With a title stolen directly from Henry Miller, you can expect a transcendent quality. I read Coney Island of the Mine for the first time after my AP Calc final, sitting in the back of glass trying not to think about how the test had gone. It's odd, how Ferlinghetti writes; very direct, almost unpoetic at times, themes full of ephemeral beauty but almost nothing in retrospect.

I loved the book as I read it, but I can't remember it now. I salvaged it from my trunk and I'm turning through it and it really is beautiful but only in the present moment. The words sink and are gone; they imprint upon your mind only in thematics but not in base worth. I do not know if this is genius or not; surely Ferlinghetti is an artist capable of amazing things, but his valuing of transcendentalism but also urgency does not mix. He is spectacular in the now but a ghost in the future; he's the type you cite as an influence but never directly quote. Nothing he says is all too mind-blowing; really, Ginsberg and Burroughs took up the sexual extremes, Kerouac embodied the displacement, and Corso handled the language. Ferlinghetti met and published all those men at one time or another, and all would cite him as a genius or at the very least a critical part of their work, but he doesn't stand out. He's forgotten, even among critics; he's part of the movement, but you don't see him published.

The question here is whether or not Ferlinghetti's attempts at almost hidden poetry and meaning are effective; yes the themes stay in mind but they are not always present in the text. Take for example the first poem of the book, simply labelled "1". Ferlinghetti dissects a Goya painting for meaning, finding a general purpose on its beauty and labelling it as such, then hits a fulcrum and relates it to people. The relationship to people seems almost expected, yet obviously not intended as such; Ferlinghetti's segway is for emphasis yet it is hinted at by the right spacing of the lines before it and the use of pronouns creates a sense of the casual. His dramatic turn has already been predicted in the mind of the reader thanks to the natural flow of the poem, yet it wasn't intended this way. There's nothing much to say; he creates a owerful image and a powerful contrast yet it was Goya who created the image and the reader who created the constrast and Ferlinghetti is then just the medium. It seems almost cruel that a publisher can only write as a publisher, conveying the beauty of others but not himself.

I love Ferlinghetti because hs is ephemeral, but critically, he's hardly a genius. The other beats stick in mind because they broke the norm, their style memorable because the flow worked, the breaks worked; here it just seems modifications of the classics and modifications of his peers. And certainly that means something, but I love Ferlinghetti too much to simply debase him.

The eponymous story from Etgar Keret's The Busdriver Who Wanted To Be God is a treatise on the morality of mankind and our willingness to consistently adhere to the personal morals we derive. The story analyzes the lives of two men, one a busdriver with abandoned hopes of becoming God, the other a lazy man who believes he has found his one chance at true love.

The Busdriver is a sort of enigmna; we are informed of his past desire to become God and of his settling to become a busdriver. In driving his bus, he has developed a sort of moral code wherein he will not stop for any stragglers who do not make it to the bus in time for the sake of preserving the time of the people on the bus. He figures, the person who missed the bus will be losing fie minutes while the people on the bus will be losing 20 seconds each, meaning a much higher net less. he has come to terms with society's scorn for his practice, believing it is the best choice available and as a result he is okay with other people's discomfort.

The man is perpetually lazy. he has become so ingrained in his routine that he is persistently late to all occasions, despite their omportance. he meets a woman, and believing her as his soul mate, arranges a date and prepares to actually keep it. because of his routine, however, he winds up late and rushes toward the bus stop.

Here we see a clashing; the moral standards of the busdriver versus the recognized fault of the man. The man, desperate to get to the bus, runs and almost clings onto its door as it is about to pull away. Contrary to his policy, the busdriver opens the door with the reasoning that he sees himself in the man, all of his hopes and aspirations relived.

So here comes the odd moral posturing of the whole thing: the busdriver is only willing to break his code in the situation where he sees himself. Able to live vicariously through this man, he inconveniences the many for this one man and cracks his whole moral structure. It's an interesting idea that, while kind, certainly imposes an odd view onto morality.

See, in a way, it's selfish what the busdriver does. There could have been more important people turned away over the years, but that doesn't seem to matter, only the man who could be a younger version of the busdriver does. The driver is even proud of himself for his actions, he has deemed this correct in his code and in his heart. The abandonment of a previously established code solely for self-pleasure seems incredibly heartless, the net amount that was so important in the past has been abandoned for self-fulfillment. While yes, self-actualization is an important part of any human life, here it seems an extra and one day occurence that will not be repeated in the future. The busdriver has not become kind-hearted, rather, he seeks to better himself vicariously.

