25 Initiation Rights and Presentation List

 Presentation List for Oct. 10th

http://list25.com/25-crazy-rites-of-passage/

1.         Austin Arden -- (Free Choice: FC)

2.         Connor Bos--- FC

3.         Cody Brown--  FC

4.         Reed Brown--  FC

5.         Kara Christiansen-- FC

6.         Audri Cole--- Viracocha--- FC

7.         Henna Devine--FC

8.         Nathaniel Ellis--FC

9.         Ben Fitzgerald--FC

10.     Siri Gerrity----- FC

11.     Megan Goertz--FC

12.     Kelly Heabeerlin--FC

13.     Brian Jackson---FC

14.     Josh Jenks--Kintu FC

15.     Sarah Jensen----FC

16.     Zach Jewett--FC

17.     Ian Jirasko--FC

18.     Terrell LaForge--FC

This next set of prsentations will come from the “25 craziest Initiation

Rituals”  at this website:  http://list25.com/25-crazy-rites-of-passage/

At any time, any individual can negotiate for a replacement “initiation”

story by contacting the instructor and explaining the substitution. If you do not

see your name on this list, assume you have a FC (Free Choice).

19.     Elaine Li--Pangu    25

20.     Cavin Losett-- 24

21.     Jessica Matthews-- 23

22.     David Meade-- )22

23.     Elise Nickish- ) 21

24.     Towner Norton---Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation) 20

25.     Kayleen Offringa  19

26.     Rebecca Petrick   18

27.     Dakota Prukop   17

28.     Jorden Quinn  16

29.     Jordyn Raffety  15

30.     Victor Reed  14

31.     Michelle Rosen  13

32.     Kim Siemsen  12

33.     Chance Thomas   11

34.     Melissa Thompson   10

35.     Parker Tilton  9

36.     Annie Van Voast   8

37.     Whitney Whittecar  )7

38.     McKinder Wilsey   6

39.     Cayden Witzel   5

40.     Kristy Davis   4

41.     Jean Heetderks   3

42.     Sebastian Petzing ) 2

43.     Travis Province   1

44.     Kenzie Fisher (FC)

45.     Jon Paul Galeas (FC)

Dates to Remember

First Quiz: October 3rd
          -It is a good idea to look over Ian's class notes. He has done a wonderful job putting everything discussed in class on his daily blog. The information on his blog could be on the quiz.
          -Anything from how Chives got his name to the three stages: Conviviality, sudden violent invasion, indifference.

2nd Presentation: October 10th
          -"The Middle," Love, War and Pain.
          -I believe this will be on tribal initiations, we will discuss this more in class.

October 22nd: Read the entirety of The Storyteller before this date.

2nd Quiz: November 12th

Final Term Paper and Presentation: November 19th
          -My life as a mythic detective is the topic of the paper and presentation on said paper.
          -The topic, presentation and paper will be discussed in detail during class.

If the dates shift or change, I will let everyone know as soon as possible.

Commentary on P. 38

http://artvent-artventures.blogspot.com/2013/04/velazquez-ovids-myth-and-spinners-of.html

Removing the Veil From Page 38

     The passage on page 38 is filled with myths within myths combined with speculation about said myths. After reading the paragraph, rereading it and reading it again, I became obsessed with figuring out every aspect of these few hundred words. My focus last week was on the myth of Arachne and Athena. In an attempt to find clarity, I read the section out of Ovid Metamorphoses. With another reference guiding me through the myth, I felt as though I found order to the chaos on page 38. Arachne was doomed before the competition started by committing hubris. Her fate as a spider sealed the moment she opened her mouth and challenged Athena.

     Ahh, good, I am beginning to make sense of this, putting the pieces together--order. 

     Feeling good about my discovery, I wanted to dig deeper. I wanted to see if Frederick Turner had anything to say about Ovid or this myth in general. I began reading his blogs--not the easiest task but extremely rewarding--and could not find anything about Arachne, Athena or Ovid. On my third or fourth blog I found a passage from Values and Strange Attractors.

