The Perfecting Stage

This week I'm not necessarily going to talk about something that we've learned in class, but reflect on things that we've done as a whole halfway through the 1st semester. Over the past 7-8 weeks, we have read a lot of passages and novels. Probably more than I have read throughout my 3 previous years honestly. But reading these books has developed my thinking and expanded my view of the world through literature. Many people say that to be successful in college you have to read, read, and read some more. Many of the most intellectual people on this planet attribute their success to their love for reading and I feel like in this class we almost have to love what we are reading because we are reading a lot of things every day and week. To connect this to sports,  I want to talk about how professional athletes have to love their jobs, even though its a sport. Just like the most intellectual people on this planet, the best athletes on this planet love the sport they play. They have to want to get better and become the greatest. For instance, lately in the news with the NBA season right around the corner, Lebron James has been talking to the media about what he worked on to improve his game over the offseason. Now, why would the best player in the world right now still be practicing and adding new attributes to his arsenal? It's all become of his knowledge and love for the game of basketball. James has said numerous times that he wants to "go down as one of the greatest players to play the game." To do that he has to be constantly getting better, even after his 10th season and 2 back-to-back NBA championships. There's always something to be fixed or corrected. Now take that back to reading; the smart people love to read because they are learning while they are reading. Reading helps build vocabulary and in some ways can help develop critical thinking which is key in today's world.

The Return

Recently we have been reading Wuthering Heights in class. At one point Heathcliff left WH and then returned several years later. His absence triggered indifferent reactions from all characters involved. Some were elated while others were apathetic about it. This instance in the book can be connected to one of the NBA's superstars, Derrick Rose, who is returning from an ACL injury that kept him out all of last season. 

With Derrick Rose finally making his return to the NBA after one season missed, players all around the league have their own opinions and reactions to his awaited return. His teammates are ecstatic that the 1-time MVP is returning and hopefully can accomplish their quest at the ultimate price: the NBA championship trophy. Other teams throughout the league are cringing at the fact that he has come back and he himself has stated that he has gotten better in several aspects also. The quote recently made by DRose himself was that he, "...added 5 more inches to his vertical during his time out..." So no wonder the people who have to guard him night in and night out are a little worried. 

The connection in little bits might not seem to be equivalent but when you look at the big picture between Derrick Rose and Heathcliff's returns, they are similar in more ways than one. They both, obviously, made their returns to the lives they lived before. Also, they have effected the people who they were surrounded by in some way whether it is positive or negative. 

The Spoken Literature

    For about a week now we as a class have been working on our literature papers. The first step in that process was to write our thesis statements for the paper. The directions for the paper was to, "write a paper in which you present your argument about what literature is, what it does, how and why it does that, and what it offers us...". When I first sat down and thought about what to write for my thesis I was thinking one-dimensional. I was only thinking about literature = writing, but that's not necessarily true after I got some feedback from Mr. Mullins and my mom. Literature can also be the spoken word as well. Two key example of that for me would be poetry and hip hop/rap music. But I only want to focus on how hip-hop/rap can be considered literature.

    The origin of hip-hop started in the Bronx during the 1970s among African American youth. It was their way of talking about the struggles of being an African American male in the United States during that time. They felt this was the most creative and best way to reach many different types of people especially other youth who were going through the same thing. Doing this spread the hip-hop culture around the country and today it is considered pop culture because it is the most popular culture right now. My definition of literature from my thesis was any written or spoken work which includes the author's input, reader's or listener's interpretation, and the dynamic in between. When we listen to hip-hop, we get the author's input through the music they produce to us as consumers. The listener's is interpretation is our own interpretation of the music we hear. The second part of that definition would be that literature stimulates the mind of those who come in contact with it and it somehow changes their beliefs surrounding them. That's what happens when we listen to music, it stimulates our minds changes how we think, act, everything. So the connection between my definition of literature and hip-hop is very real.