Being a three page story and without the book on hand, i can't expand much more on the idea ta the moment. I will by tomorrow and expect another blog post as well.

Dear Mr. Piper:

As AP Calculus draws to a close, I find myself in a discouraging position. My grade in the course is slowly declining despite increased efforts to study, and as our study of calculus progresses I find myself less and less interested in the course. This is hardly a failing on the part of the program; instead, I have realized a real interest in English, and I find myself drawn from more scientific fields to the abstract thinking and analysis of language.

Originally, I was signed to continue taking mathematics, advancing out of AP Calculus into AAP Calculus. A sophomore level college class, it is designed and offered for students who have a true desire to learn higher level math and not for students who, in my case, may only take one or two math classes in college outside the required foundational courses. I feel that continuing in the incredibly rigorous AAP curriculum will only cause me to burn out in math, turning what is only a mild interest into an active dislike. I feel the AAP course is a wonderful way for mathematically oriented students to grow, but personally, I can no longer find real interest or happiness in it.

The ultimate result of this thinking has been the conclusion that an independent study in poetry will be a much more suitable course to my own goals in life and to my continuing educational growth. Poetry is an art form which seems to be under appreciated in modern culture; many people still read novels, as evidenced by the success of works such as The Life of Pi and The DaVinci Code, but rarely does poetry enter the public eye. Too often it is seen stereotypically; a few rhyming words thrown together to present an extended metaphor. I believe research and analysis of poetic works will help to better understand the art behind poetry, the subtle nuances and diction that can in a page say what a full novel can’t.

In order to do this, I will be working through various poetic movements, studying key figures and styles, understanding what makes the movement distinct, and creating my own works in the style of the movement. Ideally, this will encompass eight poetic movements and a culminating portfolio which will showcase both my analyses of the movements and my works in them. The preferred movements and a brief overview of each can be found on the attached sheet labeled “Movements to be Studied”.

In terms of my own educational growth, experience in poetic form is incredibly important. While I have an active interest in poetry and literature outside of school, only so much can be actively gained from it. I would love the opportunity to research and write under the guidance of Mrs. Bosnic, who has been a wonderful supporter of my education and a mentor figure for the previous two years. She has, as you know, incredible experience with literature and poetry, and is a constant advocate for continued literary growth. Having time set aside to learn about the intricacies of major poetic movements with the supervision of an experienced teacher will prove to be a valuable opportunity for me, wherein I can learn more about an art which is woefully absent from mainstream society. As a future English student, this independent study will prepare me for college and give me a background in the various styles and methods used by influential poets. It will work as a base for growth, a jumping point before being immersed in college English in conjunction with AP Literature and Honors IS in Literature and Analysis.

I realize that asking for this requires dropping an AP class, one that is possibly the hardest in the school. Reasonably, I cannot argue for academic misplacement on the basis of it being too easy, nor on the basis that I will fail out. I do argue, however, that I am misplaced on the grounds that it is not for me, and it would be violating the ideals that drive the class for me to stay in. AAP Calculus is for those dedicated to mathematics, those who thrive upon it, those who wish to begin a career in the field. As I study literature more and more, I find myself so at home, so comfortable, so matched that I can only see it as my future. While I see the value of mathematics, I have realized it is not where I want to go. My grades are slowly slipping in calculus, as is my drive, and I believe that I will sink below mediocrity should I stay for AAP Calculus. I do still plan to take the Calc AB AP Test, meaning the school’s scores will not drop with me, and I plan to continue an interest in mathematics throughout my life, but right now, with college fast approaching, I believe the proper course of action is to enter into a self-designed class wherein I can prepare for my future instead of burning out on what I have already experienced.

I implore you to consider this independent study. It is a place of new growth and experience which will be incredibly valuable to me in my education. It is an educational opportunity not offered in a normal curriculum. It is corrective academic placement for a dedicated English student.

Thank you for your consideration,

James Zachary Taylor III

Possible areas of study:

The Beats: The prominent movement of the middle 1900’s; the paradoxical nature of the movement along with the ideas of the times forms a wonderful juxtaposition to be studied. Major poets would include Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg.

Confessionalism: The unsavory truths of the world; realism with a more personal base. May overlap with beat poetry and form a good transition between the two. Major poets would include Ginsberg, Bowers, and Juster.

