Hope

I recently attended an event at Loyola that focused on climate change and what we can do as Loyola students and inhibitors of the earth to make a change and keep our world from falling apart under our feet. The event was hosted by a Loyola professor who teaches a “Global Environment” course. She spoke about how afraid she was for the future and what the world will be like when her son grows up. She brought up the rising temperature and carbon dioxide levels and how the climate will never be normal again. It was quite daunting and made it difficult to not think about the world ending - all hope for future generations began to diminish in my mind. The host continued by asking a panel of climate change experts a few questions. They each shared their background on why they got involved in climate change and how it has affected their lives. They also spoke about what we can do to limit our carbon footprint and how we can work together to make Baltimore, and our world, a healthier place. It is hard to think positively while talking about the future of our world nowadays. It often seems as if there is nothing we can do to change the fact that we are destroying our earth and slowly killing ourselves. The vibe in the room during the majority of the event was fairly melancholy until one of the panelists said something along the lines of “this is not the time to lose hope”. She encouraged us to still continue to work for a more prosperous and cleaner world. There is something that everyone can do to change things, even if that something is small like recycling or abstaining from meat one day a week. She said now is not the time to be passive or mopey or to lose hope. If we want change we have to fight for it. Living in constant despair will lead us nowhere.

The first half of Twelfth Night reminded me a little about what I learned the night of the climate change event. I was reminded that losing hope and living in despair will lead to no good. When Sebastian and Viola think that each other are dead, they do not fully lose hope but instead proceed to search for each other in hope the other was still alive. If they decided to just mourn the loss of each other, then the entirety of the play would be very different. Viola would not get the crazy idea to dress up as Cesario and she would not have met Duke Orsino and would not have fallen in love with him. If Cesario (Viola) did not go to Olivia and try to make her fall in love with Duke Orsino, then Olivia would not realize that she can still feel love and doesn’t need to mourn the loss of her brother for years on end. Olivia begins to have hope that she will be able to be with Cesario. Malvolio begins to have hope that he will be able to be with Olivia. Viola (Cesario) begins to have hope that she may have a chance to be with Duke Orsino. I believe that Shakespeare is trying to portray that, even with sorrow and loss, there is still hope for a better future. Even though Olivia lost her father and her brother, after beginning to fall in love with Cesario, she starts to become optimistic about her future. Even though Viola and Sebastian think that each other is dead, they do not fully lose faith. Viola is still able to feel love for Duke Orsino. Overall, Shakespeare conveys through Twelfth Night the importance of keeping faith no matter the circumstances.

Overall, I enjoyed this event a lot. I could tell that the panelists were very passionate about what they were talking about and that they genuinely wanted to get everyone at least slightly interested and involved in sustainability and knowledgeable about climate change. My expectations for the event were exceeded and I would definitely recommend this event for someone in the future.

Argument

A few weeks ago I went to a very interesting event here on campus. It was a debate run in a similar format that a presidential debate would be. This event was hosted by the Loyola Rhetoric society, and moderated by the society's president-my good friend Zachary Fechter '19.

The debate was between several people of diverse backgrounds and political ideological views. A young white republican economics student, a woman who is a professor of African American studies, a libertarian professor, a liberal/progressive student, and a republican economics professor. There were three different subjects posed for debate. The first being the idea of safe spaces and free speech on college campuses, the second being the issue of racial tensions and police relations with minorities, and the third being gun control. The debate was overall a very entertaining and well run event. If nothing else, it served to further highlight one of the major issues of the now mercifully ended presidential election season that has shown the antithesis of good argumentation and debate. My only issue with the debate overall was that it seemed like every topic somehow ended up being a debate about race. I understand that this is more to do with the importance of the issue in today's society rather than anything else, yet I wish I could have heard this group tackle issues like immigration, the economy, and healthcare seeing as how they handled the issues of race with such intelligent and respectful dialogue. But I digress.

The first question about safe spaces was answered very well. The African-American Studies professor made a great point about how she saw safe spaces as dialogue walls, that contributed more to the rise in racial tensions and a lack of discussions and progress on those issues than any offensive language had. I only saw one issue, in that one of the women defending safe spaces didn't actually give a reason for having them, she just said what they are, and in my opinion, just defining something isn't in itself an argument in favor of it.

As fate would have it, our reading for this week is Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I  found this to be mildly amusing seeing as the moderator of the debate has been an avid lover of Shakespeare since before I met him, even acting in a special performance he himself put together last fall, in which him and two upperclassmen tried to comically act out every work of Shakespeare in just one ninety minute show.

Anyways getting back on to topic, I have not found twelfth night to be particularly interesting in comparison to some of the other Shakespeare stories I've read. Now with that said it should be noted that I've only read the first two acts, and I say this merely in comparison to his signature works like Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and my personal favorite of his-Much Ado About Nothing. I still find this story to be rather humorous and very well written. The dialogue is crisp and the plot is all together fun to watch/read develop, I'm just not quite "hooked" onto it yet. Maybe that will change in the final three acts.

