Hello, hello, hello, everyone! Ah, what a week it’s been, am I right? And the week isn’t even over yet, that’s the best part. All I can really do to describe the emotion/emotions I am feeling right now is to convey a deep sigh. A deep sigh, yes. This country is, and always has been, doomed. It’s been doomed from the start. When people of one skin tone came across people of another skin tone and decided, “Oh, you look weird, you’re not like me and I’m obviously better because, duh, I’m white, and you’re not. White represents light, and everyone wants to be in the light, who wants to be in the dark? So, yea I’m better, and I’m going to take all of this land, oh, and you too, and claim it all as mine. Because it is. I’m superior.” All because of a few white men, and their undying superiority complex. And nothing has changed since then. We can’t even blame this type of behavior on ignorance anymore because we literally have Google, readily available, awaiting our requests of knowledge. At this point in time, if you are ignorant to racism, patriarchy, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and any other prejudiciary behavior, you are willingly choosing to be that way, and that says a lot more about you than your plain ignorance. I went to go vote yesterday, on Tuesday. I received a mail-in ballot earlier last month but I didn’t trust it. It was like a gut instinct telling me that I needed to go out and vote in person at the polls. Mail-in ballots this year, just like the last election just seemed too sketchy. And I know that because of the society we live in today, where anything is possible in terms of securing power by any means, I need to take the necessary precautions to prevent a man who wants to govern to see my people die, rule over this country. And yes I said rule, because democracy was never democracy. It’s always been oligarchy hidden in the guise of a seemingly democratic nation. What I don’t understand is all of the hiding. Like, who really are you hiding from? This is a question targeted at racist, Trump supporters and those who hold power in this outdated, patriarchal government. But, seriously, the people you think you’re hiding from know who you are. We know, because we know you aren’t like us. That’s clear as day. Hiding behind laws, policies, jurisdictions, all that are clearly racist, and you know it. Means nothing. Hiding behind the false tellings that you made up, in a Bible? Come on. Those people are hiding from themselves. Because they know who they are. And deep down, they know that they are wrong for being who they are. But that human ego boy, I tell you. It will really get you caught up in some things with your own mind. Pride and prejudice, mixed with an ego? Please. These people are never going to truly get and admit how wrong they are. Like in this predicament, there is no neutrality. There is a right and wrong. And people who support the downright murder of an entire demographic, are wrong. What if you were the demographic being murdered? You’d get it then, right? Human beings are so selfish, it’s innate,it is, to prioritize oneself. It’s not necessarily wrong either, because you are living here on this Earth, for you and you only, your life is your life, I completely agree. But you can take it too far. You can be too selfish. Too much of a seemingly good thing, is never good. And that’s just the truth. People want everything to be black and white, and that one of either side serves them in their favor. Not taking into account that while yes, you are only living for you, you are not the only person living here. You have to live amongst other people. And don’t be surprised, but what happens to those around you, will eventually come back to affect you, because you are all living on Earth. And Earth belongs to no one. People are so stuck on me me me, but never see the bigger picture, that yes, still concerns you. So, if you are truly that concerned for yourself, you would also be concerned for other people, because what happens to them affects you too. But, I’m done, I went on a giant rant. Let’s just pray that Biden wins this election, because I’m not sure how America will come out of this one if Trump is elected again. It is actually pretty scary to even think of. On to the Odyssey. A little change in gears. I know Odysseus had to like fight monsters and other things that were trying to eat him but at least he didn’t have to put up with one single man and his supporters and an entire system that was targeted against you in eradicating you and your people. That’s really the tea, but I’m not going to gaslight Odysseus. Can I also just point out in these Books, books 10–14, Odysseus did his thing with the storytelling and creating realistic stories for people he didn’t really trust but needed their help, or just to test them. He is a very intelligent and cunning man, I must say. I would never be able to do what he did in these books. It’s actually quite commendable. So, as I begin every recollection of my readings, I’ll start off with how I went about reading these chapters, studying and such, and setting up a simple timeline for you. So, on Thursday after the quiz, we discussed the quiz and the answers along with books 6–9. Now, I remember saying that I never know if we are supposed to read four books or five, but I am definitely going with five now because it has happened too many times in a row. During class, we analyzed some pieces of the text, where Mr. Sandridge included some Greek translations. An example of a passage we analyzed is: OD.1.1 ἄνδρα [1μοι [2ἔννεπε, μοῦσα,1]2] πολύτροπον, [3ὃς μάλα πολλὰ3]
OD.1.1 Tell me, Muse, about the wily man who wandered
OD.1.2 πλάγχθη, ἐπεὶ [4Τροίης [5ἱερὸν4] πτολίεθρον5] ἔπερσε:
OD.1.2 long and far after he sacked the sacred citadel of Troy.