Harlem Renaissance: The essence of early American black culture; the rejection of the sins of the oppressor and the recognition of power in cultural heritage. Major poets would include Hughes, Fauset, and Cullen.

Symbolist: The power of words and phrasing over traditional style; a focus on internalization and disjointed but powerful expression. Major poets would Kahn, Rimbaud, and Moreas.

Postmodern: Poetry past World War II with a focus on fragmentation and questionability; an aura of confusion and imprecision to be sorted through analytically and with a careful eye. Major poets would include Beckett, Burroughs, and O’Brien.

Modernism: Poetry with an emphasis on the ideals of Modernist literature; ornamented, detailed and structured differently based on country of origin, tied together by basic principles. Major poets would include Pound, Eliot, and Wilde.

Language Poets: The old avant-garde; irony and skewed modernism evoked in ways as to change ideas as to what is poetry. Major poets would include Grenier, Bruce Andrews, and Hejinian

San Francisco Renaissance: The realization that made San Francisco the hub of avant-garde in the 40’s to 60’s; one city that influenced the feelings of a nation. Major poets would include Bukowski, Watts, and Gleason.

One of the best poems ever written in any style and my personal favorite is "Nirvana", by Charles Bukowski. It can be read here.

Nirvana, at its base, describes a young man finding utopia and leaving it. The utopia happens to be a diner in the mountains where everything seems to be magical yet real, no one has much to worry about and everyone is clean and calm and content.

When looked into a bit though, it becomes much more. Bukowski was a west coast poet for much of his life, and a city one at that. He thrived in cities, he became who he was living on skid row. North Carolina, rural and on the east coast, is a complete contrast to his normal setting. So, since the bus is mentioned which is normally a metaphor for travel and movement since, you know, it travels and moves, we can assume the young man is an outsider. It may be Bukowski himself, but without his normal self-referential style, it seems unlikely. He was never afraid to include himself or peers in his works by name, so I would wager that the namelessness of the young man makes it more of a representation of man as a whole.

So, the young man gets to this diner in the hills. Let's draw in a bit more outside reference now. The hills could represent two things, or possibly both at once. For one, they could be the ascendence of man to a higher plane. The young man moves up this mountain as he travels and reaches a place wherein he finds a sort of enlightenment. He becomes one with the people there, he witnesses the magic of ordinary life and the simplicity of everything. From here, we go into the second reference: Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse. Siddhartha rejects the teachings of Gautama Buddha in the book under the idea that teachings cannot provide true knowledge of the world and only experience can. The growth of Buddhism in the hills of India and Tibet factors into this; this diner could very well be the idea of enlightenment as a teaching and not as a learning experience. The diner offers no chance for growth as everything is already perfect. What can the young man learn in Nirvana if he never reaches it on his own.

So to recap to this point, the young man travels to Nirvana on a machine not of his own creation, goes to hills and finds the enlightened people there, and will now travel down the hill. The young man rejects the men in the hills as Siddhartha rejected Gautama; they're lifestyle is great and it works for some, but it doesn't work for him. But at least he notices, unlike every other person on the bus. This shows he was looking for some kind of enlightenment, his nirvana, his travels mean something more than just rejection of his parents or society, they are a personal quest to find a real meaning in life.

So he descends from the hill and enters once again into society to learn and experience, and Bukowski goes back to writing about whores and drinking as Siddhartha became a merchant and learned worldly pleasure.

Gogo cross textual analysis.

In realism, or at least the realism I've been reading, much of the characterization is done through the casual conversations and actions of the characters. Take Last Exit; you've got these horrible situations happening, you've got rape and abuse and murder, you've got prostitutes and drug use, and what matters is how Tralala talks to the men she associates with. The actual insane moments, the times when society seems to be falling apart at the seams, they seem to be so much less important than a note that there was some lipstick left on a shot glass by previous prostitutes.

Look at The World According to Garp, that pivotal scene in Vienna where Garp's first real friend, if you could call her that, dies just before Garp comes to see her. We see Garp approach a morally upright nurse who objected to the whore's staying at the private hospital; she tells Garp matter of factly that the woman is dead. Garp says something to the effect of, "You too, mein frau, will be dead some day." This is just a natural response for him, there is no deep planning, it is casual yet it is probably the best line in the book. It shows Garp's growth as a natural writer, his ability to turn a phrase, his growing courage, his new sense of courage. It is a total transformation of character, and it is just a natural response. It's not even mentioned again.

