A wasted chance.

review

mrs hillestad was gone, again as mrs sullivan took the reins, again. i recited my excerpt from "the rain of gold" in a mexican accent. then, josh shared another of his scrumpulous reviews. (upgrade upgrade upgrade version.) continuing with my mexican phase, we supposedly started reading "the power and the glory". then, everyone talked about dropping out of contemporary issues while i did catch-up work for italian class. the first part of the book should be read next class.

Finals Week Review (Now 98% less saturated fluff!)

Last week was kind of a blur. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you the abridged version, the slimmed-down, polished-up, new packaging, Can't Believe its not Butter, batteries-not-included, portable version of last week.

So here it is:

Stuff happened.
Things occured.
Events took place.

The End.

If you would like further information we strongly encourage you to upgrade your Review model with some of our fantastic expansion packs, with added features not included in the standard model such as...

...the Never-Ending Reading Passages feature, which recounts the assignment where we had to locate the longest piece of quality writing we could find in any of the books we have hitherto read and bore our fellow classmates with it for as long as possible (okay maybe it was only 2-3 minutes, and just seemed worse toward the end when people like me presented)

...the Substitue Teacher package, which details the rise to power of the great Ms. Sullivan, who it is said took the reins of the AP Lit class that Friday during the absence of Ms. Hillestad

...the Golden Lines upgrade, which describes our scouring of the book Siddartha for meaningful and powerful quotes (which basically involved closing one's eyes and stabbing randomly at the text of any page in the book)

...the Class Did Nothing expansion, which includes how Friday the class did nothing. Just for a change of pace.

All these upgrades can be purchased separately and at a reasonable price at any of your local convenience stores, for a 35 second trial period. For anything longer than 35 seconds, prices will become most decidedly UNreasonable. The price for a permanent upgrade package is your firstborn.

Disclaimer: We cannot be held accountable for wildly innacurate, or dangerously entertaining AP Lit Reviews. That's Ms. Hillestad's fault for putting Josh Blanco at the helm of a class blog.

rain of god, by victor villasenor

"good, i like what i hear so far," said dona margarita. "but i want to warn you, mi hijito, that these sound like very good, honest, god-fearing people and so we're going to have to put our heads together and fiugre out a campain so you'll be able to win this girl's hand in marriage. you can't just go around tricking honest poeple with movie tickets, mi hijito. you got to give honest poeple what it is they want."
"how?" aksed salvador, getting defensive. "by telling her mother the truth: that i'm a gambling man and i don't just drink liquor, i manufacture it, too?"
"of course not, mi hijito," said his mother calmly. "honest, god-fearing people don't want to hear the truth. they want you to lie to them."
"mama!" snapped luisa, glancing up at the towering church. "please, watch what you say! we're on the steps of the holy house of god!"
"so," said their mother, full of mischief, "do you really think that if we weren't on these steps the almighty couldn't hear us?"
"oh, mama, please," said luisa, getting more nervous by the moment, "don't talk like this," she pleaded, making the sign of the cross over herself, hoping that they wouldn't get struck down by lightning.
"oh, mi hijita, you woman of such little faith! god respects my honesty that i admit that i lie. he's a hundred thousand years tired of people preaching the truth in his home, but then lying to all the world once they get away from the shadow of his domain!"
"mama, stop it!" said luisa. "i'm beggin you, you're right, i know! but couldn't we just get off the steps and talk across the street?"
she looked so genuinely frightened, staring wide-eyed at the church, that dona margarita began to laugh.
"all right, if that will please you, lusia," said their mother, "but keep in mind that lying and tricking are the very foundation of love and courtship! like you, what did you do, mi hijita, when you went after epitacio to marry you and you were big with child? you lied, you used every form of trickery that we've learned since eve tempted adam, and maria told joseph that god had visited her."
"dear god, please don't listen to her!" shouted luisa. "she doesn't know what she says, dear god! i didn't really lie! no, i just kind of, well, didn't tell the whole truth."
"exactly!" said dona margarita. "and those are the best kind of lies! always keep close to the truth, mi hijito, so in case you're caught ankle-deep in you own caca, you can crawl out."
"oh, mama!" screamed luisa, rushing off the church steps as fast as she could go. "your'e just awful!"
seeing his sister flee, salvador burst out laughing. taking his mother's arm, they went across the street.

Review for Monday January 22

Class was very simple yesterday so I'm going to make this a simple review...what happened in class goes as follows

Brittany's Review
My Reading
Essay
Dismissal

Quality Writing: Night Watch

Night Watch
By Terry Pratchett

He heard the distant clocks strike three. Tonight, the streets would explode.