OD.1.3 πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,
OD.1.3 He saw the cities and knew the minds of many men,
OD.1.4 [6πολλὰ [7δ’ [8ὅ γ’6] [9ἐν7] πόντῳ8] [10[11πάθεν ἄλγεα9]11] ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,10]
OD.1.4 but suffered at sea many sorrows in his heart,
OD.1.5 ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ [12νόστον ἑταίρων.12]
OD.1.5 struggling for his life and comrades’ return home.
Where it discusses who Odysseus is (the man who wandered after he sacked Troy) as Odysseus began to reveal his identity. To be quite honest, I was actually shocked that Odysseus actually did that, revealed his identity, at first because that’s just not like him to kind of crack under pressure. But I think he knew that he didn’t really have a choice and that he needed the Phaeacians to get home. After class I started reading Book 10 where Odysseus was still telling the king and queen the story of his travels, continuing on the Aeolian Island. I read the book, wrote down notes and highlighted key figures, events and details. Then, I went on litcharts to review the analysis portion of the book. This chapter made me kind of suspicious of Eurylochus, because he just seemed shady and scared. Like he didn’t really trust Odysseus and like he didn’t really want to be there, awaiting his potential death. This was shown though, later in the set of books where he basically disobeyed Odysseus, eating the cattle of the sun, which they were warned not to do. Well the men weren’t directly warned but Odysseus was and he told the men not to. He didn’t even want to stay on the Island of the Sun, but of course Eurylochus insisted because they were tired. Yea, he just always seemed shady. I read Book 11 on Monday, because I was in D.C for the weekend, at the Howard Freshman meet up I was talking about in my last journal. I didn’t really do any homework or reading over the weekend because I was having fun, meeting my classmates. I did bring my laptop though, because I knew I might need to complete something before Monday, which I did and it was chemistry, but that was the only homework I had to do, or that I did. When I got home Monday night, I read Book 11, it was interesting needless to say. The whole, dead people had to drink blood to “come back to life” and converse with the living was interesting to me. Why blood? What does blood represent? Is it because it runs through the veins of the living? So, when the dead drink it, it runs through them in a similar manner? I don’t know, that was just interesting to me. I read books 12 and 13 yesterday after I went to go vote, and luckily they were pretty short so I was able to read and take notes in a decent amount of time. These books show where everything seemingly went downhill for Odysseus. His men died because they disobeyed him and ate the cattle, Poseidon was basically on his neck for the entire journey, never letting up, but in the end he made it home to Ithaca, with Athena at his side. Now, Athena had been gone for a while, almost the entire time he was traveling. I was a little shocked to see her name, like where did she come from? But, she explained herself and how she had to stay out of it for the sake of avoiding Poseidon’s wrath. Honestly, she was right, because if she would have intervened, Odysseus’ journey probably would have been far worse than it already was. And it was bad. Like, very unfortunate. Odysseus also displayed, yet again, his amazing skills in speech and coercion. He spoke to Athena, who hid under the guise of a young shepherd, as if he were a fugitive from Crete, explaining why he was in Ithaca with treasures. The story was very realistic, especially for him to have thought of it on the fly. Athena commended him for it. He kept this story somewhat going when he went to his old friend Eeumaeus’ home. He told the story that he was from Crete but this time, the unlawful son of the rich man, explaining his treasures. This story was more intricate, and he was able to do this because he pulled most of his details from his actual journey to Ithaca. From Zeus bringing down a storm on his ship leaving him the last of his crew to make it to him being dressed in rags. The story flowed very well, and while the content would be unbelievable to your average mortal, it was real, and he made it believable. This morning I finished by reading Book 14, again another short book I appreciated. I took some notes, and read the analysis on litcharts. What I didn’t understand from this book was why Odysseus felt the need to test Eumaeus, his loyal friend, after he had already displayed so much generosity? I’m not sure, and I don’t quite have the answer to my question, but that concludes my studies for this set of books. I’ll run into you all next week, and hopefully we have a new president. See you all next time.