What I mean is, character seems to be defined not by the extremities of a character, but they're actions in a normal situation. Garp responded to death as he saw best, Tralala talked about beating a man for money as a normal occurrence, and that is that. How casual it all is it what defines it; let's say a big deal was made out of Tralala's seeming ignorance of the atrocities she's a part of. If it was constantly noted, wouldn't it lose impact? If the characters saw it as a big deal, wouldn't we accept that they knew there was a problem with the whole situation? If the character doesn't actively fight against the constraints of society and even fails to notice them at all, we see true horror. We see how society has been turned on its head yet no one notices. If Last Exit is condemning of America at the time, it is because it portrays the horrid as casual, the death of a man as ordinary as going to work.

So casual conversation is used to portray a character's true feelings as represented by their social interactions. But why is it casual conversation? All of the most tense situations are used to move the plot and develop a scene, but it is conversations in coffee shops which define the characters. I would argue this is because we can only truly represent ourselves in a situation where there is no pressure, there is no tension, there is no horror. Sitting in a coffee shop or a diner, life seems to be occurring only outside the windows. There is no dread that the wrong word would hurt someone, there is only quiet discussion and stained cups.

While I will probably be writing an actual technical piece on Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being A Wallflower, I'm going to try to introduce some of the concepts that will be featured in the piece. Or something to that effect without me having to go find the book and do legitimate citations and revisions and whatnot.

One of the major concepts is the role of social interaction in adolescent development. The protagonist, Charlie, is exposed to many social extremes; gay bashing, group violence, rape, communal drug use, etc. While Chbosky fails at introducing these situations realistically (the effects of which will be discussed later), they still serve as talking points on the social interaction of young people, and as such, they are valuable to the novel. Chbosky argues in favor of realization of trauma as potential for growth; the supposed everyman Charlie was a molestation victim as a child, a fact he repressed until urged to enter into a sexual situation he could not deal with. While his breakdown provides the epilogue for the book and places him into a mental hospital, he comes out of the whole thing as a supposed fuller individual who is more self actualized than he would have been without realizing the sexual trauma of his youth or, more drastically, without ever having experienced it. The provider of Charlie's base drama, an aunt he looked up to and loved dearly, is a symbol of the death of loyalty; those who love you will inevitably betray you. This theme is brought up again as a fact of the relationship between Charlie and his girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth inwardly defines herself as a sexual object; she desires to be lusted after to gain validation as a woman. This becomes apparent to Charlie as Mary Elizabeth initiates various sexual situations and repeatedly asks if she is pretty; she is so desperate for the attention of a male who will both submit to her intellect and appeal to her skewed femininity that she becomes a living contradiction. After Charlie's realization of this, he breaks up with her, breaking her idea of self while making her realize that she does not need a submissive man, she needs someone to argue with. At a party a few months later, she speaks of Charlie, saying he had no personality and no soul, he did not challenge her. This betrayal of a friend by Mary Elizabeth acts a formative realization for Charlie; people see a situation as it effects them, they do not take into effect its impact on the people around him. With this realization in mind, we can dive deeper into the social meaning of Perks.

As a book about society and the aggregation social norm versus the outsider, Perks forces itself to thrive in conflict. With the idea of betrayal in mind, Charlie's social formation and its seeming oddity begins to be understandable. Charlie openly admires his aunt prior to his realization, while subconsciously suffering from the trauma, creating the idea that he has begun to associate sexual activity with love. While this is sensible in some regards, there seems to be no differentiation between sexual love and platonic love save for his own immediate family. The first evidence of this is Charlie's friendship with Sam, a girl he idealizes as a partner but with whom he is relegated solely to friend status. He cannot forget the idea of a sexual relationship even after putting it out of his logical mind; whenever she is mentioned, he speaks of their compatability as a couple and her physical appearance while insisting that she is just a friend. He willingly submits to her as a friend, not debating anything she says nor arguing for his own stance when it contradicts her. While this would seemingly be teenage infatuation, it all seems very off. Let's take into account Sam's brother, Patrick, Charlie's best friend and a homosexual. Towards the end of the novel, Patrick enters a bout of depression, causing him to drink more and act more openly gay around Charlie. Charlie willing submits to anything Patrick does or suggests, to the point of accepting multiple kisses from Patrick. In the context of American society, this seems strange and, most likely, homosexual. Charlie does not admit this, but he does say he doesn't mind and puts up no objection to being a surrogate for Patrick's ex-boyfriend. Even in the beginning of their friendship, Patrick's homosexuality was so commented on that he began to be defined by it in Charlie's mind; once again, a close friend defined by their sexual impact on Charlie's life.

