Peer Review 8: Maggie’s “T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Journey of the Magi'”

I really enjoyed reading this as I found it really interesting. I knew that Eliot’s ‘The Journey of the Magi’ was based on the biblical story but I loved the further discoveries that you made with the poem. It is interesting that you link the white horse within the poem to the horse that Jesus rides on within the book of Revelations. That particular moment is Jesus’ second coming, when He will defeat the beast and bring Christians home to Heaven. By simply linking the two, the poem seems to become a lot more fierce, heightening the experience that the persona is voicing.

I love what you shared in your last paragraph, exploring the rebirth of humanity through Christianity. I never really thought of linking that idea to the Wise Man’s questioning of a birth or death, but it seems to make sense and even quite amazing. Your idea of the three Wise Men feeling out of place because of their faith that is separate to the one that is among the rest of their land is really interesting as well. As you said, Judaism was the common religion of that time, and the Bible explores many situations where someone is “different” because they have faith in God–a different god to those who surround them.

Your response reminds me of Matthew 5:13-16, where we are told to be “the salt of the earth” and that we are “the light of the world”. No matter what darkness surrounds us, our faith in God will outshine that darkness and flavour others’ unbelief, hopefully leading them to God. Well done Maggie!

Week 8 Response: We stop growing when we think it isn’t necessary

Respond briefly to the idea that opening our heart to some one outside our comfort zone can be a real catalyst for personal growth and awakening. Base this on your own experience.

Opening our heart to someone outside our comfort zone can definitely go any way in terms of results and personal growth, depending on the person as well as the matter being shared. Expanding our comfort zones is definitely one way to grow because, in order for us to grow, we need to make enough room for that growth and other people can help with that. But, as I said, people can also prevent and stop our personal growth due to their judgement, feedback and advice. Responding to this statement, I think, allows our experience with this situation to play a big part. For me, I have had quite a positive experience when it comes to opening my heart for the sake of personal growth. A few months ago, I was offered to become a Youth leader at my church. Receiving this offer, I was feeling so many emotions at the same time! I was excited but nervous, motivated but scared, ready but intimidated. Because I was able to test the waters at first, I accepted the offer. To be honest, I was not sure if I really was ready to lead others and become a Youth leader. So, i did what most people would do: I spoke to a good friend. But, even though I consider him a good friend, I have not really opened up to him much and especially about my walk with God. So, this was definitely something that is outside of my comfort zone. After speaking to him and sharing as much as what was needed, I felt a lot more better about both myself and the possibility of becoming a Youth leader. Talking to him allowed me to release what I needed to improve on and allowed me to realise where I exactly fit in all of this. Obviously, I’m not perfect, but I believe that admitting you need improvement is a way of growing and it definitely helps hearing it from someone else. If you were to open up to someone that you already knew very well and also knew you very well, the impact of personal growth or even awakening may not be that effective because you are already so comfortable with this person, you would find it acceptable to be comfortable with your faults. I’m not sure if that makes sense exactly. To me, that idea is quite complex to type out. Anyway, opening up to someone that is outside of your comfort zone is a great way for personal growth. Expanding your comfort zone means expanding the room you have for growth!

Peer Review 7: Vanessa’s ‘Blog Post 7’

Vanessa, you have definitely hit the nail on the head with rewording the passage into “beautiful, clear writing”. Reading the before passage is so confusing and sounds over-packed with too many words (even though your summary is longer). Your summary is definitely a lot more smoother and easier to understand compared to the first passage. Although you managed to make the summary longer than Orwell’s example, this is where quality over quantity is applied.

Here’s the link: http://xoxnessieyy.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/blog-post-7-topic-1/

Week 7: Psalm 51:10

Take a passage from the Bible that you really enjoy and try to turn it into a version full of modern jargon (Use Orwell’s example from Ecclesiastes as a guide).

Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and renew a right spirit within me.

– Psalm 51:10 (NKJV)

Generate into the interior of my being an immaculate heart, O the Supreme Being,

and reinvigorate a steadfast soul within the bounds of myself.

– Psalm 51:10 (modernised jargon)

Peer Review 6: Hayley’s ‘Week 6: Modernism’

Hayley, I know I should probably start by talking about the beginning of your piece, but I love the way you ended it! It is supposed to be a horror piece after all and it should be so from start to finish, which you did quite well.

Your imagination is interesting and hilarious, but mainly interesting (I promise), coming up with a “horse man” to turn into. I’m assuming it’s the reversal of a centaur though which would be very interesting to see! I like that the atmosphere turns ominous from the use of onomatopoeia of “SCREECHING SCREECHING” since that type of sound–or word–is automatically irritating and fearful at the same time. I have to admit that the rhetorical questions did distract me from staying within the set world of the piece, only because I felt as if they weren’t questions that I would exactly ask–but that’s OK, obviously. I mean this in a positive way!

What I found interesting though was the use of the word “graciously”. In a way, it draws you out from the dark atmosphere, lightens it up, then sucks you back into the darkness with the next sentence, which is awesome!

I do wish you spent more time on the discovery of being turned into something else. I know that we all know how horses look like, but the reaction side of it would have been intriguing with your style of writing. Other than that, I enjoyed the piece greatly. Keep up the good work!

Here’s the link to the post: http://hayfields1994.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/week-7-modernism/

Week 6 Response: Waking Up On The Other Side of…an Insect?

Write the first paragraph of your own terrifying fantasy story of how you woke up one morning and found yourself turned into a…… (make your paragraph as Kafkaesque as you possibly can.)

The annoying sound of my alarm fills the air, screaming at me to wake up, to start my day. I mentally prepare myself for the day: “Ok, I can do this. I need to go to class today, and then rehearse for my performances, and then go home and work on tomorrow’s essay”. I move my leg to get off the bed. That’s weird. My foot hasn’t reached the edge of the bed yet. I move it forward, towards the ground, and I don’t feel anything. Literally, nothing…my leg is still in mid-air, but why? I try my other leg—actually; I’ll sit-up and see what’s going on. I open my eyes to help with coordination and—oh my! What is going on!? My room! It has increased in size! No, it can’t be! But there is the ceiling before my eyes, higher than ever. Ok, hold on, I have a mirrored wardrobe on my left. I’ll just have a look at the whole room—where am I? Where’s my reflection!? What is happening!? My room looks the same, only bigger! There’s my bed but where am I? I’m not on it! Actually, I can’t even feel the bed below me. It’s as if I’m floating. What do I do? I need someone, anyone, to help me! I can’t see anything besides a disgusting FLYING COCKROACH! What the!? It just had some sort of spasm attack! There it goes again! And again! It’s as if we’re freaking out about the same thing at the same time! We’re both moving at the same time! I really need a closer look to this thing. I move towards the mirror—oh my! The cockroach is too! No. It can’t be…can it? No, of course not! This cockroach cannot possibly be me! I need to get out of here. I’m going to the door, if I can even manage to. What! The cockroach is too! I can’t believe it! I…am…the…cockroach! I immediately start dropping, faster and faster I fall. I look to the mirror and watch the cockroach—me—falling towards the ground. Closer and closer and—