"One of our most subtly paralyzing dualisms is the apparently harmless one between order and disorder.  The idea of artistic liberation, under which we have labored for so many years, is especially prone to the corruptions of this dualism.  For instance, if order means predictability, and predictability means predetermination, and predetermination means compulsion, and compulsion means unfreedom, the only way we can be free is if we are disordered.  The failed artistic hopes of the last two centuries have been founded upon a deep discomfort with the idea of order, and what are taken to be its close relatives: hierarchy, foundationalism, norms, and essences–even with value itself, if value is conceived of as being anything other than momentary individual preference."

     After reading this, I looked at the passage on page 38 in a new way. I focused on the first and last lines. "Was it then that Dionysus seduced Erigone? We don't know...Erigone, then, was deceived and seduced by that powerful fruit. Other authors tell us that Dionysus and Erigone had a child: his name was Staphylus, 'bunch of grapes,' but this was also the name of the child other writers attribute to Dionysus and Ariadne." I traded order for freedom and found value. These myths are nothing but shadows, for shadows are reflections of the reality they represent. The version we hear is chosen in the moment with individual preference by whatever author we are reading. However, in The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Calasso frees our minds to choose which myth we want to believe by telling multiple versions of the same story. In doing so, Calasso offers an apocalypse, he offers us the freedom to remove the veil and think for ourselves.

St. John at Patmos: the receiving of an apocalyptic vision.
    

My Search: Axis Mundi

     My search for the center of the world was long and tedious. I wanted answers, I wanted to know what connected heaven to earth. Maybe I should have listened to Pindar when he stated: "The craziest type of people are those who scorn what they have around theme and look elsewhere/vainly searching for what cannot exist" (59). But I am stubborn, I needed answers and here is how it went down.
     It took many hours of paperwork, but I was finally ready. I was ready to present my proposal to the city of Bozeman. In order to find the center, to find what connected the earth to heaven, I must learn more about the belly button, I must learn more about trees. My proposal--although shot down multiple times--was to dig. I wanted to see what was under the surface of the ground. Where did the roots go? What I found was astonishing.

     The city let me use this Hitachi. It was fun figuring out how to use it, tearing up the layers of pavement and earth to get to what was really important, the roots. I have been led to believe that the roots of a tree extend far enough into the earth to achieve stability and nourishment. But what I did not know is that they reach much farther than that. I dug day and night for seven nights straight, I did not sleep, I did not eat, there was no need. It was as if none of it mattered. I had a goal in mind, nothing would stop me from getting to the center of things. Almost nothing. After seven days of digging and three Hitachi excavators later, the city of Bozeman shut my project down. Yet in my vain search for what cannot exist, I found precisely what I was looking for. The roots did not stop, the farther I dug, the more of them I would find. The tree on the surface of the earth reaches to heaven while the roots continue on forever. They are what holds the earth together. I finally found my answer, or did I? I would like to think so. Trees cannot live without their roots, similarly, people cannot live without roots either. As we follow the roots of a tree, they weave in and out of one another until they reach the center, or beginning. The same goes for man, the farther we follow the roots of man, the more we realize man began in the same place. The center.

     I was so happy to find the answers to my questions, I decided to hug the tree, roots and all. My next adventure, finding the tallest tree on earth and climbing it, to see if it truly connects earth to heaven. Wish me luck!