The Dilemma America Faces in the Future

The Dilemma America Faces in the Future

This past Tuesday I attended the 2016 Election Reflection held by Professor Harris, who happens to be my Messina teacher. Professor Harris collected roughly eight professors from departments across campus, each of whom were tasked with speaking briefly about how they believed the election affected the Loyola community. I approached this event hopefully that the professor’s rhetoric would help bring more unity to the greater Loyola community, however I departed disappointed that two professors made comments which left students more divided.

Let me be clear, voting is a very personal act. It is intended to be confidential and not all people feel comfortable expressing to others who they voted for. That being said, if someone is open to telling people who they voted for, they should be open to having a conversation about their choice. Toward the end of the of the Election 2016 event one professor indicated that for her personally, she felt like people who voted for Donald Trump “crossed a line.” She explained that in “crossing that line” she was unsure if she would be able to accept Trump voters in the future. Regardless of one’s political ideology, this statement should be upsetting to all Americans. With all due respect to this professor, her statement epitomizes the problem America faces going forward; many people now find it acceptable to judge others based on who they voted for. It is now possible for a person’s vote to “cross a line.” I have seen numerous news articles suggesting that “Trump Voters Deserve to be ‘Vote Shamed’” (The Guardian 11/20/16) and saying “America Elects a Bigot” (New York Times 11/10/16) and I believe that these articles and ideas are inherently un-American. These ideas, suggest that the American people were fundamentally wrong and as a result the democracy has failed, and furthermore that America is ruined. This is not intended to be a partisan argument but rather my hope is that people will see how the idea of vote shaming is truly poisonous. Vote shaming divides people and what this country desperately needs is to unite people.

The question remains, how does America resolve this dilemma? First and foremost, all Americans must accept that, for better or for worse Donald Trump will be the 45^th President of the United States. Secondly, Donald Trump must publicly recognize that up to this point, he has been part of the problem. He has been divisive, and has offended many Americans, and to help unite this nation, he needs to ask the American people to forgive his past transgressions. And finally to achieve unity, the American people must acknowledge that this is a diverse country. America is diverse in many ways, we have people who are racially and ethnically diverse, but we also have people who are ideologically diverse. As a country, people need to learn not to be afraid of other opinions and need to stop calling people who they disagree with homophobic or racist or bigots because such name calling is a form of intolerance. All of us need to remember that Trump votes are not neo-Nazis trying to suppress minorities and likewise that Clinton voters are not Communists trying to do away with democracy. I believe, if America can follow these three steps, then this nation will once again be on the path to being the “shining city upon a hill,” John Winthrop envisioned.

In the Twelfth Night, Olivia is ignoring and blocking anything Orsino tries to tell her. Rather than listening to Orsino’s profession of love, she would rather block out and entirely ignore his opinion and love. Olivia fails to listen and approach the situation with an open mind, the same fault which I see in the American electorate. As the play continues, I would like to see Olivia listen, she does not have to fall in love with Orsino, but hopefully she can listen.

What Do Dukes and High-schoolers Have in Common?

Love is pretty simple: a few chemical reactions in our head can cause that oh so familiar love-sickness or infatuation upon the object of our desires. Often humans can become convinced they are in love with someone, personally knowing them isn't even a requirement- I had a friend a few years back who was convinced that she was going to marry One Direction, yes all of them: "Cara, you do know they are unaware of your existence on earth and somehow you are destined for a polygamous marriage with 5 British dudes..." she rebuked my question, I was a fool for thinking so.

Human relationships interweave and consequently so do romantic relationships, which can create a whole mess of emotion. I have observed, through reading of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and volunteering at Patterson, that Duke Orsino's behavior can be equated to that of a teenaged boy.

Both the duke and a couple of high school aged boys utilize a "wingman" to hit on girls for them. Duke Orsino is so in love with Olivia, but he can't get his butt down to her house to tell her himself. Instead, he's been sending his new servant Viola, who is dressed up like a young lad to woo his fair lady. To make matters even worse, Olivia has been mourning the loss of her brother and refuses to open up to the possibility of a romantic relationship. The Duke is persistent however, and makes such a valiant effort to have his servants pour their hearts out to her on behalf of him. I really never understood why guys will have their friends hit on girls for them. Seriously when does this ever work?  Personally I am turned off by the idea of a wingman, and perhaps Olivia is also. 

Many a time, we can fall in love with the idea of someone rather than the person themselves. As I walked down the purple and sea foam green hallways (interesting color palette I know) of the high school, I'll often see young couples holding hands or kissing or girls giggling behind their lockers at some cute boy. This is all typical high school behavior, but I realized that we never truly grow out of these feelings. Yes, we may control them better but even as we get older, that same giddiness will return if we see an old celebrity crush on TV or begin a new romantic relationship. The Duke really is convinced that he loves Olivia, and her playing hard to get only intensifies his desires. However, the Duke barely knows her past her physical appearance. We can never fully love a person without knowing the whole being, and growing to love the little quirks about them. Shakespeare's sonnet "My Mistresses Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun" demonstrates this idea pretty well. This play so far seems to deal with the superficiality of infatuation, as opposed to the genuine feelings in his sonnet. 

