#artifact 2

[callingonblueskies]

Interview With Meghan R.

I played three of my favorite Blue October songs to one of my friends, Meghan, and asked her to rate each of the songs from 1-10 as well as provide a few little remarks about the song before we proceeded onto the next song. Finally, I asked that she provide a brief description of her feelings towards these specific songs as well as the band as a whole. The songs in order are “3 Weeks, She Sleeps”, “The Scar”, and “Weight of the World”.

 “3 Weeks, She Sleeps”

Rate the Song from 1-10: 9

Any Additional Thoughts: “The song has a lot of super pretty instruments. It’s shortish but, it’s a very cute and fun song. Simple and very effective” (Meghan).

“The Scar”

Rate the Song from 1-10: 7.5

Any Additional Thoughts: “The lyrics started off kind of creepy but then they got kind of sad. I could vibe with it though. It’s very sweet sounding” (Meghan).

“Weight of the World”

Rate the Song from 1-10: 8

Any Additional Thoughts: “This is like really rockin’. His voice has such a grungy sound to it. I love it. I think he has such a nice sound” (Meghan).

 Final Thoughts:

“I think the singers voice is very peaceful. He has like, a large range of how he can sound. Like, it was soft and sweet in the first one but, then in the last one he had a like raw power to his voice. They also have a nice use of instruments. The lyrics are well thought out and I love when people put time into their lyrics to really articulate what they’re trying to say. All the songs were pleasing to the ear, like even the sad song was a feel-good song. I’d listen to them again. Like, I could have their discography on loop without getting a headache. And I think lastly, I just love that the songs have such a narrative to them. Yeah, I’d listen to them again” (Meghan).

[represent-women]

Women Writers on Reading Literature's "Midcentury Misogynists"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/12/09/in_no_regrets_women_writers_talk_about_what_it_was_like_to_read_literature.html

Issues with underrepresentation of women writers can affect literature and emerging writers, who have no leaders or examples to look to in their writing or evolution as authors. Instead, the canon of great novels in saturated with men writers and men protagonists. Amanda Hess notes in “Women Writers on Reading Literature’s ‘Midcentury Misogynists’” for Slate, “The result is a fascinating exploration of the development of female readers, from their disillusionment with manly canonical works to their discovery of books that speak to a female experience and toward a complicated understanding of how both sexist and feminist works have influenced their view of the world.” The female experience is both something readers should read, while also integral in the development in women writers.

[represent-women]

(Artifact  #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_zdEy152sg) 

The video above is a prime example of Kenyan women participating in local politics. Although, this is not what the West considers an ideal for of legislature, the Maasai clans are in fact holding a political and cultural arena in which policy making is conducted. Here we see women discussing the issues that young Kenyan women must face, particularly FGM. Although FGM is a cultural tradition of the Maasai (and other women), it is also a form of body policing that we often discuss in women's studies classrooms.

In the video above, we see that the women of these clans are those who are taking charge of the conversation, they are the ones in control of the policies that pertain to their bodies. As of now, the practice of female circumcision is against the law, but the women in the video are demanding that their practices be legalized. The Maasai women in the demonstration feel as though FGM is a cultural right, which they should be allowed to participate in and also encourage others to partake in.

Here, we see women find the channels in which their voices are to be heard at a national level.

[artifactsofarecentnature]

Analysis

Clearly, if it has led to her jumping off cliffs in the middle of a storm, Bella is not handling her addiction and withdrawal symptoms very well.

One way that she could have potentially made the recovery process easier for herself would have been to reach out to the other people in her life more about what happened. Both her parents love her very much, and she has friends who are supportive and willing to comfort her, but repeatedly throughout the story you see her either shut people out or clam up as soon as it comes to discussing what happened with Edward. Addictions are a very difficult thing to conquer, and as demonstrated through programs like AA or NA, having people around you who encourage you to keep from 'relapsing' is a really integral part of the fight.

Another problem with Bella's recovery process is that she is not going into it 'cold turkey' and giving up Edward completely. These hallucinations of him where she can see and speak to him are a sort of equivalent to a smoker using nicotine patches or gum in order to wan themselves off of the substance that they have an addiction to more gradually. This technique however, is not typically considered as successful since it has a tendency of reawakening the cravings for the drug itself. And indeed, what started as much milder risky behavior has now escalated on account off her drive for more and more vivid imaginings of him and his voice. She would be much more successful in healing if she were to sever her interaction with the drug altogether.

Obviously, any addiction is very difficult to cope with no matter what you do. But had Bella made use of either of these approaches she may have found much greater likelihood for success than she did using the techniques that she makes use of in the book

[artifactsofarecentnature]

Summary

Bella, the protagonist of the Twilight Saga had been in a relationship with Vampire boyfriend Edward for upwards of 6 months when he very suddenly made the decision that it was no longer safe for him to be around her and left. Not only did he leave, he took all the evidence of their time together back so and cut off ties with her completely, thinking that this would be safer for her.

Though six months may not seem like a long time, the bond they shared was profound and Bella sunk into a dark depression when he left her. Prior to him leaving, the two had refereed to each other as "their own personal brand of heroine"  and so when Edward left her, Bella's addiction to him and his love caused her to begin exhibiting both the physical (difficulty breathing, breaking out into a sweat, chest pains) and emotional (depression, anxiety, obsessive thought patterns) symptoms of withdrawal.

In this scene, after being triggered by other sources of anxiety in her life, and unable to turn to her usual drug of choice to help her cope (that being Edward's love and comfort), Bella decides to engage in very risky behavior in order to provide herself with a simulation of her old fall back as she has found that by putting herself in danger she is able to have vivid hallucinations of Edward telling her to be safe and not behave that way. It is this desire for these hallucination that drives her to jump off the cliff.

[artifactsofarecentnature]

" I imagined the utter freedom of the fall… I imagined the way Edward's voice would have sounded in my head—furious, velvet, perfect… The burning in my chest flared agonizingly.

There had to be some way to quench it. The pain was growing more and more intolerable by the second. I glared at the cliffs and the crashing waves.

Well, why not? Why not quench it right now?...

It was not hard to convince myself that I didn't have time to search for another way—I wanted to jump from the top. This was the image that had lingered in my head. I wanted the long fall that would feel like flying.

I stepped out to the edge, keeping my eyes on the empty space in front of me. My toes felt ahead blindly, caressing the edge of the rock when they encountered it. I drew in a deep breath and held it . . waiting.

"Bella."

I smiled and exhaled. "

[artifactsofarecentnature]

Artifact #2- Addiction:

How can you demonstrate strategies to manage addiction and more specifically withdrawal?