German Satellie - Biosc200

A German satellite is thought to have crashed. The whereabouts as to where the satellite specifically fell is uncertain, but is though to be in Asia. Scientists say that a satellite can change direction during its fall, which is making the exact place of falling difficult to determine. The investigators are hopeful that the satellite hurt no one since there haven’t been any reports from partner researchers. They claim that although it would hurt or damage anything that it fell on that the satellite’s fall should not have been big enough to spread.  Some believe that it may have fallen in the Asia area, but was fortunate enough to have the part drop into a part of the Indian Ocean. Scientists are waiting to hear more about the findings of the fallen satellite. They are giving it time however after learning from NASA’s previous experience that it may take a few days.

I think that it is kind of scary that the satellite just fell and its whereabouts are unknown. With the advances in technology that we have today, many aspects are still being worked out. I am not very knowledgeable about space and satellites and such, but I would think there should be a way to be able to always track such satellites. In this situation, the scientists cannot do much, but I think the process should be investigated. While satellites and stuff can be helpful for scientists in many ways in that study, I am sure there are still many glitches that could still be more perfected. Again, unsure of how satellites work with studies, but these technological assistances are not worth risking others if this is a common thing. I’m glad that no one has been reported hurt and hope that not a lot is damaged. I’m interested to hear where the satellite is actually found and see how far off or close the scientist’s predictions are. They do not seem to have much worry over the situation so hopefully they’re right.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2011-10-24/rosat-likely-crashed-in-asia/50891788/1

Glenngary

So far I am not totally impressed with this play. The story line is difficult to read at times with all of the stammering of the characters and the feeling of the jumping of scenes.

From what I can understand of the play, it is a portrayal of the business world (retail in this case) and the fight among workers for power. One of the men are even willing to go to stealing the leads of the company in order to punish someone else and possibly get ahead. I think many readers could think of people that are like this one character and can foresee the negative affects that are sure to follow for this character as the play goes on.

One quote that I really liked was when Roma is trying to understand life and says that "if it happens, as it may for that is not within our powers, I will deal with it, just as i do today with what draws my concern today." I think this is a pretty good life motto to go by. If you spend all of your time regretting the past or fearing the future, you run out of time for enjoying the present. Although I am by no means as care free on the subject as Roma seems to be, I do think that overall, a day by day dealing with life is the best way to get through it and make the most of it.

supercilious (p 29) - haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression 
"You see them in a restaurant. A supercilious race."  

The Same River Twice

The protagonist in this memoir is one with several interesting/different _____. He seems to be very confused about life, yet at the same time quite intrigued. As Chris awaits the arrival of his baby, he constantly goes to nature for his "escape" of everything that is going on. He uses occurences while he is out in the nature as warnings and symbolic of his own life. As example of this would be when the hawk cries, Chris becomes worried and imagines his wife, Rita, falling and landing on her stomach killing the baby. He also seems to use nature as an escape down his past. Again, while becoming anxious about the baby's arrival, he decides to visit all of the places in the woods that were happy moments of his and Rita's life. I wonder if he does this as almost a wish or attempt of his future with the new baby having a positive outcome.

One thing that I have wondered is if nature is Chris's safety spot because he does not have any responsibility in it. Throughout the memoir, he finds himself constantly rearranging his life due to unhappiness with his job or whereabouts or due to failure. I think that one reason so much peace is found in this wooded area is because Chris is able to watch and learn from nature, but he nothing more than a part of the bigger whole of it. He can not necessarily mess it up or find himself failing while he is out experiencing it. This is really the first time that his moving around and failure is called out by Dane and the repercussions of it all are beginning to hit. I felt like this section was the most prominent with Chris being put in situations where he can not run from his failure due to it beginning to really affect his lifestyles.

I am interested and excited to see the outcome of the couple's baby. I found it interesting with Chris's statement that he said he wanted a girl so he wouldn't be disappointed if it wasn't a boy. This again goes back to the situation of his reoccurring failures and his way to try to not deal with it. With some signs from his nature visits and Chris's negative thoughts and worries of the baby, I am interested to see if it all foreshadowing or if everything with the family works out for the best.

tantamount (p 62) - equivalent, as in value, force, effect, or signification
"Such an insult was tantamount to a Kentucky warning shot..."  

River of Names

Dorothy Allisons, River of Names, is a metaphorical title. At the end of the short story, it is learned that this title relates to the narrator's memories of all of his cousins that have died and the terrible things that they were put through as children.

