Professor Vimala Pasupathi decided to stay very topical with her recent lecture related to the Alexiad. In her lecture entitled “Up Close & From a Distance”, Pasupathi begins by showing a music video from an artist named M.I.A. This beginning of the lecture and what comes after are what really got me interested as I was watching it from home. As my blog title suggests, I focus mainly on borders. When Pasupathi mentioned M.I.A’s song which is named Borders, I was lowkey ecstatic. Now to speak a little about M.I.A, she is an immigrant that is banned from over 30 countries! It’s highly ironic that an artist with a song named borders is being held back from crossing over those borders. Immigration has been a heavily disputed topic as of late and I had no idea who M.I.A was until the lecture, but I am impressed by her dedication to speaking out. Pasupathi’s reason for speaking on M.I.A. was to tie into the fact that the Alexiad was written by a woman, something that is severely lacking within the course syllabus for C&E. Now I’m not going to lie, I did not see this as big of a deal as she did, but I understand where she is coming from. Not being represented is painful and annoying. It is even more annoying when you’re very own leader, our president, tends to speak out against some of your people. I just don’t get why Donald Trump feels the constant need to degrade and block off others. In a way, instead of trying to take down borders, Donald Trump is dead set on building more and more border both figuratively and physically. But I digress. Back on topic, Professor Pasupathi is clearly very into social media and staying consistently on topic with what is going on. One thing that caught my attention along with this is the fact that professor Pasupathi used an insane amount of tweets to prove her points. She uses Twitter even more than I do! She has so many on-topic tweets and essays to guide us with. It’s just really impressive how easily she was able to capture my attention. Regarding the Alexiad, it was very monumental in a way regarding speaking up for women. Very rarely were women taken seriously back then, but the Alexiad is one of the most famous works from that era. The most ironic thing I came to while listening to Pasupathi talk was the fact that the Alexiad is being taken more seriously than some of the speak on women’s rights nowadays.

 

Works Cited:

Pasupathi, Vimala C. “The Alexiad Lecture – Vimala C. Pasupathi – Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 20 Nov. 2018, medium.com/@engvcp/the-alexiad-lecture-82ac016bdfde.

Pasupathi, Vimala. “Up Close & From a Distance.” HUHC. HUHC Lecture, 20 Nov. 2018, Hempstead, Hofstra University.

I have chosen to change my blog title now to Broken Borders. This is opposed to it previously being Breaking Down Borders. The main topic of ALL the lectures we have had all semester have all had the same premise. We are breaking down borders through all sorts of literature and through our cultural differences. So now we have reached the end of this semester. I’m not sure if I’m going to be staying at Hofstra, so for now all the borders I have hoped to cross have been shattered and have been crossed. I’ve had some struggles this year especially pertaining to Honor’s College. Hell, I’m not even sure if some of my blog posts are showing up right now because while I was home a bunch of stuff got deleted and my WiFi decided to just stop working after my first day back, but I made it through. We made it through. Was it grueling? One hundred percent. Was it fun? Not at all. But did I do it? Almost. All the walls and divides have been lifted. All we have to do know is analyze these broken borders and we have to figure out how we will each cross over these borders ourselves through our final writing. Thank you for sticking with me and my blog.

On November 11, 2018, Professor Elyor Karimov gave a lecture entitled Sufism and Sufi Poetry. Now, I had expected the lecture to primarily feature the poems we had been asked to read beforehand, but it seems as if Professor Karimov was far more focused on the topic of Sufism as a whole. That being said, I would like to elaborate on what I learned about Sufism and the Sufi traditions. To start I would like to reference one of the poems that we were required to read as well as the powerpoint that had been linked to us. The poem entitled “This Marriage” has a line in it that cross-references with a topic spoken about within the powerpoint. The line states, “May it be sweet milk, this marriage, like wine and halvah.” (Kulliyat-i-Shams 2667) As we learned, wine is used by Sufi mystics in order to reference spiritual love. This then points to the idea that those that are Sufi tend to see marriage not only as a marriage to one another but also as a spiritual marriage along with Allah, the Muslim god. To get back on track, one of the opening statements of Professor Karimov’s lecture was him stating that all Sufi are Muslim, but not all Muslim are Sufi. He then provided many pictures of a wide variety of articles that stated many attacks on Muslims were against Sufi mosques. Professor Karimov used these articles to show that there is a terrible misunderstanding around the world about mosques. One of his quotes that comes to mind is “There is no Sufi mosque, there is only a mosque. the Muslim Church. Anyone can go.” Professor Karimov then proceeded to show many videos that show how sessions within the mosques work and what rituals may be performed. He was even able to bring in some videos that he had shot himself despite him not knowing that he was ever going to show the videos to anyone but himself. These videos seemed a bit random at first, but are very interesting in the way that it shows just how different religions are throughout the world. As the videos were playing I began to think about how vastly different a Christian church ceremony is apart from a Muslim or Sufi ritual. What we may see as commonplace in our own churches may be completely ridiculous in the eyes of someone from another faith. One last thought that I had, I found it crazy that Rumi was the best-selling poet in the United States. I had never once even heard of him or his writings and now you’re telling me he has outsold any other poet within the United States?! It just seemed so outlandish but in a way incredibly impressive.

