Forget It

So I previously mentioned that I would be posting my columns on this blog which turned out to be a bigger hassle than I wanted to deal with. So if you want to read my stuff, ask me and I'll send ya a copy.
So here I am! Back in good ol' North Carolina. Not quite sure why I'm here, but I figure I'd just go with the flow and see what happens. So far I've got an internship lined up with The Herald Sun (a newspaper in Durham about 10 minutes away) and I may have a job at a chocolate/pastry shop. Fun, no?
So we'll see what happens. I'm also looking to start my mission papers and hopefully be gone somewhere exotic by the end of the summer. Unfortunately, for that plan to work I need money. So...ugh. We'll see. For now, I'm just going to go with it, see what happens, and hope for the best.
Yes the weather's great and I can just rest and relax here at home...but already I miss snowy, busy, crazy, crowded Rexburg. Weird, huh?

On The Sublime

"That which is simultaneously attractive and repulsive." That was the definition my British Lit professor gave me for one little word that sparked my interest: Sublime.

He was talking about nature and the fact that it can be a magnificent wonder and at the same time, an indescribable horror. One second you're gazing up at a mountain full of beauty and majesty, and a second later you're contemplating all the dangers one mountain range can pose. Mud slides, wild animals, hypothermia...you get my drift.

People can be sublime. It's like watching Will Smith in Hancock. You're distracted by his good-looking face and bulging biceps--until you realize just how repulsed you are by his character and, really, the whole movie in general.

A 1988 American Reggae band was named Sublime. Good name for a band. But Reggae music? Mmmm. There it goes again. Simultaneous attraction and repulsion.

The dictionary definition of sublime isn't quite as interesting. Something sublime is thought to be highly noble or excellent. Awe-inspiring or supreme. Like the outside of an Oreo. Yes, the cookie--not the filling--the best part and truly sublime.

To sublime something means to make it higher, nobler, or purer. It's also a chemistry term where something solid is turned into a gas and then as it cools, goes straight back into a solid, skipping the liquid phase.

Now that's sublime. The attraction is there as you think about how amazing the world is in that processes like sublimation can actually work. And then there's that stomach-clenching horror that comes as you realize that you've just admitted to liking something about chemistry.

Lastly, if you sublimate something, you are changing an instinctual desire or impulse that may be publicly unacceptable to make it socially or culturally welcome. For instance, you would sublimate all your impulses to watch Hancock, eat only the frosting from the Oreo, or listen to Reggae music by simply...not doing them.

Oh the complexities of the sublime. There are hundreds of things that could be "simultaneously attractive and repulsive." I guess it's just a matter of personal preference and perspective.

How sublime.

Columns

So my new favorite class this semester is Comm 340. Advanced Media Writing. Who knew Journalism could be so fun? Our current project is all about columns. We are required to write three columns a week for the rest of the semester. So I thought I'd share them here. Enjoy!

Impossible

Okay. So this blog was originally solely used for the purpose of completing a requirement for my journalism class. Blog three times a week about something you are interested inblah blah blah...

So I wrote about books. And now the class is over, and I've decided to take over my own blog and make it into whatever I want.

Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of interests. So despite the fact that the only thing I've written about on this fabulous blog is books, I'm writing about yet another BOOK.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin.

I've had to read a LOT of books this semester. Seriously, more than I ever thought I wanted to. But for some reason, I can't stop. Impossible was one of the best books I've read in a long time. And really, now that I've finished it and am thinking about it, I'm not sure exactly why I liked it so much.

Maybe it's just because it's Christmas time and I'm just in a crazy sort of fanciful imaginative disposition. But I really liked it. It was different. Not your usual young adult novel...you know. Some kid finds out he/she has powers or some magical talent that no one else does, so he/she has to go on some quest to kill some guy because he/she's the only one that can save the day...yadda yadda yadda. They're all the same.

But this one was not like that. Ehh ok it was a little like that. But not completely. Anyway, I don't even want to tell you what it's about because it'll just sound strange. But trust me! It's amazing. Totally worth reading. And I'm going to read it again. After I read all the other books I've been meaning to.

But seriously. Impossible. Nancy Werlin. Read it.

Hungry?

One of the most interesting books I read over the course of my Young Adult Literature class was Suzanne Collins' novel, The Hunger Games.

"Set in the far future, this book is about the nation of Panem, which is the remains of what was North America. In Panem there are 12 Districts forced to live in poverty. Each year each district must participate in what is called The Hunger Games. Two tributes (one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18) are chosen to participate in the games and compete to the death. When her sister is chosen to be the tribute for District 12, Katniss volunteers to go in her place. As she uses her talents and wits to stay alive in the games she learns how to survive and, in the process, learns about herself."

This was my synopsis for the book. Overall, the book posed some interesting dilemmas. While Katniss proves her bravery by competing in the hunger games, she pays for it with the price of another child's life.

Scheduled to be released in the near future as a motion picture, The Hunger Games is going to cause quite a stir, I'm sure. Children being attacked by killer bees, falling in pits to their deaths, and most controversial--being murdered by other children.

Despite the bad vibe that this blog post is giving the book, it really was entertaining and not quite as gruesome as it sounds. Katniss is an adventurous girl with a good heart, and the book kept me on my toes.

The second book in the series has just been released, and I think I am just a little hungry for more Hunger Games.