irb #2- heroes, gods and monsters of the greek myths

For my second irb, I read Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths by Bernard Evslin. Just like its title states, it is a collection of 26 different short tales about the many demigods, gods, monsters, and heroes that come out in Greek mythology. There are stories about each of the 12 Olympians, as well as stories of well-known heroes such as Perseus and Hercules. There are also myths about other major characters, like Prometheus, Pandora, and Orpheus. However, the most interesting thing about this collection to me was that it included stories about characters I had never even heard of before, such as Athene, Arion, Phaethon, and Atalanta. Whereas some of the stories seemed to be simply for entertainment, others told important morals and reflected the beliefs of the Greeks who initially told them. For example, the story of Narcissus and Echo ends with the words, "And his pale face and yellow hair became delicate yellow and white petals- the flower Narcissus, which lives on the riverbank and leans over watching its reflection in the water." It also said, "And in the woods too, when all is still, you will sometimes come upon Echo. And if you call to her in a certain way, she will answer your call." Likewise, many of the other stories ended by making real life connections to the characters mentioned in the stories. 

Due to the fact that my irb is a collection of Greek myths, the each of the stories are only around 3-5 pages long. Because of this, the author is not able to develop the characters fully. However, one story that was longer than the others was the myth about Eros and Psyche. In this particular story, the author was able to develop both of the main characters very well, as well as the goddess Aphrodite. The character who was the most well-developed was Eros, or as he is better known, Cupid. 
The author starts off by portraying him as an obedient son to Aphrodite, his mother. He obliges in her evil plan and obeys her command when she tells him to pierce Psyche with an arrow that would make her fall in love with someone undesirable. Instead of refusing to do as his mother wishes, he obediently flies to Psyche to carry out his mother's orders. However, once he accidentally scratches himself with his arrow and falls in love with Psyche, he turns on Aphrodite. The author described this by saying, "Not the gods often quarrel, but Olympus had never seen such a feud as now flared between Aphrodite and her son." In contrast to his initial image of a good son who always does as his mother tells him to do, he became very rebellious. He refused to shoot his arrows, and people began to stop falling in love. The author was able to show this rather stubborn side of him. 
Also, the author portrayed Eros as a rather naïve character. He was unconditionally in love with Psyche, and innocently believed that he could trust her, despite the fact that he hardly knew her. He trusted that she would listen to his orders and that he would be able to remain a mysterious being forever without her finding out who he really was. However, he was naïve and therefore became very angry when she broke his trust and crept up on him while he was asleep, therefore finding out that he was Eros. The author also showed the childish nature in him when he said to Psyche, "Wretched girl- you are not ready to accept love. Yes, I am love itself and I cannot live where i am not believed. Farewell, Psyche." After this, he simply left her and disappeared. Some stories, however, say that he eventually forgave her and that the two married and lived happily every after. 

What I Carry and What They Say About Me

Based on the picture above of my belongings, one will be able to tell that I place a lot of importance on technology, which is evident from my Macbook, earphones, and camera SD cards. The fact that I carry around my Macbook shows that I am an avid computer user and do most of my work on my computer. From my earphones, one might infer that I spend a lot of time listening to music, and maybe that I do not like to hear a lot of outside noises and prefer to be isolated with my own music. The fact that I carry around not only one, but three different SD cards for my camera might cause some people to infer that I have an interest in photography. The yellow envelope with my name on it shows that I like keeping small items that represent some kind of memory, in this case my time at Princeton this summer. The yellow pack of mints show that I always need to have something in my mouth, usually gum, but in this case, mints. Lastly, the small piece of notebook paper with doodles and the phrase "bow ties and fezzes are cool" is something that represents the importance of my favourite TV show. From this small piece of paper, some may be able to infer that I like doodling and scribbling on small bits and pieces of paper, usually when I am bored. 
However, more than the things that I actually did have in my bag during this class period, it is the things that are absent that define me more. The two of my most important belongings, my phone and my wallet, are missing from this photo. To be honest, my mom took away those two belongings after I got in trouble for staying out past my curfew. This shows that I do not always follow directions/rules, and can sometimes be rebellious.

favourite passages from "eat pray love"

For my first irb for the memoir unit, I read "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is her story of how she went from being an unhappy married woman to getting divorced from her husband and traveling to find true happiness. She leaves all of her troubles and confusion behind in New York and spends a year abroad, spending four months each in three different countries. In Italy she learns about pleasure, in India she examines her aspect of devotion, and lastly, in Bali, she finds out about the balance between worldly and religious enjoyment.

While reading this novel, I was able to find many passages that were very insightful and interesting. One such passage was something that the author mentioned about happiness on page 345. She wrote, “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” This left a significant impression on me because I never thought about happiness as something like a chore, something that you had to make an effort to gain. But now, reflecting on all of the times I felt true bliss, I am able to see that I had never stayed happy for a long time, but that the happiness slowly wore off after time. From this passage, I was able to learn that I have to make an effort to become happy, and struggle to maintain that happiness. 

Another passage that I believe will stay in my memory for a long time is something that Elizabeth Gilbert said about fate, or destiny. She said, on page 235, that "There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I eat and read and study... I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my own thoughts." This was very interesting to me, because I had heard from many places that destiny was something that was predestined, and that there is nothing that we can do that can change our fate. However, after reading this passage, I was able to realize that there actually were aspects of our fate that we can control and therefore change.

