Anthology of Ideas

Yes, this is kinda outside the normal content on this site, but my site, my rules. Anyway for those of you that have WordPress websites, the widget plugin and the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin this widget will allow you to display your tags in the side bar similar to the way they do on my site. The widget allows you to change the title, list style, list order and the number of tags displayed.

I think I like this new system. Instead of typing away writing boring code to add new features, I can go and modify the code another group of professionals wrote to make it sing and dance the way I like. This is far more entertaining.

The update is continuing… You may notice a few broken links from google and MSN. I am trying to get it all working as fast as possible.

“Flatland” by Edwin Abbot was written near the end of the romantic period and the beginning of the realism period, it combines elements from both and adds a healthy dose of satire, social injustice and science to create a masterpiece of short fiction that has been beloved by each succeeding generation. Although the book is not very long (less than 100 pages) and written in 1884 Abbot introduced some geometric and mathematical ideas that were far ahead of their time and also are still (for the most part) valid today.

Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings” is a wonderful look into the mind of a girl in her battles with racism, sexism and coming to terms with herself. Her story begins at the age of three on the way Momma’s store after her mother put her on a train and ends years later after the birth of her son. Through out this time Maya must learn to live with others perception of her and even more difficultly herself.

One of the most important literary lessons one can learn from “Gulliver’s Travels” is the separation of protagonist, narrator and author. Although some times these three personalities blend into one many times they are two or three separate personalities. For example Shelly’s “Frankenstein” separates the author from the narrator and protagonist, although the protagonist is the narrator he does not know what is going to happen, just what has. Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is narrated by the author with the protagonists (although it is a stretch to call them that) are powerless.