One major point in
Peter-Hans Kolvenbach’s speech “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice
in American Jesuit Higher Education” is “to educate ’the whole person’
intellectually and professionally, psychologically, morally, and
spiritually”(34). This is essentially the Jesuit mission and a key concept of
this class. Service is a good way to connect with the world around because it
involves being an active learner. I volunteered with an after school program
when I was in high school and we helped under privileged middle school kids
with their homework and did fun activities with them. I, also, was a member of
Habitat for Humanity during high school and got to help build a house for a
family that lost their home during hurricane Katrina. The family was so
grateful and cried when we presented the finished house to them. I loved the
experience and ever since then I have become more involved in helping others.
Although I would have
liked to do service this semester, I did enjoy my experience during my first
event. I went to Stephen Graham Jones event in the Program room and I honestly
did not know what to expect. He is a fiction writer and read a couple of his
short stories to us. There were a total of five stories but none of them were
alike. He read stories about a guy who ate the bloody paper in his cereal after
shaving, an old man watching his wife turn into an animal every night, a guy
with crabs, what to do in case of a zombie attack, and a dad who accidentally
cut of his left nipple. The stories were very random and I was pretty shocked
about he topics he chose to write about, but nonetheless they were attention
grabbing. He spoke in a poetic tone and all of the stories were jam-packed with
detail. All of the stories had underlying metaphors and deep meanings that I
could not understand at times which reminded me of poetry. His stories sounded
like some form of poetry, and during the Q&A part of the speech he said, “I
believe a writer need to be restricted in order to produce good writing.” Poetry
is, also, restricted so it just confirmed my initial thoughts when I felt like
he was speaking like he was reading poetry.
The three poems I read
were “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “Accident Mass. Ave” by Jill McDonough,
and “Learning to Read” by Frances E.W. Harper. “Mending Wall” is about two men
who keep rebuilding this wall between them every spring even though it is not
literally needed because “He is all pine and I am apple orchard” (line 25). “Accident Mass. Ave” is about a
lady and a man who get into a little fender-bender in Boston and because it is
Boston the naturally get out the cars screaming profanity at each other, only
to realize that there was no damage to either car. The two feel silly about the
entire situation and the hug at the end of the poem. The final poem “Learning
to Read” is about slaves learning how to read and how it was not allowed
because it would make them too wise. Meanwhile, Chloe and two other slaves
sneak and read. The poem is negative towards the Rebs at first but my the end
the tone is positive.
I do not
see a connection between Stephen Graham Jones and any of the readings. His
stories sounded like poetry but as far as themes and motifs there were no
similarities. However, all of the poems relate to the Kolvenbach speech in
their own ways because they all relate to a type of educating that Jesuits want
for their students. “Mending Wall” was a spiritual teaching because the wall
was only there because it gave them a sense of neighborliness, service and
bonding. “Accident Mass. Ave” was a moral teaching because it challenged the
customs and norms of Boston by making the man and woman feel uncomfortable and over
exaggerated when they realized the real damage of the cars. The final poem “Learning
to Read” was an intellectual and, also, spiritual teaching because the slaves
were becoming educated despite the rules they were given and spiritually
because literacy allowed them to read the Bible and get spiritually closer to
God.
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