Jan 13 2014

When Caesar Was Thirty He Knelt Down and Cried

A Carpe Diem poem by John
When Cæsar was thirty he knelt down and cried
Before the statue of Alexander.
For when the great general had reached such an age
The world he already had.
This I, too, felt when yesteryear
I looked upon the work of Frankenstein
Which, when its author was only twenty and one,
Was unleashed upon the world.
For what do I wait, I ask myself,
When time as they say is a-wastin’.
When I could be working to have it bound,
Why must I stay and tarry?
Let me instead spring forth to write
And, with my sights set onto it,
Send my work when done to find
A home on many readers’ shelves.
-Written November 12th, 2012
Jan 6 2014

Happy 2014!

Happy another year, everyone!

Over Christmas I had some fun, and I also had a mildly productive break. I’m excited to show you the changes I made and the times I had, so let’s jump in!

Ah yes, my old friend Winona Winslow. We go way back, she and I.

 

Dec 23 2013

Free Writing Exercise #3

Third time’s the charm, they say. Maybe it’s just because I was happy to be on vacation, or maybe it’s because I wrote this free writing only a month after the previous one instead of six, but I think I hit a pretty nice groove with this one. Merry belated Christmas, everyone! :D

Written December 24, 2012
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Nov 18 2013

Noh Theater Speech

This will be my end-of-semester speech for Japanese. This speech is a good example of what a student can do after four semesters.
エベレット　ジョン
John Everett
日本語２１２
Japanese 212
２０１３年１１月
November 2013

能楽堂
Noh Theater

Oct 21 2013

Misanthrope Man, Mk. II

There comes a point in every man’s life when a judge forces him to deliver a written apology to a man he’s assaulted. This is that letter:

Dear Mr. Smith,

First of all, Hi! How are you? I hope the wife is doing well. In fact I know she is, but that’ll have to wait for another court-mandated letter. In the meantime, give her my love (or just leave the back door unlocked so I can continue to do it for you). How about the little tyke Junior? That’s great. So happy for you. Anyway, I’m writing to respond to the incident that happened in Joe’s Tavern last week. I trust that you have been released from the hospital by now. So let’s jump in, shall we?

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Oct 14 2013

Notta Toccata

Have you ever wondered what a musical composition written by a non-composer would sound like? Wonder no more! I present to you my mess-terpiece, “Notta Toccata.” It’s not actually a toccata, but I wrote it at night so I called it “Notta Toccata,” because notte is the Italian word for night; and “notta” sound like “not a.” Aren’t jokes just extra-funny when they’re explained?

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Jul 22 2013

The Fables of Everett (Fable #1)

Fable #1

Many thousands of years ago, when our fragile race was still new, there lived two men who were quite gifted, but also quite poor. The first man had a knack for sewing clothes but hungered for want of food. The second man quite skillfully grew vegetables but cried in pain, for his back was scorched by the fires of the sun. One day the first man took up an armful of his clothes while the second man carried a bushel of his crops. Desperately the two wandered aimlessly until after a while they happened upon one another.

The hungry seamster and the naked farmer stood at a distance with their wares, each having what the other wanted. Lo, there was but one misfortune keeping them from quenching their desires. The government had not been invented yet, so these two merchants were incapable of trading with one another. Without the economic guidance of the government, they could only stare at one another, dumbfounded. O, how happy we are, for without the government we all would be everlastingly poor!

Jul 8 2013

Who Is Will, and Why Should I Free Him?

An English essay. Because everyone loves to read those in their spare time, amirite?
-Written October 2012
            I know that my as-yet-nonexistent daughter will one day get her driver’s license. I know that she will blow out candles on a cake at her birthday party. I know that she will have hair on her head and calcium inside her bones. Have I just removed all free will from her life? Have I doomed my future child to be pushed about by determinism? Or is it that perhaps free will is not the opposite of determinism? There rages on a great philosophical debate about free will vs. determinism, with some arguments stretching back to Lucretius1 and earlier, and with some arguments being as recent as those put forth by the behaviorist B.F. Skinner. The idea that the two concepts cannot exist at the same time is called “Incompatibilism,” but this artificial dichotomy can be demonstrated to be fallacious. We shall see that free will and determinism are not actually at odds with one another.