This will be a quick late-night post, mainly because I am feeling guilty due to my lack of updating recently. It's not unexpected, nor entirely unforgivable; senior year has been busy, and my time is spent doing interesting research projects and papers, working as a projectionist in Traina for screen studies courses, and doing club things. In addition to some social college things.
In other news, I presented my slide show on circumcision for my SOC 203 (American Jewish Life) class earlier today and it went very well. Below are some pictures of the slides.
I also have a rough outline set-up for my COPACE (The Final Chapter) course! I am planning to examine choice in relation to death; specifically, does an individual have the right to choose when to die? At what point, if any, is it appropriate for that right to be taken away? For example, when is suicide okay? Should there be preventative measures against suicide? Do murderers have the same rights as other individuals? If someone murders others, is it okay to murder them? Was their right to choose death taken at the moment they captured others' right to do so?
It's complicated, and gets heavily into ethics, and therefore should be very interesting to research. I'm excited to use bits of the Paulo Coehlo novel Veronika Decides to Die within this paper; that book deals extensively with the right to death, the right to choose death, and with suicide in general.
Earlier this evening I was able to travel to Portsmouth, NH to see Chuck Palahniuk (the author! Of Fight Club!) speak as a part of the Writers on a New England Stage program. It was very interesting and inspiring, in addition to the somewhat confusing experience of understanding Chuck Palahniuk as simultaneously tender and a bit grotesque. His newest book, Damned, follows the experiences of a young girl (maybe twelve years of age?) in hell. After reading to the audience a short story titled "Romance", he was interviewed by a woman from NH radio. During the interview the woman likened his new book to Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (yes, the Judy Blume novel) in addition to Dante's Inferno. I hear that there may be a podcast of the interview available later.
My friend and I attempted to meet Palahniuk after the event, but he was rushed from the stage door directly into his Prius. The good news, however, is that Chuck Palahniuk did wave to us from the back of his Prius as he drove by. So not only does Chuck Palahniuk choose to be driven around in a Prius, he is also somewhat friendly when safely tucked away from adoring fans.
So, tomorrow is my day off! I shall likely sleep in for many hours (I'm running mainly on coffee at this point) and then possibly get a head start on my projects to come, in addition to formatting more specifically my paper on circumcision (due now a week from Tuesday). On Saturday I am excited to attend the trip to New York to see a Broadway play about Freud - only forty dollars and sponsored by UPC (Undergraduate Psychology Committee).
I hope that everyone is doing well, and that the storm this past weekend didn't hit anyone too hard. I will hopefully post some pictures of Clark post-storm if I can get a hold of some of the ones my friends have taken.
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