GVSU Honors Blog!

Hi Victoria! I completely agree that it is very easy to interpret poems (or any written work) based on our own preconceived notions. I think we should be better about knowing the context of the poem before trying to interpret it - context has a huge impact on the meaning of writing.

Talking about the Ode to Tropical Agriculture this week, I thought it was interesting how different of perspectives two people can have on the same issue. This is perfectly exemplified in Andrés Bello, who (as it seems) loved farming and could see nothing good about city life. There are many other people, however, who would argue the exact opposite. Such people may say that industrialization has helped our world live more efficiently, and that agriculture would not be profitable without industrial workers. In reality, the truth is somewhere in the middle, as there are positive characteristics of both lifestyles. But all this goes to show that different people see the good side of different things, and this teaches us to make the best of whatever situation we are in. Just like Andrés Bello made farming (which is often tedious) sound like everyone's dream job, we can make even a bad situation seem tolerable - it just might take a healthy dose of Bello's enthusiasm.

That's really interesting, Ben! You are completely right - countries without a strong leader do tend to fall apart. Maybe that's because without being able to put a face to the ideas of national culture, people start to form different opinions of what national culture should be. Like you say, consistency is key - when there is a leader who constantly reminds the people what they stand for, this is invaluable to national identity.

Learning about romanticism this week, I thought it was interesting how opposed romanticism was to the Enlightenment movement. And really, they did not have much in common. The Enlightenment focused on such things as knowledge and reason, while the whole idea of romanticism was emotion, meditation, and the abstract. It is important to remember that each school of thought has its own positive characteristics. A well-rounded person possesses both knowledge and feelings, so we need both Enlightenment ideas and Romantic ideas in our world. As a side note, I think it's very interesting how romanticism displayed itself in the music of the day. I play the piano, and I have worked with many classical piano pieces, from baroque to romantic to more modern. Through this, I have noticed a fascinating pattern. Traditional ideas of the time were straightforward and to-the-point; similarly, pre-Romantic music was largely plain and simple. When Romantic ideas presented themselves, the music changed...

Hi Amanda! I think that commuting is a great idea - I commute too and I love it. That's awesome that you're a manager now; hope that goes well! Hopefully you're able to stay ahead on your schoolwork this semester like you wanted to. It's challenging to keep up with everything, but it's such a good feeling if you can!

Christmas break was extremely busy for me, but very enjoyable as well. I spent much of the first week at work. Landscaping outside in December is brutal! It kept me busy, though, so I didn't mind. This first week also involved multiple family get-togethers, plenty of food, and several activities with friends. I also signed up for a minor in applied statistics! I had more "down time" the second week, but missed the get-togethers on New Year's Day because I was sick (likely Covid). Thankfully, I got over it in time to still travel to New Jersey as planned. This was a church event intended for young adults; as a group, we went to New York City and Philadelphia, and did other activities elsewhere. I came back to Grand Rapids this past Monday with great memories and new friends. Looking to the coming semester, I hope this class continues to engage me and challenge me academically. I expect both my classmates and the professors to be open to people's thoughts and opinio...