Hammerjelly

Heat could mean many things, the heat of the moment, the heat of the situation, etc.. But in this case I am addressing the actual, physical, heat that some of us dread.

We all know what hot is: it’s having your fan on and wearing shorts and drinking iced coffee instead of normal coffee every morning. We sweat more when we work out and have more of an excuse to eat ice cream. People grow faster in heat and for some they maybe even think faster. All of this is great and all but why does this simple topic matter?

There are people (me included) that hate heat. A nice, warm 31 Celsius (~87 F) outside? Nope, today is a day to stay inside next to my air conditioner and ice packs. I could pull out the “You can’t take more more clothes when it’s warm” card, but at this point it doesn’t even matter anymore. We can’t think in this temperature. We get dizzy and woozy and tired and start complaining. We can’t sleep at night because of the dangers of drowning in our own sweat pools. Headaches are a thing of the past, we don’t even know what a headache is anymore it’s been going on for so long. The computer in our heads is overheating and needs to cool down before it melts.

A little rant upon people who love heat. I can put more clothes on when it’s cold and being a happy little penguin if I want. I can’t take off my skin when it’s warm thoe, so ha.

Original Article

Transcending Death

    The death of a significant other more often than not signals a time for grief and sorrow. It is the ending of a life and in literary terms is often the last scene of a story. On the other hand, the death of another could be seen more positively as the next stage in a person’s life. Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, a story about an african-american woman in Florida during the 1930’s and her quest for love, expresses just that. Hurston uses the development of Janie’s character to convey the theme that death is a positive thing because it signifies a rebirth and the start of a new beginning.
Witnessing the death of a significant other can have a profound effect on the witness, but Hurston shows that this effect leads to a positive development of character. The novel opens with “… the beginning of this was a woman and she had come backbo from burying the dead…the sodden and bloated; the sudden dead”(1). This excerpt creates an image in our mind of a weary, tired women coming back from the recent traumatic death of an other. It’s important the concept of death, which is often seen at the end of stories, is put on the first page of the novel. This shows that from death emerges new beginnings; introducing the idea that endings are a new start. This introductory rejuvenation is important because the it will play an important role in the rest of Janie’s life; the same way that we grow from the passing of others. The first example of a rebirth in Janie’s life is at the end of her relationship with Logan. When Janie is given a moment to think after the death of Nanny, another image is created: “ [that] God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one … Janie’s dream was dead, so she became a woman”(25). The image of God desecrating the previous “world”, meaning any previous person or situation, and constructing a new one repeats the concept of new beginnings. The old world being torn down correlates to Janie’s dream of love dying. It died because Janie never sincerely loved Logan; they were forced to marry because of Nanny’s wishes. But now a new world was being built, one in which Janie gained the experience of life’s hardship from her dead dream. Janie transformed from a girl into a woman. But this is only her first transformation ;unfortunately Janie has more deaths to come.
Janie has to experience another death when she runs away from Logan to marry the future big-voiced mayor of Eatonville Joe Starks. They are married for twenty years while Joe constantly suppressed Janie’s voice, and when Joe died it instigated a new sense of understanding and continued Janie’s path towards self-discovery. During Joe’s funeral Janie did not grieve, but “all things concerning death and burial were said and done. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life…[Janie] went rollicking with the springtime across the world”(88). The diction of this passage signifies the contrast between what Janie’s life was with Joe and without him. Before it was “expensive” and “black”, but now it is “resurrection” and “rollicking with the springtime”. This clearly shows that after Joe’s death Janie was free from the his constant suppression and could freely join “the springtime across the world”. This was the first time that Janie was by herself, since before she was with Nanny, Logan or Joe. This constructs a new found independence within Janie; an important development in her character. After being forced to rely upon others people begin to realize how important it is for them to be able to make decisions for themselves.  After choosing to be alone after Joe’s death “She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around”(87). Janie continued on the road of self-discovery and realized that she had “a jewel” within her; one that should be “gleam[ed]”. She separates herself from the past thought of of restricting what she wanted to do for security’s sake and now sees that she wishes to interact with the world. Not to cower in fear from it but become an active part in it. She developed in the sense that now she knows what place in the world she wants; people do not want to be silent bystanders of their communities but rather have a gleaming voice to contribute to it.

