Hello Everyone! I decided to take the whole weekend off. I figured that the point of this was truly to challenge myself and get myself back into writing...not to make myself dread writing and hate it. During my undergraduate degree I was originally doing a double major in English and Psychology (two of the most useful majors to have if you want to do something right out of university...*wink*). I found that I began to hate English, a subject that I used to love and find great joy and comfort in studying. I would often save my English homework to do after my other homework so that I would have something to look forward to. I loved looking deeper into a text, looking at symbols and analogies and other things that were "hidden" when you weren't looking closely for deeper understanding. All of a sudden, in my second year of doing a double major, English seemed dull and dead to me...it was like everything felt over-analysed. I couldn't just read something to read it and enjoy it. I had to constantly be searching and seeking for something it said that I couldn't find out by just immersing myself in the world. I had to research and look into every line, every word that seemed like it might hold some secret treasure.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed this if I had different classroom experiences however in my second year I had a professor (who was a a student doing their PhD) tell us that we weren't allowed to ask questions in class and openly mocked someone when they did. Then I had a professor who just seemed to make everything very dull, which I think was more so my own issue and not truly anything to do with his teaching ability. I was often incredibly tired in his class due to working part-time, having a full course load and being in a new relationship...so I'm sure if I went back now better rested (haha!) my experience would be different.
All these different things led me to drop English as one of my majors. It was actually quite a difficult decision for me, particularly because my English grades were my "good" grades. I was encouraged by the English department to make it my only major right around the time I was trying to decide if I would drop it, which added to the confusion. However, after a lot of prayer and journalling and internal debates I decided to have English as my minor and it was such a relief! Suddenly there was so much less pressure. I had more freedom to choose courses that seemed like ones I would actually enjoy as opposed to being stuck with the ones I had to do for the major. I took random classes like Canadian Playwrights and a less random but equally enjoyable course on short stories. These courses and these professors brought back my love of English, of searching stories for hidden treasures and of immersing myself into other worlds, societies and perspectives.
The past two days I've found that I've been contemplating two things a lot. The first is the power of music to bring you back to a specific moment/place/memory and the other is the power of a story to really pull you in.
If you know me fairly well it will come as no surprise that I love the Harry Potter books, which I guess is not that radical of a thing to love as they are quite popular in my generation. I truly feel as though this is for good reason. I can't remember if I said it here before...so I may just be repeating myself. There is a quote by JK Rowling that says, "Whether you come back page by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." As someone who quite ritually reads the whole series whenever there is a fairly big change happening in my life I truly do feel at home when I read through the pages. The Harry Potter books may not be the epic story that Lord of the Rings is with it's thoroughness, intricacy of story or complexity of characters and species nor are they as revolutionary as 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird or Things Fall Apart (for example...I'm sure there are many more). However, they have something that draws me (And others) back again and again.
It's silly but when I read them I truly feel as though I'm with friends. Things that I didn't catch the last time I read them, stand out to me when I read them again. As you get to know the characters better the way that they act and respond seems to make more sense. You can look at earlier moments in the first books with the knowledge that you've gained from reading the later books at some other time. Suddenly, with knowledge of relationships or experiences different responses seem understandable or explainable. It's funny because isn't it often this way in life too? We can be frustrated with someone or annoyed and then we find out that there was something in their life that impacted them and contributed to that "annoying" characteristic or response and suddenly...we're more empathetic.
If you've read the books at all or talked to anyone about them you know that there is great debate around Harry Potter and Snape (among other characters I'm sure). By any means I don't think that Harry Potter is a particularly lovable character at all times (are any of us?) nor is he particularly special (which is realistic/relateable) apart from being set apart at a young age by an evil man. However, the more I read the stories and perhaps the older I get...the more I feel empathy for Harry's character. He is, if anything, resilient. I feel empathy for him the more I change and learn myself. Then the next time I head back into the world of Harry Potter, something else stands out to me that clarifies another thing about how he reacts or responds. I find this applies so much to my life as well...as I grow and change and learn. Suddenly, something changes in the way I see a situation or a person. I gain empathy and compassion. There is also the flip side- sometimes the more I learn and experience the world the more guarded and protective I become.
I have no idea where I'm going with this...partly because I have to stop myself from going into a long blog post about Harry Potter. I've had so many fantastic conversations with people coming out of a discussion about Harry Potter or other fictional worlds or characters and I LOVE that about stories. They don't just draw us in and spit us back out exactly the same way we came (unless of course we're very resistant to it). Stories change us, they impact our worldview, our understanding of people's experiences. There was a study done (I can't find it) that discovered that reading actually develops in us more empathy because you have to take on the perspective of different people...sometimes multiple people within a story...and you have to see things they way they see them. Even if you don't agree with them, in order to understand the full story you have to hear them out. I love that.
