I am a Blogger, Like my Father Before Me.

There are spoilers at the end of this article relating to ‘The Last Jedi’. If you haven’t seen ‘The Last Jedi’ keep this in mind. I will point out when spoilers are incoming, so look out.

The Heroes Journey

This class has been one hell of a trip. I had a call for action when I realized that, in order to graduate on time, I needed to take an interim class. I really didn’t want to, however I had no choice. I had to take the call if I was to graduate on time. I had never taken an interim class before, but after talking to my dog about it for some time, I took the leap. My first day, I had to go into DU’s campus while on break! It was horrible.. The class was pretty much outside of my comfort zone. I hadn’t written every day since high school.

I’m drawing a blank on any analogy for the other parts of initiation from the hero’s journey. I guess I was tempted by procrastination, and adding links in my prior blogs and getting points back could be atonement. Either way, I carried on that analogy a little too long. Joseph Campbell’s work is definitive. He really does explain the story telling techniques of old, such as the epics of Greece, and pretty much simplify the overarching concepts. If you’re interested in storytelling, reading Hero with a Thousand Faces and listening to his lectures are integral to start.

Much to Learn, I Still Have

As I mentioned, it’s been difficult dusting off my writing skills over the past week. The way we write in this class is much different than essay based writing I’ve grown up with. I have had classes where blogging was a focus, but doing it every day proved to be a very unique challenge.

I battled with my lifelong struggle with procrastination quite a bit. Trying to come up with things to write about proved to be challenging, and even a little frustrating. I did try my best to think a little outside of the box in my writing style, and try to learn to write in more article form rather than essay form. I think this class did push me to learn from the critical process and got me to do research in writing styles by reading different news articles and opinion pieces. Writing about a franchise I really enjoy, Star Wars, really helped me be passsionate, and ‘think’ better.

Going into the George Lucas’ past works, reading between the lines in the movie, and viewing A New Hope through the scope of someone from the era was incredibly fun.

Spoiler talk Below

spoiler

spoiler

Ok, is everyone who hasn’t seen TLJ gone? good. I really, really appreciate the last scene in the movie with Snoke in it. The comparisons to other Sith lords is strong, and we are reminded that Snoke is, primarily, a Sith lord. Plagueis, Palpatine, Bane and other legends Sith masters, they all share similar character flaws. Since I am not supposed to get specific, I won’t was what that character flaw is. I won’t talk about the exchange. I will say it fits well with traditions and I really liked it. For more info on why I feel this way, and you have seen the movie, read this wookiepedia article.