Tocqueville (p. 1-47) for 1/28/15

I'm disappointed to report that unfortunately my copy of "Writing Down the Bones" is still not available in the book store and I am super frustrated about it! I could tell after reading "Despite my Bunkered Heart" that "Tocqueville" would not be as appealing to me as "Writing Down the Bones" was -- however, I gave it a fair shot and I found myself impressed with what I was reading. Political issues do not interest me in the least: as a psychology major, I enjoy analyzing the people and situations that I come across in life. I do this because I believe there is a reason for everything and I have a particular interest in finding out what that reason is. That being said I find it extremely exhausting, not to mention infuriating, to try to evaluate the reasons of why the powers that be within our government make the choices that they do.

Because I am of ignorant-status when it comes to war-related topics, I read the "Despite my Bunkered Heart" before I started the book rather than afterward. It turns out that it was really crucial for me to do so if I had any hope of understanding what was going on. I still don't have much of a thorough understanding about a lot of the topics I read about, but I really appreciated Mattawa's use of language throughout the entire book. I liked how the poems were consistently changing style and tone, with descriptions so great that I felt as if I could imagine the motion picture in my head.

One portion of the first poem "Lyric" that I felt I understood was: "Will we turn to each other and ask how long has it been... how long since?" When I read the second poem, "On the Difficulty of Documentation", I saw a passage including a great metaphor that was referenced in the "Despite by Bunkered Heart" review: "Carry the moon on their heads".

I have to say my favorite poem within the first 47 pages of Tocqueville would have to be either "Power Point I" or "Tocqueville" itself. The use of language was exceptional in both: "fizzle-effect" "smoldering" "trigger-happy". There were also two quotes I loved in particular from "Tocqueville" and "Power Point I": "To love one person you must contemplate loving the whole world", and "When I begin to kiss her face, I don't know if I'm telling her that I can't live without her or telling her goodbye."

All in all, it isn't my favorite topic of a reading selection --- but it's something I believe I will end up enjoying more and more as the time goes on throughout this course!