First, darkness. I realize I have eyes, and open them tenderly. A swarm of bright light floods my vision as a blurred, shadowy figure picks me up and hands me off to another body. While the other felt rubbery, this one is warm; it caresses me and emits muffled, soothing tones in attempt to ease my discomfort.  I don’t like it.

Time passes, and I realize the world is not what I expected it to be. Everything is simple — something that doesn’t sit well with me. So instead, I become something that others lack; I become the person I know myself to be.

Some people are modest. They accomplish something great, then minimize their pleasure by downplaying their achievements. I don’t do that. I will use in excess, because I can. I will display my sexual desire as it was meant to be shown. When I feel a firing rage build inside my body, I will make sure the world knows. I will be selfish, because everything you do in life you do for yourself. I will be jealous of those with qualities and possessions that I am unable to have. And when all that fails, I will do absolutely nothing.

I live a good life. People who meet me disagree. They see my qualities as deadly sins, which makes no sense. I do not force my way upon others. Others see my freedom — my life choices — and they decide their own fate. I will admit that no one is ever the same once they’ve met me. My deadly sins effect everyone I come in contact with, and there is no turning back. After being exposed, you participate in the act of sin in one way or another. Those that use me in excess are psychopaths. Those that shun me entirely are boring. Those that see me as bad or unjust or immoral are quick to judge, just as I will when your guard is down and I consume you myself.

I’m Evil, and do I have a story for you…

————

My intent with this story was to keep it relatively short, simple, and technically untold — as King does in his telling of how witches brought evil upon the world (9). Seeing as King withholds the story itself and focuses on the details surrounding what one would assume would be the bulk of the content, I chose to do something similar by introducing the concept of “evil” at the end of the story, from none other than Evil’s own reflective perspective (as its own character). From King’s one-page-story, I incorporate what I take to be the salient message (10): that once a story — or in this case, Evil — is released into the world, there is no means of retraction.

I will not pretend that I am an experienced creative writer. I did my best to integrate my own beliefs of “evil” with what the general public would also associate with it. I presented this assignment to my mom; after many stutters and an embarrassing over usage of the word “um”, I concluded my story. Her reaction was a predictable one — she waited to hear the rest of the story. She understood my actual story to be some sort of introduction to a larger tale at hand, when in actuality it was to express that words (or Evil) cannot be revoked once it is spoken.

In case you were wondering, the idea of the seven deadly sins was sparked by a television episode of Charmed called “Sin Francisco”. If you like cheesy romance, poor special effects and graphics, and a little bit of magic, this 90’s-early 2000’s tv series is for you!

Works Cited:

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterbough:Anansi Press. 2003. Print.

“Sin Francisco (1).” YouTube. YouTube, 18 July 2008. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8GUZeqv8tA>.

“Starpulse.com.” Starpulse. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. <http://www.starpulse.com/Television/Charmed/Summary/>.

Question 7

After an interesting and mind-boggling couple of hours I had yesterday at work, I feel obligated to direct the focus of this blog post towards my recent experience. I work at a community centre for the Out of School Care program (daycare outside of school hours) for children aged 5-8. Our program has a strict no-technology rule; this means that their cell phone (YES, 8 year old children today have WORKING cell phones), Nintendo DS, iPad, iPhone, tablet, and any other sort of electronic device they may possess must stay in their backpacks. These young children see a gorgeous view of a sunset and talk about how they want to take a picture and put it on Instagram. They threaten each other by saying they will say something bad about the other person on Facebook. Another child will say a funny joke and write it down so they can post it later on Twitter. All of these websites contain hyperlinks to direct the user to a similar topic, often using hashtags or other means. MacNeil comments on the “technological advances of recent years” and how literacy and orality have become blurred. The new generation is swamped in a sea of social media — an unedited, unfiltered stream of information available at their fingertips.

As a university student myself, I by no means deny how technology has furthered my education. Even in this class we utilize Facebook and an online blog as our communication tool. The use of hyperlinks provides continuous rounds of resource upon resource of knowledge.

The core of my technology-bashing-rant originates with the children at my community centre. They love to read stories. I have them for about 3 hours every day, most of that time being spent reading aloud to a group of children. The ones most interested in reading are the ones that do not experience it at home — the ones whose parents buy them an expensive device and allow them to roam social networks freely, rather than sit down and actually have a conversation with them. These children do not experience “story time” with their parents because of these technological advances (although I will credit some of it to poor parenting).

My focus here is on the social media and how it impacts story. Social media is used as a way to spread stories instantly. Well known companies, like The Province newspaper, News 1180, sports teams, and other foundations, use social media as a way to share their story and expand their base of viewers.

The word “story” has been used in an interesting way through Snapchat, which is an application that allows you to take a picture, add a caption or comment to it, and send it to friends. The catch with Snapchat is that there is a timer; once you view the picture or video, it is gone (with certain exceptions). Snapchat has recently added an option to “add to your story”, in which the post is up for any of your contacts to see for a mere 24 hours. Here, each individual has the chance to personalize their own “story”, only to have it vanish by the next day. A story told orally can be altered at each reading; a Snapchat story is viewed for the moment then gone before anyone can recall it. It’s interesting how the Snapchat company played on the word “story”, as if a story does not need to be physically kept or even remotely remembered past an expiry date.

Works Cited

Courtney MacNeil, “Orality.” The Chicago School of Media Theory. Uchicagoedublogs. 2007. Web. 16 Jan.

Aloha my new amigos!

I have little to no experience with blogs – this being my first one – so please bear with me through this process!

I am thrilled to be enrolled in Professor Paterson‘s English 470 class, Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres (or “Oh Canada… Our Home and Native Land?”). This course focuses on the historical context of Canadian literature looking at European and Indigenous studies (Paterson 2013). The salience of storytelling will be examined, along with the stereotypes that accompany Canadian literature. As an upper level English course, emphasis will be put on analyzing these stories and presenting the material in an intellectual and insightful fashion. Since this class is held online, the web will be a key component in expanding our discussions through an endless supply of internet resources.

I am a proud Canadian, yet I am embarrassed to admit that my education regarding Canadian literature (and general knowledge about my own country) is very limited. After the completion of this course, I hope to be able to retract this previous statement. I tend to be quite reserved with regards to in-class participation, so I am thrilled to be involved in this active online learning environment. I will attempt to keep the core material of my posts formal and professional. However, based on the disturbingly vast amount of humorous material on the internet, these attempts may be futile. Take, for example, this brother-sister pairing that greatly represents the relationship I currently hold with my sibling.

I am currently in my 3rd year of schooling at the University of British Columbia, and I work with school aged children as a supervisor at a local community centre. I spend my free time playing competitive ice hockey and recreational fast-pitch softball. Along with my Harry Potter obsession, I also enjoy fast food, bathroom humour, and taking long walks on the beach with my multiple husbands Kevin Bieksa (pictured for your pleasure) and Zac Efron.

I look forward to getting to know all of you throughout the course of the semester!

Works Cited:

“Canucks Pictures Thread – 09/10.” Canucks Community. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://forum.canucks.com/topic/243479-official-canucks-pictures-thread-0910/page__st__660>.

“Chieuse De Boussoles.” Chieuse De Boussoles. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://chieusedeboussoles.tumblr.com/post/72617153370>

Paterson, Erika. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia, 2013. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl470/>