Quotations

“Sole among nationalities, these States have assumed the task to put in forms of lasting power and practicality, on areas of amplitude rivaling the operations of the physical kosmos, the moral political speculations of ages, long, long deferr’d, the democratic republican principle, and the theory of development and perfection by voluntary standards, and self reliance.”

-Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas

“Ever since the publication of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, the United States has played a central role in systematic studies of the links between democracy and civil society.”

-Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone

“Associations are formed to combat exclusively moral trouble: intemperance is fought in common.”

-Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Black Elk and Bin Laden

The Wasichus rejoiced today when they learned of the death of one from across the ocean in the east. They think it just to harm him, after he killed so many of their children. They are right to rejoice. When a Wasichu has killed many of our people, he should be killed as well. It is for our protection, so that after we perform the kill ritual, we may feel safe. They now feel safe, and are rejoicing in their own form of the kill ritual.

Note: I do not agree with what I believe Black Elk would say.

Words

Sorry I haven't posted at all this week - I have been swamped with work, and it hasn't been getting any better!
I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts left over from Friday's discussion.

As Liza said, many families can relax and gain closure in grief for their loved ones that were killed by Bin Laden. But sometimes I feel that maybe it wasn't really Bin Laden that killed them, but his voice. He persuaded men to commit suicide to carry out his ideas. His words moved men to kill thousands of innocents. His words told them that it was the right thing to do, because America was evil. It was his words.
Now his body is dead, yes, but in all of the people that he inspired to kill for the sake of what he believed to be a better world, his words still carry on.

This is why I do not feel relieved in his death - only more scared.

One Square Inch of Silence

Here's something I think is cool:

The One Square Inch of Silence is located in the Hoh Rain Forest in the Olympic National Park. Here, it is possible to sit and hear no sound made by mankind. It is located about a 2 hour hike from the nearest visitor center and marked with a red rock. One is surrounded by nature.
At this site, there is jar of quiet thoughts where visitors can read notes left behind from other visitors (or leave one of their own).

Someday, I want to visit the One Square Inch of Silence site. But in the meantime, I'd like to find one of my own. Certainly on the St. Olaf campus, there is nowhere you can go where you're not surrounded by the sounds of other people. I'm sure there are other places of the world that are as quiet as this one.
I dare you to find one too.

http://onesquareinch.org/

"Yellow Metal"

Just a quick thought -

While I read this book, it strikes me as kind of tragic that the "Wasichus" nearly destroyed an entire culture for something their supposed enemies found completely worthless. Gold.

Taking a Stand on "Black Elk Speaks"

I believe that Black Elk Speaks provides what was an almost forgotten voice in the history of the United States' expansion westward.

As we discussed in class today (and it's in one of the Prefaces), when Black Elk Speaks was redicovered by readers, it provided a starting place for many American Indians who had forgotten their culture. If its message fails to live up to the expectations of more modern readers like us (which it doesn't for me, at least), at least it helped an entire culture rediscover their roots.

November... in July?

Hello!

Well, since I couldn't really think of what I was blogging about this week... I thought I'd share with you one of my projects for the summer.

I've told you before about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). In case you forgot, or you haven't read my entries since October, I'll remind you. NaNoWriMo is an event that takes places every November where writers all across the world (despite the fact that it's "National Novel...") sprint to achieve a 50,000 word novel.
The average daily goal is to write about 1,667 words a day. This translates to about 3 pages single spaced every day. That's a lot of writing. It seems daunting, but when you break it up every day into equal parts, it's actually not that bad. 50,000 words is more of a novella, rather than a full blown novel.
Don't get me wrong, it is a huge time commitment, and you'll probably lose a little sleep and some of your social life, but it's totally worth it.

Anyway, most people think it's crazy, and I'll tell you why.
When I try to convince people to take on this challenge with me, they tell me that they've always loved the idea of writing a book. A lot of the time, they've even tried. But they tell me that they can never get past the first few chapters or so. They tell me that they can't imagine writing so many words in so little time, because their novel would be terrible.
That's exactly what NaNoWriMo is about.
It's about bad novels.
That sounds confusing, but let me share with you part of an explanation from the "What Is NaNoWriMo" page on their website:

"Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."

NaNoWriMo is about teaching yourself to accept the mistakes you make. Once you do, and you plow through your rough draft, you've accomplished the hardest part of writing your book. Once you have your rough draft, you have something to work with. You have some idea of what happens when, what could be said, what needs to happen before that one plot twist can happen, and (hopefully) at least some work worth salvaging.
Or it's a great endurance exercise.
This is why I love it.

November 2010 was my third year participating in NaNoWriMo, and my second year completing the challenge. This year, I did it in 13 days. Yeah - kinda crazy. My original goal was to write 100,000 words (two 50,000 word novels), but when Christmasfest rehearsal started, I didn't have time to complete the second one.
13 days, though, is still impressive.

So here's my challenge to you:
I'm going to do my own special informal NaNoWriMo in July. I dare you to do it with me.
A lot of people claim to be too busy in November to write a novel then, and that's a valid excuse. But in July, there's no schoolwork, so you have no excuse.

Writing begins at midnight, July 1st.
Be there.