Links for Myth Resources

In our last class, we briefly looked at these two sites, I thought they would be helpful for everyone to have in order to look into the creation story we are assigned.
http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/
http://www.theoi.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_creation_myths 

1. Austin Arden -- Rangi and Papa (Maori) 
2. Connor Bos--- Genesis 1 (Hebrew) 
3. Cody Brown--  Mande Creation Myth (Mali) 
4. Reed Brown--  Tungusic Creation Myth (Siberia)
5. Kara Christiansen-- Vainamoinen  (Finnish) 
6. Audri Cole--- Viracocha--- (Inca) 
7. Henna Devine--Cherokee Creation Myth 
8. Nathaniel Ellis--Navajo Creation Myth Dine Bahane 
9. Ben Fitzgerald--Zuni Myth of Creation
10. Siri Gerrity----- Islamic Creation Story 
11. Megan Goertz--Mbombo----Central Africa
12. Kelly Heabeerlin--Popol Vuh--Mesoamerica
13. Brian Jackson---Scientology 
14. Josh Jenks--Kintu (Ugandan) 
15. Sarah Jensen----Kuterastan--Apache
16. Zach Jewett---Hwanung--Korean Creation Myth
17. Ian Jirasko--Raven (Haida creation story) 
18. Terrell LaForge--Jainism (Non-creationism) 
19. Elaine Li--Pangu  Chinese Creation story
20. Cavin Losett--Hindu Creationism ---the Rig Veda
21. Jessica Matthews--Egyptian Creation Myth 
22. David Meade--Volupsa (Norse)
23. Elise Nickish---Pelasgian Creation Myth (Greek) 
24. Towner Norton---Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation) 
25. Kayleen Offringa Izanami and Izanagi  http://sarahlmaguire.hubpages.com/hub/IzanagiandIzunami
26. Rebecca Petrick  (Free choice)
27. Dakota Prukop  (Free choice) 
28. Jorden Quinn (Free Choice)
29. Jordyn Raffety  (Free Choice)
30. Victor Reed  (Free Choice)
31. Michelle Rosen (Free Choice) 
32. Kim Siemsen (Free Choice)
33. Chance Thomas  (Free choice)
34. Melissa Thompson  (Free choice)
35. Parker Tilton  (Free Choice)
36. Annie Van Voast  (Free Choice) 
37. Whitney Whittecar  (Free Choice)
38. McKinder Wilsey  (Free choice) 
39. Cayden Witzel  (Free Choice) 
40. Kristy Davis  (Free Choice)
41. Jean Heetderks  (Free choice)
42. Sebastian Petzing (Free choice) 
43. Travis Province (Free choice)

The Invisible Shadow, My First Memory

     In class, we were asked to recall our first memory. Not one we remember do to others telling us what had happened, our first true memory.
     Back in the Regan administration, when a gallon of gas set you back $1.13, my parents built a new home. My room was on the second floor, just about as far away from my security blanket--better known as my parents. This house was far larger than our last, it was new, I was young and in an unknown land. My mother and father installed an intercom system, the idea being if we had a problem, or they wanted to get in touch with my brother or me, one would press a button and be able to communicate with the other.
     On one dark and terrifying night, I awoke in a fright. There was a monster of some sort--I believe it was one of the "friendly" monsters from the book Where the Wild Things Are--dancing on the floor below my bed. I was scared, but I knew if I could make it to the foot stool underneath the intercom, press the button and talk, my parents would be there to save the day. So I made my break for it, pulled the covers back, and carefully made my way to the stool. I climbed to the second step, pressed the button and spoke. Nothing happened. I called for my mom, "Mom," yet nothing happened. Once again I pressed the button and called, "MOM." Once again, this time I began crying and screamed it, "MOOOOOOM." I remember this carrying on for some time, until I found my desired response. They had come to save the day.
     It turned out the intercom was not even on, but they heard me screaming and crying. They found me standing on my footstool, still pressing the button and crying into the lifeless intercom. A sad situation for me, but it has gotten many laughs over the years.

     In my telling of this story, I am doing my best to trace out the invisible shadow of my mind. However, is it truly the story as I remember it, or just what my mind is now believing after hearing the versions told to me over the years. I do not know. It is something I remember, but then again, how much of it is my memory. I would bet that although some of it is from my memory of the actual event, other parts are filled in by the stories over the years. These stories, however partially modified, now make up the story as the truth.