This active part in society brought Janie to Tea Cake,  the one true pear tree love in Janie’s life. They have a beautiful and blissful relationship and the unfortunate death of Tea Cake teaches the final lesson of why there is a beginning after the end. Right after Janie had to shoot Tea Cake “Janie … thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service… she had to tell him for the last time”(184). Tea Cake’s “loving service” represents everything that he has done for Janie; given her a voice, given her a chance to be happy and guided her on the path of self-revelation. His cycle in life has ended and Janie through Janie’s previous experiences with death she was able to understand this cycle. In this moment right after his passing Janie consolidated her thoughts on womanhood, independence, morality and love. This happens because the one true love of Janie’s life just died by her bullet, and faced with this degree of burden people learn they understand the ultimate lesson in life.  Janie’s final thought is that “[Tea Cake] could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light…”(193). It is obvious to everybody else in the surrounding Florida community that Tea Cake is dead, but for Janie only his physical body is. Tea Cake in Janie’s eyes will never be dead until she herself is. Re-births happen because it is hope and memories that carries us on; they give us a reason not to stop at death. It gives us a reason to keep learning, developing, growing and living.

    Understanding the concept of death is important because it should be seen as not the end of life, but the beginning of a new stage in it. Many people connect death as a time of grief, sorrow and the end of everything. But through the multiple deaths in the novel Janie has gained the understanding that death occurs in cycles, and after the passing away of both her husbands she gained more understanding in the ultimate lesson in life. Janie understood that the power of love can transcend death, and with it no one ever truly dies. If you love someone your memories and compassion to them will keep them alive; love ones never die.

Original Article

What (or how) defines are per-say, important you are? First one must define what importance is.

There is the dictionary definition of important (“Of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being”), but I think it is much more variable then that. There is the fancy businessman in the suit riding the second deck on a double decker plane going to some high ranking conference about oil. On the other hand there is taking care of your kids and doing a thousands errands important. Important can be even more simple then both of those examples; important can be remembering to feed your cat.

But what defines how important these actions are. Yourself, your kids, the cat? Those three areas are the basis of what defines your value.

First is yourself, how important you find yourself. In this area there are people ranging from major self-esteem problems to extremely annoying narcissism. Self proclaimed importance may seem a bit vain but it is still important. Everybody must have a sense of self worth and feel useful to other people. You can have a legitimate basis of being important (example: I run the peace corps in Africa or I make the dinner), which is important to recognize because it relates to a person’s pride. It can also be the extent in which you follow your expectations; what you want to do in your life and how you fulfill it. Without a little of this self-proclaimed pride one will never feel any importance what so ever. This concept borders the realm of arrogance, but maintain a positive self-image is important. This personal importance only goes so far thoe, because there are other people around you that also define your value.

Second is your kids, or how other people view you and your importance. This is probably the most influential part in your value, considering that is what everyone else thinks of you. It is arguable that this is the only way that defies your importance. A relatable example is the qualities you put yourself on your resume, and qualities that other people accosiate with you. Often times what other people think of you is true, and this relates to importance. You are important to other people because you provide something for them; the more they need you the more important they are. Loved ones, co-workers, your mom, they are all important in their eyes.

Third is the cat, or things/people you put importance in. Relatively simple considering that when you put importance into something you do something with it (provide, protect, etc..) so that person/thing becomes reliant on you. That person/thing see’s you as important.

Importance can not be measured mathematically, my post makes it sound like it but it’s not. I’m going to stretch it and say that we are all important in one sense or an other.

Original Article