April 2022

The Last Post by Raymon Saran

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I must say this course was a breath of fresh air (cliche, I know…). But for real, being able to guide ourselves through each week was nice. It wasn’t just sitting in a lecture hall with a professor talking at you and expecting you to retain all information imaginable for a test in a couple weeks. As a matter of fact these lectures were engaging and thought-provoking. They were actually interesting!

Not only was the freedom nice though, we got to add to our repertoire of books that we’ve read. To be honest, I hadn’t sat down and just read a book for a while until this course started. Everything – everyone is busy. I guess reading just wasn’t one of my priorities at the time. However, this course allowed me to read as part of the course. A win-win situation I guess. I get to read because I want to and it counts towards credits.

What’s more is that we also got to see our classmates’ thoughts on each text in addition to giving our own. Sometimes the work I’ve done in other classes doesn’t seem worth it because I don’t get to connect with others on it. Being able to give and receive comments on each of our posts was great, not only for feedback, but for that “it’s worth it” feeling of your work being read for more than just a grade.

I think the structure of this course was nice because we knew what needed to be done week in and week out. Some would say this gets repetitive, I can only agree in the instance of it being the only class you’re taking. With other classes that have more of an irregular schedule, having one that remains stable throughout the semester is great. Much less worrying and much more productiveness.

As for the actual texts we read, I enjoyed reading them more than I thought I would. Many of them involved memory as a theme, which is something I do find interesting – especially when it comes to introspection. I can’t say there’s a particular one I really really like, but off the top of my head if someone asks which book I remember it would be Nada – or Combray. I can’t exactly pinpoint why I think of Nada – actually that’s not true, it’s because I referenced it in the lyrics of an unreleased song of mine. But for Combray I think it was just the, what felt like, aimless speech of random thoughts between excerpts of the actual story.

My question for anyone who sees this from class is: which of your blogposts do you feel is your best written and why? I may just read the one you say!

I must say that our professor, Jon, made what some people may not have thought to be an appealing course – a great one – with the help of Jennifer and Patricio. I had a pleasant experience.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

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This novel was, in a sense, eye-opening for me. I find this to be mainly due to the unfortunate circumstances that Lila and Elena endured from such a young age. From poverty to violence and just a struggle of trying to find a way to be something when surrounded by negativity. It really brought a real life connection because there are real people who go through these kinds of life events, immediately after they’re born. The story kind of brought that to the forefront, at least in my mind.

A recurring theme was the jealousy of Elena towards Lila. Like Elena found any attention to be good attention, for example when Lila was said to be missing. Elena somehow still felt like she had passed up an opportunity in some sense. Although this seemed to be an extreme case of jealousy, I can understand how friends can even be envious towards each other. Especially when you’re going through so many life experiences together and then one isn’t involved in something, I guess it can just be summed up as FOMO – fear of missing out.

I liked what appeared as a lack of length from chapter to chapter. The quick transitions were nice, as opposed to having read like 20+ pages and not having such a clear understanding of what happened because of so much in between. Also, the separations of stories within the novel. Like with the labelling of a prologue as “Eliminating All the Traces” and the section on childhood called “the Story of Don Achille.” I just feel like this helps me stay accountable of what I’ve just read and how to piece it together afterwards. Honestly speaking, without these checkmarks I find myself going back in novels often to make sure I haven’t missed something. Catching every detail I can on the first read.

In a way this was a coming of age story that followed pretty realistic aspects of some people’s lives. I also feel like it has appeal to many due to its coverage of so many topics, most people can find something to relate to. This leads me to my question: what aspect of the story did you relate with most and why? Being able to relate to a story always feels more rewarding to me. It’s like a bonus that you got to self reflect through a book that maybe made you realize some things you hadn’t before.