My tardy Week 2 post (it’s now Week 3 on the Block Plan) for the Nabokov course reflects on nature. Nabokov frequently uses imagery from nature and the natural world in his writing. I mentioned that Nabokov was fascinated by butterflies throughout his entire life. As a child, he would spend time outdoors with his …
Category Archives: Courses
Week 2: Don Giovanni: A comical and serious opera
This week we watched Don Giovanni, an opera buffa collaboration arranged by the well-known Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Venetian poet Lorenzo Da Ponte. Although Don Giovanni is categorized as an opera buffa because of its copious amounts of comedy, it is also accompanied by several somber and serious themes. The elements of humor integrated …
Continue reading “Week 2: Don Giovanni: A comical and serious opera”
Post-Week 1 Reflection: Nabokov
Hi, My name is Ryan and I will be blogging for the Block 6 class titled “Topics in Comparative Literature: Vladimir Nabokov”. This class will be focusing on the writings Vladimir Nabokov, the author most notoriously known for writing Lolita. We spent the majority of our first week reading and reflecting on Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, …
Week 1: The Class of Three Making Mistakes
Have you ever had a class fewer than five students? Well, our Music in Western Culture course (MU150) this block consists of only two students including myself! At the beginning of the first week, I was a little intimidated by the class size. A class this small means that class discussions are fueled by only …
Continue reading “Week 1: The Class of Three Making Mistakes”
Week 3: Movements, Members and Music
For our last full week of class, we focused on art’s ability to influence social movements. Art is extremely multifaceted, which makes it the perfect tool for communicating values, drawing interest, and motivating community members to take part or join a movement. A more simple work can easily and quickly communicate a paramount message. Complicated artworks …
Week 2: Gatekeepers, Bricolage, and Social Activism
This past week, we dove into the processes of how one enters and, more importantly, stays relevant in the art world. A variety of intricate social circles, firms, and gate keepers dominate the art world. To be a part of a movement, is to join and work in a specific stylistic group. To get one’s work …
Continue reading “Week 2: Gatekeepers, Bricolage, and Social Activism”
Week 1: Self Reflection, Hegemony, and Eating Chocolate in the Dark
On Friday I finished my first week in Kathy Giuffre’s Art and Society block and I can already tell that this block will be one to remember. On the first day, I wasn’t sure what this class had in store. As we moved through the week, we developed a definition for art, discussed art’s role in …
Continue reading “Week 1: Self Reflection, Hegemony, and Eating Chocolate in the Dark”
Farewell
As everyone else on campus prepares for Fourth Week, EC385 has scattered. The COP is over, though at the moment there is no formal rulebook (the entire point of the conference). While negotiators from throughout the world continue to work, everyone else observing the conference has left. While most of my posts have had a negative …
COP’s Representation Problem
This morning, I went to a panel in the #wearestillin pavilion regarding the U.S. midterm elections and how they relate to advancing the climate agenda. This was essentially about the ‘blue wave’ that swept the states one month ago, flipping the house from red to, well, blue. These elections were remarkable in many ways- there …
Bad News From Katowice
Late last week our delegation was joined by President Tiefenthaler, Provost Townsend, and one of the Colorado College Trustees, Marc St. John. Their presence at the COP underscores the importance of climate change for CC. We had a wonderful time leading them around to events and chatting with them about our research projects. A hearty …