My favourite passage out of the many memorable passages that were able to be found in this memoir was something that Richard, a fellow American she met in India, told Elizabeth. When Elizabeth was crying to him, saying that it was impossible to get over David, her former lover, because she truly believed that he had been her soul mate, Richard said something very insightful. He said, "People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life."

Both society and the media, such as Hollywood movies and romance novels, tell us that one day we will cross paths with the person who is our other half, the person who completes us, our counterparts. I too used to believe in this preconceived notion that had been influenced by the environment around me. However, especially after reading that particular passage in the novel, I saw that idea differently. It seemed strange to me that each and every one of us were not complete beings, but were only half of a human being with a empty void within us that would only be filled by finding someone who completed us. And it seemed depressing to me that if we were not able to meet our other half, we would wander around like lost souls, as incomplete human beings. 

But after reading that passage and gaining insight into Richard's wisdom, I was able to see that it was true that we were incomplete human beings, but that it is not necessarily our soul mates that complete us, but the process of learning about ourselves. According to the passage, a true soul mate is someone who shows you your flaws and everything that is keeping you from being a whole. Although we may only be half of a human being at first, through growth and experiences, and maybe with the help of a soul mate, we can grow into full human beings and feel completely content and secure in our own skins.

by any other name- reflection

When she was first given the name "Cynthia" by the headmistress, Santha Rama Rau said in her memoir, By Any Other Name, that, "At that age, if one's name is changed, one develops a curious form of dual personality." She further explained, saying, "I remember having a certain detached and disbelieving concern in the actions of "Cynthia," but certainly no responsibility." She did not feel necessarily emotionally connected to her "British" counterpart, and felt as if they were two different beings altogether. In fact, throughout the story, she seemed to be very proud of her identity as an Indian. For example, instead of wearing cotton dresses like the other students, even the Indians, were wearing, Santha continued to wear Indian clothes to school. 

At the end of her memoir she said, "But I put it happily away, because it had all happened to a girl called Cynthia, and I was never really particularly interested in her." By saying this, she wanted to portray that even to the end she still felt like she was not connected to Cynthia, and therefore felt like the whole issue of being treated differently for her ethnicity did not bother her much. 

However, I am not very convinced of this sentence about how she had put the memory away. The reality of the statement is that although it may not have affected her much at the time, it had stayed in her memory until now. This is proven by the fact that she wrote the memoir about this event. The memoir as a whole was centered around this occurrence that was seemingly insignificant at the time. But it can be seen from the fact that she wrote an entire memoir on this one little issue from her early childhood that it actually did have a big impact on her life afterwards. If it had been something that she put "happily away", then she probably would have remembered it and would not have written a memoir about it. 

a rose by any other name...

In Shakespeare's well-known play Romeo and Juliet, one of the lines that portrays the central message of the play and all of the struggles that the two characters go through is: 

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Rome would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. (II.ii.47-51)

Juliet was saying that a name is something that has no meaning at all, and that she loves “Montague”, but not the actual name or the family, but Romeo as a person. What this quote means is that what matters is what something is, not necessarily what it is called, and that its name will not change its nature or characteristics. Likewise, a rose can be called another name, but it will still have the same smell as when it was referred to as a “rose.”

I agree with Shakespeare. A name is not everything that something is. Although it is true that if something’s name changes, your perception of it changes, that something itself will not necessarily change. For example, if roses were called “stinkbuds”, even though you would perceive them differently, they would still smell the same as roses. Likewise, in the case of brand names, sometimes we perceive goods that are from famous brand as being better than ones from we have never heard of. In that case, despite the fact that we are judging it based on its name, and we may perceive the two similar goods differently, they are, all in all, the same thing.

Also, even in cases where people legally change their names because they dislike their given names, the people themselves are not the ones that change; only their title or label changes. It is true that one’s identity may be linked to one’s name, but one’s name is not the only thing that composes one’s identity.

irb #1- eat pray love

For my IRB memoir, I decided to read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is her story of how she went from being an unhappy married woman to getting divorced from her husband and traveling to find true happiness. She leaves all of her troubles and confusion behind in New York and spends a year abroad, spending four months each in three different countries. In Italy she learns about pleasure, in India she examines her aspect of devotion, and lastly, in Bali, she finds out about the balance between worldly and religious enjoyment. 

What has interested me until now is her progress from being a woman suffering from depression and ending up crying until 3am every night, into someone who is free from burden and travels around the world discovering her true self. Also, her choice of the three countries she visits and the three aspects she wants to discover about herself interested me, because she seemed to be very determined to really learn about who she is as a person.

So far, in the book, she has described some of the events of the past few years that caused her to become so eager to travel around the world experiencing new cultures. She explains about the situation with her husband, as well as the confusion she feels about David, and more importantly, she shares a lot about her characteristics and the story of how she first began to pray. I am now on chapter 26, or as she calls it, the 26th bead, in the novel out of the total 108 beads. Up to this point, she has left New York and is now in Italy, learning Italian, a language she had always wanted to learn, and eating delicious foods.

One topic I would like to further develop is the aspect of how the author believes that her three journeys will help her. She explained very thoroughly why she began her year overseas in the first place, but she didn't specify as to how she thought this would help her with the panic and depression she was feeling when she was in New York.