Directness can prevent the complexities and love triangles that are often a product resulting from having many parties involved. If the Duke simply went to Olivia himself, perhaps he would have made a better impression on her. Now there is a whole new mess as Olivia begins to have affection towards Viola, and Viola starts to get the feels for the Duke. All the deception involved creates a complicated situation and I am interested to see how this all plays out...

12th Night

In this reading there was a strong connection between identity and feeling comfortable with who you are. This connects to my experience today taking pubic transportation to the Walters Art Museum. A city bus is like the glue that pulls together everyone in the city, anyone can take it. On the bus you see and meet citizens from your community you may never have crossed paths with otherwise. When everyone is all together it is easy to judge and compare yourself to others. But it is important to not do that and love everyone for who they are, whether they are different or similar to you as a person. Identity is important but also irrelevant at the same time. It is important to each individual to love their identity no matter what others think, but it should not matter to you how other people live their lives. 

Viola referred to herself as a poor monster in Act 2, scene 2. This implies she think she is ugly and in-between a man and a woman. This self-hate is unfortunate because she is condemning herself. Being comfortable in your own identity is a major theme in the play and my experience today on the city bus. Identity is also very relevant to today's society. Depending on what you identify as is important to our generation specifically. A lot of progress is being made in accepting everyone as a whole, and being "different" is less "different". Basically, acceptance is more normal than not accepting people for who they are. Obviously, accepting everyone for who they are is our role and job as citizens in this community. Society is based on social norms and a certain order. 

Lovesick for Journalism

Jenna Dertouzos

Understanding Literature

Dr. Ellis

November 21, 2016

Lovesick for Journalism

Los Angeles Times news correspondent and Loyola University Maryland alumni, Mike Memoli is without a doubt, lovesick for journalism. Starting out as a publisher in “The Greyhound” in college, onto a writing internship in Washington, D.C. which then brought him to NBC and onward to the LA Times, Memoli has done nothing but continue to shine through as a fantastic journalist. Memoli became so dedicated to his job that when he was working in NBC, he worked to gain “embedded coverage” from political figure, Hillary Clinton in 2008; this meant basically putting his life on hold, to follow Hillary Clinton around the first time she ran for President, to not only take notes on her in public, but behind the scenes. Memoli would interview her while her and her team were travelling by plane, train or bus, from state to state trying to campaign. Mike Memoli was part of the campaign, all for a storyline. He was so dedicated to NBC that he would travel day in and day out to record great nuggets of information from Clinton herself, about the campaign, in order to show the world how great she was. In current time, Memoli works for the Los Angeles Times, and is now following Hilary Clinton as a journalist as she runs for President yet again in the 2016 election. As the journalist compared Clinton from eight years ago, to today, he noted that Clinton speaks to him and the other journalists covering her, a little more informally, and he added that the group had really gotten to know the “real Hillary Clinton” during this time around.

All in all, Memoli dedicates his time, with his life closely tied to the Clinton Campaign, constantly updating his Twitter status, and even adding important political events to the LA Times Snapchat account. In his years as a journalist he has grown with the social media, and continued to make his love for journalism known. Mike Memoli will do just about anything, for a good headline; even as much as putting his life on hold, to follow Hillary Clinton around, to get the very first insights of news. After reading Act I and Act I of Twelfth Night, I could not help but compare Orsino to Mike Memoli. The love that Orsino has for Lady Olivia seems to be obsessive to the point where every conversation he has in the play so far, seems to go back to his lovesickness. It is crazy to believe that Orsino has only really seen Olivia one time, and this dream that they are in love and a fantasy of a marriage blinds him from anything else in his world. Orsino dedicates his entire self to being in love with Lady Olivia, just like Mike Memoli is overly loyal to his dream job as a journalist.

Not Similar, but Informative

This week I attended an event hosted by the theology department.  Dr. Susan K. Wood, SCL, Phd, Professor of Systematic Theology at Marquette University gave a lecture on Lutheran-Catholic Efforts to Achieve Unity: What’s at Stake?  With the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation how are we going to celebrate?  Dr. Susan Wood gave some backstory on the fight between the Catholics and the Lutherans.  The Catholics thought the Reformation was dividing the church, while the Lutherans felt that it was an opportunity for change.  500 years later we are still trying to figure out if we should celebrate the Reformation or do we repent?

I felt that Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was very similar to Shakespeare's other work Two Gentlemen in Verona.  Both plays have love triangles and a little bit of cross dressing done by female characters.  Duke Orsino is madly in love with Lady Olivia, but she doesn’t share his feelings and wishes he would just go away.  Viola, who is disguised as Cesario, goes to Olivia’s house to present Orsino’s love.  When Viola visits Olivia, Olivia falls in love with Cesario, but Viola is in love with Orsino.  Everyone is the first two acts of the play are confused and in love.  

I don't really think my event this week and the play have much in common, but I really enjoyed them both.  I had not heard of the the Reformation before the event and was interested in learning about how it came to be and how we have dealt with it for the past 500 years.  I believe that we should celebrate how far we have come and accepted our differences.  I greatly enjoyed the play and am actually half way into the third act because I had to find out what happened.  Shakespeare's stories tend to be similar, but there is always a twist that makes the reader not want to put the book down.