Dear readers,
We have recently come up with a brilliant idea. (We do that often.) We have decided that we want to write a blog post pitting literary characters against one another in a cage match, sumo wrestling, old west shootout type of way. As we discussed this, however, we could not agree upon who we would put aganist each other, thus leading to a Keisha and Chelsea cage match. It was not pretty.
So we have decided to leave it up to you. Which literary characters would you like to see in a match to the death? (Yes, we are aware they were never alive and cannot die, but go with it.)
Please leave your suggestions in the comment box. So, who will it be? Elizabeth Bennet vs. Beatrice? Pim vs. Estella? Shakespeare vs. Edgar Allen Poe? (We know the last ones are real, well at least 1.) We are sure that you will have wonderful suggestions.
Sincerely yours,
Keisha and Chelsea
P.S. We looked at our stats on blogger today and saw that we have readers in the UK, Germany, and even Columbia, as well as in the US. We cannot tell you how excited this has made us. Please drop us some comments and let us know what you think of our blog.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Transcendentalists: The Original Hippies
First off, we know that word in the title is long and scary. Anything with a long and scary name can't be like hippies. Oh, but it can. Think back to high school English, most likely your junior year. You studied these guys. Remember Emerson and Thoreau? Walden? Civil Disobedience? Fine then. Do a google search. We'll wait. Now that you have been reminded of the finer points of Transcendentalism, we present to you reasons why these guys were the first hippies.
1. A love of nature.
These guys really loved nature. In fact, Thoreau actually wrote about his experiences living in a cabin near a pond. He named it too: Walden. It was a sort of experiment: man communing with nature and not being materialistic. Just forget the fact that this cabin was very close to civilization and that he went home on the weekends. Every movement needs its phonies. All this nature-loving meant that the Transcendentalists weren't the most hygienic people. So, they "communed" with nature and didn't bathe. Sounds a lot like the hippies to us.
2. Groupies
At one point, this was a big movement. People really thought this was the way to live that would solve all of their problems. Keisha, is in fact, a modern day Transcendental groupie. She actually at one time considered travelling in her car to go hiking and communing with nature. She likes to think of herself as a modern-day Transcendentalist, but she sounds a little like a hippie.
3. Names
The leaders of this movement had long, odd, and difficult to pronounce names. We realize we can't blame then for what their parents named them, but referring to yourself as Henry David Thoreau or Ralph Waldo Emerson is a bit much. We googled hippie names, and here is a sampling: Cloud, Flower, Windsong, Natura, Zen. They are simpler to say but are just as pretentious as the names of the Transcendentalists.
4. Government Protests
Unfortunately, these were not the kind with signs and all. Thoreau just refused to pay taxes and spent some time in jail until his friends bailed him out. He was protesting a poll tax he was required to pay in order to vote. So, picture it as a public sit-in, only in jail.
5. Not Shaving
Thoreau: Note the scraggly beard. Emerson: Love the bushy sideburns.
6. Peace and Love
We all know that the hippies were really into their peace signs and the whole "Make love, not war" thing. Well, that was started by the Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed that they could transcend the materialism of this world through communing with nature. Also, they were a very pacifist sort of people. The Transcendentalists would have fit in just fine at a rally protesting the Vietnam War.
7. No Real Jobs
This point is mostly here because Chelsea believes the Transcendentalists were hack jobs who needed real jobs. Truly, they all lived off whoever had been published most recently. Walden Cottage was on Emerson's property and Thoreau was just a mooch. The hippies, of course, drove around in VW buses and sang around the campfire. Not much work going on there. Keisha was going to add a rebuttal to this and say something about how writing is a real job and so is public activism. Then, she realized that she is indeed a Transcendentalist groupie and has a dream of becoming a bum.
8. Woodstock
So, we have not been able to prove that the Transcendentalists had an actual Woodstock, but we like to think that they all got together and read poetry and essays to each other. We're pretty sure that there were some sort of drugs involved in this. Hey, they did love nature. This is all conjecture of course.
There you have it. Those are our reasons why we think that the Transcendentalists were the first hippies. Chelsea says that our high school English teacher would be disappointed if she saw this. Oh well. Good thing we've already graduated.
We leave you with some of our favorite quotes from Transcendentalists and from hippies:
"Imitation is suicide." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is." -Bob Dylan
"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting." -Henry David Thoreau
1. A love of nature.
These guys really loved nature. In fact, Thoreau actually wrote about his experiences living in a cabin near a pond. He named it too: Walden. It was a sort of experiment: man communing with nature and not being materialistic. Just forget the fact that this cabin was very close to civilization and that he went home on the weekends. Every movement needs its phonies. All this nature-loving meant that the Transcendentalists weren't the most hygienic people. So, they "communed" with nature and didn't bathe. Sounds a lot like the hippies to us.
2. Groupies
At one point, this was a big movement. People really thought this was the way to live that would solve all of their problems. Keisha, is in fact, a modern day Transcendental groupie. She actually at one time considered travelling in her car to go hiking and communing with nature. She likes to think of herself as a modern-day Transcendentalist, but she sounds a little like a hippie.
3. Names
The leaders of this movement had long, odd, and difficult to pronounce names. We realize we can't blame then for what their parents named them, but referring to yourself as Henry David Thoreau or Ralph Waldo Emerson is a bit much. We googled hippie names, and here is a sampling: Cloud, Flower, Windsong, Natura, Zen. They are simpler to say but are just as pretentious as the names of the Transcendentalists.
4. Government Protests
Unfortunately, these were not the kind with signs and all. Thoreau just refused to pay taxes and spent some time in jail until his friends bailed him out. He was protesting a poll tax he was required to pay in order to vote. So, picture it as a public sit-in, only in jail.
5. Not Shaving
Thoreau: Note the scraggly beard. Emerson: Love the bushy sideburns.
6. Peace and Love
We all know that the hippies were really into their peace signs and the whole "Make love, not war" thing. Well, that was started by the Transcendentalists. The Transcendentalists believed that they could transcend the materialism of this world through communing with nature. Also, they were a very pacifist sort of people. The Transcendentalists would have fit in just fine at a rally protesting the Vietnam War.
7. No Real Jobs
This point is mostly here because Chelsea believes the Transcendentalists were hack jobs who needed real jobs. Truly, they all lived off whoever had been published most recently. Walden Cottage was on Emerson's property and Thoreau was just a mooch. The hippies, of course, drove around in VW buses and sang around the campfire. Not much work going on there. Keisha was going to add a rebuttal to this and say something about how writing is a real job and so is public activism. Then, she realized that she is indeed a Transcendentalist groupie and has a dream of becoming a bum.
8. Woodstock
So, we have not been able to prove that the Transcendentalists had an actual Woodstock, but we like to think that they all got together and read poetry and essays to each other. We're pretty sure that there were some sort of drugs involved in this. Hey, they did love nature. This is all conjecture of course.
There you have it. Those are our reasons why we think that the Transcendentalists were the first hippies. Chelsea says that our high school English teacher would be disappointed if she saw this. Oh well. Good thing we've already graduated.
We leave you with some of our favorite quotes from Transcendentalists and from hippies:
"Imitation is suicide." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is." -Bob Dylan
"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting." -Henry David Thoreau
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