This story has the narrator looking back at her life while with her girlfriend. I think that the reasoning for the girl deciding to be a lesbian is not necessarily because that is what she thought would make her happy, but instead, as a safety thought for herself that she would never treat her children in the ways that she and her cousins were treated by their older family members. If she physically can not have kids then she does not have to worry about how the kids' lives would be and how they were treated.

One thing I found interesting was how the girl lied to her girlfriend Jesse. Lies came often, consisting of things even as small as what her grandmother smelled like. Jesse even tells the narrator how awesome she thinks it would have had to be to have such a large family - making it obvious that she really knew nothing but lies about the narrator's past. Even towards the end of the story, when the narrator wakes up afraid, she turns it into a joke as soon as the girlfriend seems concerned and then begins shaking again once the girlfriend has fallen back asleep. Her past is something that she is ashamed and embarrassed of.

The kids of this family were raped, beaten, killed, and greatly mistreated. They resorted to stealing, drinking and drugs to waste time and escape from their real lives. The family sounds almost like a swarm of flies - one dying off after another. When asking one how many kids she has, she replies with the question of how many DOES she have? Or how many HAS she had? The fact that that question would even have to be asked in such a situation blew my mind. It is apparent the great effects that such a childhood had on this narrator. As stated earlier, she is a lesbian. At one point she says that she woke up with her hands around her neck. I guessed that this was as in an act of strangling someone. It scares her and she begins to get upset. Through that part of the story, I think the author was trying to show once again the large impact that the past had and how easily it had become part of her life - violence being something that did not even come voluntarily to her.

pleurisy (p 11) - inflammation of the pleura, with or without a liquid effusion in the pleural cavity, characterized by a dry cough and pain in the affected side.
"But afterward, it was a bad year with my sister down with pleurisy, then cystitis..."   

"Emergency" & "Home"

I found this story to be quite interesting. This story was full of irony to me. With the story located in an emergency room/hospital, I found it very ironic that the characters all seemed to have so many problems - some with drugs, one that shakes. With the hospital being the one that should be helping the patients coming in with problems. Another thing that I found ironic is how the staff was just sitting around trying to figure out how to handle the man with the knife with his eye and Georgie comes in and just lays "the knife on a chart and [bends] down to fix his shoe. How did a man on that many drugs handle a problem that was such a mystery to the rest? Another thing that I found ironic was Georgie's desire to go to church. Although the men instead go to the county fair, I found it weird/contradicting that this was his place of desire when he was at the same time on drugs. This made me think of several instances in life with different people. I, myself, grew up in a very religious family and more than one acquaintance of mine struggle with a problem and go to drugs, but end up realizing that church was much more of a mender than the drugs. Although this may not be what the story was intending to get across, it was a part of the story that brought a life connection for me.

This story was one that really left with me with several questions. What was the reasoning for the man with the knife in his eye having the other eye being artificial? I wondered if this was possibly a play on people not seeing life fully. With the setting of the story in a hospital, I thought that possibly this was an ad to a theme of not realizing what you have until you're on the edge of losing it - like the man who came in on the verge of losing sight in his other eye as well. Another question that I had was why Georgie was so upset at the beginning. Was it because of the pills? Or because he wasn't a doctor and instead an orderly? Or something that I did not pick up on?

"Emergency" was definitely an interesting story and definitely one that I will be interested to discuss in class for these answered questions.

"Home" was also a very interesting story and one I personally enjoyed. I found this story to be one that could be very relatable to several girls. I understood this story being about a relationship help between a mother and a daughter. They are not necessarily happy with one another, but they do love each other. The mom assures the daughter as she is handing her a towel that "she is always behind her"and the daughter remembers a time that the mother was doing stuff for the family (washing dishes) and she didn't help. I think that a large theme of this play would be dealing with past occurrences. The mom had cancer. The father was not the best dad/husband/person. The boy had been burned. The daughter was afraid of love. All of these things are shown greatly holding each of the characters back in their presents lives. I took it as a reminder that yes, you must learn from your past, but at the same time, it is important to let it go and move forward.

The ending of the short story was not what I would have expected. Again, the love of the mother for her daughter is shown by her pleading her to stop sleeping around and to understand the importance of sex being with one that you really love. The story wrapping up with the daughter being caught and the mother and daughter being silent together was not seen coming, but I think it is very powerful. With the two women looking in the water, it is as if they are looking into their reflections - possibly with the mother disappointed with her life and seeing her daughter heading towards the same horror ending. I think this could also possibly indicate to the readers that the relationship between the two women is not one that can be resolved.

shellac (p 415 "Home") - to thrash soundly
"The Lady Auxiliary turns them inside out, stiffens and shellacs them."