Works Cited:

Karimov, Elyor. “Sufism and Sufi Poetry.” HUHC. HUHC Lecture, 6 Nov. 2018, Hempstead, Hofstra University.

Rumi, Jalal. “Rumi’s Poetry.” Selections from Rumi’s Poetry, hofstra.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-3154417-dt-content-rid-20821145_1/courses/CULTURE_AND_EXPRESSION/Selections%20from%20Rumi%27s%20Poetry.pdf.

 

On October 30th, 2018, Professor Ethna Lay gave a lecture based off Anglo-Saxon riddles called Gold and Riddles, Books and Bread: Reflections on “The Dream of the Rood.” As referenced in the title, Professor Lay talks a bit about riddles. I personally love riddles and honestly any type of wordplay, so upon seeing the handout I was slightly pissed at my inability to even come close to figuring out what the true answers were. Professor Lay mentioned one thing in particular that interested me right at the beginning of her lecture. Professor Lay had mentioned that the Anglo-Saxons would tend to read poetry and riddles to one another. Their poetry was meant to be read out loud to one another during a gathering of many, many people. Now I’m not sure about everyone else, but personally drinking some possibly alcoholic drinks while telling whatever stories we can think of while everyone is gathered around a fire sounds exactly what a good time is for me. I feel as if maybe the Anglo-Saxons were the world’s first frat! All jokes aside, I enjoyed that picture that came to my head when it was mentioned and I find it fascinating how in certain aspects society as a whole has changed a lot, yet somehow remains consistent in how we interact. Now, I’d like to speak a bit about how Professor Lay refers to the poets as “the shapers of language.” This comes immediately after the last thing I had mentioned and ties into the oral tradition of reciting poems. What I got from this lecture, as well as other lectures and classes I have taken, is that oral tradition has influenced modern literature and entertainment immensely. Professor Lay is very well-versed in her knowledge of the history of writing and rhetoric and she proves the point that language has evolved orally throughout history. One thing I’d like to point out is the fact that as language evolved, more types of literature began to be created and the way we read and perceive stories also began to develop and it all stems from the earliest beginnings of oral tradition. What I’m trying to say is, these “scops” as they are referred to by Professor Lay, were fairly helpful in the advancement of written and oral language. To finish off my thoughts on the lecture, I’d like to refer back to the riddles presented at the beginning of the lecture. Professor Lay touches on the idea that words can be confusing and that the way that we can twist and contort their meanings effects how words are perceived. The riddles were extremely intriguing as they were old Anglo-Saxon riddles and were not the usual types of riddles that I am used to. Upon reading them I was instantly confused and kept trying to come up with elaborate possibilities as to what they could possibly mean. Did I come close? Not at all. One line in the second riddle states, “I saw four fine creatures,” now I know I am not the brightest, but I cannot be the only one that had absolutely no clue this alluded to fingers. The craziest part about the riddles was as soon as they were explained to me, my hindsight bias kicked in and I was left saying “Ooooh, of course, I knew that!” I did not know that and I am a terrible liar.

Works Cited:

Lay, Ethna Dempsey. “Gold and Riddles, Books and Bread: Reflections on ‘The Dream of the Rood.’” HUHC. HUHC Lecture, 30 Oct. 2018, Hempstead, Hofstra University.