The idea of loving submission is most likely a lingering element of Charlie's experience with his aunt. Not realizing the violation occurring at the time, he may have seen the molestation as an expression of platonic love, a closeness he would never have with his parents or siblings. He willingly took part, letting her control him for her own whims in the guise of the growth of a relationship. This idea would take root in his psyche; he would grow to define relationships by their intimacy and would choose to subvert his own desires to please the other, as this was what he did in his major formative relationship. His other major formative relationships, those with his immediate family, would also be skewed. While not dysfunctional, his family seemed a holdover from generations past, not willing to conform to modern ideas despite it being necessary for their growth in the world today. Charlie's mother was raised by a cruel and vindictive father who would often beat her and strip her of her own ideals. As a result, she grew up damaged, avoiding men like her father but never being able to cope with the emotional damage. She began to lack in expression, never able to voice her own opinion unless it was a truly worthy situation. She met Charlie's father and found support in him, a quiet man who opposed the physical nature of her father's parenting. The father is quiet and seen as strong, he is throwback to the stereotypical fifties father, voicing his own opinion and being the head of the household without ever saying anything. Raised by these two, Charlie gained the submissive tendencies and over drawn reactions to high stimuli experience of his mother and the quiet, observational tendencies of his father. He was raised to be a wallflower without anyone realizing it. His siblings are similar, taking after their respective gendered parent; his sister was hit by her boyfriend but continued the relationship, eventually dismissing him after he wouldn't support her getting an abortion of their unwanted child, the brother is a strong and quiet male who is an amazing football player but who is not really well known by most. The more important sibling to the story is the sister, who begins to develop like Charlie into her own well defined person. By the end of the novel, she has rejected her abusive boyfriend, made a pro-choice statement, and has started reading feminist literature. While this is stereotypical, it at least enforces the idea that abusive relationships can be ended and triumphed over through the strength of will alone. There is a cliche to this message, but it is presented effectively enough to overcome it and act as a real statement on the power of femininity in contrast to the weak Mary Elizabeth.

The social posturing of Perks is its style; a YA "realist" novel written to discuss modern issues. It fails as an example of lasting piece of actual realism; it makes no effort to denote days where nothing happens, slow mornings marked only by bad coffee and procrastination as opposed abortion and drugs. Instead every day must have an event and be dramatic; it eliminates the feeling of real life in the book. One week, even one month may be packed with dramatics, but certainly not nine months. The authenticity is ruined by the jam-packing of controversy into the novel. It is done to keep the attention of younger readers and to keep it on the best seller list, but it loses any memorable styles and methods in the process. As a result, it is a stylistic bore, it is the total middle of the line when it comes to YA and adult literature. If Chbosky had made some attempt to differentiate his writing from his peers outside of the controversy it created, it would certainly be a timeless novel.

I may continue this soon, but I have to go for the moment. I think this is a decent start though.

This is a revision of my metacognitive essay with refocusing on personal changes, name dropping and clarity. While it is not the best example of my work, it shows personal style, growth and influences while meeting the needs of the prompt it was responding to. For the record, the lack of cited works is due to the common app form not having space for a works cited and me not wanting to break the honor code for Gettysburg on my application. Anyhow, the literary influences it draws and comments on makes me feel it is appropriate to post here.

The True Expression of Art

James Z. Taylor III

At about one in the morning sometime during the winter of 2006, I was given an invite to a private online music community known as #it. After reading reviews in the pop category, I came across an album by a little known Seattle band called Math and Physics Club. It sounded wonderful, a warm and twee thirty minute record to sit by a fire and listen to. Intrigued, I queued a download. As the program popped onto my screen, I noticed an earlier download had finished; a digital purchase of Tom Waits’ quintessential work, Raindogs. My music player was immediately open and processing the album, playing it as soon as the ID3 tags were analyzed. It had been purchased for the exact opposite reason of the Math and Physics Club recording; this was supposedly a seminal experimental work, a Trout Mask Replica, an NYC Ghosts & Flowers. The album started playing, and I hated it. I hated the opening pseudo-polka of Singapore, the high moaning and low talking of Big Black Mariah. It was not experimental in the sense I was expecting, some sort of Metal Machine Music clone; it was instead experimentalism with older forms of music featuring modern augmentation. The idea of a door scraping against the ground accompanied by a man singing through a megaphone is never one of those musical ideas that sounds immediately appealing. So, at the time, I discarded Waits in favor of Math and Physics Club. I would return to Waits in about a month though, an urge to try him once more, and it was then something clicked. It was an ephemeral desire for his work, it was a newfound respect, and it was finding that perfect album of years of searching. I started hoarding Waits. Going through his entire catalogue, I became fascinated with his abstract personality and influences. I began examining them, the absurdist Beefheart, the realist Mailer, the counter-culturist Rechy. I became most intrigued however, by Waits’ most cited influence, the beaten down trodden realist Charles Bukowski. It would be the works of Bukowski and Waits that would define my perception of art, framing it in a never before realized way.

Waits has never achieved mainstream success, and perhaps it would ruin him if he did. A major label would never allow his human beat boxing and spoken word tendencies to be released, and Waits could never be limited in this way. He thrives as an outsider, a man more welcome at a junkyard than a music shop. In this way, he can write music representative both of his perspective of the world he can only look into and the outside world where he thrives. His music evokes emotion because it is emotion, primal urges put into notation. Waits’ ability to make people feel something, even if it is disgust, when they hear his music is more powerful than any piece of over-produced pop.

Bukowski works in the same vein, with the idea of music being replaced by the written word. It has been said there is no author who polarizes his audience more so than Bukowski. There is no middle ground in feelings towards him among those who have read his works; he is either despised as a misogynistic, tired man with a superiority complex or hailed as a brilliant poet who found a muse in the dark world around him. I agree with the latter. Again, the ability to evoke such feelings even on the first reading is more powerful a writing technique than will ever be known to the general public.

It is this idea of emotion as art that changed my entire view of art as a whole. It is with scorn that I now see generic works being hailed as great and timeless; if a piece cannot divide or unite a populace, it is rarely timeless, it more likely is a non-offensive best seller. While these pieces may have great formal writing (or perhaps a lack thereof), they lack the style that so marks seminal and powerful works. While it is wonderful to see great technical writing, technical writing alone should not be the voice of a generation. Technical writing strains itself to work in the past; it can never be modern as no modern style will be accepted as true technical writing until thirty years down the road. For example, it is only now that that the brilliance of Burroughs’ chopped up prose has become recognized by technical writers, before dismissed as stylistic masturbation by the forebears of those who declare its worth now. Burroughs set an idea for his peers, and slowly it is becoming standard modern technical writing for the abstract set. This causes it to now enter the mainstream, only because of wider acceptance of the source piece as technically powerful and not its powerful style. To me, this is a sin. Technical writing should be left in the places of learning where it is important, to businesses and colleges. To look at a book now, a piece of music even, and to consider it art, a new voice must be expressed. It is through the innovation of style and expression that an artist may call himself an artist; it is from these new voices that a generation may be defined.

It is the influence of artists who follow these ideas that has defined my own writing. Seeing technical prowess as being a matter reserved for grammar and punctuation, I attempt to focus more on presenting new ideas and theories rather than restating well-worn ideas in precise and calculated ways. While this meets with mixed success, I will always prefer it to writing in the rhetorical; the idea of using stylistic models seems a cruel joke. Inevitably a piece of mine will match up to an older model, primarily because in many assignments one way of writing becomes the immediate thought of everyone receiving the assignment. Perhaps this is because the rhetorical is so heavily spoken of in the educational system, causing our minds to jump immediately to the standard ways of presenting information based in various criteria. In an educational environment though, this seems best, as so much of what is assigned until the latter years of high school and college is retelling information, and in many cases there is no other way to present. In fields which do not ask a specific question though, or when the answer to the question varies immensely from person to person, the rhetorical only enforces the idea of technicality over creativity.

So Waits’ experimentation with banging on garbage cans and obscure allusions is for me a statement of the true power of art, the power to call emotion in people, the power to say something in a different voice. Without Raindogs, without What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire, I would still be pursuing a computer science major. I would still read only the only classic. I would have never found the brilliance of the modern Dickensian style of John Irving, or Joan Didion’s ability to tell a thrity-year-old story and make it sound new. Art is new expression, and art will always be in my mind.