Author Archives: andrey.syzdykov

The poem that I chose to work on is “The Electric Slide Boogie” by Audre Lorde. Probably, the main reason that I chose this poem is due to some sort of resonance I felt with its tone. From the lonely/nihilistic vibe in the beginning of the poem to the “when you fall get back up” feel at the end of the poem all appealed to me, albeit probably in a different sense from the way that Lorde had thought of it. I’m saying this, of course, because her and I live/d in completely different worlds, both had completely different struggles. During my research, I read a basic overview of her life, and found out she had breast cancer, which she struggled with for 14 years until her death in 1992. “The Electric Slide Boogie” is actually her last poem. In it, she essentially asks “What’s the point of living”. Her answer is “existing bonds” and preoccupation. My answer to that question is similar yet focuses more on purpose and “living for the sake of living so as not to regret”. As such, I would like to compare and contrast our respective view points on this matter using the poem as a medium.

With regards to the digital essay, I don’t really have anything in mind just yet. I don’t have any idea on how to make one either. Though I’ll depend on Luke to help me with that one. As for being in a group, I don’t think anyone else in the class will have such a morbid topic. Though I could luck out if someone else chooses the same poem as I did. So feel free to post any comments and criticisms that you may have.

The “Story of an Hour” seems to suggest that happiness can be different than what society would intend and that it varies per person. The former becomes very apparent when we see Mrs. Mallard relieved rather than grief stricken, whereas the latter shows itself where the husband’s happiness is to be with his wife, while her happiness requires her to be separated from her husband.  The “Birth Mark” couples the fact that happiness varies per person along with the fact that happiness can change with time. The Husband in the story has a whole chronology of what made/makes him happy described in the story. It essentially goes from loving science to loving his wife to the need to remove the birthmark (which rekindles his love of science) which all then comes to a complete halt with the death of his wife, which in turn ends the story. I feel that this is a very nice touch to the story because it forces us, the readers to infer the husband’s reaction to her death. Though more importantly, it is leaving it up to us to wonder what can then make him happy, if he is even capable of feeling such an emotion at this juncture.  This leads us to the moral of this story which can be summed up by a Chinese proverb; “Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect.” This suggests that the pursuit of perfection can lead to the degradation and even ruination of the thing that you are trying to perfect. This also has a subtle nuance which expresses that it is possible to ruin one’s happiness, and in some cases making it so that one can never be happy again. After all,as aptly stated by Lady Macbeth, “what’s done cannot be undone”. (Act V. scene 1, Macbeth)

This movie boasts quite an array of eccentric and idiosyncratic characters. You have the Swan couple who basically come off as very superficial characters as shown when they talked about how they stalked each other at Starbucks on opposite blocks. They are both very OCD in pretty much anything they do. As evidenced by their constant bickering on minute details and completely going insane over a lost dog toy. Then you have the Fleck couple, who have a slut-nerd relationship. This is a running gag in the movie where almost every guy asks “hey, do I know you from somewhere” with the husband always having an “oh for f***’s sake” moment. All in all these characters were played very well and highly contributed to the comedy aspect of the film. Then you have Harlan pepper, who embodies the redneck trope. He is basically treated not only as an eccentric hick, but also as an upcoming dark-horse character (with regards to the dog show). What I truly enjoy about this character is his great work ethic and never ending enthusiasm in any given situation. And of course, who could forget the gay couple of Stephan Vanderhoof and Scott Donlan. Funnily enough, these two characters purely embody the gay-man “eccentric and flamboyant” stereotype with their gestures, tone of speech, and even their dog. These characters mainly served as stress relief for the rest of the cast during the dog show. One notable scene was when Scott Donlan went on stage with his dog in a very zesty outfit causing a loud excited cheer from the audience, and a funny gag from the judge. The final couple is comprised of Sherri Ann Cabot and Christy Cummings.  Sherri is the quintessential gold digger character with Christy being the dog handler. There is basically a capable grunt + rich blonde relationship here, where Christy does all of the hard work in any given venture, while Sherri is just a figure head and….. is in charge of make-up. The thing to note here is that they’re relationship is much more explicitly shown as opposed to the other gay couple. After they won the qualifiers, Christy ran over to Sherri and started to make out which resulted in massive cheers from the audience and judges. Chances are, the writers and directors wouldn’t even consider portraying the guys in a similar fashion. This leads to the question of why society as a whole is generally more acceptant of lesbians than the male gay community ( at least as far as media is concerned). My personal favorite character in this movie was Buck Laughlin who acted as the commentator on the dog show. He was purely the comic relief character, and kept spitting out one joke after the other with pretty much no pause in between. Though many of his jokes were admittedly off color, such as his purposeful mangling of Donlan’s dog’s name. (Shi-Tsu) All in all, these characters made the movie a fun watch. So if you’re in the mood for eccentric characters and comedy, then this is the movie for you.