MONOLOGUES + EXTRA CREDIT 23/24

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Welcome to the 2023/2024 Monologues & Extra Credit thread!

You are encouraged to please share these publicly here wherever comfortable. While this will not effect your points earned, it will encourage interactions by providing additional ways for people to connect. Particularly those who take part in the "Mining" portions of these exercises over time if they enjoy or relate to your work and choose to touch base on something you may have shared within their own writing.

• Monologue (15 points)
("Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words)
For each module this term, consider what you've written down from your brainstorm in the Meditation portion of our exercises. What jumps out at you that's wanting to be explored a little more deeply? Come up with a topic based around these meditations and write an essay about your personal perspective on the matter. This could be a single aspect or multiple elements from your list. In addition to sending in via e-mail, if you feel like sharing with your peers go ahead and post here with or without including your "Meditation" and/or "Mindfulness" responses added in together. This is voluntary and will not effect your points one way or another, however it will add to our community vibe and could stir up conversations or contribute toward any "Mining" points others may wish to accrue over time.

Each Month you may choose any TWO of the following prompts:

Extra Credit options may NOT be used in place of Assignment work.

• Manifestation (15 points)
"Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words
Write some kind of a Short Story or Poem that revolves around this month's Power. Let those creative juices flow! Please note that regardless of number of lines, even poetry submissions must adhere to the 150 word requirement for full credit.

• Memory (15 points)
"Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words
Share a story from your past that reminds you of this month's Power. This may be from your real life (keeping privacy rules in mind), and/or experiences you've had here at HOL.

• Media (15 points)
"Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words
Based on your reflections from this month’s lesson, choose one piece of media you find in any way to relate to these concepts floating around. This could be a book, television show, movie, musical album, etc., and doesn’t have to be something completely new to yourself, so long as it speaks to you as connecting to the vibe you’re associating with this energy. Perhaps you’ll go into detail about why you chose this in particular, along with what aspects correspond most appropriately with your sense of this month’s power. What’s your general opinion of your selection’s strengths or weaknesses? Anything unexpected or enlightening come up along the way? Include whatever you feel compelled to share!

• Mining (15 points)
"Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words
Explore the Class Forum. If you find something written in a previous post that in your mind relates to this month's power in any way which inspires you to further expand or reflect upon, you can use this as an option for Extra Credit here. You're welcome to poke around or 'mine through' the past years of work shared from previous members of the class to find thoughts, concepts, theories, or stories that strike a chord in you and help point toward something you may wish to write about here.

[Caius Magnusson]

I am really addicted to music (it's one of my common mechanisms to deal with emotions, both good and bad!) and for that reason I decided to write my Media assignments on songs that I feel represent what the powers of the course mean to me. Without further ado, here we go!

FAITH: Kamelot - One More Flag In The Ground

To me, the associations between the story and lyrics contained in One More Flag In The Ground and faith are abundant, with the most evident of them being the line "and I'm facing the fire that's raging inside / with faith as my fearless companion" - a direct reference to faith being the driving force that keeps the character moving forward.

This song deeply speaks to me, as it refers to fighting against one's disorders (as per Kamelot's public statement on the song [1]). As someone who is afflicted with depression, I can understand the meaning of that song innately - and now, I realise that choosing to believe in one's strength rather than succumbing to the weight of the world is also a display of faith.

There are many other aspects of the song that also allude to faith: in spite of their solitude ("I am an army of one"), the character depicted in the song still believe they are resourceful enough to address any issues that come in their way ("I'm facing the fire that's raging inside") with confidence in their final success (represented by the image of dominion conjured by the "one more flag in the ground" line).

Finally, I also see an allusion to faith as being a beacon of hope for others in the future - in spite of initially being alone, the character finds others along the way and gets their assistance while providing their own strength in return ("your hand on my shoulder / 'cause I'm not walking alone", with the shoulder serving as a metaphor for support). If we were to think about it, we all want to believe in the best and be surrounded by those that give us the strength to move on. Faith is a self-fulfilling cycle, as self-trust begets the strength to support and be supported by others.