According to the history books, it would be one shot that did it, around about sunset. One of the foot regiments would be assembled in Hen and Chickens Field, awaiting orders. And there would be people watching them. Troops always drew an audience...impressionable kids, the inevitable Ankh-Morkpork floating street crowd, and, of course, the ladies whose affection was extremely negotiable.

And when that captain got an arrow in his stomach and was groaning on the ground, some of the crossbowmen fired in the direction of the shot. That's what the history books said. They fired at the house windows, where people had been watching. Perhaps the shot had come from one of them.

Some arrows fell short, some did not. And there were people who fired back. And then, one after another, horrible things would happen. By then it was too late for them not to. The tension would unwind like a spring, scything through the city.

They were plotters, there was not doubt about it. Some had been ordinary people who'd had enough. Some were young people with no money who objected to the fact that the world was run by old people who were rich. Some were in it to get girls. And some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what the they called "The People." Vimes had spent his life on the streets and had met decent men, and fools, and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar, and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People.

People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.

As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up.

What would run through the streets soon enough wouldn't be a revolution or a riot. It'd be people who were frightened and panicking. It was what happened when all the machinery of a city faltered, the wheels stopped turning, and all the little rules broke down. And when that happened, humans were worse than sheep. Sheep just ran; they didn't try to bite the sheep next to them.

Inside Out

It's like the tears you keep held back
coming all at once
It's like that empty space of wall
waiting for your punch
It's like the dry pillow on your bed
catching the sudden flow of tears
It's like the carefree look on your face
finally showing fear

It's like someone you've been ignoring all along
then you reach out for their help
It's like looking at yourself in the mirror
and learning to love yourself.

Wednesday Jan. 17 Review

Well, as we all know, it was an A day. Nothing new about that! I read my piece of quality writing from Siddhartha which, by this point in time, we should have all finished!!!! Then I acted as Kim for about a minute as I read her review for the previous day. We then discussed what the class was going to be doing during the exam periods for next week; everyone can relax because we don't have an actual question and answer exam!!!!!! But don't forget that you need to be working on the notes for your three books of choice (from the previously chosen list, of course)! Once that was complete we talked about our walkabouts, specifically about how finding a good service project is hard!! After the walkabout chit-chat we got into the circle to discuss Siddhartha. We talked about Buddha. (For all who must know he was born in 563 BC) We also discussed how many stories from different religions are parallel and how many holidays of today are based on traditions of yesterday. We also talked about the practices of Samanas and how Siddhartha was trying to find the Atman in him by leaving his Self (his physical body). The subject of meditation and the ability to detach yourself from the physical world came up and Cheri gave us her story of the show she saw in Tunisia where the men laid on broken glass and knives!!!! Govinda also came up and we talked about how some people are followers and leaders, and guess what our class is made up of leaders!!! Shocking isn't it!! We also talked about Siddhartha's awakening and how he realized that you can't be taught enlightenment you have to find your own path to enlightenment.

Review for January 16

Yesterday was a C day so we had a short class. First I read my piece of quality writing from Catch-22. We then discussed the memorial service held last Friday. Then we went into our circle and discussed Siddhartha, which some people found a little confusing. We discussed how much Siddhartha gave up in search of answers, and how most of us would never be able to give up that much. We also discussed how we can relate to Siddhartha because most of us at this time feel ready to leave our families and high school and go off to college.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

"Listen, Kamala, when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha has an aim, a goal. Siddhartha does nothing; he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through the water, without doing anything, without bestirring himself; he is drawn and lets himself fall. He is drawn by his goal for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons; there are no demons. Everyone can preform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast."

Catch-22

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask to; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more mission sand sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respective whistle.

Review

On Wednesday, we did our book exchange.

:)

I believe everybody enjoyed guessing who their "secret santa" was.

mmm...that's about it.

kthxbye.

Father and Daugther - Paul Simon

If you leap awake
In the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second
You can't remember where you are
Just open your window
And follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain
Where we counted every falling star
I believe a light that shines on you
Will shine on you forever
And though I can't guarantee
There's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I'm gonna stand guard like a postcard
Of the Golden Retriever
And never leave till I leave you
With a sweet dream in your head

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved
His daughter more than I love you

Trust your intuition
It's just like goin fishin'
You cast your line and hope you get a bite
You don't need to waste your time
Worryin' about the market place
Trying to help the human race
Strugglin to survive its harshest hour

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father who loved
His daughter more than I love you