Porter, John, et al. The Dream of the Rood. Tern Press, 1992.

https://historyofconquest.wordpress.com/2018/10/25/blog-post-2-old-habits-die-hard-especially-in-theology/comment-page-1/#comment-9

https://anendlesscircuitboard.home.blog/blog-2/comment-page-1/#comment-2

https://randombutorganized.wordpress.com/2018/10/29/blog-post-3/comment-page-1/#comment-9

https://thisismybrain243136579.wordpress.com/2018/10/30/augustine-or-atheism/comment-page-1/#comment-10

https://mspreenexpression.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/epictetus-and-stoicism/comment-page-1/#comment-6

During Dr. Frisina’s lecture titled St. Pauls 1st Letter to the Corinthians on October 23,2018, Dr. Frisina mentions the idea that St. Paul was border crossing in many ways. He stated that St.Paul crosses borders literally, religiously, and metaphysically. From the lecture, I have come to the conclusion that, and in just my opinion, is the most influential border crosse thus far. Focusing on his influence, I’d like to explain why his magnitude as a border-crosser is so great. To begin speaking about St. Paul, we must first understand why he is so important. St. Paul originally was not a follower of Jesus. He had persecuted many Jews. One day, the risen Jesus visited St. Paul and he was blinded and told to spread the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. In one of the assigned readings, it states that “Paul narrates himself as a committed, circumcised Jewish man who “converted” from one stance, of zealously persecuting followers of Jesus,” (Lopez). St. Paul uses the fact that he had once persecuted Jews, shows that Jesus is the true Messiah. The idea of St. Paul converting helped influence those around him and where he traveled. His influence literally comes from how he preached and how far he went. St. Paul traveled to many different places and in each place, he proceeded to preach the word of Jesus. This caused Christianity to spread far and influenced heavily the continuing spread of Christianity. Religiously, not only was St. Paul’s conversion a story of him breaking boundaries by changing his whole religious view, but it also helped to form a true identity for the Christians/Gentiles. Firstly, St. Paul was converted to Christianity by Jesus. When he converted, he saw Christianity on a new light. St. Paul’s new stance on Christianity stemmed partly from what is known as Hellenism. St. Paul’s new interpretation allowed him to, as Dr. Frisina puts it, “Bridge a gulf between humans and God.” The new identity for what became known as the Christians stems from this nonreal bridge that St. Paul had formed. Lastly, St. Paul’s use of Hellenism lead to changes in how we view things metaphysically. We learned a new form of viewing who we are as divided self. The idea of a divided self as St. Paul sees it is that we are able to understand the bad that comes with not at least partially relying on God. The bridge that St. Paul taught to be spiritually between us and God is Jesus. Jesus is seen as our spiritual link to God because he himself is both a human and part of God. Our ability to better understand God and the teachings of Jesus is through a new metaphysical view of God on both spiritual and physical levels. By having multiple instances of border-crossing on all different levels, St. Paul was clearly the most influential border-crosser through his preaching and changes in beliefs.

 

Works Cited

Frisina, Warren G. “St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.” HUHC. HUHC Lecture, 23 Oct. 2018, Hempstead, Hofstra University.

“Paul by Davina C. Lopez.” Paul, http://www.bibleodyssey.org/people/main-articles/paul.

 

There were two things that really stuck with me throughout the lectures. The first was that Professor Doubleday mentioned that Chaucer was well-traveled. This puts into perspective the fact that he knows how certain regions of Europe are and what it is to travel through them. His knowledge of travels ties into the fact that the whole of The Canterbury Tales revolves around a pilgrimage. Quite a few of the tales even deal with different areas and travelling. Chaucer’s knowledge of travelling and of the world allows him to make not only interesting tales but also in a way where it is more realistic and authentic with the readers if the time. The other thing that stuck with me is Middle English in general. I know it isn’t a topic spoken about often, but it intrigues me. Seeing where our language came from and started is really perplexing and it adds a bit more to the story in my opinion.

I am going to start off by stating that like many others, I tend to procrastinate. That being said, when I begin to write I find myself forgetting when to stop. I have severe ADHD which can make it hard at times to accurately portray what I may be thinking. Other times my ADHD acts as a benefit, especially if the topic I am writing about it interesting or meaningful to me. A great deal of my writing tends to be stream of consciousness as my mind is constantly working and thinking. There is rarely a moment where I am not thinking about some concept or doing some type of work. I have to constantly be working or doing something so I research quite  bit before I write so that I do not get any facts incorrect. As a reader I am heavily interested in history. My father is a history teacher and has instilled his love of the subject into me. When researching historical topics I can spend countless hours just constantly reading whatever may show up. I tend to reference historical events in my writings. Events that many deem mysterious or gruesome tend to pique my interests and will definitely be referenced at least once or twice. I may forget to connect two subjects within my writing, but that is primarily because I don not stop thinking and just want to keep writing. Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you enjoy as I continue to update!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton