Modules #2/#6 - "MEDIA & MONOLOGUES" - Fall 2021

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

Welcome to the Module 02 and Module 06 "Media & Monologues" thread!

("Scroll-and-a-Half" / 150 words)

Module 02: (Monologues - MS:HP I)
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 conversation for any "Mingling" points you may wish to accrue as Extra Credit.

Module 06: (Media - MS:HP II)
Based on your reflections from this month’s lesson and/or the Mantra you’ve chosen to explore, choose one full 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 anything you feel compelled to share! In addition to sending in via e-mail, if you feel like sharing with your peers go ahead and post this to the corresponding “Media & Monologues“ thread at the Class Forum with or without including your “Mantra” and/or “Memento” 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 conversation for any “Mixing” points you may wish to accrue as Extra Credit.

[Emerald Wolvenhowl]

This terms mantra is:
Light and dark in harmony equals balance.

The piece of media I have chosen is a Jane Austen novel: Mansfield Park. Right now you are probably scratching your head trying figure out what on earth that has got to do with my mantra but bear with me, there is madness in my method. Or should that be the other way around?..... Anyway, a good part of my daily routine involves drawing cartoons which is a passion of mine. However, a while ago I went through a six month sticky drawing patch; Sending out cartoons to magazines in the hope of seeing them in print etc is great but the mix of constant rejections or not recieving any email at all had become very deflating.

At first I just thought I could fit in another couple of hours drawing in each day which started off really well. Then, of course, I would do a bit more and then just a bit more ....It wasn't long before I got to the stage where I wasn't rewarding myself, taking enough breaks and cartooning was taking over everything else, including my reading time- I hadn't read a book for over six months!!! Not even one small novel from one of my favourite authors, Jane Austen. ( "Ah, hurrah, ", I hear you sigh, "Emerald is finally getting to the point." ) So I cut back on my drawing time, began giving myself little rewards for my efforts and got into the habit again of reading for at least one hour a day with Mansfield Park.

Admittedly, I didn't make it into any of the magazines I aimed for (and I still haven't yet ) but things got a lot better; I noticed a big improvement with my cartoons/ideas, I felt better in myself and I didn't give up on my dreams.

What momento have I taken away from this?
Mansfield park serves as a good reminder to not let things get top heavy. Doing what is important to us can sometimes be done even better when we include self- care in our routine and allow ourselves to do other things that bring us joy too. All it takes is a bit of balance.

[Silvana Mandeville]

There're many things to talk about Hope. I think everyday we must have been hoping for something, whether it is a big thing or even something small. Well, they still count as a hope. I have been hoping for many things in my life as well. Sometimes in hoping for something, we experience a lot of positive and negative vibes in ourself. There is pain and pleasure in it. That's why, I always remind myself that I shouldn't expect high rewards when I hope for something. Because I never know that the results always bring us joy, sometimes it also disappoints us too. But, even though we hope for something that we think is impossible to get, we have to encourage ourself to keep our mind positive and so it wouldn't ruin our mood.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Mantra
Thinking about the lesson and trying to piece words together, I thought about how one of the important aspects of wisdom involved reflecting on my thoughts instead of going with my first instinct. So I decided to use "On second thought" as a mantra for the Power of Wisdom in order to remind myself to not stick stubbornly to my initial opinions, but to allow myself to be open to other thoughts. For the first few days of the month, I made sure to repeat "On second thought" to myself, and... it didn't really seem to have any effect. But on the other hand, I didn't make any rash decisions throughout the first three days of October, so maybe it worked for me in the background of my brain?

Media
I actually had a really hard time trying to find a good piece of 'media' that fit this power: while I remembered various titles of works, such as "The Road Not Taken" and "All I Really Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten", the actual content of these works did not fit. But I finally found a poem that fit with the reflective themes I associate with wisdom: "How Did You Die?" by Edmund Vance Cooke. This poem asks the reader how they died, or - in other words, to reflect on their lives and the choices they made: essentially, Cooke is asking the reader whether they lived up to challenges or merely shrank away from them. One can read the poem and see Cooke asking you "Yes, you ultimately ended up dying, just like everyone else - but are you proud of the choices you made throughout?" But, going back to my mantra ('on second thought'), maybe you shouldn't be waiting until your death to reflect on the decisions you made. The thought of my mantra was more about asking these questions as you were in the process of making a decision or forming an opinion... which would fit surprisingly well into the context of Cooke's poem!

Memento
The most prominent takeaway for me that ties together the mantra and the poetry I chose as my piece of media is that you can make better decisions by asking yourself, now, what your future self will think of the choices you are making now - or of the opinions you currently choose to hold! (I should point out that even though I consider wisdom to be a power that is pretty well in balance in my life, the 'mantra' and 'media' were significantly harder for me than other assignments for this class... simply because it was hard to find other people who expressed what I had in mind for this power!)