The Mythology of Fairies: An Irish Legend
September 22, 2008
Many years ago in ancient times, as children played on the dew kissed emerald hills of Ireland, a great dark shadow fell upon the earth. As the villagers ceased in their daily labors to peer up into the sky their very hearts also ceased to beat in their chests. There, in the once crystal sky, a great black cloud was descending and upon it stood a terrifying glimmering army of soldiers too many to number. As the great cloud molested the earth, the very ground shook as the glimmering army set foot upon the land.
Thus begins the Irish legend about the Tuatha De’ Daanan.
Cufflinks For Gas
August 21, 2008
The style gurus - and the resume and career gurus - have always told us to “dress for success.” The plain truth is that we only get one chance to make a good first impression. Once that moment has passed, if you’ve not been successful in winning over your audience, you are going to have to work very hard to erase that unhappy first viewing.
Looking good can get you the right job, the beautiful spouse or girlfriend, the coolest friends.
Discovering Gnome Town USA
July 27, 2008
The Paulinskill Trail run was only 2 weeks away and I knew that I needed to get in at least 40 miles a day to stay in shape. This event drew hundreds of bicyclists from around the state each year. It was the one sport that I could still participate in after my hip was destroyed in an accident.
I completed my day’s workout and while peddling home, a strange sound shrieked from my back wheel. I looked back to assess the situation. In that brief moment of distraction, I unknowingly became entangled in a roadside hazard. A warning cone covered a gapping hole in the rode and stood as a warning to stay clear. However, my attentions were elsewhere and before it could register that I was in any danger, the front wheel caught the edge of the hole and flipped me off my bike. As I lay there on the grass and tried to shake off the abrupt end to my journey that day, I glanced over at the orange cone still standing over the hole. It seemed to be moving. I was convinced that my fall must have caused a slight dizziness or blurred vision.
A Character Analysis Of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown
July 27, 2008
What created Goodman Brown? A man so tormented by what even he considered to be a dream that it changed his life in a profound negative way forever. Goodman Brown was man plagued by his own conscious; he was someone who believed himself to have committed grave sin by meeting with the devil and participating in a witches meeting in his dreams. This spoke of an era where people were overcome with religious guilt and superstition. As a result of Brown’s dream he suspected everyone in the town of being cohorts with the devil, in addition his superstition and questioning of his own self overcame his ability to trust or believe in anyone else. He died a bitter, unhappy, miserable man.
In order to fully understand the character of Young Goodman Brown we must first understand the era he comes from. Although Hawthorne does not state directly whether or not the plot of this story takes place in Salem in the seventeenth century, his references to other characters clearly imply it does. His references to Martha Carrier, Martha Cory, and Sarah Cloyse, all women hanged as witches in 1692; as well as his reference to King William who ruled England from 1650-1702 tell of this horrid time where people killed, tortured, burned, executed and suspected that everyone from their sister to there neighbor might be in contact with the devil. As a result of this environment of suspicion and paranoia Goodman might have felt as though his dream was in reality a lack of faith on his part. He may have felt so guilty for experiencing this dream that he thought he, as well as the people in his life were guilty of coercing with the devil.