Crying?

       Although I made it through the post without feeling incredibly sad, if there had been something about cats in there I would've broken down. Anyways...no one wants to see my ugly cry face.

       Whenever I listen to music that has softer tones, or lyrics that strike close to home it counteracts when I feel sad. Music has a striking effect on the mind and soul. The mind loves to find patterns and music provides those patterns along with a message in the form of lyrics. It can instantly determine the mood of the scene within a few bars of the song. One of my favorite songs that makes me just content is "Go Solo"   (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VePaI3jX4Sk).

      Even more so than music however, books can grip your heart and either gratify it or twist it until you sob. If a good book finds its way to my hands, I become so invested within the story line it is as if I am there. Any plight that comes the character's way makes my heart beat faster, but when they are safe again, happiness overcomes me.

     Sometimes I don't seem like a very emotional person, but catharsis is wonderful even for us cold-hearted beings (although it usually takes place in private).

What is crying

I made it through both Buzzfeed and the Disney pictures without crying. Disney didn't really move me too much but the pictures of the dogs made me feel somewhat sad. It's always amazing to see dogs' devotions to their owners. For me war movies are the most cathartic to me. Movies like Lone Survivor and 13 Hours make me really sad but also really angry at the same time. It's saddening to watch what all these men gave up for their country, but then you watch something like 13 Hours and I become sad and very angry knowing that the events of 13 Hours could've been avoided if Hillary Clinton hadn't deleted the emails asking for more security. For me it has to be a war movie, I can't remember a time when i cried or had any emotional reaction to a movie that wasn't a war movie.

To cry or not to cry, that is the question

Nope. Didn't cry.
Alright, fine, some of them did make me a wee bit sad. Mainly the dog ones. But I did not feel any catharsis, in the sense that don't I feel any better now than I did five minutes ago.
I don't cry in movies, songs, etc., so, for the sake of this blog post, I will talk about my sister.
Now, my sister will tell you that she has eyes of steel; not a single tear slips out during a movie.
Yeaahhh right.
My sister and I were watching Me Before You in the movie theaters, an undeniably tragic story. Right about the time the sad music started playing and the dude started saying goodbye to his family/girl he loved, I did start feeling disappointment. I mean, is it too much to ask that the heartthrob doesn't kill himself? It was a somber moment.
Until I looked over at my sister and saw her shrinking into her chair with shimmering eyes and sniffles. Just like that, the bubble of sadness burst, and I spent the last bit of the movie contemplating the emotional effect that it had on my sister and analyzing its potent effects.
She spent the rest of the movie in poorly-concealed tears (although she will deny it), but on the way home, it was all she talked about. She truly seemed to feel better after expelling her surplus of emotions, and I felt better after getting in a good laugh with (at) her.

"I'm not crying, you're crying!"

I think we all feel a little bit of Catharsis anytime we experience art, no matter what type of art it is. Personally, I think I am most affected by books (music is a close second). The emotions you experience from books, I think, tend to get internalized, because some much of the experience is internal. All the images you see happen in your own brain, and your experience reading a book will never be like someone else's. You may not even imagine the characters looking the same way as someone else. So, it would make sense that those emotions that come from books tend to feel more like personal pain, rather than just empathy, because you are so mentally invested in the story. One good example I have is the end of the Mockingjay from the Hunger Games (particularly cause it was a recent experience). I decided to carve out a chunk of my school day last Monday (so the Monday before Labor Day) to finally finish the last Hunger Games book, and about 8 chapters through the last 10 chapters, I took a break to unload groceries and eat lunch. Now, anyone who's read the last ten chapters of the Mockingjay will tell you- they are rough. My mom thought I was sick when I walked downstairs, because I just looked ill after reading them. I was almost two seconds from chucking the book out my window and letting it rot in the rain, I was so done. But after reading the last two chapters and having everything wrap up, I was kinda left in the daze of numbness, where I couldn't really feel anything anymore. It was weird, but I definitely think it was a rough case of Catharsis.

Plumming

This poem gives me the impression of an older married couple. From the usage of plums in general to the way he writes about him taking the plum. He is a very kind husband for even thinking of apologizing for such a simple thing as eating plums. He may have even paid for them, or at least provided the money for the purchase. He almost thanks his wife for access to the plums, despite it clearly not being her intention. They are also both very healthy, if plums would make up their breakfasts.



I have
beat you
there is no room
for losers here

because we are the
champions of the
world now

You pass and run
you try and try
but you loose

Football is a
 sport for men
not you weak little boys

Crying and Catharsis

The ancient Greeks believed that art, especially tragedy, had a positive emotional effect on an audience. The audience would experience catharsis,  a purging of emotions while watching the sad, tragic downfall of hero. You might have experienced something similar while watching a tearjerker movie: you feel that familiar lump in your throat . . . your eyes are prickly . . . a  tear rolls down your cheek. After you wipe your eyes as the credit rolls, you feel a sense of relief close to euphoria. You've been purged of sad and negative emotions, but you weren't crying over your own problems. You were crying over the star-crossed lovers or the the younger cancer patient or Nemo's mom. It's a positive experience because you had a good cry, but you aren't the one in pain.

Here's the challenge: can you make it through this post without crying? I made it to #6. Post in the comments which items had the biggest emotional effect on you and why. If you are a big Disney fan, this post may do it for you even more.

Next, write about catharsis. Which kinds of art are cathartic for you - music? film? books? Examine why that art genre inspires your emotions. Give an example of a cathartic experience you had (or, if you don't want to be too personal, it could be the experience of an, ahem, "friend").

sweater weather

This poem is talking about an unhealthy relationship between two people. One of which takes advantage of the other. The speaker must be the person who takes from the other because he is apologizing for eating the other persons plum. I think that the speaker must have a superiority complex and doesn’t really care about eating the plum but superficially apologizes anyways because that is what’s right. The other person doesn’t even have a say in the poem which tells me that he/she isn’t as important, but still relevant because it was his/hers plums in the first place. The adjectives to describe the plums as “delicious, so sweet, and so cold,” might be a reflection of their relationship or it could be the speaker just trying to say how good the plum was.

 I have worn 

Your pink sweater 

You bought

And that 

you were

Saving for Christmas

Forgive me

It was cute 

So comfy

And so cozy