I'd absolutely LOVE to hear about stories that impacted you guys...poems, books, movies or short stories! I think I might carry on down this path this week and talk about books or stories that impacted me, hopefully that interests you.
Thanks for reading!
Perhaps I would have enjoyed this if I had different classroom experiences however in my second year I had a professor (who was a a student doing their PhD) tell us that we weren't allowed to ask questions in class and openly mocked someone when they did. Then I had a professor who just seemed to make everything very dull, which I think was more so my own issue and not truly anything to do with his teaching ability. I was often incredibly tired in his class due to working part-time, having a full course load and being in a new relationship...so I'm sure if I went back now better rested (haha!) my experience would be different.
All these different things led me to drop English as one of my majors. It was actually quite a difficult decision for me, particularly because my English grades were my "good" grades. I was encouraged by the English department to make it my only major right around the time I was trying to decide if I would drop it, which added to the confusion. However, after a lot of prayer and journalling and internal debates I decided to have English as my minor and it was such a relief! Suddenly there was so much less pressure. I had more freedom to choose courses that seemed like ones I would actually enjoy as opposed to being stuck with the ones I had to do for the major. I took random classes like Canadian Playwrights and a less random but equally enjoyable course on short stories. These courses and these professors brought back my love of English, of searching stories for hidden treasures and of immersing myself into other worlds, societies and perspectives.
The past two days I've found that I've been contemplating two things a lot. The first is the power of music to bring you back to a specific moment/place/memory and the other is the power of a story to really pull you in.
If you know me fairly well it will come as no surprise that I love the Harry Potter books, which I guess is not that radical of a thing to love as they are quite popular in my generation. I truly feel as though this is for good reason. I can't remember if I said it here before...so I may just be repeating myself. There is a quote by JK Rowling that says, "Whether you come back page by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." As someone who quite ritually reads the whole series whenever there is a fairly big change happening in my life I truly do feel at home when I read through the pages. The Harry Potter books may not be the epic story that Lord of the Rings is with it's thoroughness, intricacy of story or complexity of characters and species nor are they as revolutionary as 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird or Things Fall Apart (for example...I'm sure there are many more). However, they have something that draws me (And others) back again and again.
It's silly but when I read them I truly feel as though I'm with friends. Things that I didn't catch the last time I read them, stand out to me when I read them again. As you get to know the characters better the way that they act and respond seems to make more sense. You can look at earlier moments in the first books with the knowledge that you've gained from reading the later books at some other time. Suddenly, with knowledge of relationships or experiences different responses seem understandable or explainable. It's funny because isn't it often this way in life too? We can be frustrated with someone or annoyed and then we find out that there was something in their life that impacted them and contributed to that "annoying" characteristic or response and suddenly...we're more empathetic.
If you've read the books at all or talked to anyone about them you know that there is great debate around Harry Potter and Snape (among other characters I'm sure). By any means I don't think that Harry Potter is a particularly lovable character at all times (are any of us?) nor is he particularly special (which is realistic/relateable) apart from being set apart at a young age by an evil man. However, the more I read the stories and perhaps the older I get...the more I feel empathy for Harry's character. He is, if anything, resilient. I feel empathy for him the more I change and learn myself. Then the next time I head back into the world of Harry Potter, something else stands out to me that clarifies another thing about how he reacts or responds. I find this applies so much to my life as well...as I grow and change and learn. Suddenly, something changes in the way I see a situation or a person. I gain empathy and compassion. There is also the flip side- sometimes the more I learn and experience the world the more guarded and protective I become.
I have no idea where I'm going with this...partly because I have to stop myself from going into a long blog post about Harry Potter. I've had so many fantastic conversations with people coming out of a discussion about Harry Potter or other fictional worlds or characters and I LOVE that about stories. They don't just draw us in and spit us back out exactly the same way we came (unless of course we're very resistant to it). Stories change us, they impact our worldview, our understanding of people's experiences. There was a study done (I can't find it) that discovered that reading actually develops in us more empathy because you have to take on the perspective of different people...sometimes multiple people within a story...and you have to see things they way they see them. Even if you don't agree with them, in order to understand the full story you have to hear them out. I love that.
I'd absolutely LOVE to hear about stories that impacted you guys...poems, books, movies or short stories! I think I might carry on down this path this week and talk about books or stories that impacted me, hopefully that interests you.
Thanks for reading!
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